81: Chapter 81 Fellow Daoist, I will never forget your life-saving grace!

The woman was in mid-air, losing her balance.

Jiang Xuan flipped his wrist, his fingertips instantly gripping a golden, shimmering Talisman.

He seized the moment and whipped his arm out. With a "snap," the Talisman stuck firmly onto the woman's chest!

"Dao decree: Earth as Prison, Golden Talisman locks the Qi!"

A low shout rang out, and the Talisman erupted with a blinding golden light.

Several golden chains, purely condensed from spiritual power, appeared out of thin air.

Like swimming snakes, they rapidly coiled around the woman's limbs and body, binding her tightly.

"Bang."

The woman's limbs went limp, and she collapsed heavily onto the leaf-strewn mud, unable to move a single inch.

Jiang Xuan's previous counter-shock of Qi, combined with the shockwave from the Talisman, had completely shattered the already tattered robes on her body.

The fabric fell away in pieces like butterflies.

At this moment, only a white silk dudou that barely preserved her modesty remained on her body, along with the torn remnants of her skirt.

Large patches of fair, delicate skin, like coagulated fat, were exposed without reservation to the air under the moonlight of this desolate wilderness.

Jiang Xuan swept a glance from above.

Only then did he realize that this female cultivator was extremely beautiful.

Her figure was curvaceous and graceful, her curves proud, and her face was like a jade peach blossom, stunningly beautiful.

However, she was currently bound by the golden lock, and although her manic spiritual power was suppressed,

the faint rising and falling of her chest proved she was still hovering on the edge of life and death, clinging on with only the last bit of her weak Divine Sense.

Before Jiang Xuan could make a move, the System's voice sounded right on time:

[This woman's life hangs by a thread. Please make a choice.]

[Option 1: Bestow a Medicinal Pill to restore her Divine Sense.]

[Option 2: Carry out justice on behalf of heaven and eliminate the root of the problem.]

Jiang Xuan looked at the panel and rubbed his brow helplessly.

He had always been soft-hearted and couldn't bear to see such a pitiful Fellow Daoist die in the wilderness.

"Does this even need a choice?"

"I am using hard-earned Spirit Stones to do good deeds here."

Muttering to himself, he fished out a translucent, deep blue clear heart pill from his Storage Pouch.

Previously, when An Luoling suffered from Qi Deviation, it was this Medicinal Pill that brought her back.

He walked over to the woman and crouched down, gripping her soft jaw with two fingers and applying slight pressure to force her to open her mouth.

He took the opportunity to stuff the clear heart pill inside, then tapped her throat with one finger, using gentle spiritual power to help her dissolve the medicinal efficacy.

As the clear medicinal power rushed straight to her spiritual platform,

the ferocious, crazed expression on the woman's face finally began to slowly recede, and the scarlet in her eyes faded quite a bit.

Seeing that it was effective, Jiang Xuan decided to be a good person to the end.

He took out another pale green rejuvenation pill and another clear heart pill.

He pried open her lips, stuffed them in together, and did the same to help her dissolve them.

Watching her breathing gradually stabilize, Jiang Xuan felt a pang of heartache.

In just the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, over a hundred Spirit Stones had gone down the drain!

...

Half an hour later.

The mountain wind blew through the forest, making the fallen leaves rustle.

The woman slumped on the ground let out a soft moan, her tightly closed eyelashes trembling slightly as her consciousness finally cleared completely.

The torture of Qi Deviation combined with her severe injuries left her drenched in cold sweat.

That thin white dudou and the tattered skirt were now damp and clinging tightly to her skin.

Outlining her graceful and full silhouette, it shimmered with an alluring luster under the moonlight.

Seeing that she was awake, Jiang Xuan generously withdrew his gaze and snapped his fingers.

The golden chains wrapped around her instantly turned into specks of spiritual light and dissipated into the night wind.

The woman felt her whole body loosen and weakly supported herself on the ground with her arms.

She raised her other hand to rub her throbbing forehead, looking at the young male cultivator standing in front of her with bewildered and guarded eyes.

Her voice was hoarse and weak: "Who... who are you?"

Jiang Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, a gentle and kind smile curling at the corners of his mouth, his voice steady:

"I am from Tingfeng Town, the proprietor of the Yunyou Shop, Jiang Xuan."

"I was passing by just now and saw you collapsed with severe injuries, nearly dying from Qi Deviation, so I took the liberty of intervening to save you."

"The situation was urgent, so if there was any rudeness or offense, I hope you will forgive me."

Hearing these words, the woman was stunned for a moment.

Fragments of memory from before she lost consciousness flooded into her mind like a tide, and her expression changed instantly.

When she realized that it was the man in front of her who had pulled her back from the gates of hell,

she didn't care about her indecent exposure, struggling to change her sitting posture to kneel on the ground, lifting that charming face full of gratitude.

Her voice trembled with the feeling of surviving a disaster: "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for saving my life!"

"Fellow Daoist, I shall never forget your great kindness in saving my life!"

Jiang Xuan found her respectful demeanor rather amusing.

Good grief, this trip out, he had reaped such great gratitude twice in a row; this business wasn't such a bad deal after all.

He didn't help her up, but just asked casually: "I wonder what trouble you encountered, Fellow Daoist, that led to such severe injuries and this predicament?"

Hearing this, a look of deep grief and lingering fear appeared in the woman's eyes.

She gritted her teeth and recounted in a low voice:

"I am just a Loose Cultivator. Hearing that the Ascension Conference was beginning, I wanted to come to the outskirts to observe the Seniors' Divine Ability in battle and broaden my knowledge."

"Who would have known that on the way, I would run into three evil-minded White Lotus cultists!"

"Relying on their numbers, they saw I was alone and began to taunt me, wanting to forcibly humiliate me..."

A layer of mist welled up in the woman's eyes, and she clenched the dead leaves on the ground with both hands:

"I refused to submit and could only flee for my life."

"In my panic, I blindly stumbled into the fog in this valley."

"But those three wouldn't give up and actually chased me into the thick fog."

"I was outnumbered and eventually captured by them, and beaten into severe injury."

Speaking of this, her body couldn't stop trembling: "Just when I thought my purity was lost and I was surely going to die..."

"A pinkish-white demon fox suddenly sprang out from the depths of the thick fog!"

"That demon fox was extremely ferocious and tore one of them apart in a single bite!"

"The remaining two White Lotus cultists were terrified and hurriedly dealt with the demon fox."

The woman took a deep breath and looked up at Jiang Xuan:

"I took advantage of them being entangled in the fight and used all my strength to escape that area."

"But the baleful Qi permeating the demon fox was too sinister. I inhaled quite a bit while fleeing, causing my Meridians to reverse."

"Just as I escaped to this maple tree, I completely succumbed to Qi Deviation and lost consciousness..."

"When I woke up, I saw you, my benefactor."

Song Lianyin's face was full of gratitude, and she said in a soft, delicate voice: "My name is Song Lianyin."

"I presume that to pull me back from the gates of hell, you must have expended many precious Spirit Pills, Benefactor."

"I have no way to repay such great kindness. I only have this Storage Pouch, which contains the little savings I have accumulated over the years."

"Please, Benefactor, do not disdain it..."

As she spoke, she reached for her waist, wanting to untie her Storage Pouch.

But her hand met nothing.

Song Lianyin was stunned. She looked down and saw that the place where the Storage Pouch used to hang was empty.

Only then did she suddenly recall that when she was fleeing for her life, the Storage Pouch had already been snatched away by one of those three White Lotus cultists!

Her face, originally full of gratitude, instantly fell, and her eyes quickly welled up with mist.

Her watery peach-blossom eyes revealed a sense of helpless grievance. She looked up at Jiang Xuan pitifully, her voice trembling:

"Benefactor... the Storage Pouch was snatched by them..."

Jiang Xuan watched her miserable appearance and was secretly amused, but he deliberately put on a troubled expression.

He slowly leaned down and spoke in a leisurely manner:

"Well, that is troublesome."

"The Medicinal Pill I fed you just now to save your life, all in all, is worth at least two hundred Spirit Stones."