Chapter 94
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“Nineteen, in a couple of days, come with me south. This time it’s not a mission; there’s no need to bring so many concealed weapons or luggage.”
Fu Nineteen was outdoors, going through account books when suddenly he heard his master’s voice from behind.
He quickly set down the account books and turned around. “Go south in a couple of days? Is there something urgent?”
Just a few days ago, he had received a letter from his junior brother in the capital, entrusting him to bring more medicinal herbs and the secret funds he had hidden under the rooftop tiles for their next trip to the capital.
His usually uninterested junior brother had suddenly asked for money, and Fu Nineteen’s immediate thought was that his junior brother wasn’t doing well in the palace. He had planned to visit in the next few days, and this morning, he had just submitted the application for permission to leave the sect. But now, his master was saying they would be going south in two days.
“Yeah,” the man didn’t give a direct answer but confirmed Fu Nineteen’s question.
Fu Nineteen hesitated.
“Did Little Twenty* also write to you? Mentioning that he’s struggling in the palace, that they’re squeezing him for silver, and he’s unable to maintain his contacts and prosthetic maintenance for surveillance tasks? I’ve already contacted some friends in the capital. Next time he goes to the capital, they’ll provide him with some financial relief.”
* this if Fu Nian
Little Nian had also written to master?
Well, it was only right to seek help from their master when there were issues. Even though he knew it was the right thing to do, the feeling of being “not the only one needed” was enough to dampen Fu Nineteen’s enthusiasm to visit the capital.
Out of trust, he didn’t ask his master again, “So Little Nian has already talked to our master; I thought he only told me…” Fu Nineteen chuckled awkwardly at this point, “As long as our master has taken care of it, I don’t need to go visit him in a couple of days, as I had planned.”
Hearing this, a barely perceptible smile crossed the man’s face.
Fu Nineteen, of course, didn’t catch it and continued to look gloomily at the account book.
Even though Little Nian had always prioritized talking to him whenever something happened, only confiding in their master when it was absolutely necessary, he had always believed that he was the one Little Nian trusted the most.
“I’ll go down the mountain to the city first in a couple of days to stock up on supplies for daily use. Please take care of Junior Brother and Junior Sister during these two days.”
“Rest assured, Master,” Fu Nineteen quickly got up, respectfully saluted, and saw his master off.
Well, in any case, he would be going south with his master in a few days. Although he didn’t know the specifics of their mission, judging from his master’s relaxed expression, it seemed like it would be a relatively easy journey.
As night fell, and his master hadn’t returned yet, Fu Nineteen finished arranging his junior brother and sister’s evening training and then went to the inner courtyard to deliver food and medicine to his eldest senior brother.
Through the curtains, Fu Nineteen vaguely saw the figure in the wheelchair tinkering with something at the desk.
He didn’t disturb, just quietly set the tray down and turned to leave the room.
Just as he was about to exit the inner courtyard, a clear sound of porcelain hitting the ground came from inside the room.
Fu Nineteen turned back and saw Senior Brother furiously using his arm to clear everything from the table, including the soup and food he had just brought in.
“Senior Brother?” Fu Nineteen ran back and asked quietly, “What’s going on?”
Senior Brother looked up and saw that it was Fu Nineteen. His angry expression instantly softened, and he smiled gently. “So, it’s Little Nineteen. I thought it was Brother Fu who came. It’s nothing, I accidentally knocked it over. I’ve troubled you.”
Fu Nineteen felt suspicious about this “accident.”
Just a moment ago, he clearly saw Senior Brother angrily smashing these porcelain items on the ground.
However, he didn’t dare to ask further questions. Ever since Senior Brother had become completely unable to stand up, although his treatment of them remained as gentle as before, he had become more withdrawn.
Fu Nineteen silently went outside to find a basket to clean up the mess.
But when he returned, he happened to see Senior Brother’s hands and arms covered in blood, and the crimson liquid was dripping into a small medicine bottle.
“Senior Brother!” Fu Nineteen rushed forward to stop him, grabbing the pieces of broken porcelain from Senior Brother’s hands.
“What are you doing?” Fu Nineteen saw the wounds on Senior Brother’s hands were still bleeding and quickly found some gauze to stop the bleeding. “You… this is…”
“Death Spirit Incense. It requires a large amount of fresh blood as a catalyst. Normally, Brother Fu watches me closely and doesn’t allow me to come into contact with any sharp objects,” Senior Brother explained, then looked at Fu Nineteen. “Don’t be overly surprised; this amount of blood doesn’t affect me, let alone pose a threat to my life.”
Only now did Fu Nineteen breathe a sigh of relief.
“Death Spirit Incense? What is it?”
“It’s considered a peculiar secret art. It’s made using human blood as incense to record one’s life experiences, but the price is that it consumes one’s remaining lifespan. That’s why it’s considered a secret art. This is one of the reasons Brother Fu didn’t allow me to create it, afraid that I would put too many memories into the Death Spirit Incense, and it would cost me my life.”
Exchange for remaining lifespan?
Fu Nineteen found this statement somewhat bewildering.
While he knew that his master excelled in these esoteric arts, he rarely taught them to them, and this was the first time he had heard of such a thing.
“Don’t worry, I don’t have much life left anyway. Giving up a bit more for the Death Spirit Incense doesn’t matter.”
Hearing this made Fu Nineteen even more worried.
He was inclined to believe that Senior Brother might be bluffing. After all, as things stood, Senior Brother was healthy everywhere except for his legs.
After a moment of silence, Senior Brother asked again, “Little Nineteen, you greatly respect and believe in our master, right?”
“Of course. Master raised me, taught me martial arts and literacy. I’ve long known that our master doesn’t have a good reputation in the martial world, but he’s still my master, and he’s been good to me.”
Senior Brother didn’t say anything more, just silently turned back to his desk. He opened the bottle he had just filled with blood and scooped out a piece of incense paste, placing it in a small porcelain dish, which he handed to Fu Nineteen.
Fu Nineteen, confused, accepted the porcelain dish.
“Death Spirit Incense. It contains some of my life’s experiences. Of course, most of it is related to Brother Fu as well. When you no longer trust Brother Fu in the future, you can ignite it and take a look,” Senior Brother said with a hint of hesitation. “It’s also possible that I’m an unexpected factor in Brother Fu’s heart, and I’m the only one subjected to this ‘special treatment’ that’s worse than death. Keep it safe, and don’t tell Brother Fu that I’ve created Death Spirit Incense. Otherwise, many innocent people may be slaughtered because of it.”
“Master does indeed treats you special,” Fu Nineteen looked puzzled at the incense box in his hand. Senior Brother’s tone was overly gentle, and for a moment, he couldn’t tell whether it was a veiled implication or an expression of possessiveness towards their master. “For so many years, Master has always been concerned about you. The first thing he does when he returns from a trip is to visit you, and you—”
“Nineteen.”
Fu Nineteen obediently fell silent.
“Keep it safe. When the time comes that you no longer trust Brother Fu, you must ignite it, I’m begging you, Nineteen,” Senior Brother repeated.
“Alright,” Fu Nineteen replied dazedly.
Senior Brother gave him some specific instructions on how to burn the incense, and he kept them in mind.
As he headed south with their master, before they even reached the Yangtze River, he rested at an inn one evening and received a letter.
The letter contained an obituary.
Senior Brother’s obituary.
Inside the inn, Fu Nineteen looked at his master, who had just been smiling happily a second ago, saying, “Ah Di voluntarily wrote me a letter!”
The next moment, holding the unexpected obituary, his hand holding the sword trembled slightly, and his eyes were filled with disbelief.
“Master… M-master?” Fu Nineteen saw the obituary that had fallen onto the table, with Senior Brother’s bloodied handprint on top, along with a farewell letter and the grim record of a certain junior sister’s handwriting detailing the shocking news.
Seeing that his master remained silent, Fu Nineteen picked up the obituary and read it carefully.
It stated that Senior Brother had died at the third quarter of the hour of the Tiger, just when it was time to get up for morning training. Upon opening the door to the room, it was discovered that Senior Brother’s wheelchair was left in front of the courtyard door’s threshold, and he had crawled out. As expected, there were soon traces of long bloodstains found outside the gates of the Distant Moon Sect. Following the bloodstains, less than ten meters outside the sect’s boundary marker, Senior Brother, who had already stopped breathing, was discovered. There were traces of animal bites on his abdomen, and his death was a horrifying sight. In his hand, he still gripped a piece of large red, marriage-style paper, but the words on it were obscured by bloodstains, and it had also been mildewed over time, making it impossible to read.
“He didn’t want to die by my side…” the man muttered, his hand on his temple, his expression bitter.
“….” Fu Nineteen didn’t know how to comfort him.
Senior Brother should have been very important to their master.
Although he didn’t know the ins and outs of their relationship, over the years, he could feel that their master treasured Senior Brother greatly.
“Let’s postpone the matter of heading south. Tomorrow, we’ll return.”
Fu Nineteen nodded.
After deciding on their return, he watched as his master ordered a lot of wine and drank it all in silence.
With a bitter expression, he had never seen this ruthless man, who could kill without hesitation, so lost and forlorn.
But even in such a state of despair, he refused to say a word.
“Master, don’t be sad. Senior Brother probably just didn’t want you to see him sad,” Fu Nineteen suddenly remembered the box of Death Spirit Incense. When Senior Brother made it, he had said it was exchanged for his remaining lifespan.
At that time, he thought it was a joke, but just a few days later, Senior Brother was gone.
“He… He had been talking about how his lifespan was running out,” Fu Nineteen stopped abruptly at this point. He remembered that Senior Brother had instructed him not to talk about the Death Spirit Incense. Otherwise, he would be in danger, and many innocent people would be killed by their master.
“No, Ah Di always resented me… His legs were poisoned back then, and he insisted on eloping with that young lady. As a result, he was pursued by that young lady’s family all the way. When I arrived to save him, I only took him away and did not take that young lady with us. In the end, the young lady was captured and married off to a landlord several months later. Since then, he held a grudge. Even though he later recognized him as a sworn brother, he often remembered these old events…” His voice choked up as he spoke. “Back then, I didn’t take the young lady with us because his legs were crippled due to the poison. I jumped to conclusions and thought that the young lady’s family was all like this, and I didn’t want him to be associated with such people. If I had known he would keep thinking about it for so long, I should have taken the young lady with us and fulfilled their wishes.”
“It’s not Master’s fault,” Fu Nineteen hurriedly comforted, and after speaking, he saw his master pouring more wine into the cup. “Don’t drink anymore, you’ve had enough…”
“Little Zero-Six was my first disciple, the one I raised to adulthood, and the closest sworn brother to me. I can’t believe it…” the man said, then drank the liquid in the cup in one gulp.
“Master, please rest first,” Fu Nineteen said, feeling uncomfortable as he listened. He forcibly took the cup from his master’s hand and pulled his master onto his back. “Master, don’t be too sad… You still have me, and many other junior brothers and sisters who love you very much.”
“…”
Seeing that his master didn’t speak, Fu Nineteen slowly carried him upstairs on his back.
His master appeared to be tall and lean, but he was actually very muscular and heavy.
In the room, Fu Nineteen breathed a sigh of relief, but as he tried to put his master on the bed, he found that his master’s arms were tightly wrapped around him, and he refused to let go.
“Zhu Er, are you going to leave too?” the man’s voice was filled with panic as he held Fu Nineteen tightly in his arms.
“How could that be? I won’t leave Master,” Fu Nineteen said, bending down to comfort him gently.
The next moment, the man in front of him forcibly pressed him down.
He pinned him down completely, with no room to move.
The sound of heartbeats, and the striking temperature difference between the upper and lower parts of his body.
Fu Nineteen didn’t dare to breathe loudly, and he cautiously asked, “Master?”
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