CH 143

February 16, 2023Merchie

Inside the cell, it was frigid and silent. That hard stone bed was bone-chillingly cold.

Who knew how long had passed before the person on the bed shifted slightly.

It hurt. Every part of him was hurting, and his body was so cold, it was as though he was already dead.

Shen Shijiu slowly opened his eyes. In front of him was a field of pitch-black. He didn’t know where he was, nor did he know what time it was. There was but an endless expanse darkness engulfing his surroundings.

He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t muster a drop of strength. He felt that his energy was being pulled out of him, as though he were a spool of silk that was being unwound. On top of that, his entire body felt unnaturally hot.

Shen Shijiu lifted his fingers with great effort, but felt something warm coating his hands; they were covered in a warm, sticky liquid; he could tell that it was blood.

There was so much blood. All of it was all flowing out of his body, and there was no way to stop it.

His little body slowly curled up, having lost the strength to move.

His consciousness gradually became muddled, and his head began to throb furiously as well. It seemed as though there was a bottomless black hole, and countless hands were stretching out of it, pulling and tearing with all their might at his mind, wanting to drag him into the endless darkness along with them.

A blurry scene appeared in front of him; it was strange, yet familiar. There were many people in some of the scenes, while there were a few with only two people. However, he couldn’t get a clear view of their faces.

Painted upon these scenes was a little figure, depicting the time he stumbled around as he learned to walk, to when he could run around the palace walls. Then, snow filled the sky, and there was a garden of blood-red plum blossoms. A figure stood alone between the fields of white and red.

Then… what was after that?

The small man’s brow creased tightly, as though he couldn’t bear it any longer. His body, and his heart, they were both brimming with pain.

In the end, he slowly lost consciousness.

***

After Shen Huan was lashed awake by a whip, she was already so numb that she couldn’t feel the pain anymore, and there was a red mist masking her vision She didn’t know how her little disciple was faring either.

Judging by how much he had bled earlier, the child… probably wouldn’t survive. And if he didn’t receive treatment immediately, it was difficult to say if her little disciple would be able to keep his life or not.

Anxiousness gripped Shen Huan’s heart. She gritted her teeth, “Bring me your chief. I have something to say.”

Those prison guards both exchanged a glance, before they hurried off to find Hu Lan.

“I’ll agree to it. I’ll help you develop a poison, but you must promise me one thing: you must summon a doctor immediately to treat my disciple.”

But Hu Lan stood there and didn’t move. He looked at Shen Huan and said, “You’ve thought it through? It seems like your apprentice is very important to you. For him, you can overstep your own bottom line. Then, why don’t we go a little further? Why don’t we spread the poison to the Imperial City as well?”

Shen Huan’s eyes widened slightly, “Before, you never said you wanted to poison the people of the Imperial City! How can you change your mind so easily?!”

“What? You don’t want to?” Hu Lan waved his hand, “Kill that little apprentice.”

“Wait!” Shen Huan’s gaze drifted downward, “I’m willing. As long as you save him, I’ll do everything you want.”

Hu Lan smiled, “That’s right. If you had agreed earlier, you wouldn’t have had to suffer so much, no?”

After he finished speaking, he sent someone to bring a few ingredients for poison, before he strolled leisurely to a corner of the cell and sat down.

“You can make it all right here. I’ll watch. When you’re finished is when I’ll send someone to save him.”

“No! You must go now, otherwise it’ll be too late!” Shen Huan had already been untied from the rack. She struggled upright and stood in front of Hu Lan, her body covered in wounds.

“Otherwise, I won’t start.”

Hu Lan glared angrily at Shen Huan. Seeing that she really wasn’t going to move, he eventually gave in.

“You, go and take a look, don’t let him die.”

That prison guard was about to run out of the cell when Shen Huan hurriedly grabbed his sleeve. Then, with great effort, she took a pill out of her cuff and stuffed it into the prison guard’s hand.

“Give this to him.”

Hu Lan nodded. That prison guard held the pill and ran out.

Shen Huan took a deep breath. She gazed at those medicinal ingredients and thought for a long while, before she actually began to formulate a recipe.

She was indeed developing a poison, but it wasn’t for the Celestial Dynasty. Instead, she was going to kill herself along with everyone else in this cell.

After a little while, that prison guard rushed back inside.

“Chief,” That prison guard leaned into Hu Lan’s ear and reported in a hushed voice.

“What?” Hu Lan asked in shock, “Didn’t I tell you to watch him?!”

“I-I don’t know what’s going on either, after I gave him the pill, he stopped breathing!”

Shen Huan suddenly turned and grabbed that prison guard’s collar. “Say that again!”

The powder in Shen Huan’s hands sprayed into the prison guard’s eyes, which made them sting and burn. He screamed, ignoring Shen Huan’s question.

Several guards hurriedly grabbed Shen Huan and pulled her aside.

Shen Huan suddenly scooped a handful of powder off the table and threw it at the small crowd around her. It would eat through one’s flesh the moment it came into contact with skin. Everyone who had been burned by the powder was now bleeding profusely and sobbing hysterically.

Hu Lan grabbed someone and used him as a human shield, so the powder didn’t get on him.

After pushing the person in front of him away, he saw that Shen Huan was now missing from inside the cell. He clenched his fists in rage, before he ordered the other soldiers and prison guards to hurry over, while he left the cell to chase after Shen Huan.

Shen Huan stumbled as she ran. This whole prison was so dark that she could hardly see what was in front of her. She didn’t know how many times she had fallen over, and she had scraped herself countless times, but she still hurriedly climbed back up and sprinted onward with all her might.

Finally, she found Shen Shijiu’s cell.

The moment she walked in, she was hit by the bloody stench emanating throughout the cell. It was so strong that it made one want to turn tail and leave.

But Shen Huan’s heart seized, and she ran to the side of the stone bed.

The small man lying on the bed had his eyes closed. His face was white as paper, and his mask was already about to fall off.

Shen Huan gently peeled the mask away, and the bright, beautiful face beneath it was revealed. But now it was so pale and delicate, it seemed as though it could be broken with a single touch.

Shen Huan furiously wiped her tears. She took his pulse with one hand, while she gently pressed on his throat with the other.

“Disciple, disciple, open your eyes and look at me. I’m your shifu, I’m the shifu you said was the best in the whole world. Listen to Shifu, swallow this pill, be good. After you swallow, all you need to do is open your eyes. As long as we get out of here alive this time, I promise that I won’t stop you from doing anything anymore, okay? I won’t manage your life, you can do whatever you want, you can eat whatever you want, you can see whoever you want, okay?”

Shen Huan felt the weak pulse beneath her hand beginning to fade, and was choked by tears.

Suddenly, the throat beneath her hand bobbed, and swallowed the pill.

Then, that fading pulse gradually began to beat again.

Shen Huan hurriedly lifted her head, and stared at the small man in pleasant surprise, “Disciple, disciple, did you hear me? If you heard me, open your eyes and look at Shifu, won’t you?”

But the person on the bed didn’t open his eyes.

Just as Shen Huan was about to say something else, the door to the cell was suddenly flung open.

Hu Lan stood outside the doorway, “I knew you’d run over here, you even dared to trick me. Try to run, I’d like to see how far you can get!”

As he spoke, he slowly walked toward the side of the bed.

Shen Huan blocked Shen Shijiu with her body. She was still gripping one last packet of powder, and was prepared to spill it all over Hu Lan’s face.

But Hu Lan saw what was in Shen Huan’s hand and managed to grab the packet first, before he tossed it out the cell door.

“Since you don’t know what’s good for you, I don’t have to keep your little apprentice alive, I’ll kill him right now!”

As Hu Lan spoke, he pulled a dagger from his waist and lunged at her.

Shen Huan lifted her arm, blocking the strike, and a long gash appeared on her skin.

Hu Lan found Shen Huan irritating, so he kicked her out the door, before he stabbed down at the small man on the bed.

“Disciple!”

Shen Huan hadn’t fallen to the ground. Instead, she was firmly held in place, before she was transferred into someone else’s hands.

There was a figure standing at the door, and the sword in his hand flew straight into the cell. Before Hu Lan’s dagger could stab into flesh, that sword pierced his shoulder, nailing him to the wall.

That figure was hidden in the shadows, but he exuded a gloomy, cold aura. He wore a black robe that was so dark it looked as though it was about to drip ink.

“L-Lord Pei…”

Shen Huan gulped, before she looked over at the man supporting her; it was Cheng Feng.

Pei Zheng didn’t say anything. He walked into the cell. The stench of blood he had smelled from outside earlier instantly became even more potent.

The person lying on that ice-cold stone bed was the small man he had been yearning for day and night. But now, he had but a single breath left, covered in blood and comatose.

The pain in Pei Zheng’s eyes was palpable. His fingers were trembling slightly as he walked to the edge of the stone bed and slowly squatted down.

He reached out to touch the small man’s cheek. It was terribly cold; it was as though there wasn’t a shred of warmth left. And the ground was covered in blood; had it all come out of him? He was so thin, how could he have all this blood to bleed?

And, there was a little life in his stomach, no? It was already gone, wasn’t it?

Pei Zheng glanced at the small man’s flat stomach, his gaze full of heartache. It hurt to the ends of his heart. He only wanted to take all of the small man’s suffering and place it upon himself. He had already endured so much pain, so he was already numb to it all.

But this small man was different; he was delicate and weak. He should have been cupped in his palm and cared for!

Pei Zheng was helpless; he had no clue what to do. He carefully gathered the small man into his embrace, coating his hands with blood in the process. He couldn’t keep his body from shaking a little, but he immediately held the small man even tighter.

It was his fault. It was all his fault for coming too late, for allowing the small man to be wronged and hurt in this way.

So all of these people… must die.

Pei Zheng lifted Shen Shijiu into his arms, and left the cell without looking back.

Cheng Feng left Shen Huan with one of the shadow guards behind him. That shadow guard supported Shen Huan as they walked and followed Pei Zheng.

Cheng Feng walked into the cell. He yanked the sword off the wall, and Hu Lan collapsed onto the ground.

Hu Lan clutched his wound, and his eyes widened, “You! Who are you people?! You dare to break into my foreign tribe’s prison! Someone! Hurry up and take them away!

A blade pressed against his neck.

“Then you should remember that we are from the Celestial Dynasty’s Prime Minister’s Manor. When you seek revenge, you mustn’t pursue the wrong people.”

With those words, the sword sliced through the throat beneath it.

Notes

Apologies, I made a mistake in the last chapter; I said ‘territory’ instead of ‘border’ when Hu Lan was talking about his plan for the poison; he was planning on only poisoning the soldiers at the borderlands first (I think). I’ve corrected it already!

Anyways, our bro Pei Zheng is back! Sweetness incoming~