"Mother... wha- what is that!?"

Tia Alstreim's eyes that were already a bit moist, quickly shed tears as she took a step back in disbelief.

She looked like she was about to fall as her knees gave out, but Davis was there behind her to catch her fall. He took his hand from her wrists and grasped her slender shoulders. He kept his gaze on the blood crystal protrusions, not knowing anything about it other than understanding that they were an amalgamation of blood.

Edgar Alstreim and Lia Alstreim remained mum. Their expressions were solemn, constituting a blaring silence despite Tia screaming to know the answer.

Davis was not new to seeing people with sickness present in their bodies. He had seen many, and he was not thinking about the mortals back on Earth but the mortals present here.

Obviously, the single-celled organisms such as bacteria and viruses, or in a grouped term, germs, have long been eliminated by the magnificent heaven and earth energy.

Davis did not see or even hear these two terms ever since he got here, but the fungi, which was both a unicellular and multicellular organism, was often heard of by him. It could infect humans as it became one with the plant world, even serving as ingredients for a wide variety of uses. For example, the yeast, a single-celled fungus, is regularly used to make wine, which is extremely popular in the cultivation world as it is in the modern world.

Nevertheless, the sickness that the people get here was primarily due to their own fault. It is mainly caused by their cultivation deviations, low-quality cultivation manuals, and other actions such as circulating their energy in an inappropriate manner, which could cause them to have symptoms similar to cold, fever, rashes, and many more as if a bacteria or a virus had infected them.

It was their own body reacting to the abnormality of their practices.

Of course, fungi could also affect them, but he rarely saw a human being affected by those little critters.

And that made him wonder, what kind of sickness was this?

Davis turned to look at Edgar Alstreim, his gaze asking him to explain.

Edgar Alstreim looked both ashamed and exasperated as he moved his gaze away from his wife's feet while Lia Alstreim also lowered her gaze, possessing a smile that didn't seem as bright as before anymore, causing the little Tia to severely tremble before she once again voiced out.

"M-Mother... What are those tiny red crystals...?

Her voice trembled, causing Lia Alstreim to take a deep breath as she smiled brightly once more as if returning to her previous attitude.

"Come here, Tia~"

She echoed as she spread out her hands, and Tia jumped into her mother's embrace without a further word. Her tears quickly began to fall while she kept a tight hold as if she would never leave her mother.

Tia felt incredibly frightful. She didn't know what's with this sickness, but she knew that it wasn't anything good, perhaps even life-threatening! Otherwise, she didn't see a reason that her parents would hide this information from her.

Lia Alstreim's lips became upturned, looking as if she was going to cry herself, but kept it in as she consoled Tia while rubbing her back.

"It's called Crippling Bone Crystallization Rupture Illness..."

Edgar Alstreim's voice resounded out with reluctance, causing Davis to turn his attention towards him.

"I've never heard of that, but I can probably do something about it." Davis didn't feel like beating around the bush.

"Davis, just go..." Edgar Alstreim uttered as he lowered his head, looking frustrated.

"Why? I can help you as I helped you with your dantian..."

Edgar Alstreim bit his lips, appearing crestfallen, "I appreciate your concern, grandson. However, even the very best apothecary in the Alstreim Family, Nazca Alstreim, has said that people who have contracted this illness have less hope to survive because this particular illness has no known cure. Even the people who have contracted this illness from the large-sized Territories have died without a doubt."

Edgar Alstreim clenched his fists as he deeply smiled, "Apparently, there are few exceptions, but those exceptions have all been lucky people in the past who have managed to find a way to eliminate the illness by themselves."

"Lucky...?"

Davis narrowed his eyes, "Does that mean they tried to eat random ingredients and somehow recovered?"

Edgar Alstreim shook his head, "I apologize. My wording was poor, probably stemming from my jealousy."

He took a deep breath and looked at his wife's feet again.

"Do you see those crimson crystal protrusions? As you may have already figured out, they are undoubtedly blood crystals, but that is the blood from her bone marrows..."

Davis's eyes widened in shock before guessing what his grandfather was getting at. Blood from bone marrows meant that it mostly had to do with one's blood essence! Other than the heart, where the largest reserve of blood essence was constantly being pumped before it faded into normal blood, the bone marrows were the second-largest reserve.

"This illness..." Edgar Alstreim possessed a difficult expression on his face as he explained.

"Apothecary Nazca Alstreim said this illness is unique. It only contracts to people who have their middle dantians broken or destroyed, and even in that, only a rare few in that category contract this illness."

"She told us that this illness is formed from the interaction of foreign heaven and earth energy seeping into Lia's bones while her bones adversely reacted and began to condense its blood to protect themselves. However, some condensed blood seeps out from the bones and forms these blood-red crystals on the outer layer of the skin. It would be fine if it just stopped with that, but it forms a chain reaction instead as the crystals begin to think that it is protecting the host by making more of them."

"It begins from the feet, numbing each part of the skin that it envelops before making it all the way to the head, completely paralyzing the person. Actually, the person would be noticeably paralyzed the moment those crystals condense their spine's blood essence. At the end, when the crystals cover the entire body, they die an excruciating death where all the blood crystals burst apart, causing severe hemorrhage to occur in their entire body as they lose all their essence blood!"

Davis's expression became a bit volatile as he imagined it.

That was not a way he wanted to die. Not only did it seem disgusting, like cancer cells growing to form a tumor system, but the end result on their deathbed appeared remarkably gruesome.

However, there was a question that appeared in his mind.

"Foreign heaven and earth energy? What does grandfather mean by that?"

Davis narrowed his eyes as he asked, but he saw Edgar Alstreim's expression become ugly. His expression was constantly changing, from reluctance to helplessness before he let out a deep sigh.

"It wasn't a foreign heaven and earth energy because it was me..."

Davis's eyes widened as a soul transmission fell on his ears.

The first thought that came to his mind that Edgar Alstreim poisoned his own wife with some kind of energy, but he instantly shot down that assumption and knew that it was dual cultivation instead.

Edgar Alstreim had all his cultivation systems intact, thanks to Davis's aid. However, Lia Alstreim remained crippled as her middle dantian had ruptured before, but that doesn't disable her from practicing Essence Gathering Cultivation. It is understandable that Edgar Alstreim would help his wife increase her cultivation through dual cultivation, but who could've thought that it would end up in a disaster!?

He didn't know what to say as he felt awkward.

However, Edgar Alstreim continued in his somber voice.

"Without saying, their body naturally loses its vitality, causing them to die a grim death, and if their soul is strong enough to survive, they just might live alone enough until their soul's lifespans expire. However, a few unique people withstand the 'bursting' process of the crystals even while almost nearing death. They are the truly lucky ones I have ever heard of, but I don't think my wife will be one of those lucky ones because those whom I love always meet with a tragic fate!"

Davis understood why Edgar Alstreim was jealous of those lucky ones.

After all, Lia Alstreim did not have a powerful soul to survive. Only after one gets to the Mature Soul Stage would a soul receive the ability to live past the physical body's natural limit, gaining around five hundred additional years to still live in the world as a soul, otherwise known as living ghosts.

However, he shook his head.

"That wasn't the case with your daugh-"

"My daughter Claire may have survived and blessed with a son like you and other children as well, but her mother Julianna is... my love... is already..." Edgar Alstreim's lips quivered as he painfully interrupted Davis.

Davis's mouth went slightly agape, not really able to find a counter to that statement.

Unfortunately, he could not help people who were dead.

The matter of Glynn came to his mind, but he knew that he was not ready yet because not only did he not know the consequences, he did not know if he could really do it either as there might only be a single chance to try and make it succeed.

"Don't say I am not unlucky..." Edgar Alstreim raised his hand, "Because even if it were not for Julianna, the number of people that would be contracted with this illness is limited to the people who have their middle dantians ruptured, and even in that category, less than five percent are afflicted with it. Furthermore, it was because of me. If this is not my luck, then what?"

Davis didn't know what to say as he, too, believed that Edgar Alstreim's luck was pretty bad. He felt that if he was not present here, then Edgar Alstreim's outcome would be even more tragic. Not to mention that it was actually Edgar Alstreim's fault because his yang in the form of energy seeped into her bones while dual cultivating, making him feel extremely responsible.

However...

"Your individual luck might not be good, grandfather. However, you still have me..."

Davis raised his brows as he teasingly smiled.

Edgar Alstreim became taken aback before he wryly chuckled, "Thanks, I needed those words now to be courageous and strong. Damn, you happened to witness the miserable side of me..."

He shook his head as he smiled.

"What are you saying, grandfather?" Davis held Edgar Alstreim's shoulders as he deeply smiled, "You are miserable..."

"..."

Edgar Alstreim looked dumbfounded before his expression flared up, "Brat...! You-"

"Hehe, being miserable is fine with me because I can't imagine how desperate and despaired I would be if any one of my wives is somehow afflicted with this terrifying illness."

Davis spoke solemnly, causing Edgar Alstreim to blink. However, the next words caused his eyes to go wide in deep shock!

"That is... If I didn't have a way to cure it..."