Chapter 48 It turns out he likes Mingjian.

As night deepened, the cool moonlight spilled across the ground, resembling accumulated snow.

Xiao Bumian walked under the moonlight, holding his plain white umbrella.

The place he came to was exceptionally beautiful. His moon-white shoes lightly trod across the dew-kissed grass, startling the fireflies resting in the bushes. The tiny lights suddenly lit up and danced around him, like a dream.

Surrounded by green mountains on all sides, the wind blows petals all over the ground.

Xiao Bumian stopped in front of a small courtyard, smiled, and politely knocked on the door.

Perhaps because he could still feel emotions in his heart that didn't belong to him even though he was far away, he was in a good mood and even had more patience than usual.

He knocked a few times, not caring whether anyone answered, and then pushed the door open and went in.

Several bamboo racks were neatly arranged in the courtyard, on which various herbs were drying, and a faint bitter fragrance filled the air.

"Young man, who are you looking for?" A clear, childlike voice rang out, tinged with curiosity.

Xiao Bumian slightly raised the edge of his umbrella, his gaze falling to the child dressed in a small-sized medicine boy's uniform, who was looking up at him. He hummed in response, his voice gentle, "Where is Ye Tanzhou?"

"Do you know my Valley Master?" The young medicine boy tilted his head, his big eyes full of scrutiny.

Xiao Bumian smiled slightly, his smile appearing exceptionally innocent and harmless in the moonlight. He said naturally, "Yes, my name is Xie Hanwei, and I am an old acquaintance of your Valley Master."

The young medicine boy had never seen such a strange person as Xiao Bumian.

Who would choose to come seeking medical treatment in the dead of night? Not to mention, on such a clear and bright night, why would someone be carrying an umbrella?

That's really strange.

Although the young apprentice was full of questions, he didn't ask any more. He simply politely invited Xiao Bumian into the main hall, quickly brewed him a cup of tea, and bowed slightly, saying, "I'm sorry, young master, my master has gone out to deliver medicine to a seriously injured patient at the foot of the mountain. He probably won't be back for a while."

Xiao Bumian readily sat down, his eyes still holding that deceptively gentle smile, and said softly, "It's alright, I'll wait for him here. You can go about your business."

His smile was so innocent that it easily won the young medicine boy's favor. The young medicine boy nodded and obediently withdrew.

Only Xiao Bumian remained in the main room.

As the aroma of tea wafted through the air, he gently stroked the slightly warm cup with his fingertips, his posture relaxed, as if he were truly visiting an old friend.

Time passed quietly, and about half an hour later.

Familiar footsteps came from outside the door. The young herbalist, who was sorting medicinal herbs in the courtyard by moonlight, immediately put down the medicine tray in his hand and went to greet them.

"I've said it many times: whether they are cultivators, mortals, or demons, once they come to my Medicine King Valley seeking medical treatment, as healers, we must treat them all equally. How can we show contempt and delay treatment just because the person seeking medical treatment is a demon?"

As Ye Tanzhou walked, he spoke solemnly to the disciples accompanying him, his brows furrowed with unwavering resolve, “Our Medicine King Valley has always remained independent of the conflicts of the Three Realms. We only see the wounded and have no distinction between the noble and the lowly. This is the foundation of our valley; remember it well.”

"Yes, Valley Master, this disciple knows his mistake." The disciple following behind him quickly jogged a few steps to catch up, wiping the thin layer of sweat that had appeared on his forehead with his sleeve, and replied repeatedly.

Just as Ye Tanzhou was about to continue forward, the young medicine boy arrived in front of him and reported in a low voice, "Valley Master, a young man came looking for you just now."

Ye Tanzhou stopped in his tracks and turned around. Before he could ask any questions, the young medicine boy added, "This disciple doesn't think he's a bad person, so I've already invited him to wait at Tingyu Pavilion."

"Hmm, well done." Ye Tanzhou gave the young apprentice a look of approval and asked habitually, "Did you notice how the young man looked when he arrived? Was there anything unusual about him?"

Knowing the Valley Master's habits, the young apprentice quickly reported what he had observed: "Reporting to the Valley Master, his complexion is fine, and his words and actions are gentle. It's just... it's just a bit strange. On this clear, moonlit night, he's been holding an umbrella the whole time."

Ye Tanzhou paused in his act of pushing the door open, a strange sense of unease rising in his heart. He pressed on, "Did he tell me his name?"

"Oh, yes, yes!" The young medicine boy seemed to have just remembered, patting his head. "He said he was an old acquaintance of the Valley Master, named Xie Hanwei."

Ye Tanzhou: "..."

His mind went blank, his face turned extremely ugly, and he whispered in a fit of rage and shame, "Why did you let him in?"

The young apprentice was startled by the Valley Master's sudden outburst of anger. Somewhat bewildered and aggrieved, he protested, "But, Valley Master, you always taught us that Medicine King Valley should not turn away either cultivators or demons."

Ye Tanzhou's lips twitched violently as he suppressed his anger, pressing his throbbing temples. "I did say that! But didn't I also specifically emphasize that there is one person who absolutely, absolutely cannot be allowed to set foot in the valley?!"

The young apprentice was even more puzzled. He blinked and answered in a low but firm voice, "The person you're talking about, Valley Master, is Xiao Bumian. This young man who came said his name is Xie Hanwei."

Ye Tanzhou remained silent for a long time, which was uncharacteristic of him.

After a while, he waved his hand and said, "Very well, you may all leave now. Pass on my message: without my permission, no one is to approach Tingyu Pavilion."

"Yes." Although the two disciples were full of doubts, they did not dare to ask any more questions. They simply bowed respectfully and quickly left.

Ye Tanzhou stood alone outside Tingyu Pavilion, took several deep breaths in front of the tightly closed bamboo door, and finally reached out and slowly pushed the door open.

The cool moonlight slanted in through the half-open window, cutting out interplay of light and shadow on the bluestone floor.

Xiao Bumian sat at the boundary between the shadow and the moonlight, one hand lazily supporting his head, the other hand casually twirling a smooth black chess piece.

Hearing the door open, he didn't even lift his eyelids, but merely smiled faintly and said, "You're back?"

Ye Tanzhou walked forward resignedly and sat down on the futon opposite him. He casually picked up a white chess piece from the chess box and slammed it onto the chessboard with a "thud," the force carrying a hint of barely perceptible irritation. "Ancestor, when did you come out?"

Xiao Bumian slowly raised his eyes, his peach blossom eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the dim light, and said in a light tone, "One year ago."

"A year ago?" Ye Tanzhou exclaimed in surprise, "I thought you were so badly injured that time that you would need to go into seclusion for at least a few more years to recover."

"Because it's boring." Xiao Bumian's answer was simple to the point of being capricious. The black chess pieces under his fingertips tapped lightly on the edge of the chessboard, making a rhythmic sound.

Ye Tanzhou was almost speechless at this reason: "...You can automatically increase your cultivation level just by lying down with your eyes closed? You actually find such a good thing boring?"

Xiao Bumian listlessly glanced at him, then lowered her eyelashes again, focusing on the black chess piece at her fingertips, clearly having lost the last bit of interest in the topic.

Ye Tanzhou had known him for over eight hundred years and knew this fiend's unpredictable and erratic nature, so he couldn't get angry. He just felt a deep sense of powerlessness. He waved his hand helplessly: "Fine, fine, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't. What have you done to yourself this time, coming all the way to my Medicine King Valley?"

Speaking of this, Ye Tanzhou felt a wave of exhaustion and his scalp tingled.

For the past eight hundred years, Xiao Bumian has been his biggest headache. This guy seems to be born with a jinx; every time they meet, he is covered in new wounds on top of old ones. Moreover, he is extremely disobedient to doctors, refusing to take the prescribed medicine if he wants. The next time they meet, his injuries are often worse than before.

Ye Tanzhou had devoted most of his superb medical skills to this one person, and he had been worn down to the point of losing his temper.

Finally, five hundred years ago, Xiao Bumian returned from the Demon Realm after doing something unknown. He was so badly injured that he had to go into seclusion, and Ye Tanzhou thus enjoyed five hundred years of peaceful and quiet life.

So when he heard that the person looking for him was Xiao Bumian, his first reaction was to pack his valuables and run away immediately.

Ye Tanzhou didn't expect him to answer honestly. He frowned and his tone became serious. "My disciple said you came in with an umbrella. Tonight is not a full moon night, so you shouldn't be like this. Why can't you even see ordinary moonlight?"

He paused, carefully recalling the time, his expression growing increasingly grave: "The last full moon was seven days ago. Did you forcefully activate a large amount of spiritual or demonic energy that day? How come the backlash has lasted so long without subsiding?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Tanzhou immediately began to ramble on, his voice filled with the exasperation typical of a healer: "I told you, if you continue like this, no matter how high your cultivation level is, you'll eventually torture yourself to death! Don't you understand how dangerous it is to forcibly use spiritual power on a full moon night when the yin energy is at its peak, without a soul fire to suppress the yin energy within you?"

Xiao Bumian's lips curved into a smile without changing, a faint smile playing in his eyes, as he threatened in a gentle tone, "You're so noisy."

Ye Tanzhou: "..."

He knew it; talking to Xiao Bumian about these things was like casting pearls before swine. This devil would only find ways to infuriate him!

"Fine." Ye Tanzhou gave up. "I won't say anything more. Anyway, I'll be free once you're dead."

Xiao Bumian seemed not to hear his angry words, and calmly dropped a bombshell, "I have a Gu in my body."

"Oh." Ye Tanzhou responded irritably, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and almost habitually asked, "Is the person who put the curse on you dead?"

Given Xiao Bumian's vengeful nature, this was almost an inevitable outcome.

Xiao Bumian tilted his head and thought for a moment, as if recalling something, then softly hummed in agreement.

Ye Tanzhou looked as if he had known all along. "So you came all this way in the middle of the night just to ask me how to get that Gu out?"

As he spoke, he placed his fingers on Xiao Bumian's cold wrist. "Fine, consider it something I owed you in my past life. After all, you saved my life back then... Hmm?"

He had only spoken half a sentence when Ye Tanzhou's voice suddenly choked in his throat. He almost spat out the mouthful of tea he had just sipped. He felt the unusual yet incredibly clear pulse under his fingers in disbelief, and his voice changed tone.

"Love-longing Gu? How could it be Love-longing Gu?! Not only is this Gu worm extremely rare and extinct, but the conditions for planting it are ridiculously demanding. How could it appear inside your body?!"

Ye Tanzhou felt deeply shocked.

He abruptly withdrew his hand and, as if desperate to calm his nerves, gulped down a large mouthful of tea.

If it were someone else afflicted by the Lovesickness Curse, he might be able to understand it to some extent, but this person is Xiao Bumian! A being devoid of emotion, cold and inhuman to the point of being inhuman! This is more bizarre than the sun rising in the west!

However, he quickly calmed down. "Fortunately, given your personality, the host of the offspring gu must have been reduced to ashes by you long ago. Once the offspring gu dies, the mother gu will lose its connection and will soon perish on its own. That saves me the trouble of finding other methods to remove it for you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Bumian looked slightly puzzled.

He tilted his head slightly, a smirk playing on his lips, and asked in return, "Why would I kill him?"

"puff--!"

Ye Tanzhou couldn't hold back any longer and spat out all the tea he had just drunk!

"..."

A deathly silence instantly filled the entire Listening Rain Pavilion.

Ye Tanzhou stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, his expression a mixture of extreme shock and bewilderment, along with a self-doubt that "Am I hallucinating?"

For a long while, Ye Tanzhou still couldn't accept this shocking fact. He stubbornly placed his fingers on Xiao Bumian's wrist again, trying to find any possibility that his diagnosis was wrong. "Isn't the mother Gu in your body? You shouldn't be affected by this Love-Sickness Gu, right? Why didn't you kill him?"

Xiao Bumian lost interest. He placed the last chess piece, looked up, and said, "I didn't come to find you because of this."

Ye Tanzhou was taken aback by his sudden turn of events and subconsciously asked, "Then why did you come looking for me?"

“Hmm,” Xiao Bumian paused, revealing a confusion that was quite out of character for him, “I’m just curious why my chest always feels so tight and uncomfortable. It’s like something is gripping it, making it hard to breathe.”

"The heart?" Ye Tanzhou frowned.

“I have just carefully examined your heart pulse and found no signs of abnormality or damage.”

“That’s really strange,” Xiao Bumian softly echoed.

Ye Tanzhou's heart sank.

Could it be that a bizarre illness has appeared that even he cannot diagnose?

He became serious, his expression turning extremely solemn. He sat up straight, frowning as he asked, "Think carefully, when does this dull pain usually occur? Could it be that someone poisoned you?"

"Poisoned?" Xiao Bumian paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Hmm, I also suspected that Mingjian poisoned me."

Clear-sighted?

Who is this?

But since Xiao Bumian said it himself, Ye Tanzhou immediately listed "Mingjian" as the prime suspect, and the possibility of poisoning rose sharply in his mind.

"Do you remember when your last seizure was? What happened then?"

“Just a few days ago,” Xiao Bumian said calmly, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today, “Mingjian lied to me and secretly went to find Xie Linzhao.”

Just recounting the incident brought back that familiar, agonizing pain that gripped his heart once more.

His smile deepened as he said, "Back then, I really wanted to kill Xie Linzhao."

Upon hearing this, Ye Tanzhou inexplicably felt that something was amiss.

Before he could figure it out, Xiao Bumian added, her tone filled with the same confusion, "Also, when he refuses to let me kiss him, this place also feels very uncomfortable."

"Cough cough cough—" Ye Tanzhou choked on his own saliva, bursting into a tremendous cough. He simply couldn't believe his ears. "What, what did you say?! You kissed someone?!"

This is a hundred times more terrifying than hearing that Xiao Bumian was under the influence of the Lovesickness Gu!

Xiao Bumian was slightly displeased by his strong reaction. She tilted her head and said matter-of-factly, "Why not? He's my cat." Her tone was so natural that it was as if she were saying that cats should be affectionate with their owners.

Ye Tanzhou's lips twitched violently, and he couldn't help but complain: "What kind of good person would raise a cat like you!"

He wants to kill her, but he's also upset if he can't kiss her! This is simply...

An absurd yet incredibly clear thought suddenly crashed into Ye Tanzhou's mind, freezing him in place.

He stared at the demon in front of him, who was clearly oblivious to his own emotions, took several deep breaths, and then tentatively asked in a trembling voice, "Do you feel happy when you kiss him?"

Xiao Bumian nodded without hesitation: "Of course." It was one of the very few things that could bring him joy.

"Then... if you see someone talking to him or getting close to him, do you feel a tightness or discomfort here," Ye Tanzhou pointed to his chest, "do you also feel uncomfortable?"

Xiao Bumian nodded again, even frowning slightly, seemingly not understanding why Ye Tanzhou would ask such obvious questions.

Xiao Bumian felt that Song Yao, Gu Zhi, and Xie Linzhao all deserved to die.

Ye Tanzhou: "..."

Looking at the ruthless killer before him, who was now seeking medical help for "chest tightness," he finally understood everything.

Poisoning! Strange illness!

This is fucking...

"You were still holding an umbrella for so long because of him?"

Xiao Bumian smiled faintly, "No, I just wanted to kill someone. But I also promised her something, so I went to the Ghost Realm on the way."

"The Ghost Realm?" Ye Tanzhou almost fainted. "You don't have a soul fire within you. A demon without a soul fire, are you courting death by going to the Ghost Realm?"

Xiao Bumian didn't take it to heart, his dark eyes fixed on Ye Tanzhou, persistently asking the initial question: "So this isn't an illness?"

Ye Tanzhou rubbed his forehead, annoyed, and almost yelled as he said dismissively, "It's not an illness! It's not! It's love! You love that guy named Mingjian! You've fallen for him! Do you understand?!"

He was furious at the thought of Xiao Bumian's reckless behavior, and he kept ranting about Xiao Bumian's various suicidal acts, trying to awaken even the slightest bit of his will to live.

But Xiao Bumian clearly didn't hear a single word.

The cool moonlight streamed in through the window, enveloping his pale figure and casting a long, thin shadow on the ground.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze seemingly fixed on some point in the void, his long eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath his eyes.

So... this is what liking someone is?

It's a feeling that makes his chest feel tight and painful, makes him irritable, yet also makes him want to be close to someone.

How strange, this clearly violates all his rationality and survival rules.

He likes clear-headedness.

This realization was like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, creating extremely subtle ripples in his heart, a lake that had never before been disturbed.

He blinked gently, the usual curve of his lips vanishing, replaced by an expression that was almost blank, yet held a strange glimmer.