Only after the noise and sounds of fighting outside the cave had completely faded, leaving behind nothing but the rustling of wind through the treetops, did Zhou Kai force himself up from the ground.
He looked down at the wound on his left chest.
“Good thing I’ve got thick skin… ahem, I mean a solid foundation!” Zhou Kai bared his teeth in pain as he circulated his meager spiritual power with difficulty to suppress the injury, while beginning to “do his makeup.”
First, he tore his already tattered clothes into even worse rags and smeared them with dirt. Then he dug at the edges of the wound with his fingers, letting more blood seep out “naturally,” making himself look as if he had just crawled out of a pile of corpses.
“When you act, you go all in.” He glanced at his blurry reflection in a puddle and nodded in satisfaction. “With this look, even the Oscars would hand me a cigarette.”
Hunching over, clutching his chest tightly with one hand, he staggered step by step toward the Chen Family residence, swaying as though he might collapse at any moment.
Dawn was breaking, the first light tearing through the night sky.
The patrolling guards outside the Chen Family estate saw a filthy figure stumbling toward them from afar and were startled.
“Who goes there?!”
“Elder Zhou… Zhou Kai?”
When they recognized him, they were even more shocked.
Zhou Kai seemed not to hear them. Relying on the last bit of willpower, he staggered toward his remote courtyard.
As soon as he pushed open the courtyard gate, as though exhausting his final strength, his legs gave way.
Thud!
The moment he stepped inside, he collapsed straight to the ground.
“Husband!”
A cry filled with panic rang out.
Chen Ziyi had been arranging strips of dried meat in the courtyard. Hearing the commotion, she turned around and saw Zhou Kai covered in blood, lying on the ground. Her face turned pale instantly, and the dried meat in her hands scattered everywhere.
She almost threw herself at him, not caring about the blood on his body, holding his upper body tightly in her arms. Her voice trembled. “Husband! What happened to you? Who injured you like this?!”
Tears streamed down her face, dripping onto Zhou Kai’s bloodless cheeks.
When her eyes fell upon the wound on his left chest, deep enough to reveal bone, with flesh torn and a faint sharp metallic sword qi lingering around it, her heart ached unbearably. The wound was dangerously close to his heart.
“I’m fine…” Zhou Kai opened his eyes with difficulty, forcing a smile uglier than a grimace. “I won’t die…”
As he spoke weakly, he asked, “When I returned, I noticed many Chen Family cultivators were gone. Where did they go?”
Chen Ziyi helped him into the house. “Young Master Xingze… and the Sixth Elder took nearly half the family’s cultivators and guards yesterday afternoon. They said they were heading to the Desolate Spiritual Herb Grounds to seize an opportunity…”
So that was it. Chen Xingze had led people away. No wonder there had been such a commotion yesterday and the Chen Family made no move.
Inside the house, Chen Ziyi hurriedly tried to treat his wound, but Zhou Kai grabbed her wrist.
His hand was cold and weak like that of a wounded man, yet it held a trace of undeniable firmness.
“Ziyi…” Zhou Kai’s breath was faint, but his eyes were unusually bright. “The ten-year spirit contract between me and the Chen Family… is about to expire…”
Chen Ziyi’s body trembled slightly.
“When I signed the contract, it was agreed that within ten years, if I managed to break through to the Middle stage Qi Refining Realm, I could repay the resources the family had provided and redeem my freedom…” Zhou Kai’s voice carried bitterness and self-mockery. “If I failed… I would have to sign a life contract and serve the Chen Family forever, helping them expand their lineage, with no chance of rising again.”
A life contract meant losing oneself entirely, becoming an appendage of the Chen Family, with life and death no longer in one’s own hands.
“Ziyi,” Zhou Kai’s gaze softened with a hint of testing. “If I regain my freedom and leave the Chen Family to become a wandering cultivator with an uncertain future… would you follow me?” This story is hosted at novelping dot com.
His eyes were complex—hopeful, nervous, and deeply probing.
Chen Ziyi did not hesitate for a single moment. Her voice was unwavering. “Husband! No matter where you go, whether to life or death, I will follow you!”
She was merely a distant relative from a branch lineage of the Chen Family. Her status was low. Had she not been assigned to Zhou Kai as a concubine, her fate might have been even worse.
The Chen Family meant little to her in terms of belonging or gratitude.
Zhou Kai, this man whose cultivation was not high but who treated her with some warmth, was the only light and support in her life.
“I don’t care about the Chen Family! I only want you safe!” she sobbed. “If you leave, I will wander the world with you! If you… if you stay, I will… stay with you…”
Something in Zhou Kai’s heart was lightly touched.
Even a heart of stone would soften in such a moment. Though his initial intent had been to test her, Chen Ziyi’s sincere affection was real.
“The system’s affection gauge doesn’t lie.”
[Ding! Chen Ziyi affection +2.]
[Confidante: Chen Ziyi (Mortal, affection 90).]
The system’s notification rang in his mind. The corner of Zhou Kai’s lips lifted faintly before a spasm of pain masked it.
“Good… good.” He gently patted the back of her hand.
Suddenly, hurried yet steady footsteps approached outside the courtyard.
“Is Elder Zhou here?”
Chen Ziyi’s face changed. She wiped her tears quickly and went to the door.
Two middle-aged men in the attire of Chen Family stewards stood outside. Their gazes swept the room and landed on Zhou Kai, who lay half-reclining on the bed, appearing on the verge of collapse.
“Elder Zhou has had quite a scare.” One of them spoke with a forced smile that carried no warmth. “The Patriarch and the Fifth Elder heard you were attacked and returned injured. They are very concerned and have sent us to visit. They also request that you immediately go to the discussion hall to explain what happened in detail.”
Here it comes.
Zhou Kai’s heart tightened. What must come would come.
Chen Ziyi stepped forward quickly. “My husband is gravely injured. He can barely move. Could you report back to the Patriarch and ask whether he may rest for a few days before—”
“Insolence!” the other steward cut her off sharply. “The Patriarch and elders summon him. How dare a mere concubine interfere? Elder Zhou, please.”
“Ziyi, do not be rude.” Zhou Kai struggled to sit up, though his heart had already turned cold.
The path to the discussion hall felt unusually long.
Seated high above was the calm-faced Patriarch Chen Rulong, with the Fifth Elder Chen Heming below him.
“Elder Zhou, sit.” Chen Rulong gestured to a nearby chair.
Zhou Kai thanked him and, with Chen Ziyi’s support, sat down shakily, his breath so faint it seemed he might faint at any moment.
Chen Heming stood. “I know a little about medicine. Allow me to examine you.”
“Mm!” Zhou Kai groaned, his body trembling violently.
Chen Ziyi cried out, “Elder!”
Chen Heming frowned faintly but ignored her. The spiritual light paused briefly deep within the wound.
“Fifth Elder, how is it?” Chen Rulong asked.
Chen Heming withdrew his fingers, his expression solemn. “The injury is extremely severe. It penetrates deep enough to expose the lung, less than 1.5 centimeters from the heart meridian. Furthermore…”
He paused and looked at Zhou Kai. “Within the wound remains an extremely pure and domineering sword qi, sharp beyond measure, continuously eroding his vitality. If Elder Zhou’s foundation were not relatively solid, and if the wielder of this sword qi had not deliberately held back slightly, he would already be dead.”
“Elder Zhou,” Chen Heming’s gaze sharpened, “what exactly happened? Where are Chen Ping and Chen An?”
Zhou Kai began the speech he had long prepared.
His voice was intermittent, filled with weakness and lingering fear, vividly describing how he had “loyally” and “fearlessly” tracked Shen Hanyi, and how he had “unfortunately” encountered that terrifying figure.
“That Shen Hanyi… cough… truly deserves her reputation as the prodigy of Lone Swan Hall. Her swordsmanship is divine! Her strength far exceeds rumors! Chen Ping, Chen An, and I joined forces to surround her, yet… yet we were still no match!”
He exaggerated Shen Hanyi’s strength severalfold, painting her as a ruthless killing deity.
“Brother Chen Ping was instantly slain! Brother Chen An and I… fought desperately… yet could not defeat her…”
At this point, Zhou Kai’s face turned pale. He clutched his chest and began coughing violently.
“Pfft!”
A mouthful of blood sprayed out, staining the floor red.
Zhou Kai cursed inwardly. For realism, I’m really paying with blood here. Shen Hanyi, every drop I spit out today, I’ll make you repay later… not in bed, cough, but with some deep and meaningful discipline.
“If not for the fact that I narrowly avoided her fatal strike… I would have already lost my soul!”
Chen Rulong’s expression remained unchanged.
Chen Heming frowned deeply, clearly analyzing possible flaws. He asked in a low voice, “If it happened as you say, why are you the only one who returned? Chen An was stronger than you.”
“Secondly, given the decisive nature of such a prodigious sword cultivator, if she severely wounded you, why did she not finish you off?”
Zhou Kai’s face displayed the perfect trace of fear, as if struck at a painful truth. His breathing grew erratic again.
“The Fifth Elder speaks truly. Shen Hanyi was indeed ruthless. Though I avoided the fatal point, the sword qi entered my body and severely damaged my heart meridian.”
“Perhaps in her eyes, I was already a dying man and not worth another strike.”
“As for Brother Chen An, he had already thrown out a distress talisman.”
He looked at Chen Rulong and Chen Heming. “Patriarch, Fifth Elder, do you recall that disciples of the Celestial Spring Sect attended our banquet not long ago?”
“One of them arrived and immediately engaged Shen Hanyi in battle.”
“I seized the chance to escape while they were locked in fierce combat.”
“As for Brother Chen An, whether he lives or dies… I was only concerned with fleeing for my life. I truly do not know.”
Zhou Kai’s voice grew fainter. “Patriarch… the fact that I returned alive is already a blessing.”