CH 142

February 14, 2023Merchie

The two prison guards walked over to either side of Shen Shijiu and pulled him off of the stone bed.

Shen Shijiu’s lower body was numb from the cold. After being yanked so suddenly, he couldn’t stand properly and collapsed onto the ground.

It took him a while to regain his senses. He felt a bit dizzy, and there was still a faint pain radiating from his injured arm. Just now, after being grabbed, it seemed to be bleeding again.

Hu Lan squatted down beside him and gripped the small man’s long locks of hair.

“I know who your shifu is, she’s the fabled Ghost Doctor. She’s close with that old fool, no?”

Hu Lan said, “Don’t worry, as long as your shifu agrees to help me out, I won’t make things difficult for you.”

Hu Lan pinched Shen Shijiu’s cheek, “This isn’t your real face, right? You’re wearing a mask? I’ve heard that the Ghost Doctor has never revealed her true appearance to anyone.”

Shen Shijiu looked into Hu Lan’s glaring eyes and shrank back in fright.

Hu Lan let go of him and stood up, before he began to walk out of the prison.

“Bring him along.”

The two prison guards beside him roughly scooped Shen Shijiu off the ground, and followed closely behind Hu Lan.

Shen Shijiu was forcefully dragged along as he walked. He was feeling very unwell and couldn’t muster any strength; the pangs of pain in his stomach had resurfaced as well.

In the beginning, he could grit his teeth and bear it, but the longer he walked, the more his stomach hurt. In the end, he was in so much pain that he almost couldn’t walk, and his body had bent over in agony.

Those prison guards noticed this, and were afraid that he actually had some kind of condition. They hurriedly called out to Hu Lan.

“Chief, I think there’s something wrong with him.”

Hu Lan only turned his head to glance back at Shen Shijiu, but he didn’t stop walking.

“Don’t worry about him, just drag him.”

Shen Shijiu was dragged along as the group strode forward. His face was pale, and he had broken into a cold sweat. A twisting pain in the depths of his body assaulted his senses, and he was almost unable to stand as his legs trembled uncontrollably.

The longer they walked, the darker it became. They arrived at the end of the prison. It was pitch-black, pierced by a gloomy chill.

One couldn’t tell what kind of place they had walked into. Then, a ray of light finally appeared, illuminating their surroundings.

Shen Shijiu was a bit muddled from the pain. His eyelids slowly peeled open, and he looked up, before his eyes suddenly widened.

This was a slightly more spacious cell. Numerous torture devices hung on the walls, and the person hoisted on the rack in the center of the room was none other than his shifu, Shen Huan.

Shen Huan’s body was covered in blood, and she had already passed out.

Hu Lan waved his hand, and a prison guard’s whip cracked over Shen Huan’s body.

Shen Huan spasmed; it seemed that she had woken up.

Shen Shijiu’s eyes immediately turned wet, “Shifu, Shifu, wake up, are you okay, Shifu-”

Shen Huan heard her little disciple’s voice, and she mustered the strength to lift her head. The mask she had been wearing had already fallen off at some point, so her true face was exposed. There were two deep cuts on her cheeks, and the blood dripping out of them had already dried on her skin.

“Little disciple…”

Shen Shijiu’s tears dripped out of his eyes and fell onto his robe like a broken string of beads.

“Shifu, how… how could they beat you…” Shen Shijiu was crying so hard that he could hardly speak. Seeing how terribly Shen Huan had been tortured, he felt intense hatred toward Hu Lan.

“All right, all right, please don’t act like a loving master and disciple in front of me, I won’t fall for it.”

Hu Lan walked out of the shadows, “How about it? Master Shen, have you made a decision?”

Shen Huan lifted her eyes, “What the hell are you trying to do?”

Hu Lan said: “I’ve already made myself clear on what my ideas are. I want you to help me develop a poison that can drift through the air into the Celestial Dynasty’s territory, and force the majestic Celestial Dynasty experience the feeling of helplessness. Then, they’ll have to beg our foreign tribe for the cure. When that time comes, I can use the opportunity to demand that the Celestial Dynasty cede half their territory to the foreign tribe-”

Before Hu Lan could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Shen Huan.

“Dream on! I will never agree to such a demand! I only save people; I never kill them.”

Hu Lan smiled, “Is that so? You don’t kill people? Then why did all of those infected people drop dead from their symptoms worsening? You’re still saying that it wasn’t your doing?”

“It wasn’t me!” Shen Huan gritted her teeth weakly, “You must have meddled in this in order to force the old chief to step down.”

Hu Lan shrugged nonchalantly, “So what if it was me? Go out and tell everyone, tell the world, and see if there’s anyone who will believe you.”

Hu Lan grabbed Shen Shijiu and shoved him toward Shen Huan.

“You’re really hard-headed. It’s come to this, yet you still refuse to concede. Then what about your little apprentice? He seems rather delicate to me, can he withstand the same punishment you were given? I’ll give you some time, and you two should discuss this thoroughly. In a bit, I hope to hear the answer that I’m thinking of.”

After he finished speaking, Hu Lan led the prison guards out of the cell, giving Shen Huan and Shen Shijiu a moment of privacy.

Shen Shijiu had just been shoved violently, crashing into that wooden rack, and still hadn’t regained his wits.

Shen Huan noticed how terrible his complexion was, and asked, “Little disciple, how are you? Did they do anything to you? Where’s Yue Nu? Wasn’t he with you?”

Shen Shijiu held onto the wooden rack and steadied himself. His shifu was already severely injured, so he couldn’t let his shifu worry about him. Even though he felt like he was about to die from the pain, he tried his best to act like it didn’t hurt that much.

“Shifu, they didn’t beat me, don’t worry. A-Yue… A-Yue was taken away by some soldiers from the Celestial Dynasty.”

Shen Huan thought for a moment; they were probably soldiers sent by Zhao Litang. But Zhao Litang didn’t know that the two of them were here as well, so he had only ordered for Yue Nu to be brought back.

If they waited until Yue Nu returned to the barracks and told Zhao Litang about their imprisonment, it would take several days for Zhao Litang to send soldiers to rescue them. It was uncertain if she and her little disciple would even survive until then.

Shen Huan was deeply regretting her decision. She shouldn’t have rushed over with her little disciple just because of the old chief’s letter.

They were in the midst of a turbulent period. Not only were the Celestial Dynasty and barbarian tribe at the brink of war, the small territory sandwiched between them was also plagued internal strife and external pressures. Shen Huan hadn’t returned for many years, but she never expected that the conflict within the tribe would reach this point.

“Disciple, listen to me. That Hu Lan seems to be taking of advantage of the turmoil to usurp the Celestial Dynasty’s territory. We won’t get involved in the fight between them, but I absolutely cannot develop a poison that will be used to kill people. You understand Shifu, right?”

Shen Shijiu struggled to stand upright and nodded lightly. He said in a weak voice, “Shifu, this disciple understands. Shifu is a doctor, you only save people, you won’t kill them…”

Shen Huan said, “However, if I don’t agree to help Hu Lan, he definitely won’t let me go. But I’ll think of a way for you to escape, there’s definitely a way, there has to be.”

Shen Huan continued muttering to herself, but in these brief moments, she couldn’t think of a single thing.

They were locked in this dark prison cell, completely cut off from the outside world; even if they had wings, it would be difficult for them to escape.

“It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have brought you here. I shouldn’t have roped you into this. If you hadn’t come with me and stayed with Pei Zheng instead, maybe none of this would have happened. Even if he had nothing, he wouldn’t let you come to harm. Maybe, I should have believed him. But, at that time, he couldn’t even protect himself, and he was unconscious from his injuries. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had to bring you with me in order to feel at ease-“

“Shifu…”

Shen Shijiu bit the tip of his tongue. After tasting blood, he finally stood upright. Only after pressing his hand against his belly could he ease the pain slightly. He lifted his other hand, and gently wiped the blood off Shen Huan’s face.

“This disciple doesn’t blame you, Shifu. You’re the best shifu in the world, you always have been.”

The corners of Shen Huan’s eyes turned warm at these words. She blinked, and her tears fell.

The cell door opened once again, and Hu Lan walked in.

“Crying into each other’s shoulders, are we? It looks like you’ve already come to an agreement. Then when can we start formulating the recipe, Master Shen?”

Before Shen Huan could answer, Shen Shijiu piped up first, “My shifu won’t help you guys, you can take your idea and shove it.”

Hu Lan’s gaze instantly changed, and he glared menacingly at Shen Shijiu, “Say that again?!”

Shen Shijiu’s lips were already bloodless, but he annunciated every word, “Shifu, would never do anything to harm anyone!”

Hu Lan slapped Shen Shijiu’s face so hard that his body tilted to the side, and he crashed into the edge of the table.

“Ah-”

Shen Shijiu’s belly hit the edge of the table, and a heart-tearing pain flooded through him. He was sprawled over the ground in an instant, and didn’t move for a long time.

It hurt, it hurt so much that a single breath made his entire body shudder. It was as though someone was grabbing and pulling his stomach in every direction, about to tear Shen Shijiu apart.

The floorboards were ice-cold. Shen Shijiu slowly curled up, gulping small mouthfuls of air. His breaths were so weak, it seemed as though they would disappear at any moment.

“Ch… Chief, he’s bleeding. There’s a lot of blood-”

One of the prison guards pointed at Shen Shijiu.

Shen Huan suddenly froze, and hurriedly looked over at her little disciple, who was collapsed on the ground. Under the faint light, she could see that the substance that was spreading all over the floor was a pool of crimson blood; the small man’s robe had already been dyed red.

“Disciple! Hurry, hurry up and call a doctor! Hurry up and help him off the ground, it’s freezing cold, he won’t be able to handle it! Quickly!”

Shen Huan shouted, but nobody moved. They simply stared coldly at the small man in a pool of blood.

Shen Huan’s tears wouldn’t stop flowing, “I’m begging you, hurry up and save him. If he continues to bleed like this, he won’t be able to hold on, I’m begging you, he didn’t do anything, he’s innocent! Chief, Chief, please save him.”

But Hu Lan merely smiled, “Now you know to call me ‘Chief’? Unfortunately, it’s too late. I can only be courteous and send him back to his original cell. But it isn’t my business whether he lives or not. I just gave him a light push, he was the one who couldn’t stand properly and fell. Also, he bled so much, who knows if he’s got some kind of problem.”

The two prison guards hoisted the small man off the ground and dragged him back to his cell.

A long smear of blood remained on the floorboards.

Notes

NOOOOOOOOOO, YOU CAN’T DO THIS AUTHOR, for once I actually want Pei Zheng to show up and save the day or something urrkgdfkhksjhksdjhf

Thanks for reading~