Chapter 411: The Last Lifeline of the Pureflower Sect
Technically, going to the Pureflower stronghold should have made Zae Zin Nim feel more safe, yet as they ascended away from Kai she only felt isolated. Leaving all men behind would have been a blessing in her youth, but now giving up Kai in exchange for a large number of women she couldn't trust didn't seem like a good trade. All she could do was stick close to Omilaena and believe in her ability.
When they reached the top, despite being in a Pureflower sect ship, they were immediately scrutinized by several cultivators. They had both purified themselves beforehand, however, and all of Kai's things were in his spatial ring, so they were permitted into the sect.
"You've returned." One of the elders regarded them with a degree of incredulity.
"You thought our word was worth so little?" Omilaena asked with a hurt expression, as if she hadn't been arguing for them to leave just a month ago. "We cannot promise that we can cure Kir Mei Bai, but we will do our best. We... hope that she is well?"
"She is not well, but she still lives. Come this way."
They were ushered through the sect headquarters to the isolated building, which had been even more heavily fortified since their last visit. Zae Zin Nim noted that the atmosphere in the corridors was more muted, and many of the women she passed looked sorrowful. Once they got inside the innermost chamber, however, everything looked untouched.
Only Kir Mei Bai herself had changed: she was paler and thinner, yet somehow still exquisitely beautiful, like a fragile flower. It made Zae Zin Nim think of her own illness, coughing up black bile while the ragged scars across her body bled all over her.
"We're reaching our limit," one of the alchemists said from the bedside. The woman looked half-dead herself. "She has taken two Divine Remedy Pills, so she can take only one more in her entire lifetime. We have also done our best to draw out drops of poison, but it grows more virulent with every attempt."
"I will do what I can." Omilaena went to the bedside with a good impression of reverence, then touched the Prana Jewels to the matriarch's forehead.