TSMITB Chapter12

After the steaming hot breakfast was set on the table, the several people who had taken medicine and fallen into a coma at dawn woke up.

After downing two or three bowls of hot porridge mixed with herbal medicine water, the few people gradually recovered some spirit.

Gang Zi motioned for Old Qiu to help him throw the full-to-bursting Ah Chao onto the bed to fend for himself. The moment his butt touched the stool, he felt his throat tighten the next second, and something surged up his pharynx into his mouth.

Sheng Qixiao sat in the rattan chair with his eyes downcast while fiddling with the silver bracelet on his wrist. He caught Shen Que and the other two at the dining table staring at their medicine bowls with strange expressions from his peripheral vision. He knowingly curved his lips.

The residue at the bottom of the bowl spread dark red blood streaks, which had overflowed from Gang Zi’s tightly clamped teeth and dripped into the bowl from the corner of his mouth.

Shen Que stared intently at that patch of red. His mind went briefly blank. Subconsciously, he wanted to seek Sheng Qixiao’s help. He turned his head with a stiff face, only to see the silver ornaments in Sheng Qixiao’s hair glinting with scattered cold light in the morning sun, which was surprisingly harmonious with the expression Sheng Qixiao inadvertently revealed.

His heartbeat inexplicably skipped a beat.

The next second, Gang Zi suddenly stood up and staggered back a few steps. With a “wah” sound, he vomited out a large mouthful of dark blood plasma, mixed with semi-coagulated blood clots, splattering onto the wooden floor.

Shen Que immediately rose to step forward but was pulled back by a strong force. Sheng Qixiao’s voice sounded above his head, “Don’t go near.”

The pace of speech was neither slow nor fast and was as flat and without a single fluctuation as usual, yet it revealed an irresistible seriousness. Shen Que recalled his expression just now, which felt like it could chill people to the core.

Old Qiu’s action of reaching out to support him also paused. Looking closely, it seemed like something was squirming in that puddle of blood plasma.

“What is that thing? Do I have maggots in my stomach?” Gang Zi’s face was ashen. His footing was unstable, and he was about to fall into the pool of blood the next second, but Old Qiu quickly pulled him back.

Sheng Qixiao lifted his hand in a quieting gesture and disregarded Shen Que’s anxious attempt to step forward to check, using his elbow to push him back once more. Then he took out a purplish-red pill from somewhere, laid it in his palm, and pressed it lightly with a fingertip, crushing it into powder in an instant.

The “blood clots” writhing on the ground immediately became more active as if fed, pressing and jostling as they struggled to crawl out. Sheng Qixiao turned his palm and the powder sifted down with a soft rustle. The instant it touched the ground, the tender worms that had slipped from the sticky blood during their frantic writhing immediately curled into tight balls, withered, and melted away at a speed visible to the eye, leaving behind only a thin layer of skin.

Sheng Qixiao crouched down, casually retrieved the bamboo chopstick Gang Zi had knocked onto the ground in his panic, gently lifted the soft worm’s corpse with it, and held it out toward Shen Que.

Caught off guard by the eye-to-eye contact with the pin-sized dead worm, Shen Que hurriedly retreated half a step in surprise and suspicion: “What are you doing?”

Sheng Qixiao tilted his head slightly while staring at him seriously. He extended the hand holding the chopstick forward again, equally puzzled: “This is a bloodworm. Didn’t you want to see it just now?”

Shen Que choked. He took a breath before barely steadying his tone and slowly spoke: “Thank you, now I don’t want to.”

A faint dimple appeared by his cheek and vanished instantly. Sheng Qixiao casually threw the soft worm corpse and the chopstick back onto the ground. “The things in that river are very dirty, there are many local specialties like bloodworms. The medicinal effect of these herbs is too limited. The bloodworms have probably already laid eggs and reproduced in your stomachs.”

“Sh*t, then what the hell do we do? I won’t really die here so young, will I…” Gang Zi couldn’t help but swear, and the residual bloody foam in his mouth kept spitting out from time to time.

Shen Que gave Old Qiu a look, and Old Qiu understood, immediately covering Gang Zi’s mouth to prevent him from continuing to speak.

“Qixiao, you said we could look for the antidote when it got light.” Shen Que’s eyes were full of hope as he turned his gaze to Sheng Qixiao.

Sheng Qixiao liked the look in Shen Que’s eyes, as if his whole being was tied to him alone, so he cooperated and nodded: “I’ve already asked them to prepare. We’ll set off, as soon as the sun is completely up.”

Old Qiu quickly spoke: “No need to trouble others. How about you just point us in a direction, and we’ll go look for it ourselves?” Saying that, he turned to Shen Que. “You stay to look after Ah Chao, and Gang Zi and I will be back quickly.”

Sheng Qixiao raised an eyebrow slightly and subtly glanced at Gang Zi, who was forcibly silenced and pressed onto the chair. “Will he have to, look for the medicine while spitting blood like this? The medicine is in another valley outside the stockaded village; it’s very far, the path is difficult to walk, and someone needs to lead the way. You won’t be able to rush back tonight either.”

“I’ll go.” Shen Que pondered for a moment, “Qixiao, I’ll still have to trouble your… friends to lead the way.”

Sheng Qixiao first nodded, and after two seconds, as if remembering something, added, “They’re not my friends.”

Shen Que casually hummed twice.

Old Qiu still felt it was improper. “I should go. Both you and Gang Zi stay.”

Shen Que waved his hand, directly refusing. At least staying here meant there was medicine that could temporarily keep it in check; if they truly had to head out, trekking through mountains and fording rivers, there was no telling whether the antidote would come first or death.

Old Qiu still wanted to say more, but Sheng Qixiao had already stepped forward, placed a small, intricately carved silver medicine bottle into his hand, and then lightly left behind a single sentence: “When you vomit the bloodworms later, remember not to go near them. Just crush the pill and sprinkle it over them. Don’t move around too much, and you’ll also end up coughing up a little less.”

“…Alright.” Old Qiu also became compliant upon hearing this.

Gang Zi was settled on the side, afraid that the bloodworms in his stomach would emerge again. He was currently sitting upright, only staring at Shen Que with wide eyes.

“Are your legs better?”

Shen Que was casually watching Sheng Qixiao clean up the mess with his arms crossed. Being asked this, he was briefly stunned before slowly shifting his gaze to his ankle. The cloth strips wrapped around it had disappeared at some point, and the wound scratched by the gravel had miraculously healed.

Shen Que twisted his ankle in disbelief, yet felt no discomfort at all.

Before he could ask, Sheng Qixiao turned back and naturally pulled his trouser leg down, then spoke unhurriedly: “The medicine in the mountains has very good efficacy. We’ll also collect some more herbs for external injuries later.” Sheng Qixiao glanced at Ah Chao, who was lying inside and had fallen asleep again. “He can also recover sooner.”

Shen Que’s expression changed, half happy and half serious: “How quickly can he recover?”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want Ah Chao to get better, but recovering too quickly would indeed affect the plan somewhat. After all, they still needed to use the pretense of Ah Chao’s immobility to stay in the village.

Sheng Qixiao did not respond at once. He quietly observed the subtle shifts in the others’ expressions, then spoke after a moment of consideration: “His injury is a bit heavier, perhaps, half a month.”

The few of them exchanged glances and all breathed a sigh of relief. This village didn’t appear very large, so within half a month they could at least gain a general grasp of the situation and perhaps carry out a few underhanded tasks.

Before the morning fog completely dispersed, Sheng Qixiao went out, saying he was going to ask the villagers to help take care of them and bring medicine and food on time.

Old Qiu seized the opportunity to pull Shen Que aside for another round of ideological and moral education and humanistic influence, hoping he could maintain the most basic human-to-human distance with Sheng Qixiao.

Shen Que sighed, feeling a bit helpless. Prejudice in people’s hearts is a great mountain.

“Am I that unreliable in your eyes?”

Old Qiu was silent for a moment, then stiffly made a gesture to pause, turned around, and held the clay pot to spit out a mouthful of blood. After spitting, he wiped his mouth, skillfully took out the purplish-red pill, ground it into powder, and sprinkled it onto the squirming bloodworms.

“If I keep spitting at this rate, I wonder if I’ll become malnourished.”

“Speak less, and you’ll also spit out a little less.” Sheng Qixiao stood outside the door and held out his hand to Shen Que. “Let’s go.”

Shen Que followed Sheng Qixiao along the winding path upwards. The wind in the mountains appeared and disappeared intermittently, and the crisp sound of silver ornaments clashing echoed erratically.

Shen Que stopped while standing on the mountaintop to look back. A layer of thin veil seemed to shroud the stockaded village. If the distance were higher and farther, it would indeed be difficult to spot a settlement at the foot of this mountain.

The sound of silver bells behind him came from far to near and finally stopped. “What are you looking at?”

“Suddenly I thought of some rumors.” Shen Que turned to stare at Sheng Qixiao. “They say the people in E’yun Mountain practice gu arts. Is it true? Can you do it?”

“Rumors?” Sheng Qixiao lowered his eyes, his gaze passing over Shen Que’s face before finally settling at the foot of the mountain. “Are there any other rumors?”

Shen Que failed to find any clues from his calm expression, so he had to continue along his line of questioning: “They also say that no one who enters the mountain has ever returned alive, that they all died on the way into the mountain.”

“Do you believe rumors?”

“I believe everything, but right now I believe you more.” Shen Que slightly raised an eyebrow, testing him without concealment: “You must have seen the corpses at the bottom of the river, right? They’re piled up so high, it’s almost like a small mountain.”

“Mm.” Sheng Qixiao nodded. “That’s where our ancestors buried.”

“I remember you saying the river was very dirty.”

“Later, traitors were also allowed to be buried there, so it’s very dirty.” Sheng Qixiao withdrew his gaze, said no more, turned, and continued walking forward.

As he moved, his hair brushed against Shen Que’s cheek, tickling slightly and carrying the distinctive scent of herbs and flowers that clung to Sheng Qixiao.

Shen Que gradually relaxed, closely following Sheng Qixiao as they walked through the woods. The dense forest that had felt full of danger just a day ago now seemed quite ordinary, like a typical forest park.

Sheng Qixiao was very quiet, saying little along the way. Most of the talking and probing was done by Shen Que. Sheng Qixiao only listened carefully, occasionally answering or reminding Shen Que to watch his step.

Shen Que couldn’t tell if he was naturally taciturn or simply unwilling to reveal information about the village, but he didn’t press for answers either.

The two passed through a narrow crevice in the cliff and soon reached their destination.

In the center of the entire valley was a pool of water shrouded in mist. The banks were covered in a whole stretch of flowers and grass, with small blue and purple flowers dotted across the sprawling green, particularly conspicuous.

Shen Que involuntarily walked forward, startling countless butterflies among the flowers.

“This is Silver Butterfly Valley.” Sheng Qixiao pulled Shen Que’s arm, stopping him from going further. “The pool is very deep, don’t fall in.”

The waterfall at the end of the pool constantly battered the water’s surface, splashing up waves, yet the water at this end of the pool was astonishingly still, without a single ripple at all.

The two stopped under a large tree by the bank. Shen Que looked around. “Sheng Qixiao, all these flowers and herbs look the same. Can I pick them randomly?”

Sheng Qixiao sat down on the ground while looking up at him. “Why call me by my full name? Is it because you don’t need my help to lead the way anymore?”