Chapter 13: The Truth Emerges
Du Yu had seen martial artists fight before. To be precise, he had seen his Junior Sister fight Tie Yuan from the Iron Palm Sect. Although he had seen his Junior Sister practice swordsmanship, he had never truly felt the weight of the words “Martial” and “Chivalry.”
When he saw Tie Yuan split the large rock his Junior Sister was using as cover in half with a single palm strike, leaving a pit one-third of a finger deep in the mud, his eyelids twitched involuntarily. That gave him a direct sense of the intensity of martial arts in this world.
Those truly powerful martial artists could indeed be a one-man army. Twenty years ago, the generational demon Ye Lengxing set out from the Lingnan Circuit and killed her way to the capital region alone, slaughtering countless monks, Daoists, boxers, swordsmen, and bladesmen… There was a nursery rhyme that sang, “From south to north, red flowers of flesh bloomed everywhere.”
It was said that Ye Lengxing fed on human flesh and blood along the way. Whenever she arrived in a new city, she would force the local people to offer virgin boys and girls. She would twist off the children’s heads in public and drink their fresh blood like water. Perhaps thanks to this, she maintained peak condition throughout sixty-four consecutive days of intense combat, and even after being defeated by several grand eunuchs from the palace working together, she managed to retreat unscathed.
Therefore, Du Yu dared not underestimate any high-level martial artist, nor did he dare to underestimate this poison forest originating from some supreme poison kung fu.
The deeper he went into the poison forest, the harder the ground became. It could no longer be called mud; calling it iron ground would be an underestimation. There were large and small gullies and pits on the ground, obviously existing before this place became a poison forest, all frozen forever at the moment the poison erupted.
Du Yu could see footprints of various sizes, too messy for him to extract useful clues. As Du Yu went deeper, the burning sensation in his wrist became more severe. At first, he thought it was a side effect of the Boundless Art circulating, but when he was less than a hundred meters from the center of the poison forest, a fiery, intense pain came from his left wrist.
He looked down and saw that the edge of the centipede-shaped mark on his left hand had turned crimson, as if it were about to peel off from his skin.
At a time like this, the first thought in Du Yu’s mind was actually: So it’s not a birthmark… I thought it was a birthmark.
The next second, starting from that centipede mark, surging poisonous fire flooded into Du Yu’s internal organs. This pain was exactly the same as the backlash he experienced when practicing martial arts.
So it was you, you bastard… he said in his heart.
After that, Du Yu lost consciousness.
Before falling into deep darkness, Du Yu vaguely seemed to see himself being placed on a bed, and a white-haired little girl standing outside the door looking at him curiously…
***
When he woke up again, he saw the dim top of a bed. The canopy of the yellow rosewood bed frame looked old and red in the dim light, with carvings of dragons and phoenixes bringing prosperity. The air was filled with a strong smell of medicine.
He opened his mouth, his throat dry as if roasted by fire.
“Water…”
“Brother Yu!” “Yu’er!” “Third Brother!”
As soon as he spoke, multiple voices calling him rang in his ears. Du Yu was helped up from the bed by someone’s hand, while another hand carefully brought him a bowl of sweet well water. The rim of the bowl was cold, and Du Yu accidentally bit it, hurting his gums.
After drinking the water, Du Yu’s body gradually recovered, and the Boundless Art, which had been running at high temperature, gradually subsided. He looked closely and saw his remorseful Junior Sister and Du Yao, whose eyes were completely covered by hair, sitting by the bed. On the other side stood a sweating Du Ying and the Grand Master.
“Brother Yu, Senior Brother, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have thrown a tantrum with you… I should have stayed with you… You don’t know martial arts, I should have protected you… Boohoo…” Du Yu’s eyes moved slightly. Although he was touched, he hoped Gongsun Ruo would stop talking; it was a bit heart-stabbing.
“Third Brother, you scared me to death. You absolutely cannot have anything happen to you…” Du Ying finally caught his breath. He was still counting on his brother to stay and replace him.
The Grand Master kicked Du Ying. “You scoundrel, cursing my grandson, are you!”
“Grandpa, I was wrong, I was wrong…” He didn’t forget to mutter, “I’m your grandson too…”
Of the four, Du Yao was the calmest and most restrained. She brushed aside her bangs indifferently, revealing her dark, deep eyes. “Third Brother, you shouldn’t have gone to the Scorched Land Forest.”
Du Yu shook his head. “That’s not the Scorched Land Forest; that’s a poison forest. Entrusted by Master, for the safety of the Lotus Seed Town residents, I must find out the source of the poison forest. If possible, it’s best to eliminate it…”
Du Yao said, “Fortunately, I didn’t take a nap at that time and took people to fish you out immediately. You looked terrifying back then, Third Brother, red all over, your body hot as a fireball.”
The Grand Master also said, “Yu’er, that Scorched Land Forest has been there for seven or eight years and hasn’t caused any disaster. In my opinion, even if it is a poison forest, if we leave it alone for ten or twenty years, the poison will probably dissipate.” He was persuading Du Yu not to think about the poison forest anymore.
Gongsun Ruo also chimed in, “Yeah, yeah, Brother Yu. Even if we have to deal with it, it won’t be too late to wait for Master to come back…” Suddenly realizing that maybe Master couldn’t handle it either, she changed her tune, “If worst comes to worst, we can go to the county town to report to the officials and beat the drum in front of the Yamen…”
Du Yu already had other ideas in his mind. He looked calmly at his left wrist. The centipede-shaped mark on it had turned back to a deep flesh color, looking exactly like a birthmark.
He was very certain that the poison in that forest and the backlash he suffered when practicing martial arts came from the same source. He had once envied those high-flying martial arts experts and begged Master to teach him martial arts. Master had no choice but to get a manual of Iron Sand Palm from the neighboring Iron Palm Sect. Du Yu practiced for a few days before the poisonous fire attacked his heart, nearly costing him half his life. Since then, Du Yu knew that he could never learn martial arts in this life. Not only were his meridians broken, but once he used internal energy to circulate techniques, he would suffer severe pain and high fever.
This was because someone had poisoned him. The poisoner was the one who created the poison forest.
His heart was pounding, and he felt a sense of astonishment as if his world had been overturned. The things he was familiar with in the past were shattered nakedly before him, revealing the cruel truth behind them.
He couldn’t practice martial arts not because he was born with broken meridians, but because he had been poisoned.
Who was it?
His gaze condensed, patrolling the dim room.
Du Yao stood up and said to the others, “Third Brother’s body is fine now. Let’s let him rest well and not disturb him.”
The Grand Master nodded and pulled Du Ying out. Gongsun Ruo also stood up reluctantly, not forgetting to instruct before leaving, “Senior Brother, remember to drink the medicine. It’s right by your bed.”
Du Yu’s gaze finally fell on the bowl of traditional Chinese medicine by the bed, which had a strong woody smell and pitch-black liquid. On the surface of the black soup, there were a few fragmented white reflections, which in turn reflected his shining eyes.
