Chapter 7:The Stolen Cart and a Village’s Gratitude

Sunlight streamed through the holes in the dilapidated roof, chasing away the last vestiges of cold from the ancient temple.

Lu Hongzhuang hadn’t slept a wink.

She stared blankly at the rafters above, her eyes bloodshot, her mind a chaotic mess.

Senior Brother Liu’s betrayal, the world-shattering heretical arts, and… the unfathomable methods of the woman beside her.

It all felt like an absurd nightmare.

“Well, now.”

A voice, tinged with laziness and amusement, sounded beside her.

“If it isn’t the Demon Exorcism Division’s once-in-a-century prodigy. What’s with the dark circles? Did a ghost hold you down in your sleep?”

Lu Hongzhuang whipped her head around to meet Su Qinghan’s bright, mischievous eyes.

Having just woken, her long hair was slightly disheveled, with a few strands clinging to her pale yet delicate cheeks.

Her usual sickly fragility was not diminished; instead, the haze of sleep added a certain bewitching quality to her appearance.

“None of your business!” Lu Hongzhuang snapped, though her cheeks betrayed her with a rising heat.

That moment last night… that crisp slap.

The sensation seemed to linger, making her feel utterly uncomfortable.

Su Qinghan pushed herself up from the straw mat, sitting up slowly before stretching with a great yawn, a series of soft pops echoing from her bones.

“Ah… that’s better.”

She reached for the longsword beside her, intending to use it for support to stand.

The movement was practiced, the posture elegant.

Then, just as she had straightened one leg and was about to push off with the other, her body went limp as if her bones had vanished, and she toppled sideways.

Splat.

It was a solid fall.

Lu Hongzhuang was speechless.

She could only watch as the woman who had projected the air of a grandmaster moments before now lay sprawled on the ground like a salted fish, motionless.

For a moment, she didn’t know how to react.

‘Little Qinghan, stop playing dead!’

In Su Qinghan’s sea of consciousness, Jiu Li’s voice was filled with schadenfreude.

‘I told you so! That little bit of spiritual energy last night was just enough to force open the meridians in your legs so you could barely walk. Now that it’s gone, you’re a cripple again! Hey, I need to recharge too, you know? Ugh, I feel completely drained!’

Su Qinghan lay on the ground, a wave of exasperation washing over her.

This useless body!

She sighed, laboriously flipping over onto her back.

Staring up at the ceiling, she waved at the dumbfounded Lu Hongzhuang.

“Hey.”

“…What is it?” Lu Hongzhuang asked, her tone hesitant.

“Lend me a hand. Help me up.”

“…”

“And then, carry me on your back,” Su Qinghan added, her tone matter-of-fact.

“Where to?”

“To where I parked my vehicle yesterday.”

Lu Hongzhuang’s face instantly flushed crimson.

Carry her?

Her mind uncontrollably flashed back to the previous night, and to the woman’s current, defenseless state.

But looking at Su Qinghan’s powerless legs and her frank expression that screamed ‘I really can’t stand up,’ all of Lu Hongzhuang’s awkwardness and indignation melted away into a helpless sigh.

‘What have I gotten myself into?’

She walked over and crouched in front of Su Qinghan, offering her back.

“Get on.”

Su Qinghan didn’t stand on ceremony, wrapping her arms around Lu Hongzhuang’s neck and pressing her light body against her.

‘She’s still so light.’

That was Lu Hongzhuang’s first thought.

Immediately after, a gentle warmth seeped through their clothes, the soft press of a body distinct against her back, and a faint, clean fragrance drifted into her nose.

Lu Hongzhuang’s body stiffened for a second, the tips of her ears turning scarlet.

She shot to her feet, her steps a little unsteady, and quickly steadied her breathing before striding out of the temple.

The two walked in silence through the early morning mountain forest, sunlight dappling the path through the gaps in the leaves.

“You…”

It was Lu Hongzhuang who finally broke the silence, her voice a little strained.

“Those methods you use to deal with ghosts… are they really not a form of martial arts?”

Su Qinghan rested her chin in the crook of Lu Hongzhuang’s shoulder and let out a lazy yawn.

“Of course not.”

Her voice held a hint of pride.

“Like I said, these are the orthodox Daoist arts of the Mystic School. They’re not in the same league as your system of physical, brute-force attacks.”

Lu Hongzhuang’s steps faltered.

‘Orthodox arts of the Mystic School…’

She mulled over the words, a storm raging in her heart.

After a long while, she spoke as if having made a difficult decision.

“In that case… I can’t take you back to the Demon Exorcism Division.”

“Hm?” Su Qinghan sounded surprised. “Why not? My skills are the perfect counter to your division’s shortcomings. Shouldn’t I be a top priority, someone you’d beg to join? I’m a top-tier talent, you know.”

Lu Hongzhuang gave a bitter smile and shook her head.

“You don’t understand. I’m just a lowly Seventh-Rank Demon Exorcist from the Bluestone Town branch. Even in a backwater place like this, my own senior brother, who always acted so respectably, was willing to cultivate heretical arts and murder dozens of people for power.”

Her voice grew heavy.

“Your methods are too astonishing. In this world, only martial arts are revered. If a power like yours is revealed before you can absolutely protect yourself, you won’t be seen as a talent. You’ll be seen as an anomaly, and… a prize for the taking.”

“People who covet your secrets, people who want to capture you for research—they will swarm you from all directions like sharks that have scented blood. The danger you’ll face then will be ten thousand times more terrifying than that Hundred-Ghost Aggregate from last night.”

“After what happened, I’ve realized that the human heart is far more terrifying than any ghost.”

Lu Hongzhuang took a deep breath, her tone becoming earnest.

“Why don’t you… stay with me for a while? My home is very quiet, and I live alone.”

Su Qinghan, still on her back, didn’t answer right away.

She could feel the sincerity in the girl’s words.

She hated evil, yet she was not without flexibility and kindness.

A faint smile touched the corners of Su Qinghan’s lips.

“Alright, then. I’ll freeload off you for a bit.”

“But I’m not paying rent.”

“…”

Lu Hongzhuang felt a vein throb at her temple.

As they spoke, they arrived at the clearing by the mountain path where she had parked the four-wheeled cart the day before.

The ashes of a campfire remained, a dark circle on the ground.

Only…

The clearing was empty.

Su Qinghan’s smile froze.

She slid off Lu Hongzhuang’s back, leaning heavily against a large tree as her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Where’s my cart?”

“Where is my giant, handcrafted, four-wheeled wooden cart?!”

Lu Hongzhuang was also stunned, looking around. “Could it be… you remembered the wrong spot?”

“Impossible!” Su Qinghan declared unequivocally. “I would never forget my livelihood!”

She clung to the tree, painstakingly searching the vicinity, but couldn’t find so much as an axle.

A mountain breeze swept by, rustling a few fallen leaves.

Su Qinghan stood in the middle of the clearing.

Then, a heart-wrenching wail shattered the tranquility of the forest.

“Waaah! You animals! Stealing from a disabled person!”

“Is there no justice in this world! Is there no law!”

Meanwhile, in a mountain village.

The entrance to the village was crowded with people who had come running upon hearing the news.

A villager named Zhang San, covered in dust, stood in the center of the crowd with a familiar wooden four-wheeled cart, looking utterly devastated.

“Doctor Su… Doctor Su, she might have been murdered!”

His words sent the entire village into an uproar.

“What?!”

“Zhang San! What nonsense are you spouting?!”

Zhang San’s face was a mask of terror, his voice trembling. “I’m not lying! I went to the fields this morning and only found Doctor Su’s cart… but she… she was gone! It must have been that constable! She couldn’t be bothered to escort a cripple like Doctor Su, so she just… disposed of her.”

At his words, a deathly silence fell over the crowd.

It was followed by the sound of suppressed sobs.

“Doctor Su was such a good person! Just last month, she cured my son’s cough that had lingered for half a year, and she didn’t charge us a single coin!”

“That’s right! If it weren’t for Doctor Su, my old rheumatic legs would have been useless by now! She even taught us to recognize the herbs in the mountains, saying we could treat minor ailments ourselves…”

“How could the heavens be so blind!”

Apricot Blossom Village was remote and lacked proper medical care. In the past, when villagers fell ill, they would endure minor sicknesses and, for major ones, could only be carried dozens of miles to the town. Often, the person would perish from the arduous journey before the illness could be treated.

To them, Su Qinghan’s arrival was like a lamp lit in the darkness.

Her medical skills were superb, her heart was kind, and she never looked down on them for being country folk, treating everyone with the same respect.

The villagers had long since come to see the ethereal female physician as one of their own.

And now, the person who had given them hope… had been murdered?

Grief and rage spread through the crowd.

The village chief, leaning on his cane, trembled with fury. His bloodshot eyes locked onto a shivering figure in the corner of a courtyard.

“Li Ergou!”

His furious roar was like a clap of thunder on a clear day.

“Get out here!”

The scrawny man named Li Ergou’s legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.

“Chief, it… it wasn’t my fault… I saw her strange methods, and I was afraid she would bring harm to our village.”

“I was just trying to do the right thing.”

Li Ergou’s face was ashen as he kowtowed repeatedly.

“You think a simple ‘I was wrong’ can bring Doctor Su back to life?!”

The chief’s voice was filled with endless grief and disappointment.

“Here in Apricot Blossom Village, for generations, we have lived by one word: righteousness! When you receive a drop of kindness, you repay it with a gushing spring! Doctor Su saved so many of our lives! And you, you creature lower than a pig or a dog, sold out our benefactor for a few miserable coins!”

He pointed his cane toward the path out of the village.

“Get out!”

“From this day forward, you, Li Ergou, are no longer a person of Apricot Blossom Village! Get out!”

“Apricot Blossom Village has no place for an ungrateful traitor like you!”

Li Ergou collapsed on the ground, his face drained of all color.

To be exiled from the village in these chaotic times, where demons and heretics roamed freely, meant only one thing—a dead end.

The villagers stared at him, but not a single person stepped forward to plead his case.

Their faces held only icy hatred and profound sorrow.

Sorrow for the Doctor Su who had saved them time and time again.

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