Du Youqian pitied her, and he knew he was in the wrong.
But intense passion rarely lasts, and great wisdom invites disaster.
In his previous life, his relationship with Long Ruzhen had brought much color to his world, but it had also attracted a great deal of trouble.
So in this life, he just wanted to focus on his Cultivation, not be saddled with a burden again.
After a moment's thought, Du Youqian said with great difficulty, "Yes. I've grown tired of you. Please, stop pestering me."
"Fine. You're being frank, Young Master Qiu. At least you didn't continue to deceive me." Lin Sha's face twisted in pain. She gently placed a hand over her heart, as if seized by a sudden pang.
A moment later, a tragically beautiful smile bloomed on her face, as ephemeral as a night-blooming cereus. "It was I who was blind, who failed to see you for what you are. I don't blame you. By all rights, I should kill you... but they say even a single night shared creates a lasting bond. I cannot bring myself to do it, nor do I wish to. This is goodbye... forever!"
As she spoke, she pulled a dagger from her robes, its blade gleaming with a cold light.
When he heard her say, "By all rights, I should kill you," Du Youqian's heart leaped in alarm. 'I haven't practiced any Martial Arts in this body yet. Even though I have the experience, my body can't keep up with my mind.'
'This woman knows Superior Martial Arts. If she decided to kill me, I probably wouldn't survive.'
His mind raced, searching for an escape. He even considered feigning sincerity for a moment, perhaps reciting a classic, dramatic line from a play.
But then he saw Lin Sha turn the dagger on herself. She pressed it against her long, fair neck and, just like that, sliced.
The razor-sharp dagger instantly drew a thin, crimson line across her throat.
A moment later, blood gushed forth. Lin Sha's delicate body collapsed in a tragically beautiful, slow fall, her gaze turning hazy.
'!!!!!!' Even though Du Youqian had spent the better part of his previous life as a serene, ascetic cultivator, right now all he wanted to do was swear like a common street thug.
'Who am I supposed to complain to about this?'
'Seriously, lady? Was that necessary? Killing yourself over a little disagreement?'
'If you were so set on dying, couldn't you have at least waited until I was gone? Out of sight, out of mind, you know?'
'She's seriously messed up!'
Du Youqian stomped his foot, cleared his mind of everything else, and rushed forward to apply pressure to several of Lin Sha's vital points to stanch the bleeding.
He then tore a strip from his own sleeve and pressed it against her wound.
The bouncers at the brothel entrance had been watching the drama unfold with great interest. They never expected to witness such a bloody scene and were frozen in shock.
"What are you waiting for? Get over here and help!" Du Youqian yelled at them.
Du Youqian, however, was quite calm. After all, while his physiological age was eighteen, his actual age was eighteen... plus two hundred.
He had seen his fair share of life and death.
Although he'd been startled when Lin Sha suddenly tried to kill herself, his heart had quickly stilled, almost without a ripple.
The two bouncers scrambled over. Under Du Youqian's direction, they fumbled to lift Lin Sha, getting ready to carry her into the brothel.
Du Youqian barked, "Do you want her to die? Take her to the nearest physician's hall right now!"
After a moment's thought, he said decisively, "Take her to Xuanhu Studio!"
"But, Xuanhu Studio..." one of the bouncers hesitated.
Du Youqian knew why he was hesitating.
Xuanhu Studio was well-known, but for all the wrong reasons.
Its resident physician was widely regarded as a quack.
But Du Youqian wasn't relying on that physician to treat Lin Sha.
'Among Mortals, very few could surpass his medical skills.'
'He might not have his Magical Power or Elixirs, and many of his techniques were unusable, but that didn't mean his medical expertise could be outmatched by just any Mortal.'
"Why is Miss Suo Luo's blood black?" one of the bouncers cried out.
Du Youqian glanced over and his heart sank. 'This is bad.'
'This should have been a simple matter of minor surgery and a few prescriptions.'
'But now it looks like the dagger was coated in a deadly poison. This is going to be trouble.'
"Does anyone have a needle? Hurry, get me some needles!" Du Youqian demanded.
The two bouncers were anxious as well. Lin Sha was the brothel's cash cow; if she died on their watch, it wouldn't end well for them.
One of them immediately said, "I'll go find the other women inside. They're sure to have needles."
The other one was about to use the chance to slip away, but Du Youqian looked at him with a humorless smile. "You hold this pressure point. Don't move. If you move, she dies."
The bouncer had no choice but to gently lay Lin Sha back on the ground and maintain pressure on the point.
Du Youqian carefully picked up the dagger, sniffed it, then found its sheath and slid the blade back inside.
In Lin Sha's current state, nine out of ten physicians would refuse to treat her, lest she die in their hall and ruin their reputation.
The one remaining would say, "I can give it a try, but there are no guarantees. And since it's this serious... the price will be higher."
Even Du Youqian found the situation extremely tricky.
Even with her Superior Martial Arts and vitality far greater than an ordinary person's, she couldn't withstand this much trauma.
Between the blood loss and the rare poison attacking her system, she was already ninety percent dead.
'Only an Immortal could save her now...'
'Ah, but aren't I what the world would call an "Immortal"?'
'Never mind, then.'
The bouncer who had run into the brothel quickly returned, holding several needles.
A middle-aged Madam came panting out after him. The moment she saw Lin Sha lying in a pool of blood, she dropped to her knees beside her and began to wail like a stuck pig. "My poor, ill-fated girl! How could you be so foolish! I told you not to trust any of these wretched men, but you wouldn't listen! What have you done to yourself!"
After a few heart-rending sobs, she grabbed Du Youqian's robes. "You! You deserve to be cut to pieces! If anything happens to my girl, I'll drag you before the magistrate myself!"
"Shut your mouth," Du Youqian said coldly. "Don't interfere while I'm trying to save her."
Perhaps it was Du Youqian's calm demeanor that intimidated her. The Madam, whose grief was three parts genuine and seven parts performance, immediately fell silent. She continued to sob softly as she watched Du Youqian take the needles and expertly insert them into several of Lin Sha's pressure points.
Thick, dark blood soon began to flow from the points he had pierced.
The Madam asked, pleasantly surprised, "Can Suo Luo be saved?"
Du Youqian shook his head. "It's too soon to tell."
"But isn't the poisoned blood coming out?"
"I've only stabilized her for now," Du Youqian explained as he worked. "This has bought me a little time. Now, we need to get her to Xuanhu Studio. Be careful. Don't touch the wound, and don't let her bleed any more, or not even an Immortal could save her."
The Madam wiped her tears. "The physicians at Xuanhu Studio are all quacks! Let's go to Benefiting the People Hall!"
Du Youqian said flatly, "In my eyes, every physician in this city is a quack. We're going to Xuanhu Studio. As I recall, their medicinal herbs are decent, and they have a full stock. Don't waste any more time. If we can't reach Xuanhu Studio in the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Lin... Suo Luo will be dead for good."
There was a convincing power in Du Youqian's words.
Furthermore, he had just become a Scholar. To the common person, a Scholar was a candidate for an official post and a symbol of authority.
Even if she felt a slight resistance to his words, the Madam didn't dare argue further. She obediently arranged for a carriage to take Lin Sha to Xuanhu Studio.