Li Xun nodded. She stepped over after a crowd of Li family members opened the way for her to step over. Ruo Fei was cared for in a special pavilion belonging to the Li family, rich with spiritual energy that helped keep her fresh and well-looked after.
The two walked quite a distance leaving the main yard of the Li family residence. They walked through several corridors and bridges, looking at the Li family's small man-made river until Li Xun stopped her steps.
She and Li Shen stopped walking when they saw Ruo Fei, a woman with whitened black hair, sitting casually with a warm blanket covering her back.
She was sitting on a garden table chair enjoying a refreshing cup of herbal tea, in the company of a female maid who had served Ruo Fei for years.
"Fei'er?" greeted Li Shen, softly.
Hearing a soft voice that seemed familiar in her ears made Ruo Fei turn her head. She looked towards the wooden bridge where Li Xun was standing next to Li Shen. Ruo Fei remembered very well who the man next to Li Xun was.
"Li Shen," Ruo Fei greeted back, smiling broadly with fondness.
When she was about to stand up to Li Shen, her body went limp and almost fell over. The maid tried to catch Ruo Fei's body before she reached the ground, but Li Shen's figure sped in the blink of an eye from the bridge to Ruo Fei's front, letting the woman he loved the most rest her head on his body.
Li Xun gasped, it was a frightening speed to watch his father move quickly leaving the area beside her to arrive in front of Ruo Fei.
The girl was sensitive to the situation, she turned her head and nodded towards the maid, asking her to leave using a head gesture. The maid understood Li Xun's gesture, she and Li Xun walked away.
'Her meridians are so vulnerable, there are even some destroyed parts,' Li Shen explained.
'What exactly happened to her?' asked Li Shen, curious.
Ruo Fei was a girl from the Sea Moon Sect. Li Shen and Ruo Fei's first encounter happened when both of them went through the 1000 Sect Exam hosted by Qing Yan Kingdom.
At that time, Li Shen was completely defeated by Ruo Fei, making the first place of the tournament belong to the Sea Moon Sect, then the second place belonged to the Pillar Azure Sect.
The two started to get to know each other because of the events that often brought them together. Their more intense moment of closeness came when the Sea Moon Sect was attacked by the Tian Huo Sect, causing the sect's defeat and making many disciples evacuate.
Li Shen took Ruo Fei to evacuate to Pillar Azure, as at that time Pillar Azure was considered the largest and strongest sect in Qing Yan Kingdom. By having Ruo Fei join, at least she could cultivate safely.
The two established dual cultivation, approved by the sect elders and witnessed by the sect leader of Pillar Azure. When that happened, the cultivation realms of both of them increased drastically due to helping each other.
As Li Shen remembered, the last realm Ruo Fei reached when he left her to go to Immortal Palace was the Early Soul Ascension realm.
With such a high realm, at least Ruo Fei's life span increased to 5000 years. However, the longer Li Shen was in Immortal Palace, the more chaos occurred in the Azure Pillar Sect as Ye Fa explained.
Ruo Fei was lucky to survive because she escaped from the sect with Li Xun. They lived as nomads for a few years, then finally settled in the Li family residence.
"What happened?" asked Li Shen, crouching down to bring his eyes in line with Ruo Fei.
The woman began to explain that she was injured like this as a result of the prolonged war between the Qing Yan alliance and the Azure Pillar Sect.
"A Soul Formation practitioner planted a high curse on me by sacrificing his life span," Ruo Fei explained, coughing up blood.
"That curse eroded my soul, damaged my dantian, and destroyed my meridians. Cultivating is impossible for me," Ruo Fei replied.
Li Shen squinted, activated his cultivation eyes and looked clearly ahead. From Ruo Fei's two hands, Li Shen saw the stagnation of qi energy flowing in her vulnerable meridians.
There was a stream of qi energy flowing, but it did not reach her dantian. It became useless for her cultivation. Li Shen understood why Ruo Fei found it difficult to cultivate with this condition.
"Some practitioners have tried to recover me, but they failed to do so. Only practitioners with a realm higher than Soul Formation can break this curse," Ruo Fei explained, her voice low.
"Even if I find such a practitioner, it will be difficult to ask him to heal me, especially since the fee is very expensive," Ruo Fei said.
Li Shen continued to look at Ruo Fei's body through his cultivation eyes. He does see that there were curse magic runes embedded in her dantian and some parts of her body. The rune was golden in color and had an intense momentum of power.
It was difficult due to the level of complexity of the magic rune, but not for Li Shen. He knew how to destroy the curse magic rune, even though it was not easy and quite painful for Ruo Fei.
"Uhuk!"
"It's okay, Li Shen. You don't need to care about me. I'm already happy enough to have—"
"No!" interrupted Li Shen, firmly.
Ruo Fei was taken aback by this, then began to focus her sad eyes on Li Shen, "What do you mean?"
"I will heal you."
The woman fell silent, then chuckled at Li Shen's confession. It wasn't a disdainful laugh, but rather a laugh of joy and happiness that her husband had come to help her.
"Alright. I believe in you, Li Shen," Ruo Fei said, fully placing great hope in Li Shen.
Li Shen nodded. He flew a celestial-level spirit stone towards the top of Ruo Fei's head, then shot his qi energy into the spirit stone.
Instantly, a rain of blue particles from the spirit stone occurred above Ruo Fei's head, touching the skin and entering the pores of the woman's body. In an instant, her white hair turned black again.
"What is your purpose in coming here, Li Shen?" asked Ruo Fei.
"I'm looking for the elders of the Azure Pillar Sect. I heard that their cultivation was destroyed and their lives were miserable as slaves," replied Li Shen.
Ruo Fei was silent for a moment, then took another sip of her tea. She stepped closer to the small stream near her residence, still carrying her teacup. Wherever Ruo Fei went, the spirit stone would follow.
"I did hear about their existence, but I can only accommodate a few of them," Ruo Fei replied.
"Their cultivation fell and I can't do much about it. So, I have no other choice but to hire them here as servants," the woman replied.
Li Shen nodded. To restore their cultivation, they had to stay at least in a place rich in spiritual energy, such as a sect or pavilion. The Azure Pillar Sect had regained its spiritual energy, suitable for them to start restoring their cultivation.
"That's fine. I'll lead them," Li Shen replied.
Ruo Fei gasped, not knowing what Li Shen meant. The man walked over to Ruo Fei's side, gazing at the small river with the fish in it living healthy and well-groomed lives.
"I'll help you too," Li Shen chimed in.
"Sure. We can do it here, I will try to find a lot of high-level spirit stones to—"
"No," Li Shen said, interrupting Ruo Fei's speech.
"No?"
"We'll do it at the Azure Pillar Sect!"