Bailu led the two of them all the way to Stargazer Navalia.
As the most crowded place in the Luofu, its bustling liveliness rivaled even the Central Starskiff Haven. The air buzzed with voices, merchants, laughter, music, and the fragrance of tea and incense.
"This place… truly hasn't changed at all."
Jingliu shook her head, finding the unchanging scenery dull.
Jingliu looked around, her white hair swaying lightly. Her tone was flat, almost bored.
Seven hundred years, and Stargazer Navalia was exactly as she remembered. Its stubborn adherence to tradition was almost comical.
At least the Central Starskiff Haven, the one she destroyed had been rebuilt into something better afterward.
"L-Lady Bailu?"
A hushed voice called out. Jingliu and Daichi turned to see a woman in Alchemy Commission Division robes, bent slightly as she approached Bailu.
"Oh! Sister Banxia!"
Banxia, a physician who often worked alongside Bailu. Naturally, Bailu addressed her familiarly.
"Dragon Lady, why are you here at this hour?"
"Because I'm out to have fun, of course!"
Bailu puffed out her small chest proudly.
"There weren't many patients today. After treating them, I came out with my friends!"
As for whether Dan-Ding Division would run into trouble without her?
Please — that place housed the entire Luofu's medical expertise.
Even if she wasn't there, it would hardly collapse.
And if it did collapse, Jing Yuan would have rearranged the entire place himself.
"...…"
Banxia hesitated. She looked torn.
After a brief internal struggle, she spoke solemnly.
"Lady Bailu… I want to ask you for a favor."
Her fingers twisted at her sleeves, turning white from tension.
Her voice trembled.
"I want to ask you… to treat someone."
"Treat? Then you should just bring them to the clinic, right?" Bailu blinked.
"Why ask me out here?"
Banxia was medical staff. If she needed treatment, she only needed to bring the patient in — why ask like this?
"No… Lady Bailu. The one I want you to treat — his condition is severe."
Banxia leaned close to Bailu's ear, not noticing that Jingliu and Daichi had silently stepped right behind her.
"I want to ask you to treat a mortal… and someone who has begun to show signs of being Mara-struck."
"Eh?"
Bailu was so startled she took a step back, nearly falling over.
Treatment for Mara affliction…?
Me?
he turned — and nearly jumped when she saw Daichi and Jingliu openly listening.
Banxia gasped, frightened.
"H-How long have you been—?!"
"Explain clearly what you just said."
Jingliu's cold voice sliced into her ears like frost.
Bailu quickly grabbed both Jingliu and Daichi hands.
"Sister Banxia, they're my friends!"
Friends...
Banxia recognized Daichi, he was frequently dragged out by Bailu like an accomplice in mischief, only to return by dusk when the elders began searching.
But the other woman…
The air around her was cold enough to raise goosebumps made Banxia instinctively wary.
Still — the matter was not something she could share freely.
"My apologies. This is between me and Lady Bailu. It has nothing to do with the two of you."
"Then Bailu won't be going with you."
Daichi stepped slightly forward, drawing Bailu to his side.
The moment he heard her name, he remembered her story.
This was the long-lived physician woman who fell in love with a short-lived partner.
Convinced she could give him immortality… only to be used by the Abundance hidden sect as a test subject. — eventually falling into Mara madness.
Her lover had only ever seen her as a tool to gain immortality.
Yet she would never know — not even at her death.
A love-blinded immortal.
Tragic, pitiful, and foolish.
Banxia looked desperately at Bailu like someone who already drowning.
Bailu felt her resolve soften — she wanted to help. She always wanted to help. It was her nature as a healer.
But Daichi's stillness at her side told her: this was not simple.
So she stayed quiet.
Eventually, under Jingliu's unblinking stare, Banxia broke.
She confessed everything.
Just as Daichi had expected, her lover was afflicted because he had been experimented.
She was powerless to treat him.
So she remembered the old saying:
"Mortal ailments can be washed away by the Dragon's tears."
Thus she sought Bailu — hoping Bailu would save him.
As for her?
Her Mara signs meant her life was already nearing its end.
Revealing this now was her final gamble.
She no longer wished to be saved. She only wished her lover could lived and remember her.
"So you intended to make your short-lived lover live long like an Xianzhou immortal?"
Jingliu's voice pierced her like ice.
"Do you remember the first sin judged by the Ten-Lords Commission?"
"To force longevity upon another — is the gravest transgression."
"By the time you considered this path, the Ten-Lords Commission was already watching.And now your Mara has begun to stir."
Jingliu gently took Bailu's hand.
"For someone who would commit such a crime, there is no need to extend a hand."
"B-but…"
Bailu hesitated.
Yes — she couldn't cure Mara.
But Daichi could.
And she wanted to save someone who could still be saved.
"I think we should let the Cloud Knights and the Ten-Lords Commission pass judgment."
Daichi lowered a jade terminal.
He had already contacted Jing Yuan.
And soon, the sound of marching Cloud Knights approached.
Banxia's face drained of all color.
"And," Daichi added quietly, as the Cloud Knights closed in,
"You should also remember the second of the Ten Evils."
As the Cloud Knights arrived, Daichi offered her one final, gentle reminder:
"'To pursue immortality through greed.'"