Chapter 10: Chapter Ten: So Peerless

"Medical ethics? Who said an alchemist must save people? If I had to save everyone under heaven, wouldn't I be worked to death? It seems the young lady possesses no martial qi. I find that strange—without martial qi, how did you reach my Spring Pavilion Small Residence? This is no amusement park. Little girl, you'd best leave quickly. This isn't a place you can come…" As Wan Ling questioned him, the black shadow arrived before her in an instant.

With his arrival, she felt an indescribable chill seep through her entire body, instinctively lifting her head. But she only saw him clad in black—loose black robes ample enough to cover his feet, a black hood on his head, even his face covered. Only the man's thin yet shapely lips above his chin where he spoke, and that straight nose, were faintly visible. His eyes were both wrapped in black cloth.

As he spoke, his whole person seemed suspended in midair. Yet even so, Wan Ling could sense his profound martial skill—and that he was precisely Jue Wu Chen. Before Wan Ling could react, the black-clad Jue Wu Chen flicked his wide sleeve, and a force struck her. Before she could respond, her body was already airborne, rising from the mire. As she landed, the sea of flowers before her returned to its previous state, and she staggered back to stand beside the slightly ajar iron gate.

"Jue Wu Chen, I, Mu Wan Ling, didn't come today to cause trouble. I came only to seek you out and beg for a ginseng flower to cure poison…"

Knowing this fellow's formidable skill, a head-on clash would give her zero chance of victory. It was only early autumn; she wore a single-layer shirt and felt a bit hot from all the running, yet he was wrapped in black from head to toe. Wan Ling couldn't help finding it odd.

Though she steadied her staggering steps, she stood firm, watching the black shadow standing with his back to her in the pavilion amid the flower sea, and cupped her fists. "The ginseng flower is the sacred medicine of my Spring Pavilion Small Residence—how could it be obtained just because you ask? Young lady, please return…" As she spoke, the black shadow flashed, and Jue Wu Chen was already before her, speaking indifferently. As he turned to leave, those flowers seemed alive, parting to make way for him, then closing in behind him as he passed…

"If I insist on begging for the flower right here…" Seeing her soft words gained no face, Wan Ling smiled coldly. She grabbed the belt at her waist and yanked—it coiled around the waist of Jue Wu Chen, who was walking away with his back turned. Seizing the chance, she clung to the belt and leapt up after him…

Jue Wu Chen hadn't expected her to attack like this, nor that she wouldn't step on the flower-bed soil but directly on the flower branches. As everything froze before them, a stone path appeared in the middle of the courtyard's flower-sea world.

Jue Wu Chen spun sharply, his long hand seizing the belt coiled around his waist, and flung it with a shake…

"Dream on if you think you can shake me off…" Feeling the flower branches underfoot, seeing the bizarre changes, Wan Ling vaguely sensed the courtyard was rigged with mechanisms—otherwise it wouldn't be so strange.

Flowers above, mechanisms likely beneath every cluster. Though she didn't understand the exact layout, she read Jue Wu Chen's reaction clearly. This fellow wanted to fling her back into the flower clusters, trapping her in the same predicament as when she entered…

Smiling coldly, she tightened her grip on the belt with one hand, seized the flower branches with the other, gritted her teeth, and spun her body, hurling the branches outward.

"Indeed, the young lady has fine skill…"

As Jue Wu Chen landed easily in the pavilion before her, Wan Ling followed, staggering to a halt. Jue Wu Chen had meant to shake her off, but hadn't expected her to borrow his flinging force to spin upward. Such bizarre, tricky skill was indeed rare. The thin lips beneath the black cloth curved slightly, revealing an arc, and he couldn't help but praise.

But his words had barely fallen when Wan Ling, who had just leapt up so fiercely gritting her teeth, had only one thought: she must not let herself land. She hadn't expected to arrive so soon. Just as she steadied herself, she felt the swirling qi that had unconsciously arisen in her chest cease, and the poison in her chest from before spread anew. Her figure froze; clutching her chest, she retreated step by step, only barely steadying herself against the stone bench at the pavilion's edge.

Her anomaly didn't escape Jue Wu Chen. Though puzzled, he approached. Just as his hand reached for Wan Ling's wrist, she struck again. "The young lady is afflicted with a virulent poison, no wonder… Damn it, you actually lifted my outer garment! I'll kill you! My eyes, my…"

The moment Jue Wu Chen grasped Wan Ling's hand, she also moved—tearing off the face veil covering Jue Wu Chen. Revealed was a pale, slightly yellowed, stunningly beautiful face, like a male enchantress from a fairy tale. But his eyes held a rare five-colored hue, especially the pupils tinged with faint pink. Seeing his eyes made one's heart tremble, an instinctive terror driving one to retreat.

Jue Wu Chen had just discerned Wan Ling's poisoning when she ripped off his veil. His figure froze. Those pink-tinged, unhealthy white brows knitted tight, as if suppressing immense pain. Murderous intent flared in his eyes. He struck out, his palm wind carrying dense purple light, slashing straight at Wan Ling's crown.

But just as his palm wind was about to descend on her skull, a rare ray of sunlight arrived. Jue Wu Chen's expression changed drastically. The hand reaching for her crown snatched back; he clutched his eyes in pain, staggered back, and then collapsed heavily to the ground, fainting on the spot…

"So you have a congenital illness. No wonder you dress so strangely every day. Hey, are you okay? You… Damn, this person's condition really resembles modern albinism patients—photophobia, but fainting from it seems excessive… Sigh, failed to get the ginseng flower and now I have to save you instead…"

Seeing Jue Wu Chen unresponsive after several pushes and shouts, Wan Ling could only step forward, half-supporting, half-dragging him to the stone bench nearby. Though her skill was decent, her body was originally weak, and the fight just now had triggered the inherent poison in her body. Supporting him to lean against the stone pillar beside the bench, Wan Ling panted heavily herself.

Suppressing the creeping dull pain in her chest, Wan Ling dragged her weak, trembling legs toward the pavilion edge. Looking at the vivid red flowers surrounding the pavilion, faintly exuding a bloody scent, she instinctively lifted her skirt hem and stepped forward.

As her foot touched a flower root, the ground softened. Watching the crimson mire appear as the earth collapsed underfoot, Wan Ling helplessly withdrew her foot.

Though the pavilion was temporarily peaceful, the whole courtyard was shrouded in a gloomy, bloody aura. A sea of blood-red. This scarlet splendor pressed on Wan Ling, making her irritably mutter. She looked inside and shouted loudly, but besides a deathly silence, there was only the thick smell of blood.

Utterly helpless, Wan Ling turned back to the stone bench, grabbed Jue Wu Chen's shoulders, and shook him lightly while calling out.

"Damn it, mechanisms are laid beside every flower stem in this courtyard. How am I supposed to get inside for the medicine? Is anyone there? Damn it, Jue Wu Chen, wake up, wake up…"

"I… seek death. Speak. What did you see just now?"

As she called, the man's long, pale yellow lashes tinged with unhealthy white trembled a few times, slowly lifting. Perhaps the dim light in the pavilion allowed him to slowly regain clarity. Seeing the young girl in pale red before him, Jue Wu Chen's slightly blank eyes suddenly sharpened. A cold, yin aura erupted. Before Wan Ling could react, the man's long, pale, bloodless hand, revealing faint blue veins, clamped onto her neck. His breath was like ice as he asked,