Chapter 15 The Drumbeats of the Night Are Long: "I'm feeding my master his medicine!"...

The watchman's drum suddenly sounded in the dead of night.

The clapper struck three times, one fast and one slow, its hollow sound carrying far and wide along with the watchman's chanting.

"The weather is dry, be careful with fire!"

In a side room in Huatan Town, Lou Yan frowned, beads of sweat dripping slowly from his hair.

He pressed his two fingers together tightly, his fingertips gathering spiritual energy as he focused on the summer-cooling talisman before him.

The dark red talisman slowly spread out on the paper, extending from the center to the four corners. A cool breeze rose two inches from the talisman, and then the entire talisman turned to ashes.

It failed.

Lou Yan gritted his teeth in anger, clenched his fist and lowered it, smashing it directly onto the head of the Pixiu cub beside him, causing the little beast to whimper.

"Whoosh!"

How come you can't even draw a proper summer heat talisman?

Lou Yan sat cross-legged on the ground, gritted her teeth, and glared at it, "I'm not a talisman cultivator!"

He argued with the baby Pixiu with sound reasoning, but after the argument, he hung his head dejectedly.

The scorching heat made him feel like he was dying, and the ashes of the talisman paper scattered everywhere, all of which showed his defeat in the "Talisman Way".

Lou Yan was secretly annoyed.

Now his spiritual energy is stagnant, his cultivation is not as good as before, and he can't even draw a summer heat relief talisman.

After his rebirth, he was reduced to a useless wolf.

Woohoo.

Just as he was feeling annoyed, there was a sudden noise in the inner room. Lou Yan looked up sharply and met the gaze of the person who had entered.

Those were a pair of extremely clear eyes, below which was a celestial robe embroidered with crane patterns—a boy who had not yet grown up.

Lou Yan got up from the ground and asked the boy, "How is he?"

The boy raised an eyebrow at him, his gentle eyes curving into a smile. He turned his head to look at him knowingly, asking, "Who?"

"..." Lou Yan said frankly, "My master."

Having received a satisfactory answer, the boy stepped aside, making way for the path to the inner room.

Lou Yan dropped the Pixiu cub and rushed inside.

The interior room was filled with a faint smell of blood. The furnishings were extremely simple, with only the bed curtains hanging down and the plain gauze curtains casting indistinct shadows.

Lou Yan, in his panic, nearly tripped over a small ice chest placed beside the bed. He managed to steady himself and tentatively reached out to lift the veil.

Heng Qichun was sitting cross-legged on the couch with his eyes closed.

His shirt was off, and his snow-white hair was gathered to one side of his neck, revealing his porcelain-white back.

His back was bandaged with gauze, and there were still some undried bloodstains at the edges.

Lou Yan felt a tightness in his chest. He knelt on one knee at the edge of the bed and cautiously looked down, following the scent of blood.

His back was completely wrapped in gauze, but the scabbed wounds were still faintly visible, and in some places there were even burn marks—the fatal blow that should have landed on his face.

Lou Yan, as if possessed, wanted to reach for the wound, but before her fingertips could touch it, Heng Qichun frowned sharply and let out a barely audible groan.

So it turns out he was indeed in pain.

Lou Yan dared not touch anything else. She propped herself up on the bed with her hand and turned her head to look back at the person's face.

His face was so pale that no blood could be seen, but his eyebrows and eyes were gentle, as if shrouded in mist. When he closed his eyes and furrowed his brows, he looked exactly like the person he remembered from his childhood.

While he was stunned, the person with his eyes closed suddenly bowed and coughed. Lou Yan hurriedly made a spell to help him catch his breath, but before he could transfer his spiritual power into him, he met Heng Qichun's open eyes.

His eyes were pale, clear like the spring water in the Tiantai Pond, and when he looked over, they held endless compassion and a barely perceptible trace of indifference.

His lips were pale, with a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. He looked Lou Yan up and down with a puzzled expression, then frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

He probably couldn't use his spiritual power yet, and his voice was extremely hoarse, which startled Lou Yan.

"Master..." Lou Yan pursed his lips, moved down from the bedside, and tried hard to think of what a human would say in this situation. Finally, he obediently lowered his gaze and asked, "Are you alright?"

Heng Qichun's chest trembled, as if he was trying his best to suppress a muffled cough.

He slowly closed his eyes. New wounds overlapped with old ones on his back, and over time, they became so numb that he could no longer distinguish between pain and no pain.

He had probably not heard words of concern from Lou Yankou for too long, so he couldn't bear to disappoint his little disciple. He reached out and pulled the nightgown from under the bed curtains and put it on. When he opened his eyes again, he was back to his usual self.

"It's alright," he reassured her.

Lou Yan squatted on the footstool by the bed and tilted her head to look at him.

Lost in thought, he heard Heng Qichun ask in a hoarse voice, "Where is this? Did you treat my injuries?"

"Hmm." Lou Yan shook her head, shifted her knees and turned to look at Heng Qichun, saying, "We're still in Huatan Town."

"After escaping from Xu Shengzi's clutches, Master fainted. I originally intended to take you back to the Eighteen Realms, but we met a child on the way who said he could heal Master's injuries, so he brought us here."

Realizing she might have overlooked a crucial point, Lou Yan quietly added, "Oh right, he said he's a medical cultivator."

Knowing that his young apprentice's speech lacked logic, Heng Qichun didn't correct him much, but simply looked up and repeated, "Kid?"

Lou Yan felt a little guilty and touched her nose. "Sixteen or seventeen years old, I guess."

Heng Qichun glanced at him from head to toe, and reminded him with a hint of helplessness, "You're not even nineteen yet."

"Hmm." Lou Yan outwardly dared not disobey, but inwardly he secretly rejected the number.

I am a wolf that has lived for over two hundred years!

Fortunately, it wasn't a brainless, stupid wolf, so it naturally wouldn't reveal the fact that it had lived for two hundred years longer. It just grumbled and tilted its head, stubbornly saying, "Then I'm older than him too."

Heng Qichun chuckled, not bothering to discuss the age difference with him. After pondering silently for a moment, he asked again, "What's his name?"

“His name is… Nanxu.”

As soon as Lou Yan finished speaking, he saw Heng Qichun's expression harden, and his heart skipped a beat.

Could there be something wrong with that child?

Judging from his otherworldly appearance, could he be in cahoots with Xu Shengzi?

Thinking of this, he immediately stiffened his neck and let out a loud "Aww!" shouting, "We haven't been fooled by him, have we?!"

He could almost immediately picture Nan Xu luring them here under the pretext of healing their injuries, only to secretly trap them back in the illusionary talisman once they lowered their guard. As he thought about it, he immediately reached out to pull Heng Qichun away.

"Master, this place is not safe to stay any longer, let's leave quickly!"

"What are you thinking about every day!" Heng Qichun scolded him, slapping his hand. "That's a disciple of Hezizhou, Elder Hengyang's most prized student!"

Lou Yan: "..."

He was trying hard to remember what "Hezizhou" was.

Before he became a demon in his previous life, he had hardly ever left the Eighteen Realms and had only a superficial understanding of other sects in the cultivation world. However, after becoming the Demon Lord, the first immortal mountain he led the demons to slaughter was Crane Island.

There's no other reason than that it's located at the ferry crossing to the realm of gods, and it prides itself on being a righteous and noble sect, making it unacceptable to demons and monsters in the world.

Lou Yan had to admit that he had considered killing a god.

On that day, tens of thousands of disciples of Hezizhou died in the demonic battlefield, and hundreds of elders sacrificed themselves to save the divine path, thus blocking the way to the divine realm.

Some died, some fled, some knelt at his feet begging for mercy... He had never heard of "Nanxu".

But Heng Qichun's reaction was as if he knew him, and was quite familiar with him.

Before Lou Yan could think any further, the "answer" quickly came in from outside.

The young man walked silently, but he was enveloped in a faint scent of incense, so Lou Yan only needed to twitch his nose to know who it was.

He jumped back half a meter with a "whoosh," still watching the boy who walked in with great vigilance.

Nan Xu was startled by his reaction. Holding a bowl of medicine, she hesitated for a moment under the curtain, blinked her clear eyes, and finally focused her gaze on Heng Qichun.

Lou Yan clearly saw that the cold and youthful face instantly turn into a beaming smile.

"Your Majesty!" Nan Xu put down the medicine bowl in his hand, quickly stepped forward and bowed, his voice still carrying a hint of youthful immaturity, "Junior Nan Xu greets Your Majesty."

Heng Qichun responded softly, a faint smile appearing on his lips, "Long time no see, how have you been?"

"All is well, but I have not been able to pay my respects to the Divine Lord for many years, and I am very concerned about it."

"He Zizhou's studies are too demanding, where would you find the time? This time it is..."

Nan Xu chuckled, picked up the medicine bowl, and personally stepped forward, bowing as he offered it to Heng Qichun. He explained, "The heatwave in the human realm is causing great suffering to the people, with Huatan Town being the most severely affected. My master saw that I haven't made any progress lately and ordered me to go down the mountain to help the weak and needy."

"I've only been here for two days and I've already met the Divine Lord and Senior Brother Lou." Nan Xu handed over the spoon in his hand, looked at Lou Yan, and said, "Divine Lord, rest assured, this is my temporary lodging place, and it's relatively safe. However, you are seriously injured and cannot use your spiritual power recently. You also need to take herbal medicine to treat your external injuries. This is a prescription that I personally devised. One dose will be decocted and sent to you every day. It cannot be delayed."

Heng Qichun took the white porcelain spoon, looked down at the steaming, bitter black medicine in his hand, and couldn't help but smile bitterly, "Thank you for your trouble."

"The Divine Lord taught me to uphold the Immortal Path." Nan Xu bowed again, speaking with utmost respect. "Compared to the Divine Lord protecting all living beings, I have only done what I should have done."

He finished speaking and then looked up, pondering as he asked, "But... why did the Divine Lord come to Huatan Town, and why is he so badly injured?"

The inner room suddenly fell silent, and the watchman's drum sounded a second time outside, still the sound of the clapper, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

Heng Qichun stirred the bitter, dark medicine with a spoon, already able to imagine his little apprentice's nervous and helpless expression.

He chuckled, not saying a word that he was there to save Lou Yan, but simply said, "Some people claimed that a child had gone missing here, so I brought Lou Yan here to take a look, but we ended up falling into a Taoist's trap."

He had seen the wounds on Heng Qichun's back. In addition to the injuries caused by the demonic energy brought by Tan Chengyi today, there were also many newly scabbed wounds.

It looks like he was punished by the sect.

Although Nanxu was young, he was already mature and naturally wouldn't say anything about it.

He then said, "I've also heard about the girl's situation. It seems to be related to evil spirits. There's something strange about this town. Your Majesty must be careful."

What do you find strange?

Nan Xu pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "Does Your Majesty think that this year's drought might be related to Huatan Town?"

It's almost July in the countryside, but the summer heat shows no signs of abating, which makes it seem less like a simple natural disaster.

The small ice chest beside the couch had lost its effectiveness, and the scorching heat suddenly surged up, making people sweat profusely.

As the night deepened, Heng Qichun's pale face was reflected in the lamplight, his brows furrowing more and more tightly.

"Your Majesty should focus on recovering from your injuries and not let a small matter cause you further harm." Nan Xu was clearly afraid that he would worry and exhaust himself, so he immediately sat down on the edge of the bed, took the bowl of medicine that Heng Qichun had been holding, tested the temperature of the bowl with the back of his hand, and made as if to feed him. "You should drink this medicine while it's hot. I'll feed you, Your Majesty, be careful not to burn yourself."

Lou Yan watched this scene with cold eyes, grinding his teeth until they went numb.

What another sycophantic, obsequious person is this?

It's one thing to talk so much to Heng Qichun, but she even wanted to feed him medicine!

"Get out of the way." Lou Yan finally couldn't bear it any longer. She nudged Nan Xu's shoulder to get him up from the bedside, took the medicine bowl from his hand, stirred it with a spoon, and then handed it to Heng Qichun's lips.

"I'll feed my master his medicine!"

A note from the author:

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Wolf cubs are more prone to all sorts of strange jealousy, hehe—

Updates will be posted according to the rankings before V (V-list), and will resume on Thursday after the rankings change. See you on Thursday! [Dog head holding a rose][Dog head holding a rose][Dog head holding a rose] Remember to grab the comment!