“Out with it, Captain,” the city lord demanded.
“She feigned illness and when one of my men went in to check on her she attacked him, biting and kicking. He was forced to defend himself and may have used a little too much force,” he explained, not meeting my gaze.
I didn’t respond immediately. If I did, my response might’ve been to try and kill the man, instead of rage at him with my words.
The captain looked to the city lord for assurance, but to his surprise he only found cold fury. Despite the terrible circumstances, I was glad to see Teng Shi’s reaction.
That he was angry at what had happened to Xiao Cui told me just how much he loved his son. It told me that he needed me, as long as I could hold up my end of the bargain and heal Teng Sheng.
Now that I knew the stakes and the cards I had to play, I interrupted. “So, the city lord’s word—and the captain’s command of his men—is worth less than nothing. I do not believe I can go ahead with the treatment without receiving some assurances.”
Captain Kang grew enraged, reaching for his sword and taking a step towards me. “You dare?” he cried, but flinched like a beaten dog when the city lord leapt to his feet and stared daggers at him.
“Silence, Captain,” the lord snarled. “You know what Sheng’er means to me. To risk losing a chance at healing him…”
The city lord glanced at me. He was a smart man. He could’ve attempted to force my hand and make me heal his son by threatening Xiao Cui’s life—or worse.
In fact, many other cultivators in this world would have done exactly that. Of that I was sure. Yet, he had no idea how my healing technique worked. Or whether I would be willing to throw away little Cui’s life.
So he was taking the cautious route.
Though, that had already almost failed. Xiao Cui being hospitalised with wounds from one of the guards made sure of it.
I would not lift a finger to help his son until I knew she was fine and no longer at risk of being harmed. And I wanted to see the bastard who did it punished for his crimes.
However, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get the latter part until I was either freed, or more powerful than the city lord. Cultivating that far might even be impossible, with my shattered spirit roots, or it might take a few years. Or a decade.
But I was a patient man, even if irrational at times.
Despite cutting my diagnosis short early, I had a pretty good idea of what was wrong with the city lord’s son. I would need to actually use my technique in order to confirm my hypothesis, but I was confident I could cure him.
“It is a shame you were not able to keep your half of the bargain, Lord Teng,” I sighed, making sure to look at his son when he turned to me.
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes and taking a step forward.
I felt a heavy pressure in the air, one that pushed me into the ground with enough force to almost drop to my knees. This was the power of a Qi Gathering cultivator.
Even though he had reprimanded Captain Kang, I knew he had not forgiven me for my crimes. His need to cure his son did not erase our previous bad blood, but it gave me leverage to use against him.
“Well, before this unfortunate incident… I managed to complete my diagnosis of Young Master Sheng,” I answered, watching the lord’s reaction.
His eyes widened and the pressure vanished. I raised my shoulders, no longer feeling as though I was being pressed into the ground by an invisible hand above.
“Truly? You managed to find the cause of my son’s illness? I promise that no further harm will come to the girl and you will both be freed if you are able to cure him. And she will receive the greatest pills from my treasury to aid her recovery,” he started to exclaim, rushing over his words in his desperation to get them out.
I could almost laugh, if not for worrying about little Cui. With that outburst, I knew I had the city lord wrapped around my finger.
I spared a sideways glance at Captain Kang. Despite fucking up and not controlling his men properly, the man was still going to be a big thorn in my side.
The city lord had put him in charge of his soldiers for a reason. He’d been treating me like crap since my arrest and I wouldn’t forget that.
“Indeed. I know what happened to your son to make him like this and not only can I cure his sickness, but it is possible that he may be able to cultivate afterwards,” I said, letting my salesman persona creep out.
If that last part didn’t make the man jump to do what I wanted then I was doomed. I made sure not to say he could definitely cultivate again.
I’d managed to determine that something was blocking the boy’s spirit roots. Something artificial. When I cured that, he would have the opportunity to begin cultivating, but whether or not he actually made the first step was down to his own talent.
So I didn’t make a definite promise. The city lord might chase me down to punish me again if I promised something that was impossible.
At that, even the young Teng Sheng reacted for the first time. Until now he’d been silent and seemed borderline depressed, barely reacting to anything going on around him.
He turned to me with a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. The city lord had been about to reply but he saw his son’s actions and held back.
“Really?!” the boy exclaimed, standing up and grabbing my hand. “I will be able to cultivate?”
I gently removed his hand from mine and saw his smile falter. “I make no promises. Just a hunch of mine based on what is wrong with your body. However, I refuse to treat you,” I announced, making Captain Kang jump forwards once more and the city lord’s face contort in rage.
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The city lord held him back with a clenched fist. He grit his teeth and turned to me with a cold gaze. “Choose your next words wisely, prisoner. Why do you refuse to treat my son?”
Not budging an inch I met the city lord’s gaze with my own unbothered stare. “You broke your word. I will not treat the young master until I have seen Xiao Cui with my own eyes. I no longer trust you. Only once I am confident she will be okay and remain unharmed will I begin the treatment,” I told him.
Lord Teng nodded once, lowering his raised fist and visibly relaxing. His gaze was still simmering with cold anger but he understood the situation well.
“Take us to the girl, Captain,” he ordered.
****
I looked at the lifeless figure covered by a thin blanket, her breathing shallow and the bruises on her neck and arms purple and raw. My knuckles went white from how hard I was clenching my fist.
If the bastard who did this was in the room with us not even the two Qi Gathering masters could stop me from beating him to death. Luckily for everyone, he was elsewhere…
I doubted it would go well for me if I killed one of the city lord’s guards. Though if he wasn’t punished for his actions whatsoever, I would remember that.
Taking a step towards Xiao Cui, I cursed myself. What would her parents think of me, knowing that it was my responsibility to care for their daughter—albeit without my permission, at first—and yet letting this happen in our first month in the city.
She may have been a rebellious girl, running away from home and not always listening to my instructions, but she didn’t deserve this. I unclenched my fist, staring at my open palm where I’d drawn blood from my nails stabbing into it.
“Would you mind giving us some privacy? I wish to try and talk with her and check the extent of her injuries,” I asked, turning to the city lord and the captain.
Captain Kang frowned but the city lord nodded and motioned for them to leave. “You may.”
“You offered pills earlier,” I said, making the city lord halt. “Could they be brought here? I wish to heal her myself but your aid would be gratefully accepted.”
Lord Teng coughed and raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was greedy of me to ask for something from the man holding me prisoner, but I had an ulterior motive.
I didn’t actually need pills to heal Xiao Cui. Her injuries were bad, but nothing I couldn’t handle with my technique.
I wanted the pills so that I could start experimenting with my physique.
“Of course, I wouldn’t go back on my word,” he replied, before coughing once more as he looked at the unconscious Xiao Cui. “Not on purpose, anyway.”
As they left he grabbed Captain Kang’s arm and whispered something in his ear. The city lord’s footsteps receded into the distance, but the captain remained a little longer.
“One of my men will remain outside to make sure nothing happens, but you will be given the privacy you demand. The lord may be bowing to your requests on account of his son, but make no mistake—you are a criminal through and through,” he snarled. “I will never forget that, even if you obtain your freedom.”
Sheesh, that guy was a hardass. Even now he was still putting on this righteous front, even when he had corrupt guards working for him. Men that would beat a girl who was their prisoner.
“Of course,” I replied with a smile. “As long as he stays outside and doesn’t interrupt the healing process.”
He nodded and left, a scowl upon his face.
Now that we had some privacy I approached Xiao Cui’s bed and pulled a chair from the corner of the room until it was beside it. Up close the bruises seemed even more vicious—purplish-red and covering her arms and neck.
There was no way the story the captain had fed me was the truth. Maybe little Cui had attacked a guard, but this wasn’t the result of a man fighting back in self-defense.
It was done with cruel intent.
“Xiao Cui, can you hear me,” I whispered.
I had faster ways of waking a patient up, but they were often disorienting. I didn’t want to use them just yet.
She didn’t respond. Her breathing was shallow, the rising and falling of her chest barely making the blankets move.
Without her consent, I didn’t want to check the extent of her injuries. And I was barely containing my anger now—I wasn’t sure if I could keep it in check if I discovered it was worse than I already thought.
Gently tapping her arm, I raised my voice a little and repeated myself. “Xiao Cui, wake up, it’s your big brother Zhao.”
This time she stirred, groaning and shifting in her semi-conscious state. I smiled as she grabbed the blanket and pulled it towards her head.
“Not a chance.” I took hold of it and pulled it gently back down to where it had been before.
“Just five more minutes, mum,” she mumbled.
“Little Cui, if you don’t wake up I will be forced to resort to drastic measures,” I chuckled.
Something changed and she seemed to register who was talking. Her eyes snapped open and she tried to sit up, immediately yelping in pain and lying back down.
“Don’t force yourself, those bruises look nasty.”
She turned to me and I saw tears forming in her eyes. “Big Brother Zhao, that guy, he…” her voice trailed off as she spoke.
My eyes narrowed. I knew that the captain was covering for his men. Bastard. “You don’t have to give me the details of what that bastard did to you. Just tell me this,” I said, my voice trembling as I suppressed my rage. “He didn’t…”
“He just beat the crap out of me,” she said, close to sobbing. “That’s all.”
That was all I needed to hear. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought, which was good for me and the cruel idiot who’d done this. He would get a quick and somewhat painless death when the time came.
“Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll just heal you up again, like in the woods. Only this time I’m a lot more skilled with the technique,” I said with a chuckle, filled with mirth.
Back then I’d only just invented the technique after making my oath with the heavens. It was a haphazard experiment that somehow worked out, but it had led to so much more.
Xiao Cui nodded and held out her arm, knowing I needed to make contact in order for the technique to work. “Alright, on the count of three,” I said, reaching out towards her wrist. “One…”
“Two!” I grabbed her arm and my blood essence flooded her body, though I kept a tight rein on the amount. Too much would cause unnecessary damage.
She had a look of shocked betrayal on her face. I couldn’t resist using the classic doctor’s trick. Usually that one was reserved for injections—the prick of the needle hurt less when you weren’t expecting it.
It was a lot easier to heal physical injuries with the technique compared to the strange infection in Nine Paddy Village. Seeing the bruises recede and vanish was proof of the technique working.
My blood essence swirled and sparked inside her body, joined by her own as they regenerated cells and fixed the internal damage. She coughed a few times and winced once, but once it was done she looked far healthier and happier than before.
“Thank you, Big Brother Zhao,” she said, her head slumping back onto the pillow. “What are we going to do? He knows what happened in the village so we don’t have a way out of this,” she sighed.
“Don’t worry, little Cui. As always, I have a plan,” I lied blatantly. I often found myself falling headfirst into things without a plan, but I definitely had a long term strategy for my goals.
However, comforting her was more important than telling the truth. And the trick to confidence was to always pretend you knew what you were doing, even when you had no idea.
Then again, I did have a plan. I just wasn’t sure whether it would work out as I expected. Even if I was able to heal the city lord’s son and he recovered, there was always the chance that he went back on his word and refused to release us.
I would be powerless to resist.
The strong ruled over the weak in the Celestial Jade Empire and City Lord Teng was the strongest man in Three River City. I would need some contingencies…
All of a sudden I felt the rush of my blood essence returning to me as the final bits of the healing completed. Smiling, I realised I was getting close to-
“Zhao Dan! What’s wrong?” Xiao Cui exclaimed, right as my body erupted in a wave of fiery agony.