Hearing his child-like explanation, Xuan Yue smiled and asked, "Little brother, could you tell us why you’ve been stealing?"
The teenager looked down silently, not answering, however, Ah Dai saw from his expression that he must be in difficulty. A person with such bright eyes wouldn’t be morally corrupted. "Speak up, tell us everything. You see, this brother here is a priest and you should know the status of a cleric on the continent. He will certainly be able to help you."
The teenager looked up at Xuan Yue, who nodded in affirmation, saying, "I promise you, I will help." As she spoke, she gathered the surrounding light elents and cast a gentle glow around her body.
Suddenly, the teenager rolled off the bed and, to the astonishnt of Ah Dai and Xuan Yue, knelt before her, crying profusely, "Honourable priestess, I beg you, please save my mother."
Ah Dai quickly lifted the boy, who revealed everything at his questions. He was Wo Xin, only fifteen years old. He beca a thief because of his mother. After his father died when he was young, he and his mother had a small shop to sustain them. However, three years ago, his mother fell terminally ill. They spent all their savings on dical expenses just to keep her alive. Wo Xin sold everything they owned, including their shop, yet the dical expenditures were insatiable. Now, he and his mother only had a decrepit small house. Wo Xin, being young and possessing no skills, had to resort to theft to collect money to keep his mother alive. All the money he stole was used to buy dicine and food for his mother while he often went without food for a day or two. His last words deeply touched Ah Dai and Xuan Yue; he cried saying, if he didn’t steal, he would lose his mother.
Ah Dai’s and Xuan Yue’s eyes beca teary. She stroked the boy’s head, choking up, saying, "Let’s go, little brother. Take us to et your mother. As long as she is still breathing, we will help save her. Trust us, eting us marks the end of your days of suffering."
Ah Dai also stood up, next to Xuan Yue, saying, "Let’s go now. The sooner we start the treatnt, the higher the chances of cure." Ah Dai didn’t have a mother, but he knew that if he were in Wo Xin’s shoes, he too would’ve chosen the sa path. For family, any sacrifice is worth it.
Xuan Yue changed into a new ritual robe, following Wo Xin, they arrived at his tattered house in a remote corner of Mimu City. As soon as they opened the door, a thick sll of dicine assailed their senses. A weak, intermittent breathing sound ca from a big bed at the far end of the chaotic room. "Xin...my boy... are...you...ho...?" Her voice was so pitiful, it sounded like the speaker could lose her life at any mont.
"Mother, I’m ho," Wo Xin quickly ran towards the bed, Ah Dai and Xuan Yue followed behind. The bed, cobbled together from a few wooden boards, held a woman. Judging from Wo Xin’s age, the woman mustn’t be over forty, but she looked like a woman in her fifties or sixties. Suffering illness for three years had drained all vitality from her body. Her dried-out hair lay in ssy strands on her grimy pillow, her eyes were bereft of any lustre, her bony, pale hand was tightly grasped by Wo Xin.
Spotting Ah Dai and Xuan Yue, the woman was startled. She stamred, "Xin...my boy, who...are...they? Why...have...they...co...to...our...place?"
Wo Xin replied, "Mother, they are my friends, I’ve invited them to cure you. Please rest a bit now. This priest brother says he can heal you."
Xuan Yue nodded her head, giving Ah Dai a look. She put her hand on the woman’s wrist emitting a faint white glow, and felt the woman’s life energy. After a while, she let go, furrowing her brows and shook her head. Wo Xin anxiously asked, "Priest brother, how’s my mother?"
Xuan Yue sighed, saying, "Your mother’s disease is extrely severe. Without proper treatnt at the onset, it’s progressed so much now that the virus has seeped into her bone marrow and has almost entirely blocked her veins. If I am not mistaken, she’s unlikely to survive beyond five days. The fact that she’s managed to hold on to this degree of life with such a severe illness is already very impressive."
Hearing Xuan Yue’s words, Wo Xin broke down and started crying out loud. He held his mother’s hand tight and sobbed, "No, Mother, I don’t want you to die! Mother, you must hold on."
Wo Xin’s mother was surprisingly calm, she gasped and said, "Child... don’t...be...like this... this is... fate. I...know...my...condition... very...clearly. If...it...wasn’t...that...I...worry...about...you...I...would’ve...died...already." Saying this, she fainted.
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