Chapter 626: Epilogue: Turning into a Handful of Bone Powder

Hui Moqiong was just about to kneel to Bai Shulan.

Bai Shulan pushed him away: "Mo Qiong, calm down a bit, step to the side, don't interfere here while I examine Qingying's body."

Hui Moqiong could only obediently go stand in the nearest corner, but his eyes kept fixed on Li Qingying, not daring to move them for a moment.

Bai Shulan carefully examined Li Qingying's nose bridge, then took her pulse, lifted her eyelids to look at her pupils, and finally turned Li Qingying's body to the side, feeling her spine.

Then she administered acupuncture to help Li Qingying stop the bleeding.

After a few needles, the bleeding indeed stopped, but Bai Shulan's face was very solemn.

Hui Moqiong immediately ran over and asked: "How is it? Can it be cured?"

Bai Shulan shook her head: "She's been bleeding for a while, secretly taking hemostatic medicine; at first it worked, but now even the medicine doesn't work, and my acupuncture can only temporarily stop the bleeding; over time it's still ineffective."

My heart feels like it's being twisted by a knife.

I remember that morning when I was preparing to return to the Feng Clan, seeing that bloody paper ball under the table leg.

How could I have believed Li Qingying's words then, thinking she really had a nosebleed from internal heat?

Afterward, with all her abnormal behavior, why didn't I think of that bloody paper ball?

Usually it's Li Qingying who takes care of me, from daily living to serious injuries—when hasn't she stayed by my side, changed my medicine, accompanied my rehabilitation, and creatively prepared nourishing food for me?

If it weren't for Li Qingying, even if I were alive, my body would have been ruined long ago.

But when she most needed care and concern, I couldn't even find the root of her abnormality.

I held back my tears and asked Bai Shulan: "This scar from the broken horn has been healed for years; it was fine before—why has it suddenly started bleeding again? What exactly caused this?"

"It might be because merit has weighed upon her, and she can't bear it."

Bai Shulan gave a thorough explanation, and we all understood.

Li Qingying is the most talented cultivator of the Red Carp Clan; she grew horns at a young age, and if she could truly leap the Dragon Gate, she would have a chance to transform into a dragon.

Regardless of whether the Dragon Gate in the Linghai Forbidden Ground was real or fake back then, Li Qingying's need to leap the Dragon Gate is genuine.

After her horns were cut off by her clansmen, both her body and cultivation suffered unprecedented severe damage; no matter how she cultivated later, she could never reach the height she had when she still had horns.

Thus, after the wound from the horn removal healed, she had been fine for many years.

But after she joined Dang Pu, her situation completely changed.

She is an important member of Dang Pu; for every deal the shop completes and every trouble it resolves, merit is accrued, and there are year-end rewards based on contribution.

Each share of merit earned by Dang Pu is given to Li Qingying; over time, merit has accumulated upon her, enough to support her attempt to leap the Dragon Gate again.

But her horns are gone.

A Red Carp without horns cannot leap the Dragon Gate, its body cannot undergo transformation, and it cannot bear the ever-increasing merit, which is why we face the current situation.

Nobody expected it to turn out like this.

Hui Moqiong asked: "What if we remove her from Dang Pu and the hall, stop giving her merit—would she then get better?"

Bai Shulan still shook her head: "I've felt her bones; they've already changed, with no further development. Bones that are still evolving will undergo reversal, gradually aging until even a light touch would shatter them… She will eventually turn into a handful of bone powder in pain and despair, vanishing completely."

"Don't say it! Shulan, please don't say it again!"

Hui Moqiong couldn't accept it; he wanted to embrace Li Qingying, but dared not touch her, fearing that even a touch would shatter her.

I also dare not touch her.

Finally, tears could not be held back, and the levee broke.

Bai Shulan knows this, and Li Qingying should be even more aware.

That's why she has been acting dazed and worried these days.

She knows what her ending will be, so she wants to return to her roots.

So she told me she wants to return to the Red Carp Clan.

She is not returning to vie for territory, nor to train the younger generation.

She wants to find a quiet, hidden corner… to wait alone for death.

But she can't let go of us, or of the child in my womb; she wants to arrange everything as best as possible before leaving, leaving no regrets.

How could there be no regrets?

Happiness is within reach, yet her life is about to be cut short; she hasn't yet waited for her beloved to confess, hasn't personally placed a longevity lock on Erbao, and hasn't yet become the longtime-desired chief steward of the Nine Flames District and Dang Pu…

Liu Junyan asked: "Shulan, is there a way to help Qingying reverse the current situation?"

"There is a way," Bai Shulan said, "but it's nearly impossible to achieve."

Hui Moqiong grasped Bai Shulan's hand and asked: "What method? Swords and fire, tell me what medicinal ingredients you need—I will spare no effort to bring them back."

Bai Shulan shook her head again: "Li Qingying's condition cannot be reversed by any elixir; she needs a complete rebirth, to face death and then be reborn."

"To face death and then be reborn… Li Qingying is already like this; to face death is almost tantamount to sending her to her death."

No wonder Bai Shulan said this method is nearly impossible to accomplish.

Among those present, Liu Junyan was the calmest besides Bai Shulan, and he asked: "If we don't try, it's forever impossible; if we do, what if we succeed? Let's gamble on that one-in-ten-thousand chance."

Bai Shulan said: "It is the Dragon Transformation Cauldron."

"Let Qingying enter the Dragon Transformation Cauldron; if she can endure it, when she emerges she will inevitably undergo complete rebirth."

"Impossible! That's just going to die!"

Yeah, that's just going to die.

The Linghai Forbidden Ground has a Dragon Transformation Cauldron; countless little white dragons were once sacrificed into it, leaving not even ashes.

Even Liu Junyan's mother, the only one in the Linghai Dragon Clan over the past thousand years to have transformed from a white dragon into a golden dragon, almost died upon first entering the Dragon Transformation Cauldron.

Later, it was the Linghai Old Dragon King, the elder brother of Liu Mu who shared fate with her, that sustained her those years.

Afterward, it was Zhong Susu who, after entering the Dragon Transformation Cauldron, awakened her family's potential and set up formations to maintain her and Liu Mu's lives.

But in the end, Liu Mu still died.

Thus, to this day, the only one who has truly walked out alive from the Dragon Transformation Cauldron is Zhong Susu alone.

Who has the nerve to ask Zhong Susu to risk her life for such a life‑threatening, nine‑deaths‑one‑survival affair?

Who can even speak up?

Li Qingying's life is a life, and Zhong Susu's life is also a life.

Who dares to think of harming Zhong Susu? Xiaoye is the first to object.

The long silence gradually calmed everyone; what I could think of, the calmed Hui Moqiong could also think of.

"I'll go ask Zhong Susu." Hui Moqiong said with difficulty, "I don't need her to accompany Li Qingying into the Dragon Transformation Cauldron; I only need her to set up the formation, or teach me how to set up the formation inside the Dragon Transformation Cauldron, and I'll carry Li Qingying down together."