The atmosphere inside the loft grew stifling.
Chen Yang opened his mouth.
The words "thank you for saving my life" rolled around in his throat several times, yet he couldn't bring himself to spit them out.
The moment he thought about how the man before him was one of Zhao Yanran's three cultivation partners — one of the men who had been intimate with her — a suffocating weight pressed down on his chest. A surge of humiliation and indignation drowned out any relief he might have felt at surviving.
He even found himself thinking, darkly:
If it had to come to this — being rescued by Lin Yang and owing him such an enormous debt — he would rather have died cleanly back in that forest in the back mountains.
Lin Yang seemed not to notice the turmoil in his heart, or perhaps he noticed and simply didn't care.
He tapped his folding fan lightly against his palm, his tone carrying a hint of mockery as he broke the silence:
"Brother Chen, come to think of it… you seem to have quite a few female admirers around you, don't you?"
Chen Yang was momentarily taken aback, then realized he was referring to the laborer female disciples currently sheltering in his courtyard. He replied in a flat tone:
"They were all displaced by the demon beast disaster and had nowhere to go. I'm only giving them temporary shelter — I wouldn't call them admirers."
Lin Yang nodded, the smile at the corner of his mouth deepening:
"Oh… is that so. Still, there was one little girl among them with quite a fiery temper. When I went to knock on the door earlier, she planted herself in the doorway and refused to let me in, insisting that no one could open it except you."
He was, of course, referring to Xiaochunhua, whom Chen Yang had instructed before leaving.
Chen Yang's heart clenched. Afraid that Lin Yang might take his anger out on Xiaochunhua, he quickly said:
"I told her to do that before I left. The situation outside was unclear, so I asked her to be cautious."
Lin Yang waved a hand dismissively:
"No matter — caution is a virtue. It's just that the restriction on your courtyard gate… well, I kicked it apart in a moment of urgency. You won't be asking me to pay for it, will you?" He gestured toward the floor below.
Chen Yang shook his head. His mind was elsewhere entirely.
He tried to steer the conversation away, and he did have a genuine question:
"What exactly happened with this demon beast rampage in the back mountains? Why was it so severe?"
Lin Yang leaned lazily against the back of his chair and explained:
"Nothing too unusual — this sort of thing happens every few years. The Spiritual Energy deep in the back mountains grows turbulent, either because a rare treasure has emerged or because powerful demon beasts have clashed. That disturbance drives the outer demon beasts into a frenzy, and they come pouring out. The sect's Elders go to suppress the source, while disciples like us are left to mop up the stragglers."
He spoke as though it were the most ordinary of tasks.
As Chen Yang listened, a sharp pain stabbed through his head, as if a needle were being stirred inside his skull.
He pressed his temples hard, straining to recall the details before he lost consciousness — but all he found was a blank void and fragments of indescribable terror.
"I… how exactly did I get injured? Did the thirty-meter crocodile catch up to me?"
He had no memory of it whatsoever.
He instinctively tried to move his body, only to discover in horror that aside from his neck and arms, which could shift slightly, his limbs and torso felt completely foreign to him — utterly unresponsive. A bone-deep, aching pain radiated from the meridians throughout his entire body.
"Don't move around."
Lin Yang glanced at him, his tone flat:
"Most of your meridians are severed. You're lucky to be alive at all — did you think you'd be jumping around already?"
"Most of my meridians are severed?!"
Chen Yang's face went deathly pale in an instant, his voice trembling:
"Then… then my cultivation…"
For a cultivator, damaged meridians were second only to having one's qi sea shattered!
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Lin Yang let out a scoffing laugh and cut off his panic:
"What are you so frightened about? Your meridians are torn, not your qi sea. Rest and recuperate properly, reconnect them — it'll just take time and Pills. It won't affect your future cultivation."
At those words, the weight in Chen Yang's chest eased slightly, and he let out a long breath.
But immediately after came a wave of lingering dread and self-reflection.
The power of a peak third-rank demon beast was truly terrifying!
His own cultivation at the sixth level of the Qi Refinement Realm was still far too insignificant when faced with genuine danger.
He had been so focused on cultivating the Yimu Immortality Art to extend his lifespan that he had neglected to advance his realm and train his offensive spell techniques — he had truly been putting the cart before the horse.
Only by staying alive did one earn the right to pursue immortality!
He glanced out the window. Outside was pitch black — somehow, deep night had already fallen without him realizing.
He had no desire to remain alone in a room with Lin Yang any longer, so he steeled himself and issued an order to leave:
"Lin Yang, it's getting late. Aren't you… going back to rest?"
Lin Yang was visibly caught off guard, as though he hadn't expected Chen Yang to so bluntly show him the door.
He gave Chen Yang a thoughtful look.
Then he nodded and stood up:
"You're right, it's nearly midnight. Jade Bamboo Peak isn't far from here… Junior Sister Yanran's Passion Gu is probably about to flare up again. I might as well go check on her and… spend the night."
"You dare!"
Chen Yang exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. From somewhere he found the strength to struggle upright in bed, glaring at Lin Yang with eyes that looked ready to burst from their sockets.
Seeing this, Lin Yang actually laughed. With unhurried ease, he pressed the tip of his folding fan against Chen Yang's shoulder and gently pushed him back down onto the bed:
"Oh? Weren't you just telling me to leave, Brother Chen? Why the change of heart?"
Chen Yang was so thoroughly choked for words that his face turned crimson. After a long moment, he forced out through gritted teeth:
"You… you stay right here! Leave at dawn!"
He absolutely could not allow Lin Yang to go to Zhao Yanran's at this hour.
Lin Yang obligingly sat back down, smiling:
"Since Brother Chen insists so warmly, it would be rude of me to refuse."
Chen Yang stared at that smiling face and felt his back teeth itch with hatred. Once again he felt, with profound conviction, that being rescued by this man was worse than death.
"Brother Chen…" Lin Yang spoke again.
"Stop calling me Brother Chen!" Chen Yang snapped, cutting him off. "We're not that close!"
Lin Yang blinked, feigning surprise:
"How are we not close? We're brothers, you and I."
Chen Yang frowned. "What brothers?"
Lin Yang snapped his folding fan shut with a swish and rapped Chen Yang on the forehead with the spine of it — not too hard, not too soft:
"Slow."
Then he rose, straightened his robes, and with an expression of perfectly solemn mischief, lowered his voice:
"Why, Brothers-in-Law, of course. Different chambers, but… the same skirt, so to speak."
"The same skirt…"
Chen Yang was momentarily confused, then it hit him all at once — that "skirt" was clearly a reference to Zhao Yanran!
A wave of humiliation and fury unlike anything he had ever felt surged through him, clouding his mind entirely. He shook with rage, his eyes blazing, staring at Lin Yang with a look that said he wanted to tear him apart and swallow him whole.
"Lin Yang! You…!"
He was on the verge of unleashing a torrent of curses.
But Lin Yang knew when to stop. He leaned back with a laugh and waved his hand:
"Just a joke — why get so worked up, Brother Chen? Be careful you don't aggravate your injuries."
As he spoke, he produced a delicate Small White Jade Vial from somewhere.
He pulled out the stopper and tipped out a Pill the size of longan fruits, emitting a faint, clean fragrance and a lustrous glow.
Before Chen Yang could react, Lin Yang flicked his finger, and the Pill shot precisely into Chen Yang's slightly parted mouth — open from indignation — and dissolved the moment it touched his tongue. A gentle wave of medicinal warmth slid down his throat.
Chen Yang was horrified. He reflexively retched several times, but nothing came up. He stared at Lin Yang in alarm:
"What… what did you just make me take?!"
Lin Yang put on an expression of pure innocence and drawled:
"Seeing how ungrateful you are — repaying kindness with hostility — I figured I'd treat you to a gut-rotting poison."
Chen Yang's face went white as a sheet.
Watching his expression, Lin Yang finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, doubling over with mirth:
"Brother Chen, how do you believe everything I say? If I truly wanted your life, we were out there in the back mountains, not a soul around — a quick slash across your throat would have been far cleaner. Why would I waste a precious poison on you?"
Chen Yang realized he had been played again. He turned his head away in fury, refusing to look at him.
When Lin Yang had laughed his fill, his expression grew somewhat more serious:
"Your meridian damage isn't fatal, but if you don't tend to it properly, it will leave hidden problems for your future cultivation — especially when it comes to breaking through to major realms. What's in this vial is the Minor Vitality Cultivation Pill. It's exceptionally gentle and specializes in nourishing and reconnecting meridians. Take one a day — it will do your injuries a great deal of good."
The Minor Vitality Cultivation Pill?
Chen Yang was momentarily stunned.
Then, sure enough, he felt a medicinal warmth even purer and gentler than Yimu Essence Qi slowly spreading from his abdomen, flowing like a warm current through his limbs and every part of his body.
Especially at the sites of his severed meridians, a tingling, itching sensation arose — as though they were being slowly repaired.
Just then, Lin Yang suddenly rose and walked to a small table by the window. From somewhere he produced an ancient-looking Seven-String Qin and set it gently in place.
He swept aside the hem of his robe and sat down properly, his slender fingers drifting lightly across the strings.
"Brother Chen,"
He had his back to Chen Yang, and his voice seemed to grow as distant as the music:
"Some people, some things — when you know they are nothing but rotting flesh and festering wounds, why keep dwelling on them and adding to your own suffering? You have companions who understand you right here in this courtyard. If the opportunity arises, I could even introduce you to a few truly remarkable beauties. Why fixate on…"
He left the sentence unfinished.
But the meaning was unmistakable.
Then.
A clear, unhurried melody began to drift through the loft.
The music seemed to carry some peculiar rhythm that resonated faintly with the medicinal warmth of the Minor Vitality Cultivation Pill dissolving inside Chen Yang, guiding that warm current to nourish his damaged meridians more smoothly.
Chen Yang had wanted to argue back.
But as he listened to the melody and felt his injuries gradually easing — and with his spirit already utterly exhausted — a heavy drowsiness washed over him like a tide.
He heard Lin Yang say softly, as if from very far away:
"Close your eyes. Rest well…"
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier. In the end, he could not resist the dual comfort of the music and the medicine, and his consciousness slowly sank into darkness.