Never Let You Go, Again

17: A Wilted Lotus

Back in Gusu, a bleeding man was lying on his chest as the Lan doctor cautiously pulled the arrow out of his body, taking care to not let it damage more veins and flesh.

"AAAAAARGH!" The Lan doctor winced at the patient's scream. Lan Zhan vowed to make up for the pain later, because that scream was something he would never get out of his head. The torturous agony shook Wei Wuxian as he lay there, writhing in pain, while Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen held his arms and legs, lest the struggling should worsen the wound.

Finally, after what felt like hours of torture to Wei Ying, the doctor pulled the arrow out. Lan Qiren, who ran here to check on his nephew, gasped at the sight. Wide and linear, a gaping wound sliced across the Yiling Patriarch's back. Redder than his ribbon, leaking faster than his tears, the wound seemed to mock the cultivators who had been protecting this man.

Jin Ling had never been angrier: such a wide wound could only be made by the powerful and heavy Jin arrows. Whoever did this... I will borrow Zidian from Jiujiu... Must find the scumbag... I'll tear the sect apart if I have to...

Jiang Cheng and Xichen let go, both silently agreeing to find the scoundrel at all costs.

For the first time, Wen Ning was here in the Jingshi. He wouldn't be allowed into Cloud Recesses no matter the occasion, but Wei Wuxian indignantly told Lan Qiren that the Jingshi was away from the Cloud Recesses. Hence, his soul-brother watched him from a corner of the room. For the zillionth time, Wen Ning wished his sister was here: such a wound would be nothing to her.

"This wound... Second Master Lan, could you apply pressure on it with this, please?" The doctor handed Lan Zhan a white cloth. Lan Zhan, of course, obliged.

"Owowow! Lan ZHAN! Slowly! Go soft!"

To the onlookers' wonder, Lan Zhan blushed furiously.

"Second Master Lan, do NOT be gentle now, you need to apply pressure to stop the bleeding," the doctor said.

While Lan Zhan obeyed, Jiang Cheng sat beside him, stuffing the pillow in Wei Ying's mouth. "Shut up, you selfless idiot." Lan Zhan felt grateful towards his brother-in-law for once: he had spoken aloud what was raging in his own mind.

The doctor meanwhile, spoke to Lan Xichen. "Sect Leader, this wound will take a lot of time, patience and rest. He's bleeding too much. We'll have to stop the bleeding, then stitch the wound up. This wound itself isn't much trouble..." the doctor broke off.

"Doctor, is there something wrong?" Qiren asked with worry evident in his tone.

"Well... I need time. Time, not just to heal him. But time to find out what happened to him."

"What the hell– What do you mean, Doctor?" Jiang Cheng asked under Qiren's glare.

"Well... see this arrow?" The doctor said, taking the arrow he had placed on the bedside table into his hands. "See this arrowhead? There's something in it."

He was right. The arrowhead had the smallest slit in it. It was more of a container than an arrow. But what did it contain?

"Doctor," Jin Ling mumbled. "What's inside?"

As he spoke, the doctor held the arrow facing the floor and tapped the arrowhead. Suddenly, drops of an olive green liquid fell to the floor in a rapid series. Apparently, once hit, the arrowhead leaked of a disgusting 'something'.

Lan Xichen mumbled one word: "Poison."

"Correct, Sect Leader. Which explains why Master Wei is white and blue-lipped, and why his pulse is barely there," the doctor shook his head. The listeners looked at each other, shock on their faces. White? Blue-lipped? Why, they had been too focussed on the gash that none had noticed his other symptoms! Lan Zhan twisted his head to look up and down Wei Ying: yes, he was terribly weak. Pale, withered. A wilted lotus.