Immortalis

Death Hex Three

When Shen Qingshi opened her eyes, the cave was utterly silent, with only the distant sound of dripping water audible.

Though she was long accustomed to rough living, Yang Wujian's so-called "bed" was truly excessively hard.

Do the people of Longevity Palace usually live like this?

Shen Qingshi pushed herself up, her back and waist aching, and grew momentarily dazed as she remembered where she was.

This was the place she had once been so desperate to escape.

Even now, she could faintly hear the screams and smell the scent of scorched flesh, yet everything she saw here now was...

Before Shen Qingshi could fully rise from the bed, a furry creature hopped in from outside—a rabbit no bigger than a palm.

"They caught it to kill and eat, but I saved it... You lost a rabbit last time, didn't you? That one was a gift from the White-faced Guest. Since it's gone, I'll replace it for you."

Yang Wujian entered, placing some food on the table. "The meals in Longevity Palace are rather plain. They've added some meat dishes for me to replenish my blood, so you'll have to make do and eat with me."

Though he said this, the plates contained both fish pieces and pork liver, clearly not prepared for Yang Wujian alone.

Still dizzy from the medication, Shen Qingshi nearly stumbled as she got out of bed. Yang Wujian regretted giving her such a strong dose, but it was too late now. He smiled wryly and asked, "Did you sleep well?"

"A bit hard."

Shen Qingshi told the truth and then asked, "Do you all sleep like this?"

Yang Wujian handed her chopsticks and pushed a few cold dishes specially prepared for her closer. "Yes. After all, this is underground—how could it compare to the comfort of an inn outside? They tried making wooden beds before, but this place is so damp and dark, they rotted away quickly."

"..."

Shen Qingshi fell silent for a moment. Yang Wujian chuckled and said, "If it's too hard, I'll ask them for an extra mattress. Since I'm injured, I can get whatever I want now."

The two ate quietly. With no daylight in the cave, Shen Qingshi had no idea which meal she was eating and asked, "What time is it now?"

"Who cares about the time? We're both injured and just need to eat when we're hungry and sleep when we're tired."

After clearing the dishes, Yang Wujian gave Shen Qingshi two leafy greens to feed the rabbit and went to fetch a mattress.

Hesitating for a moment, Shen Qingshi carried the rabbit out of the cave and realized that the adjacent caves were filled with sleeping people—the women, children, and even the elderly of Longevity Palace lay directly on the hard, damp stone platforms, with only thin mattresses beneath them.

In the wider hall she had passed earlier, Yang Wujian was still nowhere to be seen. Following the scent of medicine, she soon found a cave still lit by candles. This one had air vents leading to the surface and housed several medicine furnaces—it was the Alchemy Room of Longevity Palace.

"Miss Shen?"

Gu Yun had heard her footsteps back in the hall and greeted her with a smile. "Awake? Did Wu Jian give you that rabbit?"

Shen Qingshi nodded, holding the rabbit. "He said it was originally meant to be killed and eaten.""You're listening to his nonsense... How could such a small rabbit be for eating? He specifically caught this for you while you were asleep earlier, probably to apologize for what happened along the journey and to cheer you up."

Gu Yun unceremoniously exposed Yang Wujian's lie, saying irritably, "This kid wasn't so stubborn with his words before. Could it be that playing a woman too much has messed with his mind?"

Meanwhile, Shen Qingshi's gaze had already fallen upon the massive medicine cauldron at the center of the cave. Those vague memories came flooding back chaotically, and the screams in her ears began to grow clearer. Shen Qingshi hesitated, not stepping inside.

"Miss Shen, coming here must make you uncomfortable, right?"

As if able to read minds, Gu Yun looked at her with a bitter smile: "Don't be afraid. This isn't the original cauldron. It's just... You must have heard from Wu Jian about Blood Deficiency Syndrome. Ordinary blood and qi tonics have almost no effect on those from Longevity Palace. I have no choice but to constantly experiment with new medicines, sometimes needing to use some animal bones. That's why I occasionally need this larger one."

Gu Yun's voice was gentle, completely different from everything in her memories. At this point, Shen Qingshi hesitated for a moment before finally hugging the rabbit tightly and walking over to Gu Yun's side.

"I heard from Wu Jian that you've finished all his Blood Cleansing Pills. I need to make more for him."

Gu Yun looked at the red-hot Medicine Furnace before him and said, "Making Blood Cleansing Pills is quite troublesome and requires advance preparation. Coincidentally, after hearing so much from Wu Jian these past couple days, I can't sleep anyway."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know the Blood Cleansing Pills were so precious..."

"It's just that some of the ingredients are harder to find. Although this medicine can counteract all kinds of poisons, few people use it because it's truly damaging to the body. You should take some restorative medicine these next few days, Miss Shen. Wu Jian has no choice - although Blood Washing wears down the body, compared to those tonics he takes, Blood Washing is actually the better option. Though it's given the kid the undeserved benefit of a deceptively youthful appearance."

Only then did Shen Qingshi belatedly realize that Yang Wujian's delicate feminine appearance after Bone Shrinking wasn't entirely due to makeup and dressing up. It seemed now that it was also thanks to years of Blood Washing.

She thought for a moment: "This medicine can also preserve youth?"

Gu Yun was taken aback, then quickly laughed: "It does occasionally have such unintended effects, but who in this world would be willing to shorten their lifespan just to maintain a youthful appearance?"

Shen Qingshi remembered how Yang Wujian had been completely drained without his tonics earlier, and didn't know how much longer he could live. Her heart grew heavy, but Gu Yun seemed to misunderstand, smiling as he said: "No need to blame yourself, Miss Shen. Every time you've been injured or poisoned, it's been for Wu Jian's sake. Giving you this medicine is only right - there's nothing to apologize for."

Calculating the time, Gu Yun added two more animal bones to the Medicine Furnace and asked: "Speaking of which, where's Wu Jian? He was guarding you every day before, but now he's nowhere to be seen."

Shen Qingshi stroked the rabbit's fur and shook her head: "He said he went to get bedding."

"Can't get used to sleeping here?"

Gu Yun laughed: "The stone beds we sleep on are indeed quite hard. Fortunately, we have some spare bedding. Let's have Wu Jian bring it to layer underneath you."

Spare bedding?

Shen Qingshi thought of how when she walked over earlier, most caves had three or four people sleeping in them, but there were one or two caves where the stone beds were empty.

With so few people in Longevity Palace, could it be because of Blood Deficiency Syndrome...

"Miss Shen, what do you think of Wu Jian?"Suddenly, Gu Yun asked her out of the blue, still smiling: "His temperament is quite eccentric, but he's not a bad person. Don't be fooled by how he usually speaks without restraint, as if he has no concerns. But when it comes to people and things he cares about, Wu Jian finds it hard to let go—one might even say he's overly attached."

That was probably why he risked his life to save Elder Baihe.

Shen Qingshi knew that Yang Wujian hadn't told Gu Yun and Mingshan about Baihe's death in Jingyang, not wanting to worry them, so she also remained silent on the matter.

Gu Yun continued: "I found him abandoned. The times were hard, and when I discovered him, the child was so thin he was just skin and bones. I raised him... Over the years, I've always let him roam outside because I didn't want him trapped and withered in this palace. But now it seems his fate might have been sealed the day he let you go."

For some reason, Gu Yun's voice sounded particularly lonely and bitter. Shen Qingshi didn't understand: "Why do you say that?"

Gu Yun smiled: "Maybe it's because I'm getting old, and I worry about more things. Miss Shen, in this martial world, most people from Longevity Palace don't meet a good end. Wu Jian might be the same. But I watched him grow up and treat him like my own younger brother. Selfishly, I still hope he has a chance to experience ordinary happiness in this life... even if it's just for a fleeting moment."

"What are you two talking about behind my back?"

At that moment, Yang Wujian appeared at the entrance of the Alchemy Room, sighing helplessly: "You ran off faster than a rabbit, making me search everywhere in the middle of the night and even waking others."

"In such a small place, where could Miss Shen possibly go?"

Gu Yun shot him a glare, checked that the fire was about right, added two more medicinal ingredients to the Medicine Furnace, and closed the lid, saying: "Besides, she slept for so long before—can't she stretch her legs a bit?"

"Gu Yun, why do you always take others' sides?"

Yang Wujian seemed to have resigned himself to it by now, walking forward helplessly. The familiar medicinal scent told him Gu Yun was making Blood Cleansing Pills again. He said: "Speaking of which, Gu Yun, have you thought of a way to detoxify her? She's already undergone Blood Washing three times. She's not like me—she can't keep taking this. We need to find another method eventually."

Gu Yun smiled wryly: "You know how secretive the Old Palace Master was back then, don't you? With Miss Shen's condition, I don't dare to give her random medicines. In the next few days, I'll try a few milder antidotes to see if they have any effect."

Earlier, on the way back, Yang Wujian, as the injured party, had been forced by Gu Yun to rest every day. Now he was too energetic to lie down, and since Shen Qingshi had just woken up, he simply poured a pot of cold tea and stayed in the Alchemy Room with Gu Yun and Shen Qingshi.

"Guanri and Zhou Jinglei's dealings with Yang Ye—they never reported any of it to the palace?"

In the afternoon, while Shen Qingshi was asleep, Yang Wujian recounted everything he had experienced these days to Mingshan in detail.

However, just from Gu Yun and Mingshan's reactions, he could tell that much of this was new to them. They hadn't even imagined Guanri could go to such extremes.Gu Yun sighed. "Indeed, he often went out back then, occasionally bringing back sword manuals from other sects... He told us these external techniques shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary. Both Mingshan and I thought he simply wanted the palace members to learn more skills for self-defense."

"Or perhaps he had already planned to commit those insane acts someday, which would plunge Longevity Palace into dire straits..."

Yang Wujian snorted coldly.

During the siege of Longevity Palace, Gu Yun had protected him the entire time. Because of this, he didn't witness how those elders fell in battle, nor how many innocent palace members perished in the storm of violence he had single-handedly unleashed.

Just thinking that these deaths were solely due to Guanri's stubborn willfulness made Yang Wujian grit his teeth in hatred.

Gu Yun said, "The techniques you mentioned - Mingshan and I know some of them too. But having grown accustomed to the Longevity Heart Sutra, when life hangs in the balance, we wouldn't think to use those foreign techniques."

"The sins he committed alone, yet the entire Longevity Palace must bear them together. This same trick, isn't he still using it now?"

Not long ago, Gu Yun and Mingshan had sent him away to privately discuss how to deal with the White-faced Guest.

Yang Wujian was already accustomed to this.

Ever since he became the Guanshui Elder, Gu Yun hadn't wanted him too involved in palace affairs. From early on, they had sent him alone into the martial world, claiming he needed to search for medicine, but in truth, it was probably to prevent him from being trapped in this bitter, cold place as well.

He said bluntly, "He deliberately committed those cases involving the major sects of the Four Seas Alliance - whether the Yin House Case or the White Dog Case - all to ensure that one day, the blame would fall directly on Longevity Palace. And his intentional appearance at White Rainbow Tower is meant to pressure the major sects into accelerating their search for Longevity Palace... Gu Yun, I know you've never wanted me involved in these matters, but we've reached such a critical juncture now. At least tell me what you plan to do next?"

Seeing Gu Yun remain silent, Yang Wujian continued, "I know finding you two wouldn't be so difficult for him. Using such despicable methods now is just to force you and Mingshan to compromise for the sake of the other palace members. Gu Yun, tell me honestly - is the final chapter of the Longevity Heart Sutra really in your possession?"