Immortalis

Corpse Demon Sixteen

In the following days, Shen Qingshi kept Yang Wujian hidden in a cave outside the city.

Without medicine, Yang Wujian's body recovered extremely slowly. Even with hemostatic powder, his wounds would occasionally seep blood, and he would fall unconscious for hours at a time. Having no other choice, Shen Qingshi gathered some wild herbs from the countryside, crushed them, and fed them to him, though the effect was barely better than nothing.

Yang Wujian's body was even more fragile than she had imagined.

When he had previously said he wouldn't live long, Shen Qingshi had taken it as a jest. But now it seemed that years of Blood Washing had already worn down his body. Normally, he could only appear somewhat like an ordinary person by relying on Blood Replenishing Pills. Once he stopped taking the medicine, Yang Wujian became as feeble as an elderly man on the brink of death.

How could she possibly save him?

By the time Yang Wujian woke again, night had already fallen. After several hours of sleep, he had regained a bit of energy and struggled to sit up, which Shen Qingshi noticed immediately as she came over to support him.

"Have you ever taken care of anyone before?"

Shen Qingshi had practiced martial arts since childhood. Though she appeared slender and frail, she was surprisingly strong. Yang Wujian winced in pain as she pulled him up and said helplessly, "If you use any more force, my wounds are going to split open."

Shen Qingshi half-dragged, half-carried him to the campfire and handed him some wild fruits. "How much longer until they arrive? You're too weak. If you catch a cold, it will only make things worse."

Yang Wujian smiled bitterly. He had sent a message to Gu Yun three days ago, but even if the people from Longevity Palace had wings, it would take at least a week for them to get here.

"Let's wait a bit longer," he said resignedly. "If I don't make it until then, it's simply my fate."

"I won't let you die."

For what felt like the hundredth time in the past few days, Shen Qingshi repeated these words. She tossed some dry branches into the campfire and added, "The commotion in the city has died down these past few days. I can try to go back and find some restorative medicine for you."

"You still dare to go back? The people from Ghost Market have left now. They were only putting on a show under the White-faced Guest's orders—they won't truly oppose the Zhaoming Division, nor were they genuinely trying to protect us. And you've cut ties with that beloved master of yours. Wouldn't returning be a death sentence?"

Yang Wujian's tone was neither warm nor cold.

Three days ago, before sending the message to Longevity Palace, he had hesitated for a long time.

He knew the imperial court coveted Longevity Palace. If he led the wolf into the fold, he would become a traitor to his home.

But Shen Qingshi had also said that the Zhaoming Division never accepts traitors. The moment she raised her sword against Cao Zhao, there was no turning back for her.

"I owe you and Brother Cao my life. But if I had a choice, I would rather die by your hand."

That was what Shen Qingshi had said back then.

Yang Wujian didn't know if he had made the right choice, but in the end, he still wanted to believe her.

"Are you doubting me?"

Now, Shen Qingshi watched him from across the campfire. After three rounds of Blood Washing, Yang Wujian could actually hear a hint of hurt in her voice.

Yang Wujian smiled. "If I said yes, would you be upset?"

"I don't really understand, but I want you to trust me."

Shen Qingshi hugged her knees, the firelight dancing in her eyes. For a moment, Yang Wujian even thought she might cry.

After a long silence, it was ultimately Yang Wujian who relented. "Longevity Palace is my home. If anything happens to it, I won't be able to go on living either. If you're truly putting on an act for me, kill me now."

Shen Qingshi said nothing.After a long silence, she sighed softly: "Later, when the Longevity Palace sends people, I'll create some chaos to help you distract Brother Cao."

"What..."

"You don't trust me. I won't go back to the Longevity Palace with you. Brother Cao will definitely capture me later. Either way leads to death, so I might as well help you divert the pursuers one last time. This way, I'll at least have repaid both your and Brother Cao's kindness."

Shen Qingshi spoke as if she had long made up her mind, now merely informing him. In just a few words, she had chosen her own path to death.

Yang Wujian suddenly felt an inexplicable anger: "What do you mean by saying this? Trying to make me soften and take you back?"

"If I go back with you, you'll worry I'll harm the Longevity Palace. If I don't go back with you, you'll worry I'll follow you and expose the Longevity Palace's location. Since that's the case, the only solution is for me not to go back with you, but to die before your eyes."

Shen Qingshi spoke these words as if discussing someone else's affairs.

She said calmly: "I told you I would repay you. If this is what you want, I'll do it too."

"So you're determined to die, is that it? Didn't you say you wanted to find the White-faced Guest? Don't you want revenge anymore?"

Though he knew Shen Qingshi was being matter-of-fact, Yang Wujian didn't know where his anger came from. He gritted his teeth and blurted out: "Fine, if that's how it is, you might as well die by my hand right now, so you won't be captured by Cao Zhao and suffer piecemeal torture."

Hearing this, Shen Qingshi stood up without hesitation, walked over to Yang Wujian, grabbed his hand, and made him grip the hilt of the dagger in her hand.

Shen Qingshi pointed the blade at her own neck, where the wound Cao Zhao had left not long ago hadn't yet healed.

She stared unblinkingly into Yang Wujian's eyes.

"You're right. Entering Zhaoming Prison is worse than death. The moment I chose to raise my blade against Brother Cao, my path to survival was already cut off... But I told you, I'd rather die by your hand."

For a moment, the two remained locked in stalemate until Yang Wujian sneered, snatched the dagger and pinned Shen Qingshi to the ground: "Think I don't dare kill you?"

"Kill me if you want. You said it yourself - my life was always yours to begin with."

Shen Qingshi's long hair spilled across the ground, yet she still didn't avoid his gaze, looking directly at him.

Because of the Blood Cleansing Pill, she had softened somewhat these days, but fundamentally, she remained different from ordinary people.

She wouldn't feel fear, wouldn't beg for mercy, would only accept things calmly, enduring adversity like a stone.

And the one who had made her this way was the Longevity Palace.

Thinking of this, Yang Wujian suddenly seemed to lose strength, dropping his hand dejectedly as he said helplessly: "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just... I can't gamble with the Longevity Palace. To you it's just a detestable place, but to me, I grew up there. Since childhood, they're all I've had."

After he finished speaking, only the crackling of flames remained in the cave. After a long silence, Shen Qingshi reached out and pressed her fingers against Yang Wujian's brow, as if trying to smooth his furrowed eyebrows, lightly imprinting her fingertips there.

"Don't force yourself to trust me. I'll do what I must."

With that, she gently pushed Yang Wujian away: "Get some more sleep. I'll see if I can hunt a bird."

After Shen Qingshi left the cave, less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the cave again.

It wasn't Shen Qingshi.Yang Wujian immediately detected something amiss in the approaching footsteps. He grabbed his remaining Golden Rings for self-defense, only to see an all-too-familiar face appear at the cave entrance moments later.

"Gu Yun?"

Yang Wujian's eyes widened involuntarily.

Like an elder sister who had watched him grow up since childhood, Gu Yun's features remained gentle and refined. Dressed in a plain moon-white robe, she rushed toward him the moment she saw him and wordlessly shoved a Blood Replenishing Pill into his mouth. "I should have brought you two bottles last time."

A bitter taste spread across his tongue. Unaware what additional herbs Gu Yun had mixed in this time, the bitterness was followed by a spicy sensation that made his entire face scrunch up involuntarily.

"This medicine..."

"I substituted the new herbs you found last time. It's bitter, but less toxic. You won't need Blood Washing as quickly."

Frowning, Gu Yun pressed her hand against his sword wound. "Didn't you say in your letter it was just a minor injury?"

Yang Wujian forced a dry laugh. After much deliberation, he still didn't dare tell her about the messy affairs he'd experienced recently with the Four Seas Alliance. Instead, he asked, "Why did you come personally? And how did you get here so quickly?"

No matter how he thought about it, if Gu Yun had been at Longevity Palace, she couldn't possibly have reached this place in just three days.

Gu Yun sighed. "It's because of you. When no news came for so long, I grew worried and questioned the palace attendants who brought Yu Qiao back last time. They couldn't withstand my questioning and finally told me you wanted to join the Four Seas Alliance and were investigating old cases from Longevity Palace..."

As expected, the little face he'd sold couldn't compare to Gu Yun's influence.

Yang Wujian felt a headache coming on. Thinking it over, it made sense - after the major incident at White Rainbow Tower, he and Shen Qingshi had been constantly accompanying Zhou Huai, inevitably leaving traces of their movements in the martial world.

Gu Yun shot him a reproachful look. "I've been searching for you along the way. When I heard someone in the Ghost Market wanted to kill you, I rushed over in a hurry. And just as I arrived, I received your message."

"Did you come alone?"

"Am I not enough to take you back by myself?"

As she spoke, Gu Yun made a grasping motion through the air. The previously exposed cave entrance was immediately concealed by grasses and stones from nearby. Yang Wujian watched in astonishment. "Your skills have improved again?"

Gu Yun smiled faintly. "It's all at the cost of burning one's lifespan. What use is improvement?"

Her words suddenly reminded Yang Wujian of Guanri's appearance before them earlier. Fifteen years had passed, yet not only had he not died from Blood Deficiency Syndrome, he didn't even appear to have aged.

And Zui Xiang's emergence directly confirmed that Guanri had successfully refined elixirs that could preserve one's youth indefinitely.

Yang Wujian couldn't help but frown. "Could there be Blood Replenishing Pills in this world that aren't toxic?"

While redressing his wound, Gu Yun gave him a cool glance. "The last person who entertained such delusions already committed grave mistakes. Do you want to follow in his footsteps?"

Seeing no alternative, Yang Wujian finally recounted the matter of the White-faced Guest in detail. To spare Gu Yun's feelings, he deliberately omitted the part about Baihe.

Just as expected, Gu Yun grew paler with each word. She finally understood why rumors had been swirling throughout the martial world during her journey, with some saying that major sects had been on high alert since over half a month ago. Even Medicine King Mountain had stopped offering free medical services, though no one knew what they were guarding against.

"He's still alive?"After a long silence, Gu Yun said incredulously, "Impossible. Back when Guanri was cleansing the martial world with blood, he was constantly replenishing his energy almost every day. If his internal energy hadn't been nearly depleted by the end, Ming Shan and I wouldn't have been able to save you and drive him out of the palace... With the amount of tonic medicine he consumed, even Blood Washing would have been useless. There's no way he could have survived until today."

"In other words, the fact that he survived implies that what Guanri was pursuing might truly exist, doesn't it?"

Yang Wujian didn't dare to dwell on it. If using fetal flesh to refine human Flesh Pills could preserve one's youthful appearance, then what if... Cicada Molt truly existed in this world...

"Perhaps he rarely used the Longevity Heart Sutra. If he could abandon the Longevity Heart Sutra, then maybe he could have survived until now..."

As Gu Yun murmured these words, a faint sound suddenly came from outside the cave. His expression turned cold, and with a flip of his hand, the dagger at his waist was drawn and enveloped by his internal energy, flying outward like a living creature, relentlessly pursuing the source.

Shen Qingshi?

Yang Wujian recognized the uneven footsteps—one light, one heavy—clearly indicating an injury to the leg. He immediately grabbed Gu Yun and rushed out: "Shen Qingshi!"

Outside the cave, Shen Qingshi stood on a branch not far away, holding Gu Yun's dagger between two fingers, quietly watching them.

"You can leave now."

Shen Qingshi tossed the dagger back to Gu Yun and turned to look in the direction of Yongyi City. "There's a checkpoint set up by the Zhaoming Division nearby. It's easy to enter but difficult to leave. I'll find a way to divert the pursuers... Follow behind me and leave this place quickly."

With that, she turned to leave, but Yang Wujian called out to her, "Are you going to your death? You're injured in the leg now. How long can you hold out while diverting the pursuers for us?"

Shen Qingshi paused mid-step but ultimately said nothing and prepared to leave. However, before she could leap to another branch, she suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of internal energy closing in behind her. Unlike tangible sword techniques, she had no time to evade before the force pulled her down from the tree, sending her crashing straight toward Yang Wujian.