Chapter Eighty-Nine: Healing Long San

Tang Wei and the others reached the outer edge of the courtyard and saw many people sprawled across the ground in disarray. They must all have been struck by the attack. Long Wei was still sitting where he was, unmoving; at this moment, he was likely locked in a fierce struggle with the last faint remnant of the soul thread within him.

Seeing Zi Xuan looking around, Tang Wei asked curiously, “What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for Long San. That boy is hopelessly obstinate. He knew it was dangerous, but instead of keeping away, he still forced his way in. I honestly have no idea how he grew up.” Zi Xuan shook his head with a smile and led Tang Wei toward the center to see whether they could find him. He was truly at his wit’s end with Long San and could do nothing about him.

“You’re pretty good to him, you know. I’ve never seen you treat anyone else like this. What is it—have you got your eye on him?” Tang Wei teased him with an ambiguous smile.

Zi Xuan was momentarily baffled, finding her behavior utterly inexplicable. What was so strange about being a little kinder to Long San? Did she really need to look at him like that? Then a possibility struck him, and he did not know whether to laugh or to be exasperated. He tapped her twice on the head and scolded with a smile, “What nonsense is rattling around in that little brain of yours? I only think he has some talent to be shaped, and I wanted to see if he might make a suitable disciple to run errands for me.”

“What kind of eyes do you have? I’m impressed. You’d even take such a stubborn fool as a disciple. You’ll have your hands full later!” Tang Wei shot back in disapproval.

Zi Xuan merely smiled it off. “I chose him precisely because of his temperament, so I wanted to take him on. Once such a person makes up his mind, he never turns back.”

“Never turns back? What are you talking about, finding a wife? It sounds weird no matter how I hear it.” Tang Wei rolled her eyes, helpless against him, and could only go over to help him search.

“Heh, I was only saying it casually. You get the idea. Besides, why shouldn’t someone like that work? If you pick some traitorous little backstabber as a disciple, then you’ll truly have suffering to endure. I’d rather the teaching be a little harder at the beginning than have him harbor a second intention after he has learned everything.” Zi Xuan sighed as he searched.

“You can boast all you want here. If you ask me, that boy was probably trained by the state from childhood. In his heart, there’s only his country and his people. No matter how you teach him, to him you’ll always rank second at best.” Tang Wei could not resist throwing cold water on him. She did not have much goodwill toward Long San anyway. In all her years, she had never seen anyone with such rigid, unyielding character. He was like some antique fossil from the fifties or sixties.

“I don’t intend to do anything that would harm the country or its people. That doesn’t conflict with his ideals, so what difference does it make?” Zi Xuan’s resolve remained unshaken. He was determined to persuade Tang Wei and change Long San’s image in her heart. After all, this would be Long San’s future mistress; he could not let her start off with a bad impression, or else Long San would have no future at all if he followed him.

“Fine, do whatever you like. The one taking on a disciple is you, not me. It’s none of my business!” Tang Wei was too lazy to argue further, and she did not care much about it either. In her mind, it was just taking on a disciple. If one did not work out, then take another. Could he fly off to the heavens or something?

More than a hundred people lay scattered in all directions, and it took a while to search through them. In the end, the two of them found Long San in the innermost area. He seemed to have been among the first to fall. Zi Xuan supported his body and said to Tang Wei with a smile, “See? I knew this kid would charge at the very front.”

Tang Wei did not want to keep talking about it and ignored him, though she still stepped forward to examine Long San’s body. Apart from a few injuries that were not of much concern, only the area on his forehead showed a dense black mass gathering there. It seemed the soul thread had seized his spiritual core, and his mind was already lost.

“Waiwai, can you do it? Your fire and wood spiritual energies are the most effective against this. Fire is the bane of dark spiritual energy, and wood can help repair the damaged parts. Two birds with one stone.” Zi Xuan gave Tang Wei an ingratiating grin. There was no need to worry anymore about their relationship being exposed. They had already agreed beforehand that, outside, Tang Wei would be known as an alchemist with fire and wood dual spiritual roots, while Zi Xuan would be known as a formation master with metal and earth dual roots. Tang Wei had the protection of the Five Spiritual Treasures and could shift her internal energy into whichever spiritual root she wanted at any time, so no one could detect it. Zi Xuan’s situation was more troublesome; he had to transform inside the space before coming out, and could only cultivate within the space as well. He could not allow anyone to inspect his spirit body casually, or he would be exposed. But he had chosen this willingly. Who told him that his whole heart had been thoroughly eaten up by Tang Wei?

Tang Wei said nothing more and sat down at once to circulate her power. She planned to let fire lead the assault and wood follow behind, clearing the black mist lingering in his meridians while repairing the damaged areas. The two energies cooperated in their own way, each reinforcing the other, and soon they had reached the spiritual core.

Within the spiritual core, the black mist was tightly wrapped around Long San’s soul, leaving him no possibility of escape. In order not to injure his soul itself, Tang Wei decided to use an encirclement tactic here: first, she would use fire to seal off the entire spiritual core, then use wood to draw out the soul thread. Wood spiritual power had a strong restorative effect on the soul, and to the black mist it was like a tonic. Sure enough, the moment the wood energy appeared, the black mist began to stir, though it still probed cautiously and dared not move forward. It likely sensed that the fire energy was dangerous. It wanted to devour it, but it did not dare take the risk, wavering there in hesitation.

Tang Wei hardened her resolve and simply used wood to set up a barrier in front of the fire energy. It was only a little wood power lost; she could afford that. As expected, with the wood barrier in place, the aura of the fire energy weakened considerably. The black mist then ignored everything else and rushed toward the wood in a frenzy. Tang Wei held back, letting it taste a little sweetness first. Once the black mist had all surged over, the fire energy suddenly struck, encircling it tightly and wrapping around it, slowly beginning to digest it.

Meanwhile, the wood energy surrounded Long San’s soul and began repairing the places corroded by the black mist. In truth, Long San had in a way been blessed by disaster. After this incident, his soul would be at least more than twice as powerful as that of ordinary cultivators of the same generation. Tang Wei’s wood energy was not something to be underestimated.

At this time, while Tang Wei was still battling the black mist, Long Wei had just finished digesting the last lingering trace of black mist within his own body. He stood up and looked around, only to see that most of the subordinates he had brought were lying on the ground, with only a few remaining more or less intact. Several stood near him, and a few were also stationed by the White-Browed Demon Daoist, keeping watch. Scattered here and there, there were fewer than twenty people in total. Alas, this operation could be said to have ended in total ruin.

The people guarding him saw Long Wei wake and immediately reported the situation. Out of the one hundred and twenty people they had brought, all except the twelve here had fallen. They had also searched inside just now, but there was no sign of anyone else, not even the children White-Browed had brought in.

Long Wei gave a few more orders and had them gather the fallen together first. Then, upon seeing Zi Xuan standing off to the side, guarding Tang Wei as she treated someone, he walked over. This was their first meeting. Long Wei instinctively swept him with spiritual awareness, only to find a hazy blur where Zi Xuan’s dantian should have been, making it impossible to determine his cultivation level. He figured Zi Xuan was either stronger than he was, or else concealing himself with a magical artifact.

Remembering that Long San had said these two cultivators were at the fasting stage, he did not dare probe too carefully for fear of causing a misunderstanding between them. He could only bow first and say, “This time, thanks to the two fellow Daoists for your help, or else we would all have been wiped out. My old life might well have ended here today as well.”

“Fellow Daoist, you flatter us. This was something I had discussed with Long San. I just never expected that the demon Daoist would truly have some skill; we let our guard down and nearly got Long San killed.” Zi Xuan replied politely. Not nearly got everyone killed—just nearly got Long San killed.

Long Wei was not a fool. Hearing this, he understood at once that the other party had no intention of saving so many people. Though furious, he could only ask in a subdued voice, “In that case, please tell us how to save them. These subordinates of mine have all been loyal to their duties, wholeheartedly working for the people. If they were to sacrifice themselves like this, it would be a great loss to the nation.”

Alas, Long Wei, you miscalculated. You did not know that Zi Xuan was from another world. Such appeals to national duty were utterly meaningless to him. It would be better to wait until Tang Wei woke up and speak to her instead; perhaps then there might still be some hope. Now that you have missed your chance, you can only brace yourself to be fleeced.

“Even if I told you, it would be useless. You don’t understand this. You can’t save them.” Sure enough, Zi Xuan replied without the slightest courtesy.

“At the very least, I must try. Since fellow Daoist has a method, please help them for the sake of us all being cultivators.” Long Wei’s expression was beginning to darken. Since taking over the security department, not even the people of the four great clans had ever dared act so arrogantly in front of him. Yet Zi Xuan showed him no face at all. His tone unconsciously grew harder, and his words lost much of their politeness. He was only one step away from shouting, So you don’t want to save them, but you won’t let anyone else save them either?

Zi Xuan did not bother arguing with him. They would have to compete over people later anyway, so he might as well speak plainly. Smiling, he said, “I really am not deceiving you. If you want to save them, go negotiate with that White-Browed fellow. Across all of Huaxia, I’m afraid only my senior sister and he can save you. And even my senior sister would have to expend a great deal of effort, while he could handle it with ease.”