The people outside were gone in no time.
The senior healer sighed. “Ah, who knows where Senior Brother Qiu got his abilities? He actually managed to develop such a powerful talisman. Even Wangchen Powder, which has roughly the same effect, is considered a top-grade spiritual pill. Besides, it can only make people forget certain things and leave them drowsy. But what he made completely emptied his mind. He still remembers all his spells, yet somehow has no idea how to use them on himself.”
Mei Man thought to herself that Qiu Heyang couldn’t possibly have created this thing just because of that offhand remark she had made. Perhaps he had simply happened to learn how to make it.
She was still lowering her head and pondering when Yu Guiya woke up.
“Is that… Junior Sister Mei?” Yu Guiya struggled to sit up. Faint dark circles hung beneath his eyes, his lips were deathly pale, and he looked considerably more dispirited than before. Yet his eyes remained fixed intently on her.
Mei Man nodded. She went over and sat on the edge of the bed, then took the medicine from the healer and said, “Senior Brother, why are you treating yourself like this? If you kept delaying treatment, you would have died.”
The healer beside them watched Yu Guiya without blinking, extremely tense.
At this point, he could only hope that calling Junior Sister Mei over would help.
Because of Qiu Heyang’s situation, most of the healers had gone to the main peak. If Yu Guiya went berserk again, he would have trouble finding even a single person to help him.
Yet, incredibly, Yu Guiya remained perfectly still and quiet. He was nothing like he had been earlier.
His gaze wandered, his pupils were dilated, and his hand trembled uncontrollably. The muscles in his face occasionally twitched as well. He was clearly in a state of extreme mental tension.
“But I don’t dare trust any of them…” His voice was unsteady, but this was the first time he had calmly and coherently voiced his concerns.
“You can trust me, Senior Brother.” Mei Man held out the medicine to him.
Yu Guiya’s gaze focused on her for a brief moment, and the deep unease within him eased somewhat.
After hesitating for a moment, he obediently took the medicine and drank it.
The healer let out a great sigh of relief. He couldn’t help thinking that this Junior Sister’s heart was truly kind. She had nearly been schemed against and killed, yet she could still treat him with such kindness.
He quietly said to her, “As long as he’s willing to take the medicine, that’s enough. I added some Calming Powder to it, so he’ll probably fall asleep soon. If you have something important to do, Junior Sister, you can leave then. I’m going to check the fire beneath the stove—I’m worried the medicine might boil dry.”
Mei Man nodded.
Not long after the healer left, Yu Guiya indeed began to grow drowsy.
But he kept a tight grip on Mei Man’s arm and refused to let go.
“Junior Sister, stay here. Don’t leave. Don’t… don’t abandon me.” His speech grew slower and slower, clearly overcome by sleep.
Mei Man did not go along with his plea. Instead, she said softly, “But Senior Brother Yu, I have things of my own to do. How can I waste all my time here?”
Hearing this through his haze, Yu Guiya was filled with shame. He kept murmuring, “I’m sorry,” yet his hand remained locked around her arm, trembling as though he could not bring himself to let go.
Mei Man bent down and whispered in his ear, “If Senior Brother behaves and doesn’t torment anyone else the way you did before, I’ll come to see you.”
Torment them? Had he been tormenting other people?
In his confusion, Yu Guiya suddenly saw Fan Zilang’s face in his mind, along with the grief-stricken, furious expression of Fan Zilang’s father.
That was right. He was in the wrong. He had done wrong. He was a sinner.
“But if Senior Brother still refuses to behave, how can I continue trusting you?”
With gentle yet unyielding strength, Mei Man slowly pried open the hand gripping her.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry…” Yu Guiya curled in on himself. He was a tall man, and seeing him folded up on the bed looked terribly out of place. His deep-set eyes, barely open, remained fixed tightly on her.
“Can I leave now?” Mei Man asked.
No! No!!
Don’t leave. He couldn’t leave him here alone. The moment he closed his eyes, he would hear Fan Zilang’s voice—desolate and anguished—demanding to know why he had disregarded more than a decade of friendship and killed him so easily, then cast him into that endless hell, leaving even his corpse impossible to return to the Fan family.
Don’t abandon him here, to endure such torment day and night, like someone trudging alone along the edge of a blade.
No, no, no, no, no!!
He stared at her as though she were a lifeline. Yet in the end, he gave a small nod, afraid that he would lose this final person who trusted him without reservation.
Mei Man faced him from very close by and could clearly see every change in his eyes.
The unfocused gaze. The dilated pupils. The panicked uncertainty. The dependence revealed in the way he clung to her and refused to let go.
So this was what it felt like to torment someone with their trust.
If she had not overheard their plot that day, would she have been forced to suffer through this torment now?
Thus, she no longer told him that she would trust him without reservation. Instead, she softly asked, “Can I still trust you, Senior Brother?”
Yu Guiya could no longer keep his eyes open. His consciousness was growing increasingly blurred, yet he stubbornly lifted his eyelids and gave a faint nod.
Mei Man returned to her cave dwelling.
For the past several days, she had been studying that demon core.
She intended to use the demon core in place of a spirit root, or even an inner core, so that it could receive and store spiritual energy within her body.
However, the demon core could not be used for the time being.
She had tried swallowing it directly, but the instant it entered her body, the scattered spiritual energy rampaged through her meridians. If she had not reforged them before, she would probably have died on the spot.
She had no choice but to spit it back out, though she was still injured in the process and had to take medicine before recovering.
After thinking it over carefully, she realized that although she had reforged her meridians, she had merely strengthened them on the foundation of her original meridians. She had not tempered them into spiritual meridians capable of transporting spiritual energy.
Therefore, even if she possessed a spiritual pill—or core—within her body, there was no “path” for the spiritual energy to travel along. It could only run wild.
In other words, she had to find a way to temper her meridians until they resembled spiritual meridians.
With a general direction in mind, Mei Man began pondering the matter once more.
This problem was much more troublesome. She was completely without a clue and even found herself wondering whether she should simply reforge her meridians all over again.
Early the next morning, she planned to make a trip to the spirit market to see whether she could find any useful manuals.
However, when she passed by the target range, she heard quite a commotion inside. Looking over, she saw more than a dozen people gathered together, apparently watching something.
Mei Man had no intention of joining in. She usually avoided crowded places whenever possible.
But just as she was about to step into the teleportation array, she suddenly heard a sharp, furious shout:
“Get lost!”
It was Qiu Heyang’s voice. Whenever he lost patience and cursed at people in private, he spoke like this, as if he wished he could turn his words into knives and stab them one by one.
Mei Man stopped and turned her head toward the sound.
She remembered what the healer had said the previous night—that Qiu Heyang had lost his memory. Suddenly, she wanted to know whether it was true. And if it was, why hadn’t he been taken away even after an entire night had passed?
She quietly crept over to investigate.
The closer she got to the target range, the more clearly she could see.
It turned out that the more than a dozen people were all healers. They were not surrounding anyone; instead, they stood at a distance, their expressions ranging from frightened to helpless.
At the front stood two people: Shen Shushi and Qiu Yingling.
Shen Shushi’s expression was grim. He was restraining himself from releasing his aura, but the spiritual energy around his body was already twisting and rippling.
Qiu Yingling had a wound on his face as he looked at Qiu Heyang across from him, both amused and helpless.
Qiu Heyang kept a certain distance from the two of them. He held a heavy bow, the arrowhead aimed straight at Shen Shushi, who stood closest to him. There were wounds on his face and body as well, but his brows and eyes were weighed down by a thick, murderous fury. He looked ready to loose the arrow at any moment.
Mei Man quietly squeezed into the group of healers and asked in a low voice, “Are they trying to capture him?”
Everyone’s attention was fixed on the scene ahead. Who had the time to wonder who she was? Someone answered her.
The nearest healer leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Isn’t it obvious? Yesterday afternoon, he injured Senior Brother Qiu Yingling and several healers before running off. We searched for him all night and finally found him here at the archery range. Who would have thought the memory-loss talisman’s effect still hadn’t worn off? I’m afraid they really are about to start fighting.”
Another person said, “Whatever else one can say, Senior Brother Qiu really lives up to his reputation. That talisman is truly formidable. He’s usually such a warm and friendly person, but after using it, he became a completely different man. He attacks everyone he sees.”
Someone else chimed in, “He lost his memory, after all. He doesn’t recognize anyone, so of course he wouldn’t dare trust people easily.”
Mei Man thought to herself that this had nothing to do with a lack of security. He had simply exposed his true nature after losing his memory. He was even hitting people. The fact that he hadn’t killed anyone already counted as a miracle.
Shen Shushi angrily rebuked him, “Qiu Heyang, even if you’ve lost your memory, how can you injure people as you please? He is your elder brother. Do you have even the slightest respect for your elders? This is utterly outrageous!”
“Elder brother?” Qiu Heyang sneered. “I was born of Heaven and Earth. I have no brothers or sisters. As for this grinning, unserious thing—just looking at him makes me want to hit him. He doesn’t deserve to be called my elder brother.”
Mei Man had already been planning to leave, but upon hearing this, she silently edged back into the crowd.
Born of Heaven and Earth? Even after losing his memory, he could still invent himself a new identity. Was he putting on an entire play by himself?
The healer beside her sucked in a breath. “This talisman is too powerful. It turned a perfectly normal person into this. He’s spouting nothing but nonsense. The talisman’s effects won’t be easy to dispel. We may have to ask the Medicine Sovereign to come.”
Mei Man thought that there was a possibility he had always thought this way.
Qiu Yingling, however, was not angry. He merely smiled. “Heyang, we really ought to have someone record you like this, so we can show it to you every day from now on. You may insult me a few times if you like, but Immortal Lord is your master. How can you raise a hand against him? Put down the bow. We can talk things over slowly.”
Qiu Heyang retorted, “That coffin-faced old man with the completely white hair? Why should I call him Master?”
Mei Man heard everyone around her suck in a sharp breath.
Shen Shushi was even more furious, his face turning livid.
His fingers moved slightly. He was just about to send out a strand of spiritual power to knock Qiu Heyang unconscious.
But Qiu Heyang’s gaze swept over, and he suddenly frowned. The strength in his hands also relaxed somewhat.
He stared at the group of healers and suddenly said, “Hey, you there—the one hiding behind everyone else. Do I know you?”
Even after meeting his eyes, Mei Man never once thought he could be talking about her.
Her eyes darted left and right as she tried to see which healer would answer.
Shen Shushi and Qiu Yingling also looked over.
Qiu Heyang said, “Why are you looking around? I’m talking about you—the one with black hair and blue-green clothes.”
Mei Man really wished she could take off her blue-green outer robe.
But she was even more afraid that he might insult her along with the others, so she hurriedly shook her head.
“Manman?” Qiu Yingling said with a smile. “What brings you here too? You’d best keep your distance. Heyang is a little abnormal at the moment. He may hurt someone.”
But Mei Man did not even look at him.
Perhaps sensing her avoidance, the smile on his face stiffened slightly.
When Shen Shushi saw her, his expression softened a little.
He had four disciples in total. One had yet to return, and two had gone mad and were causing chaos everywhere. Only this one remained, the disciple who never caused trouble.
His tone also gentled as he asked her, “Mei Man, what brings you here?”
“I was going to the spirit market to buy something. I happened to pass by and heard the commotion, so I came to take a look,” Mei Man answered honestly.
Qiu Yingling’s expression grew even more complicated, and his breathing caught slightly.
“Mei Man? Your name is Mei Man?” Qiu Heyang asked.
Mei Man fell silent again and shook her head vigorously.
If he learned her name, wouldn’t he curse her by her full name?
Qiu Heyang grew displeased. “Why won’t you speak? In front of that old man, you’re no mute—you can talk and answer questions perfectly well. Mei Man, Mei Man… Which characters make up your name? I feel like I know you. Do I?”
The moment Shen Shushi heard him, his expression darkened. He turned around and formed a spiritual seal.
More than ten pillars of light suddenly appeared in midair. Their pressure was so formidable that even the others found it difficult to breathe.
The pillars descended together, surrounding Qiu Heyang like the bars of a cage.
Unexpectedly, Qiu Heyang reacted just as quickly. In the instant before he was completely trapped, he raised his brows and laughed.
“You think you can capture me? It won’t be that easy. Call you Master? Hah. Dream on!”
As he spoke, he casually took out a spirit talisman and activated it. Before vanishing, he cast one last distant glance at Mei Man.
The next moment, he exploded into clouds of smoke and disappeared into the air.
“He got away again! Again!” one of the healers wailed. “He’s either hitting people or running away! Where in the world does Senior Brother Qiu get so many teleportation talismans?!”
