The injuries she had suffered in her youth had been far too severe, and after being hurt she had forced herself to keep cultivating; her meridians had remained in a damaged state, yet she continued to train. As a result, though her strength had recovered somewhat, the strain on her meridians had exceeded what they could bear, hastening the old director's aging and pushing her bodily functions prematurely into their twilight years.

So the old director had not really been lying.

And when Wei Zhao saw the old director now, his heart gave a slight start. For this time, compared with the last time he had seen her, she had indeed aged a great deal. Before, she had been old, yes, but still hale and vigorous; now, however, she had about her something of the flickering candle guttering in the wind.

At this sight, Wei Zhao knitted his brows slightly and asked at once, "Old Director, I heard you've fallen ill? What happened? You don't look well."

"It's nothing—an old complaint." The old director smiled, plainly unwilling to say much to Wei Zhao and wanting only to send him and the others on their way. "A little rest and it'll pass..."

Her meaning was plain enough: she wished to rest, and unless Wei Zhao and the others were fools, they could hardly fail to catch the note of dismissal in her words.

But hearing it was one thing and acting on it another. Wei Zhao had no intention of leaving at all. He stepped into the old director's room instead, brooded for a moment, and said, "Old Director, let me take a look for you."

In fact, back when he had treated White Leader's wounds, Yu Xiaoke had raised a similar request—asking him to heal her master. But at the time Wei Zhao had had far too many misgivings. His own strength had been modest then, and he feared that if he cured Yu Xiaoke's master, he would draw down the vengeance of that master's enemy.

After all, Wei Zhao had vaguely heard that Yu Xiaoke's master had once been a Mystic-rank or even Earth-rank expert, which meant whoever had wounded her must have been at least Earth-rank, perhaps even Heaven-rank. In those days Wei Zhao would have been no match for such an enemy at all.

But things were different now. Wei Zhao's fame resounded far and wide; it was even said among the ancient sects that he could kill a peak late Heaven-rank expert in a single blow. With such means at his command, who would dare provoke him? Only a man bent on death would seek him out.

So now, in theory, healing the old director of the orphanage would not only fail to bring down that enemy's revenge—indeed, once he learned that Wei Zhao had been the one to cure her, he would not dare trouble the old director again.

Even the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect and the Eastern Clan had vanished without a trace. Would anyone else imagine themselves mightier than those two? Plainly not.

Yu Xiaoke was slightly taken aback. She had once begged Wei Zhao to heal the old director, only to have him put her off. What had come over him today? Had he turned over a new leaf? Why was he suddenly treating the old director's wounds?

Ah! Could it be that because she had just agreed to accept his clothes, Wei Zhao had mistaken it for her consent to be his girlfriend? Yes, that had to be it—otherwise why would Wei Zhao be so eager and so forward?

At this thought Yu Xiaoke felt a wave of gloom. She wanted to explain, but then she reflected that if the old director's injuries could be healed, what did her own trifling concerns matter? Never mind—at worst she would just give in to Wei Zhao. The old director was her master, who had raised her from a child; she owed her a debt of gratitude.

For more than ten years Yu Xiaoke had lived for others, never once thinking of herself. At long last she had met the Male Thief, yet even then she could not choose her own love. Still, Yu Xiaoke did not regret it. That was simply the kind of person she was.

"Wei Zhao, do you mean to heal my master?" Yu Xiaoke asked outright, leaving him no room to refuse.

"Mm, let me have a look first," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"Then... if you cure the old director, I... I'll be grateful to you..." Yu Xiaoke wanted to say she would give in to him, but the words would not come out. What if that was not what he meant? Though she felt certain it must be, she still spoke ambiguously.

"Oh." Wei Zhao truly gave it little thought; his attention was fixed wholly on the old director.

Seeing his lukewarm response, Yu Xiaoke felt suddenly deflated. Was it that once she had agreed to give in to him, he no longer prized her as a rare treasure? She sank into gloom again.

Xu Shilan, meanwhile, was watching the old director with brows tightly knit. She felt the old director resembled someone from her memory, yet she could not recall where she had seen her. Still, that sense of deep familiarity made her desperately want to get to the bottom of it—though for the moment she could find no thread to follow.

The more it nagged at her, the more curious Xu Shilan became. After all, when a person sees a face that seems familiar, they will rack their brains over where that person came from; and even if they cannot recall, they will keep on thinking.

"My head hurts..." Xu Shilan's head suddenly began to ache—for no reason at all—and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Thank goodness she wore no makeup; otherwise it would have been ruined.

Wei Zhao was just about to examine the old director's injuries when he heard Xu Shilan's moan and gave a start. He thought to himself that she had been perfectly well during all those days at home—why should her head ache the moment they went out?

Still, he did not dare be careless. Xu Shilan was, after all, a guest he had invited to perform at the orphanage's charity show. He turned at once to the old director and said apologetically, "Old Director, let me see to her first—please wait a moment..."

"Of course, go and look at her quickly. What's wrong with her?" The old director forgot her own troubles entirely. She knew her own body: this was the aftereffect of an injury from her youth, and it would not kill her anytime soon. But Xu Shilan was in agony with her headache, and it tore at the old director's heart.

Wei Zhao caught the anxiety in the old director's eyes and found it rather strange. He could not understand why she should suddenly be so concerned for Xu Shilan—though, he supposed, Xu Shilan was a guest of the orphanage, and if her head ached while she was here, the old director would naturally be worried.

Cheng Yiyi had already fished out a painkiller, ready to give it to Xu Shilan, but Wei Zhao waved her off. He reached out and massaged Xu Shilan's forehead and chest a couple of times, and her headache eased. "This medicine has no side effects, but taken over a long time it will still breed resistance. So it's best avoided when you can manage without it."

Seeing Wei Zhao cure Xu Shilan with just a few touches, Cheng Yiyi was taken aback—while Yu Xiaoke grew all the more confident that he could heal the old director's injuries! (Follow the author Yu Ren's public WeChat account yuren22!) RS

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