Chapter 39: They both knew it was futile.
Some of the invited immortal physicians were arranged in the Lingxi Hall.
Yan Jingyu had originally thought that as soon as he entered, he would hear everyone cursing. After all, Liao Chen’s reputation in the cultivation world was not very good.
But to his surprise, the Lingxi Hall was harmonious. The immortal physicians even stood up respectfully when Liao Chen entered the door and bowed in greeting.
It was well-known that the path of medicine was the most noble and also the most difficult to handle in the entire immortal sects. Just as mortals would always have some headaches and fevers, the path of cultivation would also always have this or that kind of accident. Therefore, most cultivators did not want to offend the path of medicine.
Moreover, many alchemists also came from the path of medicine. If they were to be ostracized by them, it would even be difficult to buy pills.
Yan Jingyu followed behind Liao Chen and also received their greetings. “We’ve finally seen the Immortal Lord.”
“I heard that the Immortal Lord is unwell. Have you been feeling better recently?”
“The demonic energy on the Immortal Lord seems to have been drawn out. That’s good, that’s good. It seems that it hasn’t hurt the root.”
The crowd chattered on, making Yan Jingyu very confused. He didn’t think that all the rumors about him in the martial world would be positive. That day, when he asked Liao Chen for demonic power to take revenge, he didn’t know how people outside were cursing him now… That was why that day, when Liao Chen asked him where he wanted to eat, he had immediately chosen to return to the Demon Palace.
“Alright, take his pulse.”
Yan Jingyu sat down in a chair. The crowd began to take his pulse one by one and probed his spiritual platform with their divine sense. Yan Jingyu, feeling rather uncomfortable, accepted the observation of more than a dozen people, pulled up his sleeves, and leaned to the side, watching them whisper to each other.
In fact, there was no need to look any further. He was very clear about his current physical condition.
He probably couldn’t even last a year.
The demonic energy that day had devoured all the fuel of his soul-lamp. Yan Jingyu used his spiritual energy to probe his spiritual platform slightly and found that only a wisp of cold flame was left on the wick of the soul-lamp, clinging to the wick and burning. If you didn’t look carefully, you could hardly see its shape.
Liao Chen had used some method to preserve this wisp of soul-fire and had also used the power of the flower spirit to repair his divine wood again. But even with both, it was impossible for him to have a way to live.
Soon, an old man walked out, his expression compassionate. “If what we have observed is not wrong, the Immortal Lord’s soul-lamp should have already been extinguished, and the wick should have turned to ash by now. It was the Demon Lord who timely engraved the divine runes, solidifying the ashes, and used a drop of blessings as fuel to barely awaken it? Is that right?”
The old man shook his head. “But this is just a temporary solution, not a permanent cure. Although the divine runes can solidify the ashes, they cannot reshape the wick. His wick has already scattered. Although he still has consciousness now, he is just a living dead person.”
This was somewhat out of Yan Jingyu’s expectation. He subconsciously looked at Liao Chen. The latter said coldly, “This Lord asked you to come over, not to tell me that there is no way.”
The crowd whispered for a while again, and the old man spoke again. “Please trouble the Demon Lord to give us some time to discuss it properly.”
Liao Chen looked at Yan Jingyu and said coldly, “This Lord not only wants him to live, but also wants him to recover as he was before, to be able to draw in spiritual energy again. You all should discuss it properly and think clearly about what you want to say the next time you see this Lord.”
The crowd promised with trepidation, and Liao Chen strode out.
Yan Jingyu did not stay either. He subconsciously followed him out, looking at the other’s departing back. “Liao Chen.”
Liao Chen stopped, his voice faint. “If you want to persuade me to let them go, there’s no need.”
“…” Yan Jingyu did have this idea. To be blocked back so suddenly, he had to say, “Alright, but my matter is already beyond help. If they really have no way…”
“This is a matter between me and them, and has nothing to do with you.” After Liao Chen finished speaking, he suddenly turned his hand and handed over a longsword. “If you have nothing to do, go practice your sword and try to see if you can establish a connection with it and enter the Dao through the sword.”
The last time, he had hastily picked up this sword to kill someone. Yan Jingyu hadn’t had a good look at it for a long time.
He let out a long sigh, took two steps forward to take it, but suddenly his palm sank, and his fingers loosened.
With a clang, ‘Du Fang’ fell heavily on the ground.
In the Lingxi Hall, as soon as Liao Chen and Yan Jingyu left, the immortal physicians began to curse in low voices. “What on earth is this Liao Chen trying to do? If he hadn’t forcefully poured demonic power into the Immortal Lord, would he have become like this?”
“This Immortal Lord Dufang, how did he get mixed up with Liao Chen?”
“Haven’t you heard? The Immortal Lord originally only had two years left to live and was thinking of returning to Hutian to have his fallen leaves return to their roots. But Qin Zhongyou and the others forcefully beat him out, saying he was a painted-skin ghost, which led to him falling into Liao Chen’s hands!”
“Qin Zhongyou beat him out?”
“That’s right. It’s all over the martial world. Qin Zixuan was even sent to kill him, saying that his appearance would disturb Qin Zhongyou’s Dao heart.”
“I didn’t expect that the two arch-nemesis of the past would actually have such a mutual appreciation after a hundred years…”
“Mutual appreciation?!” Someone immediately said, “Have you forgotten how he established his authority when he came to the hall yesterday? That Suwen Valley Master only said that if he wanted him to save someone, he had to show some sincerity. He actually directly crushed the person’s head? And what did he say…”
The crowd all thought of that face full of ridicule. “You want this Lord to kneel? Are you worthy?”
“Yan Qi, if you can save him, save him. If you can’t, then you can be buried with him.” The man held the head of the gray-haired physician and said in a low voice, “Mortals say to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys. You can go die first.”
“That’s not all…” someone else whispered. “Have you forgotten? That Suwen Valley Master timely saved his own soul and repeatedly begged…”
“I know. As soon as I see the Immortal Lord, I will immediately write a prescription for him!” The Suwen Valley Master did not look at his own crushed physical body. His soul, which was still being held by the head, repeatedly pleaded, “Demon Lord, give me another chance…”
“It’s too late.”
His gaze was cold. He easily crushed the other’s soul to pieces. As he flipped his palm, he even used a Dust-Cleansing Art to clean his hands. “Is there anyone else who wants to stand and talk to this Lord?”
In that instant, everyone knelt down.
Liao Chen was very satisfied. “This Lord will bring him over tomorrow. At that time, you should have a good idea of how to act.”
“So,” someone said, “do you think that he wants to save the Immortal Lord, not because he hopes the Immortal Lord will live?”
“If he really wanted Yan Jingyu to live, he wouldn’t have given him demonic power. So many blessings, burned dry in the blink of an eye… Did he not expect that the Immortal Lord’s lamp wick would also be burned by the demonic energy?”
Everyone quickly understood. “So he doesn’t care at all if Yan Jingyu dies!”
“Then why did he capture us? Isn’t this just purely torturing people?”
“That’s right.” Someone said with a determined tone, “He is just torturing us in a roundabout way, and also torturing the Immortal Lord in a roundabout way! It’s obvious to anyone with eyes that the Immortal Lord can’t live. There’s really no chance of survival at all! Even if a Daluo Golden Immortal were here, it would be impossible for him to live until next spring!”
“What on earth is he after…”
“He’s not after anything! He’s just bored!” The crowd argued angrily for a while. Someone sighed. “But he wants us to give him a solution. We have to give him some solution.”
“He’s giving us a difficult problem, so we can also give him a difficult problem. In my opinion, we can do this…”
While the crowd was chattering, Liao Chen was already sitting quietly on the roof. He withdrew his divine sense, his expression calm and indifferent.
On the other side, Yan Jingyu was playing shuttlecock with the little demons in the academy. He was also very good at playing shuttlecock. At this moment, he was showing off his skills under the focused attention of the little demons, muttering, “Do you see? This is called ‘Five Sons Ascending to Officialdom’!”
He used the pan kick, ke kick, guai kick, beng kick, and mo kick, kicking once with each different method, and finally let the shuttlecock stop on the tip of his foot. He held his hands flat, his body leaning back, and said with a smile, “This symbolizes the five blessings and good fortune in the mortal world.”
Then, he hooked his foot and kicked again, using the inside of his foot to kick the shuttlecock up, then quickly caught it with the outside of his foot and let it fall. He introduced, “This is called ‘Inside Catch, Outside Drop’.”
“Wow.” The little demons clapped their hands. He was clearly in a good mood and continued to show off. At the same time, he kicked the shuttlecock back and forth with the inside of his two feet, his gaze constantly moving with the shuttlecock. His long hair also floated gently in the air, and the feather jade at his waist also swayed. The shuttlecock formed a continuous trajectory in the air, like a carrying pole carrying things. His mouth was also busy. “This is called ‘Erlang Carrying the Mountain’!”
“I want to kick too, I want to kick too!” a tender voice came. He curved his eyebrows and eyes again and gently kicked the shuttlecock over. “Catch!”
“If the Demon Lord hadn’t saved you, you would have been thoroughly dead. How can you still laugh?” Mo Ting held an apple and leaned against the door, watching him. Yan Jingyu’s nose was already sweating a lot. As he walked back with light steps, he panted and went to get the apple on the table. “He said that his saving me is his business, and has nothing to do with me.”
Mo Ting swallowed, and turned to look at him with a complicated expression. “You really are a heartless thing.”
“Then what do you want me to do?” Yan Jingyu leaned against the other door frame and bit into the apple. “Am I supposed to lie in bed every day and worry myself to death, waiting for that group of people to come up with a good prescription to save me?”
“Then you can’t say that this is the Demon Lord’s business either! If it weren’t for you, would he have to offend those immortal physicians?”
“Alright, alright. Let’s play leaf cards.”
“You still have the mind to play cards?” Mo Ting was so angry she was shaking. “Do you have a heart at all!”
“Then what can I do?” Yan Jingyu said, “I can’t live, and I can’t die. Why don’t I just kill myself here now…”
He made a move to hit his head against a nearby pillar. Mo Ting quickly went up and stopped him. “You jinx, stop causing trouble for me!”
Yan Jingyu curved his lips, tutted, and said, “I’m just teasing you.”
Mo Ting was annoyed. A woman’s light laugh suddenly came from behind. Yan Jingyu turned his head to look and said in surprise, “Miss Li Xiao.”
This was a great demon. When Chi Yuan was here, she was once one of the guardians. Later, Liao Chen probably dismissed her. Yan Jingyu had thought she had already left, but he hadn’t expected her to stay in the Demon Palace and raise children with Mo Ting.
“Aren’t we going to play leaf cards?” Li Xiao said, “Mo Dong, you come too. Four people is more interesting.”
Yan Jingyu stayed in the academy until night before he went back. When he left, Mo Ting stood at the door, her brow furrowed. “This Yan Jingyu is really a heartless thing.”
Li Xiao shook her head. “What do you think the Demon Lord is thinking?”
“Of course he’s thinking of how to save him.” Mo Ting said, “Recently, he even had people spread news in the martial world, saying that Yan Jingyu had fallen into his demonic clutches, and also saying that Yan Jingyu’s life in the Demon Palace was difficult, that he had never killed Yan Jingyu because he wanted to torture him. There were even rumors that Yan Jingyu was given demonic power and ended up in this state all because he was forced! It’s really turning things upside down… Although we have often taken the blame in the past, at least that could be called an achievement! A few more things that can make the people outside fear us more… But this matter sounds so unjust and suffocating.”
“Didn’t he also say that Yan Jingyu was beaten out by Qin Zhongyou and the others, and had to take out the Heavenly Mandate Eyes and the thunder-element Heavenly Soul to exchange for half a day of peak power in order to avenge his family?”
“You’ve also been out recently?”
“Can’t you tell?” Li Xiao looked outside. “He doesn’t want Yan Jingyu to be entangled with him in the eyes of outsiders. He doesn’t want Yan Jingyu’s reputation to be tarnished in his later years. He wants Yan Jingyu to keep all his clear name before he dies.”
Mo Ting said subconsciously, “Yan Jingyu is not worthy at all!”
“You’re wrong.” Li Xiao said, “He is the one who understands the Demon Lord the most.”
“He teases cats and dogs because he knows someone wants to make him happy. He lets the Demon Lord do as he pleases because he knows the Demon Lord still wants to do something in the final moments…”
“Even though they both know it’s futile.”
