The sight could drive a lesser man mad. For Zhong, it was beautiful, not merely the woman, but the struggle she embodied.
If there was one thing he respected, it was someone who kept fighting for life when surrender would be easier.
"It must hurt," he said softly.
Luo Lan's lashes trembled.
Even Luo Chen looked puzzled. Most healers spoke to her condition, not to her.
She had rarely reacted to anything, offering only a quiet thanks when a remedy eased her pain. But one simple sentence made her heart falter.
"Lord Chen, lower the flames and incense," Zhong said, turning to him.
"That would break the balance the previous masters built. It's too dangerous." Luo Chen's jaw set. The chamber's fire formation had been crafted by a famed physician and an array master.
It synchronized with her Yin—fragile equilibrium that could shatter at the slightest misstep. That was why the chamber lay so deep underground, far from interference.
And this stranger wanted it dimmed?
"Father."
Her voice rang clear as struck crystal. Even Zhong felt his pulse catch.
"Do as he say."
"Lan'er…" Luo Chen stared, stunned. She had never asked for anything about her condition. He weighed risks in silence, then faced Zhong, every line of his body rigid.
"If anything happens…" The lord was gone; a desperate father stood in his place.
"Nothing will happen except good fortune," Zhong said. "Because I'm here."
Luo Chen snorted at the arrogance of a nameless cultivator with only a Qi Condensation aura.
Even so, he lifted a hand.
A threaded signal of encrypted qi flew into the array's heart. The flames dimmed. Heat sank back into stone.
Zhong smiled and stepped toward the lotus.
The girl began to shake at once. Without fire, cold poured off her like tide across black sand.
Her breaths turned to fog. Frost crackled beneath Zhong's feet with every step.
"It's all right. Don't hold it anymore," he murmured. He sank to one knee and placed his palm over her sternum.
Her skin was smooth as jade and bitter as winter. The frost bite found him through his wards.
Luo Lan looked up, drew a deep breath, and let it go.
The room erupted.
A white gale burst from her body, choking every flame. Arrays groaned and shattered like glass beneath snow.
"Luo Lan!" Luo Chen's qi surged. He stepped to break the circle.
"Stop," Zhong called, and something in his voice made the lord freeze.
Within the storm, Zhong smiled: a thin curve catching the furnace-glow.
Treasure!
Luo Lan stared with winter-blank eyes. Then her expression shifted. A blink. Another
Nothing?
No more bone-deep ache. No ice-burn at the brush of air. No crawling pain along the nerves.
Of course there was nothing.
Between Zhong's fingers a steady current had formed, a silent river pulling excess Yin out of her body and into his.
BANG!
Qi Condensation, Fifth Stage.
Just from draining the overflow he pushed through the wall.
Her Yin was so pure and so vast he could have refined her into a pill and devoured it.
Beauty be damned! With this much power, she ought to,
"Thank you."
His thought snapped. She leaned forward and wrapped him in a sudden, fierce embrace.
"—!"
Zhong startled and tried to pry her off, but her strength outmatched his. His hands found no leverage.
"Luo Lan! That's inappropriate!" Luo Chen's shock spilled out in a harsh whisper.
Pride and relief warred across his face, the first time his daughter had stood in balance like a normal girl, yet the gesture, toward another man, was unacceptable, even if that man was her healer.
An old doctor, at that!
"Why? We're the same age," she said.
The words confused Luo Chen and sent ice down Zhong's spine.
Shit!!
"Give me a moment alone with her," Zhong said quickly. "Sudden equilibrium can muddle the mind! I need to focus."
Still reeling, Luo Chen nodded. If the man who had just stilled his daughter's torment asked for something, he would grant it. He stepped out and pulled the door closed.
Silence, save for the slow sigh of cooling incense.
"Stop using illusion. It looks weird," Luo Lan said. She lifted both hands and squished his face as if wringing cloth, except with her strength it felt like she'd tear his face off. Zhong had no choice.
He let the spell unravel.
Wu Han's face looked back at her.
"I know you," she said, puzzled, but still refusing to let him go.
Her gaze sharpened, like glass cutting through a veil. Then she whispered, "You were there. At the engagement."
Wu Han froze.
She was right. He had stood at the sidelines that day, just another figure in the crowd welcoming the envoy from the Luo estate. A tree among the forest, yet somehow, she had picked him out of countless faces.
'She must possess some unique ability....'
It wasn't unheard of, even in his old world. Some were born with eyes that pierced illusions, voices favored by spirits, or, at the very least, a memory that never forgot.
Still, it was a nuisance to face at his current stage. With her strength a league above his, altering her memory without a trace would be dangerous.
'I suppose it's time for plan B.'
"Now tell me, who are you?" Luo Lan pinned him down, her thighs clamping around his torso like iron. Her eyes blazed, demanding truth.
"I'm Wu Han. Wu Yaoshi's cousin," he answered evenly. For now, it was best to go along with what she already uncovered.
Her eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"
This time, she pressed harder, grinding him into the floor. The lock of her legs left no room for him to move, no chance to slip away.
"I want more," she breathed.
Every night she ate burning food, endured suffocating heat, locked away in a furnace just to keep breathing.
And this man had walked in and stripped all her pain away in an instant. How could she possibly let him leave?
But that was her mistake.
The first rule of negotiation: never let the other side know your true goal.
"Calm down," Wu Han said, his voice sharp.
"No," she shot back. "Tell me how to do it."
"And if I don't?"
The air snapped. Ice spread across the floor, and the spot where she held him turned to frost.
Wu Han's eyes grew colder than the ice itself. "Do that again, and good luck finding another me."
The silence that followed was heavy. Luo Lan stared into his eyes, searching.
She found no hesitation there, no fear.
"…I'm sorry." Her voice softened. She pulled back, releasing him.
Wu Han rose, brushing himself off, and glanced at his arm. Frozen solid. The skin burned with chill.
He flexed his fingers and summoned a thread of flame, igniting his fingertip to carefully thaw the frost away.
"I know you have questions," he said quietly. "But some of them I can't answer yet."
"Why?" she asked, her voice calm but edged with demand.
"My master told me not to," Wu Han lied smoothly. His expression never wavered as he spun the words.
"If our secret leaks, I would be punished."
With a technique so profound that neither she nor even her father could comprehend, surely, she would respect the customs of the martial world or at least fear the shadow of some unseen master.
But Luo Lan's eyes pierced him. "That's a lie."
A sweep of cold rolled off her body. The air itself thickened, biting into his flesh. His qi stuttered, circulation slowing, every breath heavier than the last.
'So, it's come to this.'
Wu Han snapped his fingers. Flame bloomed in his palm, a warning spark poised to strike, yet he paused when he saw her face.
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
"Lying is bad," she whispered, voice breaking. Frost spilled from her lips with every word.
"Please… don't lie to me."