Chapter 172: Why Should I Not Kill You?

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“You were both reckless,” Liu Jin tells Pan Qiu and Khong Hu. “Following Senior Brother Guo was understandable. One could argue it is the reason you’re alive. Still, eating the meat of an Earth Realm dragon was too dangerous. You are lucky your meridians weren’t damaged irrevocably.”

“That was a possibility?!” Pan Qiu shouts. “I thought internal damage was the more likely negative outcome.”

“Damage to your meridians is internal damage,” Liu Jin points out. “Though you are right in that damage to your other organs, starting with your stomach, would have been the most likely scenario.”

Left unsaid is that receiving too much internal damage would have left them too damaged to handle the ensuing breakthrough. They are lucky that was not the case.

“Even so, make sure to visit the Medical Pavillion when we return. You need a thorough checkup. I’d do it right now if I could.”

“Ah, to be lectured by a junior.” Khong Hu sighs and shakes his head. “No, I suppose there is nothing I can say right now.”

“I did not mean to lecture Senior Brother Khong,” Liu Jin says. “You and Senior Brother Guo were of great help towards the end, and-”

“No, Brother Jin.” Khong Hu holds out his hand. “There is no need to mind your words. On this matter, I was most assuredly unhelpful. I have no ground to stand on.”

“I beg to differ!” an exasperated Pan Qiu shouts. “Just look at him!”

He waves his hand at Liu Jin’s form.

His bedridden, heavily-bandaged form.

Liu Jin sustained so many injuries during the battle that, even after the worst of them were healed by the light, he was not placed with other wounded disciples. Instead, a new room was procured for him and one other so they could be given preferential care.

“He’s got no right to lecture anyone about being reckless!” Pan Qiu continues. “That thing over there only looks human. He is a monster who’s surely cultivated the Dao of recklessness.”

Liu Jin looks at Pan Qiu. “You’re surprisingly open with your thoughts now.”

“It is because you are bedridden,” Pan Qiu replies shamelessly.

“Mind your words,” Khong Hu tells him. “Being honest about your cravenness does not make it acceptable. Brother Jin is like he is because of his many great deeds. While I wish he had exercised more caution, his contributions are undeniable. If we compare ourselves to him, it is obvious who is lacking.”

“Senior Brother, please. You praise me too much.” Liu Jin sighs. His head sinks into the pillows Lu Mei somehow procured for him. “In the end, we were all saved by someone else.”

“That might be so.” The man in the bed next to him says. It seems they have woken up Senior Brother Guo with their talking. “Regardless, the only reason that Renegade appeared is because of you.”

Guo stares at the ceiling. His arms are crossed over his broad chest, and a blanket covers his body. Despite that, it is impossible to miss his missing limbs.

“We’d all be dead otherwise…”

“What did you talk about?” Pan Qiu suddenly asks Liu Jin. “We were too far away to overhear, but whatever it is that makes a Renegade act has to be important.”

“That is…”

“None of your business,” Lu Mei finishes for him as she abruptly enters the room. “Jin is still recovering, and he has no time to deal with any of your nonsense. You two shouldn’t even be here.”

“We were allowed to visit!” Pan Qiu protests.

“A mistake made by stupid people,” Lu Mei counters. Liu Jin doesn’t doubt the disciples who let them in are going to hear it from her later.

“Very well,” Khong Hu says, rising from his seat. “We shall leave Brother Jin to recover.”

“You are just going to obey her?” Pan Qiu asks.

Khong Hu does not reply. He merely offers a nod to Liu Jin and exits the room, leaving Pan Qiu alone under Lu Mei’s fierce glare. The older disciple has several grudges against Lu Mei, but he cannot find the courage to defy her. He scurries away with his tail between his legs.

“You should not be entertaining them. You are nowhere near recovered enough,” Lu Mei tells him.

“It was just a short conversation. There is nothing wrong with that.” After a pause, he adds, “I am a doctor, you know? I know how serious my wounds are.”

“I won’t claim to be remotely close to your skill, but I am not completely ignorant. The Red Sky Pavilion has produced some of the best healers on the continent. More importantly, I have working eyes!” She waves her arm at his prone form. “You are not well. Not even remotely. You are like a piece of paper left outside during a storm that is somehow still whole.”

Liu Jin laughs but breaks into coughs, further proving Lu Mei’s point. She huffs and leaves in a hurry, likely to yell at the poor disciples who let the other two get in.

“You are a lucky man,” Senior Brother Guo tells him.

“I think that’s the first time anyone has said that to me.”

Senior Brother Guo laughs in reply, and Liu Jin wishes he could join him. Unfortunately, he cannot help the way his eyes fall on Senior Brother Guo’s missing legs.

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“There is nothing you could have done,” Senior Brother Guo tells him, not having failed to notice his gaze.

“I know.”

That makes it worse.

Senior Brother Guo is a cultivator in the Earth Realm. Though he cannot reconstruct his body completely like those who have ascended to the Heaven Realm, regenerating a missing limb is not impossible. Even a cultivator in the First Level of the Earth Realm should be able to recover an arm if given enough time. For someone like Senior Brother Guo, even taking his tiredness into account, it should only take him several hours.

Unfortunately, Xun Huwen’s Dao is the Dao of the Destruction. Damage done by him is not so easily mended. Not when he bothers to try. Senior Brother Guo’s legs will not grow back. Liu Jin found that out when he tried to treat Senior Brother Guo despite his feeble condition and met failure.

“It is not as bad as it seems,” Senior Brother Guo says. “I never cared much for my legs. My ankles were always too weak, you see. Women do not like a man with weak ankles.”

Liu Jin snorts before he can stop himself.

“Better,” Senior Brother Guo says. “There is really nothing to be sad about. I will be given prosthetics when we return. Forging is not an activity that requires much legwork, so it will not affect me much. Besides, this condition will only last until I reach the Heaven Realm.”

Liu Jin nods. The power of a Heaven Realm cultivator to completely reconstruct their body should allow Senior Brother Guo to bypass the lingering effects of Xun Huwen’s Dao.

“It is a mere stumbling block, junior. We are alive, and we are victorious. That is all that matters. Rest now. We need to recover for the trip back.”

First Lu Mei and now Senior Brother Guo. It seems people really want him to sleep. A yawn escapes his lips. He has only been awake for a little over an hour, yet his eyelids feel heavy already. Lacking even the energy to reply to Senior Brother Guo, Liu Jin drifts away from consciousness.