Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Xu Lingguang first went to the prefect's office in the city to report the news, only to find out that the prefect was extremely troubled by this matter.

News of the incident at Qingyu Sect spread, and with the imperial army yet to arrive, the demons and monsters hiding in the shadows heard the news and began to stir. Qingyu City has been quite unsettled lately, with people disappearing one after another, including even the young master of the Wang family.

Although the Wang family of Qingyu City has not produced many cultivators, their main branch is quite powerful. Recently, the Wang family has been frequently pressuring for people, which has greatly annoyed the prefect. He is worried that if things get out of hand, the imperial army will hold him accountable.

Xu Lingguang's news was like a timely rain. The prefect quickly gathered all his troops and summoned several guest elders from Qingyu City. Led by Xu Lingguang, they set off in a grand procession to bring back the nineteen people from the cave.

He didn't encounter any more human-faced spiders on the way. Xu Lingguang made his retreat after achieving his goal, and slipped away quietly while the crowd was in disarray.

He wasn't a doctor, and those people had already been safely rescued; how they were treated afterward was none of his concern.

Xu Lingguang felt relieved and looked at the ginseng and spirit stone hidden in his bosom with great care. After Zhu Sanniang died, he quickly retrieved his small basket, but the basket was too conspicuous, so he simply hid the ginseng in his bosom.

He happily touched the ginseng and spirit stones, which were his family's assets. He planned to go to the herbal medicine shop first to sell the ginseng and get some money.

A century-old ginseng sold for one hundred taels of silver.

Finally, I have money.

As Xu Lingguang held the fresh, warm silver coins, wishing he could kiss them, he suddenly heard someone beside him ask quietly, "Didn't you say you were going to treat me to dinner?"

Xu Lingguang was startled to see Zhou Fuying standing beside him, staring at him with a deep gaze... at the silver in his hand.

"What do you want to eat?" Xu Lingguang cautiously stuffed the purse containing silver into his sleeve and said stingily, "I don't have much money, so you'd better be careful. It can't be more than five taels of silver."

Zhou Fuying chuckled, not bothering to argue with his stinginess, and instead asked, "What exactly are you planning to do down the mountain this time?"

Xu Lingguang scratched his head and didn't hide anything from him: "Song Nanchu said I was going to die soon and gave me a mental cultivation manual to practice. But I always felt that one can't just sit and wait to die, so I thought I'd dig up some ginseng to go down the mountain to exchange for money, and then find a doctor to take a look. Maybe there are other ways to cure me."

When he said he was going to die soon, there was little resentment on his face; instead, he seemed to resign himself to fate.

Zhou Fuying asked with a strange expression, "Did Song Nan give you the cultivation method?"

"Yes, this is it." Xu Lingguang always carried it with him, and upon hearing this, he took it out and showed it to him with great care: "I practiced it for a while, and I feel better. I can even make fireballs with my bare hands now."

He was clearly very proud when he talked about making a fireball with his bare hands.

Zhou Fuying fell silent, recalling the pitifully small fireball he had thrown at the human-faced spider.

To his surprise, Song Nan actually gave him the cultivation manual in the end.

Song Nanchu had told them about Xu Lingguang's condition: his internal organs were shattered, and the spiritual energy was impacting his five internal organs; he would have at most two more months to live. At that time, Song Nanchu hesitated for a long time before saying that Xu Lingguang had saved his life, his words conveying a sense of gratitude.

He and Yu Yun didn't care about this. Even if Song Nan helped him, it would only extend his life by a few months, which wouldn't harm them.

On the contrary, Song Nanchu himself was more hesitant and indecisive.

Unexpectedly, he still passed on the mental cultivation technique to him in the end.

Zhou Fuying looked at Xu Lingguang and thought that this person had lost his memory, but seemed to be even more difficult to deal with than before.

He lowered his eyes and asked, "Where are you planning to find a doctor?"

Xu Lingguang's illness is not something that ordinary doctors can cure, and even ordinary medical practitioners may not be able to cure it.

"I don't know." Xu Lingguang scratched his face and said helplessly, "I just planned to come down the mountain to find out some information. If I can't find a reliable doctor this time, I'll come back next time and ask around. I'm sure I can find a doctor who can cure me, right?"

Zhou Fuying said coldly, "Your illness cannot be cured by ordinary doctors."

Xu Lingguang had expected this, so he wasn't too disappointed, but he still said optimistically, "The world is so big, I'll save up some money and go take a look at the surrounding cities. Surely there's a cure somewhere, right?"

Zhou Fuying fell silent.

Xu Lingguang pursed his lips, wanting to ask him what he meant by not speaking.

Is there really no one who can cure this?

That's too tragic for him; he can only wait to die.

The thought of waiting to die made Xu Lingguang's eyebrows droop. His once vibrant face was now shrouded in dejection, and his face, which was whiter than paper, was inexplicably glaring.

Zhou Fuying stared at him for a long time before she realized that when he was laughing, joking, or cursing, he was the least like the man before he lost his memory.

Xu Lingguang was born with a handsome appearance, with well-shaped eyebrows and phoenix eyes, and a gentle, warm appearance. Therefore, when he put on a compassionate and sympathetic demeanor, people were particularly unguarded.

When they followed Xu Lingguang back to the Qingyu Sect, they were filled with reverence for their master.

But as time went on, they saw more of Xu Lingguang's true colors, which he didn't show to outsiders. Their filial piety wore off and eventually turned into an irreconcilable hatred.

Strangely enough, Xu Lingguang after losing his memory actually fits their original imagination of him.

When he smiles, his eyes sparkle, and there's a kind of radiance in them that makes you instinctively want to get close to him.

Therefore, when he is not smiling, he easily makes people feel soft-hearted and pity him.

Zhou Fuying stared coldly at him, and seeing Xu Lingguang growing increasingly dejected, she finally closed her eyes briefly and slowly said, "About a hundred miles east of Qingyu City, there is a bamboo forest. Legend has it that Elder Wuyao of the Miaoyin Sect once lived in seclusion here. Wuyao was famous for his medical skills that could bring the dead back to life. Perhaps he has a way..."

Xu Lingguang, who had been dejected, immediately perked up, exclaiming in disbelief, "Really? Why didn't you say so sooner—"

The words were abruptly cut off before they could be finished. After leaving those words behind, Zhou Fuying had already disappeared without anyone noticing.

"How come you appear and disappear so mysteriously..."

Xu Lingguang peeked around, but couldn't find Zhou Fuying. He could only shout, "I'll remember the meal I treated you to. You can have whatever you want to eat. I can pay ten taels, no! Twenty taels of silver!"

Twenty taels of silver for a meal was already one-fifth of his savings; he really couldn't afford any more, Xu Lingguang thought with a pang of heartache.

Hearing his words from the rooftop in the distance, Zhou Fuying rode away on her sword without looking back.

He thought of Song Nanchu and was once again certain that staying away from Xu Lingguang was the right thing to do.

Not killing Xu Lingguang and letting him slowly die was already an act of great mercy; he shouldn't have told him where Wuyao was.