WJ Chapter 71

Little Star (1)

Gleaming, little star, the fifth in the east.

Solemnly, I set out on my nightly mission,
Early and late, I serve the public.

Fate is truly not the same!

——

The sky had darkened.

Gray clouds were gathering into clusters in the distance, and the wind seemed to be picking up as well.

Madam Lin sat by the window, tilting her head back to look at the sky.

She had grown much white hair, as if she had aged greatly in just a single day, her countenance no longer radiant.

She had shed her usual elegant and alluring purple dress. The tight-fitting black clothing outlined her beautiful figure in exquisite curves.

That should be the clothing of an assassin, the clothing of a killer, the clothing of a death warrior… not the clothing of a lady.

Yet now, this pitch-black garment was worn upon her body.

On the desk, hidden weapons of various shapes were laid out in a row.

Every single one was a lethal instrument for taking lives.

The two strange elderly maidservants in Xiaoxiang Palace showed expressions of heartache, kneeling together before Lin Wanxia, pleading incessantly, “Madam, please reconsider…”

“Reconsider?”

Lin Wanxia snorted with laughter. She caressed the cold gleaming hidden weapons on the table, properly tucking them one by one into various places on her body, saying slowly, “This lady… what is there left for me to reconsider?”

“Twenty years ago, Yun Guyan abandoned our engagement for the sake of a common qin player, and I lost my pride.”

“Twenty-four years ago, to preserve Yulin Hall, I endured humiliation and married into the Zhuyin Sect, and I lost my dignity as well as my family.”

“For over twenty years, my martial arts declined, my appearance aged, I wasted my youth in vain… fortunately Heaven pitied me and bestowed upon me a pair of dragon-phoenix twins.”

“But a year ago, I lost my son; yesterday, my last daughter was taken away; and today, even Hunting Geese are gone…”

The sky gradually darkened, as if wind and rain were approaching.

The two maidservants were silent. But Lin Wanxia began to laugh miserably. She spread her arms toward the darkening sky outside the window and tilted her face upward.

“I… I am already like a walking corpse—my body still lives, but my heart has died, rotted, and decomposed completely.”

Lin Wanxia laughed in a hoarse voice, mocking herself, “Only hatred continues to grow. What do I have left to fear?”

……

In the deepest part of the Medicine Gate.

That stone tablet inscribed with “The Living Must Not Enter, The Dead Will Not Be Buried” still leaned quietly against Guan Muyan’s bamboo house.

However today, what emanated from this bamboo house was not the usual strange medicinal odors, but waves of mouth-watering aromas of food and dishes.

“The great Hundred Medicines Elder can’t even pull out a few needles?”

Guan Wujue brought the last soup dish to the table. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing pale yet lean and powerful forearms.

Unfortunately, the words from his mouth were quite mood-killing. “If you can’t pull them out, even cutting open the flesh with a knife to dig them out would be fine.”

Several hot dishes were already on the table, and the rice had been steamed fragrant and fluffy. Guan Muyan had long ago begun eating voraciously without any decorum, his white beard covered with oil stains.

“Easy for you to say…” The old man held his chopsticks pointing in midair, then continued reaching toward the plate to pick up food. “Forcibly pulling out Meridian-Sealing Origin-Suppressing Needles—one wrong move could damage the meridians. You don’t really want to lose all your martial arts, do you?”

Probably no one would dare imagine… that the always unrestrained and unconventional Four Directions Protector would actually cook, and moreover, his skills were quite good.

Although the current Sect Leader Yun had never tasted Protector Guan’s cooking, back in his days as Young Sect Leader Changliu, he went to beg meals from Ah Ku almost every day.

Guan Wujue sat at the table with furrowed brows, fingers interlaced, watching Guan Muyan eat. “A few injuries don’t matter, as long as I can move my internal energy… I can’t delay any longer. The Sect Leader’s condition is getting worse and worse. At this rate, I’m afraid we won’t make it in time.”

Guan Muyan slurped down a bowl of meat soup, set the bowl on the table with a thunk, and asked casually:

“By the way, when you went to Wanci Manor last time, did you see your parents and brother? What did you think?”

Guan Wujue’s expression turned cold. “What parents and brother do I have?”

“…Did you see Duanmu Nanting, Liu Zhu’er, and Duanmu Deng?”

Hearing Guan Muyan resignedly change his wording, Guan Wujue was finally satisfied and nodded. “I did see them.”

Saying this, the Protector recalled that simple and honest young man who had pulled him aside to gnaw on white flour buns while discussing medicinal formulas, and a slight smile appeared at the corners of his lips. “That Young Manor Master Duanmu Deng is rather interesting… Everyone says he’s dull-witted, but I actually quite like him.”

Guan Muyan said, “If you acknowledged your ancestry and returned to your clan, wouldn’t obtaining the nine-leaf jade clarity lotus be a very simple matter?”

“No,” the red-robed Protector firmly shook his head. “Duanmu Nanting is not someone who would abandon public duty for private matters. I’ve tested this approach—it won’t work.”

“Furthermore… it hasn’t yet reached the point of desperation. I don’t want to dig up Duanmu Lin from his grave to flog his corpse again.”

In Guan Wujue’s heart, since he had decided years ago to let the identity of Duanmu Lin die, then it should die cleanly and completely.

Having spoken so readily of severing ties back then, only to run back now when there’s benefit to be gained, performing a hypocritical return to the clan and exploiting his birth parents’ guilt to facilitate stealing the family treasure… this kind of behavior, he truly looked down upon.

There are always those kinds of people who would rather torment themselves until covered in wounds and barely breathing than bend their proud spine. Although Guan Wujue had always considered himself no gentleman of high moral character, since there were now other options, he refused to use such a disgusting method as falsely acknowledging his family.

Hearing this, Guan Muyan unusually fell silent for a long while.

He suddenly raised his head, gazing through the window at the rolling dark clouds in the distance, and said, “Boy, let me ask you—are you truly resigned to just dying like this? Without any attachments?”

“…What?”

Guan Wujue had been deep in thought and was completely caught off guard by this question, not reacting at all.

——In all these years, he had never heard such words from this shameless and eccentric old man Guan Muyan. Much less had he heard them come out so abruptly, with no connection to what preceded them.

Yet the old man Guan Muyan continued unhurriedly. “Think about it… right now, you have parents full of guilt who want to love and compensate you, and a brother who makes you feel affection; your martial arts are naturally superb, not to mention you also have rare and limitless talent in medicine; you have a prestigious reputation in the jianghu, and if you’re willing to acknowledge your ancestry, the next Young Manor Master of Wanci Manor might even be you…”

Guan Wujue tilted his head, his hair falling over his shoulders. He examined Guan Muyan and smiled with raised eyebrows. “…Are you testing me? And you have the nerve to do this while eating food I made.”

Guan Muyan continued on his own. “Deep down, you still consider yourself that medicine person. You always feel that only your blood and your life are worth any money, and whenever you meet someone who treats you well, you can’t wait to hand everything over.”

“But now, your life is actually no longer more worthless than Yun Changliu’s—you just haven’t realized it.”

“As long as you’re willing to take back the life you handed over and return it to yourself, you could live better than at any point in your twenty-five years.”

“……”

Guan Wujue’s expression darkened slightly. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

With a tap, Guan Muyan set down his chopsticks.

On that wrinkled face, a rare serious expression appeared. “If you want to turn back, there’s still time.”

“This old man can guarantee your survival.”

Guan Wujue could hardly believe his ears.

He was stunned for a moment. But in the very next instant, anger surged onto his face.

Guan Wujue abruptly stood up, coldly raised his foot and with a “bang” kicked the table out of place; at the same time, with a sweep of his hand, he sent all the food, dishes, and soup crashing to the floor!

“Guan Muyan!!”

As if something had completely ignited his emotions, the Four Directions Protector’s handsome face took on a chilling ferocity. Pointing at the old man’s nose, he cursed furiously. “At this point, what damned crazy talk are you spouting!”

“Wasn’t it you who was invited by the old Sect Leader to cure the Young Sect Leader of the Fengchun Sheng poison?”

“Wasn’t it you who created medicine people and killed dozens of children?”

“Wasn’t it you who told the old Sect Leader to abduct Duanmu Lin to the Zhuyin Sect?”

“Wasn’t it you who force-fed me medicine to nourish my blood every day for eight years?”

“Wasn’t it you who finally stabbed that steady needle through my heart meridian?”

Bowls and dishes shattered completely, scattering chaotically everywhere. One shard even cut across Guan Muyan’s arm, leaving a fine bloody scratch.

There was not the slightest ripple on the strange doctor’s face—he just stared woodenly at the mess of food on the floor.

…What a waste.

“What on earth are you thinking!?”

The Protector’s enraged voice echoed for a long time. His severely damaged heart meridian couldn’t withstand such intense fury burning through it and suddenly convulsed in chaotic spasms. The sharp pain immediately caused fine cold sweat to break out on Guan Wujue’s forehead.

“Don’t tell me…” He gasped, forcibly enduring the severe pain, speaking almost through gritted teeth. “Don’t tell me that now, at the crucial moment, you’ve regretted it…”

Guan Muyan still said nothing.

Wind surged in through the window, causing the withered-branch-like white hair at his temples to tremble and rustle.

…Look, look at this imposing young man before him. Back when he was just a tiny little medicine person, he used to stand on tiptoe every day to cook for him.

Later he entered the Ghost Gate, and later still became the Great Protector. His cooking skills remained just as good, but he rarely cooked himself anymore.

“Don’t you understand why I acknowledged you as my adoptive father back then?”

…He knew. Of course he knew.

Back then, to enter the Ghost Gate, to completely bury the identity of Ah Ku in the dust, the child whose heart he had just personally pierced to extract blood knelt before him, swaying unsteadily. From then on, the Hundred Medicines Elder, who had always been alone, had a nominal adopted son.

Guan Wujue covered his chest and coughed twice, then suddenly laughed coldly. “Don’t take it seriously, Elder Guan.”

“All these years, I haven’t called you ‘father’ even once.”

Guan Muyan sighed. He recalled that ordinary day over a decade ago… calculating, it had been nearly twenty years.

It was an ordinary afternoon. The sun was viciously hot. He lazily smacked his lips and said to that child who had been abducted to be a medicine person. “From now on, you cook for me, and I’ll teach you medicine.”

…When that deal was struck, this child hadn’t yet met Yun Changliu. He still refused to accept his fate, still desperately wanted to live.

Time had passed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, how had he grown into someone who wouldn’t rest until he’d driven himself to death?

Guan Muyan suddenly grinned and laughed. “Heh heh, regret my ass. Take it seriously my ass.”

In just an instant, he seemed to transform back into that improper strange old man. He shrugged and spread his hands, grimacing. “Isn’t it spread all over the jianghu? The Hundred Medicines Elder has no wife, no children, no friends, no enemies—his whole life devoted only to medicine. Just now, that old demon Yun Guyan told me to test you…”

“Aiya, and you actually thought what? That I’d go soft just because I ate your cooking for a few years? No way, don’t even think about it!”

Guan Wujue stared at him fixedly for a long while, then suddenly released a breath, pressing his chest and slumping over the desk, gasping chaotically, his hands trembling as he fumbled medicine from his bosom and poured it into his mouth.

The medicine’s dissolution into his blood was almost complete. His heart meridian was growing weaker and weaker. Such pain had long been expected.

No, or rather it should be said that when this pain arrived, it was actually much lighter than expected…

There was no recurrence of the old injuries from the whip punishment, no exhaustion of energy leading to weakness and unconsciousness. He had prepared himself to be in constant, agonizing pain like the Sect Leader… yet now it was far from reaching that degree.

If this could be called a miracle, the Protector felt that Heaven had finally deigned to favor him once.

On the other side of the table, Guan Muyan put his hands behind his back and paced leisurely, as if completely indifferent to the pain of the person before him, saying unhurriedly, “The Meridian-Sealing Origin-Suppressing Needles, is it? I do have a method that’s not really a method.”

“Wanci Manor’s Twelve-Point Acupoint Technique has long been acclaimed as the world’s foremost acupoint skill. In theory, as long as you can cultivate this technique to the highest level, you can forcibly expel the needles sealed in the acupoints of your twelve meridians through the acupoint-shocking method.”

Guan Wujue had already chewed up and swallowed the entire bottle of medicine. After gritting his teeth and enduring for a long while, he finally recovered, gasping weakly. “Why didn’t you… didn’t you say so earlier!”

Actually, he had already completed the final form of this Twelve-Point Acupoint Technique long ago.

That was last year at the branch headquarters. He had just received the Bone-Crushing Whip punishment and his internal injuries were so severe he couldn’t even lift his twin swords Pixing and Daiyue. Unwilling to slack off, he simply changed his daily sword practice time to pondering this technique.

…And then he accidentally mastered it completely.

This showed just how terrifying natural talent could be. Duanmu Deng had trained diligently for many years, yet still couldn’t match what the Protector had casually achieved while recovering from serious injuries to pass the time.

Guan Muyan glanced at him coolly. “However, I must warn you… right now you can’t move your internal energy. Even if you truly cultivate this technique to the highest level, you’ll still fall into a situation of having skill but insufficient power. Expelling the needles is impossible—at most, at most… you can only shatter the needles.”

“If you’re lucky, the needle tips will deviate from the acupoints and you’ll be able to circulate your internal energy; if you’re unlucky, the broken needles will not only mangle your muscles and flesh, but may very likely pierce your meridians. When that happens… you’ll truly be crippled.”

Guan Wujue pushed himself up from the table edge, laughing carelessly. “I’ll be careful. At worst I’ll damage two meridians—it won’t kill me from pain anyway. Even if it only leaves me with half my internal energy in the end, it’ll be worth it.”

Guan Muyan merely raised his eyelids and grunted “Mm.”

The Protector walked over and clapped him on the shoulder, finally softening his expression as he said gently, “Alright, old man. I can feel it—it’ll be within these few days… We’ll both be free soon.”

With that, he smiled beautifully again. With a sweep of his robe hem, he waved and turned to walk out of the bamboo house.

“The Sect Leader has assigned Yin Ghosts to watch me. I can’t openly practice or remove the needles. I’ll probably have to keep coming here these next few days. Please bear with me.”

That dashing red-robed figure soon disappeared down the long path through the medicinal fields.

Only after Guan Wujue’s person had vanished from sight did Guan Muyan push open the door and walk out of his bamboo house.

The old man leaned against the stone tablet by the door, gazing longingly in the direction the Protector had departed.

After looking for a long while, naturally he saw nothing.

The sky had grown increasingly overcast, truly seeming as if a great thunderstorm of lightning and thunder would soon arrive.

So Guan Muyan could only pat his own head and grimace self-mockingly. “Heh heh, free my ass.”

He remembered that once, an old friend had bitterly cursed him, saying that creating medicine people was unconscionable and that one day he would face divine retribution.

At the time, he didn’t believe it.

Now divine retribution had truly come.

It was a child in green robes holding medical books, and also a youth in red robes wielding twin swords.

Guan Muyan suddenly covered his face with one hand and laughed hoarsely twice.

…Himself? He could never be free.