Briefly after, the seven-colored halo that surrounded Long Siye faded. Long Siye's face was pale as he kneeled helplessly on the ground. Unsure of where his wounds were, he kneeled with sweats rolling down his face.

Gu Xijiu was beside Long Siye, anxiously trying to read his pulse with trembling fingers.

Long Siye was in great pain. His robes were all soaked in sweat, but he did not want Gu Xijiu to be worried. He raised his hand and stopped her from reading his pulse. "It is alright. I… I am fine."

"Let me… Let me check," Gu Xijiu answered in a hoa.r.s.e voice, as though she was trying very hard to repress her struggles. "Please, I beg you. Let me have a look."

She tried very hard to stop her body from trembling. Her face was as pale as paper. Nevertheless, she chose to focus on Long Siye with her unmoving, dark eyes. "Let me have a look at you."

Long Siye finally stopped resisting.

Gu Xijiu tried to read his pulse with the tips of her icy cold fingers. She looked very serious, like a real doctor.

The circulation in Long Siye's body was a mess as his blood pressure kept surging. He could feel pain in every inch of his body, so much so that he wanted to turn and toss on the floor to ease the pain. However, he did not want Gu Xijiu to be worried, so he held back his pain and gave her a comforting smile. "Nothing. It is nothing. There is only a little pain. Later… I'll be fine later."

Gu Xijiu fixed her eyes on him without saying anything. Through the tip of her fingers, a steady stream of spiritual power slowly entered his system. The spiritual power served to comfort his messed up circulation.

His condition was not too bad, as it did not take too long for his pulse to return to its normal rate. The pain in his body had been greatly reduced as well. Finally, Long Siye stopped sweating, and his complexion returned to normal.

Gu Xijiu removed her hand. "How do you feel now?"

Long Siye looked into his body condition and realized that his spiritual power seemed to have been reduced. He was about to reach level ten before this. Now he was not even at level nine.

He was actually relieved. He thought that he would lose all of his spiritual power.

"Fine, I am fine," he quickly explained. It was a shame that he had lost one level, but the condition was not as bad as he thought. He could always practice more and regain his current status.

Gu Xijiu's eyes were filled with concern. She observed his complexion again and murmured, "You spiritual power has been reduced."

"Just a little. It does not matter."

Gu Xijiu closed her eyes for a brief moment before she continued, "How can you say it does not matter? It is very difficult for you to advance from level eight to level nine." She hesitated. Her lips were starting to tremble, but she tried to smile. "I got you into trouble. It is my entire fault. I should have behaved better. I will not do it aga..." Before she could finish, she started to vomit blood. Her body then started to sway. Immediately, she suffered from a blackout and fell.

"Xijiu!"

In a blur, she could still remember that Long Siye called her name out loud. She could feel that she fell into a man's arms. Then, she lost consciousness completely.

…

Gu Xijiu was sick for three days. The fever came and went. She was unconscious.

In her sleep, she could tell that someone kept holding onto her hand. Someone kept talking to her and telling her that she should stay strong.

How could she stay strong?

She was exhausted.

She had always been a very strong and determined woman who would not rest until she had reached her goals.

No matter how difficult the situation was, she would always do everything she could to overcome the problem. She had always been very optimistic.