Chapter 3#
Fate by Chance#
After Feng Xianyu finished his opening stance, he smoothly yielded the stage to A Yue.
Through A Yue’s tearful explanation, it turned out that she and her husband Yan Pei had been childhood sweethearts. Their parents got along well, and when they came of age, the Yan family proposed marriage. They wed the following spring, living in harmony and inseparable affection. Years passed in the blink of an eye.
Unexpectedly, one day that snake demon passed by, broke into their home, and kidnapped both A Yue and her husband.
“Wasn’t it the lady’s husband who was kidnapped?” Xiang Wan, confused, couldn’t help asking.
A Yue furrowed her delicate brows in sorrow and sighed deeply. “It was to kidnap me. To be honest with you immortals, I was born at the hour of the Yin month, Yin day, and Yin hour. For so many years, things were peaceful around our home, so I never realized it. It wasn’t until the snake demon took me that I found out. The demon kidnapped me because it hit a bottleneck in its cultivation and happened to meet me, a ‘Yin person,’ wanting to drink my heart’s blood.”
“No wonder the lady is so weak. Losing heart’s blood repeatedly is like losing half your life,” someone sighed.
“Then why didn’t it…” a disciple asked curiously, but his voice trailed off.
Feng Xianyu knew he was about to ask why it hadn’t simply killed A Yue outright, so he said, “Probably the snake demon had been stuck at its bottleneck for a long time and worried it might never break through. Instead of a one-time kill, it preferred a steady supply of heart’s blood?”
“Master Feng is very clever. That’s exactly it.” A Yue nodded.
Everyone couldn’t help sighing at the snake demon’s viciousness.
A Yue mustered her spirits and forced a smile. “It was going to kill my husband for being in the way, but I threatened that if Yan Lang died, I would slit my own throat and follow him. That’s the only reason Yan Lang was spared. I had no other choice. It’s just that…”
At this point, A Yue’s voice turned tearful. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and said, “When Yan Lang tried to save me that day, he was badly injured, terribly so, and he’s been lingering like this ever since.”
Even without her finishing, Feng Xianyu could guess the rest: the snake demon was barely willing to let Yan Pei live, let alone heal him. Yan Pei’s injuries must have reached a point where they couldn’t be delayed any longer—he was about to die—forcing A Yue to risk escaping.
“The snake demon had been lurking in its lair all along. I tried every way to escape but couldn’t. Fortunately, two days ago the demon went out and never came back,” A Yue said mournfully. “Yan Lang really can’t hold on any longer. I took the risk to sneak out, hoping to find a doctor, or at least some medicinal herbs to treat him.”
Xiang Wan patted his chest and said, “To be honest with you, lady, that snake demon was taken down by these two senior brothers of mine.”
A Yue’s eyes sparkled. “I already thought Master Feng was amazing with his archery just now. I was blind—I didn’t realize you were this incredible!”
Zhuo Yu remained silent, so Feng Xianyu had to reply, “Hehe, too kind, too kind!”
He couldn’t help glancing at Zhuo Yu, who still stood there expressionless—and thought to himself: The snake demon’s eyes were gouged out by this immaculate immortal lord standing before you in spotless robes.
“So that’s how it was.”
Everyone showed sympathy. Several were indignant, clenching their fists eagerly: “How despicable!” “Taking a life and forcibly breaking up a marriage!” “Don’t worry, lady, we’ll rescue Young Master Yan for you!” “Exactly, exactly! That snake demon is utterly inhuman!”
Feng Xianyu couldn’t stand it anymore. “…It’s not human in the first place! It’s a snake, people!”
That disciple scratched his head sheepishly.
A Yue asked, “Do you have a doctor?”
Everyone looked blank. In a flash of inspiration, Feng Xianyu finally understood Zhuo Yu’s intention. Hurriedly, before these foolish kids could innocently shake their heads, he said, “Yes, yes!”
All eyes, including A Yue’s, turned to him.
Who?
Feng Xianyu earnestly raised Zhuo Yu’s hand and presented it to the crowd. “Isn’t this him? A genuine medical cultivator, no substitutes! With his eyes covered, he can see the meridians even more clearly! He brings the dead back to life, heals every ailment, revives dying embers, and grows flesh on bare bones!”
Xiang Wan: “…”
Everyone: “…”
Zhuo Yu: “…”
Feng Xianyu couldn’t go on. He gave a dry laugh and quickly ordered the disciples to pack up and head straight for the snake demon’s lair.
Zhuo Yu said, “Wait until sunrise.”
Feng Xianyu looked at the pitch-black night outside, like a pool of poison, then at Xiang Wan and the others’ innocent faces, and said helplessly, “Fine.”
Nearby, Xiang Wan asked A Yue if she remembered the way there. A Yue wiped away her tears and smiled shyly. “Of course I remember. I’ll never forget it even in death.”
Feng Xianyu helped Zhuo Yu to the couch behind the screen and finally retrieved his own bow.
Zhuo Yu leisurely smoothed his robes and transmitted his voice via spiritual power, saying faintly, “Medical cultivator?”
Feng Xianyu, who had just put his bow away, looked up sharply. He also used spiritual transmission, speaking excitedly, “Zhuo Yu, you’re amazing! You guessed that A Yue would look for a doctor. No wonder you suddenly pretended to be blind—so that was it! Absolutely brilliant foresight, preparing for the worst!”
Zhuo Yu: “…”
Feng Xianyu wondered, “What, am I wrong?”
“…” Zhuo Yu was silent for a moment, then said, “No.”
Feng Xianyu clapped his hands, thinking that Zhuo Yu had indeed lived up to his expectations. He tilted his head to look past the screen and saw the disciples surrounding A Yue, chattering to comfort her. Xiang Wan, following Feng Xianyu’s lead, was praising Zhuo Yu’s medical skills to the skies—how wonderful, how accomplished, how he could raise the dead—talking so convincingly that even Feng Xianyu himself was starting to believe it.
This Xiang Wan should just become a storyteller. He might become famous all over the world.
A Yue’s tears turned to laughter.
Zhuo Yu said, “You believe her?”
“Only a ghost would believe her,” Feng Xianyu snorted. “A defenseless but fully intact ordinary person who ran out of such a huge illusion. Even if the story sounds reasonable, there’s always something off. Anyway, we need to stay alert. But since we’re already in this situation, having something to break the deadlock is better than running around here like headless flies.”
Everyone rested a little longer, packed up, and prepared to leave.
By then the roosters had crowed, and the east was showing pale light. The areas touched by sunlight were no longer so cold and damp, but the dense forest still reeked of a cold, wet smell of grass and mud. At a glance, countless vines hung down from the trees, each looking like a poisonous snake.
Or perhaps some were.
A Yue hesitated and shuffled over again.
“There’s something I didn’t say.” A Yue fidgeted.
Before Feng Xianyu could speak, Zhuo Yu said, “Oh?”
He looked far more intimidating than Feng Xianyu—aloof, completely unlike a medical cultivator who saves lives. A Yue instinctively stepped back, then mustered her courage and said, “My husband isn’t exactly an ordinary mortal.”
Everyone’s eyes widened. Feng Xianyu jumped to the wrong conclusion: “Ah? He’s a monster?”
Xiang Wan gasped. “Oh my god, a human-demon romance.”
“No, no, no.” A Yue shook her head frantically. “He’s human.”
“Not a monster? Then is he a cultivator?” someone guessed, then wondered, “Then how…”
“Yan Lang is different from you immortals,” A Yue said quickly. “He has some talent for cultivation, but he’s not really a cultivator. When fighting, he’s not much better than me. I just thought that treating an ordinary person and treating someone with a little spiritual…”
“Spiritual energy,” Feng Xianyu kindly supplied when she faltered.
“Yes, spiritual energy.” A Yue looked at Zhuo Yu. “I thought it might be different, so I wanted to let… this immortal know, so he can treat him properly.”
“Understood.” Zhuo Yu replied expressionlessly.
Feng Xianyu chuckled inside. Actually, setting aside his knowledge of Zhuo Yu, if you looked at him from an outsider’s perspective right now, he was quite impressive.
Zhuo Yu, dressed in pure white like a fallen immortal, standing steadfast and unshaken, with a serious expression—there were advantages to that. In short, he really looked like someone formidable, like a great cultivator. Not necessarily gentle or caring, but definitely reliable and dependable.
To some extent, he did have the bearing of a medical cultivator.
It was just their lack of fate, Feng Xianyu thought regretfully. If he and Zhuo Yu could love each other, it would probably be a happy thing. He wondered whose hands Zhuo Yu’s marriage thread was tied to.
“Alright, let’s set out,” Feng Xianyu said.
Xiang Wan led the group to the front, surrounding A Yue in the middle to protect her. Feng Xianyu, following the principle of saving people to the end and escorting them all the way to the West, intended to support Zhuo Yu as before to help him continue pretending to be blind. But the other man hadn’t come out after entering the house for a while. Finally, Feng Xianyu couldn’t help walking in: “Zhuo Yu, aren’t you leaving?”
Zhuo Yu stood inside, holding an hourglass. He turned and “looked” at Feng Xianyu, then turned back, placed it upside down on the table, and pressed a talisman on top.
The pale golden sand scattered and began diligently trickling from top to bottom.
Feng Xianyu didn’t see the need for timing, but Zhuo Yu didn’t explain. He only said, “Let’s go.”
And as if out of habit, he reached out his hand to Feng Xianyu again.
“Oh.” Feng Xianyu stepped forward and took Zhuo Yu’s cold hand, once again completely enveloped by his still-strong fragrance.
The two walked side by side toward the door.
Before leaving, Feng Xianyu subconsciously glanced back at the hourglass. It stood there quietly, the transparent glass shimmering with flowing colors under the sunlight, golden sand like snow.
He wondered how long it would take for all that sand to fall.