On the way back, they ran into a few unruly bandits wandering around nearby. The moment they saw the Mountain King, they turned and ran. However, the Mountain King merely called out once, and the bandits obediently returned. When they saw the injuries covering both the Mountain King and Mu Xueshi, they hurriedly brought over two horses and escorted the wounded pair back.
Originally, the bandits wanted the Mountain King and Mu Xueshi to ride separately so they could be cared for more easily. It would certainly have been better than having the badly injured Mountain King personally ride with Mu Xueshi. But the Mountain King raised his brows and glared slightly, immediately killing the idea. The bandits obediently followed behind them instead.
The blood on the Mountain King’s leg had already dried, but the wound on Mu Xueshi’s back was still bleeding. The Mountain King used nearly every clean piece of cloth he could find on his body to stop the bleeding, yet it accomplished little. Mu Xueshi’s face had become frighteningly pale. Ever since they changed horses, he had responded to the Mountain King’s calls less and less frequently.
After finally reaching a house fit for habitation, the Mountain King immediately carried Mu Xueshi inside and laid him flat on a bed. Before long, a wandering physician who lived deep in the mountains was forcibly brought over. He cleaned Mu Xueshi’s wounds, stopped the bleeding, and bandaged him up. The entire process took less than half the time it took a stick of incense to burn.
Unfortunately for the physician, he was cut down with a single blade immediately after finishing the treatment. The Mountain King then carried Mu Xueshi back to the stronghold. Throughout the night, several renowned miracle doctors from the martial world were forcibly abducted and brought over to examine Mu Xueshi’s injuries.
After examining him, all of the physicians concluded that his injuries were only external and had not damaged any internal organs. However, he had lost a great deal of blood and would need careful recuperation. Only then did the Mountain King finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Will the scars on his body remain?” the Mountain King asked.
The physicians felt fear rise in their hearts whenever the Mountain King addressed them. They instinctively took a few steps backward before answering.
“That is difficult to say. Wounds this severe—and there is more than one of them—will likely…”
The Mountain King’s expression darkened more and more. The physician speaking wisely stopped there, assuming the Mountain King understood.
“For every day the scars on his body remain, you will stay here for another day.”
“This…”
The physicians exchanged helpless looks. None of them had expected that while walking peacefully through the streets, they would suddenly be kidnapped and brought here. Now that they were here, there seemed little hope of ever leaving. What kind of misfortune was this?
“Take them away for now. Bring the medicine once it has been prepared. From now on, keep them confined on that mountain. Without my permission, none of them are to be released.”
“Yes!”
A crowd of bandits rushed in, laughing and joking as they escorted the physicians away. Even while doing so, they could not resist sneaking a few glances toward the bed, their faces full of excitement.
“Your Majesty, shouldn’t your own injuries be treated?” Fu You asked from the side.
The Mountain King frowned as he looked at Mu Xueshi, completely ignoring Fu You’s words. Earlier, with his men and the physicians present, he had barely managed to suppress his emotions. Now that everyone had left and even Fu You was being ignored, the Mountain King’s expression immediately softened into one of profound concern.
“Your Majesty, your injuries seem even worse than Madam’s…”
“Your Majesty?”
“Your Majesty?!”
“Your—”
“Get out! Stop chattering in my ears!”
“…”
Fu You let out a long sigh and left with a complicated expression.
The thing he had admired most about the Mountain King was that he had never been obsessed with beauty. No matter how beautiful a person was, they were merely a plaything to him. Once he was finished, he discarded them. Fu You had once believed that the saying ‘Even heroes fall before beauty’ could never apply to the Mountain King.
Now he realized how wrong he had been. The Mountain King had only treated beauties as toys because he had never encountered one whose beauty reached such heights.
The Mountain King casually bandaged his own wounds before taking the prepared medicine and attempting to feed it to Mu Xueshi. Yet Mu Xueshi stubbornly refused to open his mouth. No matter how much the Mountain King coaxed him, his lips remained tightly sealed.
In the end, the Mountain King took the medicine into his own mouth and leaned toward Mu Xueshi’s pale red lips. Mu Xueshi’s lips were still injured. The Mountain King had not dared use this method before because he feared hurting him further.
However, Mu Xueshi resisted even more strongly. Whenever the Mountain King drew close, his body would visibly tense. The Mountain King could not bear to force the medicine into him, yet he could not simply leave it untaken. All he could do was gently call his name, hoping to ease Mu Xueshi’s subconscious wariness.
He called him Xiao Youzai. Chen Youzai. Madam. Beauty. Finally, Mu Xueshi. Xueshi…
The Mountain King exhausted every sweet word he could think of before Mu Xueshi finally reacted.
“Lin Xi…”
The Mountain King heard that name again. From the journey until now, Mu Xueshi had been calling that name repeatedly. Although he knew Mu Xueshi was not calling for him, and although bitterness filled his heart, he still answered softly.
When the Mountain King fed the medicine to him again, Mu Xueshi obediently swallowed it. The feeling was completely different from the day the Mountain King had kissed him. This time, it felt far more intimate. Mu Xueshi’s soft tongue brushed against the Mountain King’s lips and teeth, carrying the warmth of his breath. It melted the Mountain King’s heart into something soft and tender…
That entire night, Mu Xueshi clung tightly to the Mountain King’s hand and kept pressing himself against him. Concerned about the injuries covering Mu Xueshi’s body, the Mountain King could only hold him carefully at his side, resting Mu Xueshi’s head against his shoulder so that he could neither move around recklessly nor feel uncomfortable.
Two days later, Mu Xueshi finally woke up. When he opened his eyes, there was no one in the room. He clearly knew where he was and what situation he was in. He was simply too weak to move.
His throat felt as though it had been scorched by fire—dry, itchy, and painfully uncomfortable. Mu Xueshi tried to get out of bed to drink some water, but he could not muster any strength. He tried calling for someone, but after opening his mouth and struggling for a long time, all he managed to do was swallow several mouthfuls of air. Not a single sound came out.
At last, Mu Xueshi let out a sigh and lay on the bed, resigned to dying of thirst.
Although the Mountain King was outside most of the time, he came in every so often to check on him. This time, when he saw from the doorway that Mu Xueshi’s eyes were open, delight immediately spread across his face.
“Fu You, bring those physicians here.”
With that, the Mountain King crossed the room in a few long strides and arrived at Mu Xueshi’s bedside.
“You’ve finally woken up. These past two days have been torture.”
Mu Xueshi was carefully gathered into the Mountain King’s arms as the man touched him all over, anxiously checking his condition. Mu Xueshi’s face flushed red with frustration. Unable to speak, he could only strain to tilt his head back and open his mouth, trying to indicate that he was thirsty.
The Mountain King lowered his head and pecked him lightly on the lips before burying Mu Xueshi’s head against his chest with a doting expression, completely overlooking the fact that Mu Xueshi looked ready to die of thirst.
It took quite a while before Mu Xueshi finally managed to express himself through exaggerated gestures and was rewarded with a large bowl of water.
After drinking, he felt much better. He wanted the Mountain King to put him down, but when he tried speaking again, no sound came out.
To his credit, the Mountain King was fairly self-aware. After holding him for a while, he returned Mu Xueshi to the bed. Mu Xueshi took several deep breaths and opened his mouth again. The result was exactly the same…
A side effect of killing the tiger?…
Mu Xueshi did not even dare think about it. He hurriedly closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. Perhaps the wounds on his body had become infected and affected his throat. Perhaps he was simply too weak, making it difficult to produce a sound. Perhaps the internal heat in his body had become too severe and his throat had swollen to the point where he could no longer speak normally…
Anything was acceptable.
As long as he had not gone mute…
Mu Xueshi had already decided that if he survived this ordeal, he would explain everything clearly to the Mountain King and persuade him to let him return home. He believed the Mountain King was a reasonable man. As for the debt of gratitude he owed him, he would certainly repay it properly someday.
Two days later…
A series of loud crashes rang out from a farmhouse, followed by the sound of shattered bowls and plates, accompanied by one man’s furious roar and another man’s pained cries.
Sun Ye reclined against a pile of worn bedding, his face dark with rage and his eyes blazing with barely restrained fury. Poison Master Moru stood amidst the broken fragments. The elegant and carefree charm he once possessed was nowhere to be seen. In its place lingered a worn-down air of exhaustion that somehow carried its own strange appeal.
“Stop feeding me this stuff.”
“Your wounds haven’t healed yet. If you don’t drink it, when exactly do you plan on recovering?”
Sun Ye snorted coldly, his face full of numb resentment.
“Recover? It’ll probably take even longer if I drink it. Who knows what kind of medicine you forced down my throat while I was unconscious? It’s nothing more than a flesh wound, yet I still can’t even get out of bed.”
Poison Master Moru looked utterly wronged. He strode over and said loudly, “If I really wanted to harm you, why would I have bothered saving you in the first place? How can there be someone as unreasonable as you?”
This time, Sun Ye did not even bother replying. He merely sneered and closed his eyes, refusing to acknowledge the man standing beside him.
Seeing that expression, Poison Master Moru felt as though he had been slapped several times for no reason at all. The grievance in his heart was overwhelming. He never should have saved him. He should have let him die and preserved a good impression instead. Now he had spent days and nights caring for him, only to be met with cold looks every single day.
Did he owe this man a debt from a previous life?
I, Duan Moru, am handsome, charming, and elegant. What beauty hasn’t eagerly thrown themselves at me? Yet here I’m treated worse than a beggar!
Grinding his teeth, Poison Master Moru swept aside his robe and, maintaining every bit of his elegance, bent down to pick up the broken shards on the floor. He had no choice. If the man on the bed accidentally fell and cut himself on the fragments, he would probably accuse him of deliberately leaving them there with malicious intent.
The person standing at the doorway raised a foot several times as if intending to enter, only to hesitate every time. His face was scrunched up like a steamed bun as he stared into the room.
The moment Poison Master Moru looked up, he recognized the familiar face.
“Xiao Yi? How did you find this place?”
“It really is Master?” The boy called Xiao Yi looked delighted.
Poison Master Moru glanced down at his clothing and imagined how he currently looked. Embarrassment immediately washed over him. Had he known someone was coming, he would have tidied himself up. After all, quite a few people in this world still believed him to be a graceful and dashing gentleman…
“You haven’t answered my question,” Poison Master Moru said at once, assuming the stern expression of a strict master.
Xiao Yi chuckled. He did not seem particularly afraid of him. Instead, he pulled a small bottle from his robes. Inside was a many-legged insect, which he proudly held up before Poison Master Moru.
“This little fellow helped me find you.”
Poison Master Moru’s gaze darkened immediately.
“Haven’t I told you not to use Gu techniques to track my whereabouts?”
Xiao Yi laughed awkwardly and scratched his head.
“But this time your disciple truly had important business. A letter arrived for you. When you didn’t return for so long, I was afraid it might be urgent, so I came to deliver it personally.”
A letter?
Poison Master Moru was puzzled. It had been a very long time since anyone had sent him a letter…
Temporarily setting Xiao Yi’s matter aside, he unfolded the crumpled sheet of paper that had been thoroughly wrinkled by the boy’s hands. After only a few glances, a springlike smile bloomed across his face. Then, as he continued reading, that smile gradually froze.
Watching his master’s expression shift so dramatically, Xiao Yi could not help wondering what sort of matter could produce such a rich variety of reactions.
“When did this letter arrive?”
“Three days ago.”
“Then why are you only delivering it today?”
Poison Master Moru smacked Xiao Yi hard on the head.
Rubbing his head miserably, Xiao Yi complained, “Master wanders all over the world without a fixed residence. Of course it took your disciple considerable effort to find you. Besides, I hesitated for an entire day before deciding to come…”
Before he could finish, Poison Master Moru had already dragged him out the door.
“Listen carefully. Watch the person inside for me. I have to leave immediately and will return by evening. If I come back and discover anything has happened to him, I’ll break your legs.”
With that, Poison Master Moru hurried into an inner room to change clothes. When he emerged moments later, he looked radiant, immaculate, and full of vitality.
“What are you going to do, Master?” Xiao Yi asked curiously.
“A friend is getting married. I’m going to see for myself the astonishingly beautiful bride everyone keeps talking about. Just keep an eye on the person inside.”
“Who is it?”
“…”
Before Xiao Yi could receive an answer, Poison Master Moru had already vanished.
Watching the cloud of dust left behind in his wake, Xiao Yi could not help letting out a long sigh.
How had he ever ended up taking such a master?
He could go ten days or even half a month without showing his face. And when he finally did appear, he usually disappeared again in less than a quarter of an hour…
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Futile Devices Scans 
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