Chapter 56
With his back to Su Zhelan, Su Yan listened to the faint yet clear "tap...tap..." sound behind him, each sound like a heavy hammer hitting his heart.
His fingers gripped the edge of the medicine cabinet so tightly that his knuckles turned white. What dripped from the jade bowl was not just a hope for salvation, but also a sword hanging over Su Zhelan's head.
As the dripping sound gradually stopped, Su Yan took a deep breath, as if he had used all his strength to turn around.
The jade bowl contained about half a bowl of dark red blood. Under the dim light, the blood appeared exceptionally thick and deep, faintly radiating an indescribable eerie glow, and exuding a faint scent mixed with rust and some strange vegetation. Su Yan's heart sank. This blood... was indeed extraordinary.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart, carefully picked up the jade bowl, and walked to the medicine stove that had been prepared beforehand. The stove was burning brightly, and on it sat a specially made small silver cauldron with its inner walls engraved with fine runes. He did not immediately pour the blood into it, but first took out a palm-sized, pitch-black earthenware jar from the most hidden compartment of the medicine box.
Upon opening the jar, an extremely pungent, rotten medicinal smell instantly filled the air, even overpowering the stench of blood.
Inside the jar was a thick, ink-like paste, a potent "Gu-attracting Powder" that Su Yan had reconstructed from fragments of a heretical cult's Gu poison manual during his early years of research. This substance could forcibly stimulate the activity of Gu worms, making them restless and easier to draw out or suppress in a short period of time. It was extremely risky; the slightest mistake could trigger the Gu worms to go completely berserk and turn against their host.
Su Yan's hands trembled slightly. He looked at Su Zhelan's blood in the bowl, then at the black ointment in the jar, his expression extremely complicated.
He wanted to use Su Zhelan's blood as a catalyst and this domineering "Gu-attracting Powder" as fire to refine a medicine that could either save Sheng Xuan or completely destroy Su Zhelan!
“Ze Lan…” Su Yan’s voice was terribly hoarse, “This medicinal ingredient is extremely potent. It requires first activating the Gu source within your body before your heart’s essence blood can be extracted for the medicine… The process… will be extremely painful.” He dared not look Su Ze Lan in the eyes, “Do you… still wish to continue?”
Su Zhelan sat leaning against the low couch, her wrist wrapped with a strip of cloth that had just stopped bleeding. Her face was as pale as paper, and cold sweat still clung to her forehead.
Upon hearing the words "extremely painful," his body tensed almost imperceptibly, but his eyes remained unwavering.
He forced a weak but unusually determined smile: "Master, do it... I can take it."
Su Yan closed his eyes briefly, then hesitated no longer. He scooped up a small piece of the thick, black ointment with a silver spoon and placed it into the silver cauldron. The ointment melted upon contact with the heat, sizzling and releasing a plume of smoke carrying the stench of sulfur and decay. Then, holding his breath, he slowly poured the half-bowl of dark red blood from the jade bowl into the silver cauldron!
"Sizzle—!"
The moment the blood came into contact with the scalding hot ointment, a piercing sound erupted!
An indescribable stench, a mixture of strong blood, pungent medicinal odor, and eerie sweetness, suddenly exploded out, filling the entire tent! The liquid inside the cauldron churned and boiled violently, its color rapidly changing from dark red to an eerie purplish-black, with a layer of fine, writhing foam even rising to the surface!
At the same time, Su Zhelan, who was sitting on the low couch, suddenly stiffened! It was as if an invisible, red-hot iron rod had been plunged into the scar on the back of his neck!
A sharp pain exploded instantly, spreading wildly along his spine and rushing straight to the top of his head! He groaned, his vision suddenly went black, and he saw stars. Immediately afterward, an indescribable, terrifying sensation, as if countless tiny venomous insects were simultaneously awakening in his internal organs and limbs, frantically gnawing and tearing at him, swept over his entire body!
"Ugh—!" Su Zhelan could no longer suppress her scream and let out a shrill, distorted wail!
He sprang up from the low couch like a live shrimp thrown into a pot of boiling oil! His body convulsed and rolled uncontrollably, his ten fingers digging deep into the cold, hard ground, drawing blood!
He bit his lip hard, trying to stop the painful scream, but all he tasted was blood. His lips were bitten raw and bloody!
The thick medicated bandage on the back of his neck was instantly penetrated by a strange, eerie blue light! The scar seemed to come alive, throbbing and twisting wildly beneath his skin, as if something was about to burst forth! The excruciating pain was like a tsunami, wave after wave stronger than the last, almost tearing his remaining consciousness to shreds!
Su Yan felt his heart breaking as he watched Su Zhelan writhe in agony on the ground, seemingly driven mad. But he knew he couldn't stop now! He suppressed the urge to rush over and embrace Su Zhelan, and with trembling hands, picked up a specially made, hollow silver needle, shaped like a wheat stalk.
He pinpointed the spot on Su Zhelan's chest, which was heaving violently from the intense pain, about an inch above the Xinshu acupoint—the place where the essence and blood of the heart are most easily stirred!
"Good boy... bear with it!" Su Yan's voice was trembling with tears as the silver needle pierced down with lightning speed!
"puff!"
A very slight muffled sound. The needle tip pierced the skin precisely, and a stream of blood, thicker and darker than the blood from the wrist, almost dark purple, and carrying astonishing heat, slowly flowed out from the hollow needle and dripped into another pure white jade bottle that Su Yan had prepared beforehand! This blood was the essence of his heart!
As his heart's essence flowed out, Su Zhelan's body spasms reached their peak! He let out a shrill, inhuman scream, his body arching upwards like a dying fish, before crashing heavily back to the ground and completely losing consciousness.
The blue light on the back of his neck suddenly dimmed, leaving only the scar on his pale skin, which looked even more ferocious and glaring.
Su Yan quickly pulled out the silver needle and pressed the tiny needle hole firmly with the prepared wound medicine and hemostatic powder. His hands trembled as he tightly gripped the jade bottle containing the few drops of dark purple heart's blood in his palm, as if holding a scorching hot iron, or as if clutching a life-saving straw.
He dared not look again at Su Zhelan, who lay unconscious on the ground, her breath as weak as a candle flickering in the wind. Suppressing his immense grief and fear, he turned and rushed towards the medicine furnace. He carefully dripped those few drops of precious and strange heart's blood into the still boiling, purplish-black liquid.
"Buzz..."
A strange, soft hum emanated from the medicine cauldron. The churning liquid instantly calmed down, its eerie purplish-black color rapidly fading, finally solidifying into a bottomless, obsidian-like, viscous paste, emitting an extremely restrained yet unsettling deep medicinal fragrance.
The ointment, still warm, was carefully scraped into the porcelain box by Su Yan.
He carried the box of medicine, forged from Su Zelan's heart's blood and immense pain, and walked heavily toward Shengxuan's tent.
Inside the tent, Sheng Xuan was still struggling between unconsciousness and excruciating pain, her face ashen and her breath as faint as a spider's thread.
Su Yan took a deep breath, scooped up a small piece of obsidian-like ointment with a silver spoon, dissolved it in warm water, and personally pried open Sheng Xuan's tightly clenched teeth, slowly pouring the dark brown medicine down his throat.
A deathly silence fell over the tent. Su Yan, Sheng Chi, and Xiao Qiyun, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, all held their breath, their gazes fixed on Sheng Xuan's face. Time seemed to freeze, each second feeling incredibly long.
Half an hour passed... an hour passed...
Just when everyone was about to despair, Sheng Xuan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed almost imperceptibly... by a tiny bit!
Immediately afterwards, his breathing, which had been as rapid as a broken bellows, seemed to... slow down a little! Although it was still weak, the suffocating feeling of being on the verge of death, forcibly cut off by pain, lessened!
After a moment, the deathly gray that had enveloped Sheng Xuan's face seemed to have been lightened somewhat by an invisible brush. Although it was still pale, it was no longer the despairing ashen gray. His tightly furrowed brows completely relaxed, and although he was still unconscious, the deep lines etched by pain between his brows had noticeably healed considerably.
"Look!" Xiao Qiyun's voice trembled with disbelief as he pointed to Sheng Xuan's exposed arm—the skin there, originally tinged with an ominous bluish-black from the Gu poison, now had spiderweb-like, chilling black lines that seemed to have faded slightly?! Although they were still there, the lifeless, grayish feeling had been replaced by a faint vitality!
Su Yan rushed to the bedside, his trembling fingers touching Sheng Xuan's wrist. The pulse was still weak, but the life force that had been so fiercely suppressed by the Gu poison, almost extinguished, now stubbornly sprouted a tiny, tender shoot, like withered grass touched by a spring breeze! Although it was only an extremely subtle change, it was enough to prove—the medicine was effective! Zhe Lan's blood… could truly suppress the Gu poison!
An overwhelming sense of joy instantly overwhelmed Su Yan! Tears streamed down his face, and he almost collapsed to the ground.
Sheng Chi's tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed slightly, and his eyes shone with the light of relief after surviving a calamity. Xiao Qiyun's tightly pursed lips relaxed slightly, and his gaze towards Sheng Xuan was filled with hope.
However, after this brief moment of joy, a deeper and more complex emotion, like a cold tide, quietly washed over Su Yan's heart. He slowly turned his head, looking in the direction of Su Zhelan's tent, his eyes filled with indescribable sadness, worry, and...fear.
The medicine worked, and Shengxuan was saved.
But what about the child who paid such a terrible price? He lies in the cold tent, barely breathing. Has the forcibly activated Gu energy beneath the scar on the back of his neck subsided? Is the excruciating pain of having his heart ripped out still tormenting him? And what kind of abyss will this life-saving "blood" ultimately push Su Zhelan into?
A faint glimmer of hope appeared beside Shengxuan's couch, but at the same time it cast an even deeper and more dangerous shadow over Su Zhelan.
General Sheng Chi stood at the foot of the couch, his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxing completely, the gloom in his eyes replaced by immense joy and relief.
He gazed at his younger brother's face, which was gradually regaining its vitality, and the heavy pressure of the past few days seemed to be relieved of most of it.
However, this ecstasy, like the receding tide, quickly revealed the cold, hard reef beneath—what exactly was this medicine, this miraculously effective medicine? Where did it come from?
He abruptly turned to Su Yan, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, carrying an undeniable pressure and a hint of barely perceptible inquiry: "Mr. Su Yan! This medicine... is truly miraculous! Sheng Xuan's Gu poison has been suppressed so thoroughly!" He took a step forward, his voice low yet carrying a compelling force, "This medicine... what exactly is it made of? Could it be... that you have truly found the legendary 'Mother Gu'?!"
The words "Mother Gu" struck Su Yan like a thunderclap! The smile on his face froze instantly, and the hand holding the medicine box trembled violently, almost dropping it to the ground.
He instinctively avoided Sheng Chi's sharp gaze, his eyes flickering, his lips trembling, his Adam's apple bobbing laboriously, but he couldn't utter a clear syllable: "This...this...General...this medicine...this medicine..."
Su Yan's stammering, his barely concealed panic and guilt, were like a bucket of boiling oil, instantly pouring over the doubts that had been building up in Sheng Chi's heart for days!
The descriptions from the guards a few days ago, Sheng Xuan's own admission that "Su Zhelan gave" the small bottle, Su Zhelan's mysterious insights into the strange Gu poison, and now this "miracle drug" that has an immediate yet unpredictable effect... all the clues and all the doubts are connected at this moment as if by invisible threads, ultimately nailing them firmly to that thin young man!
"Su Zhelan!" Sheng Chi's voice suddenly rose, like a drawn sword, carrying a chilling killing intent and a furious rage at being deceived. "It's Su Zhelan, isn't it?! Or... does he actually know the whereabouts of the Mother Gu?!"
A fierce rage instantly ignited in Sheng Chi's eyes! He stopped looking at Su Yan, turned around abruptly, and with a clang, the sword at his waist was drawn! The cold blade drew a blinding light in the dim tent, reflecting on his ashen face and the undisguised killing intent in his eyes!
"I knew it! That kid's origins are unknown, he's a master of both medicine and poison, and yet he knows so much about Gu poison! What special physique? What ancient book fragments? It's all nonsense!" Sheng Chi's voice was like ice exploding, filled with thunderous rage.
"He's nothing but a remnant of a cult! He's the host of that mother Gu! He's the one who made Sheng Xuan wish he were dead! Now he's using this evil and crooked thing to create a mystery! This general will go and capture him right now! I'll cut open his heart and liver to see what kind of wicked tricks are hidden inside!"
Before he finished speaking, Sheng Chi rushed towards the tent entrance like a whirlwind, his long sword gleaming coldly and exuding a murderous aura!
"General! No!" Su Yan was terrified and almost lunged forward, using all his strength to grab Sheng Chi's sword-wielding arm! The physician's strength was no match for the battlefield warrior. Sheng Chi pulled him off balance, and he almost fell, but he still held on tightly, his voice shrill and desperate.
"General, please calm down! Listen to me! It's not what you think! Zhelan... he was trying to save Shengxuan! He was gambling with his life!"
"Save Sheng Xuan?" Sheng Chi suddenly stopped and turned to glare at Su Yan, his eyes blazing with fury. "Use the blood of a cult to save him? Use that Gu source that could condemn Sheng Xuan to eternal damnation?! Su Yan! You're confused! You've been deceived by him! He's trying to save himself! He's using a self-inflicted injury to cover his identity! Get out of the way!" He jerked his arm, trying to break free from Su Yan's grip.
Su Yan's arm went numb from the shock, but he still refused to let go: "General! I swear on my life! Su Zhelan is not a cultist! If he had any intention to harm people, why would he wait until today? And why... why would he gouge out his heart and draw blood, torturing himself to the point of being half-dead!"
His voice choked with emotion, "That medicine...that medicine was made with his heart's blood! He's on his deathbed, his fate uncertain! General! You can't...you can't repay kindness with enmity!"
"Heart's blood?" Sheng Chi's movements suddenly froze, a fleeting look of astonishment flashing in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by deeper anger and suspicion. "Hmph! What a clever ruse! Cutting out your heart to draw blood? Get out of my way! This general will get to the bottom of this today!"
Ignoring Su Yan's pleas, he exerted force again, violently throwing Su Yan away! Su Yan staggered backward, about to crash heavily into the hard corner of the medicine cabinet!
Gu Linzhao had just returned from his inspection and heard a dispute inside the tent as soon as he arrived outside. In his haste, he used all his movement skills!
Gu Linzhao swiftly extended his arm and wrapped it around Su Yan's waist, gently dissipating the immense force of the impact and protecting the still-shaken Su Yan in his arms.
At the same time, his other hand shot out with lightning speed, his five fingers gripping Sheng Chi's sword-wielding wrist with pincers as precisely as iron clamps! The force was so great that Sheng Chi's arm, which was capable of splitting rocks, could not move forward an inch!
"General Sheng!" Gu Linzhao's voice wasn't loud, but it carried the unquestionable authority and powerful inner force unique to the leader of the martial arts alliance, instantly silencing all the noise in the tent. "Where is your sword pointing?!"
Sheng Chi's arm went numb from the sudden obstruction and the unfathomable internal force, and he was filled with shock and anger! He turned his head sharply and met Gu Linzhao's calm yet thunderous eyes: "Gu Linzhao! You've come at the right time! Su Yan is confused, deceived by that Su Zhelan! That brat must be a remnant of a cult, using evil magic to harm my army! This general is about to bring him to justice!"
"Asking for punishment?" Gu Linzhao's gaze swept over the gleaming sword in Sheng Chi's hand, then fell on Su Yan, who was pale and breathing unsteadily in his arms. His eyes instantly turned cold.
"General Sheng Chi, you're pointing your sword at someone who just had his heart ripped out and blood drawn to save your younger brother's life, and who is now unconscious. Is this your way of 'punishing' him, General Zhenbei's mansion?!" His words were forceful, his inner strength flowing through them, causing the candlelight in the tent to flicker.
Sheng Chi was momentarily speechless at this righteous and indignant question, but his anger only intensified: "Benefactor?! Alliance Leader Gu Linzhao! Do you know what kind of 'medicine' he used? It was his blood! A 'medicine' that can drive thousands of Gu worms mad! This is no ordinary method! He is clearly the host of the mother Gu! The source of all chaos!"
"The source of chaos?" Gu Linzhao sneered, tightening his grip on Sheng Chi's wrist to force the sword tip to drop. "If he is the source of chaos, why did he damage his own heart meridian to concoct the antidote to save Sheng Xuan? Why did he stay in the General's Mansion, willingly enduring your suspicion? General Sheng Chi, as a commander of an army, you should be discerning and thorough in your investigations, not draw your sword based solely on conjecture! If you kill the wrong person with this sword, who will cure Sheng Xuan's poison? What about the General's Mansion's kindness? How will the world view your treatment of your savior?!"
Gu Linzhao's words struck Sheng Chi's heart like a heavy hammer.
He wasn't entirely unreasonable; it was just that his worries, anger, and suspicions of the past few days had clouded his judgment. Now, pressured by Gu Linzhao with reason and force, his raging anger was finally forcibly suppressed.
He stared intently at Gu Linzhao, then looked at Su Yan, who was being held in Gu Linzhao's arms, his eyes filled with tears, shaking his head incessantly. His hand holding the sword hilt trembled slightly, but the tip of the sword was ultimately not raised again.
The biting wind whipped his fiery black cloak, making it rustle violently. The longsword in his hand reflected a chilling glint in the cold moonlight. Each step he took shook the ground, carrying a resolute determination to destroy everything in its path.
Seeing that Sheng Chi's imposing aura had subsided slightly, Gu Linzhao turned his gaze to Su Yan in his arms. The coldness in his eyes instantly turned into deep tenderness, and he asked softly, "Are you hurt?" His voice was gentle, completely different from his previous sternness.
Still shaken, Su Yan leaned against Gu Linzhao's firm chest, feeling the familiar scent, and finally regained some strength. He shook his head, his voice choked with emotion, "I'm alright... but Zhelan... he..."
Su Zhelan's tent was close at hand. The tent flaps were tightly closed, and inside was deathly silent, with only faint, almost inaudible breathing sounds.
With a swift swing of his longsword, Sheng Chi cleaved the heavy tent curtains in two with a sharp "rip"! Torn fabrics flew through the air.
Inside the tent, the oil lamp flickered dimly. Su Zhelan was curled up on a straw mat in the corner, covered only by a thin blanket. His face was ashen, his lips were bloodless, and his eyes were tightly closed.
His breathing was shallow and rapid, his forehead covered in cold sweat, and even in his unconscious state, his body trembled slightly from the lingering pain. Thick bandages were wrapped around his wrists, with faint traces of blood showing through, and there seemed to be a bandage wrapped around his chest under his clothes as well. He was as fragile as glass that could shatter at the slightest touch.
Sheng Chi's tall figure blocked the doorway, his black cloak fluttering in the cold wind outside the tent. His icy gaze, filled with scrutiny and murderous intent, was like a poisoned ice spike, piercing the defenseless boy on the bed.
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