217: A burden? No, it's a mobile B-level reward.

Lin Fan obtained what he wanted and turned to walk toward his Immortal Cave.

The Top-tier Death-Seeking Map was in his hands; next was to plan his itinerary carefully.

He was already calculating in his mind which corner of the massive Shattered Immortal Battlefield he should start his death-seeking journey from to maximize his gains.

However, just as he stepped out of the area of the Sect Master's hall...

A tearful, incredibly urgent cry came from not far away.

"Elder Lin, please wait."

Lin Fan looked toward the sound.

He saw a familiar figure stumbling toward him.

It was Liu Qingqing.

At this moment, she had completely lost her usual composure and serenity as the daughter of an Elder.

Clear tear stains streaked her pretty face, and her beautiful eyes were red and swollen from crying, filled with anxiety and a kind of desperate pleading.

Some passing Cuiyun Sect Disciples cast startled glances.

Liu Qingqing ignored them entirely.

She ran up to Lin Fan.

*Thud.*

She actually knelt straight down like that, her knees hitting the bluestone ground with a dull thud.

"Elder Lin."

Liu Qingqing's voice carried an uncontrollable tremble.

"I... I heard from my father..."

A glimmer of hope erupted in her eyes, like a drowning person clutching at the last straw.

"Are you going to the Shattered Immortal Battlefield?"

Without waiting for Lin Fan's answer, she kowtowed heavily, her voice filled with desperate pleading.

"I beg of you."

"I beg you, please take me with you."

As soon as these words were spoken, the surroundings immediately fell into an uproar.

"What? Going to the Shattered Immortal Battlefield?"

"Has Senior Sister Liu gone mad? What kind of place is that!"

"Shh, keep it down, that's Elder Lin!"

Before the crowd could discuss further, the Cuiyun Sect Master and Elder Liu rushed out with greatly changed expressions.

"Nonsense!"

Elder Liu, who was Liu Qingqing's father, let out an angry shout and arrived in a flash, trying to pull his daughter up.

"Qingqing, have you lost your mind? What kind of place is the Shattered Immortal Battlefield? Is it somewhere a Foundation Establishment Stage like you can go? That's not for sightseeing; it's for seeking death!"

But Liu Qingqing stubbornly knelt on the ground, tightly clutching Lin Fan's hem, refusing to get up.

"Father, I'm not mad."

She raised her tear-blurred face, looking at her father and then at the Sect Master, who also had an ugly expression.

"I must go."

"You all know that our Family's Bloodline... is cursed."

Liu Qingqing's voice wasn't loud, but it caused the surrounding chatter to vanish instantly.

This was a secret known only to the high-level members of the Cuiyun Sect.

The Liu Family were descendants of the Ancient Spirit Wood, possessing powerful wood-element affinity and healing talent.

But this talent was accompanied by a vicious curse.

The higher the cultivation, the faster their life force drained.

At the Golden Core Stage, their appearance would age; at the Nascent Soul Stage, their lamp would run out of oil.

Liu Qingqing was the most talented person in the Liu Family in ten thousand years, but every step forward she took was a step toward death.

"Legend says that only the 'Jianmu Fragment' left by an Immortal in the Shattered Immortal Battlefield has a slight chance of resolving my clan's Bloodline curse."

Liu Qingqing gave a tragic smile.

"This is my last chance."

She looked at Lin Fan again, the pleading in her eyes almost overflowing.

"I beg the Elder to grant my wish."

Lin Fan looked at the young girl kneeling before him, his heart completely unmoved, and he even felt a bit like laughing.

Take a burden along?

A Foundation Establishment Stage burden at that.

To the Shattered Immortal Battlefield? That place is so dangerous that even those at the Body Integration Stage might turn into fertilizer.

What was the difference between this and tying a time bomb to himself?

He was just about to refuse in the most tactful way.

But a thought suddenly shifted in his mind.

Wait.

It seems... it's not impossible?

Seeking death alone was free, but the script was inevitably a bit monotonous.

It was nothing more than trespassing into Forbidden Grounds, provoking Vicious Beasts, or simply jumping into some dead end.

With this kind of death, the evaluation would suffer from diminishing returns after dying too many times.

But what if... he brought someone along?

Especially a weak woman who needed protection.

Then the script would be much richer.

[To protect a fellow Disciple, fought an Ancient War Soul alone and died of exhaustion.]

[To cover a companion's retreat, used himself as bait and was devoured by billions of Resentful Spirits.]

[To find an antidote for a companion, broke into the core of an Immortal's fall and was crushed by the power of Law.]

In an instant, over a dozen death scripts filled with "heroism" and "tragic colors" popped into Lin Fan's mind.

Just hearing these scripts, the evaluation wouldn't be low.

Back in the Lower Realm, he had "sacrificed" himself to save Fatty Zhang once, and the evaluation was A-rank.

This Liu Qingqing—in terms of status, looks, and the tragic nature of the plot—wasn't she a hundred times better than that damn fatty Fatty Zhang?

This wasn't a burden.

This was clearly a walking, talking, high-evaluation-providing mobile package: B-rank guaranteed, A-rank expected, and even a super reward package with the potential to hit S-rank!

Moreover... Lin Fan's gaze fell on Liu Qingqing.

This girl's Physique was special; as a descendant of the Ancient Spirit Wood, her wood-element affinity was amazing, and she came with built-in healing abilities.

If they encountered danger and he "died in battle," she could cast a healing spell and bring him back to life.

Then he could change his posture and continue to "die in battle."

Isn't this a perpetual motion machine?

Buy one get one free; for the price of one death ticket, he could enjoy two or even multiple death experiences.

Pure profit.

Simply pure profit.

Just as a battle was raging in Lin Fan's mind and the beads of his mental abacus were about to fly off...

A System notification sound that only he could hear, imagined in his mind, rang out at the right time.

[Ding.]

[Side quest triggered: Wingman in Position.]

[Quest Description: During the journey to the Shattered Immortal Battlefield, every death caused by actions related to "protecting companion Liu Qingqing" will have its final death evaluation forcibly increased by one tier (up to a maximum of SS-rank).]

The muscles at the corner of Lin Fan's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

It's a lock.

He no longer had any hesitation in his heart.

Looking at Elder Liu, who was still vehemently objecting, and the Sect Master, who looked troubled...

Lin Fan finally spoke.

He reached out his hand, and a gentle force slowly lifted Liu Qingqing from the ground.

He looked at the Sect Master and Elder Liu; the previous politeness on his face was replaced by a convincing seriousness and solemnity.

"Sect Master, Elder Liu."

His voice was calm but carried an unquestionable power.

"The path of cultivation is inherently an act of going against heaven; what one seeks is a clear Dao Heart."

"Qingqing's Dao Heart is firm, seeking life through death just to grasp that one sliver of hope. With such a Heart-Nature, why should we, as fellow Cultivators, not grant her wish?"

His gaze turned toward the still teary-eyed Liu Qingqing, his tone gentle yet firm.

"With me here, I shall ensure her safety."

A short sentence, plain yet powerful.

To Liu Qingqing's ears, these words were no different from heavenly music.

She was completely stunned, and tears once again surged uncontrollably from her eyes, but this time, they were tears of gratitude.

She had never imagined that this Elder Lin, whose strength was unfathomable and whose background was incredibly mysterious, would actually say such words for her sake.

Elder Liu and the Sect Master looked at each other, both seeing the shock and helplessness in each other's eyes.

They heard the decisiveness in Lin Fan's words.

Combined with Lin Fan's inconceivable, terrifying strength—where he could even treat Heavenly Tribulation as bathwater...

The worry in their hearts was gradually replaced by an absurd thought.

Perhaps... with this "Grandpa" around, going to the Shattered Immortal Battlefield really wouldn't be any different from taking a stroll in the back garden?

Finally, the Sect Master let out a long sigh and bowed deeply to Lin Fan.

"Since Elder Lin has spoken, I... have nothing more to say."

"Qingqing, this journey is fraught with danger. You must obey all of Elder Lin's instructions and must not be willful in the slightest."

Elder Liu also had a complex expression, filled with both worry for his daughter's fate and deep awe for Lin Fan.

He could only bow in the same manner.

"My daughter... I leave her in Elder Lin's care."

Lin Fan nodded, perfectly maintaining his grand image of a "Senior expert."

"No time to lose, we depart immediately."

Under the complex and awe-filled gazes of the Cuiyun Sect's Elders and Disciples...

Lin Fan took Liu Qingqing and stepped onto the Long-distance Teleportation Formation that had been sealed for a long time deep within the Sect's Forbidden Ground.

This teleportation Formation connected to a peripheral outpost in the Spirit Realm's Eastern Region, which was the safest zone closest to the Shattered Immortal Battlefield.

The Sect Master personally channeled a massive amount of Spirit Stones to activate the Formation.

*Buzz.*

A blinding light instantly swallowed the two figures.

Space was violently distorted and pulled.

An unknown amount of time passed.

When the feeling of solid ground returned to their feet, the light dissipated.

Lin Fan and Liu Qingqing appeared on a vast, Blood-colored Wasteland.

The sky was dark red.

The ground was dark red.

The air was thick with the pungent smell of blood and a chilling aura that could freeze the Divine Soul.

The dark wind howled, kicking up sand and gravel from the ground, making a sound like ghostly wailing.

Countless broken ancient weapons and torn banners were stuck at angles into the parched earth.

Visible to the naked eye, gray, distorted shadows filled with resentment and slaughterous intent wandered aimlessly across the wasteland.

Those were the War Souls formed from the lingering obsessions of the powerful who had died here.

Liu Qingqing's face instantly turned deathly pale, without a trace of color.

With trembling hands, she took out the beast-skin map gifted by the Sect Master from her Storage Pouch, wanting to confirm their position.

The next second, the color completely drained from her face, replaced by endless horror.

"El... Elder Lin..."

Her voice was shivering.

"We... we've veered off course!"

"This... this isn't any of the safe zones marked on the map!"