WJ Chapter 68

Yanyan (2)

“Can’t cure it, can’t cure it! What chance of survival is there for a patient who doesn’t care about their own life?”

After a long while, Guan Muyan, who had been summoned and rushed to Yangxin Hall, only went in to feel the pulse before storming back out in a rage.

Outside the hall, an atmosphere heavy with despair pervaded the air. Wen Feng stood guard outside the sleeping chamber, while Jin Lin and Yin Lang silently wept. Yun Chanjuan stood stiff and upright like a wooden figure, her face completely numb.

As soon as the Hundred Medicines Elder rushed out, he collided with Wen Feng, who was anxiously craning his neck to look inside, letting out an “Aiya!”

The old eccentric physician scratched his graying hair and lowered his voice to ask the white-robed attendant. “Tell me, what did the Sect Leader do with his internal energy?”

“……” Wen Feng silently glanced at the dazed and despondent Yun Chanjuan, making his voice even quieter than Guan Muyan’s, “……gave it to the Protector.”

“What!? Gave… you mean the Sect Leader dispersed his martial power!? This is truly, truly……” Guan Muyan was so angry his beard bristled and his eyes bulged. He repeated “truly” several times, finally ending with, “Truly not caring about his life!”

Yun Chanjuan had already been completely terrified by this series of sudden changes. When Guan Muyan shouted out that “can’t cure it,” she nearly fainted.

The young miss, in her dazed state, couldn’t hear clearly what the two were saying, only vaguely catching the words “internal energy.” She hastily raised her head and asked hoarsely. “Is… does he need internal energy… internal energy, I have some too!”

Guan Muyan shook his head vigorously from side to side with a worried face. “No use, transferring internal energy is useless now. His life and death are up to fate!”

When he felt the pulse just now, he had detected that the Fengchun Sheng poison had already spread throughout all the meridians. Otherwise, he would have long since sent someone to Yanyun Palace to ask Yun Guyan for help—would he need Yun Chanjuan’s meager internal energy?

Wen Feng sighed woodenly, staring blankly as he leaned against the wall.

That’s right—the Sect Leader had destroyed his own internal energy for his beloved, so how could he ask others to expend their energy to save his life? Such a selfish thing was something the Sect Leader could never do……

He might as well let the Fengchun Sheng poison spread completely, so that from now on they truly couldn’t help him at all. Thinking about it this way… when the Sect Leader dispersed his martial power, besides wanting to protect and heal Guan Wujue, was there also a death wish—an unwillingness to drag others down?

“No… no use?”

Yun Chanjuan showed an expression as if she’d been slapped awake from a dream, murmuring. “Then what can we do?”

Suddenly, a barely audible moan of pain came from the bed in the sleeping chamber.

Everyone outside revealed expressions of unbearable sympathy.

It was happening again—the curse of Fengchun Sheng clung like maggots to bone, and that agony that only ceased with death was beginning to flare up once more.

Guan Muyan rushed to the bedside and forcibly pried open Yun Changliu’s tightly clenched teeth to stuff in the prepared cloth, then sighed and withdrew.

Wen Feng, fearing the Sect Leader might start self-harming from the unbearable pain, moved a chair to the bedside and kept silent watch.

Two little maidservants brought in the prepared medicine and set it on the cabinet by the bed, then lowered their heads dejectedly and withdrew.

But Yun Chanjuan was on the verge of collapse.

How could the young miss have ever seen what the Fengchun Sheng poison truly looked like when it flared up?

In her heart, Sect Leader Brother had always been aloof and detached. Even though he’d been ill since childhood, he was someone she could never measure up to.

But… but the person lying on that bed, tormented by the poison to the point of wishing for death and barely clinging to life—that was clearly still her brother!

And the helpless appearance of everyone around her made Yun Chanjuan afraid to the extreme. She stared at Guan Muyan, then looked at Wen Feng, her voice trembling badly. “What… what do you mean by this? Brother Changliu is in pain, he’s in pain! How can you just watch!”

Guan Muyan mercilessly rolled his eyes at Yun Chanjuan. “Things have come to this—I have no solutions. Let him endure it himself. If he gets through it, he’ll wake up.”

Yun Chanjuan swayed and suddenly collapsed sitting in the doorway.

She could hardly believe her ears.

What did he mean by “let him endure it himself”?

What did he mean by “if he gets through it, he’ll wake up”?

What if he couldn’t get through it?

The sounds from the bed gradually diminished. The patient, tortured by the deadly poison, had exhausted his strength and soundlessly fallen into an even deeper coma.

“……Young Miss.”

Wen Feng suddenly turned his head and spoke. The white-robed attendant’s tone was calm, neither salty nor bland. “Speaking of which, this is the first time you’ve seen the Sect Leader’s poison flare up this severely, isn’t it?”

“I, I… no, I……”

Yun Chanjuan was in a complete daze, clutching her head, suddenly feeling that everything had become unreal.

……After being siblings for over twenty years, she didn’t even know clearly how ill her brother truly was.

“Actually, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Wen Feng uncharacteristically smiled. He gazed leisurely at Yun Chanjuan, speaking slowly in a tone that could be called cruelly gentle. “When the Sect Leader was young, for all these years, this is how he endured the pain. You just didn’t know, that’s all.”

“Last time… yes, that flare-up ten days ago—for three full days and nights, the Sect Leader was like this. Nothing but pain, more pain, fainting from pain then waking up in pain again.”

“Three whole days and nights—that’s how he endured it. You still didn’t know, that’s all.”

“As for now… with the Fengchun Sheng spreading deep, and with consecutive attacks without even a moment’s rest to recover. The Sect Leader only just managed to get out of bed yesterday, with no strength recovered at all. This time will probably be even more dangerous.”

Yun Chanjuan’s face turned completely white. She shook her head desperately. “You’re lying, Wen Feng, you’re just trying to scare me……”

“Young Miss, is deceiving yourself fun?”

Attendant Wen sneered coldly, spitting out icy words. “Don’t you know that after the Sect Leader has one poison flare-up like this, his remaining lifespan is already not enough for him to live past the beginning of spring!?”

But inwardly he thought: That statement is absolutely right—facing such a perfect opportunity to administer strong medicine, of course I’m trying to scare you.

“No!!”

Yun Chanjuan screamed. She felt as if she’d fallen into an icy pit, stumbling forward to grab Wen Feng, shaking him as she sobbed desperately. “Impossible, impossible—you’re lying to me! You’re lying! But… but spring is almost here!”

She suddenly burst into loud wails. “I——I know I was wrong… from now on I’ll study hard and practice martial arts properly… I’ll never speak rashly and anger Brother Changliu again……”

“I was wrong, I won’t dare anymore… from now on I’ll really listen to him. If he tells me to go to a branch hall, I’ll go—I’ll go anywhere!”

“I won’t interfere with his and Guan Wujue’s affairs anymore. I’ll never talk nonsense again. Is that okay? Is it!? Hurry and tell me you were lying—say it!”

But at this very moment, at this moment when Yun Chanjuan was on the verge of breaking down completely, a commotion came from outside, interrupting her heart-wrenching cries.

Footsteps approached from far to near.

Guan Muyan and Wen Feng turned to look and were both startled, involuntarily exchanging glances.

Actually… to say that no one could help now wasn’t quite accurate.

The handsome Protector in imposing red robes strode into Yangxin Hall.

Guan Wujue walked straight to the bedside with a cold expression, extended his hand to grasp Yun Changliu’s wrist to check his pulse. His voice was obviously suppressed, yet very steady and clear. “What happened?”

At this time when everyone was powerless, Guan Wujue’s calm composure suddenly cooled down this anxious, burning-eyebrow atmosphere in an instant.

“Guan Wujue!”

Yun Chanjuan’s eyes lit up as if grabbing the last straw, rushing over to stare fixedly at the Four Directions Protector. “You must have a way, you definitely have a way, don’t you?”

Guan Wujue didn’t even glance at Yun Chanjuan, his gaze sharp as he bit out word by word. “The Fengchun Sheng just flared up once—the Sect Leader shouldn’t have had problems this quickly. First tell me what happened, Wen Feng?”

……Of course Wen Feng couldn’t tell Guan Wujue at a time like this that the Sect Leader had destroyed decades of internal energy for him.

So facing the Four Directions Protector’s interrogation, the attendant made in an instant… the most malicious and guilty move he’d ever made in his life.

“……”

Attendant Wen said not a word more, only casting his sorrowful gaze toward the tear-streaked Yun Chanjuan.

Yun Chanjuan trembled. Her eyes red and swollen, for the first time she bit her lip and lowered her head before the Protector. “It’s… it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have upset him……”

But her head immediately lifted again, her gaze pleading. “Guan Wujue, quickly save the Sect Leader!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized something was wrong and hastily corrected herself. “I… I beg you, please save Brother Changliu!”

Wen Feng and Guan Muyan almost burst out laughing in anger at this statement.

——How absurd! Since when did the Four Directions Protector need to be begged and asked by Young Miss Chanjuan to save the Sect Leader?

And Guan Wujue, believing it was Yun Chanjuan who had upset the Sect Leader and caused the poison to flare, suddenly became even more vicious. His fury, already surging with killing intent, was now doused with another layer of oil.

He refused to endure it any longer. With a cold arc at the corner of his lips, he shot out his hand like lightning to grip Yun Chanjuan’s shoulder and with a violent force, hurled her down.

A tremendous crash echoed!

The pampered young miss was smashed to the ground by the Protector’s single hand, even without his internal energy.

“Ah……”

Yun Chanjuan let out a miserable cry of pain. Her back was slammed hard against the floor—it felt as if her spine had split open.

But the Protector’s fury only increased——if the Sect Leader hadn’t meddled and sealed his internal energy, that move just now could have made Yun Chanjuan vomit blood and collapse completely!

An ordinary person might have stopped there, but how could Protector Guan, with his fierce temperament, be ordinary?

Never mind having no internal energy—if he didn’t beat her to satisfaction, he wouldn’t stop.

Guan Wujue’s cold eyes swept around and immediately fixed on a certain spot——there hung two long swords, precisely his Pixing and Daiyue!

Since the last time the Protector was attacked, fell unconscious, and was rescued by the Sect Leader, these two swords hadn’t been moved. Naturally they were still carefully kept in Yangxin Hall.

These two swords—Pixing was the left sword, light and short; Daiyue was the right sword, heavy and long.

Before everyone present could react, the red-robed Protector had already gripped the heavier Daiyue sword in reverse, turned back with a ruthless expression, and without hesitation brought it smashing down hard onto Yun Chanjuan’s left shoulder!!

Crack!

“Ahhhhh!!!”

A crisp sound of breaking bone rang out. Yun Chanjuan screamed heart-rendingly, her eyes wide open as tears rolled down.

She had once resented how much it hurt when Brother Changliu struck her last time—only now did she truly taste what a real beating felt like.

Yun Chanjuan’s face went white from the pain, almost unable to stop herself from rolling on the ground.

But in the next moment, Guan Wujue heavily stepped his foot onto her broken shoulder bone!

Guan Wujue said coldly, “What—you beg me to save someone, so I save them? ——Young Miss, what do you think you are?”

As the Protector applied pressure with his foot, Yun Chanjuan screamed incessantly. Wen Feng broke out in cold sweat listening, thinking this was truly too ruthless……

He quickly grabbed the Protector from behind, half-embracing, half-dragging him back, soothing, “Protector, Protector… Wujue! That’s enough, calm down a bit—if you keep beating her like this, something will really happen!”

Guan Wujue pushed Wen Feng away, turned his back and walked two steps, taking a deep breath to barely suppress his raging fury. He thought that if not for the Sect Leader still being on his mind, this time he would have beaten Yun Chanjuan half to death before stopping.

But before the Protector could quickly calm his emotions, he heard a weak call from behind:

“Don’t, don’t leave……”

Yun Chanjuan lay on the ground unable to get up.

Her hair had come loose, her butterfly-pink dress was in tatters. After quite a while, she finally moved, raising her head.

Her beautiful face was soaked with blood, sweat and tears, utterly disheveled, yet her eyes still fixed on Guan Wujue, struggling to produce a hoarse voice:

“Have you… have you calmed down yet……”

Guan Wujue’s pupils flickered almost imperceptibly.

Yun Chanjuan moved her lips, then sniffled, explaining weakly in a thread-like voice. “Brother Changliu… he’s been very good to you.”

“Before, when he punished you, when he drove you away—it was all because of me… please don’t hate him, okay……”

“……” Guan Wujue didn’t want to speak.

He had just turned away and walked two steps only to suppress his emotions—did Yun Chanjuan actually think he was about to abandon the Sect Leader and leave?

Under the red-robed Protector’s cold, looking-down gaze, Yun Chanjuan slowly moved.

Enduring the piercing pain, she propped up her upper body, moved her legs, bit by bit kneeling upright.

Yun Chanjuan knelt before Guan Wujue.

The Young Miss Chanjuan of the Zhuyin Sect, shedding tears as she knelt before the enemy she had always sworn to kill.

“Guan Wujue, Protector Guan… I beg you……”

Yun Chanjuan deeply lowered her head, her whole body trembling into a pitiful small bundle—whether from humiliation, fear, or some other emotion.

“If you can save him, I’ll do anything… you can beat me more, however much you want.”

Tears mixed with blood dripped onto the ground.

The young miss’s posture was one of begging—begging the person who had killed her second brother to save her eldest brother.

“I… I……”

She covered her eyes with both hands, but couldn’t stop the helpless tears no matter what. Her despairing voice echoed through Yangxin Hall like a cry of blood:

“I only have… this one brother left……”