No one knew what the young yaksha experienced on the night he vanished. But they did know this:
On the morning after Xue Kui returned, Shi Chen's bone injury—an injury meant to take a month—was healed.
Before Xue Kui could even brag to his big brother, Guizhong grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him up to a hill near the settlement.
She stared him up and down, unsettled.
At first she'd rushed over because she heard this little brat planned to "treat" Shi Chen. A yaksha treating humans?
Was this supposed to be a joke? Could he at least pick a warmer one?
But when she saw Shi Chen fully recovered, swinging his healed arm around like nothing had happened…
The shock Guizhong felt was far greater than if Shi Chen had died. "How did you do it?" she demanded.
"?" Xue Kui blinked, genuinely confused by her loss of composure. "How did you heal Shi Chen?" Guizhong repeated.
Xue Kui suddenly realized something.
After Shi Chen got hurt, he hadn't asked Guizhong for help. Which meant even *Guizhong* couldn't heal a human's injuries. If he could do what even a god couldn't…
Didn't that mean he was amazing?
A grin full of trouble spread across his face.
"You can't?"
Guizhong felt her emotions had become unusually rich lately—more volatile than when she'd first met humans.
In her mind, images surfaced: human mothers disciplining unruly children. She really wanted to smack this brat's backside.
Suppressing the urge, Guizhong forced a smile. "Mm. How did you do it?"
"Hahahahaha!"
Xue Kui doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed.
"No way, no way—are you telling me a god can't do something this simple?" Guizhong's hand curled into a fist.
Gods were powerful, but they were not omnipotent. Each had their own domain—each their own laws.
A god born of a concept could not escape that concept's shape. A god like Guizhong, who could expand her abilities and apply "principle" in versatile ways, was already among the finest of gods.
Healing, as an ability, usually belonged to gentler concepts—water, perhaps… or wind.
So why in the world would a yaksha—born for slaughter—suddenly be able to heal humans? Xue Kui gathered Cryo in his palm.
Then he shifted it—into life force.
Guizhong stood there, stunned as she felt the vitality radiating from his hand. It was beyond absurd.
"So you really can't?" Xue Kui teased. "A god is… that's all there is."
That's all there is…
As Xue Kui basked in his own smugness, several sand-formed chains had already crept up behind him.
He felt something wrong and frowned. Someone's trying to harm me?
But the moment he tried to move, the chains wrapped him tight, binding him completely. "What are you doing?!" he shouted, struggling.
Guizhong floated down and mimed sitting in the air, guiding the bound yaksha onto her lap. Smiling, she patted his head—the head that was clever and yet, somehow, not very bright.
"Since you've learned a new skill, you should practice it well. You're so smart—surely you can use it to heal yourself too. Right?"
Seeing that familiar smile again, Xue Kui's throat tightened. He hastily tried to gather elemental power—
Guizhong was faster.
Her expression cooled. Fingers pinched. "Seal."
The flow of elemental power inside him was locked down in an instant.
Xue Kui tilted his head and stared at Guizhong's raised hand, sighing in his heart. My life is over again.
…
"Hmm-hmm-hmm~"
Humming a folk tune she'd made up herself, the Dust God—who usually floated—was today walking on the ground for once, bouncing along like a child, radiating obvious joy.
And Xue Kui, who was normally all energy, could only shuffle behind her, clutching his backside.
His eyes were wide.
Remembering what had just happened left a knot of resentment in his chest. Humiliation.
Absolute humiliation.
One day, when he could beat a god, he would hit her back. Not just Guizhong—
That dragon-beast Morax too. And that huge thing in the cave. He'd hit them all back.
Not long after, they reached Shi Chen's home.
Before Xue Kui could stew any further, Shi Chen's words made him beam again. "Little Xue Kui, you can do that? Even Lady Guizhong can't! That's incredible!" A tuft of white hair sprang upright. Xue Kui crossed his arms. "Hmph↗ hmph↘ hmph↘! Of course I can!"
Then he paused, senses spreading outward. Good.
He couldn't feel that woman's presence nearby. His chin lifted again.
"With your ability," Shi Chen said, "why don't you become our physician?" "Physician?"
"Someone who treats injuries and illness." Shi Chen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"But that's what we call humans. For you… shouldn't it be 'immortal physician'?"
"Immortal physician?" Xue Kui tasted the words, then smiled. "That sounds pretty good. Fine." He'd seen how happy Shi Chen was when he recovered.
For Xue Kui, healing people was novel.
And ever since he arrived, attacks on Guizhong's settlement had become rare. A yaksha who lived for battle couldn't help feeling bored.
Treating injuries in his spare time could pass the hours— And help him sharpen his new skill.
At the very least, healing other people was better than healing his own backside. Besides…
He really liked the title "immortal physician."
…
If treating the injured counted as a kind of battle…
Then Xue Kui's "medical career" was nothing short of glorious. Small bruises and bumps were nothing worth mentioning.
Once, a hunter was attacked by a monster while out hunting. By the time Xue Kui arrived, the man's abdomen had been torn open, organs damaged—death by blood loss imminent.
Even injuries like that—wounds that should have meant death—could be pulled back from the edge.
With ever-greater mastery over life force, Xue Kui fed vitality slowly, held the man's life in place, and dragged him back.
But there were still two kinds of "enemies" he could not defeat. The first was illness.
Against that "enemy," the young yaksha could only make patients feel a little more spirited. He couldn't cure the root. That task belonged to an elder—an actual human physician.
And the second… Was lifespan.