Confessions from the Secret Chamber (Part 1)
In the clinic, the candlelight flickered, casting two long shadows on the wall.
Tiaotiao sat cross-legged beside the couch, his palms flowing like a trickle of Qi into Su Baiwei's back, nourishing her damaged meridians. With each transfer, his face paled, and fine beads of cold sweat gleamed on his forehead in the dim candlelight.
Su Baiwei's eyelashes trembled slightly as she forced herself to open her eyes. Her voice was weak but sharp as a knife: "This kind of drain on your foundation... let alone five years, even five months is a luxury."
"Doctor Su, why don't you think about it first? How are you going to survive with those nine drops of my heart blood in three days?" Tiao Tiao slowly stopped, his tone calm, only his slightly rapid breathing revealed the heaviness.
"You... heard everything?" She whispered and looked back sideways.
The candlelight danced in his bottomless eyes, and he remained silent.
Su Baiwei put on a bitter smile of relief: "That's good... It saves me from not knowing how to start." She struggled to get off the bed, but a wave of dizziness came over her, and her brows were furrowed.
Tiao Tiao finally reached out and held her arm firmly. "You're injured like this, why are you trying so hard?"
"You too?" Su Baiwei used the force to steady herself, looking up at him with clear, understanding eyes. Slowly, she led him toward the heavy, old stone mill. Her fingertips brushed against the raised ridges in a specific pattern. The mechanism clicked softly, and the heavy stone door slid silently open. A cool breeze, a mixture of aged herbs and the dust of time, washed over him, and the candlelight flickered.
The scene inside the secret room made Tiaotiao's gaze suddenly freeze. On the table, several crystal bottles reflected strange light in the darkness. One of them emitted a soft blue light, as if it contained a frozen galaxy.
Su Baiwei pointed at the bottle and said, "The fluorescent coral of the East China Sea grows in the eye of the sea thousands of feet high. Only on the night of the full moon, when the flower blooms for a moment, does its core have miraculous effects. Those who collect it risk their lives, and those who return will have their bodies cracked with ice, their internal energy almost frozen to death." Her voice was particularly clear in the silence.
She picked up another small transparent bottle. Inside, a leech-like, transparent Gu worm was twisting wildly. "This is a sub-Gu."
Tiao Tiao took it silently.
Beneath the cold bottle wall, a throbbing rippled through his veins. The moment his knuckles tightened, the Gu inside sensed his surging emotions and struggled even more fiercely, colliding with the bottle wall with a rapid, drum-like "da da" sound.
Finally, her fingertips landed on a bottle covered in strange, wriggling patterns: "This is the sub-gu that controls three thousand medicine men."
Su Baiwei's gaze seemed to penetrate the stone wall, sinking into the depths of time. Her voice was filled with distant sadness: "More than ten years ago, there was a loving couple. The wife was seriously ill, and the husband was a master of medicine. He poured all his knowledge into his practice, and there was hope for the dawn of hope... But the wife passed away after giving birth to a baby girl."
"The man was in agony. He had saved countless lives, but he couldn't save his beloved. He fell into madness, researching the secrets of immortality, hoping to snatch back time from the clutches of Hades. His research was beginning to show promise, but he was struggling financially. Then, the Black Heart Tiger attempted to establish the Holy Fire Hall, offering the promise of dedicating all resources to his research. Initially, the man resisted, knowing that to associate with the devil would be to perish. But his obsession with saving his wife was like a gnaw at his bones, and the fear of being just one step away overwhelmed his reason. Without help, his lifelong quest would be in vain, his wife's death meaningless. He wandered through the night, repeatedly caressing his wife's hairpin, and finally, in despair, signed his name."
"After becoming the first head of the Holy Fire Hall, the resources of the Demon Cult allowed research to advance by leaps and bounds. The Mother-Child Gu was successful, and it actually saved dozens of dying lives. The man, looking at the lives he had sustained, felt a sense of redemption and began to consider retreating."
"He had tried to escape with his daughter, but Black Heart Tiger wouldn't let him. The demonic cult's minions followed him like shadows, surrounding them with tight encirclement. Black Heart Tiger had been prepared, secretly cultivating his confidant, Chi Lian. Chi Lian, coveting the position of hall master, feigned surrender and served him, learning the man's unique skills of controlling poison and treating poisons, and using silver needles to inflict pain. At the last moment, Black Heart Tiger used the medicine man he had saved and his four-year-old daughter as hostages, forcing him to rip out his heart and extract the poison."
"The man had no choice. He left behind the mother Gu, the core of the child-mother Gu system. At his weakest, Chi Lian finally shed his hypocritical mask. He concealed a silver needle between his fingers and, taking advantage of the man's unpreparedness, plunged it into his heart. It was the 'Soul-Sealing Bone-Piercing Needle' the man had personally taught him. The man's body trembled violently, and he twisted his head with all his might, staring intently at the corner where his daughter was imprisoned. His lips moved to call her by her nickname, but he spat out a mouthful of black blood. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open. The life-saving child-mother Gu had thus become a 'mind-controlling Gu' used by the devil to manipulate people's hearts."
"In despair, the girl threatened to commit suicide, forcing Chi Lian to release her back to the Huichun Hall her father had built for her. But she was already in a desperate situation. If she committed suicide, hundreds of medicine men and those infected with the Gu would die instantly. If she provided blood, the medicine men would become the butchers of the demonic cult."
"Unable to bear the thought of innocent people dying because of her father's sins... the girl became the 'Blood Cauldron' nurtured by the Holy Fire Hall. Every month, she plucked three drops of her heart's blood essence to nourish the Mother Gu, maintaining the lives of the medicine men and the higher-ups of the Demonic Cult. She knew her actions were evil, but she didn't know which path didn't lead to the abyss. Over twelve years of torment, she gathered thousands of medicine men, hundreds of whom were elite core warriors. Their bones and muscles, tempered by secret medicine, were impervious to swords and spears, and they possessed boundless strength. Driven by the golden bell, they were fearless and wielded with the same power as their own arms, becoming the Holy Fire Hall's true trump card."
"As the girl grew older, she never gave up searching for a way to break the spell. However, this Gu was her father's creation, and there was no trace of it. She was like a blind walker in the dark night. Nearing despair, a yellowed copy of the 'Qing Nang Book' quietly appeared from a secret compartment in the medicine cabinet. It was her father's life's work. She clutched the book and burst into tears."
"With the guidance of the book, her research finally showed some signs of progress. However, the key ingredient needed to crack the code, the 'East Sea Fluorescent Coral', grows in the eye of a thousand-foot ocean. Its core is only effective when the moon is full and the flowers bloom, making it extremely difficult to harvest. She was also infected with the Soul-Chasing Gu, making it even more difficult to move."
"A few months later, a miracle occurred again. Several bottles of fluorescent coral lay prominently in a secret compartment. She knew someone was secretly helping her. This person not only possessed immense magical powers, able to penetrate the perilous East China Sea, a place the Demon Cult couldn't reach, but also mastered the fleeting blooming season, making the danger tantamount to dancing on the edge of a knife. She faced numerous subsequent dangers: falling off a cliff, surrounded by poisonous creatures... but each time, an invisible force held her back and averted the danger. Upon landing, she looked around, but her benefactor was nowhere to be seen. She understood, and no longer pressed for help, instead keeping this protection deep in her heart. She wondered if this hidden helper was an old friend of her father's? A benefited patient? Or... someone burdened with guilt over her father's death, seeking redemption?"
"After twelve years of torment, she finally found a solution that can protect both the sub-gu host and the sub-guinea victim. However, the situation is too big for her to resolve alone, and she urgently needs help."
"Just then, while healing a disciple, he heard that the Seven Swordsmen had combined their powers to slay the Black Heart Tiger, and hope was rekindled. However, the Holy Fire Hall held the medicine man's life in their hands, and the other factions in the martial arts world were wary of using them. Furthermore, Chi Lian was cunning, stirring up trouble and creating a 'shield' to draw fire. The Holy Fire Hall faded from the center of the storm..."
One day, while returning from herbal medicine, she encountered him, lying gravely wounded. The unique sword she saw startled her, and she knew the pursuer was no ordinary one. Later, she stumbled upon a diagram given to her by a disciple, and the sword was strikingly identical to the 'Green Light Sword.' She then realized he was the master of the Green Light Sword, one of the Seven Swords."
"That day, he suddenly grasped her wrist. The cool warmth of their skin against each other... was remarkably similar to the strength that held her up at the foot of the cliff that year. And his uncanny familiarity with the paths to Huichun Hall... All the dots converged, and a thunderclap erupted—it was him, the one who had silently protected her in the darkness for five years. She finally understood why he hadn't been controlled and killed by the Gu worm like other betrayers. He had fluorescent coral to suppress the Gu. And that crucial medicinal ingredient was the one he had repeatedly risked his own life in the East China Sea and the detection of the Demon Cult to obtain for her."
Su Baiwei raised her eyes, her gaze seemed to have traversed twelve years of darkness and dim light, looking straight into Tiao Tiao's eyes with a desperate determination and pleading.
Tiao Tiao listened in silence.
When Su Baiwei revealed the truth about his "five years of guarding in darkness," pointing out his reliance on fluorescent coral to suppress the larvae, the cold vial he'd gripped suddenly felt scorching hot. His knuckles tightened, squeezing the vial's walls until they turned white, as if crushing the shackles of his bloodline. The insect within, sensing his turbulent emotions, struggled even more frantically, its clattering against the walls like the rapid beat of a death drum. He lowered his eyelashes, a heavy shadow obscuring the turbulent waves swirling within. Only his momentary, frozen breath betrayed the utter shock of a piercing heart.
Su Baiwei's voice trembled slightly, yet was incredibly clear. In the dead silence of the chamber, it sounded like a final, resounding question, "If this grown-up girl... asked you for help. Master of the Green Light Sword, Tiao Tiao, would you be willing to lend her a hand?"
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