[Qingran, where are you going?]
“Ah, Master!”
Li Qingran, who was walking through the mountains with Yue Qianchi, suddenly froze in place.
She blinked her wide, bright eyes and looked around, only to quickly realize that her master wouldn’t appear beside her in person.
So she looked up at the empty air above her head, her face lighting up with joy.
“Master, Senior Sister and I are heading to Lingxi Valley to seek medicine~”
[Lingxi Valley? That far?]
Li Qingran explained, “There’s no choice~ Elder Liu already searched the entire medicine garden and only managed to gather part of the herbs needed for the Hundred Herbs Detoxification Pill.
The rest can only be found in Lingxi Valley, so I plan to go there to get the rest.”
After explaining, she quickly pulled the confused Yue Qianchi over.
“Master, this is my Senior Sister Yue Qianchi. The Sect Master sent her to accompany me. With Senior Sister taking care of me, the journey will definitely go more smoothly.”
Yue Qianchi blinked, looking around but seeing nothing.
She could only awkwardly smile in the direction Li Qingran was addressing and gave a small bow.
“Senior… greetings?”
This was way too strange — who was Li Qingran even talking to just now?
She hadn’t heard a voice at all.
Was it a private sound transmission?
If so… wasn’t this super awkward?
Yue Qianchi tapped her foot nervously.
Although she was a senior in Jiange, she was still shy when it came to matters outside the sect.
[Your Electronic Girlfriend has left Jiange — team mode activated.]
A team formation window popped up in the upper left corner of the screen.
The team leader was Li Qingran, with a little red flag icon on her chibi avatar.
Chen Huaian himself appeared in the second slot below, marked as deputy captain, his avatar labeled with a mysterious [Spiritual Transformation] buff.
Yue Qianchi wasn’t in the team yet — a request notification appeared:
[Do you want to allow Yue Qianchi to join team voice chat?]
“Uh… sure.”
Chen Huaian’s lips twitched.
The bearded uncle once told him that some resurrectors had companion spirits similar to his — like that [Magic Pen] guy.
But honestly, no one’s companion spirit could be as quirky as his.
[Jiange Senior Sister — Yue Qianchi has joined the team.]
As this notification popped up, Chen Huaian realized he could actually check Yue Qianchi’s basic info now:
[Yue Qianchi — Jiange Senior Sister]
[Traits: Alcoholic, loyal, slightly scatterbrained]
[Life Experience: Witnessed her parents perish in a fire as a child, nearly dying herself, but was rescued by the Sword Pavilion Master Su Qinian. Possesses a single Gold Spiritual Root, cultivates Xuanwu Sword Intent, and is the eldest disciple of Jiange.]
Compared to unfamiliar cultivators, teammates revealed far more detailed information — even a brief bio.
Chen Huaian was very pleased.
“Nice — it’s like having a party member in an MMO.”
He had been worried Yue Qianchi might be getting close to Li Qingran with ulterior motives.
After all, hearts are unpredictable, and his precious electronic girlfriend was full of rare treasures.
If Yue Qianchi had bad intentions, he couldn’t monitor them 24/7.
But — it’s a game, after all, not real life.
Now that the game revealed everything directly, he was reassured.
His opinion of Yue Qianchi improved immediately.
[You’re Yue Qianchi? I’ve heard my disciple mention you a lot.]
Yue Qianchi jolted when she heard the voice this time.
But she quickly adjusted — she was bold and had a good temperament.
She turned to Li Qingran, smirking.
“Oh ho~ Looks like Junior Sister Qingran praises me a lot when I’m not around?”
Li Qingran blushed at that, dodging her gaze.
She fidgeted with her fingers and muttered, “N-no I don’t… Don’t listen to Master’s nonsense…”
[With you accompanying Li Qingran, I can rest easy.]
Chen Huaian had intended to compliment Yue Qianchi for being reliable.
But upon hearing this, Li Qingran’s eyes immediately turned red.
“Master — how could you say that?!”
She gripped the hem of her skirt tightly, her voice quivering.
“I might be a little foolish, but I’m running around trying to save you — without a single regret!
Last night I stayed up grinding and sorting those spirit herbs one by one, until my eyes went blurry — I wouldn’t dare make even the smallest mistake!
Master, can’t you pull yourself together a little for us? For your own life?
Don’t say such discouraging things!”
She wiped at her teary eyes and lowered her head, staring down at her toes.
She knew it wasn’t proper to talk back to her master.
But she couldn’t accept those kinds of words — even if she was punished, she would say it.
Yue Qianchi glanced up at the sky, then at Li Qingran.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally pulled Li Qingran into her ample embrace — not caring at all that this “Master” was probably watching invisibly overhead — and grumbled:
“Senior, you should manage your disciple better.
I’m only twenty-eight, okay?
I don’t want to suddenly have a kid to take care of — I haven’t even found a Dao partner yet!”
“Okay, Qingran — don’t cry!”
Yue Qianchi reached out, gently patting Li Qingran’s head with a soft voice.
“Don’t worry. If your master dares to abandon you and leave you to me, I’ll just throw you into the Ten Thousand Mountains to feed the monsters and see if he can bear it!”
Li Qingran: “…”
Chen Huaian, watching from his phone screen, remained silent.
He wasn’t bothered by Yue Qianchi’s teasing, but Li Qingran’s trembling, tearful voice was still echoing in his mind.
To be honest — up until now, he had always treated this so-called Hundred Herbs Detoxification Pill as nothing more than part of the game’s storyline.
Because he told Li Qingran he was poisoned…
So Li Qingran went and searched for the most miraculous detoxification pill in the world — for him.
But he knew very well…
Cancer wasn’t some poison.
It was something far crueler and more terrifying.
Even now, with the world’s spiritual energy beginning to revive, even that bearded uncle hadn’t dared guarantee it could be cured — he’d only said he could find a resuscitator to try.
“So… there really is someone… who worries about me, who frets over me, who desperately works to keep me alive, who… truly cares about me?”
Chen Huaian muttered under his breath, a spark flickering in the darkness of his eyes.
“Even if it’s just my… companion spirit!”
The bearded man had said —
A companion spirit lives and dies with its master.
It wants him to live.
It wants to save him.
So —
This so-called Electronic Girlfriend game.
And the Li Qingran within it.
They were doing everything they could, through whatever means possible, to tell him one thing:
Chen Huaian — live.
Don’t give up.
[Okay!]
A familiar voice suddenly echoed in the void.
Li Qingran, still wiping her tears, raised her head in surprise.
Across two separate worlds, their gazes intertwined.
Chen Huaian pressed the sound transmission talisman, took a deep breath, and spoke with unwavering conviction:
[I won’t die — I have to live!]
He, Chen Huaian —
must live.
“Damn you, heavens! You’ve made me suffer this long, and you still want me dead?”
“I refuse!”
“I just — want to live!!”
Ba Ji, lying nearby, stared at the furious Chen Huaian, who was trembling as he yelled up at the ceiling, and silently muttered:
Damn, boss… so mighty…
But if you live, I’ll probably die…
It sighed in its heart.
This guy… he’s gone mad.
That kind of unhinged state… it’s a typical sign of partial memory awakening.
Looks like the boss isn’t far from fully regaining his memory…
Gotta run.
Have to run!
At that moment, Chen Huaian let out a long sigh.
Up until now, he’d lived as if nothing mattered —
Spending money recklessly, confronting wolves and monsters head-on, daring to face danger time and again —
Because he had no hope, no future.
Death didn’t scare him.
Nothing mattered.
So he was fearless.
But now, he wanted to live.
So he was willing to risk everything.
Kill monsters.
Make money.
Get the best treatment.
Isn’t there that special-effect injection? 1.5 million a shot?
One shot not enough? Ten shots!
Ten shots not enough? A hundred!
If the injections didn’t work, he still had his Spring Vitality Needles and Meridian Opening Needles.
As long as he had money — he could keep upgrading, and sooner or later, there’d come a day when he’d get better.
Chen Huaian’s heart surged with blood-pumping determination.
He stood up, straightened his clothes, and opened the door with bold, confident energy.
The moment the door opened —
a petite figure collapsed against it.
Startled by the sudden movement, the person let out a frightened squeak, staggered back a few steps, and then fell flat onto the floor with a plop.
Chen Huaian blinked — then immediately recognized the girl sitting there.
His eyebrow lifted.
“Three Zeros?”
