[TCFO] Arc 3 – Chapter 121

The Vicious Princess Wants to Reverse Fate (15)

When Zhou Min walked to the innermost part of the cave, she was startled by the appearance of Shangguan Qi. On the overgrown grass lay the faded cloth she had picked up a few days ago in a remote part of the jungle, which had lost its color. Shangguan Qi was lying on it, curled up with his body facing the cave wall, his back turned to her, trembling.

His once white robe was now soaked with cold sweat, clinging to his slender yet frail body.

At this moment, he lacked his usual calm and indifferent demeanor. He resembled a sickly Xi Shi, his body trembling helplessly like a discarded puppy, evoking sympathy.

Zhou Min walked slowly towards him, her usually highly sensitive senses seemingly dulled today. It wasn't until she stood beside him, looking down from a higher position, that he finally noticed her presence. His usually fair skin had turned almost dark purple, with veins visible on the surface, creating a terrifying sight! His lips were an indescribable shade of purple, and sweat dripped down his forehead and cheeks, with black strands of hair sticking to his temples.

Zhou Min knelt beside him, and only then did Shangguan Qi notice someone by his side. He opened his bloodshot eyes and looked at the person kneeling beside him, his lips deeply bitten and dripping with blood. His eyes revealed a fierce light. "Get out!"

After saying that, he half-sat up and reached out to push her away, but a new wave of excruciating pain caused him to sway and almost fall.

Zhou Min was startled and reached out her hand, pulling him into her embrace to support him with her body.

As soon as she touched him, she felt an icy coldness, like touching ice in the depths of winter, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

The body under her palm no longer had its usual warmth; only coldness remained. However, it was still graceful and tall, thin yet strong. Embracing his back, she felt her heart pounding uncontrollably, but more than that, she felt heartache for his current state of distress that he was desperately trying to hide.

In a past life, Zhou Min had discovered that he had been poisoned by the wet nurse who had raised him since he was two. At that time, he was still an innocent child, unaware of everything, yet already enduring such pain.

Every month, he would experience excruciating pain that made him wish for death. And now, after more than 20 years of suffering, she could hardly imagine what kind of perseverance allowed him to persist from such a young age and live until now, acquiring extraordinary medical skills and martial arts.

"Shangguan Qi? Are you in a lot of pain?" She seemed to hear his shallow and faint gasps.

Shangguan Qi desperately suppressed the desire to end his own life. If he were in the Valley of Divine Physicians, he could use medicine and internal energy to alleviate the excruciating pain that came every month. But in this place, not to mention internal energy, he had been searching for medicinal herbs all this time, but to no avail.

When the poison flared up, he thought he could endure it. However, even with thousands of precious herbs and profound internal techniques, they only slightly alleviated the pain. He had to endure it alone, even though he still had some internal energy left. Normally, he wouldn't be in such a miserable state and be so vulnerable. But for some reason, he couldn't figure out why his martial arts had disappeared during this period.

As Zhou Min softly whispered by his ear, and he caught a whiff of her delicate fragrance, for some reason, there seemed to be a sensation that could numb the pain in his body.

He was aware of his current appearance, horrifying like a ghost, extremely messy and ugly. It wasn't that no one had seen him like this, but they were terrified and screamed at his sight. Their gazes disgusted him. Even his biological mother despised his near-dead body. Everyone around him looked at him with those strange eyes!

That's why he left the cold "prison" alone at six, only to encounter his master, that eccentric and mad alchemist. Out of curiosity about the poison in his body, the old man brought him back to the Valley of Divine Physicians. He experimented on himself with various medicines, hoping to one day unlock the strange poison within him. At the same time, he took him as his disciple and imparted all his medical skills.

Compared to himself, the old madman was more interested in the poison in his body. But for him, without that crazy old man, he would have died long ago!

Therefore, he felt grateful but didn't have deep admiration for him. He thought he would live a long life because of the poison in his body. After all, that man was always interested in peculiar poisons. However, he died...

When he learned that no one in the entire Valley of Divine Physicians had survived, he was shocked, and more than that, there was an indescribable complexity in his heart. As for seeking revenge, it was something he should do, not out of hatred, but because it was necessary.

After all, not owing anyone was his last bottom line. That's why he would have moved to kill Zhou Min when he found out she had killed everyone in the Valley of Divine Physicians. But he stopped when he realized she might be the person who saved him three years ago.

However, as he listened to her soft murmurs in his ear, Shangguan Qi's heart felt like it had been hit by a stone, tingling and sour, just like the smile she had given when she left the valley five years ago after the poison was cured.

Zhou Min, why do you speak to me with such a tender tone of concern? He was the one who least needed anyone's sympathy and pity...

Shangguan Qi turned his head slightly and glanced at her.

An unnatural blush at the ends of his eyebrows and eyes made his purple face look incredibly eerie and terrifying, especially with the thunder roaring outside, giving it an inexplicable horror movie atmosphere.

Zhou Min trembled because his gaze was cold and seemed to freeze her, sinister and devoid of brightness.

Even the usual coolness was gone.

It seemed that this was the real him.

Time seemed to stand still in their gaze... There seemed to be only the sound of their breaths spraying each other's faces. It wasn't until Shangguan Qi's gaze became more dangerous that she remembered that he seemed extremely averse to being touched by others unless necessary. Even the protagonist from his past life only allowed her touch at the end, let alone others.

"Don't touch me!"

"Get away!"

After his body's pain subsided briefly, he forcefully pushed Zhou Min away. He seemed to have exhausted all his strength as he leaned against the stone wall in pain and desolation. His whole being appeared lost and distraught, shaking uncontrollably, with deep purple veins popping on his face, biting his lower lip and dripping with fresh blood.

"Shangguan Qi, I will save you."

Zhou Min gritted her teeth as she sat on the ground after being forcefully pushed away. She stood up, discarded her deep red veil, and approached Shangguan Qi with slow steps.