"Yes, I am," she said cautiously. "And you are...?"
"Our savior," the king said dramatically as he got off his throne and walked towards her. "You must forgive me, young child. I was coerced into malice and terrible actions just like you were, against my will. But this young man here somehow got me out of the prison-like trance I was trapped in and has devised a clever plan for us to solve this entire problem."
Needless to say, she looked more than a bit confused by this revelation. She wasn't even sure if this was real or some kind of elaborate trick or test. Her eyes kept darting between us suspiciously.
I then nodded to the king to go ahead and begin his part of the plan. He gave me a slight nod back and left the room quietly, leaving us alone.
"I- I don't understand what's happening," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "Is this some kind of test? I've been doing well so far, haven't I? I'm doing my best!"
"Woah woah, calm down. Don't worry," I said with a smile. "I'm Ziyang. And I'm here to not only save you, but also give you the opportunity of a lifetime."
"That's exactly what the king's soldiers told me a while ago when they first came to my house," she said, completely deadpan. "Look where it got me."
I cleared my throat a little, feeling awkward. "Yeah, fair point. I don't blame you for being suspicious. What happened to you and your grandfather was absolutely terrible and shouldn't have happened to anyone-"
"You know my grandfather?!" She suddenly lit up with desperate hope, taking a step forward.
"Yes, I met him before coming here," I said quickly. "Don't panic, we saved him from the prison. He's being healed now as we speak by some of the townsfolk. He's alright and safe."
"Oh thank God. Thank you so much!" Tears immediately started flowing from her eyes, relief washing over her face. "But... he won't be completely healed by regular healers. He's going to need me specifically to-"
"We're completely aware of his unique situation and condition," I interrupted gently. "And in order for you to meet your grandfather again, you need to answer my questions honestly and do exactly as I say for tonight. Got it?"
She quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve. "Mhm. Yes, I understand."
"Alright then, one question at a time now," I said, getting down to business. "How far have you healed him? The mystery man, I mean."
"Well, he can very much walk and talk now with enough strength and energy," she explained. "He could barely speak or move when I first met him a month ago. He was in terrible condition."
"So he's fully ready for combat? Can he fight?"
"I wouldn't say he's at full strength," she said carefully. "Maybe he can handle his own in a fight for some time, but he'll eventually weaken again."
"Good. That's exactly what we need," I said, nodding. "Now, next question, why did he specifically need a master healer for the job? Even regular healers with average experience can heal injuries as bad as literal amputations. Then why was your expertise so necessary?"
"There's a particular form of attack technique in advanced cultivation called Yun Xi," she explained, getting more technical. "It's quite rare and extremely dangerous, and can only be performed by the absolute top martial artists in the world. It's a forbidden curse-technique that, when it strikes successfully, plants a living link inside the victim's meridians. That parasitic link behaves like a time-delayed pulse which triggers micro-destruction that accumulates into a cascading, chain-reaction decay of tissue and meridians over time. It's somewhat similar to the degenerative sickness my grandfather's suffering from, actually. But this Yun Xi curse is much quicker, more aggressive, and far more dangerous."
"Mhm, I see," I said, piecing things together. "So you're the perfect person to do the job."
"It would seem like it, yes," she agreed.
"Alright then, now's the time to ask the most important question," I said as I found myself crossing my fingers behind my back and desperately hoping it wasn't someone beyond what we could possibly handle. Of course there was no backing off now regardless of the answer, but still, you can't help but feel incredibly tense. "Do you know who the mystery man actually is? I heard from your grandfather that you first refused to do the healing immediately. I'm guessing you saw his face and realized it was someone who went against your moral values and ethics? Maybe a criminal?"
"You're absolutely right," she said, her voice dropping lower and becoming more serious than before. "It's Feichen... Xun Feichen."
My face got dark, all the blood draining from it. "You mean...?"
"Yes," she confirmed grimly.
Fuck. It was the Sixth Supreme Being!
Can you fucking believe it?! Our very first official mission as a sect and we were up against a FUCKING Supreme Being! One of the most powerful cultivators alive! I don't know if you can possibly understand the intensity of the situation, but these legendary guys can literally crush a person's entire existence with a single casual fist strike! They're the kind of opponents you build up to over years of training! This shit was supposed to be gradual progression with steadily increasing difficulty as we grew stronger over time, but instead we'd jumped straight to one of the final bosses?! Great.
Goddamn, we were incredibly lucky that he was injured so badly. If he'd been at full strength, we wouldn't even have stood a chance! We'd be dead before we could blink! Hell, I wasn't even sure if we stood a chance against him in his weakened state. This particular guy, Xun Feichen, was known throughout the land for literally obliterating entire towns left and right, just for getting what he wanted. You want an example? This one time he apparently lost one of his favorite coins in a small town, and in the process of "searching" for it, he killed nearly two hundred innocent people! That's fucking absurd!
Ironbell being relatively safe so far was only because he specifically needed it intact to manufacture his weapons for whatever large-scale plan he was cooking up. That ruthless asshole. I couldn't believe I actually had to fight this monster. Whoever had attacked him with the Yun Xi curse should've finished the damn job properly. Would've saved everyone a lot of trouble and made the world a much more peaceful place.
Anyway, I was now neck-deep in this situation and had to act quick before I lost my nerve.
"So, what's your plan exactly?" Mei asked, looking at me with a mixture of hope and doubt.
"If I'm not wrong, you begin your next scheduled healing session with him in about two hours from now, right?" I asked, checking my mental timeline.
"Yes," she confirmed.
I then explained to her the entire detailed plan step by step, making sure she understood her crucial role, and we both got into action. The both of us left the room together and I got into my assigned position. Where exactly, you ask? The exact middle of the palace on the outdoor training grounds. There's this huge open field exactly in the middle of the palace complex, used primarily for military training purposes and combat practice. I stood there alone in the moonlight, seriously contemplating whether I should actually stay and go through with this insane plan, or just run away right now and start a new life in another country under a fake name.
Funny how everything suddenly looks so beautiful and interesting right before you're about to do something incredibly scary and potentially fatal. The grass swaying gently in the breeze, the neatly designed pavilions with their elegant architecture, the full moon shining brilliantly above. All of them were ordinary shit I saw basically every day, but somehow they all seemed so damn wonderful now. 'Man, life is so precious,' I thought to myself as I stood there. 'I sure hope I get to keep it.'
The waiting was the worst part. Every second felt like an eternity.