Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I woke up, I heard someone counting my breaths.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

The voice was very soft, as if afraid of waking me.

I opened my eyes and saw a medicine boy of about sixteen or seventeen crouching by the couch. He was thin with round eyes, holding half a bowl of dark medicine in his hands.

Seeing me wake, he was so startled he nearly spilled the medicine on himself.

“You’re awake?”

The words burst out, but he immediately lowered his voice. “Don’t make a sound. The Immortal Venerable is outside.”

I tried to sit up, but my wrists were held back by iron chains. The chains were thin, engraved with red runes, and the other ends disappeared into the wall. As I moved, my chest immediately flared with pain, causing me to break into a cold sweat.

The medicine boy hurried to hold me down. “Don’t struggle. This is the Life-Binding Lock.”

I looked at him.

Realizing he had let something slip, his face turned pale instantly. “I didn’t say anything.”

I stared at him. “What is your name?”

“Wen Zhi.” His voice was tiny, as if he spent his life constantly gauging the moods of others. “A servant from the Back Mountain Medicine Hut.”

I asked, “Am I dead?”

Wen Zhi shook his head. “No.”

“Is the pill complete?”

He pursed his lips, not daring to answer.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

Wen Zhi immediately stood up with the medicine, his entire body tensing like a blade of grass. The stone door pushed open, and Master walked in.

He had changed into clean white robes, and the wound on his shoulder was no longer visible. However, his face was even paler than mine.

Wen Zhi bowed his head in greeting. “Immortal Venerable, the medicine has been warmed.”

Master gave a soft grunt of affirmation.

Wen Zhi handed him the bowl and retreated to the door.

I stared at the bowl of medicine. “What is it this time?”

Master walked to the bedside. “Soul-Stabilizing Medicine.”

“Afraid I’ll die?”

“Yes.”

He answered so bluntly that it actually caught me off guard.

I laughed. “Are you afraid I’ll die, or afraid the pill will die?”

He held the medicinal spoon to my lips. I turned my head away.

The medicinal liquid dripped onto the quilt, its blackness jarring to the eye.

“Xuanwei.”

This was the first time I had ever called him by that name.

Wen Zhi gasped by the door. Master did not get angry; he simply looked at me.

I asked, “Do you think that because you saved half of me, I should thank you?”

He remained silent.

I continued, “Or do you plan to nurse me back to health just to refine me a second time?”

Wen Zhi’s fingers trembled. Master looked back at him.

Wen Zhi immediately dropped to his knees. “This disciple heard nothing!”

Master said flatly, “Get out.”

Wen Zhi practically fled the room.

The stone door closed, leaving only the two of us in the secret chamber. I propped myself up to sit, the iron chains clattering loudly.

“Speak.”

Master looked down at the medicine bowl. “I severed the Return-to-Origin Formation. The pill was not completed.”

I froze. “You severed it?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about that sword strike to my heart?”

“Soul-Locking.”

He spoke as if he were reciting a sword mantra. I felt like laughing.

“You are always like this.”

He looked at me.

I said, “You do ten things to hurt someone, then pick one that isn’t quite as bad to tell me about, as if I’m supposed to understand you.”

His gaze darkened slightly.

I knocked the medicine bowl over. “I don’t understand, and I don’t want to.”

The medicine splashed onto the back of his hand. It was scalding, yet he didn’t move.

After a long silence, he said, “Fine.”

I frowned.

He said, “You don’t have to understand. Just stay alive.”