At this moment, Dugu Yan saw Keynes's miserable state and her pupils shrank slightly.
She had not met Keynes many times, but she knew he was Kathleen's brother and had a good relationship with Lin Yang.
Seeing him like this made her chest feel heavy too!
Lin Yang looked at Ye Lingling. "Lingling, help me."
Ye Lingling said nothing. She followed Lin Yang into the operating room.
Inside the operating room, the Nine-Hearted Begonia bloomed quietly.
A faint fragrance spread. Pure white petals drifted down gently and landed on Keynes, merging softly into his body.
Under Lin Yang's Transparent World, Keynes's damaged internal organs stopped bleeding. Torn blood vessels slowly healed, and even the severed limb stumps showed signs of closing.
The Nine-Hearted Begonia truly lived up to its name!
However...
Lin Yang glanced at Ye Lingling. Her face grew paler, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
She was only a two-ring soul master with limited soul power. Keynes's injuries were too severe. Treating him to this extent was already her limit.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yang took out a tube of green potion from his storage soul tool and handed it to her.
"Drink this."
Ye Lingling glanced at Lin Yang, asked no questions, and downed it in one gulp.
The moment the potion entered her stomach, a strange look flashed in Ye Lingling's usually unchanging eyes.
Her soul power was slowly recovering.
No auxiliary soul skill, not a food-type soul skill—just a single tube of potion could achieve the effect of a soul skill?
This was the Soul Recovery Potion that Lin Yang had developed. For soul masters below the third ring, it could restore 50% to 200% of their soul power.
The higher the soul power rank, the weaker the recovery effect.
For a third-ring Soul Elder, the potion restored less than 5%—better than nothing.
But for the current Ye Lingling, it was perfect.
Soon, aside from the severed stumps still showing dark red muscle tissue, all of Keynes's other injuries had fully recovered.
Keynes's eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Ye Lingling withdrew her martial soul, her body swaying.
Lin Yang handed her another tube of Soul Recovery Potion and said solemnly, "Thank you!"
This thank-you was sincere.
Keynes was one of his few friends. He would remember the favor Ye Lingling had shown today by lending a hand.
"No need!"
Ye Lingling remained as indifferent as ever.
She did not drink the potion immediately. Instead, she clutched it in her hand and turned to leave.
As soon as she took a step, her body staggered and she pitched straight toward the ground.
"Careful!"
Lin Yang reacted quickly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
After steadying herself, Ye Lingling glanced at Lin Yang, softly thanked him, and slowly walked out of the operating room.
Lin Yang then turned to look at Keynes lying on the operating table.
Although Keynes had woken up, his eyes were hollow. He stared blankly at the ceiling like an empty shell whose soul had been drained.
Lin Yang sighed softly.
Losing one leg and one arm was a devastating blow to anyone.
He stood by and watched for a while but ultimately said nothing and left the room.
As soon as he stepped out, Kathleen rushed over, her eyes frighteningly red. "Teacher, my brother... how is he?"
Lin Yang looked at her and shook his head. "Go see him. He needs you by his side right now."
Fresh tears welled up in Kathleen's eyes, but she bit her lip hard, nodded forcefully, wiped her face, and pushed open the door to the operating room behind her.
Lin Yang approached Qin Ming with an apologetic look. "Sorry, Teacher Qin, for making you come all this way."
Qin Ming said in a deep voice, "If you need anything, just tell me."
"Thank you, Teacher Qin."
Lin Yang then looked at Dugu Yan.
Dugu Yan understood how he felt. She took his hand and said, "Is there anything I can help with?"
Lin Yang shook his head. "I won't be polite with you."
Afterward, Lin Yang walked up to a young man—it was Ah Hai, Keynes's brother-in-law whom he had once saved!
Ah Hai looked completely disheveled, with several scrapes on his body. The other members of the mercenary team also bore injuries.
"Ah Hai, what happened to Keynes?"
Ah Hai raised his head, his red eyes carrying a sobbing tone. "It was the Wolf Head Hunting Group. They stole our soul beast. Brother-in-law argued with them a couple of times, and they... they just..."
Hearing Ah Hai's description, Lin Yang nearly laughed from anger.
The cause of the incident was very simple—almost laughably so.
Keynes's mercenary group had accidentally discovered a heavily injured, near-death century-old soul beast. They planned to sell the information to a soul master who needed a soul ring and make some money.
Unfortunately, the Wolf Head Hunting Group learned of it and directly snatched the soul beast.
Keynes naturally refused to accept it and went to reason with them.
But how could a hunting group take cannon fodder like mercenaries seriously?
Not only did they humiliate Keynes severely, they even used it as a "warning" and chopped off his right arm and left leg.
Lin Yang felt a pang of melancholy.
Just for a single century-old soul beast, they had so casually trampled a person's dignity and destroyed someone's future.
In the eyes of certain soul masters, the lives of commoners truly meant nothing.
Innate soul power was truly an uncrossable chasm between commoners and soul masters!
Of course, Lin Yang would not go to the extreme of thinking that soul masters themselves were wrong.
It was soul masters who had ruined Keynes, but it was also soul masters who had saved him.
Who could clearly say what was right and wrong in this?
After seeing off Qin Ming and the others, Lin Yang returned to the operating room. He saw Kathleen sitting beside Keynes, chattering nonstop in an attempt to awaken her brother's will to live.
But Keynes remained the same—like a soulless puppet.
There is no grief greater than a dead heart. Without some other change, Keynes would be thoroughly "broken."
Lin Yang closed the operating room door and walked up to Keynes. He stared at the once-cheerful man for a few seconds, sighed, and said, "Keynes, do you... want power?"
"Do you want revenge?"
"Do you want to trample everyone who humiliated you under your feet?"
Kathleen stared blankly at Lin Yang. At this moment, her teacher no longer looked like a physician but like a demon tempting someone into hell.
Under Lin Yang's three consecutive questions, a faint flame gradually ignited in Keynes's hollow eyes.
It was the fire of anger, the fire of unwillingness—the fire that wanted to burn away all humiliation and pain.
He turned his head with difficulty, looked at Lin Yang, opened his mouth, and spoke in a voice as hoarse as two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together. "Doctor Lin... please, I... want power."
"Bro...."
Kathleen stared dazedly at Keynes, her face full of helplessness.
Lin Yang ignored her and continued, "You will endure pain beyond the limits of the body. You might even... die!"
Keynes forced a smile. It contained bitterness, determination, and... a trace of relief. "It doesn't matter. As long as I can gain power, even if... I fall into hell forever!"
"Then give it a try!"
As Lin Yang spoke, a tube of scarlet potion the color of agate appeared in his hand. "See if you can withstand... the power of Demons and gods."