"I know you are… doing this for me… but… it's too dangerous." Kulas reiterated.
"Dear, I have to agree with Kulas," Ren Xia said with a worried frown on her pretty face. "Visiting the Holy Continent because you're curious about them and going there to investigate them are entirely different matters. What if you're caught? Even you won't be able to escape them."
"Then what should I do? Are you telling me to do nothing but watch my sworn brother and friend slowly die, even though there's a chance I could prevent that?"
Ren Xia sighed, "I won't stop you if you really want to go to the Holy Continent. Knowing you, you'll go regardless of what I say, anyway. However, at least think it over some more."
"Even though my father's life is at stake, I also agree with Senior Ren. You should wait a little longer before you rush into the Holy Continent," Xie Mey said.
"How long am I supposed to wait before I act? Looking at his state, he might not even have a few years." Tian Yang rubbed his eyes in a stressful manner.
"You are… underestimating me… too much…" Kulas said.
Tian Yang looked at him and responded, "I think I am already being generous with my estimate. Look at you. You can't even speak a full sentence without taking deep breaths."
"But the doctors said that besides his appearance, everything else is healthy… Even Mother Chao said so." Xie Mei said. "If it had only been one doctor who said so, I wouldn't have believed it. However, many of them said the same thing. Moreover, my father has survived in this state for over a hundred years now."
"..."
Tian Yang fell silent, as he was unable to refute her words.
Eventually, he sighed out loud, "Fine, I will wait a little before I head to the Holy Continent."
"Thank you…" Kulas said.
Tian Yang and the others left Kulas alone to rest shortly after.
"I guess we'll be staying here again for some time," he said to Xie Mey.
She smiled and said, "We haven't touched your room, and you can stay here whenever and for as long as you want."
Over the next several days would wander around the palace to look for any clues, hoping the Three Pillars of Heaven had left behind some evidence of foul play. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
However, a few months later, just as Tian Yang started planning his journey to the Holy Continent, something unbelievable happened.
Kulas, who had been bedridden for a hundred years, made a sudden and full recovery.
"I don't know what happened, but it seems I have recovered now, so you no longer have any reason to visit the Holy Continent," Kulas said as he stood before Tian Yang, looking as healthy as before.
"What the…?" Tian Yang couldn't believe it. "You… You aren't pretending to have recovered just to prevent me from heading to the Holy Continent, right?"
Kulas raised his arm into the air and swore with a serious face, "I swear on my soul that I am not pretending."
"How? This doesn't make any sense!" "This may sound crazy, but I have been feeling better ever since you returned to the palace. Not only that, but previously, I started having mood swings after you left, but the moment you returned, it stopped for fifty years."
Tian Yang frowned and said, "Are you implying that I am the cure to your issues somehow?"
"It sounds ridiculous, I know. However, it can't be a mere coincidence. How about this? Let's test out my theory."
Tian Yang rubbed his eyes and sighed, "So what? Are you telling me to leave the palace to see if your sickness will return?"
Kulas nodded with a serious expression.
"You crazy son of a bitch…" Tian Yang was speechless.
Yet, he didn't refuse.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "How long do you want me to be away?"
"Until my condition worsens," Kulas quickly replied.
"Fine. I'll play along with your absurd theory."
Some time later, Tian Yang explained the situation to Ren Xia.
"That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard!"
To nobody's surprise, she was shocked by it.
"How in heaven's name did he even come up with this?"
Despite finding the idea dumb, Ren Xia didn't reject the idea.
"Let's return to our secret home then," she said, as she had been wanting to return for some time now, and this was the perfect opportunity.
Before they left, Kulas handed them a treasure.
"What's this?"
"It's a communication device. It will allow us to speak with each other even through vast distances."
"Alright. Then contact me the moment you start feeling sick again."
"I will."
Tian Yang and Ren Xia left the palace the same day.
However, not even a few days later, they were contacted by Xie Mey.
"Please return! My father has fallen sick again!"
"Seriously? We aren't even halfway to our home." Ren Xia complained as they turned around and started making their way back to the palace.
Upon returning to the palace, Tian Yang stayed in the palace to see if Kulas would recover again.
Sure enough, a month later, Kulas recovered from his mysterious illness.
"???"
Tian Yang was shocked by the results, but he still wasn't entirely convinced. "Let's do it again. This time, stay outside for at least a decade, and don't come back even if I am sick." Kulas suddenly suggested.
"Again? If this is real, you're playing with your life." Tian Yang sighed.
"What else can we do?" He shrugged.
Thus, Tian Yang and Ren Xia left again. This time, they made it back home and stayed there for ten years before returning to the palace.
"Father has fallen sick again," Xie Mey revealed to them.
"Since when?" Tian Yang asked.
Unlike the first time, they didn't contact him when Kulas fell sick.
After a moment of silence, Xie Mey responded in an odd voice.
"The day after you left…"