Chapter 135
"You mean, two of Sun Jingde's men ran away."
Gu Chongtai's vision was failing again, and the poison in his body was becoming increasingly severe. Although the Ghost Doctor had been treating him these past two days, the excruciating pain that seeped into his bones was still making him wish he were dead.
Xiao Hei's words reached his ears somewhat vaguely. However, he still caught the key point in the other party's words: two people from the Shadow Pavilion had escaped.
"Your subordinate deserves to die."
Xiao Hei kept his head down, not daring to look up at Gu Chongtai's expression. He had gone to save Xiao Tuanzi's mother, which was why those two people had escaped. Moreover, because these people were seriously injured, if they weren't brought here first, even the Heavenly King might not be able to save their lives.
Gu Zhongtai looked at him vaguely, then glanced at the few blurry figures beside the carriage in the distance.
"Go and call that girl from the Fan family over."
"Huh?" Xiao Hei, who was trembling and waiting to be punished, couldn't believe his ears. He looked up and stared at Gu Zhongtai in a daze.
"Do I have to say it again?" Gu Chongtai raised his eyebrows, his tone tinged with impatience.
"No, no, no, I'll go right away!" Xiao Hei was startled by his tone and quickly ran to the carriage to call Fan Xiaoxiao over.
"You were looking for me?"
Fan Xiaoxiao sat down next to Gu Zhongtai, her voice sounding somewhat muffled.
"You should know by now, right?" Fan Xiaoxiao knew that Gu Zhongtai was referring to the fact that two men in black had escaped.
She nodded, but her expression wasn't very pleasant.
"The Shadow Pavilion will not give up on its goal easily."
Gu Zhongtai wasn't trying to scare anyone. The people of the Shadow Pavilion are like hyenas in the desert; once they've set their sights on their prey, they'll relentlessly pursue it.
However, aside from the Ghost Doctor and Gu Chongtai's group, the rest of them were just ordinary commoners, no match for those skilled in martial arts. After much thought, they realized that changing their names and hiding their tracks was the only solution.
Secondly...
"Gu Zhongtai, how about we make a deal?"
"A deal? Tell me about it." Gu Zhongtai was intrigued by her words. It took some courage to make a deal with him.
Fan Xiaoxiao turned to meet his gaze and said in a firm and powerful voice, "You went to Tianshan this time for three things: the treasure map, to monitor the old man's movements in Tianshan, and to heal your injuries, right?"
"That's right."
Gu Zhongtai made no attempt to hide anything and nodded directly. After receiving confirmation, Fan Xiaoxiao leaned closer: "How do you plan to go to Tianshan to heal your injuries? I heard from the Ghost Doctor that you seem to need some kind of secret treasure there, right?"
She had heard the Ghost Doctor mention this before, but the book didn't mention the villain being poisoned. However, the original book seemed to mention that a thousand-year-old snow lotus was lost from Tianshan, and if nothing unexpected happened, it should be that one.
Gu Zhongtai had clearly anticipated Fan Xiaoxiao's thoughts. He looked at Fan Xiaoxiao in silence for a while and then asked, "What are you going to do?"
"That old man in Tianshan is a heavy drinker. I can find a way to get you what you want directly."
As she said this, Fan Xiaoxiao felt her heart pounding, and she dared not look away from Boss Gu's face.
"What do you want?" Gu Zhongtai did not directly answer her question. He was not often sober during the day, and now he felt his head was starting to feel dizzy.
"Keep us safe." This was her greatest prayer.
"Ha, I don't need you to do me that favor."
The pain from the poison made Gu Zhongtai lean against the side, unable to support himself. Fan Xiaoxiao's heart skipped a beat when she heard him so coldly reject her. Did this powerful figure's approach not work out?
Just as Fan Xiaoxiao frowned, intending to think of another way, Gu Zhongtai seemed to finally be unable to hold on any longer, and he closed his eyes and fell backward.
"It's good that you're like this, with them all by your side." His voice was weak, and Fan Xiaoxiao was so frightened that she immediately stepped forward to support him.
"Hey! Boss Gu! Don't scare me!!"
"Let me do it."
Xiao Hei came over at some point, helped Gu Zhongtai up, and led him into the house.
"What's wrong with him?"
Fan Xiaoxiao followed behind them, her brows furrowed with worry. Xiao Hei sighed and placed Gu Zhongtai into the bathtub.
"My lord... Ah, my wife, it's best not to ask any more questions. If there's an opportunity in the future, let my lord tell you himself."
Inside the bathtub, Gu Zhongtai's eyes were tightly closed, and his brows were furrowed with deep wrinkles. He seemed to be enduring immense pain.
He just said, "Is this all I need?" Does that mean he wants to protect us?
Fan Xiaoxiao pursed her lips tightly, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart. Returning to Dragon Village, Shadow Pavilion—how many times had this happened already? It seemed she was always being saved by this man, and now he was even saying she didn't need to do anything, that this was enough.
But when she thought about what would happen to this guy, Fan Xiaoxiao felt so sad that she couldn't breathe.
Gu Chongtai wasn't simply a bad person, nor was he a character she had read about in the book. He was a real person, a living, breathing human being, who had saved her several times. Although he had a sharp tongue, he hadn't actually done anything to harm her. Despite his formidable martial arts skills, he was now so weak.
She couldn't let this person die! Gu Zhongtai was someone she had been kind to, not a stranger, and she couldn't let him die.
Fan Xiaoxiao pursed her lips, turned around, and walked out of the house.
The Ghost Doctor seemed to have finished as well, and he wiped his hands and walked towards Fan Xiaoxiao.
"Baby, I've been looking for you everywhere! We're running out of herbs, we need to go and gather some more."
"What's wrong with you? Why do you have that expression?"
Fan Xiaoxiao looked up at him, then turned back to look in the direction of the house: "Grandpa, is there anything we can do to alleviate his pain?"
The Ghost Doctor followed her gaze and saw that the door to the small hut was tightly closed.
"Hey, you mean that kid's poison? Sigh, there's no way to alleviate it. If you could make him some wine, he might be happier."
"Alcohol? He likes to drink?"
"Yeah, as that kid said, being too sober in life isn't always a good thing. He likes that dizzy, floating feeling after getting drunk. Anyway, let's not talk about that now. Let's go gather herbs. I've been around here before, I know where we can gather herbs. Come on, come on, you come with me."
We need to hurry on our journey. I just heard from those two brothers that the Shadow Pavilion people have escaped. We can't go through Chang'an now; we'll have to take the route through the Vast Sea! We should gather as many herbs as possible along the way. Once we leave this area, many things may become unavailable!
The name "Han Hai" sounded somewhat familiar. Fan Xiaoxiao took out the map that Ji Yushu had given her. When she saw exactly where the place was, her expression darkened slightly.
On the map, there is a large area covered in gray, roughly located in what is now Inner Mongolia, with two bright red characters clearly written on it: "Han Hai" (meaning "vast sea").
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
