“Is that you, an alchemist?” Bai Xuan asked, her beautiful, water-like eyes showing doubt. How could someone who had been notorious in Yao City suddenly transform into an alchemist?
“Of course not,” Ye Chu replied with a smile.
The words instantly crushed the hope that had just risen in Bai Xuan, but this made sense. He could not possibly be an alchemist. “Ye Chu! Please stop messing around. My father is in critical condition. We need Huang Yong’an!”
“Not being an alchemist does not mean I cannot treat your father. Besides, in the face of the evil qi from the Great General’s Tomb, an ordinary alchemist would be powerless. Even if you brought a court alchemist, your father would still have no hope,” Ye Chu said.
“Evil qi from the Great General’s Tomb!” Bai Xuan exclaimed, her face growing even paler. She knew how deadly that place was. Had her sister and brother-in-law not died there? Yet she had never imagined her father would ignore all warnings and go there again.
Bai Xuan collapsed onto the bed, her face ashen. She knew Ye Chu spoke the truth. If it truly was evil qi from the Great General’s Tomb, her father was doomed. He had once said that no one in Yao City could cure evil qi once it entered the body.
“Move aside. Let me take a look.” The man on the bed grew increasingly pale, black spots appearing on his brow. Seeing this, Ye Chu dared not delay further. If the evil qi invaded the soul and ran rampant, it would be a catastrophe. Who knew how many would die at his hands.
Bai Xuan, who had been lost in despair, snapped back to awareness. She looked at Ye Chu and asked, “Can you really save my father?”
“I’ll try,” Ye Chu smiled. “But if I succeed, the conditions you promised Huang Yong’an will transfer to me?”
Pang Shao, who had just returned after dealing with someone, overheard this and stared in disbelief. He could not help cursing inwardly: Damn! Is he not pursuing a higher realm of villainy? Did he not boast about taking the heart before taking the body? What is he doing now?
“Scoundrel!” Pang Shao looked at Ye Chu with contempt, thinking him utterly shameless. He had urged Pang Shao to be a good person, yet when faced with a beautiful woman, he made the first move.
Bai Xuan gazed at Ye Chu, who watched her with a hint of wicked charm. Noticing more black spots spreading across her father’s face, she fell silent for a moment before speaking. “Fine. As long as you save my father, I will agree.”
Saying this seemed to drain all her strength. She nearly collapsed.
Seeing her like this, Ye Chu smiled but said nothing more. He stepped to the bedside. The playful demeanour vanished, replaced by gravity. He took a deep breath and reached for the wrist of the man on the bed, Bai Bao.
“Stand back,” Ye Chu told Bai Xuan, who was holding Yao Yao. Bai Xuan watched Ye Chu seriously take her father’s pulse and perform a series of actions. Her heart tightened. Though it would cost her dearly, she wanted her father to live more. But could this man, known in Yao City as scum and trash, truly save him?
Despite a thousand doubts in her heart, she had no other choice. She could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.
Ye Chu’s fingers moved repeatedly. Though not fast, Bai Xuan clearly saw them enveloped in nearly transparent, invisible qi. As the qi merged into the black spots on her father’s wrist, the spots actually faded slightly.
This sight filled Bai Xuan with astonished joy. Hope surged in her eyes. “Could this man, called Yao City’s scum and waste, really rid my father of the evil qi?”
Pang Shao and Bai Xuan held their breath, watching Ye Chu intently, waiting quietly. Just as hope grew, a grey, misty strand of evil qi suddenly shot from Bai Bao’s wrist straight at Ye Chu.
“Careful!” Bai Xuan cried out. Everyone knew the danger of evil qi. If it entered Ye Chu’s body, another person would die.
Bai Xuan warned him to dodge, but to her horror, Ye Chu neither evaded nor retreated. He struck the grey mist with his palm, tracing several circles. The evil qi became bound in his hand. With a sudden clench, it vanished, either dispersed or absorbed into his body.
Pang Shao was used to such sights, but astonishment filled Bai Xuan’s beautiful eyes. Her heart could not calm. That was evil qi, the kind that had invaded her father. Ye Chu had simply seized it with his palm. Was he truly unafraid of it entering his body and killing him?
“Do not worry. If I cannot handle even this much evil qi, how could I expect you to willingly make the deal?” Ye Chu smiled at Bai Xuan. “However, your father is gravely injured. The evil qi has spread through all his meridians.”
Too concerned to marvel at how Yao City’s notorious scum possessed such skills, Bai Xuan asked anxiously, “Then can you save him?”
Ye Chu fell silent, not answering directly. Pang Shao, surprised, asked, “You have no way either? Is this evil qi truly so terrifying?”
Pang Shao knew Ye Chu was special. Years ago, their group had foolishly entered the Great General’s Tomb. When the evil qi erupted, nearly killing them all, Ye Chu had stood in front, buying time for their escape.
They had thought Ye Chu doomed. Yet, astonishingly, though badly wounded, he had not died. After recovering, his strength had even increased.
From then on, they knew Ye Chu’s constitution was unique and he had special means against evil qi. They simply did not know what those means were. This was something they all wondered about. If even Ye Chu had no cure, the man was truly beyond saving.
Pang Shao believed no one in Yao City could handle evil qi in the body better than Ye Chu, not even cultivators far stronger than him.
Seeing Bai Xuan staring at him anxiously, Ye Chu shook his head. “It is troublesome, but not impossible. It will just take time to treat slowly. Most importantly, his body has been invaded too long. Suddenly expelling the evil qi might be too much for him to bear. He needs a lingzhi over three hundred years old to replenish vital essence.”
“So complicated?” Pang Shao muttered. “Then he is as good as dead. A three-hundred-year lingzhi is hard to find. By the time we get one, it may be too late.”
“That is not a concern. Expel the evil qi slowly, not too aggressively, and his life can at least be preserved. Once the lingzhi is found, a stronger expulsion can save him,” Ye Chu said. “As for a three-hundred-year lingzhi, I know who has one.”
Overjoyed that her father could be saved, Bai Xuan asked, “Who? Can we buy it?”
Ye Chu did not answer her. Instead, he turned to Pang Shao. “Three years ago, on the birthday of Prince Qingyang’s son, someone gifted him a three-hundred-year lingzhi. With your status, if you ask Prince Qingyang, he should not refuse.”
Seeing Ye Chu targeting him again, Pang Shao quickly waved his hands. “Do not involve me. I came to Yao City unwilling to owe favours. Your king has long had designs on me. If I owe someone in Yao City, I could not refuse if he asked. Otherwise, do you think I would not request palace maids from your king? Would I need to find women myself?”
Bai Xuan’s heart sank again. She held Yao Yao tightly, tears on her cheeks, her pitiful charm making Ye Chu’s heart race.
“Auntie, do not cry,” Yao Yao said, seeing Bai Xuan’s grief. The child, who did not understand, wiped her aunt’s tears and began crying herself. Sobbing, she said to Ye Chu, “Big brother, comfort Auntie quickly. Tell her not to cry. Woo woo…”
Looking at Yao Yao clinging to his leg, Ye Chu patted her head, then glanced at Pang Shao, who had turned away. Ye Chu thought that if he ever got the chance, Pang Shao would regret it. “Fine. I will handle the lingzhi matter.”
Ye Chu could not let Bai Bao die before him. He still had questions for the man. He wanted to know what Bai Bao had taken from the Great General’s Tomb. During treatment, Ye Chu had searched him and found nothing on his person.
