Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I had only seen the name Xie Wuchen once, in the Kunwu ancestral hall.

His memorial tablet was tucked far in the back, covered in dust, with no dates of birth or death listed beside it.

I had asked Master back then, “Why are there no years for this Martial Uncle?”

Master replied, “He didn’t like being remembered.”

Thinking back on it now, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to be remembered-it was that Kunwu didn’t dare to remember him.

On the night of the seventh day, Wen Zhi came in secret to change my bandages.

His head was lowered and his hands were steady, but his face was as white as paper.

“Are you afraid of me?” I asked.

He shook his head, then nodded.

“I’m afraid of the Immortal Venerable.”

“Did he tell you to watch me?”

Wen Zhi gave a soft grunt of affirmation.

“He also told me not to speak to you.”

“Then what are you doing right now?”

He whispered, “Breaking the rules.”

I let out a small laugh at his expense, but my chest flared with a sharp pain.

Seeing me smile, Wen Zhi grew a bit bolder.

“Actually, I’ve seen Xie Wuchen’s pill box.”

My smile vanished.

“What pill box?”

Wen Zhi immediately shut his mouth.

I stared at him.

“You’ve already broken the rules.”

His face crumpled into a look of misery.

“Senior Sister Jiang, please don’t ruin me.”

“I won’t ruin you.”

I paused.

“But if I remain in the dark, the next person pushed into the furnace might be you.”

Wen Zhi’s expression changed completely.

Finally, he fished a bronze key out from his robes.

“In the deepest part of the Back Mountain Medicine Hut, there’s an Ash Chamber. The Sect Leader enters it once a month, on the first day.”

“How do you have the key?”

“My mother used to be the Furnace Tender.”

His voice dropped lower.

“Before she died, she told me to keep it. She said if Kunwu ever started selecting ‘medicine’ again, I should burn the Ash Chamber to the ground.”

I asked, “Why didn’t she burn it herself?”

Wen Zhi didn’t look at me.

“She couldn’t get inside.”

I understood.

The person responsible for keeping the key was the very person denied the right to open the door.

I took the key.

The Life-Binding Lock gave a soft chime.

Wen Zhi scrambled back in a fright.

“You can’t get out.”

I looked down at the chains.

All these days, I had thought they were meant to imprison me.

Until last night, when I discovered that whenever my pain became unbearable, Master would be outside the door, coughing up blood.

This wasn’t a prison lock.

This was a curse that forcibly bound two lives together.

The more I struggled, the more he suffered.

Even if I stayed still, he would never know peace.

Truly mad.

I hid the key in my sleeve.

“Wen Zhi, do me a favor.”

He shook his head violently.

“No, I’m a coward.”

“Cowards live longer.”

I looked him in the eye.

“You just need to bring Shen Zhaowei here.”

Wen Zhi hesitated.

I added, “Don’t let Master find out.”

He looked like he was about to cry.

“That’s harder than asking me to burn the Ash Chamber.”

Suddenly, Master’s voice drifted in from outside the door.

“What is so hard?”

Wen Zhi’s knees went weak, and he collapsed into a kneel.

I clenched the key in my palm, the metal teeth digging into my skin until I bled.

Master pushed the door open and glanced at Wen Zhi.

Wen Zhi was trembling uncontrollably.

I spoke first.

“I was saying… it’s hard to get him to bring me a bowl of sweet porridge.”

Master looked at me.

“You want sweet porridge?”

“Yes.”

He was silent for a moment.

“I will make it.”

Wen Zhi looked up in shock.

I was stunned as well.

Master had already turned and walked out.

After the stone door sealed shut, Wen Zhi whispered, “The Immortal Venerable knows how to cook?”

I stared at the door.

“He doesn’t.”

Half an hour later, Master brought in a bowl of burnt sweet porridge.

I took a sip and almost thought he had finally decided to poison me to death.

He asked, “Is it not good?”

I set the bowl down.

“Xuanwei, have you never eaten food made by a human before?”

He looked at the bowl of porridge.

“Someone used to make it for me, once.”

“Who?”

He didn’t answer.

But suddenly, I thought of Xie Wuchen.