Chapter 102 Bai Xiuming, Don't Be Afraid
"Are you sure you don't need to? It's already broken anyway, and wearing clothes to remove the poison will make you feel uncomfortable in a little while." Achan's tone was very serious, and she would have been more convincing if her eyes hadn't been so shifty.
Bai Xiuming released her hand: "I'm not afraid of pain."
"It may also delay the absorption of the drug."
"Then let it be delayed."
"Bai Xiuming, are you shy?"
Ah Chan leaned closer to him and asked. She didn't particularly want to take off his clothes, but he wouldn't let her, so of course she had to give it a try.
Bai Xiuming closed his eyes and ignored her.
"Don't be shy, I don't mind." Ah Chan tentatively reached out her restless little hand again.
Bai Xiuming lifted his eyelids to look at her and reminded her, "I'm just poisoned, not dead."
The overwhelming threat made Achan wisely withdraw her hand, forced to abandon her restless thoughts: "I understand, I won't tarnish your purity."
Before he closed his eyes again, Achan hurriedly said, "One last question."
"Um."
"Where did all the pills you used to aid your cultivation go?" she asked curiously.
"I do not use elixirs for cultivation."
This is infuriating! How old is he? How can someone cultivate as easily as eating and sleeping?
Achan felt jealous for a while, but when she saw him start circulating his inner energy to expel the poison, she returned to the table and separated the medicinal herbs she had just selected to aid her cultivation.
It's definitely too late to refine pills now. Ah Chan hasn't mastered those high-end pill-refining techniques. In the field of pill refining, the most advanced technique she has is hand-rolling pills, and that's all.
She went to the kitchen and brought back the small stove and medicine pot that Hui Niang had specially bought. These things were originally prepared for her, but she didn't use them and they all benefited Bai Xiuming.
Achan lit the stove under the porch, crushed several kinds of medicine, added them to the pot with spiritual spring water and boiled them until the water evaporated, leaving only light brown medicinal mud.
She scraped the medicinal paste with a spoon and put it into a bowl. After the temperature dropped slightly, she mixed in some wood chips to help it burn. Then she divided it into eight portions and shaped them into incense towers.
Her actions were indeed somewhat wasteful, but there was nothing she could do; she wasn't an alchemist, and the medicine she concocted couldn't be given to just anyone.
While the effects of burning incense are not as strong as those of taking elixirs, they are gentler. Lighting all the incense cones at once will only enhance the effect.
Achan went to the kitchen and brought back eight small dishes. She put the incense sticks in one by one, lit them with a tinderbox, and then arranged them around the bed.
The incense cones that haven't dried yet are easy to ignite because of the added wood. They don't burn very fast, but they produce a lot of smoke.
After admiring Bai Xiuming, who remained motionless amidst the swirling smoke, for a while, Ah Chan muttered to herself, "It's his fault for refusing to take off his clothes earlier. He's been inhaled so much smoke, it's not my fault." Then, she decisively grabbed the remaining materials and ran to the door for some fresh air.
Bai Xiuming seems to be just as he said, unafraid of pain.
During this time, Achan went back to the room several times. The incense she made should have taken effect, but all she could see were bulging veins on Bai Xiuming's forehead and neck, and sweat mixed with blood seeping into his clothes. She couldn't hear him make a sound.
When he was circulating his inner energy, Achan didn't dare to get close. She could only glance at him from afar to check his current condition before going back to continue blending new incense.
This time, the incense was made simply, just for pain relief. Achan took out a box of Buddha Heart Dew that looked like ice beads that she had just found.
The name of this thing was given by the human race. It is said that Buddhist cultivators among the human race rarely encounter inner demons, so it was specially named Buddha Heart Dew. As you can tell from the name, it is specially used to resist inner demons.
There are very few spiritual plants that can resist inner demons, so this thing is extremely precious and priceless.
Achan had taken one before, but apart from feeling overly alert, which kept her awake for several days, she didn't experience any other effects.
She took out four Buddha Heart Dews. After leaving the ice jade box, they immediately turned from ice beads into water beads. With just a slight squeeze, only a layer of green skin remained in her hand, and the liquid inside dripped into the incense powder.
Achan mixed the incense powder evenly and made incense towers as before, this time making four.
She had been busy outside, occasionally going in to check on Bai Xiuming inside. Before she knew it, more than three hours had passed.
As darkness fell, she didn't feel tired and hungry until the commander of the Mingjing Division, who was guarding outside, brought her food.
The food was probably takeout from a nearby restaurant, and it tasted pretty good. After eating, Achan saw that Bai Xiuming wasn't making any moves, so she asked a captain to guard him outside while she went to Huiniang's room to rest for a while.
Less than half an hour later, the commander she had sent to guard the gate suddenly came to knock on her door.
"Miss Ji." The voice outside the door sounded urgent.
As soon as Achan opened the door, she saw that the commander looked troubled.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"You should go and take a look; Lord Bai doesn't seem to be doing well."
Ah Chan hurriedly followed the commander to her room, and as soon as she entered, she knew why the other party had said something was wrong.
Although Bai Xiuming's eyes were open, they were lifeless, as if he couldn't see Achan standing in front of him at all.
Many wounds inexplicably appeared on his body, including a long, bloody welt that looked like a whip mark, and he was also coughing up blood incessantly.
"Miss Ji, what exactly is wrong with Lord Bai?"
Achan didn't have time to respond to the other party at the moment. She took out one of the incense towers she had prepared earlier, lit it, and placed it on the bedside table.
Wisps of smoke rose and swirled around Bai Xiuming.
"It's nothing serious. It's just that the venom of the Xuan Shui snake caused him to hallucinate. The injuries he suffered in the hallucinations will manifest on his body." She explained to the anxious commander and then let him leave.
Then, she closed the door, moved a chair to the bedside, sat down, and looked at the man on the bed.
She didn't know what Bai Xiuming had experienced in the past, but it was clear that it wasn't a pleasant memory, which was why he was now stuck in it and couldn't get out.
Many people's inner demons stem from painful past experiences.
Past pain doesn't disappear with growth; it's like a festering wound that only intensifies the pain. As one's cultivation level increases, those past experiences become inner demons, difficult to eradicate.
What exactly did he experience in his hallucination?
"mother."
Achan heard him call out softly.
Bai Xiuming saw his mother, the once gentle and beautiful woman.
The Queen Consort of Xiling had father and brothers who had distinguished themselves in battle, but unfortunately they both died on the battlefield. The emperor, pitying her as an orphan, bestowed upon her in marriage to the King of Xiling.
At first, everything was fine. The Queen Consort of Xiling was highly favored by the King of Xiling, and her son was even granted the title of Heir Apparent.
Until one year, a woman named Qingniang was brought into the palace and became a concubine.
Qingniang was an extremely beautiful woman, and the King of Xiling was completely infatuated with her, doting on her alone. Even the internal affairs of the mansion were all managed by Qingniang, and the other concubines and mistresses could not see the king, not even the queen.
Not only that, for some reason, the princess became a thorn in Qingniang's side.
One by one, those who protected her disappeared, and she and her son lost their former status almost overnight. In the Prince's mansion, they lived a life worse than servants, constantly being beaten and verbally abused.
Bai Xiuming, who was only a few years old, could not understand why they were bullying him and his mother, and why his father, whom he used to see every day, was not coming to see him.
Once, he saw his mother being bullied. He evaded the wicked servants and wanted to go to his father to seek justice, but he was discovered by the guards around Qingniang. He was taken to the courtyard and whipped twenty times.
Each lash was excruciating, tearing his small body apart until his father returned.
He thought that person would stand up for him, but they didn't.
The King of Xiling simply passed by him indifferently. He heard Qingniang tell the King of Xiling that he had broken the rules and offended her, so she had specially sent someone to teach him a lesson.
Then Qingniang said that his lack of manners must have been taught by the Princess of Xiling, and that the Princess should be punished for her mistake.
Bai Xiuming tried to stop them, but only felt a metallic taste in his throat. He couldn't speak, vomited several mouthfuls of blood, and finally fainted.
When he woke up, he had been locked in a dark room.
No one gave him any medicine, so he had to suffer on his own. During that time, all he had to do was drink cold, dirty water, eat spoiled food, and endure painful, festering wounds.
The person guarding the door said that this was all because he was ignorant, and the prince punished him.
He kept crying and shouting in the house, saying he wanted to see his mother. After waiting for a long time, thinking he was about to die, they took him out and sent him to his mother.
He didn't know what those people had done to his mother. She was covered in wounds, her hands were covered in blood, and her once carefully maintained nails had been plucked out one by one. She was chained up like an animal and locked in the room.
When I saw him, I almost didn't recognize him at all.
She just kept saying that Qingniang was a monster who had bewitched the King of Xiling and was trying to kill him and his child.
At that time, Bai Xiuming could only stay by his mother's side. Unless he was extremely tired, he didn't even dare to close his eyes and sleep. Yet, she was still taken away by the guards of the King of Xiling every day, and when she was brought back, her injuries had worsened.
He didn't even have the strength to stop those people; he was just trampled on the ground by the guards and watched helplessly as his mother was dragged away.
Until one day, his mother seemed to suddenly come to her senses.
She took out a hairpin and handed it to him, saying that she could no longer bear such pain and begged him to kill her.
But her eyes clearly said she wanted to live.
Bai Xiuming refused her in terror, but she still died in front of him. She plunged a hairpin into her neck, bleeding profusely. When she fell to the ground, she was still alive, her eyes open and mouth agape, filled with blood and foam.
She kept looking at him, kept looking at him.
The next day, her body was dragged away, leaving only congealed blood on the floor and Bai Xiuming alone in the empty room.
From that day on, Bai Xiuming seemed to often hear her rapid breathing before she died. As soon as he closed his eyes, he could see her handing him the hairpin and saying, "Why don't you kill me?"
His heart was filled with despair and resentment, resentment towards the King of Xiling, and resentment towards his own incompetence.
But all of this was to no avail. The death of the Princess of Xiling did not change anything in the Xiling Royal Palace. The Prince of Xiling continued to be affectionate with his beloved concubine.
His mother died, and he was released. The old housekeeper who had been taking care of him secretly applied medicine to his wounds.
But the wounds on his body never healed, and he was in pain day and night. The pain was so deep that it drove him almost to madness.
He felt that he might die soon.
He lay in bed, seemingly saying to someone, "Mother, please don't die."
In his drowsy state, he seemed to smell a delicate fragrance.
Seeing that the wounds on his body had not faded but had become even deeper, Achan was so shocked that she stood up.
Ignoring Bai Xiuming's previous attempts to stop her, she stepped forward, untied his belt, and removed his clothes.
Deep, bone-revealing wounds covered his naked upper body.
The skin on his chest, which had been stained with snake venom, was gradually returning to its normal color, and the poison in his body was clearly dissipating. However, he was trapped in the hallucinations caused by the snake venom and could not extricate himself.
The hallucinations caused by snake venom certainly didn't have such powerful effects, but they could still guide Bai Xiuming to create the same wounds on his own body as those in the hallucinations. The wounds were increasing, as if he were punishing himself.
Achan underestimated the impact of hallucinations on Bai Xiuming. If he couldn't be brought back to his senses in time, he would kill himself before the snake venom subsided.
She quickly lit the remaining three incense sticks, and the fragrance emanating from them filled every corner of the room, carrying a subtle, refreshing coolness—the scent of Buddha's Heart Dew.
After the fragrance spread, Bai Xiuming's expression seemed less painful, but he still did not wake up.
After waiting a while, Achan heard him say in a weak voice, "Mother, please don't die, okay?"
That voice was filled with despair.
The Bai Xiuming that Achan knew was not like this.
She sat down beside him, took his hand, and gently pried open his curled fingers one by one, placing her hand in his palm to try and warm his cold hand.
She whispered in his ear, "Okay."
Bai Xiuming heard someone say "good".
He opened his eyes. There was no one in front of him, only a dark and empty room.
But he felt as if there was another person beside him. At first, he thought it was his imagination, because after he uttered that one word, the sound disappeared.
Bai Xiuming waited quietly for a while, but no sound came out again.
Just as he closed his eyes in disappointment, he suddenly heard voices again.
She asked him, "Bai Xiuming, how old are you this year?"
Bai Xiuming remained silent, clearly realizing that this person was not his mother. His mother's voice was gentle and calm, while this voice was soft and delicate.
She must not be a very patient person, but she knows his name. Who is she?
There was no answer, but the voice didn't stop; she started rambling on and on.
"Have you always had such a bad temper since you were little?"
He has a good temper; his mother says he is the most well-behaved and polite child.
"Bai Xiuming, at what age did you start cultivating?"
He has never practiced cultivation. What a stupid question.
"How could you become so amazing after growing up? I've done the math, it's only been a little over ten years, it doesn't make sense!"
He's not grown up yet... He wants to grow up quickly too.
"Bai Xiuming, I'm a little sleepy. When are you going to wake up? If you don't wake up by tomorrow, does that mean the promise of being a treasure is no longer valid?"
What was she saying? Bai Xiuming began to feel confused.
He felt someone poke his chest, but he didn't feel any pain; the piercing pain he had felt earlier seemed to have disappeared.
"If you don't wake up, I'll take all your wealth and wander the world, leaving you destitute!"
Taking all his wealth with him? That's not called wandering the world, that's called absconding with the money!
Bai Xiuming answered the voice in his heart, and his consciousness, which was originally immersed in pain, seemed to be gradually pulled out by the voice.
He no longer felt pain; he could smell a refreshing fragrance, and a slight coolness gradually cleared his mind. He could clearly hear her voice and feel someone holding his hand, restlessly squeezing his fingers.
She said, "Bai Xiuming, don't be afraid, I'm here with you."
Bai Xiuming opened his eyes.
He looked down and saw Ah Chan sitting beside him, fiddling with his fingers while muttering to herself with a frown: "Could it be that there's something wrong with the fragrance I mixed? Why isn't it reacting at all?"
"Bai..." She wanted to say a few more words to Bai Xiuming and tried to struggle, but when she looked up, she saw that the man who had been immersed in the illusion had opened his eyes.
Achan wasn't sure if he was really awake or still immersed in a hallucination, so she turned her head and stared at him for a while before waving her hand in front of his eyes.
However, he didn't blink.
Ah Chan turned to the side, unable to resist getting closer to his face, and that look in his eyes...
"What are you looking at?"
Startled by his sudden voice, Achan leaned back, nearly falling off the bed. A hand gripped her waist, pulling her back.
Achan unconsciously propped herself up on his leg with one hand, her face full of surprise: "You're awake?"
She said, "How could there be a problem with the fragrance I blended myself? She's really amazing!"
"Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Are you still experiencing hallucinations?"
She looked Bai Xiuming up and down; the crisscrossing wounds on his body were gradually healing and turning a light pink.
Achan reached out and gently touched the most prominent scar on her side, asking in confusion, "Why is this scar still there?"
"It's always been there."
"Why?" After reaching the third realm, no matter how deep the marks left on one's body were, they should all be able to be removed.
“That was the wound he left after I failed to assassinate the King of Xiling.”
Although it was called an assassination, at the time, others saw it as nothing more than a childish and laughable counterattack.
Then, he received an even harsher punishment.
If the Ming King hadn't suddenly come to Xiling, he might not have lived to this day.
“Bai Xiuming, you’ve become very powerful. You can avenge yourself and your mother now,” Achan said to him earnestly.
Bai Xiuming turned his head to look at her, the dark and obscure look in his deep eyes like the morning mist, gradually dissipating as the sun rose.
"Your life is in vain."
"Um?"
Ah Chan wrinkled her nose: "You need to take a shower."
She leaned closer to him and smelled him; her light breath tickled his bare skin.
Although his body was spotless after reaching the fourth realm, Achan felt that he carried a smoky and fiery smell.
She didn't care about such trivial matters when the person was still asleep, but now that the person is awake, she's starting to complain again.
She emphasized, "You smell like a chicken leg that's been smoked for a month. My bed used to smell wonderful."
Bai Xiuming was amused by her. Amidst the smoky smell and the fragrance of Buddha's Heart Dew in the room, he seemed to faintly smell the faint fragrance belonging to A Chan.
"Okay." Bai Xiuming agreed good-naturedly, got up and got out of bed.
He opened the door, and the two commanders guarding outside breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that he was unharmed.
The two carried the water into the house as instructed, walked around the treasures scattered all over the floor, and poured the water into the bathtub behind the screen.
Achan walked behind the screen and saw Bai Xiuming with his back to her. His back was broad, with smooth, undulating muscle lines, but it narrowed abruptly at his waist.
He leaned over, one hand on the edge of the tub, his hand splashing in the water.
Seemingly noticing her behind him, Bai Xiuming turned around and saw A Chan's restless little eyes darting over him before he spoke, "You want to take a bath too?"
"No, I brought you this." Achan looked away as if to cover up her embarrassment and tossed him the storage bag in her hand.
Bai Xiuming took the storage bag, then chuckled softly and asked her, "You don't want it anymore?"
"Huh?" Achan was puzzled by his reaction.
"Didn't I say I was going to travel the world with all my savings? How am I supposed to carry my wealth if I don't have it?"
Achan's cheeks flushed slightly, but she remained calm and said, "Don't talk nonsense. I never said anything like that."
She turned around quickly and, before leaving, deliberately instructed, "Remember to tidy up my room later."
"good."
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