Chapter Thirty-Three: Your Uncle Dotes on His Father
It was a sudden sound that broke the awkward silence.
"Master—" Before the words were finished, a swift black figure darted out from around the corner, the anxious expression on its face clearly visible. But the moment it caught sight of Yi Fengchun, its voice abruptly stopped. After a pause, when it spoke again, its voice was weak: "Your Excellency..."
Following the sound, Ye Chi appeared, looking over. Before he could speak, another figure followed, panting. Good heavens, they were both there, one after the other. It was unclear how much of Yi Fengchun's words they had actually heard. His eyes flickered, meeting the two men's mostly bewildered gazes. He quickly deduced that they hadn't heard him, and without feeling guilty, he straightened his back slightly. Under Yi Fengchun's disapproving gaze, he stepped forward and said, "So impetuous."
Ye Chi didn't care. He rushed forward, and out of fear and respect for the villain, he didn't resort to physical violence. Instead, he circled around Ye Chi, looking him up and down. Ya Feiyu felt it was even worse than if Ye Chi had just touched him directly. This man's intentions were too obvious; it didn't take much guessing to understand. On one hand, Ya Feiyu felt somewhat awkward, but also a slight touch of gratitude. Just a slight touch.
The snow-white eyelashes trembled slightly, and a handful of snow fell from the treetops.
"Master, are you alright?" Ye Chi finally couldn't help but grab the corner of his sleeve and look up at him. "I heard you were punished, severely punished. Master, don't push yourself."
It wasn't really about being strong. A tiny voice in Ya Feiyu's heart defended his weakness, saying that he wasn't being strong, but rather that he had become accustomed to the pain and had eventually stopped caring about it. But at the same time, a deafening voice whispered in his ear, "Just show weakness like this, expose your wounds to them, it's nothing."
"You are a human, not a god."
For once, Ya Feiyu seemed somewhat bewildered. He looked up and saw Yi Fengchun's disappointed gaze, Shi Bai's carefully concealed worry, and Ye Chi's undisguised, almost fervent, gaze.
He stiffened for a moment, then relaxed, as if he had suddenly unloaded a heavy burden from his shoulders.
"It hurts." His voice was very soft, but it was just loud enough for a cultivator to hear. "It hurts a little."
Yi Fengchun seemed startled; his pupils contracted slightly, and his expression of shock was palpable, as if he were saying, "This isn't the senior brother I know! Demons and monsters, give me back my senior brother!"
Looking at Ye Chi and Shi Bai again, they were equally surprised. However, Shi Bai hadn't spent much time with him, so he was only slightly surprised. Ye Chi, on the other hand, was stunned for a long time. The hand that had been gripping his sleeve loosened a little at some point, but he still didn't want to let go.
"Where does it hurt?" Yi Fengchun asked again, only then realizing that his voice was trembling.
Finally, the sunlight shone into the desolate snowfield of Tianxue Peak.
It brought a shimmering, moonlit white light to the ground.
“He’s been hit too hard with the sledgehammer; he must be bleeding.” He said briefly, “He was hit too hard with the sledgehammer; he should be bleeding.”
Yi Fengchun, who was initially moved, was instantly rendered speechless by this statement: "Senior brother must be bleeding after being beaten like this."
Ya Feiyu lowered her head and murmured, "Is that so..."
"You two, come here and bandage your master." Without saying a word, Yi Fengchun grabbed Ya Feiyu's hand and pulled him away.
Shi Bai and Ye Chi were both slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then hurriedly followed.
...
Ya Feiyu's dwelling is a simple little wooden house.
There were no special decorations, nor any place to showcase personal interests or hobbies—though not entirely none, for example, a room was specially set aside to display the famous swords that Ya Feiyu had acquired over the years, each one of them being of superior quality, weapons that ordinary people might not be able to obtain even in their entire lives. Ya Feiyu had a room for all of them.
But apart from that, most of the items were daily necessities. There were empty tea sets and bowls on the table, some medicines on the shelf, talismans in the cabinet, and a meditation cushion for cultivation by the bed. Usually, he would go directly to the cold spring near the back of Tianxue Peak to bathe. The space saved from putting a bath tub was used to store all sorts of homemade contraptions, each of which looked fierce and menacing with blue faces and fangs.
Being stared at by those inhuman-like institutions is somewhat of an uncanny valley effect.
So Ye Chi chose to look away and followed Ya Feiyu to the bedside. Shi Bai helped him sit down, Yi Fengchun went to the shelf to fiddle with the medicinal herbs, and Ye Chi had nothing to do, so he sat on the ground, leaning against Ya Feiyu's feet, occasionally looking up at her. When he realized that his gaze was meeting Ya Feiyu's, he would silently look away, hiding his unease.
"Here, the medicine is ready." After a while, Yi Fengchun came over carrying a bowl of unidentified substance. The medicine for external application looked sticky and gooey, a strange green mass that emitted an unpleasant odor. Ye Chi frowned tightly, glancing at Ya Feiyu almost imperceptibly. Yes, the disgust was palpable. For a villain who usually had no expression to show such disdain, Yi Fengchun truly lived up to her reputation as the woman who rejected the male lead's harem; she was quite devastating.
Just smelling Ye Chi made Shi Bai feel like his life force was dropping. Shi Bai turned pale with fright. Yi Fengchun, having succeeded in his scheme, put his hands on his hips and said cheerfully, "It's good enough that I don't let you drink it. Here, put this on."
After a moment of contemplation, Ya Feiyu asked with unusual seriousness, "...Can I refuse?"
Yi Fengchun had already turned his back and was using the remaining medicinal herbs to prepare a drinkable medicine. The bitter smell wafted over on the wind. It is said that cultivators have keen senses, and for the first time in his life, Ye Chi wished he were a disabled person who couldn't smell anything. He closed his eyes in pain. Why did he have to suffer with Shi Bai? Why didn't he go anywhere else?
"Of course not." The medicine was ready, and the pungent smell was even stronger. Ya Feiyu felt like she could vomit from the stench. "Senior brother is injured right now and has no right or qualification to refuse. I have something to do, so I'll leave first. You two remember to keep an eye on him and make sure he drinks the medicine."
After saying that, Yi Fengchun didn't even notice Ye Chi's pleading look, and turned to leave gracefully.
So only the three people, still suffering from the effects of the medicinal soup, remained in the room. They looked at each other, their gazes falling unanimously on the two bowls of medicine. Ya Feiyu felt as if he were facing a formidable enemy, especially since these things were to be used on him. He trusted that his junior sister wouldn't harm him, but the smell still made the somewhat fastidious Ya Feiyu feel a sense of resistance.
"Um..." Ya Feiyu was struggling with her thoughts when she heard a hesitant voice from beside her, "Master, shall we apply the medicine...?"
Ya Feiyu looked over and met Ye Chi's gaze. The man was holding a green, sticky medicine. Although Ya Feiyu had always felt some resistance to this thing, he wasn't so immature as to get angry at his disciple. Even though his face was already quite ugly, he didn't say anything and nodded with a straight face: "...Okay."
Having received Elder Ya Feiyu's approval, Ye Chi dared not move. He was almost completely stiff, unsure of where to put his hands. He felt that undressing him was an offense against the great villain, but he had no choice but to do so. He undressed him extremely slowly, so slowly that Shi Bai couldn't bear to watch any longer and said, "Let me help Master apply the medicine."
Ye Chi was naturally eager to do so, quickly stepping back and raising his hands as if to prove his innocence. Shi Bai, naturally, couldn't stand it and rolled his eyes at him. "Master is such a good person; there are plenty of people who want to apply medicine to him. This guy doesn't know how to appreciate it," he thought to himself.
Even so, getting closer still made him somewhat nervous. Shi Bai tried hard not to reveal his unusual state, gently peeling off Ya Feiyu's long robe and gesturing for him to turn around. Ya Feiyu actually had a very well-built physique. As a cultivator, he couldn't just be completely skinny; he had the muscles he needed. His once upright shoulders and back were now covered in crisscrossing bloodstains, new ones overlapping old ones, making him look particularly ferocious.
Shi Bai's fingertips trembled, and all his shyness vanished instantly, leaving only heartache. He touched his fingertips with a little medicine; it was slightly cool and sticky, with a hint of mint. After a while, it wasn't too unpleasant to smell, since that's what medicine smells like. He applied a little more, gently covering the longest wound on Ya Feiyu's back.
"Master..." The air was filled with the smell of rust, and Ye Chi was not feeling too good either. He frowned slightly and murmured softly, "Why won't they fight back..."
The voice was very soft, and Shi Bai didn't hear it. Ya Feiyu seemed to have heard it, but didn't respond.
It simply lowered its head meekly, a rare occurrence for it.
Shi Bai carefully applied the medicine, bringing a slightly cool touch that seemed to alleviate the pain somewhat, though it was hard to say whether it was merely a placebo effect. Ya Feiyu gasped softly. The wound was almost fully treated. Shi Bai took a clean bandage and carefully wrapped it around the wound, covering it completely. One layer wasn't enough, as blood would still seep out; two layers seemed insufficient, and it took three layers to cover the bloodstains. Ya Feiyu put on a black robe, and apart from his slightly pale face, he looked no different from usual.
“You can leave now,” he said.
"Master, um..." Ye Chi cautiously peeked out and poked the medicine bowl on the table with his index finger. After a while, the medicine had lost its previous high temperature and the smell had dissipated a bit. Everyone almost forgot it was there. "Drink the medicine."
Upon hearing this, Ya Feiyu's face, which had finally improved, suddenly darkened again.
He could still accept the sticky medicine, since it was only for external application and the taste was alright, but this medicinal soup was definitely made by Yi Fengchun with a mischievous intention, and Ya Feiyu really didn't want to drink it.
"...I won't drink it."
Oh dear, she's getting willful.
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