Xue Kui had treated many people by now.
But that day remained etched into his memory.
Usually, when he healed someone, only the patient's family watched nervously from the side.
Yet that day—
when the villagers rushed to fetch him to save someone—
Everyone in the settlement came.
They crowded the doorway, eyes filled with emotions he couldn't quite read.
There was hope, yes—
but even more helpless resignation.
Xue Kui liked healing.
Yet the usually gentle old physician was arguing heatedly with the family.
At last, after a weary sigh, the old man relented.
He looked at Xue Kui with a trace of reluctant expectation.
"Go."
Xue Kui followed them to the bedside.
There lay a very, very old man.
His breathing was faint, his flesh brittle like dried bark.
If not for Xue Kui's sensitivity to life force, he might've assumed the man had already passed.
Xue Kui placed his hand on the man's chest and let life force flow—
Nothing happened.
It wasn't that he made a mistake.
It was that the man's body refused to accept life force.
Not rejected by will, but by nature.
His vessel simply could no longer hold life.
But the warmth stirred the old man awake.
He weakly clutched his children's hands, murmured final words to them…
And closed his eyes.
The thread of life snapped.
The room was filled with grief.
Not sorrow for the dead—
but sorrow for those still living.
A white cloth was drawn across the body.
The old physician touched Xue Kui's head, his voice soft and rough like worn parchment.
"It isn't your fault. Wounds can be mended, illness can be cured… but fate cannot be defied."
Xue Kui studied his face—creased with age, fragile as paper.
He did not understand.
Why did humans grieve so?
The Immortal Healer can mend wounds.
The physician can cure illness.
But lifespan—
is the enemy neither can defeat.
Still, the young yaksha had much left to learn.
If he worked hard enough, maybe someday…
there would be only one enemy he could not defeat.
The sky was clear and warm.
Xue Kui sprawled lazily on Shichen's rooftop, basking in sunlight.
In his hands was a roll of cloth the old physician gave him—
drawings of medicinal plants.
He compared each sketch with the plants he'd seen in the wild.
The ones he hadn't seen?
He'd hunt them down sooner or later.
He yawned, content.
Suddenly—
every instinct in his body screamed danger.
He sprang upright, Cryo spear forming in his hand.
Behind him stood a familiar figure—
a towering dragon-beast, eyes gold and resolute.
Morax.
The Geo lord glanced at Xue Kui, then at the cloth on the rooftop.
His voice rumbled, cool and deep.
"So… this is what Guizhong has been teaching you?"
Xue Kui's eyes sharpened instantly.
Morax observed the growing hostility.
Yes—
the boy had improved.
But not enough.
When Morax arrived, his first stop was Guizhong. He intended to honor the courtesy of entering another god's territory—
and to inquire about Xue Kui's progress.
He received:
"He's now an Immortal Healer!"
"He works hard," Guizhong had continued proudly,
"memorizing plants and pharmacology every day."
Morax nearly thought her mind cracked.
A yaksha.
A rare prodigy.
And she directed him to study medicine?
"You have misunderstood something."
Guizhong faltered a little, the tone soft.
"He's still young. There's no rush."
The truth was—
she had grown used to the little yaksha's presence.
She couldn't bear to push him too quickly toward bloodshed.
Morax's tone hardened.
"Precisely because he is young, now is the time to shape him."
"You lack warriors. Not musicians. Not artists."
Guizhong bit her lip.
"Morax… in this era, is becoming strong truly a blessing for him?"
"In this era, strength is not a blessing—"
Morax's gaze was steady, unyielding.
"—it is necessary."
"You shelter humans out of affection. I guide them out of necessity."
"You cannot harden your heart. Then let me do it."
Guizhong opened her mouth, then froze as Morax spoke the final blow.
"This was our contract."
She closed her eyes.
For Morax, nothing stood above a contract.
Xue Kui's spear pointed steadily at the dragon.
Just then—
"I'm back! Xue Kui, ready to go eat—eh?"
Shichen's voice drifted from below, and Xue Kui's expression immediately shifted.
Morax glanced at the rooftop edge, listening.
Xue Kui.
So Guizhong had already given the boy a name.
A pity—
he had wanted to name him himself.
"Don't come up!" Xue Kui called down.
Shichen froze mid-step.
"I-I… Lord Geo Archon?!"
Of course he recognized the figure hovering in the sky.
Stories of Morax painted him as the opposite of Guizhong:
Strict.
Cold.
Bound by rules and contracts.
Xue Kui's hostility only deepened.
Morax, however, finally spoke—low and steady.
"I will not harm any mortal."
Xue Kui exhaled slowly.
"But you will come with me," Morax continued.
"This is the contract between me and the God of Dust. You should remember."
Xue Kui met his golden eyes.
He didn't want to make things difficult for Guizhong.
"…Fine."
He grabbed his spear, stepped forward—
And left with the dragon.
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