"Are you out of your mind?! How could you let someone touch her before I arrived?!" the Celestial Doctor thundered at the Grand Elder. "What if they made a mistake? It could have cost her life!"
"Please, let me explain, Celestial Doctor..." the Grand Elder said quickly. "This man is no ordinary healer. Heâs an expert in curses and poisonâand our leader has been cursed, which caused her bloodline purity to drop! In just three weeks, itâs fallen by four percent! If we had waited for you, her bloodline might have weakened far more than necessary!"
"Four percent?!" The Celestial Doctorâs eyes widened at this information.
The Grand Elder nodded with a solemn face.
"As a beast yourself, you should understand why weâre panicking and why we acted so hastily," he sighed.
"Who the hell are you calling a beast? I am a Celestial Spirit! Weâre nothing alike!" the Celestial Doctor shot back.
Celestial Spirits were entities born naturally from Celestial Qi, often formed when vast concentrations of it gathered and condensed over time. Theyâre akin to treasures but have their own consciousness and soul.
However, because of the immense amount of Celestial Qi required to give them form, Celestial Spirits were exceedingly rareâso rare, in fact, that perhaps only one would be born in an entire era.
As for their appearance, since their bodies were composed entirely of Celestial Qi, they could assume any form they desired. The Celestial Doctorâs short, elderly visage was simply a matter of personal choice, adopted for reasons known only to her.
"Anyway, enough yapping. Let me see your leader and this âexpertâ you speak of."
The Grand Elder nodded and led her to the leaderâs room, where the leader was still being treated.
"Thatâs the expert?"
The Celestial Doctor raised an eyebrow after seeing the situation inside. Since Yuan only needed the Sacred Chalice of Purification to cleanse the leaderâs curse, he didnât need to do anything after feeding it her blood, so he was just sitting beside her like a spectator.
"Move aside." The Celestial Doctor said to the elders in the room as she approached the bed.
The elders didnât say anything and quickly moved aside for her.
Once the Celestial Doctor stood beside Yuan, where she could see his face, her eyes widened with shock and disbelief.
"Y-You! Tian Yingzhe?! What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were dead!" she exclaimed, sounding as if sheâd just witnessed a ghost.
Yuan turned to look at the short old lady with a puzzled face and asked, "Tian Yingzhe? Whoâs that?"
Of course, Yuan recognized the name Tian Yingzhe, as he was the founder of the Celestial Overlords. However, he had no recollection of the Celestial Doctor himself, so he simply feigned ignorance.
"Who the hell do you think you are trying to fool?" The Celestial Doctor frowned, looking offended.
"In case you have forgotten, I am a Celestial Spirit, and I have the ability to look directly at your soul," she said.
Yuan immediately fell silent. Though the Celestial Doctor claimed she could see his soul, Yuan wasnât quick to take such a statement at face value.
"Why donât we talk somewhere else?" Yuan then said.
"Sure."
As Yuan stood up and approached the exit, one of the elders asked, "What about the curse?"
He was worried that the treatment might be delayed because of this.
However, Yuan pointed at the chalice on the ground and said, "That doesnât require any management. It wonât stop working just because I am out of the room, either, so you can relax."
"If you say so..."
Sometime later, Yuan and the Celestial Doctor left the room. Feng Yuxiang decided to stay behind so she wouldnât disturb their conversation.
A few moments later, standing in an empty courtyard not far away, the Celestial Doctor faced Yuan and asked, "What the hell is going on, Tian Yingzhe?"
"I wasnât joking when I said that I am not Tian Yingzhe," he calmly responded.
"Still trying to fool me? What are you trying to achieve with this?" she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Before I explain myself, what is your relationship with Tian Yingzhe?"
"My relationship? Fine, Iâll entertain your nonsense for a bit." The Celestial Doctor gave a quick sneer before retrieving an azure-colored medallion from her spatial ring that read âCelestial Overlordsâ.
"Tian Yingzhe and I go way back," the Celestial Doctor began. "I knew him long before I even became a full-fledged Celestial Spirit. In my immature state, I was no different from a living treasureâsomething that could grant immense benefits to a cultivator. Because of that, I was constantly hunted by humans and beasts alike."
"I met Tian Yingzhe when he saved me from being captured, and he continued to protect me until I became an adult Celestial Spirit. If it werenât for him, I wouldnât be here right now. Anyway, to repay him, I decided to follow him and help him build the Celestial Overlords. I am essentially its co-founder."
Yuanâs eyes widened upon hearing this, but before he could even respond, the Celestial Doctorâs figure suddenly shifted, transforming herself into a tall and slender beauty.
"Do you remember me now?" she asked.
"Uhh..."
Yuan was speechless for a brief moment.
Then, he explained his situation, "To tell you the truth, Tian Yingzhe died long ago."
"WHAT?!" The Celestial Doctor exclaimed, not daring to believe her ears.
"Let me finish. Anyway, he died and reincarnated."
"Are you saying that you are..."
He nodded.
"Yes, I am Tian Yingzheâs reincarnation. Although I donât have all of his memories right now, Iâll eventually regain them."
"Unbelievable... but that explains the state of your soul..." The Celestial Doctor sighed, even rubbing her eyes in a somewhat stressed manner.
After a moment of silence, she asked, "So, about the Celestial Overlords... have you heard about their situation?"
"If youâre talking about their internal struggle, yes, I am well aware of it. At least the surface stuff," he said.