Chapter 139 "This person is driven by emotion and will definitely come to his aid..."

Elder He pressed down the dried herb roots and cut them into small sections. The clay pot on the stove began to boil, and the medicinal juice overflowed from the pot.

He was extremely busy all day long. Besides the two patients in the house, he also had to treat the people of Pinglu from time to time. One Lin Mu was not enough for him to do. So he called out to Bai Yuan, who was sitting in the rattan chair and had to bask in the sun for at least two hours a day, "Hey you, if you don't have anything to do, come and lend a hand."

Bai Yuan turned around, confirmed that the other person was calling him, and got up to go over.

Elder He held down the rootstock with one hand and, holding a cleaver in the other, directed her: "Help me watch the stove and keep the fire down so the medicine doesn't boil over."

Bai Yuan did as instructed and made no mistakes whatsoever.

She was used to seeing Elder He tending the stove and brewing medicine, and she had heard the old man scolding and yelling at Lin Mu. Although Bai Yuan had never done it herself, she had already learned it very well.

Elder He glanced at her sideways, finding no fault with her: "She is quite nimble-fingered."

Bai Yuan simply sat down on the low stool, picked up the palm-leaf fan by the stove and looked at it. There was a charred notch at the top of the fan, which was burned off when Lin Mu had fanned the fire earlier.

Lin Mu, having just delivered medicine to Granny Wang next door, entered the courtyard and exclaimed, "Ting Fengzhi, why are you out in the fields?!"

Bai Yuan looked up and saw Zhou Yaren slowly moving out of the house, leaning on her cane.

"I feel much better. I've been lying down for so long, so I'm going to get out and move around." Moreover, he was able to get out of bed with Elder He's approval.

Lin Mu was still worried and cautioned, "Be careful."

"It's alright."

Just then, the wooden door of the side room creaked open, and Tang Yuan, who had been bedridden, appeared in the doorway. Her face still showed signs of illness, and she was startled to see so many unfamiliar faces in the courtyard. Although she knew that besides Elder He and his young disciple, there were two other injured people living in the courtyard, she had never stepped out of her room and had never met them before. Now, suddenly encountering them, Tang Yuan hesitated as she tried to step out.

She first saw Bai Yuan by the stove, then Zhou Yaren leaning on her cane, and paused twice in shock. Not for any other reason, but because the two people's appearances were so extraordinary, so striking.

Lin Mu asked, "What's wrong?"

Tang Yuan immediately lowered her gaze, not daring to look any longer, and whispered, "Excuse me, young Taoist priest, where is my elder brother?"

Tang Yuan's brother left before dawn without alerting anyone, so Lin Mu didn't know where he went: "I don't know, hasn't he come back yet?"

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Tang Yuan's older brother rushed into the courtyard, panting. Upon seeing his younger sister, he hurriedly went up to her and said, "Yuan, something has happened to the Yang family."

"Didn't something happen a long time ago?" Tang Yuan didn't react much, coldly saying, "Oh, the child is dead?"

"No." Since Tang Yuan's condition had stabilized, he went to Shanzhou early that morning, intending to settle scores with Yang Qi. However, when he arrived, he found the Yang family had set up a mourning hall and were all dressed in mourning clothes, weeping uncontrollably before the coffin. Brother Tang said, "The child isn't dead; it's Yang Qi who died!"

"What?" Tang Yuan exclaimed in surprise, "How could this be?"

"Yang Qi was bitten to death by a poisonous snake."

Elder He asked, "A poisonous snake?"

Brother Tang turned his head: "Oh right, Elder He, I also saw your Taoist disciples at the Yang family."

Lin Mu immediately stepped forward: "What? Have you seen my fellow disciples? Who are they? How many are there? What are their names?"

"There were four junior Taoist priests, one of whom was surnamed Li, but I didn't have time to ask his name."

Lin Mu clapped his hands, never expecting to learn of his senior brothers' whereabouts under such circumstances. His heart pounded with excitement: "Senior Brother Liuyun! It's them! The four of them! That's great! It's them, Senior Brothers!"

"They discovered that the child's soul had left the snake fetus, just as Elder He had predicted, so they went to the mountains to search for him..." Brother Tang recounted the events he had heard, "Yang Qi died on the spot from the poison."

"Ha," Tang Yuan suddenly burst out laughing. She was genuinely happy, feeling the joy of the wicked finally getting their comeuppance and the revenge being fulfilled. "Retribution! What did I tell you? Retribution has come! Once that little brat dies, the Yang family will be extinct. The Yang family deserves to be extinct!"

She had cursed them countless times with malice, and Tang Yuan firmly believed that Yang Qi would never have a good end. And now it has come true. Heaven truly has eyes.

Tang Yuan wasn't satisfied yet; she wanted to curse that bitch and her bastard child to go to the eighteenth level of hell together!

Bai Yuan stared at Tang Yuan's sinister gaze, his surging hatred only growing stronger.

Tang's older brother had never seen his gentle and kind younger sister like this before, and he felt heartache and pity: "Xiao Yuan..."

Lost in deep hatred, Tang Yuan looked up and accidentally met Bai Yuan's gaze. She immediately turned her eyes away as if to hide her venomous intent.

There's no point in hiding it; Bai Yuan doesn't feel he should have done anything wrong.

Tang Yuan certainly has the right to hate her. Based on the suffering and torment she has endured, her hatred is entirely justified.

Love and hate never come without reason, and they are never easy to let go of.

Tang Yuan looked at Lin Mu, then turned her gaze to Elder He's face, and asked softly, "Elder, the Yang family has committed such atrocities, will your Taihang Sect also save them?"

Lin Mu was taken aback. Of course, he knew what Tang Yuan meant by that, because his four senior brothers were currently helping the Yang family find a snake to help them conceive.

No matter how much blame is placed on her, it wasn't the child who harmed her. One thing at a time, her senior brothers will do their best to help.

Just as Lin Mu was about to speak, a hand pressed down on his shoulder, and Elder He said in a low voice, "Shut up."

In Tang Yuan's eyes, everything started because of that child. She had long hated him to the point of being unable to tolerate him, but she was powerless to pick up the knife herself to kill him and soothe the hatred in her heart.

"The Yang family should be wiped out." Tang Yuan turned and went into the house with bloodthirsty hatred in her heart. She was too weak, and her steps were as if she were walking on soft mud, unsteady and light.

Lin Mu listened to her suppressed cough, and a look of sympathy and pity appeared between his brows.

"Elder, why didn't you let me speak just now?"

Elder He dragged him to the medicine table, saying irritably, "What do you want to say? Is the child innocent? Or are your senior brothers, who are fighting demons and upholding justice, supposed to save lives?"

"I……"

"What do you mean, 'I'? Aren't she and the child in her womb innocent? She's suffered so much; let whoever wants to curse her is none of your business. Stop righteously defending your senior brothers. You think you're righteous, saving people, doing the right thing, and then what? You have to rush in and say a few more words, arguing things people don't want to hear, rubbing salt into their wounds? Originally, her illness stemmed from her constant wish that the Yang family line would end. As long as this wish remains unfulfilled, her depression will be hard to dispel. It's already a huge headache for me to treat her. Now that your senior brothers have stepped in to save the person she's been hoping to die for, I reckon she'll likely not get her wish, and her mental illness will be even more difficult to cure. Stop provoking her."

Lin Mu initially thought it made sense, but the more he listened, the stranger it seemed: "No, Elder, what are you talking about?"

"Can't you understand human language? I told you you're as stupid as a pig, and hopeless."

"..." Lin Mu was very angry. For the fifty-eighth time, he wanted to run away from home and go to Shanzhou to find his senior brother!

Because he was afraid of being hit by the sole of a shoe, Lin Mu endured it again and again. When he could no longer bear it, he turned around angrily, stomped his feet, and stood in front of Bai Yuan.

The latter was wondering what the boy was going to do when suddenly his hand was empty.

Lin Mu snatched the palm-leaf fan from her hand and said sternly, "Get out of my way!"

Bai Yuan: "..."

She almost laughed at the boy's puffed-up cheeks.

If Bai Yuan laughed, Lin Mu would definitely explode, so he suppressed his smile, stood up, and stepped aside.

Lin Mu, who dared not speak out in anger, plopped down on a low stool and went to sit by the stove, sulking.

Elder He glanced at him. He was so angry after just a few words of scolding. How much more so must Tang Yuan be filled with hatred after suffering such a misfortune? Elder He ignored him, saying it was just a childish temper, and finished cutting up the remaining herb roots.

Lin Mu took over the job of tending the stove, and Bai Yuan became an idle man with nothing to do again.

A passerby strolled to the eaves and glanced down at Zhou Yaren's hand, which was gripping her cane. When she exerted force, several greenish veins were visible.

He leaned on his cane and slowly made his way to Tang Yuan's room. Zhou Yaren didn't rush in but stood outside the door and said, "Brother Tang, may I speak to you in private?"

Brother Tang was comforting Tang Yuan when he heard this and came out to the courtyard with Zhou Yaren.

"I apologize for my abruptness, but I would like to ask Brother Tang for a favor."

"What kind of help?"

"It is so. The Taoist priests currently in the Yang family are my young friends. We live in Pinglu and it is inconvenient for us to contact them. So we would like to trouble Brother Tang to make a trip to Shanzhou from time to time to pass on some messages for us and inquire about their situation in the Yang family."

Upon hearing this, Lin Mu immediately jumped up and leaned over: "Yes, yes, Brother Tang, could you please pass on a message to my senior brothers and ask when they will be back?"

Elder He treated Tang Yuan's illness, and Lin Mu also did his best to prepare medicine and take care of her. Naturally, he would not refuse such a small favor, so he readily agreed.

"How could you watch the fire like that!" Elder He roared, "It's boiled dry!"

Lin Mu was startled and hurriedly tried to pick up the casserole, scalding himself and screaming in pain.

Elder He shook his head and sighed, "Stupid, stupid, how could you be so stupid?"

Zhou Yaren walked towards the white grievance under the eaves.

“I have a feeling,” he said after some thought, “that this matter might be related to a Gu master.”

Bai Yuan: "Yes." That's what she thought too.

Because of this suspicion, they asked Tang Yuan's brother to help them find out the situation.

If this matter is truly related to the Gu Master, it would be difficult for Li Liuyun and his fellow teenagers to deal with it, especially considering the huge trouble caused by Xu Zhangfang behind them.

Liu Yun and the others have not returned yet, nor have they sent a message back rashly, undoubtedly because Xu Zhangfang's men are relentlessly pursuing them.

Xu Zhangfang is a man who will not give up until he achieves his goal.

"You must find Tingfengzhi for me!"

In the best inn in Shanzhou, Xu Zhangfang was covered in bandages, his wide robe wrapped around his body, making him look like a bitter medicine bag as he walked, sat, and lay down.

He had been ill, the worst illness he'd had in a long time. Extensive burns and infection had caused a high fever, leaving him delirious and confused for several days. And his incompetent subordinates hadn't even managed to find such a large, living person.

"We're searching everywhere, but who knew that those few Taihang Dao disciples would actually get involved with the Yang family."

"What good is it to just keep an eye on those brats!" Xu Zhangfang raised his voice, and his headache started again. He couldn't take it anymore. Feeling dejected, he could only speak gently and patiently, "Xu Qian, I remember I took you fishing a few times before, right?"

The man in black: "..." Stop rambling. You were so bored back then that you dragged me to the riverbank to dry in the sun all day and didn't catch a single fish. How dare you bring that up!

Xu Zhangfang clearly didn't think so. This fishing was not the same as fishing. He was clearly teaching this junior how to conduct himself, so why didn't he know how to apply what he had learned? It was a waste of all his painstaking teaching.

Xu Zhangfang asked, "If we're looking for him, is he also looking for someone else?"

Xu Qian, the man in black, paused for a moment, then said, "...Yes."

Xu Zhangfang asked gently, "Do you know who he's looking for?"

That goes without saying; he's followed them all the way here, so he knows it all too well: "Master Gu, Lu Bing."

“That’s right. Master Gu and Lu Bing are in Shanzhou City. As long as you tell Tingfengzhi this news, you won’t have to go through the trouble of searching everywhere. He will come to you on his own.”

No, your illness has probably damaged your brain: "I can't find him, how am I supposed to tell him?"

Xu Zhangfang closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying to remain calm: "That's something that can be heard by the wind. As long as the news is released, he can hear it."

"What a brilliant plan! But would he really risk his life for Lu Bing?"

“Why not?” Xu Zhangfang knew Zhou Yaren through Yin Shiru. Back then, in order to protect Lu Bing’s family from the dire situation in the capital, he risked execution to meet the emperor. If Zhou Yaren valued someone, he would risk his life for them at any cost. Xu Zhangfang said, “This person is driven by emotions and will definitely walk into the trap.”