Chapter 445: He May Be from the Demonic Sect

Several more riders came from ahead and passed the two young men on horseback. Afterward, they fell in far behind the carriage and followed it at a distance.

Naturally, the men tailing the carriage were disciples of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion. Li Wuhua might not have dared stop the old man, but neither could he simply let him take Xiao Tianzhen away without a care. He had to send men after them first and wait for Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion's final decision...

Inside a room, Hai Ruyue paced anxiously back and forth. Every moment that passed was torment. She worried about her son, and she worried about her own fate. From time to time, one hand drifted to her lower abdomen.

Footsteps sounded outside. Zhu Shun staggered in while holding the doorframe. The old man had not been seriously injured when the mysterious elder swept him aside with a wave of his hand, but at his age the fall had still been hard on him.

He could barely walk properly, yet he had forced himself to come anyway. Under Hai Ruyue's gaze, he closed the door, limped over to her, and asked with grief written across his face, "Madam, what exactly is going on?"

Hai Ruyue knew he was loyal to the Xiao family and deeply worried about Xiao Tianzhen's safety. "I want to know what's going on too."

Zhu Shun's gaze fell on her abdomen, which showed no visible change. "Madam, was what the Ghost Doctor said true?"

Hai Ruyue covered her lower abdomen with one hand, closed her eyes, and shook her head, her expression full of humiliation. "Zhu Shun, I've already told you about the Scarlet Yang Vermilion Fruit. You should understand our situation. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion has already begun making its move. We have to find a way to protect ourselves. I had no other choice."

Zhu Shun trembled all over and stumbled back two steps. His voice shook. "Whose is it?"

He had long known Hai Ruyue was involved with other men, and not merely one. Li Wuhua was not the only one. Even before Hai Ruyue developed that sort of relationship with Li Wuhua, there had already been certain important figures in Jinzhou whose dealings with her were less than clear. Zhu Shun had always turned a blind eye.

He understood as well. With the Xiao family reduced to that state, how difficult was it for a widowed mother and her orphaned son to keep holding everything together? Hai Ruyue might be a Grand Princess of the State of Zhao, but in truth she had little she could use to win people's loyalty. The court of the State of Zhao itself longed to bring Jinzhou under its control; why would it hand resources to this Grand Princess for her own use? The only useful thing she still possessed was her beauty.

In Zhu Shun's eyes, Hai Ruyue had sacrificed herself for the Xiao family. It pained him, and he was helpless, but all he could do was support her.

Bang!

The door was kicked open. Li Wuhua stood outside with a dark face, staring coldly at Hai Ruyue. After urgently reporting what had happened and arranging the necessary measures, he had come straight here.

The people inside jumped in fright. Li Wuhua strode into the room and barked as he passed Zhu Shun, "Get out!"

Zhu Shun lowered his head despondently and limped away. Hai Ruyue, meanwhile, kept retreating as Li Wuhua advanced step by step. His gaze remained fixed on her abdomen. She instinctively covered her belly with both hands, bumped into a chair, and dropped into it, visibly nervous. Standing over her, Li Wuhua asked the exact same question.

"Whose is it?"

Hai Ruyue looked frightened. Playing upon his sympathy, she seemed on the verge of tears. "Who else could it possibly be?"

Li Wuhua's cheek twitched. He had already suspected the answer. During the more than half a year Hai Ruyue had been under house arrest, no other man had been able to get near enough to have an affair with her. There had been only him. He knew the flesh and blood inside her belonged to him. Even so, Li Wuhua was furious.

Smack!

He swung one hand across her face. Hai Ruyue was knocked sideways in the chair.

"You slut! You stopped taking the pills I gave you to regulate your body, didn't you?"

Hai Ruyue covered the cheek that had instantly swollen red and slowly sat upright again, tears streaming down her face. "I knew long ago those weren't some pills for regulating my body. They were medicine meant to keep me from conceiving."

Li Wuhua's face twisted savagely. "You did it deliberately. You think this will keep you alive?"

His gaze lowered to her abdomen, cold intent gathering in his eyes. One hand slowly clenched into a fist.

Hai Ruyue realized what he intended to do. Both hands flew protectively over her belly as she urgently argued, "I know you want to kill me, but you've seen Jinzhou's situation for yourself. The Xiao family has operated here for generations. Its roots run too deep. Throughout the military, the civil administration, and commerce, there are people tied closely to the Xiao family everywhere. Even if I personally ordered a complete purge, it would be impossible to avoid unrest. No one below wants to watch everything his family built be destroyed overnight. So many people are implicated that Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion doesn't dare carry out a brutal purge either. You can only replace people slowly. But doing that weakens Jinzhou's strength, and what benefit does that bring Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion?"

"Zhen'er has been taken away by the Ghost Doctor. That happens to remove the future danger created by the Scarlet Yang Vermilion Fruit, and it also proves that Zhen'er's illness truly was connected to the Ghost Doctor. Who could question whether the Ghost Doctor was capable of curing Heavenly Yin Damaged Meridians? Right now, I am still the best person to keep Jinzhou stable. Once Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion no longer has that hidden danger hanging over it, why weaken Jinzhou's strength? If everything can remain calm and peaceful, why create trouble for yourselves? As long as you argue the case on its merits, Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion will consider it!"

"You heard what the Ghost Doctor said. The child in my belly is a son. Your son. If I can remain in control of Jinzhou, then sooner or later Jinzhou's authority will belong to your son. Your son will be the future Provincial Inspector of Jinzhou! Wuhua, you've spent your whole life without son or daughter. Don't you want to leave some incense burning for your own family line before you die? The Ghost Doctor said the child in my belly is a boy. Don't you trust the Ghost Doctor's eye? The flesh and blood inside me is your son!"

She clung to those words as though they were the final straw capable of saving her life. Li Wuhua's fist remained clenched. His eyes flickered, and his expression shifted between light and dark... Old Eight of Fufang Garden had returned. He came back to Niu Youdao's hiding place.

Keeping Old Eight in Jinzhou had served two purposes. It allowed communication between this side and Jinzhou, but it also effectively made him a hostage in Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion's hands. If Xiao Tianzhen had not been returned, Old Eight would never have come back alive.

During the negotiations with Ghost Mother at Xianyin Mountain, Guan Fangyi had sent Old Eight. This time, she had again sent him to Jinzhou. It was obvious that communication and negotiation were among his strengths.

"The Ghost Doctor?" Niu Youdao, personally pouring tea for Old Eight beside the stone table, looked surprised. "Ghost Doctor Hei Li took Xiao Tianzhen away?"

Old Eight nodded. "That's right. Xiao Tianzhen had only just returned to Jinzhou's provincial capital. Before he could even enter the Provincial Inspector's Residence, Ghost Doctor Hei Li intercepted him. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion told me that with their own mouths."

"They also asked me to pass a message to Master Dao. Since Master Dao kept his word, they won't pursue the matter with you. They say this affair is over and you shouldn't try to make further use of it. Don't assume they don't dare fall out with Nanzhou. If things turn ugly, it won't benefit either side. They want you to settle down and stop making trouble."

Niu Youdao frowned. For a moment he suspected Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion might be putting on an act so that he could no longer use the matter against them. But after thinking about it, that did not make sense. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion had no reason to keep Xiao Tianzhen alive and take that kind of risk.

In other words, the old story they had fabricated about a disciple of the Ghost Doctor treating Xiao Tianzhen had actually alarmed the true Ghost Doctor himself? There was some basis for that possibility.

For a long time, Jinzhou had not publicly spread the story that the Ghost Doctor's disciple had treated Xiao Tianzhen, because the Ghost Doctor had his own way of doing things and disliked publicity. Only after Niu Youdao began using the matter to threaten Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion into mobilizing troops had the sect probably become frightened enough to leak a little information in an attempt to distance itself from the affair.

And that had actually drawn the Ghost Doctor out. For something like this to happen was beyond anything Niu Youdao could ever have predicted. He truly had nothing to say. Guan Fangyi, sitting nearby, was just as astonished.

Ghost Doctor Hei Li was a man whose head might be glimpsed while his tail was nowhere to be seen, yet he had suddenly appeared, and with a very clear target: Xiao Tianzhen.

Niu Youdao had been using Xiao Tianzhen as leverage. Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion had been gripped by its weak point because of Xiao Tianzhen. And now even the Ghost Doctor had come specifically for Xiao Tianzhen. If someone told Guan Fangyi there was nothing unusual about Xiao Tianzhen, she would not believe it even if beaten to death.

Her bright eyes flickered constantly as she studied Niu Youdao with deep suspicion, as though hoping to stare a flower out of his face. Yuan Gang, standing nearby, frowned as well. He had not expected such a development either.

"What does the Ghost Doctor want with Xiao Tianzhen?" Niu Youdao asked.

Old Eight shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't see it happen, and Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion didn't say."

"For the Ghost Doctor to get involved as well... I don't know whether this is fortune or disaster." Niu Youdao could not help sighing.

Then he gestured for Old Eight to drink his tea and thanked him several times for his hard work.

After Old Eight left, Niu Youdao turned to Guan Fangyi. "You hear plenty of things. Do you know anything unusual about this Ghost Doctor?"

He wanted to learn as much as possible so he could at least prepare himself.

Guan Fangyi sat with one leg crossed over the other, lazily waving her round fan. "That man appears and disappears like a ghost. What special information could I possibly have? The cultivation world has no more than scattered rumors about him. Ordinary people can't even find him."

"Oh, right. Years ago, I did once hear someone mention that the Ghost Doctor might be from the Demonic Sect."

"The Demonic Sect?" Niu Youdao paused. "Why?"

Guan Fangyi said, "The story went that while everyone else found it difficult to locate the Ghost Doctor, the previous Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect could find him easily. They said the Ghost Doctor obeyed whatever the Holy Maiden told him to do. Supposedly, the Ghost Doctor owed the Holy Maiden a favor and joined the Demonic Sect because of it. After the Holy Maiden died, he left the Demonic Sect. That's all I know. I have no idea whether it's true. The person who told me had only heard it from somewhere else too."

The Holy Maiden?

Niu Youdao tried asking, "Was the previous Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect the one who was involved with Zhao Xiongge?"

Guan Fangyi blinked, then suddenly giggled. "I forgot you came out of the Shangqing Sect. That's right. It was the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden who was involved with Zhao Xiongge, the Shangqing Sect's castoff disciple."

"By seniority, Zhao Xiongge should be your martial uncle, shouldn't he? If the rumor I heard is true, Zhao Xiongge may know the Ghost Doctor. Why don't you simply find Zhao Xiongge and ask him? He'd certainly know more than I do."

Niu Youdao lifted his teacup and drank. He stopped asking. Of all things, he disliked people tying him back to the Shangqing Sect. Guan Fangyi, however, refused to let him off.

"Master Dao, Old Eight risked his life as a hostage in Jinzhou because of your business. He nearly died without even knowing how. Now that he's finally back, shouldn't I give him some kind of explanation? What secret is Xiao Tianzhen hiding?"

Niu Youdao glanced sideways at her. "Some things don't require an explanation. Even if I told you, you wouldn't dare tell him."

Guan Fangyi gave a dry laugh. "That depends on whether you're sincere enough to tell me. Whether I pass it on is my affair."

"You really want to know?" Niu Youdao looked at her with faint amusement.

That expression made her uncomfortable all over. She could feel he was up to no good. But she still could not suppress her curiosity.

"I do!"

This time Niu Youdao was straightforward. "Xiao Tianzhen suffered from the incurable condition known as Heavenly Yin Damaged Meridians."

"You don't need to tell me that. I know."

"You know? Then here's the part you don't know. I was actually the one who cured him."

"You? You have that kind of ability? No, wait. What does that have to do with all this circling around?"

"I stole something from Ice and Snow Pavilion and used it to cure Xiao Tianzhen."

"..."

Guan Fangyi was speechless for a moment. Then her expression changed. She seemed to understand something.

She shot to her feet, turned, and strode away while shouting at the top of her lungs, "Old Six Xu! Hurry up and pack! We're leaving!"

[End of Chapter 445]