Zheng Yuan stumbled back into his cave dwelling on Wuhua Mountain, immediately collapsing onto his knees as if all strength had deserted him. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face instantly turning a ghastly white. Trembling, he fumbled in his robes and pulled out a medicine vial, swallowing nearly all the pills inside in one go.

This was the Nine-Turn Yang Reversing Pill, a life-saving elixir Zheng Yuan had treasured for years. Anyone who still possessed a single breath could cling to life for a little longer after taking this pill.

After swallowing the elixir, Zheng Yuan immediately sat down cross-legged to meditate and heal his injuries. Before entering his trance, he instructed Ding Nan, who was nearby: "Ping'er, I need to enter seclusion to recover. You must guard me. Turn away anyone who tries to disturb me!"

At that moment, the medicinal power of the Earth Spirit Elixir in Ding Nan’s system was slowly taking effect. She felt an intense chill spreading through her body, her head felt light while her feet felt heavy, and her mind grew muddled. She responded instinctively, but soon after Zheng Yuan settled into his meditation, she too staggered to the wall, leaning against it as she stumbled.

Olba, who had been captured and brought there, looked around in terror. She found herself in a stone chamber. Along the surrounding walls were several cabinets, some displaying rare antiques and curios, others holding exquisite medicine bottles and jars. In the center of the room stood a dais against one wall, upon which rested a meditation cushion. On either side of the cushion stood two incense burners emitting the scent of sandalwood. Above the cushion hung a Bagua diagram. Everywhere she looked, there was an air of mysterious and bizarre Eastern atmosphere.

Olba felt as if she were trapped in a terrible nightmare. After stiffly looking left and right, she pinched her thigh hard, hoping that the sharp pain would wake her from the horrible dream and return her to the lush green lawns of the University of Pennsylvania, basking in the comfortable, joyful sunlight.

But reality was brutally unforgiving. The sharp pain in her thigh did nothing to dislodge her from this devilish place.

Olba recalled how her nightmare began the moment she decided to accompany Chris and John to Mount Huang. John, in particular, had plunged into an abyss of unknown fate, and now she was a captive, unable to communicate due to the language barrier. Her phone had slipped from her grasp in the earlier chaos. In this unfamiliar land, how could she possibly escape and regain her freedom?

Despair washed over Olba, bringing with it a wave of regret so intense she nearly broke down weeping aloud.

It was then that Ding Nan, affected by the drug, suddenly pitched forward and collapsed onto the floor. Startled, Olba turned back. To her shock and delight, she saw that both Zheng Yuan and Ding Nan had fallen into a coma.

Olba could hardly believe her eyes. She cautiously stood up, crouching low like a frightened fawn cautiously testing whether a predator had fallen asleep. After carefully observing Zheng Yuan and Ding Nan for a moment, she finally determined they were truly unconscious.

At this, Olba could not contain her burst of exhilaration. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she finally lifted her legs and bolted toward the cave entrance. As she ran, she kept glancing back in fear that Zheng Yuan or Ding Nan might suddenly awaken, knowing capture would mean untold torture. Thus, she fled in a mixture of ecstatic relief and sheer terror.

The reason traditional Chinese medicine posits that "fear damages the kidneys, anger damages the liver, joy damages the heart, overthinking damages the spleen, and grief damages the lungs" is because when a person is most afraid, the blood flow in the body instantaneously slows down, causing weakness, chills, and even tremors. The body’s internal cosmos possesses a powerful self-regulating function, prompting the kidneys to mobilize the essence traditionally stored within them.

Sometimes, if too much essence is mobilized, it can lead to "death from depletion," meaning a person can literally be frightened to death.

Similarly, when a person is overcome with extreme joy, the blood surges instantly, vessels engorge, and the heart suddenly bears an enormous burden and pressure delivering blood. Pumping out a massive volume of blood in a short period can deplete a large amount of heart qi from the body's Middle Dantian, leading to the phenomenon of "extreme happiness turning to sorrow."

Olba, gripped by mixed joy and terror, instantly suffered a severe depletion of both her heart and kidney energies. Though she had no foundation in cultivation whatsoever, this shock immediately stimulated a reaction from the spiritual energy of the elixir she had inhaled. Just as she reached the cave mouth, she suddenly collapsed onto the ground without a sound.

After an unknown amount of time, Olba slowly regained consciousness from her faint. Upon waking, she looked around blankly for a moment, then leaped up suddenly in renewed fear.

With this jump, however, Olba realized her body felt strangely filled with power. She was unaware that she had inhaled some of the vital energy from the Earth Spirit Elixir. Even a tiny amount had been enough to bring about a staggering transformation; the abundance of her essence, qi, and blood now far surpassed that of any ordinary mortal.

When a person’s qi and blood are vigorous, their courage naturally swells. Olba glanced behind her and saw Ding Nan enveloped in a strange, mysterious seven-colored light, while white vapor continuously steamed from the top of Zheng Yuan’s head, making him resemble an immortal being.

Olba paused, feeling both terrified and intrigued. She muttered to herself: Why are these Chinese people so strange? For God’s sake, if they are so strong, why were they beaten so badly more than a hundred years ago? Who can tell me why? If the Chinese are all this powerful, why haven't they unified the world?

But Olba had no time to ponder these questions; she turned and ran out.

Zheng Yuan’s cave was deep in the interior of Mount Wuhua, and he never allowed his other disciples near his residence. Furthermore, being inherently suspicious, he had only ever accepted two inner disciples throughout his life. Consequently, no one in this rear mountain dwelling stood in Olba’s way as she sprinted out of the cave.

However, just as Olba fled, Ding Nan slowly awoke from her meditative state. Her true essence had been restructured by the elixir’s spiritual energy, and the condensed power of her inner elixir was now several times more substantial than before. She exhaled a long breath, which solidified and shot out like an arrow, striking the stone wall with a loud thud, like a hammer blow, without dissipating.

Startled by the sound, Ding Nan immediately opened her eyes, only to find that Olba had vanished without a trace from the stone chamber. In a surge of anger and shock, she immediately gave chase, soaring into the air to survey the landscape from above, searching for Olba’s figure.

Olba had not managed to flee far before Ding Nan located her.

Ding Nan let out a cold laugh and instantly pursued, appearing beside Olba in the blink of an eye. She sneered, "Where do you think you're going?"

Seeing Ding Nan suddenly materialize, Olba trembled violently, the courage she had momentarily gathered instantly collapsing. She cried out in supplication, "I beg you, for God's sake, let me go! How much money do you want? I’ll give it all to you!"

Ding Nan, having previously accompanied Zhou Qin into high society circles, had deliberately cultivated fluent English. As Olba spoke, she frowned and replied in English, "Who wants your money?"

Olba was overjoyed that Ding Nan spoke English so fluently, and she immediately pleaded again, "Oh my God, your English is excellent! You are such a beautiful lady. Please, could you show great mercy and let me return? My parents and family will be very worried about me!"

Ding Nan's heart wavered, and she felt a pang of sympathy, remembering her own parents.

Seeing the hesitation in Ding Nan’s eyes, Olba knew she was softening, and continued, "If you let me go, I promise I will never tell anyone what I saw—not about John’s death, not about anything. Absolutely never!"

This single sentence instantly put Ding Nan on high alert!

She suddenly remembered: John had essentially died by her own hand!

Ding Nan had cultivated for some time and understood the rules of the cultivation world: matters within the cultivation world must be resolved internally. Therefore, Zhou Qin would never report these incidents to the police; she would certainly come after Ding Nan herself.

But if Olba were to speak of this matter, Ding Nan would become a fugitive! In that case, how could she continue her cultivation while being hunted worldwide? Did she have to resort to harming ordinary people?

The thought spurred malevolent intentions in Ding Nan, and the look she gave Olba slowly turned icy.

Seeing Ding Nan’s gaze grow colder, Olba instinctively tried to turn and flee, but Ding Nan simply let out a cold laugh, reached out, and seized her by the neck, lifting her up as easily as carrying a small chick. "Go back quietly with me!"

Though Olba struggled with all her might, she could not break free from Ding Nan’s grasp.

The pitiful cheerleader was dragged back like livestock. Seeing herself returned to the dark, cold stone chamber, she collapsed into desperate, unrestrained tears.

Although Ding Nan had no intention of letting her go, seeing Olba weeping so heartbrokenly, she couldn't help but say, "Stop crying. I won't hurt you as long as you behave."

Olba cried out, "What have I done? Why won't you let me go? What is my fault?!"

Ding Nan listened quietly at first, but as Olba repeatedly wailed these same few sentences, she finally could not contain herself and roared, "You ask me? Who should I ask? What wrong did I commit in the first place? Why must I end up in this situation, making the man I love despise me so much that he wishes to kill me with his own hands? Answer me, why?"

Olba was stunned into silence by Ding Nan's outburst, her face still streaked with tears, staring blankly, unable to speak.

At that moment, Zheng Yuan seemed to be awakened by Ding Nan's shouting and stirred from his meditative trance.

Although his complexion was still ashen, he was certainly much better off than his near-death state moments before. He let out a breath and spoke in a hoarse, weary voice, "Ping'er, what happened? What were you shouting about?"

Ding Nan managed a weak smile. "Master, you're awake? Nothing. I was just arguing with this foreign girl; she’s clamoring to go back."

"Go back?" Zheng Yuan scoffed, casting a disdainful glance at Olba. He sneered, "She thinks she can leave just because she came? She must be dreaming!"

Zheng Yuan then turned his gaze back to Ding Nan and noticed that her spirit was full and her entire being exuded an extremely powerful Yin essence. To his surprise, he exclaimed, "Ping'er, you... your cultivation has advanced greatly!"

Ding Nan naturally knew it was because she had absorbed the spiritual energy from the elixir. She smiled obsequiously, "That is all thanks to Master's blessing!"

"My blessing?" Zheng Yuan was no fool. He hadn't noticed the abnormality when the Earth Spirit Elixir was dispersed as mist earlier, but seeing Ding Nan’s sudden, massive cultivation leap—already approaching the peak of the Yang Spirit realm—he couldn't have been so slow as to not realize the truth after a lifetime of practice.

Shocked and enraged, Zheng Yuan blurted out, "That puff of smoke was the elixir’s spiritual energy? You... you absorbed it too? Did Li Yundong and the others absorb it as well?"

Seeing the mixture of shock, anger, and biting jealousy in Zheng Yuan's eyes, Ding Nan’s heart sank. She quickly dropped to her knees with a thud, stammering, "Master, I... I didn't mean to... at the time, I just..."

Zheng Yuan stared at Ding Nan, his expression shifting between dark moods. He was so consumed by envy he felt he could bleed; he wished he could instantly drain all the blood from Ding Nan and seize the spiritual energy within her for himself!

But the medicinal power of the Earth Spirit Elixir dissolved very quickly, and Ding Nan was a rare, excellent vessel. She had fully assimilated the energy before he could act—it was too late.

Since the deed was done, Zheng Yuan forced down the gnawing jealousy eating at his insides and managed a strained smile. "Very well, Ping'er. This is your fortune. Your Master... is inferior to you!"

Ding Nan was exceptionally skilled at reading people. She had even caught a flicker of killing intent in Zheng Yuan’s eyes. Shocked to the core, she considered resistance, but Zheng Yuan's authority was long-established, and he possessed fearsome magical artifacts. Although she had the Luo Mu Soul Separating Hairpin, she knew few true spells, and a confrontation would likely end disastrously for her.

In that critical moment, Ding Nan’s thoughts raced. She immediately adopted a seductive smile. "Master, if I am good, doesn't that mean you are good?"

This phrase stirred something in Zheng Yuan. Seeing the beautiful Ding Nan beaming sweetly to please him, he thought: That's right. As the leader of the Yin-Yang Sect, what am I best at if not the art of Yin-Yang union?

Zheng Yuan laughed heartily. "Good girl, Ping'er, you are right! If you are good, then I am good! Your Master might as well try out this Divine Art of Yin-Yang Union with you, so I too can experience the marvelous creation granted by this immortal elixir's spiritual energy!"

Hearing this sudden proposal, Ding Nan desperately wished she could slap herself across the face. Her expression froze, and her hand instinctively reached for the Luo Mu Soul Separating Hairpin hidden behind her back. She thought through gritted teeth: This old lecher, he finally couldn't hold back! If he dares to touch me, I’ll take him down with me!