When I kicked open the kitchen door, Lu Jiuxuan was already slumped in the corner, half his body braced against the window frame, the Sword Hilt jammed under his ribs keeping him from falling. His forehead was covered in sweat, his lips were purple, and his breathing sounded like a broken bellows.
I didn't ask if he could still walk.
I bent down, slung his arm over my shoulder, and casually snatched the oilcloth hanging from the stove to cover his face. The grease and grime smeared across his face, mixing with the blood running down, smelling bitter and foul.
“Endure it,” I said.
He didn't answer, but his body tensed slightly, as if he were smiling.
I squeezed out through the dog hole, scraping my knee raw, but I couldn't stop. Behind us, the Academy's Night Patrol bell had just sounded its first ring, and we were already scrambling into the woods behind the mountain. Tree shadows pressed down; the path was steep, and I dragged him upward over the decaying leaves, my shoulder nearly breaking.
His body temperature kept rising, hot enough to burn my hand through his clothes. The three palm prints on his back began to ooze Black Blood, soaking through his inner shirt and sticking to my back, hot and slick.
“Hold on,” I said again.
I didn't know who I was saying it to.
Deep in the woods, there was the sound of water, intermittent. I remembered the geography lesson mentioning an old spring in the back mountain, said to be an Earth Vein Spring Eye summoned by an Elder during his seclusion a hundred years ago, though it had since been abandoned and unused.
Now, I didn't care if it was a spirit spring; as long as it could wash away the poison and hide us.
I gritted my teeth and climbed, but my foot slipped, and I tumbled down the slope. Lu Jiuxuan crashed down on top of me, making my chest feel tight. A muffled groan escaped his throat, and his hand suddenly gripped my wrist with terrifying strength.
“Don’t… stop,” he finally managed, his voice like sandpaper grinding iron.
I didn't struggle, just shook his hand off and repositioned his arm. When we moved again, my steps were steadier.
The Spring Eye was in a hollow halfway up the mountain, a pool encircled by Green Stone, with water vapor rising thickly. It hit the night air, creating a vast expanse of white mist. I didn't look around much, dragging him toward the edge of the pool. My foot stepped into the shallow water, sending a jolt of cold through me.
He suddenly convulsed, leaning backward, and I held him tightly so he wouldn't fall in.
“Take off your clothes,” I said.
He didn't move.
I acted directly, tearing open the collar of his back garment. Amidst the sound of ripping fabric, the three palm prints were exposed; the flesh was turned outward, and Black Blood continuously surged from the wounds. More frighteningly, Purple Markings crawled around the edges of the injuries, climbing upward along his Spine like vines, flashing with every pulse.
I recognized those markings.
Last night in the Library Pavilion, Situ Lie’s Ghost Mask profile—it was the exact same shape.
“Burning Heart Curse…” I murmured.
The Pendant pressed against my chest, suddenly growing hot and vibrating once. I pulled it out and held it suspended above the wound. It didn't light up, but a fragmented talisman appeared on its surface, crooked and uneven, exactly like one I had seen in the Star Gazing Clan Bloodline characteristics—it was an illustration under the Forbidden Art section, designed specifically to break the Savior's fate, corroding the heart and burning the veins, reducing one to Grass Ash in Three Days.
I didn't move.
I tucked the Pendant back inside my clothes, rolled up my sleeve, dipped my fingertip into the Spring Water, and drew circles around the wound. I had a little Incense Ash left; mixing it with the water and smearing it on slowed the spread of the Purple Markings slightly, but they were still moving.
Lu Jiuxuan was panting heavily, his forehead resting against my shoulder, sweat dripping into my collar.
“You… know what this is?” he asked.
“I know,” I replied.
“Then go,” he said.
I ignored him and raised my hand to smear on another layer of ash-water mixture.
He suddenly raised his hand and clamped down on my wrist, his grip so strong his knuckles turned white. “Did you hear me? Go. If you leave now, there’s still time.”
I shook him off. “If you die, who will care if I’m from the Star Gazing Clan?”
He froze, his mouth twitching, but he said nothing.
I looked down at the Purple Markings on his back; they seemed alive, writhing beneath his skin. I reached out to touch the edge, and as soon as I made contact, a flash of Purple Light erupted, and my fingertip felt scorched as if by fire, causing me to yank it back sharply.
The Pendant vibrated again, more urgently this time.
I pressed it against my Heart Area and closed my eyes. The Star Map from the night in the Library Pavilion flashed in my mind—a silver sword shape entwined with a Ghost Mask, connected by a Red Thread. I didn't understand it then, but I understood now.
He had been targeted long ago.
From the moment he saved me, there was no escape.
I opened my eyes. The Spring Water was still bubbling, and gusts of mist washed over my face. I repositioned his arm over my shoulder, preparing to enter the water.
“Don’t,” he whispered. “In the water… I can’t control my Sword Qi.”
“Then don’t draw your sword,” I said. “Right now, you aren't an Instructor, nor are you some destined one. You are a man about to die, so listen to me.”
He didn't speak again.
I helped him slowly into the water. The water reached his waist, and his body shook even harder. The Purple Markings glowed upon contact with the water, like venomous snakes opening their eyes. I pressed him down onto a stone at the bottom of the pool and squatted opposite him, staring intently at the markings.
They were moving, but their direction had changed; they were beginning to converge toward his heart.
“Two days left,” I said. “If you hold on, I have a way.”
He looked up, his eyes cloudy, but he was still staring at me.
“You… aren’t afraid?” he asked.
“I am,” I admitted. “But I’m more afraid that you’ll die before me, and no one will be left to repay my favor.”
A chuckle escaped his throat, and he nearly choked on water.
I looked down and pulled out the charred Grass Ash from my clothes, spreading it in my palm. The sword shape noted down in the Library Pavilion last night was still there, crooked. I dipped my finger in water and redrew it on the stone.
Just as I finished drawing, the water surface suddenly rippled.
It wasn't the wind.
It was a Shadow.
The outline of Nine Tails was pressed against the stone at the edge of the pool, swaying with the water's movement. I didn't look up.
“My, my, how careless of you~”
The voice drifted out of the Mist, languid, as if laughing.
I placed my hand on the Pendant and slowly stood up, positioning myself in front of Lu Jiuxuan.
“Situ Mo?” I asked.
The shadow on the stone didn't move.
“The Savior is about to burn out…” the voice continued. “Are you sure he is doing this for your own good?”
I didn't answer.
Staring at the water surface, the shadow flickered, and the tip of a Tail hooked a speck of Blue Light, looking like fire, or perhaps like a tear.
“How long have you been following us?” I asked.
“Long enough,” he replied. “Long enough to know he has the Burning Heart Curse, long enough to know that little bit of ash in your hand can’t save him.”
I clenched the Pendant tightly.
“Then what are you here for?”
The water surface shimmered, and the shadow faded slightly.
“To remind you,” he said. “Some people cannot be saved.”
As the words fell, the shadow dispersed.
The Mist returned to stillness, as if nothing had happened.
I stood in the water, my hand still raised, the Pendant resting against my palm, warm now, no longer vibrating.
Lu Jiuxuan was leaning against the stone at the bottom of the pool, his breathing shallow, his eyelids half-closed.
I turned to look at him.
He suddenly raised his hand, dipped it in blood, and drew a line on the stone at the bottom of the pool.
It was crooked, short, and looked like a sword.
I stared at the blood mark, unmoving.
On the water surface, the reflection wavered, showing my face and half of his blurred profile.
I crouched down and pressed his hand back onto the water surface.
“Sleep now,” I said.
He closed his eyes.
I sat there, hands braced on my knees, staring at the blood mark.
The water continued to bubble, and the Mist rolled in, slowly washing away the mark on the stone.
The Blood Filaments dissolved, like a flower blooming.