WPCID 21: Do You Have Medicine to Make Him ‘Able’?

Chu Xuan never dawdled. He headed straight for the residence and vaulted over the wall.

He paused for a moment after landing at the base of the wall, surveying the courtyard as a flicker of doubt crossed his mind.

Since he has lost his memories, why would Senior Brother still choose to stay here? It’s as if he knew this residence was his.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he put away the medicine, deciding to talk to Lu Buzhuo first.

In the kitchen, thick with the smell of scrambled eggs.

Lu Buzhuo was trying to fix the iron wok, concentrating on his tinkering as if repairing it was far more important than dual cultivating with Shen Zhou.

Shen Zhou stood to the side, his face stern and his ears drooping.

After a quarter of an hour, he couldn’t resist kicking Lu Buzhuo’s foot. 

“What are you fixing?” he asked unkindly.

Lu Buzhuo let out a grunt from the kick and put down the wok. He stopped fixing it but said nothing.

Shen Zhou kicked him again.

Lu Buzhuo couldn’t remain silent any longer, but he didn’t answer directly. He averted his gaze. 

“I thought you wouldn’t like… dual cultivation.”

He truly hadn’t considered it. Firstly, he was afraid of stirring up bad memories for Shen Zhou. Secondly… he was also afraid of stirring up his own.

With a muddled past, he could still play dumb and bury his head in the sand. But if he truly remembered something and continued to act as if nothing was wrong with Shen Zhou, that would be deception.

Shen Zhou moved to stand in front of him and said bluntly, “With you, it should be comfortable. Shall we dual cultivate?”

Lu Buzhuo: “…”

The youth spoke of frivolous matters with grave solemnity, his gaze clear. A stubborn glint shone in his stark black-and-white eyes, as if he absolutely had to get to the bottom of it right then and there.

Not answering felt no different from letting him down.

Lu Buzhuo couldn’t stand being looked at like that. He closed his eyes and threw caution to the wind. 

“Fine. But we have to wait a few days.”

“Why?” Shen Zhou pressed.

Lu Buzhuo spouted nonsense. 

“My body is weak. I’m not able.”

With that, he left a bewildered Shen Zhou behind, gathered his white mink-fur cloak, and strode out of the kitchen as if he had gained the upper hand.

Shen Zhou mulled over the words but didn’t understand.

He stood there pondering for a long time, then suddenly grasped the meaning without being taught. Unsure, he thought for a moment, put on his bamboo hat, and hurried out.

Lu Buzhuo returned to his room and shut the door. He picked up the cold tea on the table and downed it in one gulp, yet his heart remained in turmoil. He felt like he was standing blindfolded on the edge of a precarious cliff, liable to misstep and fall at any moment.

For the first time, he felt a sense of annoyance toward his hazy past.

Suddenly, a soft sound came from the window lattice, and the tip of a scabbard appeared.

It’s not Shen Zhou.

Lu Buzhuo snapped back to his senses, his eyes turning icy. He dipped his index finger into the remaining tea at the bottom of his cup and swiftly drew a talisman on the teacup lid.

“Senior Bro—”

Swish—! The talisman-inscribed lid shot through the air.

Chu Xuan had to shut his mouth. He propped a hand on the windowsill, vaulted over, turned sideways, and pressed his scabbard down, perfectly blocking the flying lid.

When he looked up again, the figure by the table had vanished. A chill shot straight up his spine.

“I mean no harm,” Chu Xuan said concisely, raising his hands. 

“You may have forgotten, but I am your Junior Brother.”

The chill disappeared, but he felt a push on his back, a persistent one at that.

Chu Xuan: “?”

Chu Xuan: “Senior Bro—”

“Drop the familiarity, I don’t know you.” Lu Buzhuo pushed and pulled the man out the door, slammed it shut with a bang, and yelled, “Get lost.”

Chu Xuan: “………”

After closing the door, Lu Buzhuo went to shut the window.

That damn scabbard poked in again, jamming the window frame and preventing it from closing. A voice came from it: “Senior Brother!”

Lu Buzhuo’s head was starting to ache.

What is going on? he thought. Do these people have to show up and cause trouble precisely when I’m tormented by matters of the heart??

A hand appeared next to the scabbard, pressed against the window, and pushed it inward with force.

Lu Buzhuo was no match for it and could only watch helplessly as the man claiming to be his Junior Brother climbed in through the window again.

The man was quite handsome, with sharp brows and star-like eyes. Just standing there, he exuded a piercing aura, like an unsheathed sword. Even an inglorious act like climbing through someone’s window was performed with an air of righteous integrity.

Lu Buzhuo sighed, returned to the table, and poured a cup of tea. The other man instinctively reached for it, only to grasp at empty air.

“Who said I poured this for you?” Lu Buzhuo said, before drinking it himself.

Chu Xuan: “…”

He was beginning to realize that his Senior Brother didn’t seem to like him very much.

“Since you call me Senior Brother, you must know that person from last time and are also a disciple of Kunlun Xu.” Lu Buzhuo continued to sip his tea, cutting straight to the chase. 

“For the sake of our shared sect, let’s make a deal. I’ve been missing for so long, can you all just assume I’m dead?”

Chu Xuan was silent for a moment, then asked while hugging his sword, “Why?”

There were many reasons. For instance, the demonic energy in his spiritual altar couldn’t see the light of day. Or that Kunlun Xu specialized in slaying demonic cultivators. And also… Shen Zhou.

“I have a cultivation partner now,” Lu Buzhuo said. 

“I want to live a peaceful life.”

“That half-demon?” After being separated for so long, Chu Xuan didn’t want to make the conversation too stiff, so he temporarily avoided the words “demonic cultivator.” “Although Kunlun Xu has its rules… if Senior Brother truly likes him, you can bring him back with us.”

Lu Buzhuo let out a laugh. 

“The rules of the world’s number one sect are strict. Do you have the final say?”

“I have the final say,” Chu Xuan stated calmly. 

“I am the Sect Master.”

In the next instant, before he could even process what had happened, he was thrown out the door with a teacup overturned on his head.

Immediately after, the entire residence hummed as a protective array activated with a roar. Hundreds of streams of sword qi aimed at the main gate, each one radiating the message: “Strangers Keep Out.”

Chu Xuan had been kicked out before he could even say a few words. He took a deep breath, thinking, to hell with being tactful, and prepared to forcibly break the array and take the man away. But upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a miniature version of Kunlun Xu’s own grand protective array.

Chu Xuan: “………”

Xie Xianqing arrived a step too late, unable to stop Chu Xuan’s “tactful” approach with the aphrodisiac. He paced anxiously in the alley across the street.

When he finally saw Chu Xuan emerge, he hurried over, casually removed the teacup from his head, and glanced at the all-too-familiar array. He couldn’t help but tease, “So this is your tactful approach, Sect Master?”

Right now, Chu Xuan couldn’t stand hearing the words “Sect Master.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out.” Before his voice faded, he disappeared again.

Xie Xianqing: “But the vial I gave you is… Hey, hey!”

It’s an aphrodisiac!

Xie Xianqing scratched his hair, feeling a little desperate.

Using an aphrodisiac at the dosage of a knockout drug could be fatal.

He could even imagine Lu Buzhuo using his last ounce of strength to kick Chu Xuan out and activate the array before collapsing onto the bed, feverish and unconscious.

As he paced around anxiously, he suddenly stopped, remembering the half-demon in a bamboo hat who had hurried out not long ago.

Shen Zhou, completely unaware that he was being targeted, stood before a medical hall. He tightened his bamboo hat and was about to go in.

Just as he lifted his foot, a bamboo pole shot out from the side, blocking his way. A banner hung from it, bearing the four large words “Cures All Ailments.” The man was dressed as a traveling physician and wore a fox mask.

“Ah, my young friend.”

Shen Zhou: “?”

“I see a grave look upon your face. Could it be that someone in your family is ill?”

Shen Zhou hesitated for a moment. He looked at the “Cures All Ailments” on the fox-faced man’s banner, then at the long queue at the medical hall’s entrance. He nodded. 

“Yes, he’s ill.”

Xie Xianqing raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Lu Buzhuo is sick?

I just snuck a peek at him two days ago. He was full of energy, didn’t look sick at all.

So he patted his medicine box and said, “I can treat all sorts of difficult and complex illnesses here, and for free. Young friend, why don’t you describe the symptoms? Perhaps I happen to have the right medicine.”

Shen Zhou looked around, pulled the man to a corner, and whispered, “He wasn’t very clear. He just said that he’s not ‘able’ and that we have to wait a few days to continue dual cultivation. Do you have any medicine to make him ‘able’?”

Xie Xianqing was instantly struck by lightning. 

“!??”