CH 78

Qin Jianyue was not surprised at all when Gu Feidi knelt, but Su Yang was taken aback.

He quickly reached out and grabbed Gu Feidi’s arm anxiously, “What are you doing!”

For modern people, it was a complete obliteration of dignity to beg others while kneeling. Su Yang had never humbly knelt to beg for anything and of course he couldn’t bear to see Gu Feidi make such a sacrifice because of him.

In his opinion, if Luo Yu was resolute in not eliminating the Gu for him, then he wouldn’t want to trouble himself to implore…… As long as he had Half Withered Red inside him, he could still suppress the blood Gu for decades. It was enough for him to grow old with Gu Feidi in this world.

After all, Su Yang wasn’t aware that his chills and deep sleeps had already caused Gu Feidi to panic.

The fear in his heart had penetrated deep into his bones and this made Gu Feidi willing to cast aside everything and beg on his behalf for any chance of survival he could seize.

Su Yang didn’t know, so he was incapable of accepting it for a while.

He tugged at Gu Feidi’s arm in an attempt to pull him up from the ground while saying: “We’re just here to beg him to eliminate—to cure an illness and this illness might not cause death. You don’t need to dishonour yourself this way and suffer this sort of humiliation…”

“No matter.” Gu Feidi patted the back of Su Yang’s hand in reassurance. “This is not punishment or humiliation. We are asking him for a favour. Besides, he used to be friends with our fathers and is also considered our elder. How is it a dishonour to kowtow to an elder?”

Seeing that he was reluctant to get up, Su Yang became piqued: “If someone needs to kneel, it should be me. It’s not you who’s begging to be cured!”

Gu Feidi smiled: “Your health isn’t good, I’ll kneel on your behalf.”

Su Yang released Gu Feidi’s arm and stared for a moment into his extremely sincere and earnest eyes. With determination, he knelt down beside Gu Feidi.

Gu Feidi frowned: “You—”

“I’m the one begging for medical treatment. What’re you doing, kneeling here?” Su Yang raised his chin, “Since you want to be like this, then I kneel too. I’m also a martial arts practitioner. Who’s afraid of kneeling for a day or two?”

Gu Feidi heaved a sigh: “The ground is cold, your body—”

“There’s no instance where you’re kneeling and I’m standing. If you have to kneel and beg him, then I will accompany you.” Su Yang looked stubbornly at Gu Feidi, “Otherwise, neither of us will kneel. We’ll go straight down the mountain and back home.”

For a while, Gu Feidi was at his wit’s end.

He took Su Yang’s hands in his and interlaced both their fingers together. He was on the verge of begging: “Don’t be like this… I can’t bear that…”

Su Yang said: “And I can’t bear you kneeling. Why don’t you get up?”

Gu Feidi said helplessly: “I’m not like you. I’m healthy and strong and I don’t fear the bitter cold.”

Seeing that Gu Feidi was determined to kneel and plead for him, Su Yang was unable to tell what his feelings were.

He was deeply moved but a little angry; distressed but also wronged and there was even some self-blame. Moreover, there was some resentment towards Gu Feidi and himself for failing to meet expectations.

——All those complicated emotions were in Su Yang’s heart, all tangled up and unable to be released. At last, they gradually formed into the notion of burning bridges and fighting a last-ditch battle.

Su Yang closed his eyes and thought to himself: If they wanted to find a way to make Luo Yu feel soft-hearted, there was nothing faster than to have a life hanging by a thread before a doctor.

So, he shook off Gu Feidi’s hand, stood up slowly and trudged over to Qin Jianyue who was still standing by the courtyard gate.

Qin Jianyue raised his eyebrows, crossed his arms and eyed Su Yang indifferently.

In fact, Su Yang didn’t need Qin Jianyue to do anything.

He lowered his eyelashes and slowly activated the icy internal force in his body. He then began to follow the Half Withered Red’s most complete and largest circuit before maneuvering his internal strength.

In a few short breaths, the Cold Pond Ice Spirit in Su Yang’s body started to trigger and surge along his meridians along with his exercises.

In the Snow Mountain’s already freezing environment, Su Yang’s breaths quickly carried a piercingly cold air, lingering around his whole body, solidifying on his eyelashes and eyebrows and forming white crystal icicles.

The tangles of his consciousness made Su Yang a little unsteady on his feet. He knew that the cold symptoms had been stimulated by him and soon he would fall unconscious, so he slowly stopped the exercises in his body.

He swayed and raised his eyes to look at the surprised Qin Jianyue in front of him.

“You—” Qin Jianyue’s eyes finally revealed some astonishment.

Su Yang exhausted the last of his strength to smile at Qin Jianyue and then passed out. He fell stiffly backwards.

Gu Feidi dashed forward to catch hold of Su Yang and hugged him tightly in his arms. Together, they both staggered down to sit on the cold hard slabstone in front of the courtyard gate.

Su Yang’s face was as white as snow and his body was as cold as ice. There was a layer of solid ice crystals on the surface of his face. It looked as if his whole person would crack in half immediately if he suffered any impact.

This instance was the most violent emergence of his cold symptoms. It was completely beyond Su Yang’s expectations. He didn’t know whether it was because of the Snow Mountain’s environment or because he’d urged Half Withered Red too quickly. In the blink of an eye, Su Yang’s breathing and pulse were so weak that it was almost as if they didn’t exist.

“SU YANG!”

Gu Feidi called out repeatedly in agitation and transferred all his internal strength into Su Yang’s body.

But this time, his internal force seemed to have entered and disappeared into the sea without any effect and Su Yang’s state showed no signs of improvement.

The rims of Gu Feidi’s eye suddenly turned red and moist and he yelled out in alarm: “DON’T SCARE ME, SU YANG—”

Upon seeing this, Qin stretched out to probe Su Yang’s pulse.

Instantly, he looked at Gu Feidi in shock: “He practiced Half Withered Red?!”

Gu Feidi choked on his sobs and nodded: “He…for the sake of saving me…”

Qin Jianyue’s expression was grave: “He practiced Half Withered Red… is it because he was infected with Gu or to help others expel the Gu?”

“To save me…I was infected with the blood Gu… it was me…”

Gu Feidi hugged Su Yang tightly. He was too anxious to speak in full sentences and sounded a little incoherent.

He clenched his teeth and tried to make it more lucid: “The Sect Leader said that he would die… he allowed us to go to Snow Mountain and find Divine Doctor Luo Yu…”

But with just a few words, Su Yang’s pulse became slower and slower until it was almost at a standstill.

Gu Feidi didn’t care about anything anymore. He held Su Yang with one hand and firmly clutched Qin Jianyue’s arm in the other, weeping and wailing: “Please save him, I beg you—”

Gu Feidi couldn’t control his tears and they finally streamed down his cheeks, dripping onto Su Yang’s ice-covered face, making streaks of tears appear on the gleaming white layer.

At that moment, a voice called out from behind the courtyard door in a low tone: “Send him to the hot spring in the back. Use needles to block Qihai, Tianshu, Shenzang, Tianzong and Xuanshu. HURRY!”

Just as the words fell, Qin Jianyue carried Su Yang away from Gu Feidi’s arms and disappeared in a flash into the courtyard gate.

Gu Feidi wobbled and stood up. He looked up and spied Luo Yu’s retreating figure inside the door as he turned to leave. Gu Feidi wiped his face and rushed to catch up.

He walked anxiously all the way to the back corner of the mountain courtyard nearing the cliff’s edge. Gu Feidi didn’t have time to marvel at the lush green woods there. His attention was completely captured by the steaming pool before his eyes.

Su Yang was sitting in the middle of the hot spring pool with Qin Jianyue’s support. The clothes on his upper body had been undone down to his waist and silver needles had pierced onto various key acupuncture points. Although he wasn’t yet conscious, his complexion looked much better than before.

Luo Yu also seemed relieved, turned to look at Gu Feidi and asked, “Do you practice Zhengyang school exercises?”

Gu Feidi nodded: “Yes.”

Luo Yu: “Enter the water and transfer your internal strength into his internal organs to help him disperse the cold air in his body.”

Gu Feidi immediately did as instructed.

The hot spring water was a little scalding, but he paid it no mind. He went directly behind Su Yang, used his palms to press the acupuncture points on his shoulders, expanded what little remained of his internal force, drove them into the Su Yang’s meridians and circulated slowly.

Luo Yu guided from the side: “From outside Yu all the way to Tianzong…see Yue, remove Tianzong Silver Needle.”

Qin Jianyue heard this and pulled out the silver needle that blocked Su Yang’s Tianzong acupoint.

This way, as Gu Feidi’s internal strength slowly circulated, the acupuncture points on Su Yang’s body that were blocked by the silver needles were unlocked one after another.

After all the silver needles had been removed, Su Yang’s complexion finally improved. Although he was still pale, his lips already had some redness and his temperature, pulse and breathing gradually returned to normal.

Realising that Luo Yu had no further instructions, Gu Feidi pulled Su Yang into a tight embrace from behind. He pressed his cheek onto Su Yang’s neck and couldn’t stop himself from letting out a sob.

Luo Yu gradually loosened his fist that had been clenched for sometime, gritted his teeth and said vehemently: “… doesn’t want his life, this kid!”

Qin Jianyue came out of the water and smiled, “Thought you said you didn’t want to see him? Why did you come to the front yard?”

“If I didn’t come, there won’t be enough lives for this kid to trifle with!” Luo Yu huffed, “That Half Withered Red originally came from Eluo Ghost Tent’s Refining Gu Scripture and has always been used by the Ghost Tent’s Great Witch to cultivate Gu people. A century ago, a witch stole Ghost Tent’s last three Refining Gu Scriptures and brought them to the Devil Sect. It became the current Half Withered Red after several modifications.

As he spoke, he gave a soft snort and eyed Su Yang who was still unconscious in the pool, “Fortunately for him, he has the blood lineage of our Ghost Tent royal family. If not, with his existing skills, he would have perished halfway before even reaching Yuqiong Peak!”

Upon hearing this, Gu Feidi was startled and abruptly looked up at Luo Yu in shock.

Luo Yu didn’t elucidate. He merely said to Gu Feidi: “You accompany him and rest in the hot spring. When he wakes up, call my disciple to look for me.”

Gu Feidi suddenly thought of something. He changed to a kneeling position in the hot spring pool and nodded to Luo Yu: “Thank you, Divine Doctor, for coming to the rescue.”

Luo Yu gave a wave of his hand in exhaustion and turned to leave without saying anything.

The harrowing uproar finally wound down and Gu Feidi let out a sigh of relief knowing that Su Yang was out of danger.

Once Luo Yu and Qin Jianyue had left, he propped up Su Yang’s body and shifted over to the rocky shore of the hot spring where they nestled against each other.

Gu Feidi gathered Su Yang in his arms, closed his eyes and manoeuvred his Qi exercises to recover his inner strength. He refused to meditate in case he missed the moment when Su Yang would wake up.

When the sun faced west and its evening rays dyed the ominous clouds in the horizon red, Su Yang slowly awoke in Gu Feidi’s embrace.

Scanning his indistinct surroundings, Su Yang’s vision gradually focused onto Gu Feidi’s face, who was silently staring at him.

“Su Yang.” Gu Feidi called out softly.

“Mmm…” replied Su Yang.

He wasn’t able to exert any strength. Moreover, his mind was a little groggy due to the steam from the hot spring and he didn’t know what to say.

Gu Feidi tightened his hold around Su Yang’s arm. The additional pressure hurt a little which made Su Yang groan out loud. He turned his head and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Gu Feidi.

“At the time in front of the courtyard door, you intentionally urged your internal strength exercises to trigger the cold symptoms?” he asked.

Su Yang balked at this question and immediately became dumbstruck.

He conceded that when they were at the courtyard gate, he had indeed been thrown off balance by Gu Feidi’s kneeling and it had made him think and act excessively. But there was no way he could’ve known what had happened after he lost consciousness. He believed that it was another similar blackout episode like the last time.

So he let out a wry laugh and attempted to wriggle his way out of it: “So… so that… we would be allowed in…”

“Do you realise you were on the verge of death?” Gu Feidi’s voice was muffled, his eyes suddenly turned red and were brimming with tears.

He sounded hateful: “Why could you—how could you! Do you know how terrified I was?!”

Su Yang saw Gu Feidi’s expression and panicked. His throat tightened and he couldn’t utter a single word.

“You’ve always… been like this…” Gu Feidi stared at Su Yang’s eyes, “Never… never taking your own life seriously. Tell me, what should I do to set my mind at ease and not believe that you would suddenly leave me and this world one day?”

Su Yang wasn’t able to give an answer.

Up until this moment, up until Gu Feidi plaintively lamented and questioned him that he suddenly realised. He’d thought he’d given up the storyline, thought he had begun to integrate into this world… but in the end, he was different from the people here.

He subconsciously felt that his life in this world wasn’t real, which was why he had the courage to try committing suicide when he’d first transmigrated here, dared to dive into Jade Mirror Pond to rescue others, had the guts to block the sword for Gu Feidi’s sword and was willing to…… regard his body as a representation of a virtual character and exploit it without a second thought.

A tear dropped from Gu Feidi’s eye and plopped into the steaming water between the two of them.

“If you treat me…” Gu Feidi said in a hoarse voice, “If you have feelings and affection for me, why are you… still like this; unafraid of death?”

He slowly drew nearer to Su Yang, his lips trembling, “Do you truly… love me?”

Su Yang only felt that he was about to be sucked into an boundless void by Gu Feidi’s eyes and on the brink of being shattered to pieces by the complicated emotions that filled their surface.

His mind was completely blank and he had no way of controlling his voice to make out any words.

A long time passed. He didn’t wait for Su Yang’s response.

Gu Feidi shut his eyes and clenched his teeth.

All of a sudden, he hooked his hand around Su Yang’s neck and shoved him to the edge of the hot spring pool. He practically bullied him, fiercely pressing Su Yang down onto the stone bank and ruthlessly kissing his slightly cool lips…