Chapter 815: Those Who Heal the Sick… Are Not Human
The Gobi Desert was bitterly cold at night, with no wind. The dust that had been stirred up during the day settled quietly back to the ground, leaving the air very clean.
The stars in the night sky were so dense and numerous that they almost seemed unreal.
Xining Town and the Cloud Tomb were only a few hundred li apart, often shrouded in mist. Chen Changsheng had only seen such a starry night on the desolate plains once before, when he was returning south with Su Li.
Bright starlight spilled across the Gobi, and invisible rays of star essence were also captured, falling onto the golden needles between his fingers. This was the best method of purification.
"Turn around," Chen Changsheng said to Zhe Xiu.
Zhe Xiu turned his back without asking why.
Back in the National Academy and at the Mausoleum of Heavenly Books, such exchanges had occurred countless times. They were familiar.
The golden needle slowly pierced the side of Zhe Xiu's neck, then trembled slightly between Chen Changsheng's fingers.
Zhe Xiu's brow lifted slightly.
Chen Changsheng knew this signified pain, because Zhe Xiu disliked furrowing his brow in the face of suffering—it would make him seem less tough.
If even Zhe Xiu found it painful, how excruciating must it be?
Chen Changsheng channeled his true essence into Zhe Xiu's meridians and began to examine his current physical condition.
Zhe Xiu closed his eyes.
After an unknown length of time, an indescribable torrent of true essence, like a surging tide, raced through Zhe Xiu's meridians.
Corresponding to it was the blood in his veins.
The fingers holding the golden needle were nearly jolted away.
Zhe Xiu's eyelids trembled slightly.
This was Zhe Xiu's illness: the Heart's Sudden Stirring.
Whether in medical texts or Daoist scriptures, this congenital disease caused by conflicting bloodlines was considered a terminal illness, incurable by any medicine.
This was precisely why Su Li and the Lishan Sword Sect had been so uncompromising in the matter between Zhe Xiu and Qi Jian.
Chen Changsheng did not release his fingers. Instead, he continued waiting in silence, while simultaneously inserting two more golden needles into two other meridians of Zhe Xiu.
After an unknown span of time, he finally withdrew the needles, stared into Zhe Xiu's eyes, and asked, "You haven't been taking your medicine on time?"
After killing Zhou Tong, he and Zhe Xiu had left the capital one after the other. Although both had come north, they had never met.
But Chen Changsheng had already prepared a prescription in advance, writing down the method of taking the medicine and the precautions to be observed in daily life clearly.
Judging by tonight's examination, although Zhe Xiu's condition hadn't worsened, there were no signs of improvement either. There had to be a problem.
Looking at Chen Changsheng's earnest and clear eyes, Zhe Xiu felt a pang of guilt for some unknown reason, but his expression remained unchanged.
"I'm fighting for my life every moment. Whether scouting enemy positions or tracking for assassinations, it all requires long-distance raids. Sometimes I have to hide in the snow for seven days and seven nights," he said. "When would I have time to take medicine? Besides, your medicine is troublesome to prepare—it needs to be decocted. I can't start a fire."
Chen Changsheng didn't know what to say. After a moment of silence, he said, "Then I'll think of another way, to see if I can make it into pill form."
Hearing this, Zhe Xiu recalled a rumor and asked, "Is the Cinnabar Pill you gave me the same thing?"
Chen Changsheng nodded.
Over a year ago, he had figured out some methods to resolve the conflict between the sacred rules of the two worlds. After making the Cinnabar Pill, he had immediately sent it to Zhe Xiu via Zhi Zhi... and then he discovered that his own blood was useless for Zhe Xiu's illness.
Now the world was buzzing with rumors that the Cinnabar Pill could revive the dead, which was actually an exaggeration.
For soldiers on the battlefield with damaged limbs or severe blood loss, the Cinnabar Pill was indeed remarkably effective, but it certainly couldn't cure all diseases.
For example, Zhe Xiu's illness, or Nan Ke's illness.
Whether it was the Heart's Sudden Stirring or the Chaos of the Soul, both were extremely rare and strange diseases.
Zhe Xiu asked, "Can my illness be cured?"
Chen Changsheng's medical skills were extremely superb, and his understanding of meridians was unparalleled in the world.
If even he couldn't cure Zhe Xiu's illness, then perhaps no one truly could.
Chen Changsheng made no attempt to deceive him. He said in a low voice, "The situation isn't very good."
Zhe Xiu appeared very calm, which could also be interpreted as numbness. Upon hearing this, he was silent for a moment, then asked, "And her?"
Chen Changsheng shook his head and said, "I haven't found a method yet. I'm only using medicine and golden needles to help calm her spirit and stabilize her soul."
"She doesn't seem truly demented to me."
"Dementia takes a thousand forms."
"Then how will she wake up?"
"I can only hope she encounters some opportunity and wakes up on her own."
Zhe Xiu looked into his eyes and said, "Have you ever thought about what you'll do if she really does wake up?"
Chen Changsheng couldn't imagine that scene. After a moment of silence, he said, "We'll deal with it when the time comes."
Zhe Xiu said, "Even if she can't wake up, if her identity is recognized, it's still a huge problem."
Chen Changsheng understood his meaning.
Nan Ke was no ordinary person.
She wasn't even human.
She was a demon, and moreover, a demon princess.
Think back to those days—with Su Li's strength and methods, even he had to hide his love affair with the demon princess from the entire world, raising his daughter incognito in the Lishan Mountains.
Let alone him.
Of course, his situation was different from Su Li's. He and Nan Ke were not in that kind of relationship.
But if he kept Nan Ke by his side for long, he would eventually face this problem.
Because of Zhe Xiu's question, he thought of the demon princess who had died in the Cold Pool of the Eternal Sect, and then of that night on the Snow Ridge, the conversation between the two generations of demon lords.
At that time, the young demon lord had been very surprised to see the Demon Horn, because everyone in Snow Old City believed that over twenty years ago, when that demon princess left, she had taken this sacred relic into the human world. Who would have thought that over twenty years later, the Demon Horn would reappear in his father's hands?
Compared to many things that happened that night, this was a minor detail. But now that he thought about it, this matter concealed a great deal of information.
If the Demon Horn had truly been taken out of Snow Old City by that demon princess, then after her death, it was most likely lost in the Eternal Sect.
Why had the Demon Horn reappeared in the demon lord's hands?
Then he remembered that little monster from the Yellow Springs Stream he had encountered in Hanqiu City.
Ancient traditions that even the Li Palace didn't possess—where in this world could they be preserved? Naturally, the equally ancient Eternal Sect.
Chen Changsheng remained silent, his expression growing increasingly grave.
Finding the person within the National Religion who was colluding with the imperial court was certainly important, but more important was finding the person colluding with the demons.
Since that night on the Snow Ridge, he had been pondering this question.
With whose help had the young demon lord so easily deceived countless eyes and replaced the young formation master on the original stretcher?
Now it seemed—could it be that the one colluding with the demons was not a single person, but an entire sect? Or a noble clan?