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--- Chapter 223 ---
"What?!"
"Why? Why all of a sudden?" Gu Xun'er stared at her shadow guardian in disbelief. All this ti, she doesn't seem to feel Ling Ying was displeased with Brother Xiao Yan.
Ling Ying stared at Gu Xun'er solemnly, "Your condition hasn't gotten any better, miss."
"When you fought Han Yuan earlier, you overused the Heavenly Fla's power and almost burned yourself to death."
"T-That's impossible..." Gu Xun'er was frightened. "B-Brother Xiao Yan have been treating for two years now-!"
"Has he really?" Ling Ying said mockingly.
"Miss, don't forget that Xiao Yan is only a 9-Star Dou Disciple right now, and when he started treating you, he didn't even have enough Dou Qi to treat you properly."
"Think about it, miss, do you really think Xiao Yan can treat your condition and magically make you feel better..."
"B-But Brother Xiao Yan really made feel better!" Gu Xun'er stuttered in panic. "Every ti he used his Dou Qi to circulate my body, the pain from Heavenly Fla was gone for a while..."
Ling Ying chuckled, thinking how naive his young miss is. "Of course, he makes you feel better. After all, every ti Clan Head or others treated you with our Dou Qi, you felt pain from the cleansing."
"Our cultivation is infinitely higher than Xiao Yan's. However, now you have experienced a more gentle, weaker version of the treatnt."
"You longed for it. You beco addicted to this slow-consuming poison of comfort."
"You didn't realize due to low Dou Qi that Xiao Yan circulated in your body, the Heavenly Fla didn't beco weaker but stronger instead, like a small tinder being fed dry grass..."
"Eventually, it burst into a massive fla like tonight." Ling Ying sighed with bitter guilt.
Gu Xun'er took Ling Ying's words seriously. If there is soone close to her when doing this covert mission, then it would be Ling Ying, who has been loyal to her since the age of three.
"S-So... You're telling Brother Xiao Yan didn't make my condition better and made it worse instead?" Gu Xun'er mumbled with shakiness in her young voice.
"Unfortunately, yes." Ling Ying answered weakly. "If I had a chance to fix this, I would have prevented Xiao Yan from sneaking into your room that night, miss."
"It... It has beco one of my regrets in this life."
"I am truly deserving of punishnt..."
"I will report this matter to the Clan Head, and will atone for my sins in the Great Fall..."
Gu Xun'er panicked, really. Her eyes widened. Her heart sank. The Great Fall is a sinned place of the Ancient Gu Clan, where the most accursed mbers of the clan are punished for their sins, whether it was disloyalty or misdeed.
"Don't! Please don't report this to my father yet, Ling Ying!" Gu Xun'er said while grasping Ling Ying's arm.
Ling Ying shook his head helplessly and then replied, "Miss, you have no idea how dangerous your situation was."
"You're lucky!"
"Your usage of Heavenly Fla has reached the realm of Dou King, one realm away from Dou Emperor, which is where I am at."
"Once you stepped over that, even I couldn't stop you."
"You could have died..." Ling Ying put his hands over his face, feeling very frustrated not only with himself, but also with his young miss and the future of the Gu Clan.
"If Han Yuan didn't sacrifice himself, your life... I can't even imagine how much pain he went through."
Gu Xun'er raised her eyebrows, "What does this thing have to do with him?!"
"Han Yuan saved you! He saved your life, miss!" Ling Ying snapped back in anger and sha.
"Don't you feel it?"
"The comfort in your body?"
"How easy and free it was for you to breathe, with no pain in your chest, no lingering burn in your lungs..."
Gu Xun'er frowned and then paled imdiately.
Yes, everything felt. Normal.
But that's not how it's supposed to feel!
Even after Brother Xiao Yan helped her, she had never felt like this.
After the age of three, Gu Xun'er has never felt like it. After being chosen by the Holy Fla, every day felt like torture to her, but that's her duty, and she has no choice.
Yet, tonight. At this very mont, Gu Xun'er felt the long-lost freedom of having cold night air fill her lungs.
Then, she cried.
"Why am I crying?" She wiped her tears.
She hurriedly looked at her guardian again, "Ling Ying..."
"W-What happened to that boy? What happened to Han Yuan?"
"Y-You said he sacrificed himself to save ..."
Ling Ying clenched his hands, "I am ashad, miss. I cannot suppress your condition. Even then, Han Yuan, despite all the things you, no, we have done, stepped to and offered himself to stop you."
"I helped him restrain you while he marched to you, and used a secret technique to absorb excess energy from your raging Heavenly Fla."
"Half of his body burnt, scarred, and more importantly, crippled beyond what I am capable of healing or compensating..."
"His ridians burst, his Dou Qi is chaotic."
"Only dicine above Rank 7 could cure him."
"Or his future as a Dou Fighter is dim, if not ended tonight."
Upon hearing this, Gu Xun'er trembled at the thought of that fearless boy, crippled for life with an ugly burn on half of his body.
That boy has an imnse will to live.
The boy has an imnse talent and martial skills.
He could have reached the peak of this world given enough ti.
Yet, he sacrificed himself to save her?
Gu Xun'er should feel happy that the person who made Brother Xiao Yan cry is now gone from the higher stage of this world, but she couldn't!
Ironic.
How ironic.
The boy whom she sought to defeat was the one who pulled her from the possibility of death!
Imnse guilt overwheld Gu Xun'er. She recalled Han Yuan's history and knew he had one family mber left, the one he vowed to protect even when fighting her.
The reason he struggled despite being so young.
But now? He couldn't even protect her.
All that because of Gu Xun'er!
'Because of !'
Gu Xun'er fell to the ground in heartache. She glanced at the torn cloth not far away, reaching for it. She watched it crumble under her re touch, becoming ashes and returning to earth.
The scent of iron from dried blood was nauseating, giving Gu Xun'er the idea of how Han Yuan struggled for her! For HER!
A stranger he had only t tonight.
A stranger who wanted to beat him up for a petty reason!
"D-Did he say anything before he left..." Gu Xun'er looked at Ling Ying with a complex emotion. She can't handle this alone.
Ling Ying watched his young miss undergo the huge struggle after this realization and hesitated before answering, "No."
"I see..." Gu Xun'er smiled bitterly.
'That's right, how can he pardon after what I've done?'
'It is unforgivable...'
"Han Yuan didn't leave any word for you, but..." Ling Ying brought out a jade bottle. "He left you with a bottle of 'Yin-rich' dicinal pills."
"He said eating this once a day will make your condition better."
"Although I haven't identified the pills fully, they indeed have a rich 'Yin' dicinal property."
"And Han Yuan, despite having bandaged all over his body like a mummy, smiled and handed this to ..."
"Miss, he smiled despite the pain... And gave this dicine to you."
At this very mont, Gu Xun'er felt as if lightning had struck her to the very core. She reached for the jade bottle with a trembling hand and opened it.
A handful of snowy blue pills lie within, glimring with coldness.
She poured one out and ate it, making Ling Ying panic.
"Miss!" Ling Ying wanted to stop Gu Xun'er, but it was too late.
Gu Xun'er swallowed the pill, tasting sweetness and coldness spreading from her chest to all her body. The pill tastes amazing! On top of that, the growing warmth from the sealed Heavenly Fla cald down dramatically.
"It works..."
Drip! Drip!
Gu Xun'er looked down as tears fell to the ground. "Hehe, I am such a bad girl..."
"How could he be so kind to his enemy..."
"After all that..."
"In fact, Han Yuan didn't bla you, miss." Ling Ying sighed. "He said to that he understood your anger and vengeance as his sister would have done the sa if he got wronged like Xiao Yan did..."
'That... That only makes feel worse...'
Gu Xun'er smiled bitterly with tears all over her face.
And due to all these factors, Han Yuan's figure seems to be imprinted deep in her heart. It was tall and warm, overcoming all challenges as if they were a breeze to him.
At the sa ti, Xiao Yan's figure seed to beco smaller, slowly cornered out of her heart.
Not forgotten, but gradually overshadowed by a new light.
After all, impressions changed everything. And Gu Xun'er, being a child, made it easier to forget montary comfort than true freedom!
Like she did when she experienced comfort from Xiao Yan for the first ti, she longed for more of it.
What Han Yuan did opened a new path for Gu Xun'er. Guilt and gratitude are intertwined, arousing curiosity yet careful thoughtfulness.
What happened tonight taught Gu Xun'er not to be emotional and willful any longer.
"Ling Ying, let's go back." Gu Xun'er wiped her tears, clutching the precious jade bottle in her hand. "Tomorrow, I will visit Han Yuan..."
"And apologize..."
Ling Ying heard this and smiled weakly, "Okay, miss."
Under the white crescent moon, Ling Ying and Gu Xun'er returned to the Xiao Clan's compound, having trouble sleeping yet drawn in quietness and reassurance.
And even in her sleep, Gu Xun'er never releases the jade bottle from her hug. The only source of comfort for her now.
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