Hidden Shadow

An Jiu stared at him with bloodshot eyes, grinding out words through clenched teeth, "You'll find out."

Mo Sigui sensed danger and quickly adopted a serious tone, "That won't be necessary. You should rest for now. I'll read."

Carrying the lamp, he moved to the chair behind An Jiu and continued studying the medical texts.

The Crane Control Army coveted Elder Qi's medical expertise, and these manuscripts would inevitably be seized sooner or later. While Mo Sigui might struggle to retain other books after one reading, his photographic memory for medical texts allowed him to absorb them swiftly—hence the urgency to process them quickly.

Moreover, immersing himself in reading helped drown out the faint sounds of An Jiu's pained twitching.

Reforging bones and tendons was no trivial matter; the slightest mishap during the process could prove disastrous. Thus, someone had to remain by her side at all times. Even if Mo Sigui absolutely had to leave, he would choose the safest intervals to make a quick trip and return.

The fine sand in the hourglass whispered as it trickled down. The two of them remained in seclusion, neither eating nor drinking.

Five hours later, Mo Sigui turned around.

An Jiu's head hung limply against the edge of the tub, her face swollen, her deathly pale skin tinged with blue and purple—utterly unrecognizable from her original appearance.

Mo Sigui removed the iron weight, wrapped his arm in soft snakeskin, and reached into the water to lift her out, placing her on the bed.

Where his arm touched her, the pain was excruciating. An Jiu's vision darkened.

"Time to change the medicine. You can't pass out now—you must stay awake, understand?" Mo Sigui said gravely.

An Jiu let out a weak groan.

Mo Sigui fed her a little saltwater and, after a quarter-hour, channeled True Energy into her to help her endure. Only after completing these steps did he begin cutting away the bandages wrapped around her. "Bear with it."

"Hiss!" Even the slightest tug on the fabric felt like someone was tearing her flesh apart.

Mo Sigui's brow furrowed, and his movements grew faster.

Despite An Jiu's high pain tolerance, the overwhelming agony wracked her body with tremors. Tears gushed uncontrollably, mingling with large beads of sweat.

Mo Sigui refused to look at her, treating the figure before him as a corpse to steady his resolve. His hands moved with increasing speed.

As the bandages unraveled, her swollen body was revealed—her skin and flesh darkened to a ghastly hue. Mo Sigui's experience told him these tissues were nearing "necrosis." The torment required to rot living flesh to this state was unimaginable.

Theoretically, such extreme tempering of the body could aid in the Reforging of Meridians—otherwise, Mo Sigui would never have advised her to endure such suffering. Yet, this was his first time assisting an External Cultivator in body Reforging, and the gruesome reality exceeded his expectations.

Staring at her body, he couldn't fathom the depth of her agony.

Mo Sigui took a deep breath, steeled himself, and began clearing the residual Medicine from her skin. When he reached her fingers, he froze.

One of the fingers on An Jiu's right hand was broken—likely snapped by her own grip as she endured the pain.

Silently, he set the bone back in place before applying a different ointment over her entire body.

By the time the ordeal was over, An Jiu lacked even the strength to keep her eyes open, allowing Mo Sigui to lower her back into the water.

The cool touch soothed the fiery pain.

An Jiu felt her entire body relax, and she soon sank into deep slumber.

She wished she could sleep like this forever. Unfortunately, after an indeterminate time, she was jolted awake by an unbearable itch crawling over her skin.

Pain could be endured, but this maddening itch clawed at her sanity, making her want to tear her own flesh apart. When she tried to move, she found her limbs limp and powerless."The rapid muscle regeneration will cause unbearable itching. To prevent you from harming yourself, I added a muscle-relaxant to the medicinal broth," Mo Sigui's voice came from behind.

The itch seemed to seep from her very bones. In An Jiu's current state of extreme agitation, if she had even a shred of strength left, she would probably kill Mo Sigui first before ending herself.

Mo Sigui circled to face her, initially intending to administer some medicine to make her sleep. But seeing her mental strength spiraling out of control, he suddenly changed his mind. "First, regulate your breathing and calm your emotions. You do show signs of mental instability. If I'm not mistaken, you've exhibited such symptoms long before."

Mo Sigui reached out and patted her cheek twice. "If you understand me, start regulating your breath now! Don't miss this opportunity."

Strangely, those two pats made the itching slightly more bearable, bringing a sliver of clarity to An Jiu's mind. She immediately began adjusting her breathing and mindset.

Yet the maddening itch made it impossible to find peace. In her frustration, she channeled her mental strength to every nerve ending, every pore—since she couldn't escape it, she would face it head-on!

Who's afraid of whom!

As her mental strength spread, the sensitivity of her body increased a hundredfold. The itching became so intense she wanted to destroy the entire world along with herself.

But when the itching reached its peak, it began transforming into faint threads of pain, which paradoxically made it slightly more bearable than before.

Seeing her expression gradually relax, Mo Sigui also let out a sigh of relief.

Exhausted from battling her body's torment, An Jiu fell into a deep sleep.

And this sleep lasted nearly twenty days.

While An Jiu slept comfortably, Mo Sigui was nearly worn out from waiting.

"Mo Sigui?" Upon waking, An Jiu immediately noticed a sour smell emanating from the barrel.

Mo Sigui had been dozing in a chair. Startled by the voice, his body jerked, and the medical scroll in his hand slipped to the floor.

"You're awake?" Mo Sigui picked up the medical text, stood up to stretch, then walked over to her. He bent down to examine the bandages around her neck.

Holding his breath, he finally saw the tender pink skin beneath and couldn't hide his excitement. "Excellent, excellent."

With a smile, he lifted the lid of the barrel. "Can you stand? Go wash up in the bathhouse next door."

An Jiu stood up and looked down to see a layer of black substance floating in the barrel—whether it was remnants of the medicine or her own metabolic waste, she couldn't tell.

Wrapped in bandages, her face pale, she climbed out of the barrel like a vengeful ghost emerging from a swamp. Each step left a black footprint as she leaned against the wall, making her way to the bathhouse and leaving a trail of muddy marks behind.

After nearly two hours of scrubbing, she was finally clean.

An Jiu's skin now glowed pink and tender, some areas wrinkled—whether from the bandages or other reasons—resembling a newborn baby's. Even wearing her usual clothes felt slightly abrasive against her sensitive skin.

Stepping out of the bathhouse, she saw Mo Sigui holding a lantern on the corridor.

He had grown much thinner, with dark circles under his eyes. Yet his wide sleeves fluttered gracefully, and his hair swayed lightly in the breeze, giving him an almost ethereal, immortal-like demeanor.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

An Jiu flexed her wrist. "Very light, and more agile than before.""That's because when you resist physical pain, your mental strength becomes more attuned to your body. The higher your mental strength, the greater the harmony, allowing you to control your body to achieve speed and strength beyond ordinary people—and perhaps even more..." Mo Sigui imagined that if one truly reached an extreme level of harmony, they might leap four or five zhang in a single bound or scale walls effortlessly, which shouldn't be inferior to inner force.

So, for those practicing External Cultivation, mental strength is actually more crucial! If mental strength doesn't improve, control over the body remains inadequate, and cultivation stagnates. However, if mental strength were so easy to cultivate, there would already be countless Transformation Realm Masters in the world.

Mo Sigui pinched An Jiu's pulse, confirming it was steady and strong before finally relaxing completely.

As his mind eased, his body went limp, and he collapsed backward.

An Jiu reacted swiftly, catching him in one swift motion. "Mo Sigui!"

"I'll sleep for a while..." Mo Sigui murmured.

Seeing his eyes close, An Jiu checked his breathing and neck pulse, confirming he had indeed fallen asleep.

Just as she was about to drag him back inside, she suddenly sensed the presence of an eighth-rank martial arts master. Turning her head, she saw a slender figure standing beneath the corridor in the distance.

It was Lou Mingyue.

An Jiu paused for a moment, but when the woman showed no intention of approaching, she hauled Mo Sigui into the house.

By the time An Jiu came out again, Lou Mingyue was still standing motionless in the same spot.

"He's unconscious now. If you want to see him, go ahead," An Jiu said.

After a long silence, Lou Mingyue finally stirred, her voice hoarse. "No."

What good would seeing him do? Her heart was filled with hatred, and she would only drag Mo Sigui into an abyss, leading to his utter ruin.

"You're Qiu Ningyu," An Jiu said, though it was speculation, her tone was certain.

Lou Mingyue didn’t deny it. "Yes. And he most likely knows too, but there’s still a part of him unwilling to admit it—because he doesn’t want constraints. He shouldn’t have them. A prodigy like him, born to study medicine, is a gift from heaven to the world. If he dies, it should be for the way of medicine. As long as I don’t acknowledge it, he still has a reason to deceive himself. I hope you won’t expose it either."

The story of Lou Mingyue’s origins began with the master of Lou Manor.

The master of Lou Manor didn’t want her daughter to devote her life to the Crane Control Army, so she secretly arranged for her to be sent away from Lou Manor. At the time, Lady Qiu had been married into the Qiu family for many years before finally conceiving, only to suffer a difficult labor where only one—mother or child—could survive. Master Qiu sighed, resigned to "fate denying him a son," and without hesitation chose to save his wife. The master of Lou Manor happened upon this and secretly placed the swaddled Lou Mingyue at the Qiu family’s doorstep.

The Qiu couple found the infant and took it as divine will. They concealed the truth of their own child’s death and raised Qiu Ningyu as their own.

Master Qiu was a close friend of Mo Sigui’s father. After Mo Dengxian’s death, Master Qiu naturally took extra care of Mo Sigui. But when rumors spread that the Qiu family possessed Mo Dengxian’s medical records, they were wiped out in retaliation.

Upon learning of this, the master of Lou Manor rushed to the scene, but it was too late—the Qiu family had already been destroyed. She discovered that the Qiu family’s daughter had fallen into the river and was missing, presumed dead. After searching downstream for days and nights, she finally rescued the barely alive Qiu Ningyu.Qiu Ningyu had been lively since childhood and loved practicing martial arts. Though her skills were merely for show, they kept her from being as delicate as most girls raised in boudoirs. After returning to Lou Manor, she learned of her true origins. Yet the Qiu couple had raised her for so many years, loving her as their own flesh and blood. After their murder, she harbored hatred and trained relentlessly, eventually discovering through the Lou family's intelligence network that the same group had killed both Mo Dengxian and the Qiu couple.

Initially, Lou Mingyue thought someone coveted Mo Dengxian's medical skills, never expecting it to unravel a palace secret. Now, while the perpetrators had been killed by her, the mastermind remained safely in the palace.

"I seem destined for misfortune, or perhaps born solely for revenge," Lou Mingyue said, her youthful gaze already weary. "If that's the case, why drag another person into it?"

If Mo Sigui truly valued her above all else, he wouldn't have asked if she was Qiu Ningyu. He wanted confirmation—there were many ways to do so, yet he hadn't pursued them. Still, he couldn't let her go, likely torn inside.

If anyone in the world understood Mo Sigui, it was Lou Mingyue—perhaps even better than he understood himself.

"You bear all this for him, yet he doesn't know," An Jiu remarked.

Lou Mingyue shook her head with a faint smile. "No. Because I know him too well—how much heavier the way of medicine weighs in his heart compared to me. Such affection isn't worth my regard."

Lou Mingyue's hatred ran so deep she could never let it go; her love was likely just as profound.

Though she spoke this way, An Jiu still sensed the depth of her feelings for Mo Sigui.

"Perhaps it's also because he's one of the few ties I have left in this world. I don’t want anything to happen to him," Lou Mingyue added. Her bond with Lou Xiaowu was more about blood—Xiaowu had been raised outside the manor, and after returning, they lived in separate courtyards, spending little time together. It couldn’t compare to the childhood friendship she shared with Mo Sigui, who'd been by her side since they were toddlers.

Yet she refused to let this sentiment become a shackle or a burden.

Meeting her pleading gaze, An Jiu said, "I won’t interfere in your affairs."

"Thank you," Lou Mingyue replied with a slight bow.

An Jiu nodded and returned inside.

Mo Sigui had collapsed from exhaustion, and An Jiu couldn’t leave him defenseless. She stayed by his side, lighting a lamp to read Tendon Severing Palm .

On the third page, she sensed a ninth-rank expert approaching rapidly.

She kept reading leisurely, feigning ignorance.

"Mo Sigui truly lives up to being the Miracle Doctor’s disciple," Gu Jinghong remarked as he landed soundlessly on the chair opposite her. After studying her closely, he added, "The Reforging was flawless."

Had anyone else said this, An Jiu wouldn’t have minded. But coming from Gu Jinghong, it felt like he was appraising a doll. Her gaze turned icy. "What are you doing here?"

"No need for such surprise," Gu Jinghong said, indifferent to her hostility. "As long as Mei Shi exists, I retain the right and duty to oversee you all."

Gu Jinghong was the Crane Control Army’s designated instructor for Mei Shi. Had Mei Shi not met with misfortune, he’d still be teaching its disciples.

An Jiu glared coldly. In the past, she’d have thrown a punch, but now she knew restraint—antagonizing Gu Jinghong brought no benefit."Take this to Sheng Zhangku, and he will show you the secret archives of the Crane Control Institute's past External Cultivation methods." Gu Jinghong placed a turtle-carved token on the table. "Learning more will benefit you."

A pure External Cultivator had one advantage over Inner Cultivators—their tempered bodies were far more stable than Inner Force and less susceptible to disruption. No matter how many chaotic techniques they studied, they wouldn’t suffer from Inner Force disorder.

Gu Jinghong sensed An Jiu’s intense aversion toward him and guessed she had learned about the Dragon Martial Guard’s duties. He reassured her, "Rest assured, joining the Dragon Martial Guard doesn’t mean you’ll have to serve The Emperor."

So my mother will do it instead!? An Jiu nearly blurted out the retort but clenched her lips, holding back.

Casually asking wouldn’t necessarily yield the truth—it might even betray Chu Dingjiang. Besides, just because he said she wouldn’t have to sleep with the emperor, did that mean it was true? Didn’t all women in the Dragon Martial Guard have that duty? (To be continued...)