Chapter 45

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Doctor Shen Tu was lifted up by the collar of his coat, he could barely breathe, his face wrinkled into a grimace as he shook his hands desperately, “No… not! It really did not!”

“Don’t deny it!” Zhu Yan was enraged, “You just asked me to pay for your patronage!”

“Heavens, my dear lady… I would never dare to patronize Lord Zhi!” Doctor Shen Tu hurriedly waved his hand and gasped for breath as he tried to explain, “Just now… just now, ahem, I said that on purpose in order to make you lower your guard so that I could do something about the situation, okay?”

“Really?” Zhu Yan froze, and as soon as she released her hand, Doctor Shen Tu fell to the floor, gasping for air. However, Yuan did not rescue him again this time, he just looked at him coldly from the side, his eyes seemed to have a hint of dissatisfaction as well, “What kind of nonsense did you just spout?”

“Hey…” Doctor Shen Tu was a little embarrassed, “I said it casually, and this little girl took it seriously.”

“Don’t be so credulous.” Yuan lifted his head, looking at Zhu Yan, and spoke with a stern expression, “Ah-Yan, Doctor Shen Tu came here, only to help me heal my wounds.”

“What?” She flinched a bit, “You… you were injured?”

Yuan did not reply, but silently lifted a corner of the long coat he was draped in. In that moment, she clearly saw a thick layer of binding tape wrapped around his right rib cage, and blood was slowly penetrating through it, probably due to the fierce action of pushing away the Jade Bone.

“Oh my God…” she exclaimed in dismay.

“I was wounded by someone yesterday, the wound was very strange and I have not been able to stop the bleeding.” Yuan’s voice was calm, “So I had to risk calling in Doctor Shen Tu.”

Zhu Yan looked at his wounds and frowned slightly – those wounds were extremely dense and small, like a gust of wind made of needles scraping across his body, the trauma was visible to the bone, it was very strange, and the weird thing was that there was actually a faint purple light surrounding the injury.

This is not a wound from a sword, but seems like a wound from a spell? Is it a… tracking spell? Something seemed familiar to her. Yet just as she was about to take a closer look, Yuan rewrapped his long coat tighter, “So you don’t have to atone for me. I’m fine.”

“…” Zhu Yan stared at him for a moment, embarrassed.

Yes, how could Yuan possibly sell his body for prostitution? He had always been a clean man, and had his own principles, he wouldn’t have fallen into such a state, would he? She was usually a smart girl, but now that she had met the man she had admired for years, she became so stupid that she couldn’t even think straight and made a joke of herself.

“Yuan…” She tried to lean over and pull him in; however, Yuan took a step back and unobtrusively pushed her hand away in a gentle but restrained manner, “You should go back, really.”

It has been two years since she last saw him, but how could she be kicked out again without even speaking a few words? Zhu Yan’s heart was secretly disappointed, but more than that, she was worried and asked, “Why were you injured? Who hurt you? Why are you… hiding in this place?”

He remained silent, without answering, as if he hadn’t thought of how to answer her.

“What’s wrong, Yuan? Why don’t you say anything? Is there something you’re hiding from me?” Zhu Yan looked at him with concern and confusion – it was only two years since she last seen him, and so many things unfamiliar to her actually emerged from this man she had grown up with; he seemed completely different from the gentle Yuan in the Red King’s Mansion before.

After a moment of pause, Yuan finally opened his mouth, but to ask her in return, “Why did you come here? Does your father know that you come alone in a place like this?”

Zhu Yan rubbed the corners of her coat in embarrassment, and muttered with her head down: “Father had to go to the Capital for an audience with the Emperor… I was bored alone, and originally, I just wanted to come to the biggest teahouse in Yecheng to see the hustle and bustle… You know that I’ve never been to such a place before! This is a very good way to get a glimpse of the world.”

“…” Yuan was speechless for a moment, bursting into tears of laughter.

Only this girl could say something like that with such a straight face – did she even know how much trouble she had inadvertently caused? If it was not for bumping into her that she barged into such a confidential place, her curiosity would have cost her more than nine lives!

However, hearing her words, Doctor Shen Tu couldn’t help but slap his thighs, revealing another expression of introspection, “Then, Princess, you’ve come here for a stroll, have you seen anyone you like? There are many beautiful men in the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion, why don’t I recommend a few to you?”

Zhu Yan instantly blushed, rolled her eyes and spat at him, muttering, “I just wanted to come and see the legendary Flower Chief Ruyi, and I ended up…” At this point, she paused for a moment, blushing a little.

“What happened? Got snatched, right?” Doctor Shen Tu couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “That little girl, Ruyi, is a big celebrity! It’s sometimes hard to meet her without an appointment, and money doesn’t help – hey, why don’t you let Lord Zhi take the initiative, and maybe you’ll get what you want.”

“Is that so?” Zhu Yan’s heart jumped and suddenly frowned, looking at Yuan and asking somewhat warily, “That Ruyi, what’s her relationship with you again?”

“What kind of relationship? Hey, you don’t know?” Doctor Shen Tu laughed, “Ruyi, this proud and arrogant little girl, only listens to him alone in this world…”

“…” Zhu Yan’s face instantly sank, turning her head to stare at Yuan, “Really?”

However, Yuan ignored her, only tilting his head to the side, appearing to be slightly lost in thoughts, missing what was being said at their side of the table. However, the moment Zhu Yan was about to sulk and come up to grab his lapel and ask him about it, Yuan suddenly put his finger in the air, signaling everyone to keep quiet.

Doctor Shen Tu froze, “What’s going on?”

Yuan whispered, “I… think I heard Ruyi calling for help!”

“Calling for help?” Zhu Yan listened carefully but could not hear anything, so she reassured him, “It’s okay, don’t worry – Ruyi had been wrapped up by my Master today…”

“Your Master?” Hearing these words, Yuan suddenly turned pale and instantly stood up, “You’re talking about the Great Priest of the Jiuyi Temple, Shi Ying? He… he came here?!”

“Yeah.” Zhu Yan knew that she had misspoken and hurriedly made a gesture of silence, “You must not say anything out loud!”

“Not good!” Yuan’s face bristled with pallor and turned his head around to look quickly at Dr. Shen Tu; he pulled the old man up with one hand and said, “Something is not right… you should leave quickly!”

Yuan lifted his hand and pressed a mechanism, and after a discreet “click”, the wall sank inwards revealing a hidden door – a narrow, three-foot square passage sloped down into the ground, like a black hole.

“Go,” said Yuan, pushing him towards the hole without too many words, “this place is dangerous!”

“Leaving right now?” Doctor Shen Tu was stunned, “I haven’t… got your wounds treated yet.”

“There is no time for that!” Yuan pushed Doctor Shen Tu into the hole and scolded him in a low voice, “Hurry up! Go back to Dragon Slayer Village and hide… Never go out of there easily unless I come for you personally!”

Master Shen Tu was shoved down into the opening without a second thought, his body having slid in, revealing only his head on the outside, but he climbed across his arm through the opening, complaining a bit reluctantly, “It’s easy to come to the Star Ocean Cloud, I haven’t even met a beauty yet…”

“Some other time! Stop nagging,” in such an urgent moment, Yuan lost his usual good temper and violently pushed his head inside, “Go, fast!”

With a muffled grunt, Doctor Shen Tu tucked himself firmly under the passage.

However, the very moment he slid down, he retracted and pulled Yuan in close to his ear and whispered, “That thing I just told you, you have to hurry up and verify… that shark child is unusual, I am sure he is the “one” you have been looking to find for so many years.”

Yuan nodded, “I will report to the elders immediately.”

“Speaking of coincidence,” Doctor Shen Tu spared a glance at Zhu Yan and suddenly whispered in Yuan’s ear, “the child I mentioned is located right now in her family’s Palace.”

“What?” Yuan turned back instantly and stared at Zhu Yan.

“What… what’s wrong?” Zhu Yan was startled and noticed a change in his glance. Yuan didn’t say anything else, just turned back to Doctor Shen Tu and replied, “Thanks for the information… you should go now.”

Doctor Shen Tu grinned and let go of his hand, “No need to thank me, next time remember to let me have a few days of free fun at Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion is all… find a few more beauties to keep me company, and ah… preferably with Ruyi also showing off her gratitude!”

Before the words were out of his mouth, the person had slid into the darkness, never to be seen again.

Zhu Yan watched the scene in bewilderment until Yuan covered the entrance to that secret passage and turned back to look at her with another profound look – a look that was unfamiliar to her and she felt a little surprised and a little frightened, “What the hell is going on?”

After a pause, she asked, “Are you… hiding from my Master?”

Yuan appeared to be thinking fast about the words he was going to say, however, in the end, he simply replied briefly, “Yes. The Great Priest of Jiuyi Mountain, Shi Ying, is an enemy of our Restoration Army.”

“Your Restoration Army?” Zhu Yan was taken aback and took a step back, looking firmly at Yuan, “Are you… you are also in the Restoration Army?”

“Aye.” Yuan replied simply, walking swiftly into the inner chamber and changing into a tunic before removing a sword from its case – the sword was black, with a thin slit on the spine that stretched sinuously, as if it were a fracture. Yuan reached out and gently snapped his hand on the blade, to which the black sword responded with a long, clear chant. Holding the sword in his hand, he stared down, an aura of murderous cruelty surging between his brows.

Zhu Yan never seen this Yuan before, so she couldn’t help but become dumbfounded, and only after a long time she nervously exclaimed, “But… but my Master is just a Priest, that doesn’t count as being your enemy, right?”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Yuan sneered, “He was out there killing so many sharks in Susa Haru a few months ago!”

Zhu Yan froze for a moment and blurted out, “How do you… know about Susa Haru?”

“I just made a trip there to collect the bodies of my fellow clansmen.” Yuan said lightly, “I’ve seen the bodies, killed instantly by the spell – that was the touch of the Great Priest, wasn’t it? A wave of the hand and all the heads were falling to the ground, crisp and clean.”

“…” Zhu Yan couldn’t utter a word, she wanted to defend her Master in some way, but fell short of words – yes, Master was always cold and unsympathetic towards sharks, and from Yuan’s point of view he would be a heinous person, right?

“I fought against him the other day at the Governor’s Palace, a tremendous opponent.” Yuan turned back to her and said briefly, “What are you going to do now?”

She shuddered and regained her composure, “What… what should I do?”

Yuan asked simply and directly, “Are you helping your Master, or are you helping the Restoration Army?”

“Why are you asking this?” Zhu Yan’s mind was in turmoil and retreated a little, then said in a trembling voice, “You… two obviously don’t know each other, do you? Are you going to have a fight soon?”

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