Chapter Ninety-Seven: Dad, Don’t Leave Me!

“So this is true qi?”

Su Ye was gifted, but this was the first time he had ever possessed true qi.

What was more, this true qi was unlike anything he had read of in ancient books or heard the tutors describe. Other martial artists condensed it little by little, storing it in the qi sea of the dantian.

But Su Ye discovered that his own true qi was radiating from the line, The gate of the primal mystery, and it was overwhelmingly powerful. It was not stored in a qi sea at all; rather, it seemed to reside within his head.

It was an indescribably profound sensation. The mind of every person was boundless, yet his own, bathed in the rising splendor of that cultivation art, had actually expanded to an even greater extent.

It was like the consciousness sea spoken of in ancient texts, a realm higher even than the mind itself.

Bang, bang, bang.

Wave after wave of true qi surged through his body, flooding every limb and bone, lifting Su Ye right off the floor of the alchemy chamber. The injuries on his body, including the black pill poison on his feet, were actually being slowly steamed away and dissolved at that very moment.

Just as Su Ye was feeling the qi swirling through him, the alchemists invited by the Jiang family had already arrived. Among them was the very Apothecary Tu who had previously treated Jiang Ziyang.

Apothecary Tu had rushed over overnight. He had come in such haste that he was still wearing sleepclothes. After a single examination, his expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in shock, “How did this happen? Bring me the silver needles!”

Apothecary Tu wasted no time. He personally helped Jiang Ziyang remove his upper garment, and this only brought another jolt of alarm. Under Jiang Ziyang’s skin, he saw black dots the size of soybeans.

These black spots were densely packed, and they seemed to follow some peculiar pattern.

Jiang Liuying stood there in a daze as well. She had never imagined that her father had become so gaunt, nor had she any idea what those black spots were.

“Apothecary Tu, the silver needles are here. What else do you need?” Jiang Liuying’s body trembled as she saw Xiao Die bring over the needles, and she hurriedly asked.

“Silver needles are not enough. I need to draw out every trace of black blood. Not a single spot can be missed. If the needles remain silver-white, then there is still hope...”

Apothecary Tu rolled up his sleeves, pressed several points on Jiang Ziyang’s body, then gripped a silver needle and drove it down. His hands then moved faster and faster, in the blink of an eye inserting twenty silver needles in the space of just two breaths.

Jiang Liuying, the head steward, and the others stared in astonishment. This kind of technique was like the legendary Four Seas Divine Needling. To witness such silver-needle mastery was not only eye-opening, but far more importantly, it gave them reassurance.

With Apothecary Tu here, Jiang Ziyang would surely be saved.

“What?”

In the midst of the needling, Apothecary Tu suddenly cried out in alarm. He found that the silver needles inserted into Jiang Ziyang’s body had begun to tremble violently, buzzing as though some terrifying force was trying to force them out.

Apothecary Tu reached out to press them back down, but the next instant there was a sharp hiss, and his entire palm was pierced clean through by the rebounding needles. All the silver needles shot upward at once, flying into the ceiling and stabbing directly into the wall.

“Ah...” Apothecary Tu shuddered as well and stumbled back several steps.

At that moment, Jiang Ziyang’s body was instantly covered by a dark crimson substance. What had previously been only tiny black-red dots now spread across a vast area.

“Father—Dad, don’t scare me, don’t scare me!” Jiang Liuying lunged forward at once, only to discover in despair that her father, lying on the bed, had black blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

She reached out to wipe it away, but the moment she touched it, even more spilled out.

“Dad, Dad! Wake up, wake up!” Jiang Liuying cried until she was a tear-streaked wreck. She seized Jiang Ziyang’s hand and immediately felt a chill.

She froze rigidly in place.

Apothecary Tu stepped forward and checked Jiang Ziyang’s pulse. After a long while, he turned away in pain and slowly shook his head at the head steward.

The head steward’s whole body trembled too. He personally stepped forward, felt for the pulse in Jiang Ziyang’s neck, then sank down in utter defeat, staring at the scene before him in disbelief. He extended a hand as if to comfort Jiang Liuying, but in the end he did not know what to say.

Jiang Liuying seemed to have guessed what the head steward was about to say. She whirled around in near-madness and shouted, “What do you want to say? Shut up! My father is not dead, and I do not need your comfort! All of you get out, get out!”

Seeing Jiang Liuying’s breakdown, the head steward felt both heartache and reluctance, but there was nothing else to be done. He could only lead the others out first. The family head of the Jiang household had fallen, and there were too many matters waiting for them.

He also instructed Xiao Die to notify Su Ye immediately. At a time like this, only Su Ye could go in and keep the young lady company.

Su Ye had just come out of the alchemy chamber and was about to go see Jiang Liuying when he ran into Xiao Die on the way. After hearing what she said, he nearly rushed back in a frenzy.

“Head steward—” Su Ye stood at the doorway and saw a crowd of people guarding outside. The atmosphere was far too oppressive.

The head steward took two heavy steps forward and solemnly instructed him, “The family head has passed. Go in and stay with the young lady. Make sure she does nothing foolish. Do you understand?”

Su Ye had no time to say more. He stepped straight into the room.

At a glance, he saw Jiang Liuying collapsed weakly by the window, clutching Jiang Ziyang’s hand in a death grip with no intention of letting go. She looked up at the sound of footsteps, and when she saw that it was Su Ye, her tears only poured out more violently.

Jiang Liuying had always known that her father had come to her late in life. Since childhood, she had realized that her father was older than the grandfathers of other families, and because of that, she cherished this bond all the more.

She had also feared that one day her aged father would suddenly leave her, but she had never imagined it would come so abruptly, without the slightest warning.

“Liuying, don’t cry. Let me have a look.”

Su Ye reached out and touched Jiang Ziyang’s shoulder. His brows furrowed, and then he clenched his teeth and muttered to himself, “Let’s see who is stronger.”

With that, he sat down at the head of the bed and placed one hand directly on Jiang Ziyang’s crown.

Outside, when the head steward and the others saw Su Ye go in and heard no movement from within, they slowly followed after him. At once they saw Su Ye in that strange posture.

As for Jiang Liuying, she was still in a dazed, half-lost state, collapsed by the bedside and kneeling there, her eyes vacant.

She pressed her father’s hand against her face, as though she were a child again, still able to feel his presence. Her tears fell drop by drop.

Her whole world seemed to have lost its meaning, its color, and even its sound...

She murmured to herself in a small, pleading voice, sorrowful and helpless: “Dad, I’m not grown up yet. Don’t leave me, all right? What will I do in the future without you? I’m sorry. I’ve always made you angry. I haven’t even had the chance to be dutiful to you, to let you enjoy a peaceful old age. What if people bully me in the future? Don’t leave your daughter, please?”

“All right...”

Suddenly, a hoarse voice sounded. The old hand resting on her cheek moved, bringing with it a trace of warmth.

“All right, my daughter. Dad promises you.”

Boom.

Jiang Liuying’s body stiffened, and her head seemed to ring with a deafening crash. The voice was unmistakably her father Jiang Ziyang’s.

She jerked her head up and saw her father weakly opening his eyes. His own eyes were full of tears as well, and he said hoarsely, “Daughter, don’t cry. Your father heard everything...”

“Dad—”

Jiang Liuying let out a cry that seemed torn from the depths of her being and threw herself onto Jiang Ziyang, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, crying until she was no longer recognizable as a human being.

At this moment, she cared about nothing else.

“Dad, I thought you were gone. I thought you had left me forever... Dad!”

Jiang Ziyang was deeply moved as well. He had always leaned toward sons over daughters, and many of the Jiang family’s inheritances were passed down through male heirs only. Yet all six of his sons had died. Every time he looked at this daughter, he could not help but think how much better it would have been if she had been born a boy.

When she was very young, he had even raised Jiang Liuying as if she were a son, and he had long since neglected this rare and precious affection.

“It was Su Ye who saved me. Your father is not dead yet, so don’t worry,” Jiang Ziyang said. Although he had looked dead, he could still hear everything happening outside.

Jiang Liuying was stunned. Slowly, she looked up at Su Ye, and her feelings were beyond words. “Su Ye, you...”

Yet Su Ye showed no joy at all. He only forced out a faint smile, then said to Jiang Ziyang, “Family head, have you made your decision? Whatever this thing is in your body will kill you. Do you still want to keep it?”

Jiang Liuying’s face changed. She immediately remembered that there truly was a secret in her father’s body, and she asked in a low voice, “What is it?”