Chapter 177: No Nursing Needed

Every time the Pavilion Master of Tongtian Pavilion saw the photo, he loved to joke about this interesting law of heredity.

"You've mistaken me for someone else." She tensed her spine and took a half-step back, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the silver photo frame she carried with her.

A sudden flash of light erupted from the old man's cloudy eyes, and his calloused hand grabbed her wrist fiercely: "Xiao Xue, where is your brother Lin Yu? What exactly happened in this courtyard?"

Li Lin used the momentum to support her throbbing temple: "My name is Li Lin." Before the words had even faded, the old man had already nimbly picked up the unconscious Zhang Yuru, his bronze-colored face turning toward her with an unquestionable majesty: "Wait here!"

His pace as he turned and rushed toward the courtyard was even more vigorous than that of a young man.

The moment the vermilion-lacquered door creaked open, a thick, bloody stench rushed toward them.

Tang Yuanhui stared at the bloody person leaning against the grand master's chair, and Zhang Yuru almost slipped from his hands: "Sixth Brother, this injury of yours..."

Before he could finish, he was cut off by a hoarse bark: "Less nonsense!"

The sound of porcelain shattering came from the inner room, and the moment Wu Shuping lifted the curtain and stepped out, the old man almost dropped Zhang Yuru on the ground.

"Watch your mouth." The Mystic Hand coldly took Zhang Yuru, her dark red agate earrings tracing a sharp arc in the moonlight. Only after confirming that Tang Yuanhui had retreated to the corridor in a timid manner did she turn to stare at the thin figure deep in the alley.

"Do you really have to hate me so much?" Wu Shuping stuffed the blue and white porcelain bottle into Li Lin's palm, her usually steady voice revealing a trace of trembling.

The young girl turned her face away to wipe off her tears, the night wind whipping up her blood-stained hem: "Thanks to you, I am able to live as I am now."

A crimson pill rolled out of the porcelain bottle, melting into a scorching warm current the moment it entered her mouth.

Li Lin supported herself against the mottled brick wall and stood up, a suppressed sigh coming from behind her: "Your brother's meridians are completely severed." Her footsteps paused slightly, the moonlight casting fine, dark shadows on her eyelashes: "Being an ordinary person might not be a bad thing."

"Girl!" Wu Shuping's call snagged her figure just as it was about to disappear into the darkness. The old woman gripped the Taiji pendant on her chest tightly, twenty years of time carving deep gullies into the corners of her eyes: "Sending you to the Miao Frontier back then was my fault."

The moment a night owl swept past the withered branches, the young girl had already disappeared at the end of the alley, leaving only a few undried water stains on the bluestone slabs, reflecting the fish-belly white of the sky that was about to dawn.

Li Lin paused briefly at the entrance of Maiyi Lane, then dialed the emergency number.

An hour later, an ambulance wailed as it sent Zhang Yuru to the hospital, and Zhang Tianhua, who received the notification, felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

At this moment, he was guarding his wife, who was paralyzed by a stroke, and had to deal with his mentally unstable son; now, even his most beloved daughter had fallen into a coma.

The Zhang Clan, which once dominated the business world of Huacheng, was now swaying like a paper house in a storm.

At three in the morning, the doctor announced that Zhang Yuru had fallen into a deep sleep due to excessive fatigue, and Zhang Tianhua stared at the monitor with bloodshot eyes until the sky turned fish-belly white.

When the sunlight pierced through the hospital curtains, Zhang Yuru's eyelashes trembled slightly as she opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was her father's suddenly graying temples.

"Dad?" She looked at the unfamiliar hospital ceiling, "Why am I here?" Zhang Tianhua wiped away his tears with trembling hands and grabbed his coat to run out: "It's good that you're awake, the monitor on your mother's side is alarming."

After the ward returned to silence, Zhang Yuru tried to piece together the fragments of her memory.

The glass office on the top floor of the Zhang Group, the coffee cup overturned on her cousin Li Lin's desk, the sound of metal colliding as Long Jianfei's bodyguards locked the door—the memory stopped abruptly at a certain point.

She subconsciously touched her neck; the jade pendant gifted by Gongsan Pingbalang had vanished.

Her phone vibrated, interrupting her thoughts, and Li Lin's caller ID flashed into view.

"Cousin, are you okay? Did those kidnappers..." Zhang Yuru's rapid-fire questioning caused the other end of the line to fall into silence.

It was not until she heard the full story that Li Lin realized she had no impression of the incident at all.

After the call ended, Zhang Yuru endured the intense pain throughout her body and tried to contact Lin Yu.

Listening to the mechanical power-off prompt, she struggled to get up, but collapsed back onto the hospital bed as if she had been run over by a truck.

At this moment, inside the Jubao Pavilion on Miao Street, Han Feifei was feeling cold as she faced the empty sandalwood box; the Night Wanderer jade carving had mysteriously disappeared.

"Miss Han, please stay!" Superintendent Lin Yuhua blocked the door, the jade carving inside the transparent evidence bag glowing with a ghostly light.

Following his gaze, bundles of cash were scattered on the bluestone road, the cracks on the wall were three inches deep, and a faint smell of gunpowder permeated the air.

Han Feifei reached out to snatch back the dagger, but Lin Yuhua dodged to the side and held the evidence bag high: "All evidence must go through the process; I need to give everyone an explanation."

She stared at the cold-glinting blade and urged repeatedly: "Brother Yang, you must keep it safe!"

The public security officer frowned while recording; last night, the city-wide surveillance had collectively malfunctioned, and hundreds of bizarre car accidents had caused the duty room to explode.

Most terrifying was the scene at Century Avenue where forty cars collided in a chain reaction; the drivers all said it was as if an invisible force was controlling their steering wheels.

Lin Yuhua closed the file, looking at the glaring nine-petal chrysanthemum dark pattern on the evidence photo, his temple throbbing.

Five days later, the 'Night Wanderer' dagger was returned to its owner. The official announcement classified the traffic paralysis as a coincidence, but the public heatedly discussed how the demolition of Miao Street had broken the Feng Shui formation.

The divestment statement from Jiugong Dongye, the new president of Hanfang Pharmaceutical, was like stamping a seal on the rumors.

The opposition took the opportunity to besiege Jiang Yicheng's office, demanding that the leader resign to take responsibility.

In Maiyi Lane, Lin Yu suddenly opened his eyes amidst the sandalwood incense.

His fingertips unconsciously brushed over the bedding, his mind surging with the five great mysterious gate secret arts such as the Tongtian Scripture and the Shaking Dragon Classic, the internal breath congested in his meridians like a dormant volcano.

The sudden outburst of arguing outside interrupted his epiphany.

"The agreement is torn up; it's not your turn to wipe him down."

"Who do you think you are to him? A savior? I am his fiancée."

Tang Yiyan stood akimbo at the door with dark circles under her eyes, the image of her being carried into the medical hall covered in blood seven days ago still vivid in her mind. Han Feifei's hand gripping the hot towel had bulging veins, until she heard movement from the bed.

"Both of you, get out." Lin Yu's hoarse voice made both women freeze.

When Tang Yiyan rushed to the edge of the bed, he was staring at the beam of light penetrating the cracks in the window lattice, Wu Shuping's warning echoing in his ears: Emptying the meridians might make you a cripple, but forcibly keeping the internal breath is equivalent to self-imprisonment.

Han Feifei retreated into the shadows, watching Tang Yiyan shake the awakened man while crying and laughing, her fingernails digging deeply into her palms.

If he continued to practice forcibly, Lin Yu would not only completely lose his cultivation foundation, but might also become a cripple due to completely severed meridians.

"Yiyan, your arm is pressing on my Qi pulse." Lin Yu patted the young girl's back with a pale face. Tang Yiyan, however, seemed not to hear, her arms tightening like iron hoops, almost suffocating him.

After the young girl's emotions stabilized slightly, Lin Yu turned to the beautiful figure standing quietly in the corridor: "When did Senior Sister Han arrive?"

"Just passing by to take a look." Han Feifei placed the medicine box on the windowsill, her sleeves rolling like a butterfly as she turned, "Since there's nothing wrong, I'm going back to the medical hall."

Tang Yiyan suddenly burst into a laugh: "Didn't you say the day before yesterday that you wanted to take turns with me to look after him?"

"Presumptuous!" A cold glint flashed between Han Feifei's fingers, and three silver needles were already suspended at her fingertips.

Lin Yu hurriedly blocked the space between the two: "Both of you go back; I don't need nursing right now."

After the two women left, Lin Yu sat cross-legged to circulate his internal breath. The True Qi that used to surge like a river was now solidified like lead, and no matter how he urged it, there was no reaction at all. ===== CHAPTER 178 =====