TDSDE 16
by Lilium16. He might die.
Back then, Xiao Qing was twelve years old. When he sought out the Demonic Sect, to the Sect Leader, he was like a toddler just learning to walk standing in front of an adult.
Of course, Xiao Qing was no match for the Sect Leader. The man didn’t even draw a weapon—he simply picked Xiao Qing up like a kitten by the scruff of the neck.
“I poured all my inner strength into a strike at his wrist. Guess what happened next?”
Xiao Qing didn’t really expect Bai Yuanxiu to answer. He asked the question but continued on his own, “That force hit him like a punch into sun-scorched sand. All it did was burn me—it didn’t leave a mark on him.”
Xiao Qing was defeated. The Sect Leader disliked children, but not to the point of killing one. He just tossed Xiao Qing out the door.
Xiao Qing was already covered in wounds. Being thrown like that only added to them—but at least he was still alive.
“Two years later, my master was killed by his enemies. I survived by sheer luck. The Sect Leader happened to be traveling nearby with his tiger, and he saved me.”
Xiao Qing lowered his gaze, his voice growing slower and quieter, like he was speaking through sleep. “He saved my life. If he was willing to keep me… then I’d stay with the Demonic Sect forever.”
“My master died, but his enemies are still alive.” Xiao Qing paused and exhaled deeply. “Everything… has to be settled eventually.”
Back when Bai Yuanxiu had spotted that youth from the shadows, he’d already had a strange feeling. Now, hearing Xiao Qing speak, the realization struck him hard—he had seen that youth before!
It was half a year ago. They had still been living in a small southern village. Bai Yuanxiu remembered that morning well—he’d gone out early, planning to pick some sweet-and-sour wild berries to whet Xiao Qing’s appetite. But at the foot of the mountain, he’d spotted a snow-white rabbit.
He remembered how Xiao Qing had adored that rabbit lantern at the lantern market. Most likely, he liked rabbits too. So Bai Yuanxiu chased after it into the mountain.
He lost the rabbit. Then, thinking he’d make sweet-and-sour shredded pheasant for Xiao Qing instead, he went after a wild pheasant. But before he even found one, he heard news that Xiao Qing was in danger.
He’d been far away that day, and panic had clouded his thoughts. Now that he replayed it carefully, he realized—the boy who kidnapped Su Wusi and Xiao Qing was the very same one who’d attacked Xiao Qing back then!
The memory brought with it other flashes—of the villagers who used to welcome Bai Yuanxiu’s help, suddenly avoiding them like they carried the plague, terrified to be associated with them.
And the man who came to warn him? He’d been the most timid of them all.
Bai Yuanxiu couldn’t help but glance over at Xiao Qing.
The day after the incident, Xiao Qing had been picking up a rattan ball for a child. But the next second, the kid’s aunt rushed out, face pale, and yanked the child back into the house. Xiao Qing stood there holding the ball, that desolate look on his face seared into Bai Yuanxiu’s memory.
Bai Yuanxiu’s gaze suddenly froze.
He shot to his feet and strode quickly toward Xiao Qing, reaching out to feel his forehead.
The heat under his palm was far too high. Bai Yuanxiu’s expression darkened immediately. He swore under his breath, though his movements stayed gentle.
“Xiao Qing? Xiao Qing?” he called twice to the man in his arms, but Xiao Qing kept his eyes tightly shut, breathing heavy and labored.
Bai Yuanxiu looked around the empty surroundings, then decisively began stripping off his clothes.
He didn’t like wearing thick winter clothes, and he’d chosen lighter layers earlier for ease of movement. He didn’t even have a snow cloak. Now, all he could do was drape his outer robe over Xiao Qing. It wasn’t as warm as a quilt, but it was better than nothing.
The feverish Xiao Qing felt the new warmth and instinctively tried to squirm away. Bai Yuanxiu held him tighter, gently patting his back like he was comforting a child, until finally, Xiao Qing fully drifted off to sleep.
Bai Yuanxiu silently thanked the heavens he hadn’t been drugged—at least he could still circulate his inner energy. Without that, even he might’ve frozen solid in this cold.
He looked down at Xiao Qing’s flushed cheeks and, in his heart, mentally scolded that boy who’d caused all this a hundred times over.
This dungeon looked simple, but its materials and design were ingeniously crafted. The place where Bai Yuanxiu had fallen—it was a trap. The passage was slick, with no footholds. Once you entered, there was no going back the same way.
His fine black-iron sword could slice through metal with ease, yes—but the bars of this prison were also made of refined black iron. The rock behind them was absurdly tough. Even if the sword shattered, they still wouldn’t break free.
With this level of strength, perhaps only the Demonic Sect’s Leader could break out. Everyone else would be prisoners.
According to Xiao Qing, Su Wusi was being held in the farthest cell. A trained martial artist’s senses were sharp, but even with Bai Yuanxiu’s keen hearing, he hadn’t caught a single sound. That meant Su Wusi had to be very far away.
He couldn’t help but wonder—why build so many prison cells out here in the desolate Anyang Mountains? Who was the master of this estate planning to lock up?
Bai Yuanxiu didn’t think for long before his thoughts derailed. He couldn’t help it—every time he started thinking, all he could think about was Xiao Qing. The more he tried to figure things out, the less sense they made. It only gave him a headache.
He sighed heavily, resting his chin on Xiao Qing’s head and murmuring, “I swear, I must owe you something.”
Outside, winter snow fell in thick silence. The heavy drifts worked as natural soundproofing, wrapping the dungeon in a hush so deep it felt like another world entirely.
Bai Yuanxiu hadn’t had much rest this whole time. Now, finally holding the person he’d been worrying about all along, drowsiness washed over him like a tide. But he had to keep his inner energy circulating to act as a human heater, and could only force his eyes to stay open.
He didn’t know how many times he’d yawned when suddenly, the person in his arms stirred.
Bai Yuanxiu was truly exhausted. He asked lazily, “You’re awake?”
Xiao Qing didn’t reply. Bai Yuanxiu looked down in confusion—and saw the guy curled up in his arms, cautiously peeking up at him.
That look made Bai Yuanxiu’s temper vanish instantly. He just said, “Come a little closer. Let me see if you’re still burning up.”
He’d meant for Xiao Qing to shift so he could slip his hand out and feel his forehead. But unexpectedly, Xiao Qing pushed himself up by bracing against Bai Yuanxiu’s stomach and leaned in—pressing his forehead directly to Bai Yuanxiu’s.
The sudden motion left Bai Yuanxiu momentarily stunned. When he came back to himself, Xiao Qing had already snuggled back to his original position, his black eyes blinking innocently up at him.
That docile expression—it was exactly like the “Ah Qing” from before.
Just thinking about how Xiao Qing used to tease him made Bai Yuanxiu chuckle in frustration. “Don’t fake being cute.”
Xiao Qing let out a soft hum but didn’t move away. Instead, he rested against Bai Yuanxiu’s shoulder and slid his hand behind his back, trying to shield him from the cold, hard stone wall.
Bai Yuanxiu’s brow twitched. He immediately pulled Xiao Qing back into his arms and adjusted the outer robe around his neck. “Stay still. Don’t move.”
Xiao Qing’s fever had come down a little, but from Bai Yuanxiu’s past experience, Xiao Qing’s normal body temperature was slightly cool to the touch. Right now, his temperature felt like that of an ordinary person—meaning he still wasn’t anywhere near recovered.
Seeing him trying to shrug off the robe again, Bai Yuanxiu clicked his tongue. “Quit fussing. If your fever spikes again, I’m not dealing with it.”
At those words, Xiao Qing finally stopped moving. Leaning against Bai Yuanxiu’s shoulder, he drifted back to sleep, mumbling in a sticky, half-conscious voice, “So fierce…”
Bai Yuanxiu had thought it was just Xiao Qing trying to provoke him again, but when he looked down, it was clear—Xiao Qing wasn’t even awake.
And all the frustration in Bai Yuanxiu’s chest deflated.
Clearly, Xiao Qing still thought he was that clingy, spoiled “Ah Qing.” With everything Bai Yuanxiu knew about the Left Protector, it didn’t take a genius to guess: Xiao Qing had burned himself into a daze.
Holding Xiao Qing like this, Bai Yuanxiu couldn’t help but feel that their relationship had grown… complicated.
If you said they were former enemies who hated each other, that didn’t quite fit anymore—because Bai Yuanxiu couldn’t bring himself to treat Xiao Qing as harshly as he had treated the Left Protector before.
But if you said he could treat Xiao Qing like he had treated the old “Ah Qing,” that didn’t feel right either. Everything just felt… off.
He tightened his arms around him and could only sigh inwardly: One step at a time.
But what happened next was far beyond anything Bai Yuanxiu had expected—Xiao Qing’s condition suddenly worsened.
Sure, he had fallen into the water and caught a chill. It had seemed like a normal fever at first. But now, this—this was far beyond the scope of a simple fever. Xiao Qing’s body was so hot that even Bai Yuanxiu, with his searing inner energy, found it hard to hold onto him.
He couldn’t help but recall what the Azure Dragon Hall Master had told him before he left the Demonic Sect.
At the time, Ye Nanxun had said that when the Sect Leader brought Xiao Qing back, he’d been severely injured. Everyone had assumed he’d been physically torn up—but in truth, most of those horrific wounds had been internal.
To save him, Ye Nanxun had used more than fifty rare medicinal herbs and spent nearly two years just to get Xiao Qing to the point where he could move like a normal person.
But that didn’t mean he was cured.
Xiao Qing’s internal cultivation was strange—icy, almost too sharp, like it came from some frozen, snow-covered land.
There were other martial arts like this in the jianghu—styles that came with equal parts power and consequence. The more ruthless the technique, the more intense the backlash when it turned inward, often causing immense strain on the body.
But everything in this world follows a principle of balance. If the technique existed, there had to be a way to practice it safely.
Xiao Qing’s current state, though—something was wrong.
Ye Nanxun had suspected even back then that Xiao Qing had once forcibly broken through a bottleneck in his cultivation. And the price for that—Xiao Qing still hadn’t finished paying it.
Bai Yuanxiu had never dared to imagine what kind of “price” Ye Nanxun had meant. But now, holding Xiao Qing’s burning, sweat-soaked body in his arms, hands trembling in panic—
In that one fleeting moment, Bai Yuanxiu suddenly realized:
Xiao Qing might die.
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