Chapter 2

Yin Wuji seemed to have been driven half-mad, murmuring, “A man. Four months pregnant.”

If he didn’t know that no one in Listening Crane Manor would ever dare defy him, Yin Wuji would almost have believed this was some trick the Physician was playing on him.

He looked again at the Physician who had just uttered such an astonishing statement. The man seemed to feel Yin Wuji’s gaze roaming over him and didn’t even dare lift his head, his every thought consumed with his own survival.

Timid as a mouse. He wouldn’t dare deceive him.

Yin Wuji gave a soft scoff, and the Physician trembled along with it. Yin Wuji asked, “Then what’s wrong with him?”

The Physician chose his words nervously. “His… pregnancy has been disturbed.”

The Shadow Guard’s sharply defined face was deathly pale, displaying a frailty that should never have belonged to this face, this person, this blade.

And now that frailty had come from a disturbed pregnancy. Yin Wuji found it all the more ironic.

Remembering the covetous gaze of the Shadow Guard, the way it met his own time and again, Yin Wuji wanted to gouge his eyes out. Originally, Yin Wuji only needed to dispatch Shadow Twelve to Qingzhou.

That way, even with that unspeakable relationship between them, there would be no further entanglement.

But with this child, the meaning changed entirely.

How Shadow Twelve would cling to him afterward—the mere thought filled Yin Wuji with disgust.

Without hesitation, Yin Wuji gave the order. “Deal with it.”

He would never give the Shadow Guard a chance to threaten him, let alone cling to him.

A blade was a blade. It must never have human feelings.

The Physician went blank. “Manor Master, you mean……”

The sudden revelation of a four-month pregnancy had made the spot between Yin Wuji’s brows twitch incessantly. What little patience he had was gone. He stared at the kneeling Physician. “This Manor Master said, deal with it.”

Under that life-threatening pressure, the Physician understood completely. He glanced at the lifeless Shadow Guard still lying on the bed. The Manor Master wanted to directly dispose of the child in his belly.

Didn’t the Manor Master value him greatly?

Such twists and turns were not for a Physician to ponder. What troubled him more was that a man carrying a child was unheard of—and the Manor Master had opened with “deal with it.” How was he supposed to do that?

The Physician, with decades of medical practice behind him, fell silent, as if a tangle of threads were knotting through his mind, an impenetrable snarl with no end in sight.

Left with no choice, the Physician said, “Manor Master, Lord Shadow Guard’s constitution is unusual. Perhaps……”

Before he could finish, the Physician felt a gaze nail him to the floor. Veins bulged on Yin Wuji’s forehead, and the table and chairs instantly crumbled to powder.

“This Manor Master said, deal with it. Do you not understand?”

“Or,” a mocking smile spread across Yin Wuji’s face, “would you prefer This Manor Master find a different Physician?”

Countless people had broken their heads trying to get into Listening Crane Manor. Without him, there were thousands upon thousands of other Physicians. A chill ran down the Physician’s back. “Yes. This Subordinate will prepare at once.”

Before leaving, the Physician glanced at that pile of powder. The Manor Master had truly meant to kill just now. If he had been a step slower… he would be no different from that pile of powder.

Shadow Nine, who had been standing guard at the door the whole time, heard everything clearly. When he opened the door, his expression was grim. He lowered his voice and asked the Physician, “If it really is dealt with… will Twelve……”

Shadow Nine hesitated, unable to finish, but the Physician nodded, letting the cold sweat slide down his face. “At the very least, he can no longer be a Shadow Guard.”

Thunder exploded in Shadow Nine’s mind. If he couldn’t be a Shadow Guard, what else could he be?

For tools like them, with loyalty carved into their bones, who knew nothing but killing, to stop being a Shadow Guard was a dead end.

Twelve was the youngest, and since entering the Manor, Shadow Nine had been the one training him. Shadow Nine’s throat went dry.

The Shadow Guard Code allowed Shadow Nine only to stand his post here, but he clenched his fists, and in the end he couldn’t restrain himself. He knelt before Yin Wuji.

He couldn’t just watch Twelve die. Even the slimmest thread of hope was worth fighting for.

Yin Wuji was drinking tea. The tea had long gone cold, yet he refused to let anyone refill the pot. The cold tea was bitter and astringent, without a trace of tea’s flavor, reminding him of ten years ago.

That pot of tea ten years ago had been worse than this one, if anything.

Setting down the cup—the table and chairs were newly replaced, the room freshly cleaned—apart from Shadow Twelve lying on the bed and Shadow Nine kneeling before him, today seemed no different from any other.

“What do you want?”

An invisible blade pressed against Shadow Nine’s throat at Yin Wuji’s casual words. People instinctively sought advantage and avoided harm; even Shadow Guards feared death. But Shadow Nine still said, “Master, spare Twelve’s life.”

Yin Wuji answered a different question. “Shadow Nine, who are you?”

Shadow Nine was puzzled but answered truthfully, “This Subordinate is the Master’s Shadow Guard. If the Master requires it, this Subordinate can die for the Master at any moment.”

Would that… make the Master spare Twelve?

Yin Wuji laughed, and the pressure crashed down, forcing Shadow Nine even lower. Yin Wuji said carelessly, “Shadow Nine, a blade like you that has grown feelings—would it still die for This Manor Master?”

Just like now—he would even defy him for the sake of a single Shadow Guard.

Very well. Another blade lost.

With a bang, Shadow Nine’s body flew out like a kite with a severed string, crashing against the door. Shadow Nine spat out a mouthful of blood and passed out.

Under the blazing sun, Yin Wuji said coldly, “Someone. Drag Shadow Nine to the Punishment Chamber. He comes out when This Manor Master says he comes out.”

No one answered, but when he looked again at where Shadow Nine had fallen, the man was gone. Even the bloodstains had been swept clean.

Despite all that commotion, Shadow Twelve on the bed kept his eyes closed. Even when the medicine was brought, he never opened them.

The smell of medicine made Yin Wuji frown. Examining the black bowl of medicine, he asked, “Will it work?”

“Generally… it works.”

As for someone as unusual as Shadow Twelve, the Physician didn’t know if it would. He could only hold onto the hope of trying—and pray the Manor Master wouldn’t tear him apart.

He also hoped this Lord Shadow Guard… could hold on.

Yin Wuji lowered his eyes, lost in thought. Could the Manor Master actually be regretting it?

“Force it down him.”

The Physician sighed inwardly. This Shadow Guard’s fate was sealed.

The unconscious man’s teeth were clenched. The Physician exerted Herculean effort, yet not a single mouthful of the medicine went down Shadow Twelve’s throat. Instead it all spilled across his face, wet and filthy.

Yin Wuji rubbed his fingers together, took the medicine bowl from the Physician’s hands, and said coldly, “Get out.”

“Yes, of course.”

The Physician’s voice carried barely concealed eagerness. Soon only Yin Wuji and Shadow Twelve remained in the room.

His gaze skimming past the slight curve at the man’s waist, Yin Wuji tilted the bowl in his hand. Pressing his lips together, he helped Shadow Twelve up, the man’s head resting against his shoulder.

In a single day, his sharp blade had become this lifeless husk.

All because of that forbidden covetousness, and that forbidden entanglement.

A faint breath of air brushed past the side of his neck. Yin Wuji used brute force to pour half a bowl of medicine down. The Shadow Guard’s face twisted in discomfort. Yin Wuji narrowed his eyes—the supposedly unconscious Shadow Guard choked on the medicine and broke into violent coughing.

He coughed until a flush spread across his face, and the medicine he’d swallowed came back up.

Even filthier.

When that suffocating fit of coughing finally passed, Shadow Twelve’s eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes, looking somewhat dazed.

This seemed to be the furnishing of the Master’s room. The Shadow Guard’s dull gaze landed on Yin Wuji, and Shadow Twelve’s heart lurched.

He had kept watch last night—kept watch right into the Master’s bed.

The Master already despised him, let alone being touched by a body like his.

Shadow Twelve’s face drained rapidly of color as he knelt on the ground. “Master, this Subordinate……”

Before he could finish, a cramping pain seized his abdomen. Shadow Twelve clutched his stomach, gritting his teeth, yet still a muffled groan escaped. “Ah… Master……”

His hand groped blindly until it finally caught the hem of Yin Wuji’s robe. Shadow Twelve was already half-delirious. Why did it hurt so much? Even if a piece of flesh were carved raw from his body, it wouldn’t hurt like this.

It was as if a knife were churning inside his belly, determined to shred his organs to pieces.

Why… why?

Shadow Twelve was dazed. He looked toward Yin Wuji, his gaze fractured. In his eyes, even Yin Wuji was only a blurred shadow. Is… is the Master punishing me?

“Master……” Shadow Twelve curled his body up, drenched as if just fished from water. Between ragged breaths, he begged humbly, “Master, this Subordinate… knows his wrong, but please… ah, Master, don’t cast this Subordinate aside.”

Even with the pain blurring his vision, all he could think of was staying by Yin Wuji’s side.

The ever-intensifying pain finally shattered Shadow Twelve’s consciousness. “It hurts… Master, I hurt.”

From coldly watching Shadow Twelve collapse to the ground, to now lifting the unconscious man into his arms, Yin Wuji’s heart tightened—an emotional upheaval he had never known.

Shadow Twelve hadn’t swallowed a single drop of the medicine, yet his trousers were soaked and sticky. Yin Wuji’s expression turned darker than ever. “Hurry in here already.”

The Physician, who had been waiting outside the door the whole time, rushed in. He carefully glanced at Yin Wuji. Why did the Manor Master seem almost… heartbroken?

“The one dying isn’t me,” Yin Wuji snapped. “Examine him.”

The Shadow Guard’s condition was far worse than before. The Physician’s hand settled on Shadow Twelve’s wrist. Yin Wuji asked, “Well?”

The Physician felt he might genuinely be replaced by the Manor Master after all.

He knelt, his head touching the ground, the smell of blood burrowing madly into his nose. He stammered, “Manor Master… it’s not good.”

The Physician knew what outcome the Manor Master wanted. Given this scene, it could only mean either it had already been dealt with, or the child remained.

How could it be “not good”?

The Shadow Guard in his arms was ice-cold to the touch. Blood-red flooded Yin Wuji’s eyes. “Continue.”

“Lord Shadow Guard, in his panic, disturbed the pregnancy. Even without this bowl of medicine, this child… cannot be saved.”

An unprecedented irritation swept over him. Yin Wuji snapped impatiently, “And the man?”

“Lord Shadow Guard seems to have sensed it and channeled his Internal Energy, protecting it desperately. Right now, both of them are—”

“In mortal danger.”