When Jun Zhu returned to the cave, Lu Yunzou was still lying quietly on the stone platform. At the sound of Jun Zhu’s footsteps, he slightly turned his head, his gaze locking onto Jun Zhu with an expression full of anticipation.

Seeing this, Jun Zhu didn’t bother keeping him in suspense. He walked over, released the acupoint restriction on Lu Yunzou, and placed the purple jade pendant into his hand.

The moment his acupoints were freed, Lu Yunzou immediately sat up, clutching the pendant tightly. Closing his eyes, he carefully sensed the spirit within. Only after confirming it was unharmed did he finally relax.

As soon as the tension left his body, exhaustion hit him all at once. He braced himself against the stone platform and looked up at Jun Zhu. Struggling to find the right words, he hesitated for a long moment before forcing out two simple ones.

“Thank you.”

His voice was weak and barely above a whisper. Jun Zhu glanced at his current state and sighed. Sure enough, all his efforts from the previous day had gone to waste.

“If you really want to thank me, then focus on recovering first. I have no interest in wasting my energy on someone who doesn’t value their own life.”

“My apologies for troubling you.”

Looking at Lu Yunzou’s frail appearance, Jun Zhu found it hard to believe that this was the same person destined to become the legendary figure in the latter half of the book.

“Lie down. After all the trouble you caused, your wounds have reopened and started bleeding again. I need to redress them.”

With that, he moved to remove the blood-soaked bandages.

“There’s no need to trouble you further—I can handle it myself.”

Since Lu Yunzou insisted, Jun Zhu didn’t argue. In fact, this suited him just fine. He had no desire to serve others, and while tending to an unconscious patient was one thing, performing such an intimate task while Lu Yunzou was fully awake would be nothing short of awkward—two grown men staring at each other in discomfort.

Jun Zhu placed the medicinal supplies within Lu Yunzou’s reach on the stone platform, along with two storage pouches.

“One of these contains fresh bandages and medicine. The other holds a clean set of clothes. I got them from your fellow sect members when I went looking for you. Use them for now—once you’re well enough, you can find something else yourself.”

“You ran into them? Did they give you any trouble?”

Seeing the worry in Lu Yunzou’s eyes, Jun Zhu chuckled.

“With their level of skill? They couldn’t trouble me even if they tried. My surname is Jun, given name Zhu. Just call me by my name—no need for all this ‘benefactor’ nonsense.”