Chapter 970: Heaven Devouring Bamboo

Ning opened a portal back to Kumia after a few weeks to bring back Dahlia and the rest. He had to wait around a day or two there while they finalized the gathering, and only those that were willing to migrate came along with Ning.

That included Dahlia, Iris, and a lot of the different other folks that were closely related to Hyesi and Anya.

Ely was more than excited to meet with all the familiar faces that she hadn't seen for hundreds of years, so Ning stepped aside.

Not only her but the others he had brought along from all over the world were also excited to see their family members again.

Ning stepped to the side and watched them bond all over again with a smile on his face.

"Master," Halios spoke to him from the side.

"Hmm? What is it?" Ning asked.

"There's someone that wants to meet you," Halios said.

"Is it Marcus again? Didn't I already tell him I won't give him back the oath stone? He should be happy that he is at least getting to stay outside at all," he said.

"No, It's not Marcus. He hasn't come by since you talked to him that one time," Halios said.

"Not Marcus? Who is it then?" Ning asked.

"It's his son, Varsil."

Ning walked out to meet the young man without any cultivation base, who was surprisingly a few thousand years old.

"Thank you for allowing me to speak so many nights ago. I might have lost my stepmother if you didn't allow it," he said.

"Sure, that's no problem," Ning said with a smile. "I was happy to see that you could stop your parents from escalating it any further."

"I am too," Varsil said.

"So, how is it going lately? Everything fine?" Ning asked.

"I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call it fine, but I suppose only the best outcomes have happened luckily. Mother has been house arrested by father and is forced to live her life in a single room."

"Father has taken up the throne again, but there are people claiming that this is wrong and don't believe that it really is Father. And then there is me... who, unfortunately, is dying," he said.

"Huh?" Ning's eyes narrowed as he quickly looked him up and down. "You're dying?"

"Well... I'm always dying," Varsil said. "I'm way too old of a mortal that the day I die is just around the corner. It's been that way for a long time. Only... now it feels like I'm taking a turn on that corner and I can see death already."

"Explain what you mean exactly," Ning said.

"There's this flower that I use when making a pill that is extremely rare. It only grows in a place of high Qi, and I've been using it to improve my longevity for a long time. It was something a great Alchemist once taught me, and it is what keeps me alive until now."

"So what's changed now? Me?" Ning asked.

"In a way, yes," Varsil said. "I'm not blaming you or anything." He quickly made sure that Ning didn't get the wrong idea. "It's just that a few of the flowers are inside there, and I haven't been able to get my hand on them for the past month or so. If I don't get it for another week, I will surely die."

"Ohhh! You should have started with that," Ning said. "Such a long-winded explanation for no reason. You can ask Halios to take you with him inside to get your flower whenever you want. You don't have to ask me for that."

"Really?" Varsil asked with a blissful eye.

"Yeah, just go in and take what you want. It's not like you have any bad intentions, and I as a person like helping others," Ning said.

"Thank you," Varsil said and turned to Halios. "Brother Halios, let's go."

He quickly walked towards the secret realm's opening when Ning spoke again. "Stop!"

Varsil stopped as dread filled his heart. Was he taking back his words? Did he suddenly have a change of heart? Did that mean he was going to die?

Many negative thoughts swirled around him while Ning slowly walked up to him again.

He stood there, giving Varsil a very curious look he started for a while before stopping. At this time, Varsil had imagined every single horrible thing that could come out of Ning's mouth that would lead to his eventual death.

However, what came out left him so stunned that he didn't know what to say.

"Huh? I think I can fix your crippled body," he said.

Varsil couldn't parse the information his ears had just heard. He had to imagine the words in his head 5 times before he understood their meanings when strung together.

"Wait," he asked. "Did you say you can fix my body?"

"Yeah," Ning said. "But it's going to be a little hard though. Wait, let me get the healing method too."

Ning closed his eyes and asked the system for the answer.

"Yeah, I got it," he said. "I will need something known as the Heaven Devouring Bamboo. With a piece of that, I can take away the Qi blockage that has been the cause of your problem."

"You know the reason why I am crippled?" he asked.

"Yes," Ning said. "It's tragic really. You were supposed to be one of the best cultivators out there, but because you started cultivating before your meridians and dantian was fully forced, you ended up collecting Qi so thick that it jammed up your meridians."

"The only way to get them moving is to strip away the Qi, and you will be all good," Ning said.

Varsil couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Is that really true?" he asked.

"Yes, why would I lie?" Ning asked. "I have no reason to."

Varsil got happy. "Okay, this bamboo, can brother Halios bring it to me?" he asked.

"Ooh... there's the main problem right now," Ning said. "There is no Heaven Devouring Bamboo in this world."

Just as Varsil was about to get sad, Ning spoke again. "But don't worry. It is available in other worlds, especially one that I will be visiting very soon."