Only after the pent-up frustration in her heart had been thoroughly vented did Mei Man finally manage to stop laughing.
Her whole body hurt terribly, and her mind felt as though it had been clogged up; she couldn’t think clearly about anything.
Gasping for breath, she spat out several more mouthfuls of blood. Once she had barely recovered her senses, she mustered what little strength she had left and shouted, “Help! Help me!”
She didn’t know how long she had been calling before someone finally came.
It was several senior disciples from the Discipline Hall. The moment they arrived and saw blood covering the ground, with two people lying there whose condition was unknown, they were nearly scared out of their wits.
The senior brother leading them was too frightened to approach. “What—what in the world happened here? How did you—”
Mei Man’s vision went black. The pain was so severe that she was on the verge of passing out.
Still, she forced herself to hold on. With barely any strength, she raised a hand and pointed toward Chai Qun. Choking back sobs, she said weakly, “Senior Brother… save him first. Save him.”
Only then did the others snap back to their senses.
The senior brother in charge hurried over to Chai Qun, with another senior sister following closely behind.
“What’s your name? What exactly happened? How did you end up falling like this? Forget it, don’t speak yet. Save your strength. I’ll stop the bleeding for you.” A senior sister crouched beside Mei Man and hurriedly formed a blood-stanching spell.
Another senior brother infused her body with spiritual power. In an instant, it coursed through her limbs and organs, and he looked astonished. “You’re not a cultivator?”
Mei Man nodded with difficulty.
Her face was covered in tears mixed with blood, making it impossible to tell what she had originally looked like.
But she forced herself to turn her head toward Chai Qun.
“What about him?” Mei Man grabbed the senior sister’s hand in turn. Her fingers slowly tightened around it as she asked weakly, “He… he’s my friend. How is he? How is he doing?”
The senior sister followed her gaze and looked toward the senior brother crouching beside Chai Qun.
His expression was grave. “His spiritual meridians are completely destroyed, and his soul has already departed. There’s no saving him.”
Mei Man choked out a sob and began to cry, murmuring, “That’s impossible. How could this happen?” The senior sister soothed her and told her to conserve her strength. She then sent a message to the disciples of the Medicine Valley, who carried Mei Man to the infirmary.
This time, the pain was even worse than when she had been poisoned. Yet Mei Man did not lose consciousness and remained awake the entire time.
When the medical cultivator at the infirmary treated her wounds, she was in so much pain that she no longer even had the strength to bare her teeth. Her breathing came in fits and starts.
But whenever she thought of Chai Qun’s miserable state, all that pain seemed to vanish.
Her heart continued to race. She was both shaken by what had happened and unable to suppress her secret delight.
That bastard! This was exactly the fate he deserved.
However, she knew that this was far from the only trouble awaiting her.
It was not long before the elder from the Discipline Hall came to the infirmary.
He stormed through the door, burning with rage.
Mei Man had been prepared for him to come looking for her, but she hadn’t expected him to bring Qiu Yingling along as well.
That Qiu fellow wore a foxlike smile, his eyes narrowed into two curved slits. As he entered, he was still saying, “Elder, why are you in such a hurry? Your nephew is dead, not injured. Even if you run yourself ragged, you still won’t be able to save him.”
The provocative remark turned the elder’s face livid, and he had to force himself not to lose his temper.
Qiu Yingling was about to continue mocking him when he suddenly caught sight of her.
Seeing how seriously she was injured, the smile on his face immediately faded somewhat, and the corners of his lips nearly straightened. But it lasted no more than an instant before he returned to his usual expression.
“Elder,” he said with another smile, “if you truly care about your nephew so much, you shouldn’t have raised him like some kind of beast. At the very least, you should have raised him into something resembling a human being. Then he might not have met with such a calamity. Don’t you agree?”
The elder stopped and glared at him viciously. “Yingling! Do you really have to speak with such barbs?”
“Barbs?” Qiu Yingling appeared to ponder the word. “You must have misunderstood something I said. I was merely joking. Please don’t take it to heart.”
The elder was so furious that his temples throbbed. He no longer bothered arguing with him and instead turned his enraged gaze toward Mei Man.
“Mei Man, what exactly happened?” His eyes were rimmed with red, and his voice was choked with emotion. “How did Chai Qun… how did he end up…”
Mei Man did her best to ignore Qiu Yingling beside her. Her own eyes filled with tears, and because of the pain, even speaking came out in broken fragments.
“I don’t know either. He sent word through a senior brother that he wanted to see me, so I went to find him. At first, everything was fine. He talked to me about my studies and even asked if I wanted something to eat. But I don’t know what happened—he suddenly went mad and smashed everything. Then he… he said…”
The elder hurried a step forward. “What did he say?”
“He said he was going to kill me.” Mei Man lowered her eyes, putting on an expression of lingering fear. “He tried to hit me, so I could only fight back. In the end… he fell out of the window.”
“Impossible!” the elder shouted angrily. “Why would he try to kill you for no reason?”
Qiu Yingling smiled. “Why are you getting so worked up, Elder? He was foolish enough to jump out of a window. Is it really so strange that he would also want to kill someone?”
The elder refused to believe it. He even took another step forward and said, “Once I search her soul, the truth will naturally be clear!”
You old bastard!
He cared so much about that bastard Chai Qun—why didn’t he just go accompany him in death?
Mei Man was both furious and resentful. The elder truly did not regard her life as a life at all.
But she also knew that he did not dare actually go through with it.
Soul-searching was considered an evil art. If he forcibly searched her soul, the Immortal Alliance would take him away today. He might even have his spiritual root destroyed.
Although Chai Qun was his biological nephew, he was not important enough for the elder to take such a risk.
Qiu Yingling pressed down on the elder’s shoulder, blocking his path. “Elder, she belongs to the Qiu family. Setting aside the fact that soul-searching is an evil art, do you really intend to punish a member of the Qiu family in front of me? Isn’t that rather disrespectful to your junior?”
Only then did Mei Man remember that she had a powerful backer present.
Although the Qiu family’s young masters and ladies all had vicious hearts, they treated her fairly well. In front of outsiders, they often stood up for their own.
Since she had a backer, there was no reason not to use him.
Thus, she ignored the pain, pushed away the senior sister treating her injuries, and hobbled toward Qiu Yingling with her body covered in blood. Enduring the agony, she hid behind him and said tearfully, “Elder, I wasn’t lying. I only told the truth. Why are you trying to kill me? If you have something to say, then speak to the Eldest Young Master. I’m not very good with words and can’t say anything pleasing.”
The elder shouted furiously, “Come out! You, come out!”
The medical cultivator sister failed to catch Mei Man and grew anxious as well. “Hey, hey, don’t argue yet! Her wounds haven’t been treated!”
Qiu Yingling was already accustomed to situations like this and handled it with effortless ease.
While smiling and blocking the elder’s path, he stretched an arm out to keep Mei Man behind him. At the same time, he did not forget to say, “There’s no need for such haste, Elder. Speak slowly, and people will be able to understand you. Don’t let a moment of impulse lead you to make a mistake you can never take back.”
Mei Man sobbed pitifully and nodded repeatedly. She kept pushing Qiu Yingling toward the elder.
He seemed to notice what she was doing and turned his head toward her with a beaming smile. “Manman, the elder and I aren’t close enough for this sort of heartfelt embrace.”
Mei Man immediately withdrew her hand. Sobbing, she said, “Then consider it lending the Eldest Young Master a little more strength to make his point.”
Qiu Yingling glanced at her tear-streaked face and was just about to speak when a senior brother came hurrying over.
“I found out!” the senior brother said, panting for breath. “Elder, we’ve investigated it!”
The Elder’s attention was now entirely focused on him.
Qiu Yingling, however, showed little interest in the matter. He raised his hand and lightly brushed his knuckles across Mei Man’s cheek, wiping away a few tears before lowering it again, as though the gesture had been entirely unintentional.
He took her hand, resting a fingertip against her wrist as if taking her pulse—or perhaps merely touching her for a brief moment.
After a while, he patted her forearm and said, “Go back and lie down.”
Mei Man had no intention of being polite about something like that. Carefully stepping around the Elder, she returned to the bed and burrowed beneath the covers, leaving only a pair of red-rimmed, tearful eyes exposed.
The senior sister healer hurried forward and resumed casting her healing arts.
The senior brother who had brought the message looked at Mei Man, then at the Elder. After hesitating, he said, “Elder, continuing here may disturb Junior Sister Mei’s rest. Should we move somewhere else?”
“No need,” Qiu Yingling said instead, his tone utterly composed. “The Elder has his suspicions about the Qiu family. Then let us clear everything up here. That way, she won’t have to worry about it day and night and be left vulnerable to further trouble.”
The senior brother really did continue. “We’ve already examined the body. Junior Brother Chai died from scorpion venom, and his spiritual root was damaged.”
“How did he come into contact with a scorp—” The Elder cut himself off. He suddenly remembered what had happened not long ago and turned sharply toward Mei Man, only to find her wearing an expression that suggested she had no idea what was going on.
The senior brother continued, “That’s not all. We also found a wisp of demonic qi in his spiritual meridians that had yet to fully form. We can basically conclude that his meridians were damaged and that he had begun showing signs of qi deviation.”
Qi deviation.
Mei Man remembered how he had suddenly seemed to regain his strength at the time.
No wonder…
The senior brother glanced at her, his voice growing somewhat strained. “We sent people to inspect the Discipline Chamber. There were two cups of tea on the table. One had been left untouched, while the other—the one he drank from—had been laced with scorpion venom. We also found part of a scorpion on Junior Brother Chai…”
“That’s enough!” the Elder snapped, cutting him off, his face turning livid.
Even without hearing the rest, he had already arrived at his own conclusion. Chai Qun had summoned her to the Discipline Chamber late at night, most likely intending to use the same trick and poison her again. This time, however, he had not only failed but injured himself in the process. The venom had damaged his spiritual root and caused him to suffer qi deviation, which was why he had dragged her over the cliff with him.
The senior brother fell silent for a moment before bracing himself and adding, “When we found them, Junior Sister Mei was still vomiting blood. It was an awful sight. And she’s only a mortal, without even spiritual energy to protect herself, yet she kept urging us to save Junior Brother Chai.”
As he spoke, he kept stealing glances at Mei Man. His eyes held pity, grief, and even a trace of barely concealed admiration, as though she were some innocent, kindhearted, and tragically wronged saint.
Those hurried words made the Elder’s face turn deathly pale.
Struck speechless, he stood there in shock for a long while. At last, he gave Mei Man a complicated look and said, “Young Friend Mei, rest here for now. Once the matter has been thoroughly investigated, you will be given an explanation.”
With that, he instructed the healer to continue treating Mei Man’s injuries before leaving with the senior brother who had delivered the message.
Qiu Yingling did not leave.
He leaned against the wall as though he had no bones in his body, both hands tucked into his sleeves, watching as the healer treated her.
The cuts Chai Qun had inflicted were only superficial. Mei Man’s legs and arms had all been broken, one of her ribs was fractured, and because the ground had been covered in stones, her back was covered in bruises from the fall.
When the healer used spiritual arts to set her bones, Mei Man buried her face in the pillow and clenched her teeth so hard that she did not make a sound.
The bones were set quickly, but the pain did not disappear so soon.
The healer said, “Junior Sister Mei, I’m going to see how the medicine is coming along. I’ll be back shortly. Rest for now.”
“It’s all right. I’m not in a hurry,” Mei Man said.
She was not saying it out of consideration. She was simply so delighted by the Elder’s ugly expression when he left that she could endure the pain no matter how severe it was—she even felt like laughing aloud.
Yet for some reason, the healer suddenly withdrew the foot she had already begun to step out with. She bent down and smoothed Mei Man’s damp hair back behind her ear, her voice gentler than before.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Mei Man frowned.
What was wrong with this person? She had already said she was not in a hurry, so why was the healer acting as though someone were hurrying her along?
Seeing her frown, the healer assumed she was in terrible pain. She hurriedly nodded to Qiu Yingling, then left.
She went straight to the medicinal hut where the decoctions were prepared and carefully checked each of the ingredients required. She also reminded the medicine cultivator in charge of the fire to be particularly careful while brewing the medicine.
As she was speaking, someone suddenly appeared at the entrance of the medicinal hut.
The healer looked up and recognized him. “Junior Brother Xie, why have you come to the Medical Valley so late at night?”
“To collect medicine.” Xie Xu paused briefly. “And deliver firewood to Chai.”
“Thank you for your trouble. As usual, just leave it outside the medicinal hut.” The healer turned away, then suddenly turned back and called after him. “Oh, Junior Brother Xie, wait. I’ll have to trouble you to make another trip. There’s a patient in the other medical hut who needs some firewood as well. That way, they can boil water directly inside the hut later.”
Xie Xu followed the direction she indicated and looked toward the warm yellow candlelight glowing in the night.
