Chapter 54
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“Little Bie, that f*c….did Master mention what he’s doing?” Fu Nian casually asked while taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere.
Fu Bie replied, “I don’t know.”
Fu Nian didn’t press further.
Last night, Fu Zhen had mentioned that he was likely dealing with an assassination attempt.
He fell into silence, knowing that this man was capable of assassinating anyone personally. He couldn’t even stop this madman, let alone the palace guards.
Fu Nian contemplated for a moment, and suddenly an escape plan popped into his mind.
Leaning lazily against a pillar, Fu Nian spoke with a lazy tone, “I’m hungry. Where is the stove and the food that’s been set aside?”
“It’s over here,” Fu Bie said, leading the way.
Fu Nian followed him, and on the way, he discreetly poured some lamp oil onto the wooden floor near all the oil lamps that were within his reach.
Despite the lack of his right leg, he could still manage to walk, albeit slowly.
“Senior Brother, are you okay? Do you need assistance?” Realizing that Fu Nian was walking slowly behind him, Fu Bie couldn’t help but turn around and ask with concern.
Fu Nian placed his lamp oil-covered left hand behind him and paused for a while in place before continuing to move forward, pretending to be in pain. “No need. I’m used to my prosthetic limb on regular days. I’m just walking a bit slower now; it’s not to the point where I need help.” After saying that, he suddenly stumbled and almost fell, but he managed to brace himself with his hand on the ground before regaining his balance.
Fu Bie hurriedly rushed over with concern. “Let me assist you.”
“I said there’s no need!” Fu Nian deliberately raised his voice and shouted, then took a few moments to catch his breath. After confirming that the lamp oil had been spilled onto the ground, he finally got up from the ground.
Once he stood upright, Fu Nian quietly apologized, “I’m sorry for shouting at you earlier…”
“It’s okay, Senior Brother. No need to apologize! I won’t assist you if you don’t want me to!”
Upon reaching the kitchen, Fu Nian examined the structure of the stove and its chimney, which led outside. However, the chimney passage was too narrow for a person to pass through. Inside the kitchen, there were firewood and dried hay, and in the corner of the room, there was a door that led downward, which must be the ice cellar mentioned by Fu Bie.
After observing for a while, he leaned against the wall and sat down, feigning exhaustion. He lowered his gaze and acted as if taking a few steps had been a tremendous effort. He weakly said, “I’ll warm up the food myself; I don’t need your help.”
“…,” Fu Bie watched him gasping for breath on the ground and continuously massaging his left leg. He wanted to say something but held back, choosing instead to open the ice cellar and go inside.
Fu Nian remained seated without moving.
He didn’t start a fire right away…
But it seemed that his act of enduring the pain had left Fu Bie puzzled. Fu Nian thought of this and quickly moved closer to a pile of dried hay, taking a small bunch of it and hiding it in his sleeve.
After a while, Fu Bie came back from the ice cellar, carrying two food containers on his arm. He placed the containers down and brought some firewood, lighting it with a flint.
As Fu Nian watched the flames burn brightly in the stove, Fu Bie stood up and opened one of the food containers to heat up the contents.
The aroma of the food filled the air. Only then did Fu Nian stand up from his spot in the corner and pretend to be displeased as he sniffed the air. “What’s this smell?”
“Master said you like it…”
Only then did Fu Nian look into the pot, and he immediately raised his hand and lightly tapped Fu Bie’s head. “I told you to let me warm it up! This dish is meant to be steamed; even if you reheat it, you shouldn’t stir-fry it like this. I told you to wait for me to come, but you’ve wasted the food!”
“I’m sorry, Senior Brother!” Fu Bie, hearing this, picked up the pot and seemed at a loss.
“Get some water and see if we can salvage it and still eat it,” Fu Nian ordered with a tone of urgency, and then added softly, “Even cooking is a basic skill taught to us in the sect…”
“Right away!”
Seeing Fu Bie frantically looking for a water ladle, Fu Nian reached into his sleeve, where he had concealed some straw, and held it tightly.
Now was the time.
With a quick and deft motion, he lifted the edge of the pot and used the sleeve soaked in lamp oil, along with the straw, to reach into the roaring flames.
As the burning sensation numbed his arm, Fu Nian let out a loud scream. “Help! Help! What’s happening?!”
He vigorously swung his arm, trying to throw the burning straw onto the pile of dried hay.
Startled by the sound, Fu Bie hurriedly turned around.
At that moment, he witnessed the sight of his senior brother’s left arm catching fire and heard his agonized screams. “Senior Brother!” After shouting, he quickly picked up a container and scooped water from the water jar, splashing it towards Fu Nian.
Beforehand, Fu Nian had dipped his sleeve in oil and splashed some water, which not only failed to extinguish the fire but also made it burn more fiercely.
Fu Nian curled his hand tightly, trying to avoid burning his joints as much as possible, after all, he still needed to hold a blade.
“Over here! The water jar is here, Senior Brother, come over!” Fu Bie shouted anxiously when he saw that splashing water didn’t work.
After a hasty glance, confirming that the pile of hay had already caught fire and the flames were spreading rapidly, Fu Nian rushed towards the water jar as if he wished he could jump into it entirely.
He had prepared for a complete sacrifice before implementing this plan. After all, he had already experienced death, and it was far less terrifying than encountering Fu Zhen.
After drenching himself entirely with water, the temperature inside the room became even more scorching.
With the lamp oil he had deliberately spilled earlier, the fire spread extremely quickly. “Quick, use the remaining water to wet yourselves! Let’s hide in the ice cellar!” Fu Nian’s tone was urgent as he began splashing water onto the young man beside him.
“But we need to put out the fire! There are still two water jars in the east room—”
“Right now, hiding in the ice cellar might be our only chance to survive! Forcibly putting out the fire will only burn us to death here! There are traps outside, and we can’t escape right now! Fu Nian didn’t wait for his junior brother to finish speaking and yelled, “You’re still young, maybe you haven’t seen what it looks like when someone is burned alive? It’s much more gruesome than being assassinated. If you’re burned to ashes, you won’t even have a chance for reincarnation in h*ll. Do you want to try that? I don’t!”
“But the room—”
Fu Nian didn’t wait for the other to finish speaking; he directly pressed down on Fu Bie’s head, thoroughly drenching him. “Listen to me.”
Afterward, he took a deep breath and, braving the flames, found the entrance to the ice cellar and quickly crawled inside.
The ice cellar was deeper than he had imagined. When he reached the bottom, Fu Nian felt the scorching heat and couldn’t help but shiver.
Pulling his hand back, he realized that his body’s perception was no longer able to distinguish between hot and cold; it had even become numb to the pain.
Fu Nian extended his fingers and found that his joints could still move. His forearm to the hand had lost its clothing due to the burns, but fortunately, the skin had only suffered severe burns without turning into blisters or necrosis.
He lit the lamp in the ice cellar and surveyed the supplies available.
There was food, herbs, but notably absent were weapons.
He sighed and walked over to a nearby medicine box. “Little Bie, lend me your blade. The medicine box has frozen shut.”
“Let me do it, Senior Brother…”
Fu Nian didn’t respond but just looked at his seemingly clueless junior brother coldly.
In the end, he watched as Fu Bie obediently handed over the short blade he carried with him.
“Senior Brother, what happened just now? How did you burn your sleeves?”
Fu Nian remained silent, just applying medicine to his burnt left hand.
After applying the medicine, he silently put the short blade borrowed from Fu Bie into his own chest.
“Senior Brother? What exactly happened earlier? Are you okay?” Fu Bie’s voice was still filled with anxiety.
Taking a deep breath, Fu Nian suddenly turned to his junior brother and spoke with seriousness, “Once the fire is extinguished, let’s escape.”
Fu Bie: “Ah?”
“Do you think that master… that master of yours will spare us when he returns? Instead of being discovered—”
“Senior Brother, Master won’t kill us. Senior Brother Nineteen had a falling out with Master before, and he even set fire to the old location of the Distant Moon Sect, causing quite a mess. But in the end, Master forgave Senior Brother Nineteen and their intimacy returned to how it used to be… especially since our starting the fire was an accident, not deliberate arson. Master will be delighted by your return and definitely won’t punish you. At most, I may receive punishment or scolding because Master would never harm his useful disciples.”
Hearing this, Fu Nian couldn’t help but furrow his brow.
Could this really be considered a minor incident?
No wonder the Distant Moon Sect had become as desolate as the butchered sects. So, it turns out that the tradition of setting fire to the sect had been passed down from generation to generation?
“But wasn’t your use to keep an eye on me? Now, not only am I running away, but you’ve also set the house on fire.”
Fu Nian didn’t respond and simply climbed up to the top of the ice cellar.
The fire outside gradually weakened, and most of the mechanisms had already been burnt and rendered unusable.
Fu Nian effortlessly leaped out of the confined space where he had been hiding. He remembered that the prosthetic leg Fu Zhen had crafted for him was still a prototype, with some unadjusted joints, but it was functional enough.
As he was about to install the prosthetic leg, Fu Bie also emerged from the ice cellar.
“Senior Brother! Where are you going?”
Fu Nian didn’t respond and continued to install the prosthetic leg.
After installing it with some difficulty, he stood up from the bed and began to walk out.
Before reaching the doorway, he found Fu Bie blocking his path, gripping the hilt of his sword.
“Senior Brother, Master said you can’t leave—”
Fu Nian didn’t give him a chance to finish. He drew the dagger he had “borrowed” earlier and placed it directly against Fu Bie’s neck.
“Move aside,” he ordered.
“No—”
This time, Fu Nian pressed the blade down significantly.
Crimson droplets of blood trickled down the blade, slowly emerging one by one. While not a lot of blood, it was enough to be unsettling on the silver blade.
Watching the blood bead up, Fu Nian suddenly let out a laugh, a tone of amusement in his voice. “Just a little deeper, and I could sever your windpipe.”
“Senior Brother!”
His voice became noticeably hoarser, his Adam’s apple bobbing involuntarily due to nervous tension.
Fu Nian still didn’t retract the blade. “Step aside.”
“No! How can you—”
Without waiting for him to finish, Fu Nian thrust the blade backward, piercing directly into Fu Bie’s left shoulder.
He watched as Fu Bie struggled for a few moments, attempting moves he had learned before but ultimately proving futile.
As Fu Bie clutched his bleeding shoulder, he stared at Fu Nian in disbelief.
“Senior Brother, how could you…”
Fu Nian ignored him.
When he stepped over the threshold once more, he thought Fu Bie would yield. However, to his surprise, Fu Bie lifted his injured arm and continued to block his path, gasping for breath.
“No, Senior Brother. Master has given orders not to let you leave,” Fu Bie said, determination in his voice. “If you insist on leaving, we should have an open and fair fight. If you win—”
Seeing the foolish loyalty in Fu Bie’s demeanor, Fu Nian couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
However, in an instant, he suppressed his amusement and used his finger to pick up the dagger, precisely thrusting it toward Fu Bie’s hand, which held the sword.
This was a skill he had practiced for many years. Dealing with a junior brother like Fu Bie was no problem.
With a clank, Fu Bie’s sword and the dagger fell to the ground together.
Fu Nian stooped to pick up the dagger and casually wiped the fresh blood off the blade with his sleeve, saying lightly, “Rats from the gutter can’t teach someone to be an honorable man.”
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