Chapter 54
General Sheng Chi's tall figure appeared at the door like an iron tower, his black cloak still damp with dew and dust.
His sharp gaze swept across the tent in an instant, and when he saw Sheng Xuan lying on the operating table, his face ashen white, and a hideous black mark on his shoulder, his pupils contracted sharply! He lifted his leg to rush inside, his voice filled with barely suppressed urgency and anxiety: "How is Sheng Xuan?! He..."
"General!" A figure suddenly stepped forward and blocked Sheng Chi's path; it was Gu Linzhao.
His burly frame was like a wall, his face still splattered with blood from when he had subdued Old Zhang. His voice was deep but carried an undeniable air of obstruction: "You can't go over there! Su Zhelan is doing everything she can to save Sheng Xuan!"
Sheng Chi's steps were abruptly stopped. His brows furrowed, and his gaze shot towards Gu Linzhao like lightning, carrying the imposing aura of a commander: "Get out of the way! How is he?!"
Gu Linzhao did not back down. Meeting Sheng Chi's gaze, he explained quickly, "General Sheng Xuan was hit by a poisoned arrow in his right shoulder. The arrow has been removed, but the poison is potent! Su Zhelan is cleaning the wound and treating the poison. His condition... is relatively good!"
He deliberately emphasized the words "it's not too bad" in an attempt to soothe Sheng Chi's anxiety, but deep in his eyes, he couldn't hide his worry. "The other guard, Old Zhang... is more seriously injured. Mr. Su Yan is treating him, and the situation is very complicated! If you go there, you will interfere with their treatment! Especially Su Zhelan, he is at a critical moment!"
Sheng Chi's gaze passed over Gu Linzhao's shoulder and stared intently at Sheng Xuan's operating table.
He saw Su Zhelan with her head down, her profile looking particularly focused and tense in the dim oil lamp light, her fingertips twirling silver needles with steady and precise movements.
Sheng Xuan's body trembled slightly under Su Zhelan's acupuncture, but no longer convulsed as violently as before.
He glanced at another operating table, where Su Yan was sweating profusely as he treated a leg injury that was almost unrecognizable. The auxiliary soldiers were frantically handing him tools, creating a chaotic and tense scene.
Xiao Qiyun followed Sheng Chi and stepped into the tent, raising a little dust.
Unlike Sheng Chi, he didn't rush inside. Instead, he stood quietly slightly inside the doorway. His gaze first swept quickly over Sheng Xuan's pale face and the wound on his shoulder, a barely perceptible ripple passing through his eyes. Then, he turned to Su Zhelan and Su Yan, who were busy at work.
His gaze lingered on Su Zhelan's focused profile for a moment, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly, but he quickly regained his usual composure, though his fingers twitched slightly inside his sleeve.
Blocked by Gu Linzhao, Sheng Chi could not approach and could only pace anxiously for half a step. He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the turmoil in his heart, and turned his gaze to Su Zhelan again. His voice was low and hoarse, carrying an undeniable command: "Su Zhelan! Sheng Xuan... how is he?!"
Su Zhelan heard Sheng Chi's voice and felt his piercing gaze.
His movements were uninterrupted, without even looking up. He simply used his fingers, stained with blood and medicine, to steadily twist the last silver needle, precisely inserting it deep into the acupoint.
Only after confirming that the needles were in place did he slightly turn his head, his gaze quickly sweeping over Sheng Chi's direction. His voice carried the calmness of a doctor treating a patient, along with a barely perceptible tension: "General, rest assured, although the arrow poison is potent, it has not entered the heart meridian. I am currently removing the poison, so you need to concentrate on the acupuncture and cannot be distracted."
His answer was concise and professional, both calming Sheng Chi's anxiety and implying the seriousness of the situation and his need to focus.
After saying that, he immediately lowered his head again, picked up a new piece of cotton cloth soaked in the antidote, and carefully covered it on Sheng Xuan's blackened wound on his shoulder, pressing it gently with his fingertips to allow the medicine to penetrate.
"Thank you for your help, physicians." Sheng Chi's voice was deep and hoarse, carrying an unquestionable solemnity and entrustment.
These words seemed directed at everyone inside the tent, yet his gaze ultimately settled on Su Zhelan's drooping, sweat-dampened temples. Before the words were even finished, he had already turned abruptly, his black cloak drawing a sharp arc behind him, stirring up a gust of cold wind.
Without the slightest hesitation, he strode toward the tent entrance, his steps hurried yet steady, each one carrying the decisiveness and weight of a commander.
Xiao Qiyun made his move almost the instant Sheng Chi turned around.
He didn't say much, but his gaze swept over the unconscious Sheng Xuan on the operating table again, then quickly swept over Su Zhelan's focused profile. The barely perceptible ripples in the depths of his eyes instantly subsided, like a deep pool. He nodded slightly, the movement elegant and silent, then turned around, his figure like a shadow, silently following Sheng Chi and disappearing outside the tent curtain.
The curtains fell, shutting out the howling wind and the distant footsteps outside.
Inside the tent, only the clanging of instruments used by Su Yan to treat the wound, Old Zhang's intermittent groans of pain, and Su Zhelan's steady and rhythmic rescue movements could be heard.
The bubbling sound of boiling water and Gu Linzhao's muffled groans as he suppressed the wounded created a suffocating background sound.
Su Zhelan's fingers continued to steadily manipulate the silver needles, as if the brief interlude had never happened. Only the beads of sweat sliding down her forehead silently testified to the tension of this race against death.
The stench of blood and medicine in the tent was replaced by a profound sense of exhaustion. The bubbling of boiling water had long since ceased, leaving only the faint breathing of the wounded and the soft clanging of equipment as the auxiliary soldiers packed up their gear.
Su Zhelan slumped on a low stool next to Sheng Xuan's operating table, leaning against the cold medicine cabinet, almost completely exhausted. His face was pale, his hair was soaked with sweat, strands of it sticking to his temples, and his fingertips trembled slightly from the long hours of acupuncture and pressure, stained with congealed blood and medicine.
He looked at Sheng Xuan on the operating table, whose breathing had finally stabilized. Although his face was still ashen and the bluish-purple color of his lips had not completely faded, at least the deadly toxin had been temporarily suppressed, and the wound had been covered with a thick layer of antidote ointment that exuded a bitter medicinal fragrance.
His nerves, which had been tense all day, suddenly relaxed, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him, leaving him with almost no strength to even lift his hand.
On the other side, Su Yan's condition wasn't much better. He could barely stand by holding onto the edge of the operating table, his back and waist aching and stiff from bending over for so long.
Old Zhang, the bodyguard, was narrowly escaped death, but at a heavy price—his leg, which had been gnawed by the Gu worms, could not be saved, and Su Yan had no choice but to amputate it.
At this moment, Old Zhang was wrapped in bandages all over his body, like a broken puppet. He had fallen into a deep coma under the influence of the strong anesthetic, and his breathing was weak but steady.
Su Yan looked at the empty trouser leg, a heavy pang of regret flashing in his eyes, which was then overwhelmed by deep exhaustion.
He instructed Gu Linzhao in a hoarse voice, "Keep him on the hook with the best 'life-sustaining soup,' feed him every half hour, without interruption. Also, regarding the wound... be careful with the amount of the tissue-regenerating ointment, don't let the new flesh grow too fast and break the stitches..." His voice was extremely hoarse.
Gu Linzhao responded, his face also showing signs of fatigue, but his eyes remained alert as he watched Old Zhang's condition.
Su Yan took a deep breath and forced himself to stay alert. He walked to Su Zhelan's side, patted the boy's shoulder lightly, and said, "Well done. You saved Sheng Xuan's life." He glanced at Su Zhelan's exhausted appearance. "You stay with Sheng Xuan and watch his temperature. If he gets a fever, immediately apply 'Ice Soul Powder' to his forehead. I'm going to report back to General Sheng Chi."
Su Zhelan nodded reluctantly, her voice barely audible: "Um... Master, be careful."
Su Yan didn't say anything more. He walked to the basin in the corner and splashed his face with cold water. The icy stimulation cleared his muddled mind a bit.
He took off his blood-stained and medicine-stained outer robe, put on a relatively clean dark cloth shirt, and carefully checked the medicine box that he never parted with, making sure that the pulse pillow, silver needles, record book and other items inside were complete.
After doing all this, he glanced at Sheng Xuan, who was still unconscious, and then at Lao Zhang, whose life hung by a thread. He took a deep breath, lifted the tent flap, and strode out.
The main tent was brightly lit, and the atmosphere was solemn.
General Sheng Chi stood with his back to the tent entrance, before a huge map of the border region. His dark uniform made his silhouette appear as heavy as a mountain. On the map, the location of Luoying Ravine was heavily circled in vermilion, with casualty figures and symbols of cult activities marked next to it.
Xiao Qiyun sat at a low table to the side, holding a scroll of newly delivered secret reports from frontline scouts, his brows slightly furrowed.
Footsteps approached, and Sheng Chi whirled around. When he saw Su Yan enter, his eyes lit up with urgency, and he stepped forward: "Mr. Su Yan! How... are they?"
Su Yan stopped, bowed slightly to Sheng Chi and Xiao Qiyun, his voice carrying undisguised fatigue, yet still steady and clear: "Reporting to the General, Your Highness Xiao. The treatment is complete."
He paused, his gaze fixed on Sheng Chi: "My personal guard, Old Zhang, is severely injured. His left calf has been almost completely devoured by the Gu worms, and to save his life, I have already amputated it. He also suffered severe injuries to his chest and abdomen, resulting in excessive blood loss and a significant depletion of his vital energy. He is currently being kept alive with 'life-sustaining soup,' and whether he can survive tonight is still uncertain." His tone was calm, yet every word carried weight.
Sheng Chi's breath hitched, and his clenched fists turned white at the knuckles. He remained silent for a moment before asking in a hoarse voice, "What about Sheng Xuan?"
"Shengxuan," Su Yan's voice turned unusually serious, his brows furrowed, "The arrow wound on his right shoulder may seem ordinary, but it was actually extremely dangerous! The poison on the arrowhead was no ordinary poison; it was 'Child Gu'!"
"Child Gu?" Sheng Chi and Xiao Qiyun simultaneously caught this key word, their eyes instantly sharpening.
"Exactly!" Su Yan nodded emphatically, his eyes filled with the solemnity and a hint of urgency characteristic of a healer. "The moment the arrow pierced the flesh, the 'child Gu' had already burrowed into General Sheng Xuan's body through his blood vessels! This Gu is extremely peculiar, unlike anything I've seen before. It doesn't parasitize independently, but rather it's a 'mother-child symbiotic relationship'! At this moment, the 'child Gu' has been temporarily suppressed by Su Zhelan using her golden needle technique, lying dormant near General Sheng Xuan's heart meridian. However, this Gu is exceptionally insidious. Once awakened, it will continuously devour the host's essence, blood, and vital energy, and will even remotely resonate with the 'mother Gu'! If it cannot be eradicated, the child Gu will grow stronger day by day, and eventually... the host will be completely drained, reduced to a walking corpse, and may even be controlled by the mother Gu!"
"A Gu poison?!" Sheng Chi's voice suddenly rose, filled with disbelief and anger. "You mean... Sheng Xuan has been poisoned by a Gu poison?!"
A deathly silence fell over the tent! Sheng Chi's face turned ashen, his eyes blazing with rage and chilling killing intent! A cult! It's that damned cult again! Using such insidious methods!
Xiao Qiyun's brows furrowed deeply, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the edge of the secret report, his eyes unfathomable.
Su Yan took a deep breath and continued, "Ordinary detoxification methods are ineffective against this 'child Gu'! To completely eradicate it and save General Sheng Xuan's life, there is only one way—we must find the corresponding 'mother Gu'! Using her heart's blood as a guide, combined with a special prescription, we can completely neutralize the child Gu and eliminate its residual poison!"
"..." Sheng Chi's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a chilling coldness, "Where is it?!"
“The mother Gu…” Xiao Qiyun put down the secret report in his hand, walked to Sheng Chi’s side, and his gaze also fell on the map. His voice was calm and even, but it carried a hint of coldness that was hard to detect: “The one who controls the mother and child Gu must be a high-ranking member of the evil cult, and his whereabouts are elusive. We need to send our most capable and cautious people, and… we need to be quick. The longer the child Gu is delayed, the more disadvantageous it will be for Sheng Xuan.”
Inside the military doctor's tent, Su Zhelan slumped on a low stool, leaning against the cold medicine cabinet, his body feeling as if it had fallen apart. The numbness from the acupuncture and the sticky feeling from pressing on the wounds lingered on his fingertips, mixed with the smells of blood, ointment, and strong liquor, as if they had seeped into his skin.
He looked at Sheng Xuan on the operating table, whose breathing was weak but had finally stabilized. His face, which always carried a flamboyant smile, was now as pale as paper, his lips were an unnatural bluish-gray, and his brows were furrowed even in his unconscious state, as if he was enduring invisible pain.
Overwhelmed by immense fatigue, his eyelids felt so heavy they almost stuck together. Yet, deep within, a chilling coldness dispelled all sleepiness, leaving his hands and feet icy.
When his fingertips touched the blackened wound on Sheng Xuan's shoulder that emitted a strange, fishy smell, when his silver needles pierced the acupoint, trying to suppress the chilling power rampaging through Sheng Xuan's meridians... an extremely subtle yet terrifying sense of familiarity, like a venomous snake, quietly coiled around his heart.
That chilling, cunning, and life-devouring aura... resonated with something indescribable and unsettling: the "thing" sealed beneath the scar deep on the back of his neck, covered by layers of disguise and ointment.
That's no ordinary poison!
What resides within Sheng Xuan's body is a "child gu"! An extremely insidious parasitic evil that requires a "mother gu" as its core to exist!
This realization struck him like a thunderbolt, tearing at his nerves every moment he performed acupuncture to detoxify Sheng Xuan and suppress the Gu worms.
He understood better than anyone what the "mother-child Gu" meant—it meant that Sheng Xuan's life and death were now firmly tied to his own!
He dared not think too deeply, much less reveal the slightest hint of it. Under Master Su Yan's all-knowing gaze, and in the suffocatingly tense atmosphere inside the tent, he could only clench his teeth tightly, forcibly suppressing all his shock, fear, and churning doubts.
He forced himself to focus on the movements of his hands—cleaning, detoxifying, acupuncture, applying medicine… He performed each step with precision and stability, as if he were a highly skilled and single-minded doctor.
He dared not say it.
Once he speaks out, once the matter is investigated further, how can he explain the "thing" within him that resonates with it? How can he face the suspicious and fearful gazes of Master Su Yan and General Sheng Chi?
"Remnants of a cult"... these four words hung over his head like a red-hot iron. Would the little foothold he had painstakingly gained in the General's mansion, the hard-won peace and... sense of acceptance, vanish instantly because of the exposure of this secret?
Could it even implicate Sheng Xuan? After all, the venomous insect in Sheng Xuan's body seems to have been fully activated because of some kind of "resonance" with him?
The thought pierced his heart like a poisonous thorn, bringing a sharp pain and a deeper fear.
He subconsciously raised his hand, his fingertips lightly touching the area under his collar at the back of his neck.
There, beneath the scar, that long-dormant "thing" seemed to... stir slightly during the treatment of Sheng Xuan just now? Was it because it sensed the "child gu" of the same origin?
Cold sweat instantly soaked through his undershirt.
He abruptly withdrew his hand, as if he had been burned. His gaze fell again on Sheng Xuan's pale face, and seeing his still-furrowed brows even in his unconscious state, Su Zhelan felt as if her heart had been gripped tightly by an icy hand, a mixture of soreness and throbbing, along with indescribable guilt and panic.
"I'm sorry..." A barely audible, trembling whisper escaped his dry lips, dissipating into the stagnant air within the tent. He didn't know who he was apologizing to—to Sheng Xuan? Or to the past he desperately wanted to escape, yet seemed forever unable to shake off?
He closed his eyes wearily and buried his head in his arms. His body trembled slightly from exhaustion and turbulent emotions.
Outside the tent, the wind howled, like the whispers of ghosts.
Inside the tent, the oil lamp flame flickered uneasily, casting Su Zhelan's huddled figure onto the tent wall, making her appear exceptionally thin and lonely.
The heavy secret, like an invisible shackle, bound him firmly to this small place filled with the smell of medicine and blood, and together with the unconscious Sheng Xuan, they sank into the deeper night.
When Su Yan lifted the curtain and came in, he ran into Su Zhelan curled up by the low couch.
"You must be exhausted?" Su Yan put down the copper basin in his hand. The boiling water rippled with light, reflecting the lamplight like the shattered ripples in Su Zhelan's eyes. "Don't worry, General Sheng Chi has sent his shadow guards to search for ancient villages in the southern border, and His Highness has also used the secret archives... The search for the Mother Gu is underway."
As the words "mother Gu" were uttered, Su Zhelan trembled violently.
His spine straightened, and he suddenly looked up, meeting Su Yan's concerned eyes. His pupils shrank into two abysses, into which the dim candlelight fell and was instantly swallowed.
His throat bobbed, the truth, like a coiled dead snake, lurking and stirring, but was ultimately swallowed, leaving only a rusty, metallic taste in his throat. His fingernails dug deep into his palms, piercing the flesh, and a few drops of blood silently seeped into the coarse cloth.
"Can you still hold on?" Su Yan's hand landed on his shoulder, his rough knuckles carrying the scent of herbal powder, pressing heavily against him.
"Your face is as white as paper. Su Yan and I are here. Go back and rest for two hours!" Before he finished speaking, the medicine grinder made a dull rolling sound in Gu Linzhao's hand, grinding through the dead silence.
Su Zhelan hastily lowered his eyes and replied, "Okay." He propped himself up on the edge of the bed, his movements stiff as a puppet, his clothes spilling half a bowl of brown medicinal soup that was drying by the bedside.
The soup spilled out, overflowing the still-damp bloodstains on the ground, mixing into a sticky, black pool.
"Watch out!" Gu Linzhao's voice came from behind him.
Su Zhelan seemed not to hear, and just kept walking quickly with her head down.
The moment the curtain was lifted, the chill of dawn, like an icy snake, crept up his collar, causing a sudden, burning pain in the old scar on the back of his neck, which throbbed as if alive.
The moonlight outside the tent was dim, casting his shadow on the cold mud as a long, thin chain.
He staggered, each step feeling like he was stepping on the back of a barbed insect, the pain sharp and intense, spreading from his left foot to every part of his body.
Su Zhelan returned to her simple dwelling, where the narrow bed covered with straw mats was as damp and gloomy as a tomb.
He curled up on it, a deep chill emanating from his limbs and bones. The poison flowed upwards along his blood vessels, emitting a faint, dense buzzing sound like biting.
Suddenly, a burning sensation touched his chest—it was the wolf fang pendant he kept close to his body. It seared his flesh like a branding iron, yet deep within the heat, he felt Sheng Xuan's cold, dying pulse.
On the eve of arriving at the military camp, Sheng Xuan bared his white teeth and shoved a wolf tooth into his hand: "Ward off all evil!" The young man's spirit was burning hot.
At this moment, the teeth are still hot, and the soul is about to die.
As the frost of the night crept over her ankles, Su Zhelan curled up on the straw mat like a fish out of water. The blue glow of the poisonous scar on the back of her neck flickered with each pulse of blood, each pulsation like the tolling of a death knell.
He finally gripped the burning hot token, firmly pinning himself to the boundary between life and death at Shengxuan—the healer knelt as a sacrifice, secretly becoming the only medicinal ingredient.
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