To Travel by the Edge of a Creek

Chapter 27: Admitting Defeat

Zhuo Zhuo circled Shahai Village but was unable to find a single doctor. After asking the villagers, he learned that the Manichaens had brought them to a more suitable location at the back of the village to care for the sick patients. 

Dozens of tents were raised at the back of the village, with patients resting inside each of them. Three doctors ran about tirelessly, treating them. A few Manichean disciples prepared medicine off to one side. 

Zhuo Zhuo passed through and caught a doctor, who was about forty years of age, “Doctor, someone I know is severely ill. He’s been coughing for several days now. Please save him, sir.”

“Where is he?” Upon hearing about the severity of the illness, the doctor naturally wanted to help. 

“Yongquan Village.”

“That’s…” Currently, the doctor had been called in by the Saintess to treat the patients. It was a half-a-day’s journey to Yongquan Village; going there and back would waste an entire day. He would be leaving behind so many sick patients, and he was afraid that the remaining doctors would not be able to cope. Additionally, the Saintess had not given him permission. 

“We can’t wait, or he’ll die!” Zhuo Zhuo did not care about the distressed look on the doctor’s face and just started dragging him off. 

“Young man, don’t make things difficult for me. Yongquan Village is too far away.”

Their struggle drew the attention of the Manichaen disciples. They walked over and asked Zhuo Zhuo: “That doctor is needed here. If you want him to treat your friend, bring him over here!”

“I would’ve already brought him over if I could!” Zhuo Zhuo stamped his feet with urgency, wanting to just haul the doctor away by his clothing. 

Seeing that Zhuo Zhuo was stirring up trouble, the disciple in front wrapped Zhuo Zhuo’s arm in an arm lock behind his back and kicked him down to the ground. Zhuo Zhuo cried out in shock and pain. Seeing the Holy Fire embroidered on his assailants’ belts, he shouted, “The Manichaens beat people! The Manichaens hit people! Whoever said they were helping the common people of Xiyu was just spewing nonsense!”

“Little brat, you misjudge others!” After listening to Zhuo Zhuo’s ravings, the disciple clamped their hand over his mouth. As before, Zhuo Zhuo worked to make their lives difficult. He bit the disciple’s hand and continued his lombasting. 

…

In an exquisite tent nearby, He Xi was sitting by her desk, flipping through a medical text. Zhuo Zhuo’s ruckus and noise passed through into the tent. 

“What’s going on outside? Ye Qi, go take a look.” For the past few days, He Xi had been constantly searching through various medical texts for previous cases of disease outbreak and looked exhausted. Her temples throbbed due to the noise outside. 

“Yes.” Ye Qi accepted the order. 

In no time, Ye Qi swept aside the tent flap and walked in, “Saintess, it’s the child that’s accompanying that handsome young man[1].”

Ye Qi had gone to Yongquan Village previously to check on who Jiang Ling was taking care of. 

He Xi rubbed her temples, “Why havet they left yet.” They had already been delayed by more than a fortnight. 

“That child said that there’s someone in his family that’s fatally ill, and that he came to find a doctor. The doctor wouldn’t go, so there was a ruckus. He also slandered the holy faith, so the followers disciplined him.”

“Family member?” He Xi did not dare to imagine further. 

“They’re named Jiang Liu.”

“Clang—” He Xi suddenly stood up, overturning the table. 

“You and A Na stay here and call over Grandmother A Xi. I will go with her.”

Zhuo Zhuo had not expected that, due to his brawl, the Manichaen Saintess would say that she would bring along the Manichaen witch doctor and return with him. 

Na Xin also started to bustle about and get things prepared. Zhuo Zhuo then led the two of them back to Yongquan Village. 

Ye Qi and Na Xin stood at the head of the village watching the three of them leave. 

“Seems like the Saintess really likes that toy boy from the central plains. No wonder the Saintess hasn’t so much as glanced at the men here in Xiyu. She must like dainty ones.” Ye Qi scratched his chin. 

Na Xin said nothing, looking at Ye Qi with sympathy, then turned around and went back. 

It was dark by the time the three of them reached Yongquan Village. When He Xi saw that Jiang Ling was staying in a simple, crude tent, a little bit of her internal fury slipped into her words, “The sick here live like this?”

“The people at the inn won’t let us stay there. The villagers were annoyed by Jiang Liu’s coughing and afraid that they would catch the sickness, so they pushed us over here.”

Zhuo Zhuo opened the tent flap, but the tent was completely empty, “Where’s Jiang Liu? He’s not here.”

“Could she have left on her own?” He Xi asked urgently. 

“She[2] couldn’t even talk, so how could she leave on her own.” Zhuo Zhuo said, teary-eyed. 

“Go ask the villagers.” He Xi said with a solemn expression. 

Zhuo Zhuo immediately ran and knocked on the doors of several villagers, who said that the village leader called them to bring a dying person over to the southwest burial mounds. 

“He’s not dead!” Zhuo Zhuo did not waste his time with them and ran to find He Xi. He Xi was searching around the whole village for Jiang Ling but did not find her, leaving the witch doctor A Xi to handle things at the inn. 

“Jiang Liu was left in the burial mounds!” Zhuo Zhuo shouted as soon as he saw He Xi. 

He Xi’s expression grew even more serious. Using her qinggong, she swept Zhuo Zhuo up and brought him along, following his directions to hurry toward the burial mounds. Zhuo Zhuo did not have room in his mind to feel the exhilaration of flying; he only wanted to find Jiang Ling as fast as possible. 

…

Inside the Manichaen Palace of Light

“AHHHH! WHERE IS MY MEDICINE!” Azar swept everything off of the table, the medicine jars and medical scrolls clattering to the floor. 

Zhu Li knelt by himself, his left hand slanted across his chest, “Leader, please remain calm. This subordinate has ordered the medicine to be brought.”

“Just scram. Go tell your useless subordinates to bring it faster.” Azar’s eyes were thoroughly red, blue veins popping out of his forehead. 

“Understood!” Zhu Li retreated, his body lowered. After exiting, his originally obedient and respectful expression revealed a trace of viciousness. 

…

“Who is that?” Zhuo Zhuo saw a Manichaen disciple carrying a sack over their shoulder not too far away. With a glance, He Xi saw that they were one of Na Cuo’s people. She tapped her foot and turned, putting Zhuo Zhuo down in front of the disciple. 

“A Lu, what are you doing here.” He Xi asked. The disciple, named A Lu, did not think that the Saintess would drop out of the sky and was frightened. His lips quivered, “Answering the Saintess, Lord Protector Na Cuo ordered his subordinates to gather medicine for the leader.”

“What medicine?” He Xi took a step forward, wanting to get to the bottom of it. 

“Saintess-jiejie, don’t waste time. Let’s go save Jiang Liu.” Zhuo Zhuo could not refrain from urging. This Saintess-jiejie was talking with others at a time like this. He Xi swept a suspicious look over A Lu, then rushed toward the burial mounds. While approaching the burial mounds, He Xi heard a faint coughing sound, but after scouring the burial mounds, she did not find Jiang Ling’s figure. 

“Jiang Liu!” Zhuo Zhuo shouted at the burial mounds. Only his own echo answered him. For some reason, He Xi started to feel panicked. She had clearly just heard the sound of coughing. How could it just disappear? Just now—A Lu! That coughing must have been coming from the sack carried on A Lu’s back! He Xi immediately went to pursue A Lu. 

“Saintess-jiejie, where are you going? Wait for me!” Zhuo Zhuo ran behind He Xi but soon fell behind. 

…

“A Lu!” 

A Lu did not expect that after only a bit of time had passed, the Saintess would land in front of him again. “What kind of medicine would you need this sack for?” He Xi narrowed her eyes at A Lu, who felt his entire body break out in goosebumps under her stare. 

“The sect has strictly instructed disciples to not engage in the sale or purchase of humans.”

A Lu felt as though the sack weighed ten thousand jin, suffocating him, “This subordinate…this subordinate was only following orders.”

“Cough…cough cough.” A weak cough came from inside of the sack. “Put them down. Scram.” He Xi’s tone was ice cold. 

A Lu promptly dropped the sack, a low groan sounding from inside. He Xi’s face grew even colder. 

A Lu said: “Lady Saintess, the person is here. This subordinate will withdraw.” A Lu swiftly retreated, but before he could even take a few steps, he collapsed to the ground with a grunt. A silver needle had pierced his right leg. A Lu clutched his leg in pain, wailing as he clamored back to where he came from. 

“Crawl back to your owner and tell him that he will never be able to lead the Manichaens.” He Xi said, then immediately knelt down and pulled Jiang Ling out of the sack. The silvery moonlight cascaded down onto Jiang Ling’s quietly sleeping face. With a slight flush in her cheeks and shallow breaths, she slept calmly, unaware of what just happened to her. 

He Xi’s brow smoothed out, as if she was admitting defeat, then she hugged Jiang Ling close to herself, “Jiang Ling, what am I going to do with you?”

“You…you both…” Zhuo Zhuo just happened to meet with the sight of He Xi embracing Jiang Ling as he arrived. He Xi lifted her gaze to glance at Zhuo Zhuo, then picked Jiang Ling up, “Go back on your own.” In the blink of an eye, she and Jiang Ling disappeared into the night. 

Zhuo Zhuo seemed to have discovered something incredible. Saintess-jiejie and Jiang Liu…

When He Xi carried Jiang Ling back to the inn, the witch doctor A Xi was already waiting for them at the door. She led He Xi inside and settled Jiang Ling in. 

A Xi checked Jiang Ling’s pupils and felt her pulse, then put the back of her hand on Jiang Ling’s forehead, “This happened because she has not fully recovered from her wounds and then fell ill, so her condition is more serious than ordinary people. I will make a prescription. Once it’s decocted, have her drink it. First we will relieve the heat, then everything else will be easier.”

“Cough…cough cough,” Jiang Ling’s coughing was even more fierce than it was during the past few days, almost as if she was going to cough her lungs up. He Xi went forward to help Jiang Ling, but was stopped by A Xi’s piercing look. She passed her a packet of medicine, “Why don’t you go decoct medicine.” He Xi had always thought of A Xi as her elder, and A Xi had likewise never regarded He Xi as the Manichaen’s Saintess, but as her own granddaughter instead. These words would not be offensive to her. 

He Xi left the room. A Xi helped Jiang Ling through her coughing fit, then sighed. 

After about half an incense stick’s time, Zhuo Zhuo had returned to Yongquan Village. Seeing He Xi sitting by the entrance preparing medicine, Zhuo Zhuo felt a trace of carefree happiness in his heart. When he was being beaten black and blue by the Saintess-jiejie’s lackeys, he did not think that their owner would actually personally decoct medicine for Jiang Liu. 

“Saintess-jie…”

“Come make some medicine.” Zhuo Zhuo had not even finished speaking before He Xi left him behind at the stove and returned to the inn. 

…

Outside of the Manichaen Thousand Autumns Palace, A Lu shivered as he knelt, “Lord Protector, they were taken away by the Saintess. She also said…that you could never become the leader…”

“Useless thing.” Na Cuo kicked A Lu, “Did the Saintess discover anything?”

A Lu scrambled up from the ground then resumed kneeling, “The Saintess only thought we were engaging in human trafficking.”

“Mm.”

“The leader’s medicine?” A Lu was still concerned that the leader would blame him for the loss of the medicine. 

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve already prepared it.” A silver light flashed. A Lu’s neck started to gush blood. He grabbed his neck and stared at Na Cuo, stunned. Blood poured out of his mouth. A Lu tried to speak, but could not get the words out. Na Cuo looked at him scornfully, “It’s you.” As A Lu heard these words, the light left his bloodshot eyes, and his body collapsed lifelessly to the floor.