Chapter 40

Bu Nian’s eyes had been severely injured. He could no longer continue fighting. Fortunately, the situation was already under control. Bai Shu had successfully rescued the young Emperor, while Banxia and Song Qiao led their forces to keep pursuing the traitorous faction, chasing the martial world fighters into disarray across the mountains.

Gan Yan had been shot through the chest by Lian Ai’s sleeve bolt. Surprisingly, he did not die. He still had a breath left in him. Zuo Luan, on the other hand, was thoroughly dead. His body was placed beside the other traitors, no different from the rest. All traces of his former pride and power were gone. His corpse looked bleak and lifeless, indistinguishable from the others. The Zuo siblings were nowhere to be found. Among their disciples, those who had surrendered were executed, the rest scattered and fled. Although Bu Nian suffered losses in this battle, it could still be considered a decisive victory.

Song Qiao and the others remained behind to clean up the aftermath, while Bu Nian’s deathsworn escorted the Emperor and the others back to the capital.

Bu Nian needed treatment as soon as possible. The sooner, the better.

The carriage sped along the road. The coachman’s arm never stopped lashing the reins. Wherever the procession passed, clouds of dust rose high, thick enough to block out the sky.

“General, how are you feeling?” Lian Ai was wounded himself, but he had only wrapped his injuries in haste. All of his attention was focused on Bu Nian’s eyes.

Bu Nian had a strip of black cloth torn from his own clothing wrapped over his eyes. His lips were pale, and his complexion looked terrible. His brows were deeply furrowed, as if enduring some internal pain. He didn’t even hear Lian Ai speak.

Seeing him like this made Lian Ai even more anxious. His hands and feet had gone cold with fear. Watching him suffer was unbearable. After hesitating for a long time, he finally stepped forward and took one of Bu Nian’s hands in his own.

He gripped it tightly, both hands wrapped around the other’s palm, as if that alone could lessen the pain, or at least help calm his own nerves.

The young Emperor had been badly frightened. On the way back to the capital, he developed a fever. By the time the group arrived at the city gates, a team of imperial physicians was already waiting at the palace entrance, having received the news in advance.

“Quick, send the best physicians… to the Grand General’s residence.” The young Emperor was groggy from illness, but he was still thinking about Bu Nian.

Liang Shao, head of the Imperial Medical Bureau, was usually reserved for treating the Emperor alone. But this time, the situation was exceptional. Acting on imperial decree, he left the Emperor’s side and headed straight to the Grand General’s residence with another court physician.

When they arrived, the two doctors who normally served in the residence were performing acupuncture to ease Bu Nian’s pain. He was seated upright at the edge of the bed, his face still pale, but his brow had relaxed slightly. He looked better than before.

As soon as Liang Shao and the other physician entered, the two resident doctors immediately stepped aside.

Liang Shao was over fifty. Holding the position of chief physician in the Imperial Medical Bureau was proof of his exceptional medical skill. After examining Bu Nian through observation, touch, and questioning, he thought for a moment. He already had a clear idea of the problem.

He stroked his beard and spoke directly to Bu Nian, who was leaning against the headboard.

“General, are you familiar with Fentian?”

Bu Nian frowned. The name was not unfamiliar to him. “One of the ten most infamous poisons in the martial world?”

Lian Ai sat beside him, listening with his heart pounding, but he didn’t dare interrupt. All he could do was dig his nails into his palm, trying to use the pain to distract himself from the fear building inside.

“Exactly,” Liang Shao said. “Fentian is called a ‘strange poison’ not because it’s incurable, but for the opposite reason. Its effects are slow, and the antidote is actually quite easy to prepare. However…”

He stopped halfway through his sentence. Lian Ai’s anxiety spiked, and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “However what?”

“The poison has two antidotes,” the one who answered wasn’t Liang Shao, but Bu Nian. “One will immediately neutralize the toxin. The other will trigger its full effect and kill the person on the spot. Strictly speaking, there are two different formulas for Fentian. The toxicity, color, and scent are identical, but the last ingredient is slightly altered, creating two matching antidotes. One is medicine. The other is poison. Only the person who made the poison knows which formula was used. The poisoned person can still try their luck, but the odds are fifty-fifty. And not everyone can afford to gamble.”

Bu Nian’s voice remained calm. There was no trace of fear or anxiety on his face. Compared to him, it was Lian Ai and Helian Qiufeng who looked more like the ones poisoned.

Helian Qiufeng said, “Then there’s no other way except to find the person who made the poison? What if they deliberately switch the antidotes, or… or we fail to locate them in time? Is the General supposed to just sit here and wait for death?”

His question was exactly what Lian Ai wanted to ask. Zuo Lingyu and Zuo Lingxue were nowhere to be found. Even if they were located, Zuo Luan was already dead, and Gan Yan was gravely wounded. Would those two really hand over the antidote willingly?

Lian Ai’s feelings toward Zuo Lingyu were complicated, caught in a deep contradiction he could not untangle. Now that Bu Nian had been injured by him, he no longer knew how he truly felt. They were no longer friends, yet he could not see him as a full enemy either. And the next time they met, they would inevitably have to cross blades, all for the sake of the people they chose to protect.

Liang Shao thought in silence for a while before saying, “Since the poison entered through the General’s eyes, I can apply acupuncture to temporarily lock the toxin in place. It will hold within his eyes for now. But it cannot stay there for long. If too much time passes, the eyes will be ruined. And once that happens, the Fentian poison will continue spreading into the lungs. At that point, neither antidote will work.”

It was a way to ease the immediate crisis, but it was not a true solution.

Lian Ai looked toward Bu Nian, but the question he asked was directed at Liang Shao. “So the only way to detoxify him is to find the one who created the poison, is that right?”

Liang Shao let out a long sigh. His voice carried a sense of helplessness. “If in the end we truly cannot find the person who made the poison, I will prepare both medicines. When the time comes… the General will have to choose one to take.”

Faced with a poison designed entirely to torment the mind and test the will, even the finest medical skill was powerless.

Helian Qiufeng murmured in a daze, “A fifty percent chance…”

After learning he had been poisoned with Fentian, Bu Nian had already thought through all the possible outcomes in an instant. Of course he felt unwilling. Of course there was regret. But he also understood clearly that such emotions were useless to him now.

There were still many things he had not yet done. The Emperor was young. The political unrest had just begun to settle. This was the time when the country needed someone to hold it up. If death had to come, it could not be now. And if chaos had to happen, it must not begin with him.

“I understand. Lord Liang, please begin the acupuncture.”

Liang Shao gave a small nod and rolled up his sleeves. He only kept one physician to assist him and asked all others to leave the room.

Lian Ai’s foot was still injured, so he was helped outside. Helian Qiufeng settled him under the covered walkway just outside the room. They waited together in silence for a while, until someone arrived from the outer courtyard asking for Helian Qiufeng’s decision on another matter. He said a few words to Lian Ai, then left in a hurry.

The news of Bu Nian’s injury was being tightly controlled. Apart from those involved, only Fen Zi was allowed to enter and leave the inner courtyard. Lian Ai saw her go in several times carrying trays of water. Each time she came back out, the basin was stained red with blood. His heart climbed into his throat.

Fen Zi noticed how terrible he looked and wanted to say something to comfort him. But she herself was at a loss, completely unsure of what to do. Every word she could think of felt pale and powerless. She opened her mouth several times but still said nothing. After pausing briefly beside him, she turned and walked quickly out of the courtyard.

Nearly half an hour passed. Lian Ai could barely sit still when the door to Bu Nian’s room finally opened.

Liang Shao stepped out, looking tired. “He’s stable for now. It should hold for about three months.”

Before he had even finished speaking, Lian Ai was already limping toward the door. The steward tried to help him, but he moved too fast to catch.

“Thank you, sirs,” the steward said, bowing toward Liang Shao and his colleague. He personally escorted them out of the Grand General’s residence.

Lian Ai no longer felt the pain in his foot. He slowly approached the bed. Bu Nian, seemingly hearing his footsteps, turned his head slightly. Lian Ai quickly spoke. “It’s me.”

Bu Nian had just finished the acupuncture treatment. His eyes were once again wrapped in white gauze. His lips were even more bloodless than when Lian Ai had last seen him, so pale they looked almost like paper.

“Come here,” he said, reaching out like he used to. Lian Ai pressed his lips together, walked over, and gripped his hand tightly. Then he sat beside him.

Just looking at Bu Nian made a different kind of pain rise inside him. His eyes welled up with moisture. “Why… was there so much blood?”

Bu Nian paused, then gave a slight smile and replied casually, “The acupuncture closed off a few pressure points. With the flow of internal energy disrupted, the blood surged upward. I only coughed up a few mouthfuls. That’s all.”

He spoke as if it were nothing, but to Lian Ai, it felt like his heart was being torn apart. He pressed a hand to his chest, right over his heart, and felt wave after wave of stabbing pain, as if thousands of needles were piercing straight through him. Until today, he had never known that heartache could truly hurt not just emotionally, but physically. And it hurt even more than the torment he had once endured at the brothel.

It drowned out the pain in his body. It was unbearable.

Tears streamed down his face. He tried to hold them back, not wanting Bu Nian to notice. But when a person is hurting that deeply, no amount of willpower can stop it. A single choked sob escaped him, giving him away completely.

Bu Nian’s lips slowly flattened. His hand rose and gently brushed Lian Ai’s cheek, as if he had already committed every part of his face to memory.

“Why are you crying?” His tone was a little harsh.

But the question only made Lian Ai cry harder. He choked out, “I… my wounds hurt. They hurt so much, General. My hand, my foot… everything hurts.”

The furrow in Bu Nian’s brow deepened. “We should have had Liang Shao look at you earlier. Why is it hurting that badly?”

Lian Ai was not someone with exceptional tolerance for pain. He was just an ordinary person. He could be scared. He could feel grief. He could break.

When everything had just happened, the chaos left no room for him to feel anything clearly. But now that the dust had settled, a crushing sense of helplessness and guilt overwhelmed him. Countless what-ifs and if-onlys spiraled through his mind. The confusion and pressure were enough to drive him to the edge.

“General, it hurts… what do I do… it hurts so much…” He lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Bu Nian’s shoulder. His tears quickly soaked through the underclothes.

Bu Nian felt the heat and dampness against his shoulder. In the space where Lian Ai could not see, his hand froze in midair for a moment before resting on Lian Ai’s back.

“You’re so delicate now. The Helian family really spoiled you.”

Lian Ai’s head was buzzing from crying. His nose was stuffed, and his face was wet. Hearing that, he lifted his head and reached out with cold fingertips, lightly touching the edge of Bu Nian’s lower lip. Still covered in tears, he leaned forward and softly kissed those pale lips.

“The General spoiled me too,” he murmured through his tear-streaked voice.