69. Touch

The world's most easily guessed masked man has appeared.

On the third day, the Imperial Guards relaxed their watch on them a bit, and Du Zhijin couldn't resist any longer, so he decided to go out for a stroll and chat with some people.

Ying Jianhua listened and told her to talk less. Her cultivation was currently suppressed, and if she accidentally touched on someone's sore spot, he wouldn't have any medicine on hand if a fight broke out.

She was shocked: "Do you think I'm that weak?" This won't do; the weak don't deserve to have a Daoist partner!

Frustrated, she found a corner to brood over. She'd gone out for a stroll, but there were only a few passageways in sight. Under the watchful eyes of the masked guards, she sat down in front of a stone wall surrounded by three sides.

"Sigh." After a long sigh, she began to miss the mountains and rivers of Wuling Village.

As soon as she finished speaking, three identical "sighs" echoed in her ears. At first, Du Zhijin thought it was an echo. But after hearing three echoes in a row, she seemed to guess the identity of the person on the other side of the wall.

She clung to the wall: "Twelve?"

The masked man was startled and quickly looked away, replying, "It wasn't me."

Du Zhijin: "...I'll believe you if your next sentence isn't just three words."

He remained silent. After a long while, he managed to utter a single sentence: "If that's the case, so what?"

The most unpredictable masked man in the world has appeared.

This scene eased Du Zhijin's annoyance. She climbed the stone wall with her bare hands, looking down at Twelve below, her eager expression suggesting she was about to jump. Twelve instinctively opened his arms to catch her, a short gust of wind whistling past his ears, and she stood steadily in front of him.

Du Zhijin: "Hey, what are you standing here for?" As she spoke, she reached out and patted his shoulder. The moment the fabric on his shoulder was touched, Twelve froze, as if in a trance.

Du Zhijin panicked, thinking she had accidentally killed the person by not controlling her strength, and hurriedly dragged the person towards Ying Jianhua's direction. Several guards saw her acting strangely and dragging a "corpse," and drew their swords, about to step forward to check, but were stopped by the "resurrected" Twelve: "I'm fine."

The three words were indeed those of the Twelfth Commander. The group exchanged glances, ultimately suppressing their curiosity and retreating to their original positions. Seeing that he had come back to life, Du Zhijin breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness you're alright... Why weren't you saying anything earlier?"

Twelve didn't answer, but stared intently at the hand she was holding, his face full of shock.

Du Zhijin was also stunned on the spot.

I should have listened to A-Mo and kept quiet... What's wrong with Twelve? Does it mean that if someone in the Embroidered Uniform Guard is touched by a member of the opposite sex, they have to get married?

Just as she was spinelessly trying to slip away, Twelve finally spoke: "Touch me."

ah?

As he spoke, he took her hand and guided it to his face. Her first touch was the rough, cold metallic texture of his skin. Then, Twelve removed his mask, revealing skin that hadn't seen the light of day in a long time, and looked at her longingly.

Those eyes, which had been cold and indifferent just a few days ago, now held a deep longing, silently expressing his yearning.

Touch me.

For some reason, it reminded her of Ah Huang from Honghua's family, who had the same expression when he wanted to eat meat.

Du Zhijin prided herself on being understanding, and after much hesitation, she didn't refuse his request. After all, it was just a touch; she could treat it like petting Ah Huang!

However, as she stroked him, Twelve's body gradually softened from stiffness, and he eventually lay on her lap with a dreamy look in his eyes.

Du Zhijin sensed something was wrong. Just as she was about to pull away, the person who had been idle and listless a moment ago suddenly regained the swiftness of a Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard), and stopped her with quick eyes and hands.

Twelve's eyes were reddish at the corners, and she spoke quickly and urgently: "Don't go. It hurts a lot. Touch it. It won't hurt anymore."

Well, it turns out that even when Twelve is in a hurry, she can't speak in long sentences.

pain?

She was temporarily persuaded and let him rub his cheek against the back of her hand, taking the opportunity to ask, "Where does it hurt?"

Twelve shook his head blankly, holding her hand tightly: "I don't know... It hurts often. My whole body."

In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Du Zhijin's mind. Having lived down the mountain for many years, she had met many people, including ruthless individuals who cruelly drugged and controlled servants to prevent leaks. The fact that Eleven and Twelve both had disabilities was already suspicious; if the pain caused by the drugs were added to that...

"Come with me to see someone."

————

When Du Zhijin led the twelve into the room, Ying Jianhua had just finished painting.

It's called painting, but it's really just replicating the images in my mind.

My father had a past relationship with the emperor, so why did he never mention it to him? Besides, what conflict could a mere palace painter possibly have with the emperor, let alone something that would keep him in the emperor's mind for over a decade...?

Before he knew it, he had finished the painting, and a black orchid appeared on the paper.

Plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums—the Four Gentlemen—are indeed favorite subjects for scholars and poets to paint. But why did my father leave only this one? Could there be another secret hidden in the painting?

He was staring intently at the replicated scene when suddenly, the long-silent sound of hurried footsteps came from outside. Having spent a lot of time with Du Zhijin, he had even learned a little bit about distinguishing footsteps; for example, right now, the people walking quickly outside were a man and a woman.

One of them was her, and the other...

The moment he saw who it was, he frowned slightly, his gaze falling on the two people's tightly clasped hands.

Even going to jail couldn't cut off her unwanted romantic advances.

Noticing that he was in a bad mood, and that it had become so the moment Du Zhijin walked in, Du Zhijin became dejected.

She nudged Twelve beside her and briefly explained what had happened: "Twelve isn't feeling well, but he gets better when he's with me. Amo, could you take a look and see if he has any chronic illnesses?"

What disease? S disease.

Ying Jianhua made a simple and brutal judgment in his mind, without showing it on his face. He took out three silver needles from his medicine bag and gestured for Twelve to lie down.

"Don't worry, Amo's medical skills are superb, he'll definitely be able to cure you." Du Zhijin patted the patient reassuringly, earnestly taking on the role of a physician. Twelve immediately seized the opportunity, clinging to her entire arm, her voice trembling slightly: "I'm scared. Stay with me."

Ha. Keep pretending. Ying Jianhua sneered inwardly, then changed her mind and used the cheapest silver needle.

He wasn't the kind of person who didn't know what was important; Du Zhijin must have had her reasons for bringing Twelve back. However, after examining her pulse and administering acupuncture, and even suppressing his curiosity about her daily diet, he learned nothing.

But Twelve still insisted that he would not feel pain only if he was close to Du Zhijin.

He stubbornly followed Du Zhijin, and Du Zhijin followed Ying Jianhua. The three of them inexplicably began walking around the pillars in the room.

In the end, it was the guard's words, "Lord Eleven is looking for you," that stopped Twelve from taking any further action. Before leaving, Twelve turned back three times, and his already somber aura made the guard who delivered the message feel weak in the knees.

After Twelve left, Du Zhijin cried out that he was innocent: "Your Excellency, the Director of Painting, please see the truth! I did nothing! I just ran into him today and this happened!"

Ying Jianhua was slightly taken aback and awkwardly turned her head away: "Why are you in such a hurry to clarify... It has nothing to do with you in the first place."

Du Zhijin shook his head. The book said that a good Daoist partner should be faithful, and should not be involved with either male demons or beautiful skeletons.

It's his business if Amo doesn't mind, but she has to do it.

Getting back to the main point, Ying Jianhua said: "Judging from the pulse, there is nothing wrong with the twelve bodies."

But he also knew that Twelve wouldn't "cling" to Du Zhijin for no reason. Even if Du Zhijin had many "CPs," most of their feelings for each other had a reason.

It could be love at first sight, a life-saving grace, or shared interests.

What was the reason for Twelve's relationship with her? Ying Jianhua always felt that her "CP" types would not repeat, which meant that Twelve did not fall in love with her at first sight.

I've developed a condition that can only be relieved by being close to someone. It sounds like something out of a third-rate romance novel. Could it be because of this?

However, he believes that at such a critical juncture, if it were a storybook, Twelve should at least be a "love-hate" nemesis character.

He was lost in thought, trying to find a shortcut to pry some information out of that thing in his head. At that moment, Du Zhijin revealed her idea.

Controlled by medication.

"For example, in order to prevent the assassins from betraying them, the master would poison them, and the antidote would be given once a month or once every two months. If the assassin did not take the medicine within the time limit, he would die from the poison."

Ying Jianhua asked, puzzled, "But Twelve doesn't seem to know anything about this, though he might be hiding it. But how do you explain that being near you relieves your pain? What's so special about you?"

What's special about it...

Du Zhijin fell into thought. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her, and she slammed her hand on the table, exclaiming, "Xiao Hong!"

He asked in confusion, "We have been separated from Jiangwei for several days, and you mentioned him?" "On the night of the full moon, Xiaohong's demonic power will become uncontrollable, and only my presence by his side can calm him down."

The words fell to the ground, and the two remained silent for a moment.

Is Twelve a demon?

In an instant, Ying Jianhua regained her voice and retorted, "No, the full moon night has passed. Even a demon shouldn't be in pain now. Besides, the dragon vein suppresses even your cultivation level; how could it allow it to..."

As he spoke, he had to admit that he was beginning to believe.

Why does it hurt so much? Because the dragon vein is always there. The reason for this pain is unknown; it's because the dragon vein's influence is silent and insidious.

The suppression took full effect the day after Du Zhijin entered Asia City, and for the next two days, Twelve and she had no physical contact until this morning.

Everything seemed to make sense.

But Du Zhijin immediately contradicted himself: "There are doubts. My cultivation level was normal before entering Asia City. If there was something wrong with Eleven or Twelve, I shouldn't have failed to notice."

This is the third time she has been suspected of not being able to see the true form of the "demon." The first was the one in Ying Jianhua's mind, the second was the drowning ghost on Huo Qing's body, and the third was Twelve.

It turned out that Huo Qing's matter had nothing to do with ghosts at all, so she stuck to her judgment that Twelve was not a demon either.

[Zhouzhou is very clever; Twelfth Brother is definitely not a demon.]

The answer is very close!

After much anticipation, she finally appeared. Ying Jianhua breathed a sigh of relief without showing any emotion.

This guy has finally come out and done something serious.

He tried to guide her to think more deeply, while he himself pondered: "Perhaps it's not a demon, but rather someone who accidentally acquired demonic power, like being possessed, or perhaps a combination of both..."

At this point, both of them were taken aback.

Du Zhijin stood up immediately.

"Demon core. When a demon dies, its power condenses into a demon core, allowing this demonic power to be transferred and continued."

[Twelve is a human who possesses demonic power.]

He had consumed a demon core.