“How could I leave my wife and run off on my own?” replied Zu An grimly.

As he took in Chu Chuyan’s pale face and bloodstained dress, bitterness welled up within his chest. He quickly took out some recovery medicine and offered it to her. “Quick, eat this. While it isn’t as miraculous as the medicine I gave you earlier, this has been concocted by Divine Physician Ji. It will do wonders for your recovery.”

Most of this had been given to him by Ji Xiaoxi. Considering how much Ji Dengtu doted on his daughter, there was now way he would have given her anything but the best.

“It’s no use. My ki meridians are already ruined.” Chu Chuyan shook her head. Despite the state she was in, her voice was incredibly calm, as if she had already resigned herself to her fate.

“Who says it’s no use? There’s definitely a way out of this! We’ll look for Divine Physician Ji afterwards. I’m sure that he’ll be able to figure something out!” Zu An insisted vehemently as he stuffed the best medicine he had into Chu Chuyan’s mouth. 

As perverted as Ji Dengtu was, his skill at medicine was undeniable. Besides, even if he couldn’t do anything about it, surely there would be something in this huge world of cultivation that would work!

And even if nothing in this world worked, he still had the Keyboard system with him! The items from its lottery might just be able to fashion the miracle required to treat her!

“Cough cough~” Chu Chuyan had never been treated so crudely before, and it left her both embarrassed and agitated. However, she didn’t even have the strength to move right now, let alone  offer any sort of resistance.

“It looks like you’re on good terms with Ji Xiaoxi.” Chu Chuyan noticed that the sachets holding the medicine bottles were embroidered with flowers, and even smelled a faint fragrance coming from them. They had clearly been meticulously prepared by a woman.

“I told you that your husband is popular with women,” Zu An said lightly. However, he suddenly recalled that she was already in a bad condition and that angering her wasn’t the best thing to do right now. So, he quickly changed the topic and said, “We encountered an army of zombies in a valley a while ago. I told her to escape and seek help while I lured them away. She was worried about my safety, so she gave these to me.”

Chu Chuyan sighed softly and said, “Why are you explaining all this to me?”

“I’m just afraid that you’ll be jealous,” replied Zu An sheepishly.

Chu Chuyan didn’t respond any further.

By this time, Shi Kun and the others had already closed in on them. Shi Kun’s face was so dark that it looked as if ink would begin to seep out of his pores. “Young miss Chu, I am truly impressed by you. I didn’t think that you would have such a powerful move, strong enough even to deal with the Devouring Kun. However, you’ve ended up crippling yourself in the process. Was it really worth it?”

He viewed Chu Chuyan as his ideal wife, and had done everything he could to attain her, only for her to be crippled right before his eyes. There was no way his clan would allow him to marry a cripple like her.

Given how beautiful she was, even if she had lost her cultivation, he would still have been more than willing to take her in as a concubine to serve him. However, her injuries were so severe that it seemed unlikely that she would survive this ordeal.

Just like that, years of planning had been wasted. He had even resorted to using his greatest trump card, but it was all for naught in the end. How could he possibly not be disappointed?

Qiao Xueying had a complicated look on her face. Although she had infiltrated the Chu clan with ulterior motives in mind, the years she had spent together with Chu Chuyan had made the two of them as close as sisters. She had honestly hoped that she would end up marrying the young master.

In her view, only the Sixth Young Master of the Shi clan was worthy of becoming the young miss’ husband. There was no way someone like Zu An was worthy of her.

She never expected that Chu Chuyan would choose to cripple herself rather than to give in to Shi Kun. She felt a profound sense of guilt, because she knew that she bore some responsibility for forcing Chu Chuyan into this corner as well. She silently reproached herself for the decisions she had made.

Meanwhile, Chu Chuyan continued to gaze into the sky, despite having heard Shi Kun’s question. She had no interest in responding to him.

Zu An noticed that her gaze was unfocused, and realized that she wasn’t looking at the sky, but blanking out. Her heart had succumbed to despair—she had already given up.

Her body temperature was frighteningly low. Holding onto her felt as though he was carrying a block of ice that had been frozen for over a thousand years, chilling Zu An down to his bones. If even hugging her was enough to make him so uncomfortable, it was hard to imagine just how cold she must have been feeling at the moment.

In this short span of time, Zu An had already inspected her body with his ki. An ordinary person’s ki meridians should have been overflowing with vitality, but Chu Chuyan’s seemed to have suffered through a fierce explosion. They were tattered, and suffused with an aura of desolation.

In her current condition, she was even weaker than an ordinary human being, and it would be a miracle if she could recover her cultivation. The devastation of her meridians had crippled her, leaving her body almost paralyzed.

Zu An even suspected that she might have died right away had she not consumed ‘Faith in Brother Spring’ prior to using her forbidden art.

Shi Kun didn’t seem too displeased even though Chu Chuyan wasn’t answering his question. Instead, he murmured to himself, “You were the number one prodigy of Brightmoon City. Even considering the entire world, there were very few of our age who could compete with you. You occupied such a high and lofty position before, only to be reduced to the state of a cripple. No, you are even less than a cripple. In your current state, you wouldn’t even be able to perform the functions of daily life…”

“Shut up! No one will think you’re mute even if you don’t speak!” Zu An bellowed in frustration. He was already worried about Chu Chuyan’s fading spirit, yet Shi Kun still continued running his mouth. Based on his limited knowledge regarding medicine, he knew that the effectiveness of any treatment was hugely reliant on the will of the patient.

If the patient had already given up hope, then all was lost.

“Hmph! Lowly trash like you can never understand the troubles we prodigies face!” Shi Kun looked at Zu An coldly. “People like us are born superior to the rest of humanity. We have our own pride and dignity, and we won’t allow ourselves to be looked down upon or pitied. Even if you managed to save her life, living as a cripple would be nothing more than torture to her.”

“I don’t object to you calling my wife a prodigy, but how dare you consider yourself a prodigy as well? You weren’t even able to defeat my wife despite her injuries, and you had to call on reinforcements like a loser. That Devouring Kun was a ninth rank cultivator or something, right? Yet he still got destroyed by my wife in a single blow. What about you, then? What are you capable of? What right do you have to be spoken of in the same breath as her?” Just looking at Chu Chuyan’s current state was enough to break Zu An’s heart, but this fellow still had to continue buzzing around like a pesky little fly, challenging the limits of his tolerance.

Shi Kun’s mouth fell open, but no sounds came out. He seemed about to explode.

It was absolutely humiliating, being told that he wasn’t a prodigy by a good-for-nothing whom he absolutely despised. However, he was indeed inferior when compared to Chu Chuyan, and so he was utterly unable to refute Zu An’s claims.

You have successfully trolled Shi Kun for 314 Rage points!

Why are you acting so smug? It’s not you who is formidable, but Chu Chuyan! 

Shi Kun could only console himself in such a manner. He reminded himself that it was beneath him to bicker with people of Zu An’s caliber, and calmed his emotions before carrying on. “I might not personally be as illustrious, but I have a huge clan backing me. Even from the moment I was born, I was already at a height that you can never hope to reach, no matter how you struggle. I don’t say these words to brag; I’m just conveying the truth to you. The resources I have at my disposal far surpasses yours. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be able to treat her no matter how you struggle, but it’s a different story when it comes to me.

“Not only can I preserve her life, but I can reconnect her ki meridians too. If you truly love her, hand her over to me instead of selfishly keeping her by your side. You’ll only be harming her future and stalling her growth.”

Qiao Xueying nodded in agreement. “Indeed, the Shi clan has a lot of connections in the capital, and has access to the physicians in the imperial court. They also have innumerable treasures at their disposal. Their means far surpasses even those of the Chu clan. If you hand the young miss over to the Shi clan, the young master will surely figure out a way to treat her!”

Seeing that Zu An had fallen into deep thought, a hint of a smile spread across Shi Kun’s lips. For someone of his position, there was no need to resort to violence all the time. Sometimes, he could get things done just by appealing to a person’s sense of morality, and leveraging some of the advantages he was blessed with. 

He would try his best to cure Chu Chuyan upon receiving her, but admittedly, the chances of her making a full recovery were unlikely. That being said, it should be easy to ensure her continued survival, which meant that he would be able to keep her beside him as a concubine.

It was just a pity that she wouldn’t be able to move, so his fun with her would be severely limited.

Thinking that Zu An had really been persuaded by these arguments, Chu Chuyan’s eyes glazed over with fear. “D-don’t hand me to anyone else,” she muttered feebly.

Even though she didn’t like how lackadaisical and boastful Zu An was as a person, at this very moment, being by his side was the only thing that made her feel at ease. She was afraid that he would be moved by Shi Kun’s words and hand her over to that scoundrel.

Zu An smiled at her and said, “Honey, what are you saying? How could I possibly hand you over to another man? I was just exploring a different problem.”

Shi Kun’s face darkened. “Zu An, are you really intending on destroying young miss Chu’s future for your own selfish ends?!”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “Please, I’ve watched far too many dumb protagonists falling for such tricks on TV. I find it insulting that you think you can fool me with something of this level. You’re criticizing me while sitting on your moral high horse just so that you can conceal those depraved thoughts in your mind. I guess you really see me as some gullible idiot, huh? I’ll take responsibility for my own wife’s condition, thank you very much. An outsider like you can piss off!”

A winter storm raged across Shi Kun’s face. “What arrogant words! You can’t even protect her, and you still dream of treating her condition? Young miss Chu, you might hate me for doing this right now, but I’m certain you’ll understand my intentions in the future!”

With a wave of his hand, he ordered his lackeys to kill Zu An. While he figured that there were some restrictions to the ‘Knock-You-Up Eyes’ skill, the pain he had suffered earlier was not something he wanted to experience twice. He wasn’t willing to take the risk once more, which was why he ordered his lackeys to finish the job instead.

Meanwhile, he would wait patiently for an opportunity to leap in and end Zu An’s life for good!

“W-wait.” Chu Chuyan spoke up feebly.

Shi Kun’s face lit up in delight. He raised his hand to stop his subordinates and asked, “Young miss Chu, have you thought things through?”

Ignoring him, Chu Chuyan turned to Zu An. “Kill me,” she said.

What the—? Zu An was dumbfounded.

Her request was so abrupt that he was caught off-guard.

Seeing that Zu An wasn’t reacting, Chu Chuyan grew even more anxious. She quickly added, “I’m already a cripple now, and you aren’t a match for them. Do you intend to watch as I am humiliated by another man? Kill me and flee, then inform my parents about what happened here. Get them to avenge my death. That’s all you can do for me now.”

Zu An exhaled deeply. He slowly lifted his sword.

Chu Chuyan closed her eyes. A peaceful smile appeared on her face as she waited for the sword to fall, dealing one final blow that would claim her life.

“Zu An, don’t you dare!” bellowed Shi Kun. 

Even though Chu Chuyan had spoken softly, he had still been able to hear everything loud and clear. He would have rushed over to snatch Chu Chuyan if he could, but he was afraid that any sudden moves on his part would end up agitating Zu An into making a reckless move. 

Zu An ignored him. He pulled his sword downward, the sword arcing through the air and stabbing him in the chest instead.

Shi Kun and Qiao Xueying were both taken aback. They hadn’t expected Zu An to hurt himself. What is that man up to?

Qiao Xueying even wondered if Zu An was trying to commit a lovers’ suicide for Chu Chuyan. Even though he’s hateful, I didn’t think that his feelings for the young miss actually ran this deep.