Hua Chongyang looked earnestly into his eyes with utmost sincerity. Feng Shuoshuo lifted Zu Xian's white robe and long hair, and before he could speak again, he suffered another heart-wrenching cough. Finally, he leaned against the door with one hand and pressed the other to his chest, slowly bending over. This sickly posture made Hua Chongyang feel a pang of pity.
"You should come inside; it's too cold outside."
She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth, because Zu Xian immediately suppressed a cough, looked up, and glanced at her:
"Why meddle in other people's business?"
Hua Chongyang gritted his teeth until they ached. He wanted to leave but was worried about the poisoned needle in his arm. He wanted to beg him, but he really didn't want to lower his head. After a long stalemate, it was Zu Xian who finally spoke first in a cold voice:
What are you still doing standing here?
Hua Chongyang raised her almost numb left arm, her heart struggling again with whether or not to beg him… Then, just as she was agonizing over this internal struggle, Zu Xian suddenly turned to her and slowly said:
"You're simply worried that the needle is poisoned."
Hua Chongyang lowered his head and forced a smile.
"...Yes. Please give me the antidote."
With her eyes slightly lowered, she could feel Zu Xian standing at the door, his gaze fixed on her for a long time before he suddenly spoke:
Are you begging me?
Hua Chongyang suddenly looked up, raising an eyebrow. Zu Xian stood at the doorway, his back to the candlelight inside, his expression indistinct. His tone was serious, and although his words were clearly meant to be difficult, they sounded flat to her. But for some reason, those words caused a dull ache in her chest, and a deep-seated, suppressed arrogance suddenly overflowed from her heart.
There are countless renowned doctors in the world. Even if she were to die from the poison, why would she need to beg him, or this lackey of Lanying Palace?
Thinking of this, she snorted and abruptly turned to leave.
One step, two steps, three steps, and then the fourth step—before she had even fully taken her first step, Zu Xian's hoarse voice came from behind her:
"etc!"
As the fourth step landed, Hua Chongyang almost closed her eyes, her heart trembling as she waited for the second poisoned needle to strike. Instead, she heard hurried footsteps behind her, and Zu Xian rushed in front of her, grabbing her arm. His voice was hoarse and low:
"Hua Chongyang!"
Hua Chongyang instinctively swung his arm sharply, causing Zu Xian to stumble back several steps and step into the snow. Underneath the snow in the courtyard was withered grass, soft and slippery. Zu Xian slipped and fell to the ground, a splash of snow splattering onto his thin white undergarment.
Hua Chongyang was stunned, her steps frozen in place. She knew she was strong, but to push a man down like that was truly... unexpected. Zu Xian frowned and glanced at her, about to speak, when he turned away and half-lay on the ground, coughing violently again. After a few violent coughs, a trace of blood slowly trickled from the corner of his lips onto the snow.
The bright red bloodstains on the white snow were shocking at first glance. After a moment's hesitation, Hua Chongyang stepped forward, pulled Zu Xian up from the ground, and dragged him into the house.
"You're a madman!"
The snow was slippery, so she looked back at the brightly lit house and pulled Zu Xian into the house by the arm she was holding.
Zu Xian, who appeared frail, staggered but managed to stand upright as she followed her into the house. A wave of heat hit them as soon as they entered, and Hua Chongyang finally understood why Zu Xian was only wearing his undergarments: a thick white fox fur robe covered a wooden couch, and four braziers surrounded it, their flames blazing. Beneath the couch sat a bronze cauldron, burning something that emitted a strong medicinal smell mixed with a faint fragrance.
Hua Chongyang casually tossed Zu Xian onto the wooden couch, turned around and looked around. He saw the teacup on the small tea table on the couch; it was still warm to the touch and smelled of medicine. He then rudely brought the teacup close to Zu Xian's lips.
"Is this your medicine?"
Zu Xian looked up at her, then looked away:
"……yes."
Hua Chongyang noticed the bloodstains on his lips and finally couldn't bear it. He reached out and grabbed his sleeve, forcefully wiping his mouth with the blood, then brought the teacup closer.
"Drink it. Even a miracle doctor needs to be treated when they're sick, right?"
Zu Xian coughed a few more times, pressed his chest, glanced at her again, then awkwardly turned his face away and said in a hoarse voice:
"...This medicine is too bitter."
8. Half-drunk behind the curtain
Beneath a cascade of disheveled black hair, Zu Xian's neck appeared exceptionally long and white, and it was so close. If she were to throw down the teacup and clasp her hands around his neck, he would be finished in no time. Perhaps she could even get some answers she wanted to know before he died—
But Zu Xian hesitated for a long time in front of the bowl of medicine, then reached out a finger to take it, frowned and slowly tilted his head back to swallow the medicine.
After swallowing the medicine in a few gulps, leaving only a drop at the corner of her lips, Hua Chongyang stared at Zu Xian's pained expression for a long time before finally managing a smirk. The Evil Doctor Zu Xian, so this was his temperament? When she was very young, she had heard her mother, Hua Chuxue, say that there were two kinds of people in the martial arts world who were the most willful: highly skilled doctors and reclusive masters of martial arts. Both were arrogant and madmen who believed in themselves above all else. If they weren't madmen, their medical and martial arts skills wouldn't reach such unparalleled levels.
Her mother also told her, "Chongyang, if you ever venture into the martial world, remember to stay away from these two types of people. They are either extremely kind or extremely vicious—and even if they are kind, it probably won't last long."
It was exactly the same advice Ye Qinghua had given her.
Hua Chongyang couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself: her skills were ultimately inferior to Ye Qinghua's.
Inside, the brazier burned brightly, filling the room with warmth. Zu Xian, wrapped in a thick fox fur coat, gradually lost the paleness on his face. His coughs subsided, and after a long pause, he raised his eyes and said in a hoarse voice:
"The poison won't kill you, but there's no antidote."
"...There's no antidote?"
Zu Xian remained silent, slowly reaching out and producing two more silver needles from seemingly nowhere:
"The needle is soaked in different medicines at both ends, and there is no antidote for either poison. The difference is that the poison at the tip is slow-acting, taking effect several hours later; the poison at the end is extremely potent, causing immediate death upon contact with blood."
A silver needle, about an inch long, peeked from the tip of her slender, pale finger. In the flickering candlelight, the tip glowed red, while the tail emitted a faint blue light. Hua Chongyang shifted his gaze from the silver needle to Zu Xian's deep, unfathomable eyes:
"What if it's a slow-acting poison?"
"It will hurt."
"...It hurts?" Hua Chongyang suppressed his trembling and grinned. "So, I was just lucky that I wasn't pricked by the poisonous needle's tail?"
There was no turning back now. She raised her hand to press on the injury on her left arm, and curled the corners of her lips into a smile:
"Is it the poison from Lan Ying Palace?"
Zu Xian looked up:
Why do you say that?
"I've long heard that the Evil Doctor Immortal has close ties with the Orchid Shadow Palace, and besides, poison with fragrance is typical of the Orchid Shadow Palace." Hua Chongyang smiled bitterly, "I never imagined I'd fall for the Orchid Shadow Palace's poison, especially one without an antidote."
Zu Xian, wrapped in a thick fox fur coat, remained silent for a long time. A tingling sensation began to rise in his wound, likely indicating the poison was about to take effect. Hua Chongyang pressed down on his arm and asked:
"How painful will it be if the poison takes effect?"
Zu Xian paused, his dark eyes fixed on her: "You'll suffer a fate worse than death."
Before he could finish speaking, Hua Chongyang frowned, and cold sweat broke out all over his body.
The pain spread from the arm injury to the shoulder blade and collarbone, as if fine needles were piercing the bone. Although it was only fleeting, it was enough for her to experience what "living is worse than death" meant.
Clearly noticing her expression, Zu Xian suddenly straightened up:
"Actually, this poison may not be incurable."
He removed his fox fur coat, sat up, and moved closer to Hua Chongyang. He brought his left arm close to Hua Chongyang, and slowly lifted his sleeve with two fingers of his right hand, revealing a section of his fair wrist.
Hua Chongyang's eyes widened slowly, and he couldn't help but gasp.
That fair wrist was covered with crisscrossing cuts, some new and some old. The old ones had already left scars, while the new ones had not yet healed and were still covered with bright red bloodstains. The entire inside of her wrist looked as if it had been slashed by a knife.
A thought slowly surfaced in Hua Chongyang's mind, and he couldn't help but look up and exclaim in surprise:
You don't mean to say--
Then another wave of excruciating pain struck.
Hua Chongyang felt a wave of dizziness.
Before she slumped over in a daze, she only felt a pair of icy hands supporting her waist. Before she could even see if it was Zu Xian, she lost consciousness.
When Hua Chongyang woke up the next day, she was already slumped over a table in the Banlianzui Tavern, with Uncle Fu, the old cook from Huajianyuan, sitting beside her. She sat up, staring at her sleepy eyes, and when she was truly awake, she saw Uncle Fu looking at her with a somewhat helpless expression.
"Chongyang, I've been searching for you for so long."
Hua Chongyang frowned, looking completely bewildered: "...What are you doing here, Uncle Fu?"
She must have passed out last night, leaning against Zu Xian's wooden couch.
"I didn't see you late last night, so I got worried and went out to look for you. I asked around until I got to Lake Moon Manor, but they said you'd already gone home. I came back, and it was almost dawn when I saw the door open. I came in and found you lying here." Uncle Fu said, and couldn't help but start scolding Hua Chongyang again, "It's so chaotic outside, how could a young lady like you be out drinking by yourself?"
"……"
Having finally remembered what had happened last night, Hua Chongyang didn't bother to answer Fu Bo. He got up and went to the back door to lift the curtain, but when he saw the door behind the curtain, he was stunned.
The door was locked with an iron lock.
She turned around, not bothering to speak to Uncle Fu, and sat back down in her chair, dejected. Since they'd left her here and locked the door, it was clear they didn't want to show themselves again; she feared she wouldn't find them even if she tried to break in. Thinking of that pale face, those deep, unsettling eyes, that frail, slender figure, the desolate courtyard, the lonely, quiet red paper lanterns—everything felt like a dream. Even the poisoning from last night seemed unreal.
Poisoning?
Thinking of this, she suddenly raised her hand and pressed it against the wound on her left arm that she remembered.
I felt nothing.
Hua Chongyang hurriedly rolled up her left sleeve.
A clear red dot appeared on her left arm, resembling blood, but showing no signs of poisoning. Hua Chongyang's fingers paused, recalling what Zu Xian had said to her before she fainted last night: "Actually, this poison may not be incurable."
That mangled wrist, crisscrossed with knife wounds, a sight of flesh torn open—
She shivered and tremblingly extended her wrist:
"Uncle Fu, please take my pulse."
Uncle Fu, puzzled, reached out and pressed his finger against her pulse point. After a moment, he lifted his finger.
"His pulse is steady. Chongyang, what's wrong?"
"...It's nothing." She didn't dare tell Uncle Fu about the poisoning she'd experienced, so she made up an excuse and laughed, "I was afraid I'd drunk too much yesterday and harmed my health."
"Luckily, we drank here and didn't stay at Lake Moon Manor," Uncle Fu sighed, "otherwise, how would I explain it to the old sect leader?"
"Lake Moon Manor?" A bad premonition struck, and Hua Chongyang grabbed Fu Bo's sleeve. "What happened to Lake Moon Manor, Fu Bo?"
"What, you didn't know?" Uncle Fu frowned. "I just heard that last night, Rong Zaisheng, the owner of Lake Moon Villa, and his entire family of thirty-six were all killed; not a single one survived."
"……What!"
Hua Chongyang jumped up abruptly.
"The martial world is a place of great trouble!" Uncle Fu looked at Hua Chongyang with concern, shook his head, and said, "Chongyang, why do you have to get involved in this mess?"
"Uncle Fu," Hua Chongyang said absentmindedly after listening, then immediately asked, "where did you hear about the Rong family being massacred?"
People on the street are saying, "Go out and see for yourself."
Hua Chongyang abandoned Fu Bo and ran out of Banlianzui.
9. Leafy green flowers
The banquet at Lake Moon Manor lasted until nearly midnight, and Hua Chongyang hadn't gone far from the manor when she heard the sound of a clapper in the street at the third watch of the night. Before she left, Ji Chong, Ji Feixiang, and others were still at Lake Moon Manor, which also housed disciples from several other martial arts sects.