NEBM Chapter 15: Heart Ailment

In the chaos, he felt something tugging at his sleeves. He subconsciously touched it with the back of his hand. The little hands that were pulling tightly at his sleeve were cold to the touch.

Who was it…?

The pain eased a bit, allowing him to finally focus enough to follow the little hands. It led to a thin body that probably belonged to a seven or eight year old child.

The child’s wrists were as thin as twigs. Shen Zhixian held them gently, noticing how weak the pulse was, as if it might suddenly stop at any moment.

His body was still sinking, and the cold sea seemed to compress around him. Shen Zhixian endured the pain and tried to hug the boy, hoping to take him up to the surface. Just then, a gleam of light penetrated the dark sea water and fell on the child’s face.

Shen Zhixian looked down at the person he was holding.

Jan Yin?!!

This face clearly belonged to Yan Jin. No, maybe this was Yan Jin when he was a child?

He was so surprised that he forgot to move. Suddenly, the child opened his eyes and a pair of red pupils coldly gazed at him. The hands that had originally been tugging at his sleeves now silently rose up to his throat.

“Master…” The cold voice that rang in his ears was as indifferent as the child’s appearance. “This is in return for the spirit root you gave me.”

Shen Zhixian was stunned. His lips trembled and he wanted to speak but the hands at his throat tightened hard, choking off his words.

That nightmare scene that he’d nearly forgotten slammed back into his consciousness. Shen Zhixian’s throat was tightly squeezed and the pain in his chest intensified with his suffocation, turning his vision dark.

“No…no…” He gasped intermittently, struggling to spit out the broken words. “No…I…Ah!”

With a bang, Shen Zhixian burst out of the water while being enclosed in a warm embrace. The pressure around him immediately fell away, and his throat no longer felt choked. With one hand, he grabbed on to the person holding him while, at the same time, he tilted his head sideways and vomited out blood-tinged water.

There was a thin layer of mist in front of him. He gasped, the look in his eyes frantic even as his body shivered uncontrollably. He fruitlessly repeated, “It wasn’t me…I didn’t…”

The man in Yan Jin’s arms looked pitiful and very fragile.

Shen Zhixian’s frame was naturally thin, with the metabolism of one who would not get fat no matter how much he eats. Meanwhile, the thin bamboo pole of the past had grown up into a strong and sturdy young man.

As Shen Zhixian slumped against him, Yan Jin realized that his waist was so thin that he could wrap one hand around it.

Shen Zhixian was obviously not fully awake yet. His head leaned weakly on Yan Jin’s shoulder, his face so pale that Yan Jin could even see the thin blue veins underneath the fine and thin skin. Mumbling incoherently, Shen Zhixian pulled at Yan Jin’s collar with one hand.

His inner clothes were soaked with water, making the wet fabric cling to him. As a result of the struggle, his clothes were messy, the collar slipping open enough to reveal delicate, jade-like collarbones.

Yan Jin’s lowered his eyes took down at the man in his arms, his gaze unfathomable.

Xiao Caoya stood to one side, watching as Yan Jin looked at the person in his arms before turning his  head to look at the grass bud with indifference. That glance was ice-cold and, within the depths of his pupils, gleamed a touch of red.

Xiao Caoya was stunned by that look and immediately fell down and pretended to be dead.

Yan Jin indifferently held the person in his arms, ignore the grass bud, and strode away.

Even when they got back to the house, Shen Zhixian was still unconscious. His heart attack was worse than before, and he’d finally fallen asleep half-way back.

Chilled by the cold wind, Yan Jin’s pupils had already returned to normal and the cold, ruthless aura on his body had disappeared. He silently applied a few cleansing techniques on Shen Zhixian, dried and straightened his clothes, covered him with a thick comforter, and stared down at him for a moment before quietly leaving.

As soon as he left, Shen Zhixian opened his eyes. Although his face showed his exhaustion, his eyes were clear and fearful. A moment ago, in the hot spring, Yan Jin had wanted to kill him.

The feeling of suffocation was not because of a heart attack, but because Yan Jin was clenching his throat.

The so-called “Little Yan Jin” was probably a hallucination produced by him choking his throat.

Shen Zhixian froze for a while, only feeling cold in his heart.

Three years had already gone by, but it turned out that Yan Jin still couldn’t let it go.

If this was the case, then Shen Zhixian wanted to wash his hands of the man. Since Yan Jin couldn’t let the matter go, perhaps he should just hide away from him?

Thinking of this, he immediately thought of something else. Thanks to the heart pain this time, his head was so stimulated that he finally remembered what had, when he was reading the book, been a small, insignificant detail.

It was clear that the more time passed, the more frequent the heart attacks would be. It would continue this way until the body was completely worn down, resulting in death.

The original Shen Zhixian had laboriously checked various ancient texts and sent people to explore countless places. Finally, he discovered a flicker of hope.

A fish scale.

The inverse scale of an ancient fish demon had the ability to mend human flesh and bones and would also be able to heal his heart injury.

But this ancient fish demon was not easy to find. In fact, its existence had not been heard about for thousands of years.

The original owner could only be helpless. But, the current Shen Zhixian knew where to find the scale. The book briefly mentioned that Yan Jin hadn’t become a devil for long before he entered an ancient secret realm, where he happened to retrieve the inverse scale of an ancient fish demon, a merman.

Yan Jin later donated this inverse scale to a wounded female sound cultivator. When Yan Jin completely unified his devil qi, she resolutely rebelled against her master and joined Yan Jin to become one of his greatest supporters.

…She was also suspected to be the female lead.

The reason why it was only a theory was that, through to the very end of the book and before Yan Jin’s death, he made no indication whether he wanted to be with a male or female lead.

Shen Zhixian sighed. If only he had a good relationship with Yan Jin. Perhaps, then, he could ask Yan Jin to give him a little bit of that scale. But, unfortunately…

He tried hard to remember who that female sound cultivator was. Currently, the most well known sound cultivation sect was the Qianyin Pavilion. Shen Zhixian thought to himself that perhaps if he helped Yan Jin to chase his future wife, maybe he’ll forgive him.

Shen Zhixian silently placed this idea into the scope of consideration and seriously spent some time pondering about Yan Jin and this female sound cultivator. Finally, he sighed, still wondering what to do.

Feelings of fatigue surged up and down. Not bothering to get up to change his clothes, he rolled up in the comforter and soon fell asleep.

……

Shen Zhixian’s body only got worse since the hot spring incident.

In just a few months, his heart attack had repeated several times, each more serious than the next, and the whole person became much thinner.

However, with the two elders helping him to hide it, Shen Zhixian was able to conceal the matter with no one the wiser. Even Song Ming thought that he was just merely being lazy during Winter, and that was the reason why he hadn’t been out in a long time.

Fourth Elder forbade Shen Zhixian from using his spiritual powers, and so he remained home all day, made drowsy by the warmth arrays. Every day, he would murmur that he’ll soon become a moldy mushroom.

“Oh, what a thing for this child to say.” Fourth Elder stuffed a pill into Shen Zhixian’s mouth. “Even if you become a mushroom, you’ll be the best-looking mushroom.”

Shen Zhixian distastefully chewed the pill, his whole face distorted by the bitter taste flooding his mouth. After half a moment passed, he said, “Fourth Martial Uncle, can you add some sugar to the medicine next time?”

Fourth Elder stared at him. “Only good medicine tastes bitter, understand! You’re also an elder, not a small child. Why are you so afraid of suffering, just like a kid…Even your disciple could chew many of these pills without even uttering a sound of complaint, but you complained so much.”

Fourth Elder was very proficient in refining medicines and was particularly good at refining effective elixir. The only bad thing was that he believed that impurities would affect the efficacy of the medicine and thus insisted on ensuring that the original medicine not be tempered with in any way. As a result, Shen Zhixian had been eating these bitter medicines for several months now, and his body was just ready to revolt.

Fourth Elder held out a strange-looking pill with a strange smell. Shen Zhixian desperately closed his eyes and decided to just put them into his mouth like he really was dying. He chewed in tears and vaguely said, “Fourth Martial Uncle, do you still have that miracle elixir that will help guard the spirit root during the sixth rank ascension?”

“Yes. You want to give it to that disciple of yours again?”

Shen Zhixian swallowed his mouthful of bitterness, gulped down two cups of water in one breath, and said, “Yes, it’s for Yan Jin. I noticed that he’s on the verge of advancing.”

” ——Advancing?!” The elders took a breath, unable to believe it, “It’s only been a few years and he’d nearly reached the sixth stage? Your apprentice’s talent had not lost to you!”

Shen Zhixian laughed, not commenting on this matter, but thinking: Nonsense, this was the protagonist! He spread his hands and said, “Fourth Martial Uncle, how about you give me two pills, and I’ll pay you.”

Fourth Elder laughed and good-naturedly mocked him, “Just pamper your disciple.” After he handed over the spirit pills, he paused. “Your heart…I was finally able to figure out a recipe a few days ago.”

After a moment’s hesitation, he added, “Unfortunately, it can only bring you some minor relief and won’t be able to cure you. You…”

Shen Zhixian lightly moved his eyebrows and displayed an easy smile. “This is already very good. Thank you, Fourth Martial Uncle. I’ve troubled you. I’ve already made some calculations and will leave for a period of time.”

He deliberately lowered his voice and notice that Fourth Elder had already disapproved even before he’d finished speaking.

“Fourth Martial Uncle, I know my own limitations.” After saying this, Shen Zhixian softly whispered, “Moreover, I also have A’jin so nothing will happen.”

Fourth Elder hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. With a sigh, he said, “Your disciple…he’s not too bad. I feel better knowing he’ll be with you. Going out will subject you to some grievances. Just don’t forget to come back.” The upright, kindly middle-aged face exposed a benevolent and tolerant smile. “After all, you’re all that’s left of senior brother.”

Shen Zhixian felt moved. He carefully and gratefully made a sound of assent.

Obviously, if he were to have any mishaps, it would probably be at the hands of Yan Jin! But, of course, this matter couldn’t be said.

Shen Shixian’s innermost heart began to shed tears, and after Fourth Elder left, he sorrowfully climbed back into bed.