~~~

It had been a full day after the incident when the guards came down to Liu Jianguo’s new cell.

“Follow us,” a guard said, his voice and face stern.

Wordlessly, Liu Jianguo did as ordered. He caught Li’s worried look as he was taken away by the guards and gave him a reassuring nod. Night had fallen once more, so there weren’t many people outside, though Liu Jianguo did catch one or two disciples peeking at them from the shadows.

No one talked. Liu Jianguo asked no questions, and the guards offered no information. Only the sound of their footsteps against the cobblestones broke the silence of the night.

Liu Jianguo remained silent even as the guards took him into the main house. He remained silent even as he was brought before Xiao Zheng’s room where the two Elders from the other day waited.

“This is far enough,” Elder Gang said. His gaze was far less hostile than it had been when they first met. By contrast, the expression on Elder Hui’s face was impossibly neutral. “Leave him here.”

After bowing and paying their respects, the guards did as instructed, leaving Liu Jianguo alone with two people who could surely kill him a hundred times over in less time than it took for a hummingbird to flap its wings.

“Enter,” Elder Gang said, pushing the door to Xiao Zheng’s room open. “The Patriarch wishes to speak to you.”

Liu Jianguo looked from one Elder to another and bowed his head before going into the room. As soon as he was inside, the door closed behind him.

Xiao Zheng’s room was as large and luxurious as it had been last time, yet now there was something undeniably intimidating about it. Well, it would have been intimidating if he were any other person. Alas, Liu Jianguo had seen too many monsters and horrors to feel fear.

The only thing Liu Jianguo feared was leaving his son alone for too long.

Whether he was in front of Xiao Zheng or the weakest disciple of the Xiao Sect made no difference to him.

They could both kill him just as easily.

“I see you are doing well.”

Xiao Zheng’s voice carried across the room with ease. This time, there was nothing weak about it. Though still pale, his face had regained some color, and he did not look as tired as he had the other day. He was also not wearing his sleeping clothes but was dressed in blues and golds instead.

“Honored Patriarch Xiao Zheng,” Liu Jianguo said, kneeling before the man. “This one is doing quite well and is pleased to see the same can be said of you.”

Xiao Zheng’s lips quirked up.

“You do not seem surprised to see me like this.”

“It is only natural for Patriarch Xiao Zheng to look as healthy as he does,” Liu Jianguo replied, keeping his gaze on the floor. “The medicine I made could have produced no other result.”

Xiao Zheng stood up.

Showing no signs of physical illness, the large man rose from his bed and walked towards Liu Jianguo.

“That is quite a bold claim,” he said, coming to a stop just three steps away from the doctor. “How can you be so sure it is thanks to your work that I am restored?”

“Whether it is thanks to the medicine I made or not that Patriarch Xiao Zheng is now restored, I imagine no one knows the answer better than Patriarch Xiao Zheng. However, if Patriarch Xiao Zheng asks me for proof, then I imagine seeing the parasite leaving your body after taking the pill this one made should have been more than enough.”

Liu Jianguo looked up.

“I apologize for not warning you in advance of the discomfort it would cause, but there was no time to do so. Your guards did not give this one time to explain.”

There hadn't been much time for anything, really. It was a good thing Xiao Nan had grabbed the pill right away. Otherwise, they probably wouldn't be having this conversation.

Xiao Zheng snorted. “You are quite bold for a doctor.”

“It is because I trust Patriarch Xiao Zheng is an honorable man that I allow my tongue to be honest. I cannot imagine Patriarch Xiao Zheng to be someone who’d harm the one who restored him.”

The Patriarch of the Xiao Zheng crossed his arms. The expression on his face was torn between amusement and disbelief.

“Just who are you?”

“A simple doctor. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

Xiao Zheng held Liu Jianguo’s gaze for over a minute, searching for any signs of deceit. He found none.

“Very well then,” he said, turning away. “I’ll do you the honor of believing you. It would reflect poorly on me if I decided to torture you for information.”

“I am thankful for your kindness.”

“However, I still have another question for you. You are a knowledgeable man. That much is obvious now. How common is the condition that afflicted me? The parasite?”

An unexpected question. No, it wasn’t wrong for a man to want to know more about that which almost killed him. Liu Jianguo thinned his lips as he thought about it.

“The Soul Draining Parasite is not quite what I’d call obscure knowledge. Any of the greater doctors in the capital should have been able to diagnose your condition. The same can be said for any healer at the service of one of the four major sects.”

In that sense, Xiao Nan wasn’t wrong in saying that asking help from an outside Sect could have solved Xiao Zheng’s problem. However, there was no telling what the price of such help would have been.

“And what of someone like Doctor Wu?” Xiao Zheng asked with a serious look on his face. “I trust you are at least familiar with the name.”

“I am,” Liu Jianguo replied, nodding. “I have heard he is a great doctor, the best in Eastern Port City. However, I do not know enough to answer your question with any degree of certainty. What I can say, however, is that if he is as good as everyone claims, he should have noticed the problem lied in your dantian. That much, at least, he should have known.”

Xiao Zheng frowned.

“My best doctors said the problem may lie in my lower dantian,” he said thoughtfully, a hand on his chin. “However, Doctor Wu told me they were wrong.”

There was a moment of silence in the room. For at least three minutes, no one spoke. Liu Jianguo waited for Xiao Zheng’s inevitable explosion.

It never came.

Instead, the silence was broken by a soft laugh.

“I see. I see. So that’s how it is. Ah, to think this Xiao Zheng was almost made a fool of. No, that cannot stand. That will not stand.”

At that moment, the smile on Xiao Zheng's face was a terrible thing to behold.

“However, such matters are best left for later,” Xiao Zheng said, his expression returning to normal at an unnatural speed. “I suppose you’ll want your reward now. Name it.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Xiao Zheng frowned.

“You would reject my kindness?”

“Do not misunderstand this one, Patriarch Xiao Zheng,” Liu Jianguo said, shaking his head. “It is not that I wish to reject your kindness. It is that your kindness would be too much of a burden for someone like me.”

“Explain.”

“I’m a cripple,” Liu Jianguo said. “I cannot defend what is mine. If I were rewarded by the Xiao Sect, I would surely draw the envy and jealousy of others. Such a thing would spell doom for my son and I. The greatest kindness Patriarch Xiao Zheng can do for this one is to leave him as he was before.”

“That is all you want? Truly?”

Liu Jianguo nodded. “To live with my son in peace for the rest of my days. That is all I want.”

Xiao Zheng stared at him for the longest time.

“Stand up."

Liu Jianguo did.

“Follow me. If it is someone like you, then I might be able to trust you with this.”

~~~

Disguised by the decorations of Xiao Zheng's room was a hidden door. It led to a set of stairs and a door at the end.

“Like you, I have a son,” Xiao Zheng explained as he opened the door. “He is but a baby now, but he’s healthy and strong. I am confident he’ll one day inherit my position.”

Xiao Zheng entered the room, and Liu Jianguo went in with him.

“However, I cannot claim the same of my daughter.”

Liu Jianguo gasped.

The room was clean and well-illuminated. The circulation of air and the temperature were just right. There was an incense burning at the corner which Liu Jianguo knew had healing properties. None of that was what made him gasp.

What made him gasp was the baby girl in the crib.

For the first time in years, Liu Jianguo was well and truly shocked.

“This is...No, how can…”

“Say it,” Xiao Zheng commanded. “Prove that my intuition was not wrong.”

Liu Jianguo swallowed. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

“A Body of Extreme Yin.”

His words were like a blow to Xiao Zheng. The man was left staggering, making Liu Jianguo look at him in surprise.

“You did not know?”

“I was not sure,” Xiao Zheng replied, his voice perfectly resigned. “I have read the texts and heard the myths, but I have never seen the condition with my own eyes, nor have I talked with anyone who has.”

It was no surprise. A Body of Extreme Yin was an extremely rare condition. Even someone like Liu Jianguo had only seen it a few times. A person with a Body of Extreme Yin was someone whose body had an extreme affinity for Yin-aligned Qi. That affinity boosted their cultivation speed and allowed them to easily master techniques others would never grasp in several lifetimes.

It was an extremely valuable trait that only appeared on females.

“Her symptoms started showing shortly after I fell ill,” Xiao Zheng said. “At first, I thought she was suffering from the same malady as I. However, it soon became clear it was something else.”

“Who else knows?”

“The full truth? No one other than you and I. I had my best healers look at her, but they failed to discern the root of her ailment. The Elders know she is ill, but I haven’t allowed them to see her. I didn’t even let Doctor Wu near her.”

Xiao Zheng took a deep breath.

"If you tell anyone about this, I will have you killed. In deference to your service, I will see to it that your son is raised properly and never wants for anything, but you will die painfully."

“I understand, and I can only thank Patriarch Xiao Zheng for his generosity."

As a fellow father, Liu Jianguo understood Xiao Zheng’s worries completely. In many ways, the weight on Xiao Zheng’s shoulders was heavier than his.

A Body of Extreme Yin was so precious even the greatest sects in the empire would covet it. Many of them would do unspeakable things to get their hands on it. The most callous of Sects would have no problems breeding Xiao Zheng's daughter like a common animal to try to create more Bodies of Extreme Yin, and that was not even getting into the ways a man could abuse the condition to grow in power.

The virginity of a Body of Extreme Yin was a valuable thing.

“I see now this was the reason you did not ask help from other Sects.”

Had someone from one of the four main Sects been allowed into the Xiao Sect's compound to treat Xiao Zheng, they might have been able to detect the presence of a Body of Extreme Yin. There was no way Xiao Zheng could risk such a thing happening.

“There were other factors.” Xiao Zheng wiped some sweat from his forehead “However, my daughter was the main one. I will not deny that. I’ll not see her become a breeding sow!”

His Qi flared as he spoke. The walls cracked from the force of it.

“Can you help her?” Xiao Zheng asked Liu Jianguo, hope and desperation creeping into his voice. “Just what is wrong with my daughter? If her body is that of Extreme Yin, why is she so weak? I thought a Body of Extreme Yin conferred great power to its owner!”

“Normally, that is the case,” Liu Jianguo replied, moving closer to the girl. Her skin was unnaturally pale, and her body was cold.

If left like this, how long did she have? A month? Two?

“However, she simply cannot flourish in an area like this.”

Xiao Zheng’s face flushed with anger.

“Explain yourself!”

“As I am sure Patriarch Xiao Zheng knows, Dragon Veins run through the earth like the meridians in our bodies,” Liu Jianguo said. It was something almost everyone knew, yet he felt it was better to start from the beginning. “Naturally, there are places where the Dragon Veins flow with greater force than in others. There are also places where two or more Dragon Veins intersect. This creates areas rich in Qi. Cultivation in such places is easier, which creates differences in the level of cultivation.”

The Dragon Veins flowing under Eastern Port City and its surroundings were healthy. Thus, the level of cultivation of Eastern Port City was higher than the level of cultivation of the many small towns throughout the empire.

“A Body of Extreme Yin grants great power, but that power causes an imbalance in the person’s Qi,” Liu Jianguo continued. “To make up for it, an area rich in Qi and thus rich in Yang Qi is required. The ambient Qi in Eastern Port City is simply too low to provide your daughter with sufficient Yang Qi.”

Xiao Zheng closed his eyes. “In other words, I need to move my daughter someplace else for her to survive, a place where the level of cultivation is higher than here.”

A place where a stronger Sect already lived.

“There must be something else.” Xiao Zheng grabbed him by the shoulders. His eyes were desperate.

How long had this man been bearing this burden by his lonesome?

“You healed this Xiao Zheng, didn’t you? Tell me there is another way! Save my daughter! Save her, and I’ll give you everything you could wish for! I’ll protect your life until my dying day. I’ll make sure you never go hungry! My daughter! You are a father too, so save her! If you save her from the cruel fate that awaits her, I’ll even gift her to your son!”

There was one way.

In order to correct the imbalance in Xiao Zheng’s daughter, all that was needed was a sufficiently strong source of Yang Qi.

Like the tree in Liu Jin’s room.

The tree whose fruit he planned to give to his son once it grew.

Without that tree, his son would grow up as an average person. He would be at the mercy of those stronger than him.

Just like he was right now.

However, if Liu Jianguo didn’t do it, this girl would be…

“There is a way.”

~~~