WJ Chapter 62

Wanqiu (2)

The Sect Leader has awakened!

The moment this news arrived, Guan Wujue’s heart jumped with a thud, and instantly it felt as if the heavy shackles that had been pressing on him for an entire day finally lifted.

He pressed his head against the cell door and let out a long sigh of relief, but his voice was so unsteady it sounded as if he were sobbing, his whole body trembling slightly, unable to recover for a long while.

Seeing the Protector’s appearance of having survived a catastrophe, Xiao Donghe didn’t know how to console him, so he could only silently pat his shoulder and turn to leave.

The Protector watched the Left Envoy quickly walk out of the dark Death Row. Only when Xiao Donghe’s figure was about to disappear around the corner did he suddenly come to his senses. “Donghe, wait a moment.”

Xiao Donghe turned back, only to see most of Guan Wujue’s face buried in shadow, one hand gripping the iron bars tightly. His pupils were so dim they held not a trace of light, and his hoarse voice said:

“You… you must remember, when the time comes, whatever the Sect Leader says, agree with it all and don’t speak carelessly.”

“As for me… whatever punishment I deserve, I should receive it. By all means, don’t provoke the Sect Leader’s anger again. If this happens one more time, he truly won’t be able to endure it.”

As he spoke, he bitterly closed his eyes and shook his head. “…And I… I can’t endure it anymore either.”

Xiao Donghe was momentarily speechless, feeling quite uncomfortable. After a long while, he finally nodded and sighed, “I understand.”

However, things went contrary to wishes.

The judgment that Guan Wujue awaited did not come.

More than half a shichen later, Left Envoy Xiao, who had returned to the Punishment Hall’s Death Row from Yangxin Hall, stood outside the cell door with his arms crossed, but had not brought the Sect Leader’s verdict for the Protector.

“Actually, the Sect Leader asked about you first thing,” Xiao Donghe shrugged, looking quite vexed. “This… of course I couldn’t truthfully tell him that the Protector has been in the cell day after day, suffering in self-blame until you can’t eat or sleep and even caused your old injuries to flare up, right? So I just glossed over it with a few words…”

“Then the Sect Leader didn’t mention you again. Instead, he asked Hua Wan and me about the sect’s affairs these past few days, gave a few instructions, and then dismissed us both.”

Guan Wujue’s slender brow furrowed tightly, his face showing no hint of his thoughts. After a long silence, he finally asked, “How is the Sect Leader’s condition?”

Xiao Donghe’s expression turned grave. “I won’t lie to comfort you. The truth is… not very good. You can tell his body is extremely weak. He only spoke with us for a few sentences before Wen Feng persuaded him to sleep. Probably because his spirit isn’t up to it, he couldn’t spare attention for you. Wait a bit longer.”

Guan Wujue lowered his eyes without speaking, his gaze hollowly fixed on an empty point, feeling only the gnawing pain assaulting him once more.

Extremely weak…

He didn’t even have the energy to speak a few more words…

——Had he harmed the Sect Leader to such a degree?

Guan Wujue covered his eyes with one hand and curled up again in the depths of the cell. His brilliant red robes flickered in and out of the darkness like a weak flame about to be extinguished.

….

Yun Changliu had already awakened, but Guan Wujue’s wait continued.

Since the incident at Yanyun Palace, ten days had already passed. Three days had passed since Yun Changliu woke. Without orders, without summons, he remained in the Death Row, cut off from the world.

Days felt like years—nothing more than this.

Guan Wujue gradually grew numb from waiting.

He began to think secretly: That’s right, given the Sect Leader’s temperament, to say he would truly be cruel enough to torture himself with severe punishment, or even execute him with capital punishment… it probably wasn’t possible.

Leaving him unattended like this now was probably because his heart had grown cold and he no longer wished to see him.

He thought further: Actually, this is for the best. If the Sect Leader distances himself from me, there will be less sadness when we part in the future. In a few more days, once the medicine fully enters my blood, it will probably be easier for the Old Sect Leader to send him out of the city.

The pain of the medicine dissolving into his blood intensified. Though Wen Huan had sent medicine, Guan Wujue refused to take it, almost as if punishing himself. Xiao Donghe urged him to come out of the cell, but he stubbornly refused no matter what, angering the Left Envoy to the point of pointing at his nose and cursing. But even after cursing, there was nothing he could do.

Only Guan Wujue himself knew very clearly that all of this was not merely self-punishment.

He was drinking poison to quench his thirst, attempting to use physical pain to dilute the pain of his heart and soul.

Because he still couldn’t break down, couldn’t go mad, couldn’t even be overly sorrowful. At this point, he no longer regarded himself as a person. He was the Sect Leader’s only remaining medicine in this world. He had to be calm, had to stay clear-headed, until he could ensure his heart’s blood truly became the antidote to Fengchun Sheng.

Guan Wujue had already prepared himself for the worst.

After all, in the cold, deserted Death Row, there was nothing he could do but imagine all sorts of the most terrible, most desperate possibilities.

But things once again departed from his expectations.

On this particular evening, the Zhuhuo Guards from Yangxin Hall came to deliver the Sect Leader’s order: to bring the Four Directions Protector from the Death Row to meet the Sect Leader.

At that time, Guan Wujue had just endured a wave of excruciating heart meridian pain, looking as if he’d been fished out of water.

However, upon hearing this summons, the Protector showed neither excessive surprise nor excitement. He merely fell silent for a moment, his voice weak but his tone very composed. “My appearance is disheveled. I dare not meet the Sect Leader. Please grant me a moment’s grace to allow me to bathe and groom myself.”

The two Zhuhuo Guards exchanged glances, showing difficulty. One shook his head. “The Sect Leader’s orders cannot be delayed. Protector, please come.”

Guan Wujue refused, promising, “It will be quick.”

As he spoke, he walked out of the cell door that the Zhuhuo Guards had just opened, removing the hair crown that bound his hair as he walked.

The Protector was very familiar with the routes of the Punishment Hall. He emerged from the underground secret passage and walked straight toward the torture chamber.

The Zhuhuo Guards were confused, and even Xiao Donghe, following behind, couldn’t figure out what Guan Wujue intended to do.

They saw Guan Wujue stop at the entrance to the torture chamber. Outside the door stood two enormous wooden barrels, each about half a person’s height, filled to the brim with water.

He reached out to grip one of them, sank his qi into his dantian, exerted force from his wrist, and actually lifted the entire large wooden barrel. He closed his eyes and poured the water inside over his own head!

Splash!!!

“You…!”

Xiao Donghe’s eyes nearly split with rage. Guan Wujue moved too fast—he couldn’t stop him in time——that wasn’t ordinary water, but shattered ice water used to revive criminals who had fallen unconscious after torture!

Even when the torturers normally used it, they would scoop it out with a basin. For Guan Wujue to pour an entire barrel over his head from above was no joke. If it were an ordinary person, under such stimulation, they would pass out immediately from the cold.

Even the Zhuhuo Guards who had come to fetch him were too frightened by the Protector’s actions to speak.

Guan Wujue’s lips turned blue-white from the cold, but he paid no mind. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, sat down cross-legged on the spot, clasped his hands together, and circulated his internal energy.

His internal energy, circulated to its extreme, rolled and generated heat, quickly evaporating the moisture on his body and clothes.

Guan Wujue pressed his palm against the ground and stood up as if nothing had happened, saying to the Zhuhuo Guards, “Thank you. We can go now.”

That truly was quick!

The Zhuhuo Guards had no choice but to step forward, saying “Pardon our offense,” and bound the Protector’s hands behind his back, then used heavy iron chains for restraining criminals to bind his shoulders, elbows, and wrists in several places, pushing him out of the Punishment Hall.

From the Punishment Hall to Yangxin Hall—not far, yet not close either.

Throughout this journey, Guan Wujue’s entire mind was scattered. He didn’t know what jumbled thoughts he was thinking, simply allowing the Zhuhuo Guards to push him forward step by step.

In any case, by the time the long stairway of Yangxin Hall was already before his eyes, the Protector still hadn’t realized he’d arrived at his destination.

Actually, it wasn’t entirely his fault, because according to protocol, the Zhuhuo Guards should have escorted him up the long stairway together, had him kneel outside the Sect Leader’s door, reported inside, and then let the Sect Leader decide how to deal with him, this traitorous Four Directions Protector.

However, before even entering the main gate of Yangxin Hall, there came the rattling sound of chains, and Guan Wujue felt his body lighten—the heavy chains had already been removed.

The two Zhuhuo Guards simultaneously and respectfully clasped their fists. “Protector Guan, we lowly ones are bound by rules. We apologize for any offense just now. Please, Protector, enter the hall to meet the Sect Leader.”

…This attitude—it wasn’t at all like they’d come to fetch a criminal. Rather, they seemed careful and trembling, as if afraid the Protector would hold a grudge against them.

“…..”

Guan Wujue frowned as he studied these two Zhuhuo Guards, slightly puzzled.

…How could this be? He’d been thrown into the Death Row, yet the sect members still acknowledged him as Protector?

Given his nature, he should have asked about it, but now the main gate of Yangxin Hall was right before him. After ten full days of waiting, at this moment the urgent impulse to see the Sect Leader overwhelmed all rational thought with irresistible momentum.

Guan Wujue said nothing and climbed the long stairway himself.

The Zhuhuo Guards outside Yangxin Hall also greeted the Protector as usual. Perhaps Yun Changliu had given prior instructions—they didn’t announce him, similarly requesting that the Protector simply enter on his own.

Guan Wujue had no choice but to enter by himself.

He had originally thought he would be bound and chained, brought in with the humiliating posture of a criminal, perhaps even made to crawl in on his knees.

…Now, this way actually felt somewhat strangely uncomfortable.

The long stairway, the main gate, the outer chamber, the inner hall—Guan Wujue listened to the sound of his own footsteps passing through.

There weren’t many people inside Yangxin Hall; it seemed especially quiet in the evening.

Knowing that Yun Changliu had always preferred quietude and wasn’t accustomed to having servants stationed in the hall, Guan Wujue still didn’t think much of it.

He walked with familiar ease to the door of the Sect Leader’s bedroom, knelt down, and kowtowed obediently:

“This subordinate Guan Wujue requests an audience with the Sect Leader.”

A response quickly came from inside the door—the cool, detached voice that Guan Wujue had longed to hear.

“Enter.”

Despite having prepared himself for a thousand different unfavorable scenarios, Guan Wujue still suddenly became nervous, his heart feeling as if it had been stabbed.

His mind went hazy, and he couldn’t help murmuring “Sect Leader,” then in the next moment suddenly returned to clarity, hurriedly lowering his eyes and closing his mouth.

What was wrong with him? How could he lose his composure to such an extent even at the Sect Leader’s door?

…Those inside should—should not have heard, right?

Guan Wujue took a soft breath and cautiously pushed open the door, entering on his knees in as humble and submissive a posture as possible.

Upon entering, he smelled the air carrying a faint bitter medicinal fragrance that inexplicably calmed and soothed the mind.

Guan Wujue kept his head lowered as he knelt at the doorway, not daring to look up, only able to listen. He heard Yun Changliu’s gentle voice from the bed inside, “You may withdraw.”

These words were clearly not addressed to him, but to Wen Feng, who stood attending at the bedside.

The white-robed attendant acknowledged with a sound, bowed toward the bed, then passed by Guan Wujue and left, closing the door behind him.

In Yangxin Hall’s bedroom, finally only Yun Changliu and Guan Wujue remained.

One lying on the bed, one kneeling at the door.

Guan Wujue was hesitating whether he should proactively confess his guilt or quietly await the Sect Leader’s verdict when he suddenly heard Yun Changliu, with a sigh carrying unclear emotions, say softly, “…Come closer.”

Guan Wujue pressed his lips together but still didn’t dare rise. He shuffled forward on his knees to the bedside and kowtowed. “Sect Leader.”

He heard another soft sigh from the bed.

Immediately after, cool fingers landed on the top of his head.

Yun Changliu’s hand gently brushed through his bound long hair, then softly traced down the contours of his face, finally cradling his chin and applying slight upward pressure to lift Guan Wujue’s face.

Guan Wujue had no choice but to raise his eyes.

He saw Yun Changliu with his black hair loose, wearing only a thin snow-white inner robe, lying on his side in bed with a brocade quilt covering him to his chest.

Clear, refined, otherworldly brows and eyes, a pale and gaunt face—both strange and familiar, for a moment it felt like a reunion after lifetimes.

And behind the Sect Leader, outside the window, the cinnabar plum blossoms had already begun to fall. Those lovely rouge-red plum flowers now had only a few remaining, scattered sparsely on the branches.

Winter snow melted, winter flowers faded.

This incredibly long winter was almost over.

“What are you looking at?”

Yun Changliu furrowed his brow and lifted Guan Wujue’s chin with more force.

His expression was clearly displeased, yet it clearly wasn’t the bone-chilling resentment the Protector had envisioned. Rather, it carried a trace of gentle concern. “Has someone tortured you?”

Guan Wujue’s thoughts returned, and he said dazedly, “Never.”

He felt somewhat confused, sensing that everything since leaving the Death Row had been not quite right, and now it was “wrong” to the extreme.

How could the Sect Leader… how could he still be willing to touch him?

Wasn’t he disgusted? Didn’t he find him dirty?

Yun Changliu took in all the changes in the Protector’s expression and asked lightly:

“Do you have nothing you wish to say to this lord?”

Guan Wujue stared at the Sect Leader’s clear, crystalline eyes and slowly shook his head.

He had long had nothing to say, no way to defend himself.

Yun Changliu asked again:

“And nothing you wish to ask me?”

This time he changed his self-address, his tone becoming gentler, even carrying affection that Guan Wujue couldn’t detect.

Guan Wujue’s eyelashes flickered. He remained silent, gently cradling Yun Changliu’s cool hand. As if protecting a treasure that would shatter at a touch, very carefully, very carefully, he placed that hand back inside the soft quilt.

Then he shuffled backward two steps on his knees and bowed deeply, his forehead touching the ground.

“This subordinate deserves death ten thousand times. I beg the Sect Leader to bestow punishment.”

Such humble behavior made Yun Changliu’s temple throb, and his gaze darkened. “Very well, it seems the Protector is unwilling to speak.”

“——You have nothing to say, but this lord has words to say.”

Before his words had finished falling, Guan Wujue suddenly heard the soft rustling of bedding.

He abruptly raised his head, only to see Yun Changliu supporting himself against the edge of the bed with one hand, brows tightly furrowed, struggling to prop himself up into a sitting position, but swaying unsteadily, looking as if he might fall from the bed at any moment.

“Sect Leader!” This time Guan Wujue could no longer remain kneeling. Frightened, he scrambled up, forgetting all about fear and confession, and frantically rushed over to support Yun Changliu’s back. “Don’t move, don’t move… quickly lie down!”

Sect Leader Yun had actually been waiting all along for the Protector to come help him. At this moment, he naturally leaned into Guan Wujue’s embrace, resting his head on his shoulder with half-closed eyes, saying calmly, “Won’t lie down. This lord has no strength in his body. Hold me and help me sit up.”

The Four Directions Protector’s entire body stiffened for an instant.

He used four breaths’ worth of time to barely steady himself. “…Yes.”

Guan Wujue carefully supported Yun Changliu as he slowly sat upright.

His gaze swept across the bed, about to arrange the pillow behind the Sect Leader for him to lean against, when unexpectedly Yun Changliu extended his hand backward first.

“Sect Leader? You…”

Under the Protector’s puzzled gaze, Yun Changliu calmly and composedly grabbed a corner of the pillow and flung it far away with force.

——Thus, that pillow landed without suspense on the floor not far away, making a “thump” that echoed in the empty, deserted Yangxin Hall.

What a lingering sound, reverberating for a long time.

Guan Wujue was utterly astonished: “…”

This…

This was…

What just happened!?

Yet he saw Yun Changliu sweep a cool glance at him and speak without a ripple of emotion:

“This lord commands you to hold me. Do you not understand?”

Guan Wujue was dumbstruck: “………..”

He wished he didn’t understand.