Alert! The Dragon Lord has emerged from seclusion!

"Nurturing evil spirits" is an evil practice that uses special methods to cultivate evil spirits within the human body.

In the early stages, it can cause the person to fall into a coma. Once the malevolent energy reaches a certain level, the host will die from exhaustion of life force.

Those who cultivate evil spirits can collect this pure yin energy to practice wicked arts.

Su Qingxue's Nine Yin Profound Body is the perfect vessel for nurturing evil spirits!

"No wonder the doctors were at a loss..."

Lin Chen's mind raced, and he increased the output of his Nine Yang True Qi. At the same time, he took out the jade bottle given to him by his fifth master from his bosom with his left hand and poured out a Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill.

The elixir was pale gold in color and emitted a pleasant fragrance.

Lin Chen placed the pill into Su Qingxue's mouth and used his true energy to help it dissolve.

The Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill truly lived up to its reputation as a holy medicine for healing. The moment its medicinal power dissipated, a touch of color returned to Su Qingxue's pale face.

The icy blue light also grew stronger, and began to actively absorb the life force from the pill.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Chen activated his Nine Yang True Qi, slowly advancing it along Su Qingxue's meridians. Wherever it passed, the Yin Sha Qi retreated step by step.

"First stabilize her life, then find the person who nurtured her."

After doing all this, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

At this moment, Su Qingxue's breathing became noticeably more stable, and her face showed more vitality, but she still did not wake up.

"With my current cultivation level, I need to continuously exert myself for seven days to completely eliminate the Yin energy," Lin Chen muttered to himself. "I must stay by her side for these seven days."

Just as I was pondering this, I heard footsteps outside the door.

"Mr. Lin, how is it?" the butler's voice rang out, tinged with uncertainty.

Lin Chen stood up, walked to the door, and opened it: "Miss Su's condition has stabilized for now, but it will take some time before she wakes up."

The butler peeked in and saw that Su Qingxue's complexion had indeed improved. A look of delight flashed in his eyes: "I'll go and report to Master right away!"

A moment later, Su Zhenbang arrived in person. Seeing the changes in his granddaughter, the old man, who had weathered many storms, had tears welling up in his eyes.

"Lin... young friend Lin, Qingxue, she..."

"The evil spirits have invaded her body, damaging her very foundation," Lin Chen stated bluntly. "Someone is nurturing evil spirits within her."

Su Zhenbang was shocked: "Raising a demon?!"

"That's right." Lin Chen nodded. "To completely cure her, I need to exorcise the evil spirits from her for seven consecutive days. During these seven days, I must stay by her side at all times."

Su Zhenbang's expression shifted, but he finally gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! I'll agree to any condition as long as Qingxue can be saved!"

"Father, I'm afraid this is inappropriate." Su Wenhan, who had also arrived unnoticed, frowned and said, "A man and a woman alone in a room for seven days... if word gets out, it will damage Qingxue's reputation..."

"Is your reputation more important than your life?!" Su Zhenbang interrupted sharply. "Do as he says!"

Su Wenhan turned pale from being drunk and dared not say another word.

The look in his eyes as he looked at Lin Chen had become somewhat gloomy.

That night, Lin Chen meditated and regulated his breathing on the soft couch in the outer room of Su Qingxue's bedroom.

At midnight, Lin Chen opened his eyes.

In a corner of the Su family manor, a dark figure quietly crushed a black jade talisman, whispering as it drifted away on the wind:

"The plan has changed; a spoiler has appeared..."

"Notify the owner: shall we proceed as planned?"

……

The next day, Lin Chen told the housekeeper that he wanted to see Old Master Su.

Soon, the butler led him to Old Master Su's study.

The study is located on the east side of the manor, built by the water.

When Lin Chen arrived, Su Zhenbang was standing by the window, gazing intently at the koi in the pond.

Upon hearing the butler's report, he turned around, his eyes bloodshot, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well for the past few days.

Lin Chen sat down on the mahogany chair and, without waiting for Su Zhenbang to speak, asked directly, "Grandpa Su, are you asking when Miss Su will wake up?"

Su Zhenbang smiled bitterly: "You can't hide anything from me. Qingxue is my only granddaughter. Her parents died early, and I raised her single-handedly..."

"At the current pace, he should wake up in seven days." Lin Chen paused, "But there's one question I need to clarify."

"Speaking."

"In the three months before Miss Su fell into a coma, did she come into contact with any unusual people? Or did she receive any items of unknown origin?"

Su Zhenbang frowned, pondering for a long time: "Qingxue is aloof and doesn't like socializing. During the time before she fell into a coma..."

"I often go to Jingci Temple in the west of the city to burn incense, saying that I am restless and want to find peace of mind."

"Jingji Temple?"

"It's a famous ancient temple in Jiangnan. Abbot Huiming and I have a history." Su Zhenbang suddenly remembered something. "Right, about four months ago, Huiming gave Qingxue a protective jade amulet, saying it had been blessed."

Where is the jade talisman now?

"Qingxue always wore it close to her body. After she fell into a coma... I had someone put it away." Su Zhenbang got up and took out a brocade box from a hidden compartment in the bookcase.

Upon opening the brocade box, a jet-black jade talisman lay quietly on the red silk.

The jade talisman was engraved with strange patterns and felt cold to the touch.

Lin Chen's eyes narrowed, and he activated his Yang Spirit Eye. He saw that the black energy inside the jade talisman was of the same origin as the Yin Sha in Su Qingxue's body!

"There's something wrong with this jade talisman."

"The so-called protection is actually a medium for nurturing evil spirits."

"What?!" Su Zhenbang was struck dumb, staggering backward. "Huiming...why did he want to harm Qingxue?"

"It might not be Huiming herself." Lin Chen carefully examined the jade talisman. "The technique of nurturing evil spirits requires regular 'feeding,' so the person who performed the technique must be someone within the Su family, or someone who can frequently get close to Miss Su."

The study fell into a deathly silence.

After a long silence, Su Zhenbang slowly sat down. "In your opinion, who could it be?"

"This still needs to be verified." Lin Chen put away the jade talisman. "I'll keep this for now; perhaps we can follow the clues to find the source."

Just then, a commotion arose outside the study.

"Second Master, you can't go in, the Master is receiving guests..."

"Get out of my way! It's none of our business how the Su family behaves!"

With a bang, the study door was pushed open.

Su Wenhan barged in with Su Zixuan and several collateral relatives, all of them with unfriendly expressions.

"Father!" Su Wenhan preemptively spoke up, "Do you know what's been going on outside these past few days? They're saying our Su family is letting a man of unknown origin spend his days and nights in Qingxue's boudoir—it's utterly absurd!"

Su Zixuan chimed in, "Grandpa, my cousin's reputation is important! If Lin Chen is truly capable, he should produce solid evidence, instead of dragging this out in ambiguity!"

Lin Chen sat quietly, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

The anxiety in Su Wenhan's eyes seemed genuine, but behind that anxiety, there appeared to be other emotions.

Su Zixuan, on the other hand, was purely gloating, enjoying the spectacle.

"Shut up, all of you!" Su Zhenbang slammed his hand on the table. "Is Qingxue's life more important, or these idle rumors?"

Su Wenhan's face turned pale from the drinking, but he still stubbornly insisted, "Father, I'm only thinking of the Su family!"

"Even if we take a step back and assume he could revive Qingxue, is a convict really worthy of my Su family's eldest daughter?"

"Whether she's good enough or not, Qingxue will decide for herself when she wakes up," Su Zhenbang said coldly.

"But now, no one can disturb Lin Xiaoyou's treatment."

The group left dejectedly.

The study returned to its usual quiet, and Lin Chen took his leave.

On his way back to the small building, he deliberately tiptoed around the garden, and surprisingly heard faint, hushed conversations coming from behind the rockery—

"...We must speed things up; the master can't wait any longer."

"But what about Lin Chen..."

"What kind of trouble can a convict cause?"

"As planned, we will take action in five days."