The Healer Demands Payment!

She had also come across the name ‘Luoxin trees’ from other books before, but none was as detailed as Lin Yan’s medical notes. Apart from explaining its potential to be used in the creation of hallucinogenic drugs, the volume also documented an event from tens of thousands of years ago when Puppet Masters used the leaves of Luoxin trees to turn living cultivators into puppets, making them a common enemy of cultivators in the Three Realms. The Puppet Masters were subsequently hunted down and exterminated, leading to the extinction of their lineage.

Meng Qi quietly looked at Lin Yan in front of her.

After a moment of silence, the corners of Lin Yan’s lips suddenly raised, and she began to laugh again, “You mean, you are my disciple?”

Meng Qi took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, then raised her hand. A silver medical knife was already gripped tightly in her right hand. At the same time, she readied a handful of profound-grade spirit stones in her other hand.

“Are you… planning to attack me?” Lin Yan chuckled with a charming smile. “Meng Qiqi, although I said I wouldn’t kill you – if you seek your own death, I won’t show mercy.”

“Senior Lin Yan.” Meng Qi said calmly, “This Junior not only knows about the Luoxin tree, but also about the Heavenly Purgatory Array.”

Lin Yan’s gaze suddenly became extremely sharp.

“Senior Lin Yan, who do you want to resurrect?” Meng Qi clasped the medicinal knife in her hand and swiftly stepped back.

“You dare!!” Lin Yan’s gaze turned cold as she observed Meng Qi’s actions, and her voice suddenly became sharp. She swiftly unfurled her figure and rushed towards Meng Qi. Lin Yan was dressed in a complex and luxurious dress adorned with jingling accessories, but her movements were both fierce and swift. As she raised her long sleeve, her fair and slender fingers already gripping a medical knife – a choice of weapon for many medical cultivators, and it seemed she was no exception.

The knife in Meng Qi’s hand had already thrust into the ground. She had retreated far enough just a moment ago, and in the blink of an eye, the knife drew a crack in the ground. Meng Qi raised her hand, and seven or eight profound-grade spirit stones fell into the newly formed crack. The spirit stones emitted a bright light, and the crack, which was originally only a few inches deep, rapidly spread around, swiftly heading toward the nearest Luoxin tree.

“Stop!” Lin Yan shouted. Her body swayed slightly, and the next moment, the knife in her hand appeared right in front of Meng Qi’s throat.

“Senior Lin Yan.” Meng Qi took a deep breath, her eyes locked onto Lin Yan’s, sincere and fearless, “What you are doing is useless.”

“Heh.” Lin Yan sneered, “Whether it is useless or not, it’s not for you to judge.”

“Senior Lin Yan!” Meng Qi’s voice grew louder, “Have you forgotten about the puppet masters who created puppets out of living beings and were exterminated by the Three Realms?!”

“So what?” Lin Yan’s gaze turned cold, and she moved the medical knife in her hand further forward, leaving a faint red mark on Meng Qi’s slender neck. “Meng Qi, you are also a medical cultivator. If your beloved dies in front of you, and there is a glimmer of hope to revive him, would you save him or not?”

Meng Qi was startled for a moment, her answer not coming immediately.

“You are hesitating,” Lin Yan said softly. She paused for a moment and continued, “Hesitation means you are moved.”

“Senior Lin Yan.” Meng Qi said: “I indeed hesitate. Anyone would hesitate, but…”

She hadn’t managed to finish her sentence when Lin Yan flicked her finger. The bed made of woven willow branches suddenly came to life. The branches moved swiftly, lifting Yun Qingyan, who was lying on it. Two resilient willow branches wrapped around his neck, suspending his body in mid-air. Despite this situation, he remained unconscious and didn’t wake up, except for his feet unconsciously kicking several times in the air. Then, his head tilted to the side, and he became motionless.

“Now what?” Lin Yan chuckled softly and looked curiously at Meng Qi, who hadn’t even batted an eyelid. “Aren’t you worried about your lover?”

“Senior Lin Yan!” Meng Qi took a deep breath, “He is not my lover.”

“Oh?” Lin Yan responded calmly, “Isn’t he?”

“And…” Meng Qi sighed softly, “Even if it’s you, Senior Lin Yan, it wouldn’t be so simple to subdue him. I know.”

Lin Yan was taken aback.

Meng Qi continued in one breath: “There are so many Luoxin trees here. The leaves of the Luoxin trees can induce hallucinations in people. So, from the very beginning, he was not real. The second time I entered the forest, Senior Lin Yan had already made me inhale a drug made from the leaves of the Luoxin trees, so the person I saw was fake.”

Lin Yan seemed to be caught off guard.

“Except for the Luoxin trees and the hallucinogenic drug made from their leaves, there are also three arrays in this forest.” Meng Qi said again.

“You…” Lin Yan sized up Meng Qi from head to toe. “You actually figured it out? Aren’t you a medical cultivator?”

“I am.” Meng Qi nodded, “But he…”

As she spoke, she looked up at the figure suspended in mid-air. Even though she knew it was fake and that Yun Qingyan couldn’t be restrained by Lin Yan like this, Meng Qi still felt uncomfortable seeing the person hanging from the willow branches.

“He is the one who taught me about arrays.” She finished her words.

“Heh—” Lin Yan sneered, “No wonder you could figure it out.” She put away her knife and fixed her gaze on Meng Qi, her expression turning sinister. “Although he is fake, there are still some truths here. Care to take a guess?”

“Lu Qingran and Pei Mufeng are real.” Meng Qi replied without hesitation.

“Correct.” Lin Yan snorted coldly and took a step back.

“If Senior Lin Yan could really capture all the cultivators outside the forest, there would be no need for you to go to such great lengths by using Sister Xue and the others as bait to lure us here.”

“Hmph.” Lin Yan tilted her head slightly, “You still call me senior?”