Chapter 22#
“A stranger you just met, why bother caring so much?”#
When Yu Lin slowly woke up, it was already noon the next day.
His eyelashes fluttered slightly as he opened his eyes, instinctively trying to sit up, only to find himself tied up tightly with ropes.
The dim walls were covered with cobwebs, the dilapidated stove had not been used in a long time, and various discarded cooking utensils were scattered in disarray beside it.
There was only one window in the room, through which he could see smoke rising slowly in the distance and the surrounding barren mountains.
They must have arrived at some sort of stronghold.
“Go in and take a look. He should be awake by now, shouldn’t he?” A slightly muffled, indistinct voice drifted in through the door.
“The eldest young master hasn’t contacted us yet. Why bother with him so early?”
Before the words could fully fade, with a creaking sound, the dilapidated wooden door was pushed open, and A-Qian and that man walked in.
“Yo, you’re awake.” The man glanced at him.
Yu Lin looked at him coldly and asked bluntly, “Why did Liu Yufeng tie me up?”
The man squatted down and said casually to Yu Lin, “Can’t we tie you up even if nothing’s wrong? Why would we demonic cultivators need a reason for what we do?”
He gripped Yu Lin’s chin and turned to A-Qian, saying, “Do you girls like this type nowadays? Why don’t you take him for yourself?”
A-Qian frowned and snapped his hand away. “There is no news from the eldest young master yet. Don’t act recklessly.”
The man said dismissively, “Why wait for him? I’m already pissed off enough being ordered around by him to deal with a mere brat like this.”
“Watch your words.”
A-Qian glared at him sideways, glancing outside the door from time to time. Seeing that the man was only causing annoyance, she dismissed him in a few words. “Su Wei, go keep an eye on the one from the Ruo family. Don’t make trouble here.”
Su Wei stared at her for three seconds, sighed, and stood up with a drawn-out tone. “Fine—fine, you have a nice chat with this ‘young master’ then. I won’t disturb you.”
His face fell instantly as he left the room. A-Qian watched him go before pulling her gaze back.
“The two of you seem to have an unusual relationship. Are you siblings, partners, or…”
A-Qian cast a side-glance at him and kept silent.
“It looks like you like him.”
Having her secret exposed in a single word, she finally deigned to speak. She sneered, “Your life is almost over, yet you still have the mind to worry about other people’s relationship issues?”
Yu Lin smiled sweetly, his eyes curving into crescents. “Don’t mind it, elder sister. Only by getting on your good side will I have a way out, right?”
A-Qian found a chair from the pile of kitchen utensils, moved it next to him, and sat down. “Flattering me is useless. Offending the young master won’t bring you any good end.”
“Liu Yuyan? Why are you demonic cultivators working for the Liu family?” Yu Lin shifted slightly, finding a comfortable position to lean against.
A-Qian gave him a meaningful look. “What do you think?”
Yu Lin curled his lips. “The Liu family colluding with the demons… with things like this, I really wonder where that leaves their two sons in the Fusheng Sect.”
A-Qian snorted coldly. “The Liu family isn’t clean, but the Fusheng Sect isn’t much cleaner either. The sect master is a hypocrite; who knows how many filthy things are hidden inside.”
Yu Lin lowered his head and hummed twice, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
This silence did not last long; soon, the clashing of swords resounded from outside.
A-Qian stood up with a frown, glanced at him, and walked out the door. As the door was pushed open, the sound of clashing swords outside became even clearer.
A-Qian did not linger. She rushed out like a cat, blending into the crowd.
“Clang!”
In a few swift moves, A-Qian slipped through the gaps to Su Wei’s right side. Quick of eye and deft of hand, she raised her sword to block the enemy’s attack aimed at him.
Twisting her body, she retreated and pressed her back tightly against Su Wei’s, asking urgently in a low voice, “What’s going on?!”
Su Wei’s brow was deeply furrowed as he stared unblinkingly at the sword stabbing toward him. His voice sank slightly. “…The Ruo family is here.”
“So fast?!”
A-Qian found it hard to believe. Their operation this time was extremely covert; only the two of them had been deployed. The brothers in the stronghold didn’t even know whom they had kidnapped.
How could the Ruo family have arrived so quickly?!
Su Wei freed a hand and put it to his mouth to blow a whistle. As the whistle blew, a group of men emerged from the surrounding village in all directions.
The leader exchanged a glance with Su Wei, asked no questions, and with a wave of his hand, called on his brothers to join the fray.
The battle between the two sides grew increasingly fierce.
Once Yu Lin was certain A-Qian had left, he slowly stood up against the stove. His legs were tied, so he could only hop small steps to the door.
With a creak, Yu Lin pried open a crack in the door, allowing a long, vertical shaft of light to filter into the room.
He saw a young master dressed in light yellow robes, protected by two guards, make his way to the side room on the right and lead out a girl of sixteen or seventeen.
Seeing her being taken out, Su Wei gritted his teeth and said to A-Qian, “Go grab those two from the Ruo family first, I can handle things here!”
If that girl were taken away, their efforts would likely be in vain. A-Qian weighed her options for a moment and nodded with a grim expression.
The young master’s gaze clashed directly with A-Qian’s. His expression tightened; handing the girl beside him to the guards, he planted his feet firmly.
In the next second, as he expected, A-Qian rushed forward at lightning speed. The young master drew a fan from his sleeve and threw it toward her.
The fan spun through the air as if with a mind of its own, chasing A-Qian. She bent low to dodge the fan, while simultaneously tapping it with the back of her hand!
Seeing the fan stop in mid-air, about to fall to the ground, the young master frowned slightly and raised his hand to recall it. The fan spun back into his palm.
Meanwhile, Yu Lin propped himself against the door, reaching out to grab a sharp sword that had been left on the ground by someone at the doorway. He picked up the sword and sliced through the ropes binding him with a single stroke.
These ropes suppressed spiritual entities; no matter how powerful one’s spiritual energy was, it had no effect against them. His body was weak, and he couldn’t summon the Fushui Sword back anytime soon.
Fortunately, he had come across this sword; otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known how to escape.
Once the ropes were cut, he felt a wave of relief spread through his body.
Yu Lin looked over and saw A-Qian make a feint, channeling her spiritual energy to strike at the girl in front of her.
Leaning weakly against the door, Yu Lin held the sharp sword in his left hand to prop himself up. His gaze went cold as he raised his right hand, unleashing a burst of spiritual energy toward A-Qian.
A-Qian had not expected an ambush from behind. Caught off guard, she was struck and stumbled forward.
The young master glanced at Yu Lin and seized the opportunity. He lunged forward instantly, throwing his fan at the same time, using its spin to knock her unconscious and taking her captive in one swift motion.
“A-Qian!” Su Wei noticed the situation here in the midst of parrying, seeing A-Qian knocked out and captured.
He was distracted, and his defense subsequently crumbled. His opponent found a flaw and struck him squarely in the chest with a palm strike.
With the leaders captured, the remaining men posed no threat and were quickly subdued.
Yu Lin was already weak, and that single strike had drained a lot of his energy. He lowered his head, panting softly, and only walked over slowly once his strength had mostly recovered.
“Thank you for your help, young hero!” seeing him approach, the young master cupped his hands in greeting.
Yu Lin waved his hand. “It was nothing.”
“We are of the Ruo family from Fuyang City. I am Ruo Baiyu. My younger sister was kidnapped and brought here; we were worried, so we tracked her down to this place.”
Ruo Baiyu introduced himself, his voice still carrying the lingering trepidation of the conflict that had just settled.
The girl behind him peeked her head out and called softly, “Brother.”
She had a face like jade and skin like snow. Standing there, she seemed delicate and fragile, yet carried a subtle resilience.
Turning her eyes to Yu Lin, her gaze was clear and gentle. She smiled and said, “Thank you, young master, for saving me.”
Yu Lin returned her smile. “I should be thanking you instead. Had you not rushed here, I’m afraid I would have had a hard time escaping.”
The rumors of the Liu family’s collusion with the demons had spread far and wide, and they were well aware of it. Ruo Baiyu froze for a moment. “Did you offend the Liu family, young hero?”
Yu Lin nodded.
Ruo Baiyu’s voice held a chill. “This Liu family is truly atrocious! He who commits many injustices is doomed to destroy himself!”
Yu Lin let out a bitter laugh. “Their two young masters have the protection of the Fusheng Sect, so I’m afraid they are difficult to contend with.”
Seeing that he knew quite a lot, Ruo Baiyu did not say much more. After a long moment, he looked at Yu Lin’s face, hesitating to speak.
“What is it?” Yu Lin asked, baffled by his gaze.
He hesitated, stammering slightly, “I see that you look remarkably like Liu Yuyan. Could you be that…”
“Yes, I am Yu Lin,” Yu Lin answered readily.
Ruo Baiyu had also heard of those matters regarding the Fusheng Sect. Seeing that the Liu family looked poised to silence Yu Lin permanently, he cried out indignantly on his behalf,
“Swords and blades have no eyes! How can someone destroy their own spiritual veins because of their own lack of strength, and then instigate others to take someone else’s life for it?!”
Seeing that he wasn’t entirely clear on the inner details, Yu Lin didn’t elaborate. He turned to look at the horizon, his expression unreadable.
Currently, Wen Jin’s life or death was unknown, and the demons were colluding with the Liu family. The Demon Realm Mystic Realm would open in three years, and demonic cultivators were already running rampant in broad daylight.
Yet, he had prepared nothing.
Innumerable worries tangled into knots in his mind, and he could find no way to unravel them.
“Young hero, why don’t you return to Fuyang City with us? Now that the Liu family’s collusion with the demons is known to everyone, they wouldn’t dare act rashly.”
Yu Lin looked at him. Moved by the offer, he said, “Alright.”
Fuyang City was far away, so they made the return journey by carriage. Since the young lady of the Ruo family was a female relative, she did not share a carriage with them.
Yu Lin closed his eyes to regulate his breathing and recover his spiritual energy. He had not rested for a single moment lately, and the spiritual energy in his body was extremely depleted—so much so that he couldn’t even summon back his Fushui Sword.
The carriage was somewhat bumpy. The wounds on his waist and arm had not yet fully healed, and after this bout of upheaval, they had been strained again. Even a slight twist of his body brought throbs of pain.
Yu Lin pursed his lips slightly, reaching out to tear away the fine cloth covering his wounds.
Watching his actions, Ruo Baiyu’s brow furrowed slightly. He turned to call the guards following behind to bring some clean cloth, then asked, “How did you get injured?”
Yu Lin kept silent, refusing to answer his question. He slowly shook his head, took the clean cloth with a word of thanks, and turned around to pull aside his clothes to tend to the wounds himself.
The wrapping cloth was stuck to the oozing pus of the wound, looking incredibly gruesome. Pressing one hand beside the wound, he tugged at the cloth with the other. Following a sharp ripping sound, the cloth, mingled with flesh and blood, was torn away.
A sharp pain shot straight through him. Yu Lin let out a low, barely audible groan.
Fresh blood began to flow once more from the torn wound, and in an instant, the scent of blood filled the carriage.
Ruo Baiyu frowned at the side. Hearing the tearing sound, he couldn’t help but close his eyes, as if feeling the pain himself. “…Does it hurt?”
“It’s fine.” Yu Lin’s hand paused for a moment, his tone indifferent.
From now on, the person he cared about would suffer thousands and tens of thousands of times more than this. Ruo Baiyu was not Wen Jin; he could not act spoiled and complain of pain in front of him. He had to learn to swallow his suffering on his own.
Having spoken, Yu Lin picked up the clean cloth and prepared to place it directly over the wound, but Ruo Baiyu stopped him.
A stranger he just met, why bother caring so much?
Depressed and out of sorts, Yu Lin was about to speak up impatiently when he saw a soft handkerchief being placed over his wound.
“Clean the wound first.”
Ruo Baiyu turned his body around, lowering his eyes to gently wipe away the pus from the wound. A lot of blood had flowed out when the cloth was torn, staining it bright red. Before long, the handkerchief was dyed red.
After carefully wiping the wound clean, Ruo Baiyu turned around to pick up a small jade jar of salve and gently applied the cool, translucent ointment over the injury.
“Jade Skin Salve. It won’t leave a scar.”
“…Thank you.”
Once Ruo Baiyu finished treating it, he waited for the wound to air out a little before wrapping the cloth around him.
His hands never stopped moving. Bandaging the wound with his eyes lowered, he said, “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but what matters most is your own body.”
He glanced at Yu Lin and said with amusement, “With your skills in treating wounds, the pain from a wound infection alone could kill you.”
Blushing slightly at his words, Yu Lin looked away.
“I’m not afraid of pain.”