The mountain cliff faced the waterway, its stone walls slick and covered in moss.
Nan Shiying, with Elder Du, climbed halfway up the mountain. She discovered a protruding natural stone platform. Stepping onto it, Nan Shiying brushed off the moss from her palm and looked up.
“How much further?” she asked.
“Soon!” Elder Du replied without lifting his eyelids.
Nan Shiying sighed, resigned, and crouched down, offering her hand.
As her internal energy flowed into Elder Du’s body through her palm, his pale complexion gradually regained color, and the ice on his face began to melt.
Nan Shiying regretted her choice. She shouldn't have come during this season.
“It was meant to be.”
As if sensing the regret in her sigh, Elder Du spoke, “If I hadn’t come now, I might not have returned at all.”
“If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything,” Nan Shiying glanced at him coolly.
In truth, she had long since come to terms with death. She had battled her way to the lofty imperial throne, treading on countless bones and seeing countless kin fall by her side. After Yue Sinan’s death, she no longer cared about dying. However, reborn into this life, inheriting the residual soul of Nan Shiying, she found herself unable to let go.
Knowing that aging, sickness, and death were natural occurrences, she still chose to deceive herself and avoid them.
This disciple of his, at times inhuman, at times far too human.
He had only intended to pass on his legacy, to leave some trace of his existence. But unexpectedly, in the final moments of his life, he experienced the warmth of parental affection.
What a pity!
He concealed his thoughts, brushed the moss from his body, took out a porcelain bottle from his怀中, pushed open the lid with his thumb, and poured the medicine into his mouth.
“Let’s continue!”
Nan Shiying walked to Elder Du, turned her back to him, bent her knees, and bowed, “I’ll carry you.”
Elder Du did not refuse and climbed onto her back.
Nan Shiying moved, her climbing speed a few notches faster than before.
…
“They haven’t reached the mountain yet?”
In the hall, enveloped in swirling mist, a bronze tripod furnace stood in the center. To the right of the furnace, a long corridor led to the end, which was the alchemy room of Valley Master Si Teng.
“No!”
The Medicine King Valley was not a martial sect, so there were no titles like Grand Elder or Protector. From the Valley Master down, the appellations within the valley were terms like Martial Uncle, Martial Nephew, and so on. Since Si Teng took over the Medicine King Valley, he had not been overly involved in its affairs. After the previous Valley Master’s death, he immersed himself in the alchemy room, obsessively studying a book. It was only in the last few days, upon hearing that Qin Qing had brought his disciple back to the Medicine King Valley, that he began to inquire.
Elder Du, whose real name was Yin Meng, had changed his surname to Qin after joining the Medicine King Valley under the previous Valley Master.
His senior brother and nephew had not yet ascended the mountain, and he wondered what had held them at the foot of the mountain. His senior brother had taken a disciple outside, yet he hadn't hurried to bring them up for them to see what kind of person could capture the attention of his proud senior brother and become his sole direct disciple.
Si Teng merely made his usual inquiry. Hearing that they had not yet reached the mountain, he asked no further, simply stating he understood and then burying himself back in the sea of books.
Those books were medical texts left by his master before his death. Although numerous, his senior brother had already perused them all over the years. Now, reopening them, it was unclear what within them warranted such intense study from his senior brother.
Qin Mu slowly rose. Seeing that his senior brother had already become engrossed in his studies, he did not disturb him further and took his leave.