Chapter 14

Xiao Rangchen collapsed at the foot of the tree, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

Lou Yue shuffled slowly over. "Hey, don't you dare try to scam me." The rock she'd thrown was no bigger than a bird's egg, there was no way it could have knocked him out cold.

Xiao Rangchen still didn't open his eyes, as dark red blood seeped through the gray-blue outer robe over his shoulder and abdomen, spreading silently across the fabric.

Lou Yue's brows tightened, and she squatted down very reluctantly.

Xiao Rangchen's face was as pale as a sheet, his lips tinged purple. His long, thick eyelashes trembled faintly, and his shoulders shook along with them, as if he was holding back some searing pain.

Lou Yue poked his forearm. "Hey, Xiao Rangchen, stop playing dead."

She shook his arm again, but there was still no response.

"Your fainting has nothing to do with me hitting you, don't try to frame me!" Even as she said that, though, catching sight of the pool of blood under Xiao Rangchen growing wider and wider, she pulled out a hemostatic pill.

The tip of Lou Yue's finger holding the pill paused just before it reached his lips, then she let out a disgusted "tut" sound, pressed her fingers hard, and stuffed the pill into his mouth roughly and quickly, giving his chin a perfunctory little nudge to make him swallow.

As soon as she saw the prominent bob of his Adam's apple move down, she pulled her hand away, ran to the water's edge, and washed her hands thoroughly.

She dawdled for the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, waiting until she figured enough time had passed before she ambled back.

The bleeding had stopped, and the pool of blood under him was drying up, but the exposed skin on Xiao Rangchen's body had turned from cold white to a dull, ashen gray that spoke of approaching death.

Lou Yue hesitated for a moment, then reached out to feel the pulse on the outside of his wrist.

She couldn't diagnose pulses, but she knew a normal person's pulse didn't beat once every five or six breaths. The thought suddenly popped into her head: Xiao Rangchen isn't going to die, is he?

"Hey! Xiao Rangchen, wake up! Xiao Rangchen!" Lou Yue shook him hard, raising her voice, but the person she was calling didn't react at all, not even his breath seemed to be there anymore.

Lou Yue was just debating whether she should flee the scene immediately when the hand she was holding on his wrist with just let go—only for a sudden, strong force to clamp down hard on her.

Lou Yue struggled several times but couldn't pull free. The unconscious Xiao Rangchen was like a drowning man clutching the last piece of driftwood, holding her hand tightly in his palm.

Lou Yue's mouth twitched. Great, she'd successfully been scammed.

She gritted her teeth, but in the end she still couldn't just leave him here. If he really died, who knew if the Heavenly Dao would strike her down for it.

Lou Yue first sent a message to Little Qiu, telling him to find a reliable physician and wait at Cloud Sleep Courtyard, then send people to the place where they were maintaining the formation earlier.

After sending the notice, she realized she was still wearing her inner garment, so she slipped on an outer robe, then frowned and hauled Xiao Rangchen onto her back.

Even though she'd braced herself for it, the moment Xiao Rangchen's full weight came down on her, Lou Yue was crushed right into the ground, and bit down on a mouthful of mud.

"Fuck me!"

She spat out the blades of grass in her mouth, and grumbled and cursed as she channeled spiritual power to her limbs to heft the man up onto her back again. If she wasn't worried that he wouldn't make it in time, she wouldn't have gone to all this trouble—she could have just waited slowly for people to come carry him.

"I must have had the worst luck in eight lifetimes, getting transmigrated into this stupid book!"

"What did Xiao Rangchen even eat to grow up?! Rocks? He's so heavy!"

Lou Yue's one hand was still being clutched, and she tried to yank it free with spiritual power, but the unconscious Xiao Rangchen just squeezed even tighter by instinct.

Lou Yue gave up trying to get her hand back. But even with spiritual power, it was very difficult to steady a man half a head taller than herself with only one hand. After just a few steps, the man on her back started sliding down. Lou Yue had to bend her waist even lower to keep him from slipping off too fast.

"My poor back..."

She panted for breath, the sweat on her back mixing with Xiao Rangchen's blood, sticking to her skin in a sticky, uncomfortable mess. "Xiao Rangchen, you owe me more than you could ever pay back..."

"You... really are... so heavy..."

Lou Yue moved forward with difficulty, pouring spiritual power into her feet so that each step she took carried her ten times further than her usual strides.

"You know how to grab my hand, but you don't know how to stay steady on my back?!"

"Slide again, and I'm not carrying you anymore. I'll just leave you here to fend for yourself!"

Damn, he's slipping more!

When Little Qiu came hurrying over with a group of people, Lou Yue was leaning against a tree, bent over, straining to haul the slipping man on her back back up. Her messy strands of hair were stuck to her face with sweat, and no one could tell if the wetness on her face was her own or the man's on her back.

"Young Master!" Little Qiu rushed over immediately.

Lou Yue froze when she heard him, and the next second she roughly shook the man off her back. Who would have thought that when he fell, he would drag her down with him, and the two of them ended up toppling over onto the ground together.

Little Qiu was startled, and quickly helped her up. "Young Master! Are you alright?"

Lou Yue coughed lightly. "I'm fine."

Little Qiu caught sight of the large dark red stain on the back of Lou Yue's brocade robe, and his face paled in shock. "Young Master!"

Lou Yue glanced back, and explained, "It's his." Then she looked up and asked, "Where's the physician?"

"He's already waiting at Cloud Sleep Courtyard." Little Qiu directed the others to lift Xiao Rangchen onto their backs.

Just as they were about to set off, everyone's eyes landed on Lou Yue's hand with a strange, awkward look.

Lou Yue followed their gazes and looked down, realizing they were staring at their two tightly clasped hands. Her cheeks burned instantly, and she snapped, red-faced and indignant, "What are you all looking at! Hurry up and go."

The crowd averted their eyes at once. Lou Yue walked beside Xiao Rangchen, keeping a moderate distance. She tugged at her hand again, but still couldn't pull it free, and in her heart she cursed Xiao Rangchen a thousand more times—what a troublemaker, ruining her good reputation!

Lou Yue had already traveled most of the way, so it wasn't long before the group returned to Cloud Sleep Courtyard.

"You say he's poisoned?"

In the room next to Lou Yue's at Cloud Sleep Courtyard, Xiao Rangchen was carefully laid on the bed. The physician who had been waiting felt his pulse, examined his wounds, and after a long while, stated his conclusion.

"This poison does little harm to people with fully intact spiritual meridians, but to someone whose spiritual meridians are damaged like him, it's a deadly poison. At its current rate of eating away at him, he'll be dead in less than two days."

The room fell quiet. Lou Yue asked sharply, "What is this poison, and how did he get it?"

"The poison was on the sword wound. Its name is Banehusk, and it loves to feed on spiritual meridians. As soon as it enters the body, it latches on. If your spiritual meridians are unharmed, you can dispel it on your own. But if you're in his condition, Banehusk will devour straight through the damaged parts of the meridians. If it was discovered early there would still be a chance, but now... there's no way to save him."

A sword wound... it must have been those people from Cangya the day before.

"What if I get the antidote from the people who injured him?" Lou Yue pressed.

The old physician put his silver needles back into their case as he spoke. "There is no antidote for Banehusk. For most people it's barely toxic, and people without spiritual meridians won't even be affected by it at all. To put it plainly, this poison was made specifically to target him."

He put his things into his medicine box and stood up. "It's a poison tailored to his condition. He can't be saved." He turned to leave.

Lou Yue spoke up behind him. "You just can't save him because your medical skills are not good enough."

The old man turned around. "Young Master, no need to goad me. If I say he can't be saved, there is no other person under heaven who can."

Lou Yue didn't know where Little Qiu had found this physician. She couldn't tell if his medical skills were any good, but his arrogance was definitely top-tier. And his getup was so ordinary he would blend right into any crowd, looking exactly like the kind of quack you see everywhere in TV dramas.

"But," the old man suddenly said, a glint of mischief in his eyes that didn't match his age, "what's your relationship with that young man over there, anyway? You two are both men."

Seeing the man's gaze fixed on their still-clasped hands, Lou Yue's face darkened, and she said irritably, "If you can't cure him then leave, stop gossiping!"

"Tsk tsk, what a bad temper. He's willing to be a cut-sleeve for someone like you, tsk tsk..."

Lou Yue was already frazzled, and her temper flared up the second she heard that. "...What nonsense are you spouting? What's this 'men who love men' garbage? Stop rambling on and on! If you can't even save someone, just scram right now!"

"Who said this old man has no way to save him? I said I can't cure him easily, that doesn't mean I have no solution at all." The old man glared right back at her.

Wasn't that the exact same thing?

"His spiritual meridian is damaged, that's why the toxin seeped right into his meridians." Feng Que took a seat on the stool with surprisingly brisk steps, poured himself a cup of tea, and said slowly, "If you can track down the Never-Fading Flower to rebuild his spiritual meridian, that silly Huntu poison will dissolve completely no problem."

Lou Yue tried to step over, but her hand was held fast, so she could only stay by the bedside and ask, "His current state... can he even withstand using the Never-Fading Flower?"

The Never-Fading Flower was indeed the only known thing that could repair a damaged spiritual meridian, but the process of rebuilding one was as agonizing as having your tendons ripped out and your bones flayed. In the book, Xiao Rangchen had bled from all seven orifices, suffering nonstop for a full day and night before he pulled through. Right now he was already hanging on by a thread, so using the Never-Fading Flower carelessly would very likely turn into the last straw that killed him.

"Anyone else on their deathbed using this would have less than one in ten chance of surviving, but for him" the old man glanced at the person on the bed, then held up five fingers, "this old man is fifty percent confident."

"Only fifty percent?" Lou Yue frowned in dissatisfaction. They were going to use such a precious thing as the Never-Fading Flower, and still only got half a shot?

The old man paused, rolled his eyes at her, "Go find anyone else, and you won't even get a ten percent success rate, you believe that or not?"

Lou Yue furrowed her brows and said nothing more.

Feng Que finished his cup of tea, patted the dust off his robes and stood to leave. "Alright, take all the time you want to think about it. But once this night passes, even if you bring the Never-Fading Flower back, it'll be too late."

"Wait." Lou Yue called after him. "How am I supposed to trust you? And what makes you think I can get the Never-Fading Flower before nightfall?"

The old man turned around, a confident glint in his eyes. "You don't have to trust me. The choice is all yours. As for whether you can get the Never-Fading Flower" he stroked his beard, a knowing smirk spreading across his face, "this old man is just making a little bet. If you can track it down, then I can bring up the little request I have next, right?"

"..." So he was testing her capabilities this whole time. Lou Yue was so annoyed, her tone turning sharp. "What request? Tell me now."

"Relax, all I want is a specific spiritual herb. If you can get your hands on the Never-Fading Flower, that herb will be a piece of cake for you to grab too." He waved his hand casually, walking out without even looking back. "Come find this old man again once you have the Never-Fading Flower."

Watching the figure vanish through the doorway, Lou Yue finally relaxed her furrowed brows.

He had a request, which at least proved he would put his full effort into saving the patient.

Before Lou Yue could call for him, Little Qiu already stepped into the room. Lou Yue asked him where he found that old man.

"His name is Feng Que," Little Qiu explained, "he's the most famous physician in Xuandi City. He charges whatever consultation fee he feels like, he's a total oddball, but everyone says his medical skills are top-tier. He even treats commoners for free sometimes."

Lou Yue's mind stirred a little, and she asked, "How much did you pay him as the consultation fee?"

Little Qiu looked a little sheepish. "Five hundred spirit stones... I knew you were in a huge hurry, young master, and I was scared no other doctor would be half as skilled as him, so I paid it."

Five hundred spirit stones was enough for an ordinary civilian family to live comfortably for a whole lifetime. It was exorbitantly expensive, but for the rich second generation that the original body was, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Young master, do you want me to run a background check on him?" Little Qiu asked.

Lou Yue thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No need."

"Understood." Little Qiu nodded. For a moment, no one said anything, and Little Qiu's gaze drifted down unconsciously, landing on the two hands clasped tightly together.

The man's hand had sharp knuckles, clean, defined lines, the wrist bone stretching the skin tight, blue veins faintly bulging on the back of his hand, carrying a wild, unyielding will to survive that refused to be broken free.

And the hand he was clutching tightly in his palm had slender knuckles, the wrist glowing with the soft, fine luster of polished jade.

The man's unconscious tight grip left a faint pink mark on that pale jade-like wrist, casting a faint, ambiguous, tender vibe between the two that was hard to put into words.

Young master...

Could it be that the rumors were really true? That he really liked men?