WJ Chapter 114

Morning Wind (3)

When Guan Muyan carried Ah Ku back into the quiet room inside the Medicine Gate, Yun Guyan was sitting at the bedside with an expression dark as still water, and Wen Huan stood behind the Sect Leader.

Guan Muyan set the half-dead child back onto the bed, and glanced to the side. “Someone come support him — I need to treat the whip wounds on this child’s back… his heart meridian was just damaged, he can’t bear lying face-down.”

Wen Huan was about to step forward, but unexpectedly the black robes beside him shifted, and Yun Guyan reached out first, wrapping an arm around Ah Ku and drawing him close.

Yet the Sect Leader’s expression was utterly cold and forbidding, and his voice held not a trace of tenderness — instead he bent close to Ah Ku’s ear and laughed coldly. “What’s wrong — you saw Liu’er? Do you believe it now? Daring to swap out your medicine person robes and sneak off on your own — quite the nerve.”

Ah Ku’s face was white and his breath faint. He lay with his eyes closed and said nothing, and it was unclear whether he had fallen unconscious or was awake but simply unwilling to respond.

So Yun Guyan said nothing more. Guan Muyan cut away Ah Ku’s tattered clothing, cleaned and dressed the wounds, and applied medicine — it took nearly a full hour altogether before he was done.

Since Ah Ku now had injuries both on his chest and his back, soft quilts were layered thickly beneath his shoulders, lower back, and sides so he could lie on his side and sleep.

When Guan Muyan went out to change the medicine, Wen Huan asked quietly, “How is he?”

The muscles at the corner of the Elder’s mouth twitched. “Hard to say whether he’ll live,” he said. “It’s difficult. Watch and see what fortune this boy has.”

In the days that followed, Ah Ku remained sunk in a heavy stupor, burning with fever off and on, his condition shifting back and forth.

Several times they felt certain the child could not pull through — yet every time, Ah Ku would take a turn for the better; and when they began to feel there was hope, his condition would abruptly plunge again.

This went on through several such cycles, and it was not until more than ten days later that Ah Ku began to show slight improvement. He could now be lucid for two or three hours each day, and was finally able to part his lips and swallow some goat’s milk and rice gruel.

After another half-month of nursing, his fever broke. He could sit up on his own, and his mind was mostly clear whenever he was not sleeping. One day he even got out of bed and walked a few steps along the wall.

At that moment Guan Muyan had just pushed open the door, and he saw the pale and gaunt young man leaning crookedly against the wall, standing barefoot in the doorway, his dark eyes fixed on him like a ghost’s. It gave the old man such a fright that he crossed the room in two strides and carried Ah Ku back to bed — only to hear the child in his arms let out a low sigh:

“It seems my life really is quite stubborn after all.”

From that day on, Ah Ku refused to stay in the quiet room at Medicine Gate. He asked to return to his own wooden house. Under normal circumstances this would have been impossible — in his present state he could not go a single day without someone at hand to care for him, or something would go wrong.

But to everyone’s surprise, Guan Muyan simply packed up his things in silence and moved with him into the wooden house outside Xifeng City.

“A medicine person whose heart’s blood can even counter Fengchun Sheng — I likely won’t come across a second one in my lifetime. If I let you die, I’ll have nowhere to go and weep.” Every day when the old man changed the young man’s dressings, he would smack his lips and say something along those lines.

What he conveyed between the lines was nothing other than this: that he was indeed that Elder known as “wedded to a hundred medicines,” that old madman of medicine who cared for nothing but the study of his art.

Ah Ku rarely replied. Most of the time he simply sat and gazed quietly at the peach blossoms outside the window.

By now the peach blossoms had opened in full — a vivid, gorgeous, blazing colour.

In a few more days, they would probably begin to fall.

……

When Yun Guyan came to see Ah Ku again, his complexion looked deeply weary.

Having been rid of the nightmare poison, Young Sect Leader Changliu’s condition was not, in truth, very good. At the very least, it was nowhere near as good as everyone had hoped.

It seemed they had all forgotten something important —

Once Ah Ku was removed, what memories did the Young Sect Leader have left?

The years of sitting in lightless, barren darkness within Changsheng Pavilion since childhood? The mountains of blood debt stacked behind him? The numbness of having no will to live, yet being forced to go on for the sake of those around him? The crushing weight of Zhuyin Sect’s future resting on his shoulders?

What else?

There was also the bewilderment and unease of lost memory, and that crack running through his mind like a scar — the moment it was touched, it ached to the bone.

Yun Changliu seemed to have reverted to what he was before he had ever met Ah Ku.

He sat quietly within Changsheng Pavilion reading and cultivating. If he could be said to have spoken five sentences in a day, it was cause for relief. His downcast brows and eyes were cold and remote as ice and snow, without a flicker of feeling.

No one had any remedy for it.

Of course, Yun Guyan did not believe that merely losing Ah Ku could ruin Yun Changliu. Now that Fengchun Sheng had been countered, he still had ample time to teach his eldest son from the beginning to experience the seven emotions and six desires, the joys of the mortal world.

But before that, he had to settle accounts with this little medicine person.

“Do you wish to leave?”

That day, Yun Guyan stood before the bed in the wooden house, his gaze dark and deep as he looked down at Ah Ku. He knew this child had truly been gravely wounded — once he had greatly admired Ah Ku’s gifts, but from now on, this fifteen-year-old youth would in all likelihood never be able to lift a sword again.

Yun Guyan slowly narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low, deliberate tone. “This lord broke his promise — this lord owes you that. As compensation… if you wish to go, this lord will permit you to leave the Sect. From this day forward, you will have no further ties to Zhuyin Sect.”

The moment these words fell, both Wen Huan and Guan Muyan beside him changed colour at once.

Neither of them had imagined that Yun Guyan could — or perhaps dared — let Ah Ku go.

This was madness. Within Zhuyin Sect, Ah Ku was a lowly medicine person — but outside Shenlie Mountain, he was still Duanmu Lin, the Young Master of Wanci Manor. Duanmu Lin had been made to fake his death through Zhuyin Sect’s scheming back then; if he returned to Wanci Manor and the truth came to light, that layer of enmity could never be smoothed over.

Though Zhuyin Sect had built a fearsome reputation throughout the jianghu in recent years, Wanci Manor was a martial arts clan with centuries of heritage, and their ancestral medical arts were so exquisite that they had forged ties across all the major powers.

Once both sides came to open blows, it was Zhuyin Sect that would come off worse. And what was more, Zhuyin Sect had no shortage of enemies watching like tigers, all waiting for a good opportunity to kick them while they were down.

Therefore, the best way to handle this had originally been to quietly and invisibly have Ah Ku killed, eliminating the threat at its root; if the Sect Leader retained some feeling, he ought to keep Ah Ku under permanent confinement within Xifeng City — not release him with a single mad utterance like this.

Before now, Wen Huan had only seen the Sect Leader act with such madness twice.

Once when, for Lady Lan’s sake, he had not hesitated to destroy the marriage alliance with Yulin Hall. Once when, for Young Sect Leader Changliu’s sake, he had thrown every resource of the Sect into the exhausting search for Fengchun Sheng as an antidote.

This was the third time — staking Zhuyin Sect’s very survival, and his own life along with it, on a gamble, to give Ah Ku his freedom.

In truth, Wen Huan did not quite believe that Yun Guyan, with his temperament, would hand over his own life and fortune with no card held in reserve. But even if he did have a contingency plan — this was still far too mad.

Ah Ku sat at the head of the bed, the broad thick quilt draped over his shoulders making him look all the more slight.

The Sect Leader’s earth-shaking words fell on the young man’s ears like nothing more than a gust of wind. Ah Ku slowly turned his eyes and glanced at the Sect Leader, and spoke. “I don’t want to go.”

— Wen Huan and Guan Muyan were struck dumb once again, even more shaken than when Yun Guyan had spoken just before.

Do you wish to leave?

I don’t want to go.

This question and answer between the two of them were both so utterly calm, as though there were no storm of blood and wind brewing within them at all.

Suddenly Guan Muyan stepped forward, pressing both hands onto Ah Ku’s shoulders. He stared hard at the young man’s impassive face and said hoarsely, “Go back, boy.”

“Go back to Wanci Manor. You only need to go back and take one look to know — your parents regretted losing you terribly. As long as you go back, they will certainly dote on you doubly. “

“Your body is ruined, but you can still study medicine — and don’t you love studying medicine? Where else in this world is there a better place to study medicine than Wanci Manor?”

As he spoke, Guan Muyan forced something like a smile. He gently shook Ah Ku, as though trying to rouse a child who had lost his way. “You only need to return to the Duanmu family, acknowledge your ancestry and return to your kin, and from then on you’ll be the Young Master cherished and sheltered by the entire Manor. Your parents have wronged you — they’ll indulge whatever tantrum you throw, just as the Young Sect Leader indulged you… By any reckoning, it would be far better than these years you’ve spent as a medicine person in Zhuyin Sect, wouldn’t it?”

“……” Ah Ku looked coldly at Guan Muyan’s hands on his shoulders. He began to feel confused, and frowned. “What do you mean? What has it to do with you how I am, how well or poorly I fare?”

Guan Muyan’s expression stiffened at once. His fingers twitched, and he slowly drew his hands back, quietly clasping them behind him, muttering out of his mouth, “Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with me… you’re a precious medicine person, aren’t you — the longer you live, the better for me.”

Ah Ku felt this old man was being inexplicably strange again. He paid Guan Muyan no further mind and turned his gaze toward Yun Guyan. His eyes were extremely steady, and his voice the same. “Sect Leader, Ah Ku bears you no resentment. I have thought it through — it is Ah Ku’s own fate that is lowly, unfit to be the Young Sect Leader’s companion.”

“Once Ah Ku did not believe it. Now I believe it. This is my fate.”

A shadow of gloom crossed Yun Guyan’s expression.

He said nothing. Of the three people at the bedside, none spoke.

Into the silence, Ah Ku continued, composed. “…But I do not wish to leave. If I cannot be the Young Sect Leader’s companion, I can still be his blade and sword, his shadow.”

“I have heard that five years of blood and fire within Ghost Gate can forge a person anew from the depths of death. Those who emerge alive — the strongest become Yin Ghosts, the lesser become Zhuhuo Guards — all are the sharp blades that guard Xifeng City. Ah Ku is willing to sever all ties with his past. I ask the Sect Leader to permit me to enter Ghost Gate.”

“This child’s mind isn’t right,” Guan Muyan said abruptly. “Sect Leader, you should know — patients who are gravely injured often lose their right mind.”

“My mind is perfectly clear,” said Ah Ku.

Yun Guyan suddenly let out a cold laugh. “Liu’er has forgotten you utterly and completely. Even if you were to find your way back to his side in this manner, he could never favour you as he once did.”

Ah Ku held firm. “I do not want him to favour me. I no longer want a place in his eyes. In any case, kneeling at the Young Sect Leader’s feet makes me happier than going back to Wanci Manor and watching others kneel at mine.”

“You love him to this degree?” Yun Guyan said.

Ah Ku smiled faintly. He lowered his eyes with an air of quiet melancholy and answered softly, “No. From this day forward… I no longer love him.”

The young man raised his pale face, and spoke word by word. “From now on, I am loyal to him.”

Yun Guyan’s gaze grew heavy. Ah Ku quickly lowered his head again, and sighed as he spoke. “Sect Leader, do you understand what Ah Ku means? If the one who had been kind to me back then had not been Young Sect Leader Changliu — if it had been some country boy, some sheltered young lady, some ordinary, unremarkable person —

“I would perhaps still have received that person’s grace and repaid it with my life. But I would not have continued to entangle myself after that person forgot me, and I certainly would not have knelt before them carrying a heart full of grievance and resentment.”

“…Only because Ah Ku has never seen anyone in this world who matches the Young Sect Leader’s bearing. There is no such person to be found anywhere else under heaven. Now that Ah Ku has no fortune to receive the Young Sect Leader’s favour again — still I cannot resign myself to this bond with the Young Sect Leader reaching its end.”

“I am willing wholeheartedly to accompany him, to serve him, to be his sword and shield, to kneel and look up as he ascends to the highest station, to revere him as glory drapes his shoulders… that is all. Just as Uncle Huan is to you.”

The ever-silent Wen Huan’s expression shifted slightly, but he said nothing. Ah Ku began to cover his lips with low coughs — speaking so much without stopping had placed too great a strain on him.

Yun Guyan let out a long breath. He furrowed his brows deeply and waved a hand. “You — this lord is telling you just one thing: you are ruined now! You are worthless now! Enter Ghost Gate and you won’t survive a single day — with bad luck, you won’t survive a single hour… and you still dream of emerging five years hence as Liu’er’s sword and shield? Laughable to the extreme!”

But the ruined young man was wholly undisturbed — his expression did not change even slightly. He said calmly, “How long I live is my own affair. As for entering Ghost Gate, I ask the Sect Leader to grant my wish.”

“Grant your wish? Impossible!” Yun Guyan erupted in sudden fury. “Your feelings for Liu’er run so deep — no matter how eloquently you speak of severing past ties, of only being loyal to him — this lord will never believe you can truly cut yourself off from what once was!”

But Ah Ku slowly pressed his lips together and smiled. Something seemed to kindle in the depths of his eyes — a clear and brilliant light, proud and dazzling as it had always been. The young man tilted his chin slightly upward, and said with bright solemnity. “I can. Sect Leader, I will prove it to you.”

In the next instant, Ah Ku threw back the quilt and jumped down from the bed. He took a few steps forward and suddenly threw himself into Wen Huan’s arms, his hand slipping into the attendant’s sleeve — and drew out the short dagger Wen Huan kept on his person. “Uncle Huan, let me borrow this.”

Wen Huan’s heart gave a lurch and he was about to step forward to stop him — only to be seized by the arm and yanked back by Yun Guyan. Yun Guyan’s face looked as though a suppressed and turbulent flame was dancing across it, and he said in a low, sharp voice: “Very well! Let him do as he pleases! This lord wants to see exactly how he intends to prove it!”

Ah Ku pulled the dagger from its sheath and threw the sheath to the ground. He held the dagger in his right hand; with his left he quickly tore away the robes from his upper body. The scar on his chest — where the blood had been drawn — lay starkly exposed.

Yun Guyan looked on coldly. “What — you intend to carve out the flesh and remove the scar?”

Ah Ku shook his head, and replied with perfect seriousness: “That won’t do. Carving out the flesh still leaves it on the chest — anyone who thinks about it will know what it was…”

Just as the young man was pressing the blade’s edge against his left shoulder, Guan Muyan seemed to abruptly understand what he was about. The old man’s face went ashen, and he lunged forward like a madman to snatch the dagger — but it was already too late.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ah Ku brought the blade down. A sound that set the teeth on edge — steel tearing through skin and flesh — rang out at once through the small wooden house.

Yun Guyan’s pupils contracted the slightest degree.

…From the left shoulder, to the right side of the abdomen.

Flesh parted and rolled back; blood poured freely. This wound looked as though it meant to cleave the young man’s slender body clean in two.

The dagger slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground with a clear ring. Ah Ku swayed, breathing in rapid shallow gasps, and the faint trace of colour that had taken more than a month to painstakingly return to his face drained away in an instant, completely.

And beneath this long, long scar, the small needle-mark on his chest had been thoroughly, utterly hidden.

Ah Ku struggled to raise his head. Staggering and lurching, he walked forward; he reached out and pushed at Yun Guyan and the other two, his voice trembling. “Sect Leader… go out, please go out first. I… I can still… prove it to you…”

Yun Guyan was already standing near the doorway, and in a momentary daze he was actually jostled back several steps by Ah Ku. He and Wen Huan and Guan Muyan were all pushed out of the wooden house, and Ah Ku soon came out as well.

The wound on the young man’s chest was still bleeding. In his left hand he held a bottle of oil, and in his right hand a bundle of firewood already set alight — bright flames licking and breathing from it.

Truth be told, Ah Ku was still a little wistful… he had actually been thinking, if he survived all of this, he would use this firewood to build a fire, use this oil to cook, and make a full table of good food as an apology to his Young Sect Leader.

He had kept things from the Young Sect Leader and taken such reckless risks — the Young Sect Leader was certain to be angry and grieved. But fortunately, the Young Sect Leader knew his heart meridian had been damaged, and would surely be heartbroken for him and soft-hearted toward him too. He would offer a proper apology and beg forgiveness, and after that he and the Young Sect Leader would live well together.

He had been thinking — he and the Young Sect Leader still had such a very long time ahead to live well together.

A sharp shattering sound.

Ah Ku hurled the bottle of oil hard against the eaves of the wooden house. The clear liquid spread and ran in an instant. He swung his right arm up, and the torch was flung upward after it.

Flame met wood, which was already easy to catch. All the more so with so much oil spread above.

And today there was a touch of mountain wind.

That small wooden house — in a sudden burst of blazing light — roared and ignited all at once.