Chapter 1
In early autumn at the border, leaden clouds hung low, and cold rain, like ice shards, slanted down onto the "Sheng" military flag, soaking the scarlet silk until it hung heavily, as if bearing endless desolation and heaviness.
Sheng Xuan reined in his restless mount. The seventeen-year-old silver-armored youth irritably wiped the rain off his face, his fingertips grinding hard against the cold reins. Water droplets seeping from the gaps in the armor plates slid down his forearm and splashed into tiny mud spots on the saddle.
"Tsk..." he cursed under his breath, then kicked the horse in the belly, startling the mount into snorting.
"How much longer will this awful weather last?" He turned to ask his guard, his voice filled with the youthful impatience and arrogance.
The army had been marching towards the border for twenty days, and hadn't even caught a glimpse of the main barbarian force, let alone engaged in a decent battle. What frustrated him even more was the incessant cold rain, which had turned the official road into a muddy mess, making it difficult for the horses to move forward. The army's pace was even slower than that of an old tortoise hiding in its shell.
He felt a vague sense of unease, sensing that his brother's troop deployment for this "border patrol" was somewhat unusual, as if it had another purpose. However, Sheng Chi did not tell him the specifics.
Sheng Xuan looked up at the middle of the column, his brows furrowing even more—the two men riding side by side stood out starkly against the somber military bearing around them.
In the drizzle, Gu Linzhao wore a raincoat, his dark outfit outlining his tall and straight figure. The tassel of his sword swayed gently with the horse's hooves, and the water stains on the scabbard gleamed brightly. He was listening to Su Yan speak with his head tilted to the side, a faint smile playing on his lips. His nonchalant manner was like a conspicuous grain of sand in the strictly disciplined army.
Gu Linzhao reached out to help Su Yan, who was standing beside him, to gather his clothes that had been blown about by the wind, but the latter slapped his hand away.
"What kind of behavior is it to resort to physical violence? And you too, I've told you not to always catch hidden weapons with your hands!"
Su Yan's voice was reproachful as he gently pressed on the scratch on the back of Gu Linzhao's hand.
The hem of his plain-colored long robe was covered in mud, but Su Yan was only concerned with tightening the belt around his waist to hold the medicine box even tighter.
"Do you really think you're made of iron? Old wounds heal, and small injuries keep popping up, sigh." Though her words were harsh, she ultimately said nothing more.
Gu Linzhao chuckled softly, then grabbed Su Yan's wrist and pulled him towards himself, his fingertips tracing the blue veins on Su Yan's wrist.
"With you here, what's there to be afraid of?" The cheeky tone was impossible to hide, and seeing Su Yan glare at him, he added...
"It won't happen again next time, okay?" The last syllable was drawn out slightly, carrying a hint of coaxing.
Sheng Xuan looked away, clicking his tongue softly. He disliked the feeling of "outsiders" getting involved in the army, and he especially disliked Gu Linzhao's attitude towards Su Yan, as if he couldn't do without him.
He pulled on the reins impatiently, the clanging of the silver armor sounding particularly crisp in the rain.
"Hurry up, don't delay the march." He said this to his personal guard, but his eyes darted towards the two men.
"Second Young Master, there are villagers blocking the road ahead!" The guard's shout, carried by the rain, rushed over with a hint of urgency.
Sheng Xuan squinted and saw a dark mass of people kneeling on the muddy official road deep in the rain, surrounding a simple stretcher that blocked the middle of the road. The old man at the head held up a bamboo sign and was desperately kowtowing towards the direction of the central army.
The boy on the stretcher was deathly pale, and the blood seeping from under his coarse cloth clothes had been diluted by the rain.
"Get out of the way!" Sheng Xuan lashed out with his whip, the tip slicing through the rain with a sharp crack. "You blind fools! This is a military thoroughfare; how can we allow idlers to block it?"
He detested such ambushes on the road, which not only delayed their journey but also revealed the crudeness and rudeness of country bumpkins. But when he caught sight of the bamboo token in the villager's hand, his hand holding the whip paused—it was a token that his elder brother had specially sought out for Su Yan, a unique item.
However, the old man seemed not to hear him. Instead, he raised the bamboo sign even higher, his hoarse voice piercing through the rain: "Please, General, have mercy! Save Zhelan! Please, General, save him!"
Sheng Xuan paused, his gaze turning to the middle of the line.
Su Yan caught a glimpse of the kneeling crowd ahead and vaguely heard cries for help. "What's going on!" He practically jumped off his horse, landing with one foot in an ankle-deep mud pit. The splashing mud soaked half of his trouser leg, and he stumbled. Gu Linzhao quickly grabbed his arm and supported him steadily, saying, "Don't panic."
Su Yan broke free from Gu Linzhao's hand and staggered forward, cursing and pushing aside the villagers. When he saw the bamboo plaques in the hands of the refugees blocking his way and the boy on the stretcher, his voice, which had been filled with anger, suddenly changed tone.
"You idiot! How did you get yourself into this mess?! Weren't you going out to practice medicine? How did you end up looking like you've been pulled out of a pool of blood?!"
Sheng Xuan took another look at the boy on the stretcher. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old and shorter than himself. His coarse cloth jacket was soaked with blood, and dark red blood dripped down the hem into the muddy water, spreading out in circles of dark red ripples.
The gray cloth covering his right eye was soaked with blood, his left eye was tightly closed, blood droplets were clotted on his eyelashes, and his pale cheeks were covered with mud and blood scabs.
At the back of his neck, a strand of wet hair, stained with blood, barely concealed a deep red to brown scar with twisted edges. The scar was bizarrely shaped, like some kind of brand that had been forcibly removed. Now, under the weight of the injury, it faintly revealed an ominous dark red hue, pulsating slightly on the pale skin as if it were alive.
The most shocking thing was his curled-up right leg, curled up at an eerie angle, like a reed that had been repeatedly bent. Every weak breath pulled at the deep, bone-revealing knife wound on his shoulder, where the flesh was torn and covered with mud and scabs.
The boy's body was curled up unconsciously, and even in his unconscious state, his fingers were tightly gripping the edge of the stretcher beneath him.
Sheng Xuan's gaze swept over the scar, and his heart skipped a beat. A feeling mixed with disgust and inexplicable chill ran down his spine.
The shape... The surface was a hideous burn, but the dark red outline underneath was twisted and unsettling. Blurry fragments of memory flashed through my mind: the cultists who were wiped out by my father and brother seemed to have similar horrifying outlines!
...But the thought only flashed through his mind. The horrific scene before him and Su Yan's angry curses immediately occupied his mind. He shook his head, thinking it was just an illusion, but a deeper sense of annoyance welled up in his heart for the half-dead boy in the blood and mud, with strange compound scars—what a huge problem!
"Please, please save Doctor Su!" The old man at the head of the group grabbed Su Yan's clothes, tears streaming down his face. "They said he was a witch doctor, and they just... just chopped him down with a curved knife!"
Su Yan shook off the old man's hand, but his movements as he squatted down were very gentle, so as not to disturb the boy on the stretcher. His fingertips trembled as he reached for the boy's neck, and when he touched the faint, almost non-existent pulse, his Adam's apple bobbed violently.
"You were allowed to go out and practice medicine, but who told you to run off to a place like a wolf's den?!" He used a knife to pry open the blood-stained clothes on the boy's shoulder, and when he saw the deep, bone-revealing wound, he couldn't help but curse under his breath.
"Look at this knife wound! Half an inch deeper and it would have pierced your lung! I should have broken your legs, so you wouldn't keep walking towards the King of Hell!" His curses were tinged with barely perceptible fear and heartache—he knew better than anyone what Su Zhelan's ordeal meant; she was no ordinary bandit!
Despite his cursing, his actions were quite the opposite. Su Yan's hands were remarkably steady as he took out the strong liquor from the medicine box. He dipped a clean cloth in the liquor and carefully wiped away the dirt around the wound, each touch gentle.
After repeatedly rinsing the wound with strong liquor until it was bloodless, Su Yan discovered that the edges had begun to fester slightly, and he had to remove some of the rotten flesh.
Gu Linzhao had squatted down beside him without him noticing, and reached out to press down on the boy's shoulder, which was twitching from the pain. He said in a low voice, "The old injury has relapsed and the leg bone is severely dislocated. It needs to be immobilized first."
"Do you need to teach me?" Su Yan didn't even look up. "I told him long ago that his leg can't be seriously injured again, but he just wouldn't listen!"
As he cursed, he carefully placed the wooden board under the boy's deformed right leg, his voice growing softer and softer.
While treating the wound, Su Yan's gaze swept several times over the scar on the back of Su Zhelan's neck, which had become increasingly prominent due to the severe flare-up of the Gu poison. His expression was complex and unreadable. He quickly covered the area with a clean cloth, his movements swift and seemingly designed to go unnoticed.
"Set up the tent." Gu Linzhao's deep and steady voice interrupted Su Yan's sob.
The longsword flashed as it was drawn, and he tossed the scabbard to his guard with a crisp sound. "Quickly prepare hot water and strong liquor." He turned to Shengxuan's deputy general, his gaze sharp as a sword. "Have the vanguard wait a quarter of an hour."
The lieutenant looked at Sheng Xuan hesitantly—according to military regulations, during wartime marches must not be delayed by refugees, let alone this boy of unknown origin.
Sheng Xuan was about to say "no need" when she noticed that as Su Yan bent down to treat his wound, Gu Linzhao quietly stepped in front of him, shielding him from the oncoming cold rain, and placed his palm on Su Yan's lower back, silently stabilizing his trembling body.
Seeing that Su Yan had secured the boy's leg with a wooden board with Gu Linzhao's help, Sheng Xuan suddenly asked, kicking the mud off his feet, "Can you walk now?" "If you don't walk soon, your elder brother will send someone to urge you."
Upon hearing this, Gu Linzhao glanced at him and said in a calm tone, "If the Second Young Master is in a hurry, he can take the troops and leave first." The implication was that he and Su Yan would take the young man with them.
Sheng Xuan choked for a moment—how could he really abandon Gu Linzhao and Su Yan?
Just as he was about to retort, he heard a guard report, "Second Young Master, His Highness the Crown Prince is here." His voice was low and tinged with awe.
Fourteen-year-old Xiao Qiyun emerged from the carriage behind. This prince, who was ordered to undergo training, was dressed in a seemingly simple moon-white fine linen robe, with a light cloak of the same color over it. The fabric shimmered softly in the rain and mist. He was slender and carefully held a military book that had been soaked by the rain in his hand, the edges of the pages curled.
He walked to the wooden plank, his gaze calm and serene, and fell on the dying boy on the stretcher, lingering longer than usual with pity.
His gaze carefully swept over the boy's blood-smeared cheeks and deformed right leg, finally pausing slightly at the back of his neck, hastily covered by a cloth, as if he could see through the soaked coarse cloth to the unsettling outline beneath.
Quiet as a bamboo stalk bathed in rain, yet his eyes held no panic like those of his peers, only extraordinary composure.
He subtly shifted his gaze, but the strange feeling of scrutiny had already seeped into his heart. He asked, "Mr. Su... is this your apprentice?" His voice was gentle, yet carried a hint of barely perceptible inquiry.
"So what if he is?" Su Yan didn't even look up, continuing to sprinkle wound medicine on the boy's wound. "If you think it's delaying the march, I'll take him away now! There's no need for him to be in the way!" Although his words were firm, his slightly trembling voice betrayed his true emotions.
Xiao Qiyun was silent for a moment, then his gaze fell back on the boy. He said in a deep voice, "If you don't mind, you can have your guards place him in the empty carriage next to the military doctor's tent. It'll be safer for him." Then, his gaze softened as he looked at Su Yan. "Sir, do you need any medicine? This box contains a new hemostatic powder made by the Imperial Hospital. It's brewed with snow water. It might come in handy."
"At least you still have some conscience," Su Yan muttered, finally raising his head with reddened eyes.
Gu Linzhao smiled helplessly and reached out to help Su Yan up, but Su Yan slapped his hand away: "Don't touch me, you're covered in mud!"
But when the guards lifted the stretcher, Su Yan was the first to rush forward, afraid that the soldiers carrying the sedan chair would be too rough. He kept muttering, "Slow down! Haven't you eaten? What are you swaying about for! If you bump into anything, you'll be sorry!"
As he moved the stretcher, he almost hastily, with a hint of barely perceptible panic, tucked the cloth covering Su Zhelan's neck tighter again, ensuring that the hideous scar was completely concealed under the coarse cloth.
"What are you daydreaming about?" Sheng Xuan's voice rang out from behind. "Hurry up and pick the safest carriage to carry Mr. Su Yan's medicine chest up there."
The rain was still falling, and the convoy started again. They said it was an empty vehicle next to the military doctor's tent, but it was actually an ebony carriage that Xiao Qiyun usually used for resting, with excellent shock absorption.
Su Yan carefully placed the boy in the padded carriage, still scolding him: "You little brat, do you hear me? If you dare to die, I'll grind you to dust!"
But when Gu Linzhao handed over clean bedding, he gently covered the boy with the blanket, his fingertips brushing against the boy's pale cheeks.
The carriage jolted slightly. The unconscious boy seemed to be tormented by pain, letting out a very soft groan, his eyelashes fluttering, as if he had regained consciousness for a moment.
He vaguely heard Gu Linzhao and Su Yan's hushed conversation coming from outside the car: "...Sheng Chi specially invited you and me to come along for this border patrol. I'm afraid it's not just the barbarians..." It was Gu Linzhao's voice, tinged with a hint of solemnity.
“Hmm,” Su Yan’s voice was low and weary, “The border has been rather unsettled lately. Those rats in the gutter… seem to have surfaced again. The strange illness a few days ago, and those sudden deaths… the methods all seemed sinister. He suspects a ‘cult’ has resurfaced and wants to use this opportunity to investigate…”
“Cult”... These two words pierced Su Zhelan’s chaotic consciousness like an ice pick. He shuddered violently, a burning pain shooting through the back of his neck, as if echoing the name.
A tremendous fear gripped him instantly, far surpassing the physical pain. His body tensed unconsciously for a moment on the cushion, then he forced himself to relax, maintaining that vulnerable and harmless posture, with only his slightly rapid breathing betraying the turmoil within him.
Just then, Su Yan seemed to notice an extremely subtle movement inside the carriage—perhaps it was Su Zhelan's almost inaudible groan, or perhaps it was a subtle change in her breathing rhythm.
He immediately turned his head, his sharp gaze falling on the unconscious boy on the cushion. His brows were furrowed, his eyes filled with worry and inquiry. He then quickly raised his hand and made a very clear and unquestionable shushing gesture to Gu Linzhao, while gesturing with his eyes for him to look at Su Zhelan.
Gu Linzhao immediately fell silent, following Su Yan's gaze, and also noticed Su Zhelan's trembling eyelashes and slightly rapid breathing. The only sounds in the carriage were the monotonous creak of wheels rolling over the mud and Su Zhelan's suppressed, painful breaths.
Su Yan bent down, held his breath, and gently placed his fingertips on Su Zhelan's wrist pulse again, feeling the still weak but seemingly clearer pulse than before. The worry on his face had not faded.
Seeing Su Yan's furrowed brows and the unwavering worry in his eyes, Gu Linzhao remained silent for a moment. His gaze fell on Su Zhelan's pale face, which still faintly showed a glimmer of life. His voice was lower, yet carried an undeniable composure, as if he were speaking to Su Yan, or perhaps announcing a predetermined future to the unconscious Su Zhelan:
"He will wake up." He paused, his tone becoming even more certain. "Once we get to the General's Mansion, we'll find a place for him to rest and recuperate."
As the cold rain gradually subsided, the scouts' fast horses had already arrived at the general's mansion.
The vermilion gate was half-closed in the twilight, and the water droplets condensed on the door knocker reflected the last bit of daylight, making the plaque of "General Zhenbei's Mansion" shine.
General Zhenbei—the current Grand General Sheng Chi—had just removed his cloak at the training ground when he received a messenger from his personal guard: "The Second Young Master has led the rear guard to the pass, and Su Yan, who is traveling with him, is treating a seriously injured boy who needs urgent care."
"Su Yan?" Sheng Chi tapped his fingers on the table, causing the flame on the bronze candlestick to flicker. He recalled the note in Gu Linzhao's letter before he set off: "I have invited Su Yan, a renowned physician in the martial arts world, to accompany me. He is skilled in breaking hundreds of poisons, bringing the dead back to life and rescuing the dead from the dead, and is especially adept at identifying and breaking the secret techniques and poisons of evil cults. He may be of assistance in dealing with the remnants of evil spirits on the border."
At the time, he was overwhelmed by reports of several bizarre deaths and suspected cult activities on the border, and the Imperial Medical Academy was at a loss. That's why he secretly wrote to Gu Linzhao, requesting that he bring Su Yan with him. Upon hearing about the "seriously injured boy," his heart sank—could it be that remnants of the cult were at work again? Or…had Su Yan and his companions encountered some crucial clue? The boy's identity was suspicious, but since Su Yan had saved him, perhaps…
He rubbed his temples, his gaze sweeping over the border defense map hanging on the wall. Gu Linzhao was the leader of the martial arts alliance whom he had personally invited by letter. This trip was ostensibly a "border patrol," but its true purpose was to investigate the cult that had been lying dormant for many years and had recently shown signs of resurgence. Su Yan was not only a medical prodigy whom Gu Linzhao had strongly invited, but also a key figure who could cure all poisons and break evil curses—three of his personal guards had died suddenly from an unknown curse, and the Imperial Hospital was helpless. If Su Yan could be stationed at the residence, he could solve this major problem.
More importantly, Sheng Chi knew the friendship between Gu Linzhao and Su Yan well—back then, Gu Linzhao was arrogant and reckless, and was seriously injured. It was Su Yan who used his blood to prolong his life.
The words "emergency accommodation" in the messenger's report at this moment must mean that Gu Linzhao has truly acted on his feelings. Refusing this request would not only chill Gu Linzhao's heart but also sever all hope of finding medical treatment and investigating the cult at the border.
Sheng Chi tapped his knuckles on the table. “Hasn’t Shuyu Courtyard been empty all this time? Have the steward heat up the floor and prepare the best snow fox fur bedding.”
"General," the guard said in a low voice when he saw him hesitate, "the Second Young Master has always..."
“I know his temper.” Sheng Chi interrupted the guard. “Tell A-Xuan that Su Yan is an honored guest invited by his brother. The distinguished guest and the wounded need to recuperate, and Shuyu Courtyard is the most suitable place.”
He paused, then added, "Send some medicine to him as a token of my gratitude to Physician Su Yan for coming all this way." He thought to himself: placing Su Zhelan in Shuyu Courtyard would not only give Su Yan face and make it easier for him to treat her, but also allow him to observe this young man of unknown origin and seriously injured nearby.
The guards were about to leave when Sheng Chi said, "Wait. Pass on my order to have the steward treat him well. As for Gu Linzhao... go there yourself and tell him I'm busy with military affairs and we'll talk to him in detail another day." He needed to get the details of the boy's injury from Gu Linzhao and Su Yan as soon as possible, and whether it was related to a cult.
As the candlelight flickered, Sheng Chi gazed at the deepening night outside the window, stroking the military tally on the table, and muttered to himself, "Although Shuyu Courtyard is a place of great prosperity, if we can keep Su Yan, this medical genius, and take this opportunity to expose the cult's true nature, what's wrong with letting him move to the front army's tent?"
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