109: Chapter 109 Xiao Nianyin, who forcibly activated the secret treasure, became an old woman.

When Madam Qingli's words, "Your Revered Master is in trouble," pierced his ears like an ice pick, the smile on Xu Ruyu's face instantly froze.

He almost immediately pushed away the Disciples who were still gathered around him, wanting to talk, and didn't even bother to respond to the eager, obviously ingratiating glances from several Elders. He just hurriedly told Elder Hu, who was closest, "Disciple has an urgent matter and needs to return to Ningyin Hall," then his body swayed, transforming into a moon-white afterimage, and he sped towards the Main Peak.

"What's wrong with Junior Brother Xu?" a Disciple asked, puzzled.

"Perhaps the previous battle consumed too much, and he needs to recuperate."

"That's right, fighting one against thirteen and killing ten people, his spiritual power must have been completely drained..."

Everyone fabricated their own reasons, but only a few perceptive ones looked at Xu Ruyu's retreating figure, lost in thought.

Xu Ruyu pushed his movement technique to its limit, and the Taixu True Qi within his body circulated at an unprecedented speed.

Yunhai Square to Ningyin Hall wasn't far, but at this moment, the journey seemed infinitely long.

Madam Qingli's voice transmission was brief, but the gravity in her tone was something he had never heard since he had known this Taihu Clan Old Ancestor.

Xiao Nianyin was in trouble? What kind of trouble? Hadn't she just used the ice soul ningyin hairpin to force Liu Rurao back with one strike?

Could it be... the cost of using that secret treasure was greater than imagined?

Thoughts raced in his mind, and his speed underfoot increased.

In just over ten breaths, the cold and desolate outline of Ningyin Hall's edifice appeared in his sight.

Xu Ruyu didn't hesitate, directly passing through the courtyard in front of the hall and hurrying towards the Main Hall's entrance.

However, just as he was about to step onto the stone steps in front of the hall, an old yet robust voice, filled with undisguised mockery, came from inside the closed hall door:

"Oh, isn't this our Hehuan Sect's Grand Sect Master Xiao?"

It was Madam Qingli.

"Didn't you say Xu Ruyu was just a tool to recover your cultivation? The kind you discard after use? What, seeing that vixen Liu Rurao trying to kill him, you were so anxious you didn't even care about your own life?"

Xu Ruyu's steps halted, stopping outside the door.

"The ice soul ningyin hairpin... Tsk tsk, that's a forbidden treasure that consumes thirty years of Lifespan to activate once.

You, a 'Mortal' who has lost all cultivation and is even inferior to the Qi Refinement Stage, actually dared to forcibly activate it? You're really willing, aren't you? To save a so-called 'tool,' you'd even throw away your own life?"

Silence fell in the hall for a moment.

Then, a female voice, distinctly old and weak, that Xu Ruyu had never heard before, softly echoed:

"I... I just didn't want my cultivation to just disappear like that..."

The voice was very light, barely a whisper, yet he could still discern a hint of Xiao Nianyin's inherent coolness.

But at this moment, that coolness was mixed with an undeniable weariness and weakness.

"Heh." Madam Qingli sneered, interrupting unceremoniously, "Stop. Xiao Nianyin, it's fine if you deceive others, but you want to deceive me too?

If you truly only regarded Xu Ruyu as a tool, would you have immediately brought out the ice soul ningyin hairpin without thinking the moment Liu Rurao attacked?

If you truly only cared about your cultivation, would you risk the destruction of your Divine Soul to forcibly activate the Hehuan Sect's guardian secret treasure with a Mortal body?"

Her voice suddenly sharpened, filled with the anger of disappointment:

"Look at yourself now!"

"Forcibly activating a forbidden treasure, suffering a backlash, directly reducing your Lifespan by thirty years!

Your originally eternally youthful Saint Realm body, now with spiritual power scattered and vitality withered, has become a fifty-something-year-old hag!"

"If your 'old friends' found out about this—that pervert Situ E, that hypocrite Zhao Qianyi, and that ice block Xuanming—that the ice-cold beauty they've yearned for for hundreds of years, yet couldn't obtain, actually reduced her Lifespan by thirty years, turned white-haired overnight, and aged in appearance for a young brat who's been with the sect for less than two months... what do you think their reaction would be?"

Another silence fell in the hall.

After a long while, Xiao Nianyin's aged voice finally spoke again, weaker than before, yet still trying to maintain her last bit of stubbornness:

"I didn't... fall for him."

"I just..."

"Just what?" Madam Qingli pressed on, "Just an accident? Just an instinct? Xiao Nianyin, you're lying to ghosts!

I warned you long ago, if you truly only regarded Xu Ruyu as a tool, then you should have put away your improper thoughts early on and not developed any superfluous emotions for him! But what did you do?"

A hint of complex sigh entered her voice:

"You fell for him."

"Even if only a little, even if you yourself are unwilling to admit it—but you, truly and indeed, fell for him."

"That's why you rushed out without thinking the moment you saw him in danger."

"That's why you spared no effort, even risking your own life, to protect him."

"Xiao Nianyin, you're finished."

The last three words were spoken with absolute certainty.

Outside the hall door, Xu Ruyu stood silently, his expression indescribable.

He had originally thought that Xiao Nianyin saving him might have involved some consideration of "tools cannot be damaged," or perhaps some calculation to maintain the Hehuan Sect's reputation.

But he had never thought...

That Sect Master Revered Master, who was always as cold as ice, high above, and regarded him as a Cauldron and a tool, would actually... fall for him?

Even if only a little?

Even if she herself was unwilling to admit it?

An extremely complex emotion surged within him—absurdity, disbelief, a hint of inexplicable stirring, but more than that, a heavy, almost suffocating sense of responsibility.

Xiao Nianyin, to save him, forcibly activated a forbidden treasure, reduced her Lifespan by thirty years, aged in appearance, and withered her vitality...

And he was still thinking about how to use her, how to guard against her, and how to gain the upper hand in a potential future fallout.

Xu Ruyu took a deep breath, suppressing the tumultuous thoughts in his mind, raised his hand, and gently knocked on the hall door.

"Disciple Xu Ruyu requests an audience with Revered Master."

The argument inside the hall abruptly ceased.

A deathly silence.

After a full five breaths, Xiao Nianyin's aged and weak voice slowly came through the hall door:

"...Come in."

Xu Ruyu pushed the door open and entered.

The light in the Main Hall was much dimmer than usual, and the spiritual glow that usually flowed year-round seemed to have faded.

A faint, ethereal scent of decay permeated the air, like the last withered leaves of deep autumn.

His gaze immediately fell on the jade cushion in the center of the hall.

A woman sat there.

An... old hag.

She was wearing the moon-white cloud-patterned Sect Master robe that Xiao Nianyin usually wore, but the once-fitting robe now seemed empty, as if the body within had become much thinner.

She still maintained a straight back, but her posture revealed an undeniable stoop and fragility.

Most striking was her head of white hair.

Like snow, like frost, without a single stray color, it cascaded from the top of her head, falling over her shoulders and back.

Her hair no longer possessed its former luster; it was dry, dull, as if it had lost all vitality.

Xu Ruyu slowly walked in front of her.

When he saw her face clearly, his heart clenched violently.

It was still Xiao Nianyin's outline—delicate brows and eyes, a perky nose, tightly pursed thin lips.

But her once flawless, jade-white skin was now covered with fine wrinkles; at the corners of her eyes, the corners of her mouth, her forehead... time seemed to have etched thirty years of trials onto this face overnight.

Her complexion was pathologically pale, and her lips were so faint they were almost invisible.

Those eyes, once as clear and cold as distant stars, capable of seeing through people, though still bright, were now veiled by an unshakeable weariness and turbidity.

Fifty years old?

No, at this moment, she looked even more haggard than an ordinary fifty-year-old old woman, even more... close to the end of her life.

"Ma... Revered Master?"

Xu Ruyu heard his own voice, terribly dry.

Xiao Nianyin raised her eyes to look at him.

That gaze was very calm, without grievance, without resentment, and even without much emotion. She just looked at him calmly.

"You're back." She said softly, her voice old and hoarse, "You did well. You didn't disgrace the Hehuan Sect."

Xu Ruyu opened his mouth, but found he didn't know what to say.

Thank her? Too light.

Comfort her? Too fake.

Promise her? What right did he have to promise anything now?

Just then, Madam Qingli, who had been standing in the shadows of the corner, slowly walked out.

This Taihu Clan Old Ancestor still looked old and stooped, but her cloudy eyes now gleamed with an all-knowing light.

She looked at Xiao Nianyin, then at Xu Ruyu, and suddenly grinned, revealing gums missing a few teeth:

"Boy, did you see that?"

"Your Revered Master, to save you, turned herself into this ghost-like state."

"Tell me, how should this debt be settled?"

Xu Ruyu turned his head and looked at Madam Qingli.

Then, slowly and solemnly, he bowed deeply to Xiao Nianyin.

A full bow.

"Revered Master's life-saving grace, Disciple... will never forget."

He straightened up, looking into Xiao Nianyin's tired eyes, and said word by word:

"I will definitely find a way to restore these thirty years of Lifespan for Revered Master."

"No matter the cost."