The Gravely Ill Mother

"Me, the dignified Young Lord of the Guardian Drake Clan—how could I ever do something like that?"

"Like you haven't done it before!"

Lucia Lu turned with a bright, mischievous smile to Damian Black. "So, little Shenxiao, you heard that, right? Divine Attendants are super important. I’ve got my eye on you—just come and follow me!"

Damian Black stiffly turned his head, staying silent.

"He... he has a gravely ill mother at home who needs his care," Adrian Drake blurted out, scrambling. "So he has to go back."

"If you’ve got a gravely ill mother, you should follow me even more!" Lucia declared. "Oh, you probably don’t know who I am, do you? I’m the daughter of the Spirit Alliance Grandmaster—I spent eight hundred years in closed-door medical training, and my skills are top-notch! If you’ll become my Divine Attendant, I’ll personally visit your home and cure your mother. How’s that sound?"

"Uh, no need to trouble you—I’ve already checked on her," Adrian said quickly. "His mother’s not in serious danger, but she does need someone by her side. He really has to go back and take care of her."

"I wasn’t asking you!" Lucia shoved him aside and stepped right up to Damian, flashing a gentle smile. "Go ahead and take care of your mother. When she’s better, you can come back to me—sound good?"

Damian took a step back and said, "No, but thank you, Saint Maiden."

"There are tons of perks if you stick with me! I can give you spirit elixirs to boost your cultivation—who knows, you might ascend to Warden level in no time!"

Damian said nothing.

"You—"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Adrian hurriedly blocked her. "Let’s wait until his mother’s recovered before we talk about this!"

Damian glanced at Adrian and sent a sound transmission: "You could’ve just refused directly."

"She only gets obsessed for about three minutes. Give it a little time and she’ll forget you—just stall her for now." Adrian replied.

He grabbed Ryan Lu. "Come on, come on! Let’s spar—Senior Sister, you referee!"

These two would fight every time they met at the Spirit Alliance—Ryan Lu never managed to beat Adrian even once.

But he only got more determined after each loss. He’s just advanced another stage, so now he’s even more eager for a rematch.

The fighting spirit surged between them, and both summoned their weapons.

But Lucia suddenly called out, "Wait!"

"What is it?" Both turned to look at her.

"Damian, go stand outside the Spirit Barrier," Lucia said. "When those two start fighting, they never hold back—I don’t want you getting hit by accident."

Adrian: "Huh? Um..."

Damian didn’t say a word—he just turned and walked out.

Adrian’s expression was hard to describe—he had a feeling his good days were numbered.

Once Damian was outside, Lucia said, "That relative of yours—he must’ve had a rough time at home as a kid, huh?"

"Oh? Since when did you start doing fortune-telling?" Adrian asked, surprised.

"Who needs fortune-telling?" Lucia said. "He’s got clear signs of social withdrawal. People like that usually had a rough childhood—abusive stepmother, bullying siblings, that sort of thing."

"Ha!" Adrian gave Lucia a thumbs-up. "Senior Sister really is Senior Sister! You nailed it—his situation is pretty much exactly what you described."

As a kid, he suffered a lot at the hands of his stepmother and several older brothers and sisters.

It only got better after his father took him in—otherwise, it was questionable whether he’d have even made it to adulthood.

Lucia: "Right?"

"Adrian! What are you doing? Get over here! Are you scared?" Ryan Lu shouted.

"Who’s scared of who!" Adrian strode over.

The two started fighting—Ryan had improved a lot, but Adrian hadn’t been slacking either. In the end, Adrian still edged out the win.