Chapter 70

WARNING:  VIOLENCE

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The moment Zhanhua came to Mingyue Palace, Liyi was sweeping the front yard. It was already evening. She was amazed to find him there. "Master Yue, you're here?"

"Hi, Liyi, can I talk to your master?"

Liyi scratched her head. "But, my master is not here at the palace."

Zhanhua pursed his thin lips in dismay and turned to go. Probably Shen Nuo was with Li Yan at his residence...

But suddenly his face went bloodless in an instant. Wait, did Liyi say 'not in the palace'???

Zhanhua turned back at the speed of lightning and grasped from Liyi's shoulders tightly. His face was frightening. "Where did he go!!?"

Liyi was horrified that even the broom slipped off her hands. "Master... He went to Lincheng..."

Blood drained off Zhanhua's face, making it look ghostly pale. He took a lame step back in incredulous disbelief.

No...

How can this be...

To the worst of his nightmares...

He has to hurry up...

"Liyi! Give this to his majesty and tell him Shen Nuo is at Lincheng!"

He threw his light blue jade tassel carved with the character 悦 (Yue). Then he immediately rushed back. Liyi was confused. What was up it him? She did not know. But still she dutifully went to do what she was asked to do.

And not far away, at the town of Lincheng...

Shen Nuo backed with nervous steps, feeling nauseous. His hand that was tightened to his stomach trembled. After having had to run for several lanes, he felt like retching. His face looked horrified. And tears stained his eyes. At the damp secluded, abandoned path, he was confronted by thirty or so men who were more than six feet tall.

Shen Nuo would often habitually sneak in disguise to taste the delicacies and street food at Lincheng and laze around than just being at the palace feeding carps.

It had been so fun. And so far, he didn't run to any danger either. But who would have thought he would suddenly be confronted by a gang this day?

The moment he realized he was being watched by unfriendly eyes and was being secretly followed, he realized he was going to get in trouble. Who were they? They were dark skinned and burly than ordinary men, with frightening scarred faces.

He couldn't give a thought to this. But he knew there were many people who wanted him killed.

His only hope was to flee back to the palace unscathed. He regretted not informing Jinyu at least before he sneaked here. But he was in a turmoil. Lincheng was so big. He was not familiar with every secluded path here. Soon he found himself surrounded.

Shen Nuo tried to fight back. But maybe due to pregnancy, he wasn't strong as before. And how can he match the speed and strength of thirty strong men? He was caught and was firmly restrained.

He was forced to kneel on the hard gravel earth. The supple skin at the knees got scraped as they rubbed against the hard ground. He screamed in pain.

The leader of the gang tightened his hairy callused palm against Shen Nuo's mouth to stop him from screaming. Shen Nuo only felt nauseous and loathsome. So smelly... He bit down the hand hard until blood gushed out.

"Tsssss." The man sucked in a cold breath, hissing in pain and slapped Shen Nuo across the face. The slap wasn't light.  Shen Nuo was thrown completely onto the floor. He screamed in pain again, tightening his trembling hand against his stomach that felt like stinging.

The leader of the gang smiled viciously. "Oh, look who we've caught? Isn't this the favoured consort of the emperor?"

The rest clapped and hooted in excitement. Their excitement wasn't merely for catching him. Shen Nuo realized it soon. His heart tightened.

The leader slowly walked to him and crouched down reaching to his pitiful height. "Do you know how hard it was to keep in track of your pleasant evening city stroll schedule for half an year without you getting us noticed? But it's a complement. It really was your ill fate this day and dared to come out without your guards."

Shen Nuo narrowed his eyes. "Who's the person behind you? Empress? Prime minister?"

The man laughed. It looked very ugly. "Do I have to say that too? Why don't you care to think what we will do to you?"

Shen Nuo gritted his teeth and smiled. "Come here!"

"..." The man was stunned. Why would he call him closer? But the man looked very enthusiastic. Whatever... Since the slender figure in front of him looks extremely beautiful, he won't loose...

He leaned down closer and brought his face to Shen Nuo. It was very close... So close...

"Aaaaaargh - thuh!" Shen Nuo spat on the face of that man.

"!!!" That man slowly wiped the wetness off his face, the inner demon returning to his self. His eyes flashed in a dangerous light as he stared at the consort who lied weakly in the middle of the road, bearing his sharp fangs like a white tiger. "You really have some guts, don't you?" He asked tightening his jaws. "Good. Let's see for how long!" He leisurely sat on a broken pillar that was by the side of the road with one leg over the other.

"Just end him." He said wiping his hands unconcernedly. "And play with him if you want. But be quick!"

Shen Nuo's eyes were at the verge of tearing. Soon his mouth was gagged completely shutting him from screaming. Only hoarse sounds of gurgles left his lips as he kicked his legs struggling in vain.

One of the gang men pressed him down and knelt down with Shen Nuo's waist between his legs and tore Shen Nuo's chest lapels apart. The man buried head in Shen Nuo's neck.

Shen Nuo was traumatized. He was too much in shock. His eyes went blurry in tears and the vision shifted. He did not clearly remember what happened afterwards. Only fragments of his broken memories flashed past his eyes. May be it was just a moments' torture, or for hours.

He did not know...

But at some unknown moment, he was faintly aware of screams and the sound of a fight. He was roughly pulled up by a strong arm and his head banged onto a sturdy chest that smelt somehow familiar amid the cruel smell of blood. A sticky wetness smeared on his face before he slowly realized it was blood. His consciousness slowly returned.

When he opened his eyes and his vision cleared, he found himself hugging that person tightly, with tears falling like a river. And that person's strong pair of arms was wrapped around his waist. That person was firmly pressing him against the roadside wall. Seeing that Shen Nuo was awake, that person spoke in a weary whisper. "Consort Shen, you really chose the right time to sneak out of the palace, didn't you?"

"!!!" Shen Nuo's eyes widened in horror. That voice...

Zhanhua...

Zhanhua smiled bitterly, pressing him even more onto the wall behind him. "If I were a minute late, you would have been raped..."

It was true. The moment Zhanhua arrived, he went thunderstruck at the sight. Luckily he was just in time. But he rushed here in a hurry, and didn't bring his sword. Since the day Shendu nearly crushed his core at the Spring Hunt, he was barely able to use his physical strength let alone cultivation.

But it looked as if the gang men were too reluctant to let go of the orders they've received and wanted Shen Nuo anyhow dead.

So he had to fight... He was able to save Shen Nuo from the grasp of them after fighting for his death. But his powers were slowly weakening, and the half healed wounds over his body from injuries before, all got scraped and torn over. How can he match the gang in this state? He only wanted to stall time until Li Yan comes. And he didn't have any strength left in him. So he simply pressed the little consort against the wall, shielding him with his tall body.

But in the attempt -

He got repeatedly stabbed. His shoulder, waist, back, legs,  Every time he was stabbed, his entire body trembled.

Shen Nuo was thunderstruck. Why isn't this person fighting? "You!" He tried to lamely grope his hands down the back of Zhanhua's waist. His hands got drenched with blood. He wanted to look at Zhanhua's back. This was serious.

"Don't..." Zhanhua whispered hoarsely, pinning Shen Nuo's wrists against the rough walls. "Don't look. It's frightening..." His voice was gradually weakening, just like how his eyes slowly unfocussed. "You... You'll be scared..."

"But -"

"Shhhhh!" Zhanhua smiled painful, pressing his bloodstained fingertips against Shen Nuo's lip. "I informed His Majesty before I came here. It's going to be fine, ok? He'll be here soon. Until..." Blood lines left his lips and mingled with the scorching tears that seethed down his chin. "Untill then, I won't let anything happen to you..."

These words burned Shen Nuo's heart. He suddenly remembered. After nearly getting his core crushed by Shendu that day, Zhanhua's powers weakened drastically. How can he really fight thirty or so men?

So that cold evening, to shield Shen Nuo, Zhanhua got thirteen deadly stabs from a rusted poisoned knife. He pulled out an alarming cracker from his chest lapels and weakly shot it into the sky. The sky bursted out in brilliant sparks of fire, brightening the eve.

Then he collapsed onto the hard floor tiles with his dress drenched with blood.

It was when suddenly the entire glade exploded in waves of a terrible internal force. The pillars by the roadside cracked and crumpled down in dusts and bits. The roofs of abandoned houses were as if caught in the wind and fire. Shen Nuo felt his hair stand on the end, a chilling shudder running down to the marrow of his bones.

The place where the gang was now left with a bloody mess, with internal organs spreading all over the road amid the strong smell of blood. It was an unpleasant sight.

Shen Nuo took cover under the eaves of the chestnut tree and fell onto his knees, tightening the back of his palm against his mouth, feeling nauseous.

It was Li Yan. In his hand was a light blue jade tassel with the character Yue carved upon it. Zhangsun followed behind, his bushy brows creased.

When Shen Nuo saw that Li Yan was already there, he quickly turned to Zhanhua and pulled his head onto his trembling lap. Zhanhua's eyes were already unfocussed as he lamely lied with his bleeding head. The blood stained Shen Nuo's dress red. Shen Nuo was crying as he hugged that bleeding head to his chest.

"ZHANHUAAA! WAKE UP!!!"

Zhanhua's mouth started bleeding soon afterwards and he lost his consciousness. Shen Nuo shook his head furiously in terror. "No! Zhanhua! You look at me, hey!"

After dealing with the rouges, Li  Yan immediately hurried towards Shen Nuo. His face looked unusually pale. "Nuo Nuo, are you... Are you alright?" His voice was very hoarse, with apprehension written all over his face.

Shen Nuo pushed Li Yan away. "I'm fine!' He cried out hoarsely, tears streaming down his eyes. "Li Yan! Save Zhanhua! Please!"

Li Yan's heart was also in a mess. He carefully looked and Shen Nuo and made sure he had no injuries.  Then Li Yan knelt down in front of Zhanhua who was lying on a pool of blood as if he was dead. His face was paler than a ghost. Li Yan grasped from his wrist and checked the pulse. He faintly felt that there was still a bit of life left within Zhanhua.

But the wounds were serious and he was stabbed in all the vital points of his body, leaving no chance for any survival it seems. But luckily, in this state, the person he encountered was not an ordinary cultivator. It was the emperor.

Li Yan pursed his thin lips. "Zhangsun, take Consort Shen away. His knees are wounded. I want the doctor to treat him." His voice slightly trembled.

Zhangsun, the emperor's personal body guard bowed, tightening his jaws. He turned to Shen Nuo. "Consort Shen, please follow me."

Shen Nuo was still crying, reluctant to leave. "But Zhanhua..."

"He will be fine!" Li Yan shouted angrily. "You leave first!"

Shen Nuo was shuddering. This was the first time Li Yan raised his voice to him after so many months. It was very frightening. Shen Nuo's tearful eyes were red to the point of dripping with blood. His shuddering body was at the verge of collapsing.

Zhangsun finally hit the side of the neck of Shen Nuo. Shen Nuo immediately went lame, loosing his consciousness and fell onto Zhangsun's arms. "Forgive me, Consort Shen." He whispered, carefully pulling Shen Nuo into a bridal carry.

Li Yan was watching with red eyes. "Take him to my chamber." He spoke hoarsely. "And I want you to guard the room until my return."

"But your majesty..."

"I'll be fine, and send someone to investigate the murderers' origin."

Zhangsun silently left with the sleeping Consort in his arms.

Li Yan sat crosslegged on the bloodstained earth and carefully pulled Zhanhua onto his lap. Zhanhua groaned in pain. Li Yan pulled Zhanhua's hairpin and slashed his wrist with it, causing his precious blood to spurt out. A single drop of his blood worth a thousand gallons of ordinary blood after he cultivated the Phoenix Scrolls which gave him extraordinary powers. One power was healing...

He knew in his heart that Zhanhua really had gone far beyond his help this time. Not even the imperial doctor could save him. But, this should work right?

He knew he will suffer with every single drop of blood that he was going to loose. But, still he hugged Zhanhua closer and pressed his bleeding wrist against Zhanhua's pale bloodstained lips.

Zhanhua didn't move for a while. Then as if being tempted, his lips trembled before his teeth bore into Li Yan's wrist, earnestly sucking the blood as if it was the last thread of hope in his life of misery...

It was pain. Li Yan's wrist twitched. "Let you go this time and help you only because you shielded him from the stabs..." Li Yan narrowed his eyes, pressing his other palm against Zhanhua's blood soaked chest. A faint gleam of a golden light gathered at his palm and disappeared slowly into Zhanhua's chest.

That evening when Li Yan returned on his steed with Zhanhua lying on his stomach on the saddle with his legs and head limply swaying by the sides, Shen Nuo pleaded to let him check Zhanhua's wounds.

He had been crying at the imperial chamber for hours and his face was already red with dark circles around his eyes. Li Yan did not doubt Shen Nuo's amazing skills in medicine arts. He pursed his lips and nodded. "Okay. Let me know if there are necessities you want."

Shen Nuo was very thankful. He didn't waste even a minute and went to Zhanhua's residence with his medicine box.

This incident stirred a considerable amount of shock in the palace. It was obvious the murderer was aiming at the pregnant consort and Minister Yue who had been passing by, was able to shield him from getting hurt. But everyone knew that he had to get hurt while he was doing it. They had pity towards him.

That night, Shen Nuo wringed the bloodstained handkerchief into the water basin. It stained the water basin with red. He couldn't help but feel his heart tighten.

Luckily the blood had started to clot by the burning ginseng he used. And strangely, Zhanhua had recovered a lot it seems. But still Zhanhua's face looked pale. Shen Nuo started to cleanse the wounds of the stabs again. His eyes were burning with tears. Helping a bit is fine. But why would Zhanhua go this far? Isn't this a bit... Too much?

He was the only one in the room apart from Zhanhua. For Shen Nuo's relief, others had left him alone and didn't disturb his sessions. So no one was there to see the tears that frosted his eyes.

He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve, pushing his hair to the back of his head. He couldn't help but slowly rub Zhanhua's scarred cheeks with his fingertips. Suddenly his wrist was grasped and Zhanhua opened his eyes. The ends of his eyes were stained with tears.

Shen Nuo's gulped. "You're awake."

Zhanhua took a deep ragged breath and his entire body trembled in pain. He slowly clasped his palm with Shen Nuo and interlocked his fingers with him. "Consort Shen is fine. This subject is very happy." He stretched his pale lips into a painful smile. "My struggle worths it."

Shen Nuo's lips trembled, just like his fingertips that were trembling against Zhanhua's.

There was only the silence of the night. Somewhere outside in the yard, there was the quiet sound of water drops dripping down the drain as the soft raindrops gently splayed down the dark sky.

"Zhanhua... You did that intentionally, right?" Tears poured down Shen Nuo's eyes. "You could have knocked all those men just within few moves, after all, you had the power but still..."

Zhanhua's face was extremely pale. He only painfully smiled. He didn't say anything for a long time. "Consort Shen, this minister was blinded and couldn't fathom out what to do back then. I'm embarrassed I've made Consort Shen worry over me. I -"

SLAP - !!!

Zhanhua's face tilted to the side. It wasn't too hard but nor too light. Shen Nuo glared at him. "Messing around, are you?"

"..." Zhanhua wearily closed his eyes, turning away. "Don't treat me good. I'm afraid I'll crave for it more."

Shen Nuo was really drawn mad this time. "Then what about you? Does not your own words count on you any more? Look at now how you are!"

Zhanhua furrowed his brows. "Would you regret me saving you then? Consort Shen, we are ... different. I'm just a lone wolf. Even if I die, there's no one who would miss me. But you are loved and doted by everyone. Besides, your child is yet to be born. It's a pity if you were in my place. So yeah, I have no regrets for this. I did it at my own will. Please do not worry over my worthless life anymore."

Shen Nuo couldn't take it anymore. Did Zhanhua say worthless? He furiously wiped away his tears again. "Zhanhua's, I'd miss you..."

Zhanhua's face revealed sorrow as he fixed them weakly at the consort. "I don't deserve your pity."

Shen Nuo trembled, sniffling. Li Yan had warned him several times before. He warned him not to leave the palace without informing him. He warned not to run around without Jinyu or Zhangsun. But Shen Nuo didn't listen. He didn't listen to Li Yan at all.

And now...

This was the result...

Shen Nuo bit his lower lip, tightening his eyes. "I'm sorry, ok?" He whispered hoarsely. "It was my fault. I'm sorry."

Zhanhua opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he decided to remain quiet. But his pale fingers that were interlocked by Shen Nuo, tightened even more.

Shen Nuo smiled bitterly amid tears. "What's wrong of caring and looking out for each other?" He whispered again, pressing his shuddering lips against the back of Zhanhua's palm. "You were my best friend when we were small. You often looked after me. And still you do. I don't care anymore. Zhanhua, I only want you to be safe. So from today onwards, let me also care for you, look after you and be your friend."

He lowered his head and gently kissed Zhanhua's cheek with full of brotherly love revealed. But that moment when unexpectedly the door slid open and Li Yan entered inside, due to the angle he saw everything, he was stunned.

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