The woman lying there was none other than Tara Chu.
At this moment, Tara Chu had none of her usual delicacy; she looked as if she were poisoned, barely clinging to life.
Even when Evan Yang walked over, Tara Chu remained unconscious, lying there as if she hadn't noticed anyone at all. Anyone who saw her would feel a deep sense of pity. Without hesitation, Evan sat at the head of the bed and began checking the changes inside Tara Chu's body.
"What... how could this be?" Evan Yang was stunned after checking Tara Chu's condition, unable to process what he found.
After a long moment, still unable to believe what he'd found, Evan Yang checked her body again.
He saw a mass of pale green gas drifting around Tara Chu's dantian. Since this gas was different from her own spiritual power, it collided with her ordinary spiritual power. The main issue was that her dantian couldn't refine or use this green gas, which triggered changes in her body. Some strands of green gas lingered in her tissues, blocking normal activity.
It was as if all the tissues in her body were blocked by this pale green gas.
If anyone else saw this, they'd be shocked, but would probably just assume she'd caught some strange illness. Evan Yang, however, thought differently—these gases closely resembled the pale green aura emitted by the leaf of his own Heaven-Cold Seed. Tara simply couldn't absorb or use it.
"How could this happen? Is it because of what happened last time?" The sudden change made Evan Yang recall the events in the Foundation-Building trial space—especially when Tara Chu couldn't save herself and he had to use his own method to rescue her. He never imagined the result would be like this.
Watching as the green gas nearly sealed up all of Tara Chu's tissues, Evan Yang thought for a moment and muttered, "Alright, let's try again. Hopefully I can absorb this gas!"
Seeing Evan rush toward the crowd, Tara Chu hurriedly followed him down the stairs.
When Tara Chu arrived at the scene, she saw Evan Yang and Jax Jia together, surrounded by a crowd of Chu Family disciples.
The Chief Steward, who had been grabbing Jax Jia, immediately called everyone to surround them when he saw Evan as an accomplice. Just as they were about to seize the two, Tara Chu’s sudden appearance startled everyone.
The Chief Steward rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Second Miss, you—?"
Seeing her two friends surrounded, Tara Chu’s temper flared. "What are you all doing?" she demanded angrily.
When the others realized it really was Tara Chu, they quickly stepped aside, leaving the Chief Steward standing there with an ugly expression. "He was stealing from the library!" he said, pointing at Jax Jia.
Tara Chu looked at Jax Jia, about to call him by his real name, but Jax Jia quickly interrupted, "Call me Jax Jia," and winked at her.
Tara Chu didn’t understand why Jax Jia was cross-dressing, but since he was Evan’s friend, she swallowed the name she was about to say and instead addressed him, "Brother Jax, is what they're saying true?"
"No, I didn’t do anything. I just accidentally walked inside, then a whole bunch of people showed up." Jax Jia explained, making the Chief Steward furious. "You—I saw you coming out myself!"
"I was looking for Miss Chu, but didn’t know where you lived, so I ended up here by mistake," Jax Jia said, sounding aggrieved.
Just as Evan was wondering how to solve this, Tara Chu suddenly opened her eyes, staring in shock at Evan standing by the bed. Her gaze finally settled on him, and at the finger pressed to her dantian.
Feeling Tara Chu’s internal changes, Evan lifted his finger and opened his eyes—only to meet her wide, watery gaze staring right at him.
"I..." At that moment, Evan felt like jumping out the window.
They stood there in silence, eyes locked. Finally, Evan awkwardly spoke, "You should put your clothes back on."
Tara Chu quickly wrapped herself up and looked at Evan. "Did you save me?"
"You could say that." Seeing she didn’t mention the awkward moment, Evan nodded in reply.
"Can you turn around for a moment?" Tara Chu spoke weakly, as if she hadn’t spoken in ages.
Evan didn’t dare refuse. He immediately turned to face the empty hallway, inwardly muttering, "What now? Should I explain?"
Once Tara Chu quickly finished dressing, she stood behind Evan and asked, "How did you do it?"
Evan Yang stood there, confused, not sure what she was asking.
Tara Chu walked around to face Evan and asked, "I mean, how did you gather all the toxins in my body into one spot?"
"One spot?" Evan hadn’t checked what the pale green gas looked like after he withdrew his power.
"Yes, those strange things have been stuck in my body for ages. No matter what medicine I took, or how my father tried to force them out, nothing worked—they just clung to me, making it hard to breathe, and eventually I fainted." Tara didn’t mention the earlier awkwardness, instead explaining her symptoms to Evan.
Evan knew all this, but hesitated about how to explain. After a moment, he said, "I only gathered it all together, but I couldn’t remove it."
"That’s already a huge relief—it doesn’t make me suffer anymore." Tara finally smiled.
Seeing her smile, Evan relaxed. At least she believed he meant well. Still, he asked if she felt any discomfort, or if the green sphere posed any danger.
After testing several times, Tara Chu shook her head. "It seems motionless, just sitting there."
Evan didn’t know why it behaved this way, but seeing Tara Chu no longer unconscious, he smiled. "As long as it doesn’t harm you, we can look for a chance to remove it later."
"Yeah, I think so too. Thank you so much." Tara Chu nodded and smiled at this mysterious little beggar—not only could he refine pills, but his cultivation was strong, and now even the green gas her clan couldn’t handle had been gathered by him.
"Miss Chu, you’re too polite. Back then—" Evan almost let something slip, quickly changing the subject, "Back then, you didn’t mind who I was and took me in."
"Don’t be so modest. If I asked you to join the Chu Family now, would you?" Tara Chu knew Evan wouldn’t join, but smiled out of habit.
Evan just chuckled—he had no intention of joining any clan, since he didn’t want to be bound by family rules.
Just then, a commotion sounded below.
Tara Chu looked outside and saw many disciples rushing toward the library.
"What’s that place?" Evan felt uneasy, staring at the suddenly crowded spot.
"The library." Tara Chu answered out of habit.
"Not good." Evan realized Jax Jia might have failed, and quickly said, "Miss Chu, since you’re alright, I have to go."
Evan’s sudden urgency startled Tara Chu. She wondered if her family had scared him. "Did my clan frighten you?"