Breathtaking!

Devastating beauty!

No number of words could do justice to the face of unparalleled handsomeness before her.

This was the face she had wanted to see — unfamiliar, yet somehow so very familiar.

As though she had seen him somewhere before, yet she had not a single shred of memory of him.

Feng Jiu’er finally accepted it: she did know these people — she simply could no longer remember them at all.

She took hold of Zhan Qingcheng’s wrist, her fingertips settling over his pulse.

The injury was extremely severe. His true energy had reversed course, and when he had entered a qi deviation, he had not only suffered damage to his heart meridian from an external force of inner energy, but had also been wounded by his own true energy.

Yet his constitution was extraordinarily robust — and even now, he was somehow still holding on.

She pulled his robes fully open, opened her bag, and drew out her case of needles.

With a raise of the hand and a fall of the needle, whenever she faced a patient, she could always set aside her own emotions — focused, meticulous, rigorous, her expression completely blank.

The fine beads of sweat seeping from her temples were the only thing that could betray the anxiety she pressed so forcefully down into the depths of her heart.

This familiar silhouette, this familiar technique — the Jiu’er whom everyone knew had finally returned.

“I need three liang each of Virginia creeper and rock fungus grass, two liang of spirit lingzhi, five qian of venomous scorpion, and if you can find a red spider, I need one alive.”

The herbs listed first might still be purchasable at a medicine shop — but where on earth was one supposed to find a red spider?

“I’ll go look in the hills nearby.” Jian Yi said at once.

That sort of creature could probably only be found up in the hills.

“I’ll go out to buy the medicine.” Mu Mu turned around immediately to head for the door.

“Don’t go too far.” Xue Gu shot him a glance.

Mu Mu gave a nod and stepped out.

Jiu’er’s situation remained uncertain for now — she no longer remembered them.

Outside, countless people were still searching for them. If Jian Yi and Mu Mu were both away and those people found their way here, everyone would be in a very dangerous position.

“Staying here, you are not safe, no matter how you look at it.”

In truth, Jiu’er could see clearly what their current situation amounted to.

“My Fourth Imperial Uncle — was it you who injured him?”

Even as she spoke, her needle hand never paused for a moment.

“Fourth Imperial Uncle?” Xue Gu and Qiao Mu exchanged a glance.

Xue Gu hesitated before answering, “It was a man in black robes wearing a mask.”

A flicker of indignation stirred in Jiu’er’s chest, yet the moment her eyes fell upon the unconscious man of devastating beauty lying before her, that indignation dissolved into something closer to helplessness.

“Why were you opposing people of the imperial house?”

“We had no intention of making enemies of anyone. We came here only to find you.”

But now, hearing Jiu’er address that masked man in black as her Fourth Imperial Uncle — it seemed likely that he and Jiu’er were acquainted.

And they had injured her Fourth Imperial Uncle…

“It was he who arrived and, without a single word, moved to kill — we had no choice. Jiu’er… cough, cough!”

Qiao Mu was growing a little frantic, afraid Jiu’er would be angry with them.

“Your blood and vital energy are far too depleted — stop talking. I am not blaming you.”

The circumstances were simply different. Though Fourth Imperial Uncle had been injured, the man lying before her was gravely wounded as well.

If they had truly come here for no other reason than to find her, then none of this was their doing — if anything, it was her own fault.

“I have a place that should still be safe for now. I will take you there tonight.”

“Where?” Xue Gu was somewhat astonished. She had not expected that even without her memories of them, Jiu’er would still be willing to think of their safety.

“Fourth Imperial Uncle’s manor.”

“This…” Xue Gu was stunned.

Had she not just said that the masked man was her Fourth Imperial Uncle? They had injured her Fourth Imperial Uncle, yet she was going to have them lodge in his home?

In truth, Jiu’er did not know why she felt such concern for their wellbeing — especially for the man now lying in bed. But an inn was a place where one could hide in plain sight, and on the surface, it seemed safe enough.

Yet given enough time, when the people searching outside failed to find them, they would eventually remember: the inns had not yet been searched. Sooner or later, they would be discovered.

Everyone here was injured. Without finding somewhere safe to recuperate, how were any of them to recover?

Jiu’er finished applying the needles to Zhan Qingcheng and began working the acupoints through massage. The effect would not be especially dramatic, but it would help circulate his blood and resolve stagnation — beneficial for his recovery all the same.

“In Fourth Imperial Uncle’s manor there is no one but himself and one elderly manservant. Fourth Imperial Uncle is currently recuperating in the palace, so once you are settled there, no one should disturb you. I will make the arrangements.”

Her hands rested on Zhan Qingcheng’s chest. To keep herself from staring like a besotted fool, she dared not let her gaze wander at all.

The beauty of this man — beneath all the heavens, only Fourth Imperial Uncle could perhaps be spoken of in the same breath.

Yet Fourth Imperial Uncle was family. However beautiful he might be, all one could do was look.

This man was different. Being this close to him, she felt a kind of shyness come over her.

She had been trying her utmost to restrain herself, to treat him as she would any ordinary patient — yet the moment her eyes caught sight of that face, that figure, she could not help but let her imagination wander.

Feng Jiu’er closed her eyes, steadied herself, and returned to her massage.

“He must have pushed his inner energy to its absolute limit in the heat of battle. His subconscious drove him to perform beyond his usual capacity — yet once that energy surged outward, he could no longer control it. A qi deviation.”

Xue Gu and Qiao Mu said nothing. Though Jiu’er had not been present for that battle, her medical skill had grown so exceptional that she spoke as though she had witnessed it all firsthand, standing right there.

“As things stand, if the true energy now within him can be brought under his control, it will greatly increase his cultivation. But if it cannot, it will become the very source of his injuries — at best diminishing his power, at worst, costing him his life.”

“Is there any way to resolve it?” That true energy — even Mu Mu and Jian Yi had been unable to suppress it. Right now, the greatest fear was that it would take his life.

“If a cultivator of sufficiently profound power could suppress his true energy and clear open his meridians for him, that energy would come under his control.”

Jiu’er turned to look at Xue Gu and said with quiet helplessness, “Fourth Imperial Uncle’s cultivation would be more than adequate — but Fourth Imperial Uncle has suffered a serious injury and cannot channel his energy for the time being.”

Xue Gu understood. She let out a soft sigh: “That night, before your Fourth Imperial Uncle arrived, he had already been gravely wounded — and then afterward, they…”

“He had already been gravely wounded before he arrived?” Jiu’er was startled. This was something she had not considered at all.

She had assumed that Fourth Imperial Uncle’s injuries were caused by them.

The man in bed was clearly someone of deep cultivation — driven into qi deviation and then injuring Fourth Imperial Uncle in that state was entirely plausible.

But why would Fourth Imperial Uncle have been injured before he even arrived? Had he not been perfectly fine before?

“Yes. He already had a sword wound to his chest when he came. Had it not been for that, we…”

Though Xue Gu did not finish the thought, Feng Jiu’er understood her meaning perfectly.

If Fourth Imperial Uncle had not arrived already wounded, they might very well not have been able to stand against him.

But why had Fourth Imperial Uncle suffered a sword wound?

That wound to his chest — so deep it had very nearly reached his heart — whose hand had dealt it?