No one saw how he drew his sword; amidst the gasps of the room, the sharp blade was already pointed at her throat.
"You'll just watch her die?" The woman looked at him, her eyes filled with pity. "Yes... she's already dead. So I won't help her."
As if whipped, the furious man suddenly quieted down, seemingly unable to understand her words, and stared blankly at her.
"She was poisoned by the Seven-Star Begonia and has been dead for two hours." The female healer bent down and placed the drooping hand back into her fur coat—the pale hand was still warm and soft. "You must have been constantly channeling your inner energy into her along the way, which is why her body is still warm and lifelike. Actually..."
She couldn't bear to say anything more.
—In fact, she had already died when you were running wildly across the snowfield with her in your arms.
The longsword suddenly fell from his hand, embedding itself in the ground with a grating, metallic scraping sound. Everyone in the inn shuddered, yet no one dared utter a word. A deathly silence descended.
"..." Miao Feng wanted to look at the woman in his arms, but for some reason he felt timid and dared not lower his head.
"Nonsense!" he suddenly roared in fury. "Even the Seven Star Begonia wouldn't take effect so quickly! You're talking nonsense!"
“It’s not the Seven Star Begonia.” The female doctor’s eyes revealed boundless sorrow as she sighed. “Take a look at the Lianquan acupoint on his throat.”
Miao Feng stood there stunned for a long time, his eyes shifting from rage to dazedness. Finally, as if making a decision, he gently placed the person in his arms on the ground and, with trembling hands, untied the fox fur coat wrapped around her. With the coat removed, the woman's face was finally revealed, pale and peaceful, as if she had simply fallen asleep.
However, a golden needle was found stuck straight in the middle of his throat!
"Oh dear!" The surrounding passengers exclaimed in surprise and took a step back in unison.
In that instant, the snow hawk suddenly flapped its wings and took flight, letting out a sharp whistle. Looking at that single red dot, his whole body went cold, and he could no longer support himself. His knees buckled, and he slowly knelt on the cold ground, covering his face with his hands, unable to suppress a sob.
"Why?" he murmured repeatedly as he sobbed, raising his hand as if to confirm the reality of what he was seeing, but his hands trembled uncontrollably. "Why?"
Why did she take her own life when he was desperately trying to save it? Why!
“She was poisoned by the Seven Star Begonia, and she will lose her mind in seven days—I think she didn’t want such an ending.” The female doctor sighed, walked over, and bent down to examine the wound. “She must have been an extremely proud woman.”
“But don’t be sad—this needle went straight to the Lianquan acupoint, extremely accurate and deep. She must not have suffered too much when she passed away.” The female healer examined the wound in her throat and continued to comfort her—but the moment she looked away from the wound, her voice faltered. “This…this is…”
She suddenly lunged forward like a madwoman, brushing aside the long hair that was scattered on the patient's face, and carefully examined him.
"Oh my god..." Miao Feng suddenly heard a cry of alarm, shocked and terrified.
He subconsciously looked up and saw the female doctor staring intently at the patient in his arms, her face filled with extreme fear. He wanted to ask her a question, but she couldn't utter a single word, staring straight at Xue Ziye, before suddenly collapsing to the ground.
The jade pendant in her hand rolled to his feet; it had the character "Liao" engraved on it.
In that instant, Miao Feng remembered—wasn't this pattern the emblem engraved on the Heavenly Decree?
This woman surnamed Liao is none other than Liao Qingran, the former Valley Master of Medicine Master Valley!
At daybreak, the group of four left the post station, carrying a willow coffin in the carriage.
The oasis of Uliastai is lush with green willows, and the wind is so gentle, completely unlike the harshness of the snowfield.
A gentle breeze blew through the emerald green willows, and countless travelers along the way stared in astonishment at the white-clad man carrying the coffin eastward—not only because of his unusually long hair, but also because of the exquisitely beautiful melodies that emanated from the short flute in his hand.
The melody drifted into the lush greenery, deep and sorrowful.
When Liao Qingran slowly woke up in the carriage, she heard the song "Ge Sheng" and was captivated by it.
"Winter nights, summer days. After a hundred years, return to one's room."
She turned her head and saw her disciple lying quietly asleep in the fox fur coat inside the carriage. Xiao Ye, Xiao Ye… now you don't have to wait a hundred years anymore; you can return to the snow and ice and reunite with that person. Are you happy?
The flute's melody was like a lament, yet the player showed no sorrow. With lowered brows and the flute held serenely, he walked through countless weeping willows, as if he were merely a traveler setting out in the spring sunshine, his destination the ends of the earth—no one recognized him as the same man who had wept bitterly in the inn last night, clutching the dead woman. Last night's weeping seemed to have reached the emotional limit of his entire life; yet, a single night had passed, and his expression had returned to calm.
What kind of torment, of ice and fire, must have been endured to completely freeze away all the emotions that had just begun to sprout in a person's heart?
Lost in the music, Liao Qingran felt, in that instant, that she was truly beginning to grow old.
After listening for a while, she gestured to her maid to lift the carriage curtain and asked the young man driving the carriage, "Who are you?"
Miaofeng didn't answer, she just kept blowing.
"How did my disciple get poisoned? And why was she with you?" she asked weakly, supporting herself. She had been away from Medicine Master Valley for eight years and had never seen her only disciple again. She never expected that their reunion would be after death.
"Please tell me, Your Excellency," Liao Qingran's hand slowly clenched, "who exactly killed my disciple?"
The flute music finally stopped, and Miaofeng quietly asked, "Senior, do you want revenge?"
"Are they from the Great Bright Palace?" Liao Qingran gritted her teeth and took out the handkerchief that Shuanghong had used to deliver the message.
The mottled ink stains on the handkerchief are an irrefutable answer.
Miao Feng turned around, smiled amidst the green willows, and her white clothes seemed like a dream in the bright light.
“Yes, Valley Master Xue was killed for attempting to assassinate the King of the Sect—” he said softly, his voice calm despite the complex emotions he carried. “However, she ultimately succeeded—so Senior Liao need not harbor any thoughts of revenge. All grudges were settled before Senior’s arrival.”
"And I...and I am very sorry—I failed to save Valley Master Xue's life."
His voice suddenly became turbulent, and an uncontrollable pain welled up within him.
Liao Qingran sighed, "There's no need to blame yourself... You've done your best."
She would never forget the image of that man running frantically across the snowfield carrying a corpse—
She didn't understand the cause and effect of the matter, but she knew clearly that the person in front of her could not be the murderer.
Liao Qingran turned around and glanced at the woman wrapped in a fox fur in the coffin. She buried her face in her hands to the sound of the flute, hiding her unconcealed sorrow—she... was truly an extremely selfish and incompetent master!
Is the poison of Begonia semperflorens truly incurable?