Inside the room in Lian's house, Lianna was lying on a bed, and Riria remained by her side, holding her hand and examining her condition. Lianna had been brought by Lian's order before the battle, to be present in his house.
Lian entered the room quietly, gently opening the door. Riria was startled by his entrance and looked at him with teary eyes. Lianna appeared to be perfectly healthy on the outside but remained unconscious for some unknown reason. Riria was extremely anxious and worried about the situation.
Lian silently sat next to his mother and gently placed his hand on her forehead, allowing his soul to delve deeply into her condition. Each day, her cultivation regressed like a countdown to imminent death. Now, she was in the early stage of the Bone Forging realm, maintaining stability.
"She used up all her Qi in battle and was likely attacked by assassins afterward," Lian said calmly, sharing his findings with Riria. "She then used up all her willpower and life force to fight, completely depleting her life. Without my intervention, she would die in a few years, even though she's under fifty years old."
As Lian spoke calmly, tears streamed down Riria's face like pearls falling onto her clothes. She looked at Lianna, filled with emotion and sadness.
"Her life force has already been fully restored. The crystal I gave her contained all the vitality of a cultivator in the Meridian Transformation Realm. She could have awakened, but her condition isn't that simple. When she was still pregnant with me, she was fatally poisoned," Lian explained.
Lianna had never shared her past with Riria, but Riria had knowledge, through conversations with other clan members, about Lian's father's tragic death and the near-fatal poisoning that Lianna endured.
"I managed to survive by some miracle, and my mother suppressed the poison with her cultivation within her body. However, when she was extremely weak and had to fight using the life force energy, the poison attacked again and contaminated all her meridians," Lian added with sorrow in his voice.
"I will completely destroy her cultivation and meridians to remove the poison once and for all. She will become just a mortal again, but she will wake up." Upon hearing that Lianna would become a mortal again, Riria wore an expression of despair. She knew that a mortal would only live for a few decades and couldn't bear to see her die.
But Lian quickly reassured her, saying that in the future, he could restore Lianna's body and allow her to cultivate again, living for a long time. This promise relieved a great burden from Riria's shoulders, as she fully trusted Lian. She was certain that he would do whatever it took to heal her.
A thin layer of Qi emerged in Lian's hands as his eyebrows furrowed, and he began to completely destroy his mother's cultivation. The process was meticulous and precise, aiming to remove all the poison and restore her condition as a mortal.
The room was engulfed in a storm of powerful winds, lifting everything into the air. Within a few minutes, all the energy contained in Lianna's organs, muscles, and bones was drained by a destructive force. Her entire cultivation in the Bone Forging Realm stage was sucked into Lian, eliminating any possibility of recovery in a mortal world.
The technique used by Lian was one he had learned as Zeke, designed to punish and destroy someone's cultivation in the cruelest way possible. The pain of returning to a mortal condition and remaining alive was extremely distressing for any cultivator. However, now he was employing the same technique to save someone. The irony did not escape Lian's eyes.
Upon completing the process within his own body, the small divine plant absorbed the poison present in that Qi. Lian was now able to communicate with the plant and had some ideas about how he could use it based on the visions he had in his dream. He conveyed his intention to simply devour the poison, and the plant promptly complied with his request. These abilities would be extremely useful to him in the future.
After everything settled down, Lian's expression turned serious as he said, "In a few days, my mother will awaken and never be threatened by anyone again. You no longer need to protect me or her." Lian spoke as Riria looked into his eyes and listened attentively.
"In the future, I will cultivate myself to a level far beyond what you can imagine. You can live a peaceful life with my mother within the clan and die of old age if you so desire," Lian continued, after a brief pause, maintaining his gaze on her.
"Or I can transfer all my mother's Qi into your body. I will guide this Qi within you to correct all the flaws and issues in your cultivation. You have tried to force yourself to cultivate as a human, but at best, due to your lineage, you will reach the Bone Forging Realm in your lifetime."
"This process will be quite painful, but your future will be limitless with me as your guide. The path of cultivators is filled with mountains of bones. If you choose to live by my side, you will have to walk, always stepping on corpses."
"Listen to your heart, for it will reveal the truth. There is no need to prove anything, be free and discover what you truly desire. What is your wish?"
Riria listened attentively, and her heart raced. Her face blushed intensely, and she lowered her head, unable to meet Lian's gaze.
Lian was momentarily confused but soon understood. He knew that Riria's feelings for him were intense. While he could have eliminated all the cultivators in the arena, he decided to give her that responsibility.
Riria needed to understand the gravity of following him. In the future, she would have to face situations where taking lives would be necessary. Only youthful and innocent passion would not be enough to tread this path.
Lian wanted to test her determination, but it seemed his words were interpreted differently by her. Riria never considered for a second not staying by his side. When she heard his words, she understood it as if he was merely asking about her feelings.
"Please help me fix my cultivation... I will dedicate myself to the fullest to become useful in the future. Even if I die, I will always be by your side, helping and protecting. I want to be with you always..."
Lian listened attentively to her words. As Zeke, he had read ancient legends about an elf who saved the life of a Dark Willow Tree. He removed the central branch, where all its power was concentrated, and used his Qi to nourish and nurture it.
After a long time, a life form was born and lived alongside that elf as its partner. Together, they were like Yin and Yang, capable of defeating dozens of cultivators in the Divine Origin Realm with a single strike.
Lian found this legend somewhat exaggerated, but he knew that the power of an Elf and a Dark Willow came from the same natural source. They were opposites that complemented each other. If there truly existed such a powerful connection and trust between them, their power could not be underestimated.
Of course, other Elves had tried to replicate the legend in the Divine Plane, but they always failed, resulting in the death of the Dark Willow. Soon, it was agreed upon that it was impossible to nourish and nurture it due to the powerful Qi of the Divine Plane. It was impossible for an elf to separate the destructive Qi of the world and feed the Dark Willow solely with natural energy.
This Dark Willow Tree that Lian had encountered was something completely impossible to exist in the Mortal Plane. The laws here were fragile and unsustainable. Lian simply set up a simple formation on the Sabre to properly nourish the branch. The laws here wouldn't harm it.
This was a great opportunity for Riria to prove whether the legends were true or not. When she manages to enter the Divine Plane, the Dark Willow will have already grown strong enough to not be killed by the destructive Qi.
Lian would be more than happy to guide Riria to the Divine Plane because she would also be of great help with her power in the future.
The young Lian, who had lived alongside Riria, was also in love with her. These feelings hadn't disappeared from within him, causing conflicting thoughts in the current Lian. However, he chose to let the future determine the fate of the two.