Chapter 8: A World Like a Pill Furnace, Bearing My Flame
Early the next morning, Lu Xingzhou found his way to the Demon Suppression Division himself.
Sheng Yuanyao came out to greet him, and seeing Lu Xingzhou struggling to move forward by rolling the wheels with his own hands, she instinctively stepped forward to help push him through the door.
Lu Xingzhou was a bit surprised: “Thank you.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” Sheng Yuanyao asked curiously: “Where’s A Nuo? Why are you alone? You’re so inconvenient…”
“The mansion is undergoing renovation; a lot of people are working, so someone has to watch over it.”
“You really trust a six-year-old child to act alone! Who can she keep in line?”
“If even a ranked Dao cultivator doesn’t dare to act alone in Xia Province City, then I think you should first ask how the Xia Prefecture Demon Suppression Division deters local forces.”
Sheng Yuanyao: “…”
She hadn't noticed before, but was that child actually a ranked Dao cultivator?
Then her divination…
“Where is the patient I need to treat?” Lu Xingzhou asked.
Sheng Yuanyao came back to her senses and silently pushed the wheelchair around the corridor, entering a tightly closed dark room.
As soon as the door was opened, the clanking sound of chains came from inside, along with a person’s low growl: “Don’t look for me… I didn’t kill him…”
“Isn’t this Old Butler Ho…?” Lu Xingzhou glanced sideways at Sheng Yuanyao: “You said he was found dead in his house, and you interrogated me for a long time because of it.”
Sheng Yuanyao coughed dryly: “That was to trick you. At the time he was just missing, and later he was found. Can you cure his madness?”
“The Demon Suppression Division has countless experts; why call me to treat him?”
“Because you treated him before; it’s about finishing what you started.”
“In the end, you’re still testing me, aren’t you?” Lu Xingzhou smiled and said no more, rolling his wheels into the room.
Strangely enough, Old Butler Ho, who had been growling, stopped when he saw Lu Xingzhou enter, staring blankly as he approached, seemingly trusting him.
Lu Xingzhou extended two fingers and touched Old Butler Ho’s glabella. After a moment, Old Butler Ho’s eyelids drooped, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Sheng Yuanyao watched Lu Xingzhou’s actions with interest and asked: “How is it?”
“Just calming his Divine Soul for now.” Lu Xingzhou took out the Soul Nurturing Pill he had refined last night: “Give him this pill for three consecutive days, one pill daily. After three days, his Divine Soul should return to normal.”
Sheng Yuanyao said: “Can you determine the cause of his illness?”
“He was just startled into losing his Divine Soul; it’s a minor issue. Once he recovers, just ask him what he saw. Besides that, his tendons were severed; I can’t treat that.”
Sheng Yuanyao knew that was very difficult to treat. If severed tendons could be easily cured, then Lu Xingzhou himself wouldn't have been in a wheelchair for so many years.
In a world of cultivation, treating such injuries isn't too difficult if you have the right medicinal ingredients. Unfortunately, such ingredients are often treasures, at least not something you can easily find among the widely cultivated and sold medicinal ingredients in a place like Xia Province.
To treat this, perhaps they would have to see what the Huo Family would bring from the capital.
While she was pondering, Lu Xingzhou extended his large hand: “Money.”
Sheng Yuanyao: “?”
“My three excellent-grade Soul Nurturing Pills, plus the consultation fee, does the Demon Suppression Division intend to freeload?” Evidently, the supreme-grade had been downgraded by the money-swallowing beast.
Sheng Yuanyao was quite speechless. This kind of thing went through the Demon Suppression Division’s public account, so of course she hadn’t planned to freeload. It was just that Lu Xingzhou’s image really didn’t match this kind of person who constantly talked about money, looking very out of place: “Besides money, is there nothing else to discuss?”
“You and I are just a case investigator and a suspect. If we don’t talk about money, should we talk about feelings?” Lu Xingzhou smiled: “However, my treating him to restore his consciousness is also to clear my own suspicion, so the consultation fee can be waived. Just give me the cost of the medicine.”
Sheng Yuanyao had indeed only called Lu Xingzhou to treat the patient as a test. Now, seeing Old Butler Ho’s reaction to Lu Xingzhou and Lu Xingzhou’s attitude, her last shred of doubt about him finally dissipated.
She slipped over a banknote: “Were you using my influence that day?”
“What makes you say that?” Lu Xingzhou put away the banknote and smiled: “I didn’t even know I’d be taken to the Demon Suppression Division for questioning as a suspect after coming down the mountain. My returning to the mountain with you afterward wasn’t something I could decide, nor could I have known when Liu Qingcang would abandon me after using me. How could I have used you?”
“That’s precisely what puzzles me.” Sheng Yuanyao’s eyes darted around, and then she suddenly pulled out a silver ingot: “If you can resolve my confusion, this is yours.”
Lu Xingzhou blinked, staring at the ingot: “Are you treating me like A Nuo?”
“Uh…”
“You’re really good at judging people.” Lu Xingzhou swiftly pocketed the ingot, his face beaming with a smile.
Sheng Yuanyao: “…”
“Actually, it’s very simple. Liu Yan’er is a fool; she can’t keep a secret. I knew they were going to welcome a powerful Pill Master before I came down the mountain that day.”
“And then?”
“Although I didn’t know I’d be treated as a suspect when I came down the mountain, since I was targeted, I naturally knew you would definitely go up the mountain to investigate further. So, inviting you was just the easiest thing to do… Is that considered using you? You were already going to investigate the case; it wasn’t me who decided that for you. So, it was just a coincidence. It’s just that I had an idea of what would happen, which made it seem like I had planned it out. It’s not that complicated.”
In fact, the entire murder case was Lu Xingzhou’s plan. He was clearly aware that he would be questioned upon descending the mountain; he was simply waiting to bring Sheng Yuanyao up the mountain.
Indeed, it had all been planned from beginning to end.
Sheng Yuanyao, unaware of this, was left feeling rather deflated by Lu Xingzhou’s explanation: “Is that all there is to it…?”
Lu Xingzhou turned to look at her expression, finding it quite amusing. As they spoke, they had already pushed their way out of the Demon Suppression Division and into the alley outside, where a vendor was selling watermelons at the alley entrance.
Lu Xingzhou stopped, bought one, and handed it to Sheng Yuanyao: “For you.”
Sheng Yuanyao was startled: “How did you know I love eating melons!”
Lu Xingzhou hinted: “You’ll eat so much in the future you won’t be able to stop.”
Sheng Yuanyao held the watermelon, tilted her head, and looked at him for a while, then suddenly asked: “How much did you know about Seventh Master Huo’s matter when you were at Danxia Temple?”
Lu Xingzhou pretended to be surprised: “When I was adopted by Master, Seventh Master Huo was already dead, so I don’t know much. However, since we were neighbors, I did hear Master mention some things. What does Commander Sheng want to know?”
“Everything you know.”
“Master heard from the Huo Family servants who came to the temple to burn incense that Seventh Master Huo had good Aptitude for martial arts since he was young, but unfortunately, he was not well-regarded and had few resources, so it’s estimated he couldn’t learn much.” Lu Xingzhou stroked his chin, recalling: “The so-called ‘treating everyone equally’ was just for show. Seventh Master Huo was often hungry and poorly dressed, almost treated like a common laborer. I don’t know any more detailed information.”
“Then do you know why he died?”
“How could I possibly know that… Anyway, it’s highly unlikely he died young from an illness.”
“Why?”
“You see, even with my level of skill, as long as there are medicines, treating some difficult and complicated diseases isn’t too hard. The Huo Family has many people more skilled than me, and they have abundant resources. How could they let their Young Master die suddenly and young?”
Sheng Yuanyao nodded; she also thought so.
Lu Xingzhou continued: “I’ll just guess, and you can just listen. It’s said that Seventh Master Huo had many strange ideas since he was young, which were dismissed as wild fantasies, while the Eldest Young Master was always praised for being steady. Which one of them sounds more likely to have proposed the sudden, miraculous sweet potato idea, like a celestial being descending? After this proposal, Seventh Master Huo died suddenly, but the Eldest Young Master received an official title.”
Sheng Yuanyao interrupted: “Too much speculation. Don’t say this to others casually in the future.”
Lu Xingzhou smiled slightly.
Although Sheng Yuanyao said that, she had clearly reached a conclusion in her heart, combining it with what she had investigated.
Actually, this conclusion was not wrong. The sweet potato proposal was indeed made by Huo Shang, because he was Lu Xingzhou’s friend. Lu Xingzhou had never thought that telling his friend this plan back then, hoping to help him raise his status in the family, would instead bring about his friend’s demise.
As for his own misfortune, it had nothing to do with this; it was an accidental acquisition of a treasure, and possessing a treasure invites trouble.
Sheng Yuanyao sighed softly: “Being an enemy of the Huo Family is like a mayfly trying to shake a tree. If this person really lived… wouldn’t it be better if he lived?”
Lu Xingzhou glanced at her, wondering if she still had a slight suspicion and was hinting at him.
But he still replied: “Everyone lives for a reason; otherwise, it would be better to die.”
How could he not know that trying to shake the Huo Family with his current strength was akin to a fool’s dream?
But if he did nothing, what was the point of living?
Sheng Yuanyao hesitated, then suddenly asked: “Then what is the meaning of your life?”
Lu Xingzhou looked at the ground, his gaze deep and rippling, remaining silent for a long time.
He had never properly asked himself this question, and being suddenly asked, his thoughts churned.
Born into a martial Dao family in the mountains, he enjoyed a joyful childhood, initially believing he could live a life of carefree ease. Who knew that what awaited him was endless injustice and humiliation, and even the despair of death? His body was small, his cultivation insufficient, like a mayfly trying to shake a tree, powerless to turn the tide.
He escaped from the tiger’s mouth only to fall into the wolf’s den, enduring two years as a human medicine, suffering immense pain.
He thought he had found salvation, working hand in hand, pouring his heart and soul into establishing a vast organization for eight years, only to fail to capture even a fleeting glance from her. The day he confessed was the day he was banished.
This life truly felt like a boat on land, every stroke of effort utterly wasted.
Only A Nuo was ever by his side, the only one who would never betray him, their lives intertwined.
What is the meaning of life?
To seek justice? Or just to have a thoroughly satisfying revenge?
Lu Xingzhou let out a long sigh, looked up at the distant horizon, and suddenly asked: “Do you see that morning glow, does it look like a Pill Furnace flame?”
“Huh?”
“If this world is like a Pill Furnace, and you and I are both being roasted within it…” Lu Xingzhou finally replied slowly: “Then the meaning of my life is to eventually replace the Pill Furnace flame beneath this furnace with my own flames.”
Sheng Yuanyao’s expression changed slightly. She opened her mouth, but for a long while, she said nothing.
Recommending an old author’s Korean entertainment work, it will be available tomorrow. Don’t miss it if you want to read about Korean entertainment~