The rain splashed countless droplets on the ground.
The Xuanmiao Temple, perched halfway up the mountain, was shrouded in heavy rain. Few people would climb the mountain to worship and pray in such weather. The temple gate was closed, and the vast and magnificent Taoist temple felt increasingly cold and deserted.
The long corridor was empty, and the curtains were whipped up by the wind and rain. Inside the Sanqing Hall of Xuanmiao Temple, many Taoist bells needed for rituals were placed, and all the Taoist priests, including Sanshan Zhenren, were present.
Before testing medicine on the villagers, Sanshan Zhenren would lead the Taoist priests in performing a ritual for them.
The illness of the people in Yangzhou had become severe.
Testing the medicine could not be delayed.
Ten years ago, Sanshan Zhenren had managed to develop a cure for the plague. He believed he could do it again ten years later. However, the illness affecting the people of Yangzhou was not a plague but a kind of paralysis that wasn’t contagious.
Though it wasn’t contagious, many people in Yangzhou suffered from it. They wouldn’t die from the disease, but they would become incapacitated.
Many doctors were researching how to solve this issue.
So far, no solution had been found.
Sanshan Zhenren, in Qingzhou, also received pleas from the people of Yangzhou. They had heard of his reputation and hoped for his help.
He accepted.
The medicine Sanshan Zhenren brought to the villagers of Hongye Village today was not for strengthening the body but the “disease medicine” he had refined. Taking one pill would cause the same illness as the people of Yangzhou.
The risk of testing the medicine was high, and a mistake could result in death. He wouldn’t use the people of Yangzhou to test the medicine. The villagers of Hongye Village, having survived the plague trial ten years ago, were already living on borrowed time…
Sanshan Zhenren knew he was wronging the villagers of Hongye Village, but he would still do it.
After his death, he was willing to go to hell.
There was no turning back once the bowstring was pulled.
This was a truth Sanshan Zhenren had understood ten years ago, and he never regretted it.
After completing the ritual, Sanshan Zhenren muttered a few sutras, straightened his robes, and walked to the entrance of the Sanqing Hall to look at the rain outside.
This was the heaviest rain of the year, washing the glazed tiles on the eaves and the bluestone slabs on the ground of Xuanmiao Temple. Many of the flowers and plants in the temple were battered and scattered by the rain.
Sanshan Zhenren retracted his gaze.
Tonight, they were going to visit the other part of the Hongye Village villagers settled on the mountain.
The place where the villagers were settled was very hidden in the mountain. Only the Taoist priests of Xuanmiao Temple knew about it. But to be safe, they seldom let anyone approach, especially at night.
Sanshan Zhenren had already administered the medicine to this group of villagers from Hongye Village. They would fall into a deep sleep during the day and only wake up at night. The Taoist priests from Xuanmiao Temple would take care of them during the night.
Taking care of them meant giving them the medicine.
This group of villagers needed frequent medication. By a stroke of luck, they discovered the true purpose of the medicines administered by Xuanmiao Temple, leading Sanshan Zhenren to confine them on the mountain, separate from the other villagers.
The night Zhong Liang climbed the mountain, Sanshan Zhenren noticed him as well. The fleeting shadow he saw was Sanshan Zhenren and a Taoist priest from Xuanmiao Temple.
Had Zhong Liang not met Qi Buyan and He Sui’an, he might not have made it down the mountain.
Sanshan Zhenren was wary of Qi Buyan.
Failing to kill him the first time made a second attempt unlikely. Moreover, every time he saw the boy, he was reminded of a Miaojiang woman from many years ago.
Time had faded the memory of the Miaojiang woman’s face for Sanshan Zhenren.
But he always felt that they shared a similar aura, possessing exquisite looks, decisive actions, and a swift, resolute manner—perhaps because they were both from Miaojiang.
Years ago, a young man carrying the Miaojiang woman with a broken butterfly silver chain came seeking Sanshan Zhenren’s help and wanted to kill him when he couldn’t save her.
Sanshan Zhenren knew martial arts.
He barely escaped from the young man’s clutches.
Since then, Sanshan Zhenren had hidden his identity and ten years ago became the true master of Xuanmiao Temple.
The past seemed like smoke.
Even now, thinking about it still gave Sanshan Zhenren chills; that young man was a madman. He suppressed his thoughts and sat cross-legged on a meditation mat.
The rain poured from daytime to nighttime, and it was time to visit the villagers. Sanshan Zhenren instructed the priests to take umbrellas. On rainy days, the mountain paths were muddy and slippery, and even those familiar with the route needed to be cautious.
The temple gates opened.
The priests, holding bamboo umbrellas in one hand and lanterns in the other, headed up the mountain.
Sanshan Zhenren reached the entrance of a cave and suddenly felt the back of his neck, catching a bug. The priest behind him asked what was wrong.
His right eyelid twitched violently as he threw the bug to the ground: “Nothing.” The mountains were full of insects and mosquitoes, and it was not unusual for one to land on him while climbing. Sanshan Zhenren did not dwell on it.
The group entered the cave.
Shortly after they entered, a dark figure appeared in the rain.
Qi Buyan approached the cave entrance, picking up the bug Sanshan Zhenren had discarded. It was one of his Gu insects, which had silently attached itself to Sanshan Zhenren after he visited Hongye Village yesterday.
It was meant to lead him tonight.
Gu insects sensed each other, especially those from the same Gu master. As long as Qi Buyan had a Gu insect on him, he could sense the location of the others he had nurtured.
So, the other group of villagers from Hongye Village was hidden here by Sanshan Zhenren.
Qi Buyan stepped into the cave.
The cave was pitch-black. For an ordinary person, without a light, it would be impossible to see. However, with a special Gu worm inside him, Qi Buyan could see as clearly at night as during the day, unaffected by the lack of light.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, Qi Buyan slowed his pace, his silver ornaments barely making a sound.
He heard groans of pain coming from a stone chamber. These were the villagers from Hongye Village, suffering from the pain of the test medicines. They would wake up in the night only to experience agony.
Qi Buyan leaned against the stone wall and looked inside.
They lay on beds, their hands and feet bound with sturdy ropes.
A Taoist priest stood by each bed, holding medicine and water, feeding them. Sanshan Zhenren was there, taking their pulses.
Qi Buyan watched without sympathy for their suffering.
After an hour and a half, the medicine testing for the night was completed.
Sanshan Zhenren wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He instructed the priests to return to the temple to rest and not to overexert themselves. There was no need for morning classes tomorrow. Sanshan Zhenren stayed behind to handle the aftermath.
The priests obeyed and left.
Sanshan Zhenren looked at the villagers in the stone chamber, feeling conflicted.
After another half hour, he finished tidying up the stone chamber and prepared to leave. Upon reaching the cave entrance, he realized he had left something in the stone chamber and turned back to retrieve it.
When he reached the stone chamber, he heard the sound of silver ornaments and his eyes narrowed.
Someone was there.
He flicked his horsetail whisk.
The long, white whisk displayed incredible flexibility as it wrapped around Qi Buyan’s wrist.
Sanshan Zhenren gripped the handle of the whisk and pulled, dragging Qi Buyan out of the stone chamber. He quickly activated a mechanism, causing the beds where the villagers lay to sink into the ground and disappear.
This was a seldom-used mechanism.
The whisk tightened around Qi Buyan’s wrist, reddening his skin. He used a clever technique to break free.
Just as he broke free, Sanshan Zhenren attacked again.
Tonight, he was determined to kill this person!
The horsetail whisk, carrying a strong gust of wind, was thrown towards Qi Buyan’s neck by Sanshan Zhenren with a fierce shout. Hidden within the whisk was a flexible sword.
A flash of silver light appeared as Qi Buyan raised his arm to deflect the whisk from the side. The flexible sword embedded itself into the nearby stone wall. Sanshan Zhenren exerted his strength and swiftly pulled it out, causing rubble to scatter.
He swiftly moved behind Qi Buyan.
Gripping both ends of the long whisk, Sanshan Zhenren attempted to strangle Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan grabbed Sanshan Zhenren’s hands, preventing him from tightening the whisk. The cave was filled with a tense and murderous atmosphere.
Sanshan Zhenren, who hadn’t fought for years, was unexpectedly forced to reveal his skills to kill a young man. He loosened his left hand, drawing a small dagger from the handle of the whisk, and slashed at Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan slammed backward into the wall, causing Sanshan Zhenren behind him to also crash into the stone wall.
Sanshan Zhenren’s attack was momentarily delayed.
The youth half-closed his eyes and smiled.
Transparent strands of Heavenly Silk emerged from Qi Buyan’s wrist, slicing across Sanshan Zhenren’s cheek. Sanshan Zhenren reacted quickly, using the flexible sword within the whisk to counter the Heavenly Silk’s attack.
The flexible sword was made of a material similar to the Heavenly Silk, preventing it from being cut. Despite his age, Sanshan Zhenren was still extraordinarily agile, approaching from the side.
The tip of the flexible sword hooked onto the butterfly silver chain on Qi Buyan’s wrist.
This was the opportunity Sanshan Zhenren had been waiting for.
He tightened his grip on the whisk handle and pulled in his direction, attempting to break the butterfly silver chain. However, Qi Buyan pulled in the opposite direction, causing the butterfly silver chain to emit a clanging sound.
A small gap appeared in the butterfly silver chain.
A little more force and the chain would break. Sanshan Zhenren squinted.
Such a pity.
Qi Buyan didn’t care.
He used several strands of Heavenly Silk to wrap around Sanshan Zhenren’s hands holding the whisk. His overly pale hands tightened the silk, severing Sanshan Zhenren’s hands, rendering him unable to hold the whisk.
With both hands severed, Sanshan Zhenren’s face contorted in pain, his eyes red with agony: “Why did you follow us into the cave tonight? Do you want to kill me?”
Qi Buyan retracted the Heavenly Silk.
He picked up the severed hands, walking step by step to Sanshan Zhenren.
“Here you go.”
The severed hands were placed at Sanshan Zhenren’s feet by Qi Buyan. He crouched down, his long, ink-black hair cascading over his slender waist, his face still splattered with the blood from Sanshan Zhenren’s severed hands.
The blood stains on the young man’s skin resembled petals of plum blossoms. He was the one who had severed the hands, yet his gaze held an air of innocence.
“I don’t want to kill you.”
Qi Buyan said, “Otherwise, the Heavenly Silk would have fallen on your neck, not your hands. I severed your hands because you damaged my butterfly silver chain, making it less beautiful. It’s only fair.”
Blood continued to flow from Sanshan Zhenren’s severed hands. “Then why are you here tonight?”
Wiping the blood from his hands with Sanshan Zhenren’s robe, Qi Buyan’s tone seemed to express concern for others: “You’ll find out. Remember to bandage your wounds and don’t let yourself die.”
With that, Qi Buyan left the cave.
Sanshan Zhenren watched him leave, feeling uneasy. He gritted his teeth against the pain and hurriedly activated the mechanism to check on the villagers of Hongye Village. They appeared much the same as before.
Wait.
There was something different.
His gaze was fixed intently on one spot.
*
Lightning flashed and thunder roared.
The rain intensified rather than abated. He Sui’an, leaning against the treehouse door, was startled awake by the thunder. It seemed to be midnight. She found a dusty umbrella in the treehouse, climbed down, and headed to the village entrance to check.
As soon as He Sui’an reached the base of the treehouse, she saw Qi Buyan. He had returned drenched in the rain, his pale face washed clean of the blood scent, his long hair wet, and his silver ornaments glistening.
She lifted her skirt and ran over.
She held the umbrella over Qi Buyan’s head.
A gust of wind blew the umbrella out of her hand just after she had shielded him for a moment. She was soaked through, like a drowned rat. Picking up the umbrella, she pulled him back to the treehouse.
Both of them were drenched and needed to change clothes. With the rain pouring down, it wasn’t feasible for one of them to wait outside while the other changed.
He Sui’an turned her back to Qi Buyan to change her dress.
Just as she reached for a new dress, the young man’s voice came from behind her: “What about your answer?”
At that moment, neither of them had their clothes on, both naked, like the man and woman in the picture, capable of doing what they did.
He moved to kiss her there.
To drink her water.
The book had mentioned this.
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