Chapter 18: Master of Arguments

Shu Qi called for Shu Wan to come over. Shu Wan did not dare to refuse and obediently complied, thinking she could find an opportunity to leave early. If she resisted, Shu Qi would hold her back, and Yi Chenlan would be in danger.

Although he had the Blazing Sun True Qi to protect him and wouldn’t be easily subdued by someone pointing at his acupoints like in the books, Chen Tao was too poisonous. Yi Chenlan, being gentle and simple, would surely suffer if he confronted him.

Shu Wan thought to herself that she should resolve this quickly. She stepped forward, tilted her small face, and asked Shu Qi: “Father, is there anything else you need?”

Shu Qi gently patted her head and said: “Wan Wan, yesterday Father passed the Eternal Slash to Ah Lan and forbade you from practicing it. Aren’t you the slightest bit upset?”

“I’m not upset.” Shu Wan replied. “You said I’m not suited to practice the Eternal Slash. Although I feel a little regretful, I’m not angry.”

A bitter smile appeared on Shu Qi’s lips. He had taught his child to be too honest, and now, he found himself unable to express his frustrations. “Wan Wan, if anything makes you unhappy, you don’t have to hold it in. My daughter should be spoiled and assertive. Even if you act a little willful, that’s fine. If something I did makes you sad, you must not keep it to yourself.”

Shu Wan obediently nodded. “I understand, Father. If I’m upset, I will tell you.”

“Mm… Wan Wan, you and your Senior Brother Ah Lan have a good relationship, don’t you?” Shu Qi sighed and, seemingly casually, asked.

Shu Wan felt a slight sweat on her palms and, after observing his expression, carefully answered: “I get along well with all my Senior Brothers. Father taught us to love one another as siblings, and I remember that.”

“But your Senior Brother Ah Lan is different. You’re not from the same path.” Shu Qi patiently lectured. “He is alive because of the mercy of the world. He carries the blood of lowly origins, and being too close to him will inevitably taint you. Promise Father that you won’t get too close to him in the future.”

Shu Wan secretly clenched her fist, lowered her head, and obediently replied: “I understand, Father.”

“That’s my good daughter.” Shu Qi finally showed a hint of a pleased smile.

“Father, may I go practice with Senior Brother Ah Yang now?” Shu Wan became increasingly anxious, but she didn’t dare to let Shu Qi notice, so she pretended to be eager to practice.

Shu Qi nodded. “Go ahead, but don’t overexert yourself. Practice to a reasonable extent.”

After stepping out and walking a few steps, Shu Wan clutched her stomach. Facing Jiang Yang, she began her act with complete ease. “Senior Brother Ah Yang… you go ahead. I have a bit of a stomachache. I’ll be there soon.”

Jiang Yang turned back with concern and asked: “Is it serious? Should I help you back to your room?”

“No, no, I’ll be fine soon. I just need to rest a bit.” Shu Wan waved her hands at him repeatedly. “You go ahead and practice.”

Jiang Yang had always been rather thick-skinned and didn’t suspect a thing. As soon as he left, Shu Wan immediately straightened up and ran in the opposite direction.

…

Chen Tao saw that Yi Chenlan’s expression remained unchanged and assumed he was unaware of the danger he was in. Chuckling softly, he pulled out a bright red venomous snake from his pouch, letting it slowly coil up his arm. “Young Master Yi probably doesn’t know its name, does he? This snake is called the ‘Bloodbinding Snake.’ Once it bites, it won’t let go unless you tear out a chunk of flesh.”

He laughed heartily. “And if its poison enters the body, that’s even more interesting. The whole body—”

“The whole body feels as if scorched by raging fire. Every inch of flesh and bone is as if cut by a thousand blades. This poison has no cure. It flares up once every three months, and each time, one must endure it for eighteen full hours.” Yi Chenlan slightly raised his long ink-black eyebrows, his already striking features growing even more dazzling. A cheerful lilt laced his words. “Hall Master Chen, did I get it right?”

Still unable to detect the slightest trace of fear on Yi Chenlan’s face, Chen Ta’s anger began to simmer. He shook out his pouch, and over a dozen blood-red little snakes immediately spilled onto the ground.

He watched as the snakes slowly slithered onto Yi Chenlan’s robe hem, crawling up to his waist, and even continuing to climb higher. “Young Master Yi is well-read, but only through personal experience can memories be truly deepened.”

The cold, slimy sensation was as nauseating as ever, yet Yi Chenlan appeared utterly unbothered. He slightly tilted his head back, feeling the disgusting creatures about to crawl into his collar…

“Stop!”

A crisp, commanding voice rang out. Chen Tao turned his head and saw Shu Wan approaching quickly with a face full of cold fury.

From ten steps away, Shu Wan saw several red snakes crawling over Yi Chenlan’s azure robe, with one nearly slipping into his collar. Her mind erupted with a loud “boom”—she had no time to think about how he had Blazing Sun True Qi to protect his body but was still immobilized. She immediately rushed forward.

Suppressing her fear, she grabbed Yi Chenlan’s hand, transferring nearly fifty percent of her Internal Energy into him. The Blazing Sun True Qi within Yi Chenlan surged in an instant, violently expelling all the snakes from his body.

“Ahhhh!” Two snake corpses slammed straight onto Shu Wan’s body. She was so frightened by the slimy, soft sensation that she shut her eyes and screamed: “Help! Help!”

Suddenly, her body tilted, and Yi Chenlan pulled her back two steps, away from the snake corpses. His voice sounded by her ear, low and deep: “Wan Wan, it’s over.”

Shu Wan cautiously opened one eye. As expected, all the snakes were completely dead. Without looking closely at Yi Chenlan’s expression, she was already boiling over with lingering fear and fury. She shouted at Chen Tao: “Hall Master Chen, bullying my sect’s Disciple on Zhongshan Sect’s territory and using such despicable methods—have you no shame!”

Chen Tao already felt heartache seeing all the snakes he had painstakingly raised lying dead. Now being yelled at by a mere young girl, he couldn’t keep his face straight, and his anger flared even more. “Miss Shu, you are truly young and ignorant beyond measure. Do you even know what kind of thing you’re defending? Didn’t your father teach you anything? That man is nothing more than a vessel for venting anger, and you’re treasuring him like some precious gem—aren’t you afraid of soiling your own reputation?”

Shu Wan stepped forward two steps. “Hall Master Chen, watch your words! Yi Chenlan is my father’s inner Disciple, a status that others could only dream of. And yet in your mouth, it’s somehow disgraceful? My father taught me only to respect my seniors—he never taught me any of that filthy nonsense you just said!”

“My father holds Senior Brother Ah Lan in great affection. Haven’t you heard? The Eternal Slash inheritance of our sect was bestowed upon him alone, as a birthday gift no less. Even I didn’t receive it. If he learns of how you just humiliated his beloved disciple, do you really think he’d still entertain your request?”

Shu Wan paused briefly, gritted her teeth, and continued her fabricated claims. “Don’t assume others are as petty as yourself. My father is a noble and upright man, wholeheartedly devoted to cultivating Senior Brother Ah Lan. All that garbage about venting and whatnot—you’d best take it all back. My father is not that vile!”

Chen Ta’s face turned pale, then flushed red under her scolding. When he recalled the Eternal Slash, a trace of resentment flashed across his expression. “What do you know? Brother Shu must have his own reasons for doing so!”

Shu Wan loathed him immensely in her heart. “That still has nothing to do with you. Hall Master Chen, why don’t you clean up your snakes and get lost? Standing around here—are you trying to test my Blazing Sun True Qi? Do you want me to use you to vent instead?”

Everyone in the Jianghu knew the fearsome power of Blazing Sun True Qi. Shu Wan watched with satisfaction as Chen Tao hastily gathered up the snake corpses. Though his eyes burned with resentment, he still left unwillingly.

Shu Wan turned back to look at Yi Chenlan. He seemed to have been watching her the whole time, his gaze incredibly gentle, and somehow slightly different from the gentleness he showed before… Shu Wan didn’t think too much of it. She rushed up, grabbed his hand, and asked anxiously: “Are you okay? Did you get bitten? Let me see!”

As she spoke, she reached out to pull open Yi Chenlan’s collar.

At this moment, Yi Chenlan finally showed a panic he hadn’t even had when facing venomous snakes. He grabbed both of Shu Wan’s small hands with one of his own, and with the other, he covered the bit of collar she had just tugged open. “…No need to look. I wasn’t bitten.”

Why would he be shy at a time like this?! Even if he wasn’t covered in bites like the characters in books, any broken skin couldn’t be taken lightly!

Shu Wan was so anxious she felt like she was burning up. She yanked her hands free and slapped his hand away. “Take your hand off! Take off your clothes and let me see! The wound needs to be treated immediately!”

Yi Chenlan was utterly helpless. He gently took Shu Wan’s hand again and reassured her: “Wan Wan, I’m not lying to you. I really wasn’t bitten. Those snakes only crawled on my clothes—they didn’t touch me.”

He was probably telling the truth. The Bloodbinding Snake’s venom acted fast. If he’d truly been bitten, he wouldn’t even be able to stand properly by now.

Even so, Shu Wan needed one more confirmation. “Really okay? If you lie, you’re a puppy.”

Yi Chenlan smiled. “I’m okay.”

“Good. But you clearly weren’t struck on the acupoints, so why did you just stand there and let him bully you?!” With her heart now at ease, Shu Wan immediately began to bring up past grievances.

Just now, in a panic, she had transferred fifty percent of her Internal Energy into Yi Chenlan, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to break through the sealed acupoints. But the moment she touched him, she discovered that Yi Chenlan’s meridians were clear and unobstructed—he hadn’t been struck at all.

And the surge of True Qi she sent was so strong that it directly blasted the snakes to death…

Faced with Shu Wan’s questioning, Yi Chenlan’s lashes trembled slightly, but he remained silent. In truth, he had been waiting for this day for a long time, and had already prepared the right poison for it. This time, he would “die” from the poison, and his corpse would certainly be thrown out. That way, he could completely break away from Zhongshan Sect.

Although it might be a bit painful, in his past life he had already developed a suppressing antidote for the Bloodbinding Snake’s venom. Using poison to fight poison, it wasn’t really a big deal to him.

After giving up on using Shu Wan as part of his plan, he had come up with this method—which, at the moment, was the fastest option.

But unexpectedly, the intense pain that should have made life worse than death never came. This time, he wasn’t even injured.

Yi Chenlan moved his lips and, feeling a bit guilty, told a lie. “Actually… I didn’t dare activate my True Qi… I was afraid it would damage my meridians even more…”

Shu Wan suddenly realized and immediately felt regretful. Blazing Sun True Qi was indeed strong and vigorous, but her family’s little villain still hadn’t fully recovered—being unable to summon his True Qi was completely reasonable. How could she have scolded him?

“I’m sorry…” Shu Wan awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “Senior Brother Ah Lan… I guess I was still kind of angry just now… so my tone was a little harsh. But! I wasn’t actually mad at you! I was just scared you were being too stubborn and letting yourself get bullied over something that has nothing to do with you…”

Yi Chenlan lowered his head to look at her. The soft, delicate girl didn’t even reach his shoulder. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and her clear eyes held a hint of grievance and worry as she looked up at him earnestly.

Something seemed to strike the softest part of his chest. His heart, unavoidably, caved in just a little.

His expression grew incomparably gentle, and he parted his lips to softly say: “I know you weren’t mad at me, you…”

The rest of the words lingered on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t know how to continue. Just as he was pondering, Yi Chenlan’s gaze suddenly sharpened. In a flash, he pulled Shu Wan into his arms and abruptly leapt backward—