Huai nodded, then waved his hand. The 108 silver needles landed on 108 different acupoints on Ling Wei, and his whole body shook. Huai put the golden pill in his mouth. The pill melted and flowed to the shattered dantian, where the dust of the shattered dantian started forming a completely new one in its original place. Little by little, each and every particle came back together as if by a miracle, and the 107 needles became a bridge to make it happen.
A few minutes later, a complete dantian appeared in its original place. Huai sighed, then waved his hand again. The needles floated up from the body and then landed again on different acupoints with different depths.
Huai asked Ling Zhan, "Can you please tell everyone in your sect to stay at least a kilometer away from this courtyard?"
Ling Zhan immediately sent someone to make the announcement. Soon, all the disciples and elders had moved outside the treatment zone, and a whole kilometer of the area was cleared of any living beings, except for those in the room.
Nexus asked, "But they are here in the room?"
Huai shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the unconscious Ling Wei. "Don't worry about them," he said. "I'll take care of them."
He waved his hand, and an eerie black aura enveloped everyone, covering them inside a sphere of darkness. From within, they could still see what was happening outside.
Nexus's eyes went wide with disbelief. "Death! That's the aura of death!"
Huai nodded and said, "Oh, I just used a treasure." He acted as if he were taking out a slip, which then turned to dust in front of Nexus. It was all a performance. Since he could control every law of nature, he could control the aura of death as well, so it was natural for him to do this.
Only Wuhe knew what he had really done, and he nodded at him. Huai could easily protect Wuhe, so he didn't have either Nexus or Wuhe enter the black sphere.
Huai moved the silver needles again. This time, the moment the needles touched Ling Wei's body, his whole frame shook, and the surrounding nature turned eerily cold. Nexus felt that something significant was happening.
She saw the needles continuously absorbing life force from the surroundings. The channeled spiritual power from Huai attracted that life force through the special acupuncture technique he had just used.
Over time, the surroundings grew dark. In just a few seconds, the grass for a kilometer around turned gray. The trees began to wither as a vast amount of life force left their bodies. Even the insects that were flying around the secret room died and fell to the ground.
A few minutes went by, and the entire area around the courtyard had turned gray, devoid of any life force. If the sect members hadn't left the area, they would have definitely died.
Nexus looked at Huai with a new, more profound understanding. Just how powerful was this technique, that it could absorb the life force of its surroundings like this?
Nexus watched as the missing life force inside Ancestor Ling Wei's body was replenished until his whole appearance changed. He had looked like an old man when Huai started his treatment, but now his appearance had transformed into that of a completely young man.
Sect Leader Ling Zhan's face became moist with tears of joy. Even Ling Tian looked upon this scene with utmost devotion.
The physicians and Yao Shen watched the treatment intently, their eyes wide. For them, it was unbelievable. They couldn't imagine just how fortunate they were to witness this divine procedure.
When the last drop of life force had become nourishment for Ling Wei, Huai removed the silver needles from his body and turned them to dust. He did this because if he used those needles again, the patient would die from the death qi the needles had absorbed.
Ling Wei's eyes fluttered open to see Nexus and Huai smiling down at him. Seeing Goddess Nexus, he immediately stood up and bowed deeply, saying, "Greetings, Your Highness, Goddess Nexus!"
Nexus nodded at him and said, "Citizen Ling Wei, it was the Divine Physician who saved you." She gestured toward Huai with her head.
Hearing those words, a chill went through Ling Wei's entire body. As a peak cultivator, he knew exactly how important the Divine Physician was. Even the fourteen Sovereigns revered him for his treatment methods and accuracy.
He immediately kowtowed toward Huai. "Your Highness! Thank you, thank you for coming to my humble home to save me!"
Huai used his gentle force to help Ancestor Ling Wei stand, then released everyone from the black sphere.
The moment the sphere of darkness dissolved, the air filled with choked sobs and cries of "Ancestor!" .
Ling Zhan, his face a mask of unrestrained joy and relief, stumbled forward, his legs barely holding him. He fell to his knees before the revitalized Ling Wei, unable to speak, simply looking up at the man he thought he had lost forever. Ling Tian was right behind him, his usual composure shattered, his eyes red as he knelt beside his father.
Ling Wei looked down at his son and grandson, his heart swelling. The face that looked back at them was not that of a withered old man on the brink of death, but of a powerful cultivator in his prime. He reached out, his once-frail hands now firm and steady, and placed one on Ling Zhan's shoulder and the other on Ling Tian's head.
"I am here," Ling Wei said, his voice resonating with newfound strength and life. "I am well."
Those simple words broke the dam. The other physicians, who had been watching in stunned silence, erupted into cheers. Yao Shen and yao lingxi bowed deeply, his face a mixture of awe and profound respect for the miracle he had just witnessed. It was just as exaggerated as his daughter lingxi told him before.
In that small, now-barren courtyard, a family was made whole again, their sorrow washed away by a display of power that defied the very laws of life and death. It was a reunion not just with a man, but with hope itself.
At that moment, a huge boom suddenly echoed from outside the Shadow Star, and the whole planet shook. A voice boomed from the planet's very center.
"Ling Zhan! Come out and meet your master! Hahahaha! Or else, I'll kill each and every one of you today and slaughter this entire planetary section myself!"
Nexus frowned and looked toward the void. It was the ancestor of the Summoning Beast Pavilion, the one who had attacked Ling Wei.
Huai said to Nexus, "Do as I said. He definitely brought someone powerful. I can feel a presence."
Nexus nodded. "Yes, I can also feel the presence of those filthy wraiths!"
"Then I'll do as you said, Citizen Huai," she replied. "Take care of yourself. You are important to humanity. If you can't take on those filthy wraiths, you can ask for my help at any time."
Huai nodded, while Wuhe had a small smile on his face. Help? he thought. If Huai needs help, then this plane is already doomed for sure.
On the other side of the shadow sword sanctuary, after hearing that powerful voice...
Ancestor Ling Wei, whose body now pulsed with the vigor of his youth, felt a phantom chill, a memory of the life-stealing cold. He clenched his newly powerful fists, the strength within them feeling like a bitter joke in the face of this new threat. He turned to Huai, his face pale beneath its youthful flush, his voice tight with grim understanding.
"Your Highness," he gritted out, the words tasting like ash. "Gui Wuyang. That old fool from the Summoning Beast Pavilion... he's reached the Galaxy General Peak realm. A full large realm above me."
The implication hung heavy in the air, a death sentence for their entire sect.
Reacting instantly, Ling Zhan and Ling Tian rushed towards Huai, their faces masks of desperate urgency. Yao Shen and a terrified Lingxi were right behind them, their eyes fixed on the calm, almost otherworldly figure of the Divine Physician.
Ling Zhan, forgetting all decorum, grabbed the edge of Huai's sleeve, his knuckles white. His eyes, which had just been filled with tears of joy, were now wild with a father's terror. "Your Highness! Please," he begged, his voice cracking. "Take Ling Tian and the others with you. Leave here through the teleportation formation. Me and the other elders… we will face the Summoning Beast Pavilion." He was offering his life, and the life of every elder in the sect, for a single chance that his son might live.
Ling Tian's jaw tightened. He stepped forward, placing himself defiantly beside his father. His gaze, however, was just as pleading, though filled with a different kind of desperation. "Your Highness, please leave with Lingxi and Pavilion Master Yao Shen," he said, his voice sharp and resolute. "I... I am going to defend my sect with my father and my ancestor."
The words struck Ling Zhan like a physical blow. His face contorted with a mix of fury and anguish. "You… you damn!" he snarled, his voice a low growl. He spun on his son, his control breaking. "Stop arguing with me! You will go back with His Highness! If you are alive, you can take revenge later. If you die here, it is all for nothing!"
Ling Tian stood his ground, his fists clenched at his sides, a mirror of his newly-healed ancestor.
A soft chuckle cut through the thick, desperate air.
All eyes snapped to Huai. He was calmly rubbing the head of his small disciple Yan, who had appeared at his master's side. The simple, gentle gesture was so at odds with the terror of the moment that it stunned the room into silence.
"Did I say," Huai asked, his voice calm, "that I was going to leave?"
Ling Zhan, Ling Tian, Ancestor Ling Wei even Yao Shen and his daughter stared at him in complete surprise.
Huai continued, his gaze lifting as if to look past the stone ceiling and into the cold darkness of the void. "The moment I chose to intervene, I committed to seeing this through to its end." His eyes seemed to pierce through space itself, observing the shadowy forms of the filthy wraiths waiting in the distance. He could also perceive the invisible net that Nexus had cast, locking down the surroundings just as he had instructed.
A faint, predatory smile touched his lips. He looked back at the stunned family.
"Done," he announced with chilling finality. "Now the real game begins."
He turned to Wuhe, a silent understanding passing between them. "Protect everyone. I'm going outside myself."
Wuhe gave a confident nod. "Don't worry," he said, his voice laced with the same unnerving calm as Huai's. "I won't let a single ant invade this planet. And I think they haven't sent anyone to the other planets. They wanted to take control of the main star first."
Huai nodded once. Then, in a single, fluid motion, he stepped out of the Shadow Sword Sanctuary. His face was still hidden by the white veil. He looked up at the sky.
The sky was gone.
In its place was a sea of malice. Thousands upon thousands of cultivators formed a terrifying armada, their power radiating in suffocating waves. Below them, a chaotic ocean of summoned beasts numbering in the millions swarmed in a tight, circling blockade.
Seeing the lone, veiled figure emerge from the main hall, Ancestor Gui Wuyang sneered, his voice booming across the void. "Have the idiots from the Shadow Sword Sanctuary finally gone insane? Why did they send a child out to play?" From his perspective, Huai looked to be only eighteen or nineteen years old at most.
Huai simply chuckled, the sound impossibly carrying into the vacuum. Then, in a single step that seemed to fold space itself, he appeared high above the planet, standing alone against the million-strong horde.