Parents' Shrine (8)

His words left both Dasamara and Yan Fei deeply stunned. After a long while, Dasamara finally said, "Are you sure?"

"Most prisoners complained of having nightmares three days before committing their crimes, in which someone held a red lotus. And now I've discovered the mark of Padma in Su Liangdi's Life Soul. Need I say more?"

Able to contact a person's Life Soul through dreams without relying on possession... "Red Impermanence..." Dasamara's mind buzzed, finding it hard to believe for a moment.

But Yan Fei didn't care which color of Impermanence had committed the crime; his eyes only saw Tan Yangzi's injury. "Stop talking! Hurry up and get inside!" Without a word of explanation, he pulled Tan Yangzi straight into the room, pushed him onto the edge of the bed, and reached out to untie Tan Yangzi's sash. Startled, Tan Yangzi hurriedly pressed down his hand with his movable left hand. "What are you doing?"

"Take off your top to wash the wound, otherwise it will get infected!" Yan Fei glared at him seriously, looking fierce and imposing.

Hearing his reasonable words, Tan Yangzi said, "I'll take it off myself!"

"How can you take it off with one hand? What if you touch the wound?" Yan Fei argued strongly, brushing away his hand and untying his belt, then carefully peeled the upper garment off Tan Yangzi's shoulders. He then quickly fetched some clean water to rinse the wound for him. Although Tan Yangzi tried hard to control his expression, it was inevitable that he felt bursts of piercing pain when the water touched the wound, causing his sword-like eyebrows to furrow tightly.

Looking at his usually cold and stern face now forcibly enduring the pain, his slightly furrowed brows revealing a faintly fragile expression, Yan Fei's heart was violently stirred. But he quickly gathered his thoughts, cursing himself inwardly for actually finding his master's expression of enduring pain to be very good-looking. He was really becoming more and more perverted...

Watching Yan Fei skillfully wash and soak the wound with cool water, and then find bandages to wrap it for him, Tan Yangzi felt very gratified in his heart. Yan Fei carefully tied a knot in the bandage, looking up at Tan Yangzi, his eyes full of heartache. "Master, this burn looks very serious. I should go find a doctor."

Tan Yangzi said, "No need to go through so much trouble. Just apply some wound medicine and it'll be fine."

"No. Since you were injured by a Heavenly Court magical artifact, we cannot take it lightly." Yan Fei was uncharacteristically firm. He stood up, looking down at Tan Yangzi from above, and forcefully pressed his shoulders to make him lie down, his face full of determination. "Judging by the hour, the clinics are probably open. I will go and return quickly. You sleep first and get some good rest."

Dasamara also said, "My virtuous nephew makes sense. You should rest well here first. I'm afraid we caused quite a commotion in the prison last night. I'll go out and handle it so we don't leave any loose ends."

Tan Yangzi also knew that he indeed needed to rest and recuperate. This time, not only was his mortal shell injured, but his ghost body was also hurt. He thus lay down following Yan Fei's force, and worriedly instructed Dasamara, "Go and ask if that Su Liangdi is alright. Logically speaking, the damage of a Heavenly Court magical artifact to a human is far less than to a ghost, but given the level of the outbreak yesterday... I can't be sure either. Also, about Chen Xujiang, hiding him here all the time is not a solution. We need to send him out of the city as soon as possible."

"Alright, alright, stop worrying blindly!" Yan Fei abruptly drew the curtains. "Just leave these matters for us to handle."

......

At this time, Xiangyang had just reached the crack of dawn, and most of the pharmacies and clinics had not yet opened. The only one open was Anlin Pharmacy, the cheapest and largest in all of Xiangyang. Yan Fei had the door shut in his face a few times, and by the time he finally found Anlin Pharmacy, quite a few patients were already lining up outside to get medicine and see a doctor. Although Yan Fei was anxious in his heart, he had no choice but to wait patiently.

Next to him, two young married women were chatting in low voices. They seemed to be saying that a divine doctor had arrived at this Anlin Clinic in the past two days, said to be from the Medical Immortal Sect of the mysterious overseas Penglai Island. After a dose of his medicine was poured down, a person who had stopped breathing for two hours was forcefully brought back to life. The other woman, her face flushed with spring, said who would have thought this divine doctor would be so young and so handsome; no wonder someone gave him the title of Miraculous Jade Hands. After speaking, the two women snickered together, but then suddenly stopped, their faces blushing red, and whispered, "Ah! Isn't that Divine Doctor Liu! He's coming this way!"

Yan Fei also looked up curiously. He saw a young man coming out of the clinic, dressed in a beige-gray long gown with dark baoxiang flower patterns. His ink-black hair hung down like a waterfall, his facial features were like a painting, and he was as elegant and refined as a lone pine emerging from the snow or green bamboo swaying in the wind. He was indeed a rare beautiful man.

Why did he feel like he had seen him somewhere before?

Yet the young man actually came straight towards his direction, making the two young women so nervous that they blushed red in an instant. However, they didn't expect that he would just brush past them without looking sideways, coming straight to stand in front of Yan Fei.

Yan Fei looked at him somewhat inexplicably.

The young man revealed a faint smile like a clear breeze, bowed slightly, cupped his hands, and said, "I didn't expect to see my benefactor again."

Yan Fei was completely baffled and didn't speak, just staring back somewhat coldly.

Seeing that he had been forgotten, the young man was not annoyed. A pair of pitch-black eyes gazed at Yan Fei. "Yesterday in the Xiang River, if my benefactor hadn't lent a helping hand, I'm afraid I would have long become a ghost in the river."

Yan Fei suddenly remembered and said in sudden realization, "I remember now! You are the person who fell into the water."

"Exactly this humble one." The young man in plain clothes nodded slightly with a bit of bashfulness. "I am Liu Yusheng. May I ask how to address my benefactor?"

"Call me Yan Fei." Yan Fei suddenly curled his eyes and laughed. This smile was truly radiant like the red dawn breaking through the clouds, completely different from his previous cold and distant appearance, making Liu Yusheng slightly stunned upon seeing it.

"So you are a doctor? Then... since I saved you, shouldn't you repay my kindness?" Yan Fei tilted his head slightly, flashing a small tiger tooth with his smile.

"Of course!"

"Then let's go!" Yan Fei directly grabbed Liu Yusheng's arm to drag him home, calculating in his heart that this was great, he wouldn't need to line up anymore. But before Liu Yusheng could speak, a delicate-looking youth resembling an attendant, who had been following behind the divine doctor and whom Yan Fei hadn't noticed until now, suddenly interjected with a shout, "Hey! Talk if you want to talk! Don't get handsy! Our young master is the dignified Miraculous Jade Hands, can you afford to invite him?!" Saying so, he slapped away Yan Fei's hand.

Yan Fei raised his eyebrows, but then heard Liu Yusheng sternly scold the attendant in a low voice, "Tian Dong! Do not be rude!" Then he apologetically said to Yan Fei, "The little medicine boy doesn't know any better, please don't take offense, benefactor. Is someone sick at home?"

Yan Fei cast a smug glance at the little medicine boy named Tian Dong, making the youth's eyes widen in anger. "That's right, my master's arm was burned."

"For a mere burn, just go find another doctor! Our young master is the head of the Medical Immortal Sect..." The little medicine boy grew even more indignant. Although this person in red clothes was good-looking, he had first forgotten the young master and acted so coldly, then changed his face as soon as he heard the young master was a divine doctor. At a glance, he was just trying to use the young master. He couldn't let the young master be bullied by this cunning disaster.

However, his young master didn't want to appreciate his painstaking efforts at all, interrupting him before he could finish. "Enough! Tian Dong, go back and copy Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica three times to reflect on your mistakes!"

Tian Dong's face fell, resentfully watching his young master desperately follow that foxy disaster away. The person in red actually even turned back and gave him a sly wink with his right eye, making Tian Dong so angry that he cursed every swear word he knew before drooping his head and going back.

......

Tan Yangzi had a dream.

In the dream, he stood on the bank of the Wangchuan River, so wide that the other shore could not be seen. Behind him was a blood-colored sea of flowers spreading to the end of his line of sight. The fragrance of the Manjusaka was rich and bewitching, carrying an imperceptible hint of blood, lingering and filling his nose.

He watched the deep blue water of the Wangchuan River flowing quietly, without visible ripples. This was the boundary separating life and death. No one knew where the water of Wangchuan truly came from, nor where it went; they only knew that it was continuous and unending, never to dry up.

"I heard Meng Po say that this water is formed from the pain and tears of the sentient beings of the Six Realms in reincarnation." A clear and cold voice suddenly rang out, causing Tan Yangzi's heart to tremble suddenly. He turned around and saw a person in red sitting on the ground in the sea of flowers, blending perfectly with that desolate and beautiful background. The person in red's skin was as pale as snow, with blood-red runes spreading across his forehead. His face was as gorgeous as the Manjusaka in his hand, yet bearing a faint touch of sadness. He raised his eyes; the pitch-black pupils had no visible whites, making that originally desolate and beautiful face become evil and ghostly.

In the dream, Tan Yangzi smiled and said, "You were listening to her drunk nonsense again. Stop mingling with those Earthly Immortals of Fengdu."

"So what if it's a story? The reincarnation of the Six Realms is inherently painful anyway." The person in red smiled, stood up, and inserted a Manjusaka onto the horns that only Tan Yangzi's ghost body possessed. "Mhm! Looks good!"

"Looks like crap." Tan Yangzi rolled his eyes and pulled the flower down. "I'm asking you, what did you do the past few days? Why didn't you attend the Ksitigarbha Festival?"

The person in red said casually, "The mortal realm has the Ghost Festival. A friend from the mortal realm invited me to watch a play, and I agreed."

Tan Yangzi felt a strong wave of jealousy in his heart. "A friend? How come I didn't know you had a friend in the mortal realm?"

The person in red cast a glance at him and teased, "What? Are you jealous?"

"In your dreams. I was just afraid that if an assignment suddenly came up, I wouldn't be able to find you. Do you expect me to go catch ghosts alone?!"

The person in red suddenly smiled, smiling so beautifully. He suddenly leaned in close and gently kissed his cheek. "I like seeing you jealous. It's much cuter than your usual falsely serious look."

Tan Yangzi blushed and glared with his clear yellow eyes. "Don't be all smiles and giggles in front of me! Do you know that going to the living world without saying a word is irresponsible behavior! If Han Zitong finds out, he'll make things difficult for you again, and I'll end up suffering along with you!"

"Alright, alright, I admit I was wrong this time. Next time I'll definitely tell you first. Ah, no, I'll definitely drag you along wherever I go, okay?"

"...Scram!"

......

......

......

"I'm sorry, Qianna, I... still can't let him go."

"He is right. Why can't we live good lives? Why do they get to dictate the good, evil, right, and wrong in this world? I refuse to accept this!"

"I am the one who let you down."

"I must walk this path myself. You... forget about me!"

"Shivamara!!! Come back here!!!" In the dream, Tan Yangzi shouted loudly, ordering, threatening, and pleading, but the person in red still left.

Didn't he promise that they would go everywhere together?

Tan Yangzi slowly opened his eyes. After a moment, he felt bursts of burning pain coming from his arm, and only then did he realize where he was.

It had been a long time since he last dreamed of that person.

He heard the courtyard gate open from afar, and the footsteps of two people rapidly approached. Before long, the door opened, and Yan Fei walked in leading an unfamiliar young man in plain clothes. Tan Yangzi was about to sit up but was pressed down by Yan Fei. "Hey, hey, hey, don't move. I'll unwrap the bandage for you."

Seeing that Tan Yangzi had a youthful appearance but a full head of white hair and deep eyes, making his age hard to determine, Liu Yusheng couldn't help but be secretly surprised. He gave a slight nod towards Tan Yangzi and then approached to examine the burn on his arm. As soon as he saw it, he frowned. He saw that the previously bright red burn was already covered with yellowish-brown blisters, and the edges were a bright red color. A few blisters had ruptured and festered, actually showing signs of infection. "Why is it so serious, and it looks like he's been injured for a long time?"

Yan Fei slightly widened his eyes. "No, he was just burned two hours ago. Is it very serious? Will it leave a scar?"

"Two hours?" If it was only last night, it shouldn't have developed so fast. Fortunately, this kind of injury was not difficult for him. "Good thing you found me, otherwise it would have definitely left a scar." Liu Yusheng said, "I have to return to the clinic to get some medicine, I'll be back in a bit. Don't touch his wound for now, and don't wrap it up either." After saying that, he hurried off again.

Yan Fei sat by the bed, looking with heartache at Tan Yangzi's arm covered with disgusting blisters, his beautiful brows knitted together. "Does it hurt?"

Tan Yangzi scoffed. "This is nothing. If you had seen the punishment of the burning pillar in the Hell of Copper Pillars, you would know that this little injury is like a tickle."

However, Yan Fei didn't seem comforted at all, but rather felt even more heartache, blaming himself. "If I had known, I should have gone with you..."

"What could you have done if you went? I am actually glad you didn't follow along. It's better for one to be injured than two."

"I wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"Heh, why are you so sure? Although it is said that Heavenly Court magical artifacts generally only provide reinforcement to humans and won't cause any harm. But it's hard to say." Tan Yangzi then changed the subject and asked, "Does your head still hurt?"

Yan Fei cautiously glanced at him and lowered his head, saying, "Master, actually I didn't catch a cold. The reason I didn't go with you... is because I... I used a bit of the Dream-Entering Spell on Chen Xujiang..."

Hearing this, Tan Yangzi suddenly sat up and glared at him. "What did you say?!"

Yan Fei hurriedly spoke in a rapid string of words, "Master, don't be angry first. I can now confirm that the magical artifact mark in the Life Soul does not harm a person as long as it isn't stimulated. See, aren't I perfectly fine? Moreover, I found a lot of useful..."

"Nonsense!" Tan Yangzi shouted angrily. "You wicked beast, your courage is getting bigger and bigger! You don't even listen to your master's words anymore, do you?!"