Immortalis

Tong Xue Nine

They met Dong Zhu again at his residence, Qingyu Pavilion.

Each of the Immeasurable Seven Swords had their own sword pavilion, and Dong Zhu's was particularly serene. Outside the pavilion grew a large grove of purple bamboo, within which stood a tea room. It was said the Green Rain Sword often brewed tea and discussed swordsmanship with others here.

By the time the group ascended the mountain, it was already past dusk. The tea room was lit, and Dong Zhu sat upright inside dressed in white robes, his sword placed beside him. At first glance, he appeared almost unchanged from his younger days, save for some graying at his temples.

"Young friends, you've arrived... and why is there an extra child?"

Dong Zhu stared blankly at Yu Qiao beside Zhou Huai. Yang Wujian narrowed his eyes but detected no falseness in his surprise.

So, Dong Zhu truly hadn't seen Yu Qiao before?

"This child is clever and alert, with some family martial arts to protect himself. Originally, he was to be sent up the mountain to become a sword attendant. However, we've developed some connection with him, and Miss Yang doesn't wish for him to be further involved in the martial world. We're considering having him adopted by her distant relatives."

Zhou Huai was no fool—he mentioned taking in a young servant along the way but deliberately omitted any mention of the letter.

"That might be for the best. Many sword attendants leave the mountain after coming of age, even if they study swordsmanship here... What is there worth clinging to in this martial world besides empty fame?"

Dong Zhu poured tea for them, then took a wooden sword from his sleeve and placed it on the table. Though not forged of metal, its exquisite carvings revealed it was clearly a gift.

With sharp eyes, Yang Wujian spotted the inscription "To Dong Lu" on the hilt and asked, "This is... from your son's past..."

"It was his birthday gift. At that time, he couldn't yet wield an iron sword but kept pestering me to teach him mountain sword techniques, so I carved this wooden one for him. He practiced with it daily until he could handle an iron sword."

Dong Zhu sighed, weariness showing on his face as he recalled the past.

"Dong Lu's mother passed away during childbirth, making me promise with her last breath to care for him well, which I naturally agreed to. Growing up on this mountain, I provided everything he needed—food, supplies. The boy was quite diligent too, gifted and intelligent. He mastered the entire Immeasurable Sword Manual with just this wooden sword, then later insisted on learning the Green Rain Sword Art. I intended to teach him when he was older, but who could have imagined..."

Dong Zhu gently gripped the wooden sword, appearing in that moment merely a grieving father.

It was rumored in the martial world that the Green Rain Sword Art comprised thirteen forms, yet even Dong Zhu's best disciple had only mastered the ninth, still far from the thirteenth form "Long Wind Pierces Water."

Had Dong Zhu's son Dong Lu survived, given his talent, the Green Rain Sword would likely have had a successor long ago.

Seeing this, Yang Wujian offered condolences, then asked, "When we went to the back mountain, we noticed many quiet retreats available for martial artists. I wonder if there were others on the mountain back then?"

"That's precisely why I asked you here."

Dong Zhu smiled bitterly. "That day, manor affairs kept me busy, and I had no desire to revisit that sorrowful place on the back mountain. I've felt truly apologetic these past two days, having you three young friends searching aimlessly. Today, I'll explain everything in detail."

He then began recounting the events of that day fifteen years ago.

The first to discover the sword attendants missing was the dormitory manager.

During morning practice, four attendees failed to appear at the training grounds. When the manager checked their rooms, he realized Dong Lu and three other sword attendants had vanished without a trace.Given Dong Lu's status, even the dormitory monitors found it inconvenient to discipline him too strictly. Over time, Dong Lu grew increasingly willful and reckless, often returning to his room after lights-out with several friends. The dormitory monitors could only turn a blind eye.

However, staying out all night had never happened before. The dormitory monitors immediately panicked and reported it to the Seven Swords, initiating a mountain search.

Fifteen years earlier, just after the military unrest had subsided, many knights who had been cultivating in solitude on the mountain had gone down to assist with disaster relief or search for relatives. Very few people remained in the back hills—only seven or eight—and they all lived near the training grounds on South Mountain.

The reason was simple: just a few days before the incident, a knight named Yu Dongxue in the back hills had suddenly died of a high fever. Fearing it might be an epidemic, the medical practitioners advised everyone to relocate to South Mountain.

That day, the search team questioned everyone on South Mountain, but no one had seen the four young sword apprentices. To prove their innocence, the practitioners even presented all their belongings for inspection, but none of the missing apprentices' items were found.

This left only one possibility.

Dong Zhu sighed. "Afterward, we searched the Myriad Sword Cave thoroughly multiple times but found no traces. Then I recalled that the Myriad Sword Cave was originally a mining site left by Northern Xiang, with complex terrain that likely extended deep beyond the mountain. I began to worry that outsiders might have entered through those tunnels... After all, during that period, with the military unrest and the Longevity Palace affairs, the Sword Manor had too many trivial matters, and no one was consistently patrolling North Mountain."

"Yu Dongxue."

Shen Qingshi finally heard this name from Dong Zhu's mouth.

He remembered Cao Zhao once teaching him that cunning court officials were adept at playing word games. Even in Zhaoming Prison, the timing of certain statements could alter their meaning.

He needed to consider why they acted this way.

Shen Qingshi rubbed his cup.

Why hadn't Dong Zhu mentioned this earlier, waiting until they had already uncovered Yu Xiahe before revealing the matter of Yu Dongxue?

Or perhaps, although the Green Rain Sword was on the mountain, he had informants monitoring their every move, and thus knew that Yu Dongxue's affair could no longer be concealed?

At this thought, he asked, "How was Yu Dongxue's high fever diagnosed as a possible epidemic?"

Dong Zhu smiled wryly. "It's a case of 'once bitten, twice shy,' Young Hero Shen. Have you heard of the pestilence at the end of the Crimson Gold era?"

"You mean the Mingteng calamity from a hundred years ago?"

"Exactly. At the end of the Crimson Gold era, a great drought struck, and insect plagues erupted everywhere. However, that year's insect disaster was unlike any before—it brought a severe epidemic. Those infected suffered from persistent high fevers, dying within three days. After death, their corpses remained rigid, their skin hard as stone, and they did not decay when buried. The only solution was cremation."

"Corpses rigid, skin hard as stone?"

Shen Qingshi frowned. If so, Yu Xiahe's condition at death was identical. Could the undetectable poison be the same pestilence from a century ago?

Dong Zhu said, "That day, Master Yu fell ill so suddenly that the mountain's medical practitioners couldn't even diagnose him before he passed away. After consulting ancient texts, I found his symptoms resembled that insect-borne plague. Without time to inform others, I had the body cremated. The medical practitioners also feared an outbreak in the manor, worrying they wouldn't have enough hands, so they had everyone evacuate to South Mountain."

"So, Senior usually has a hobby of studying ancient texts?"

Suddenly, Yang Wujian casually interjected, his tone almost joking."Please don't laugh at me, young master... Since my youth, I've had a fondness for buying useless ancient books, and my master often scolded me for this."

Dong Zhu's expression remained unchanged. Seeing this, Yang Wujian didn't press further, instead saying: "Master Yu's illness is indeed strange. Elder, may we consult the mountain's medical cultivators tomorrow to inquire further?"

"Naturally, you may."

"Then one final matter - there was once a sword attendant named Lu Wenxiu on the mountain. Do you still remember him, Elder?"

"You mean that child who ran to the back mountain after the sword attendant went missing?"

Dong Zhu sighed helplessly: "Of course I remember. During those days, people were in a state of panic on the mountain. Not just children of that age, but even older disciples couldn't sleep at night, worried that Longevity Palace members might be hiding on the mountain... I think the child was probably frightened because he had previously known Dong Lu."

"Just known?"

Shen Qingshi asked: "Just knowing someone would frighten him to the point of mental collapse, leaving him deranged even after descending the mountain?"

Dong Zhu shook his head: "To be honest, I rarely disciplined Dong Lu. Aside from swordsmanship, I seldom asked about his friends... It's my fault. Because I promised his mother, I've always been too indulgent with him, letting his temperament become quite arrogant. Other elders and managing disciples on the mountain kept silent due to his status... It was only much later that I learned many disciples on the mountain held grievances against him. But by then, he had already disappeared, and I had no way to verify these matters."

Afterward, Green Rain Sword asked about their progress down the mountain, and the three of them gave vague responses.

It wasn't until the sword attendant escorted them back to their guest rooms and confirmed no one was around that Yang Wujian finally came to the courtyard, followed closely by Shen Qingshi and Zhou Huai.

"Well?"

Yang Wujian smiled: "Good thing we brought Yu Qiao up with us, otherwise who knows what might have happened to that child after descending the mountain."

Shen Qingshi looked at the lit candle in Zhou Huai's room, where Yu Qiao was lighting a lamp for Zhou Huai.

"He has informants down the mountain who know how far we've investigated. Inviting us back up was probably because he's worried we'll continue investigating and uncover the true culprit who poisoned Yu Xiahe."

"But his grief over his son seems genuine. If he's really trying to conceal the truth, wouldn't that make him the thief crying 'stop thief'? Did he make his own son disappear?"

Zhou Huai couldn't figure it out.

Lu Wenxiu had poisoned Yu Dongxue with the help of four sword attendants. Where did this poison come from? And how did it end up down the mountain now?

Furthermore, if Dong Zhu is involved, what role is he playing? And since Lu Wenxiu clearly knew the truth of that day, how could Dong Zhu let him leave the mountain alive?

This tangled mess gave Zhou Huai a headache the more he thought about it. He asked again: "So what should we do next? Since we all suspect he's involved, are we still going to investigate right under his nose?"

Yang Wujian found this amusing: "Naturally. The quest for longevity wasn't assigned by Green Rain Sword - it was given by the old manor master. Even if he doesn't want us investigating, he still has to host us, doesn't he? No one in this manor knows he might be involved, and he's constrained by this. We can investigate within the sword manor, and he can't stop us."

Shen Qingshi also nodded: "It seems Dong Zhu knows where the poison came from. If it involves refining medicine or detoxification, it would inevitably involve the Medicine Furnace and Alchemy Room. Tomorrow we'll start our investigation from there."

Having said this, Shen Qingshi stood up and returned to his room, leaving the other two sitting where they were, looking at each other in bewilderment.Yang Wujian sighed helplessly, "Young Master Shen truly marches to his own beat. What a pity—I thought since the moon is full tonight, we could enjoy it together for a while."

"Miss Yang."

With no one else in the courtyard, Zhou Huai hesitated for a long moment before finally speaking, "When I had an episode at the foot of the mountain today... thank you for saving me. Actually, those pills are brain-refreshing pills my father prescribed to treat my condition. If I have an episode, taking one helps me regain some clarity."

"I guessed as much, Young Master. Many in the martial world know about your illness. I was half-guessing and half-deducing—didn't expect to get lucky like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat."

As someone who also takes medication regularly, Yang Wujian thought to herself that his vial was worn smooth and glossy from constant handling, making it hard not to guess what was inside.

Yet, seeing Zhou Huai's current demeanor, she knew this "thank you" must have been weighing on the young master's mind the whole way back.

Unable to resist, Yang Wujian reached out and patted his handsome face, "It's just that you, of all people, had to provoke Young Hero Shen during an episode. If I hadn't intervened, Young Master, your life might have been in danger."

"I..."

Zhou Huai blushed, "For saving my life, I can repay you."

"Repay me? Young Master, you're not thinking of offering yourself in marriage, are you?"

Yang Wujian meant it as a casual tease, but she didn't expect Zhou Huai to immediately turn his head away, his tone growing increasingly awkward.

"This young master has never offered himself to anyone before... perhaps it's worth a try..."

What followed made Yang Wujian's eyes widen in disbelief.

"Miss Yang, I know this might seem abrupt now, but this matter... would you be willing to give it a try as well?"