Zu Xian?
A quarter of an hour later, Lan Shu, carrying Fu Shun, and Lan Cao, accompanied by the divine physician Zu Xian, appeared simultaneously in Banlianzui's back garden.
Hua Chongyang glanced at Fu Shun, then, disregarding everything else, stepped forward and grabbed Zu Xian, pressing him for answers:
"What's wrong with Mr. Zu?--"
Lan Wuxie's white robes were already stained with blood; at first glance, the bloodstains were mottled, and she suspected he had almost vomited all the blood. The divine physician Zu Xian was of medium height, with strikingly handsome features, bearing a slight resemblance to Lan Wuxie when he had disguised himself as Zu Xian. He glanced at Lan Wuxie and slowly raised an eyebrow:
"It's an old problem."
He then turned to Hua Chongyang and looked him up and down:
"You are Hua Chongyang?"
Hua Chongyang felt an urge to slap him, and even wanted to force him to take Lan Wuxie's pulse with a knife, but he tried his best to restrain himself:
"What's wrong with him—"
"Tsk tsk. She's certainly very attractive. No wonder this kid was willing to risk his life."
Hua Chongyang could barely keep up with the look on his face.
Lan Wuxie lay on her side on the recliner inside the door, and at this moment she grabbed Hua Chongyang's hand:
"Come stand here."
He forcibly pulled Hua Chongyang to the back of the recliner.
Zu Xian glanced at Hua Chongyang, then at Lan Wuxie, and sat down beside the recliner with a grin.
"Tsk. Still so concerned about saving face. Everyone in the world knows this is your woman. Do you think I'd let you take her away after just a few glances?"
As he spoke, he grasped Lan Wuxie's pulse point, and after a moment, shook his head and frowned:
"You're recklessly using your internal energy again. I can only say you deserve it."
He took a paper-wrapped pill from his sleeve and handed it to Lan Cao:
"The old way. Break it open, mix it with water, and swallow it with wine."
Hua Chongyang had seen this pill before. A year ago, Lan Wuxie used it whenever he vomited blood during a severe attack of his illness. However, she had never seen Lan Wuxie use it since their reunion, and since Lan Wuxie's complexion had improved significantly, she assumed he was much better and no longer needed the medicine.
But the old ailment remained.
She glanced at Zu Xian, but before she could speak, Zu Xian raised an eyebrow and said with a forced smile:
"Don't ask me, I can't cure this disease."
He looked down at Lan Wuxie, then looked up and raised an eyebrow with a slight smile:
"But logically speaking, the cure for his illness should lie with you, right?"
"...On me?"
"Yes," Zu Xian leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs and chuckling lazily, "Isn't the Azure Sky Heart Sutra with you? With the Azure Sky Heart Sutra, he'll still have a chance to recover in the future."
"How could mental techniques possibly cure illness?"
Zu Xian glanced at Hua Chongyang with a smile:
"Are you really unaware or pretending? The Yellow Springs Martial Arts and the Azure Sky Heart Method are both indispensable for cultivation. Those who cultivate the Yellow Springs Martial Arts tend to accumulate cold energy in their bodies, and can only reach the sixth form at most. Without the Azure Sky Heart Method to help dispel the cold energy, most people cannot withstand going further, unless they are willing to risk their lives to practice that thing."
He stood up, walked to the recliner, and looked Lan Wuxie up and down:
"Tsk tsk, what a waste of such excellent bone structure. He's ruined his body for the sake of the Yellow Springs Martial Arts Technique."
83. Yan Zhao
Zu Xian's words were unclear and ambiguous, leaving Beggar Chongyang completely bewildered:
"You mean the Yellow Springs Martial Arts and the Azure Sky Heart Sutra are actually the same martial art? They can't be practiced separately at all?"
"It's not that it's impossible to train," Zu Xian shook his head, pointing at Lan Wuxie, "but there will be a price to pay. Just look at him; he insisted on training, and the result is that he ruined his body like this."
"But what does this have to do with me?" Hua Chongyang exclaimed anxiously, grabbing Zu Xian's sleeve. "How can you say the antidote is on me?"
Zu Xian glanced at her, then at Lan Wuxie, and gave a strange smile:
"So, Master Lan hasn't made it clear to you yet?"
"What are you trying to clarify?"
Zu Xian was about to speak again with a grin when Lan Wuxie, who was lying on the recliner, suddenly sat up and interrupted him:
"I want to drink water."
Hua Chongyang stared at him, unmoving. Lan Wuxie avoided her gaze and lay back down on the couch. The two remained locked in a stalemate. Zu Xian, having no other option, compromised:
"That's enough. You two should talk this out. Don't make me a scapegoat."
He turned and walked to the door, closing it with a creak.
"The Flower Swordplay is divided into two parts: the upper part is the sword technique, and the lower part is the mental cultivation method." Hua Chongyang stared at Lan Wuxie. "When Bailu was practicing the Yellow Spring Martial Arts a while ago, her martial arts progressed rapidly, and I felt something was off. My mother clearly didn't have the Azure Heaven Mental Cultivation Method—if she did, Bailu and I would know. Rumors say that the Azure Heaven Mental Cultivation Method is in her possession, and I originally thought it was just because she was once with Yan Zhao."
Lan Wuxie had been silent until now, then turned to look out the window and suddenly whispered:
"The rumors are true. The Azure Heaven Heart Sutra is the lower part of the Flower Sword Technique."
Hua Chongyang paused for a moment, then chuckled softly:
"So you're with me only for the sake of the Flower Sword Technique."
Lan Wuxie remained silent.
"You've always been so kind to me, getting close to me, all for the Flower Sword Technique, isn't that it?"
Lan Wuxie remained silent, her face turned to the side.
The night outside was deep and moonless. A dim, yellowish light shone through the window. Hua Chongyang stood beside the recliner, calmly pressing for answers, question by question:
"If you didn't have the Flower Sword Technique, how did you practice the Yellow Spring Martial Arts? Why did Zu Xian say that practicing only the Yellow Spring Martial Arts is tantamount to ruining your body?"
After a while, Lan Wuxie coughed, slowly sat up, and wiped his lips with his fingers:
"What Situ Yebai said is true. From last year to today, I orchestrated several family massacres."
He smiled faintly, a slight curve to his lips.
"Of all these people, Shu Nanfeng deserved to die the most, but he was indeed the last to die. One reason is that it was too easy for him to die so young. Secondly, his martial arts skills were indeed very high; unless I personally took action, it would be difficult to eliminate him in one go. But I just didn't want to kill him with my own hands."
He stretched out his hand, spread his fingers, and smiled:
"I'd rather not touch him than get my hands dirty."
"So you gave him the Yellow Springs Martial Arts Manual?"
"The first eight forms of the Yellow Springs Martial Arts Technique, once he reaches the sixth form without the proper mental cultivation method, will be backfired by the accumulated cold energy from his training, causing his martial arts to decline instead of improve. I estimated his training progress and arranged for someone to kill him today. And they arrived just in time."
"So...which move have you practiced to?"
"Ninth Form."
As Lan Wuxie spoke, he stood up, walked unsteadily around Hua Chongyang to the table, slowly raised his hand, poured a bowl of water, and brought it to his lips.
His fingers trembled slightly, and water dripped from his chin onto his clothes, mingling with the blood. He didn't wipe it away, but put down his teacup and sat down at the table.
"You want to know how I practice martial arts?"
Hua Chongyang remained silent.
The answer seems to be right in front of us, just a thin veil away; we just need to break through it.
At this point, she hesitated, wondering whether she should know the answer or break the ice.
Kelan Wuxie didn't give her time, only a faint smile playing on her pale lips:
"Initially, it was Grandmaster Lan Ji who used me as a test subject for medicine. She had always wanted to practice the Yellow Spring Martial Arts, but lacked the internal cultivation method, so she concocted a medicine specifically for the characteristics of the Yellow Spring Martial Arts, which could counteract the cold energy. I took the medicine she gave me and began practicing the eighth form, but the medicine's properties clashed with the cold energy, and almost all the meridians in my body were severed."
Hua Chongyang listened with a trembling heart, then suddenly spoke:
"...Stop talking."
"I was bedridden for almost half a year, the toxicity of the medication acting up every day, feeling like my veins were being severed with a knife--"
"Stop talking! I don't want to know anymore!"
"...During those six months, Anping sought out the divine physician Zu Xian, begging him to cure my poison. Zu Xian cured me, and then I asked him to try prescribing another medicine to counteract the cold energy of the Yellow Spring Martial Arts. So afterwards, I practiced martial arts while taking Zu Xian's medicine. However, the medicine that Grandmaster Lan Ji initially prescribed for me never completely cleared the poison, and I still frequently relapse; in addition, the potency of the medicine Zu Xian prescribed was limited."
Lan Wuxie paused, then said:
"The medicine he prescribed, to suppress the cold, contained—it contained □. So that time, on the pleasure boat—"
He stopped talking.
Hua Chongyang continued softly:
"So that time in the dark room of the pleasure boat, when you were disoriented, it was during martial arts practice, after you took the antidote."
That secret room must be the training room where he practiced martial arts in seclusion.
After a long while, Lan Wuxie nodded with great difficulty:
"……yes."
"Those women before... it was because of this too."
"……yes."
"So... when did you start using the medicine Zu Xian prescribed for you?"
"Yes," Lan Wuxie lowered her eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips, "when I first came to Hangzhou."
He had tried several times at Lanying Palace to find out the whereabouts of the Azure Sky Heart Sutra from Yan Zhao, because Yan Zhao was the only person he knew who could cultivate the Yellow Spring Martial Arts Technique to the eighth form without being injured by the cold energy.
But for some reason, Yan Zhao never revealed anything.
Later, he learned from Lan Ji by chance that it was because the Azure Heart Sutra was with Yan Zhao's beloved woman, namely Hua Chuxue, who later became Ye Qinghua.
Taking advantage of Yan Zhao's seclusion, Lan Wuxie led a group to Hangzhou to search for the Biluo Heart Sutra.
There, he met Hua Chongyang for the first time and told Anping for the first time that he wanted her.
During the day, he arranged for people to inquire about the whereabouts of the Azure Sky Heart Sutra. Every night, however, he would quietly leave the inn and go to that alley, following the scent of lilacs to secretly observe her. The Flower Garden was dilapidated, with holes in all four walls. Every night, he would hide behind a section of the ruins in the backyard, behind a clump of lush lilac trees, watching Hua Chongyang practice martial arts. Every morning, he would follow her to the nearby breakfast stall, sitting near her, ordering food but not touching his chopsticks, only silently watching her.
The second time the two met and spoke, he had changed his appearance. Hua Chongyang, dressed as a man, didn't recognize him, yawned, walked to his table, and picked up the soy sauce bottle:
"I'll use it."