After Transmigrating into a Book as Cannon Fodder, I Pampered the Villain - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Feeding Medicine

“Yu Yingxia, do you know? Death is not the end for you. I could refine your soul into a soul bead, a soul servant, or a ghost thrall… and your body could be crafted into a corpse puppet, a wight, or a skin doll…”

“Thanks to the second sect leader of the Longevity Sect, I was once limited to the path of souls. But that man taught me exactly how to play tricks with a corpse.” Yan Huaixi sat by the bed, her hand lightly tracing Yingxia’s bloodless face. She whispered each word as if it were a threat.

Actually, it was a threat. Unfortunately, the person lying half-dead on the bed couldn’t hear her, nor could she coax Yan Huaixi with soft words as she usually did.

The doctor had spent half the day barely pinning down Yingxia’s final breath, but the time she had left remained far too short. Fortunately, Yan Huaixi had sent a message to recall her own physician the moment Yingxia first collapsed.

The person who received the Blood Butterfly had never heard Yan Huaixi sound so urgent so nearly panicked. She dropped everything and rushed there at top speed. By the time she arrived, the sky was dark. Following the hidden red line of the Blood Butterfly, she quickly locked onto her Master’s location.

She entered the room silently. No candles were lit, but for a cultivator, the darkness was no obstacle. She saw her Master sitting by the bedside. Kneeling in the shadows, she waited for instructions.

Then, she heard her Master murmuring about soul beads and corpse puppets. It was bone-chilling. She knew these were her Master’s most ruthless methods of punishment—even a veteran like herself trembled hearing them listed so casually.

Who on earth is this on the bed? she wondered. What did she do to offend the Master so badly that she’s listing every punishment in the book?

“Jiang Li.”

The named woman flinched. Her Master’s voice was terrifyingly cold.

“Your servant is late. I await your punishment.” Jiang Li represented Yan Huaixi’s forces outside the Longevity Sect. She studied the Way of Medicine, though her daily work focused on refining poisons and coating her comrades’ weapons. Still, her healing skills were excellent.

“Examine her. See if you can keep her alive. If not, forget it—I’ll just turn her soul into a bead to save her further suffering.” Yan Huaixi’s voice was devoid of emotion, like a simple errand request.

But Jiang Li had served her for decades. If she hadn’t mastered the temperament of this temperamental master, she wouldn’t have survived this long. She saw the faint blood-red glint in Yan Huaixi’s eyes—the same look she had on the night the Moon-Watching Villa fell. It looked like calm, but it was actually the sign of her Master reaching the peak of madness.

Jiang Li didn’t believe for a second that “forgetting it” was an option. She felt that if she couldn’t save the girl, she’d be the one turned into a soul bead instead.

“Yes.” Jiang Li stepped toward the bed and accidentally stepped on something that crunched. Looking down, she saw a shattered red jade hairpin. She nearly stopped breathing. Wasn’t that the Master’s personally refined treasure?

“Ma—Master…”

“Examine her first.” Yan Huaixi didn’t even look at the floor. She had smashed it herself, after all.

Jiang Li hurried to the bedside. When she saw the patient’s face, she was shocked. Isn’t this Yu Yingxia? The Left Guardian? Rumor had it she was an unstable opportunist who might betray the Master at any moment. Some had even suggested killing her to save trouble.

Jiang Li’s head hurt. Does the Master want her dead or alive?!

She reached out to take the patient’s pulse, only to find the patient’s hand was still firmly held in the Master’s grip.

“Master… please give me her hand.” Jiang Li felt this was the most difficult medical case of her career. Yan Huaixi realized her slip and let go.

After an examination, Jiang Li’s expression darkened.

“Well?” Yan Huaixi’s voice was like a death summons.

“Master, Guardian Yu’s cultivation is gone. She only has half a breath left.”

Yan Huaixi turned her gaze toward Jiang Li. A single look made Jiang Li feel as if she were in an ice cellar. Understood. The Master wants her to live.

“Reason,” Yan Huaixi barked, her impatience showing.

The pressure was immense. Sweat beaded on Jiang Li’s forehead. “If my senses are correct… it is poison.”

“Poison?”

In an instant, Jiang Li felt her soul nearly sucked into a vortex of raging soul power. She struggled to keep her spirit stable while the center of the storm—her Master—eventually suppressed her fury.

“Can you identify it?” Yan Huaixi thought of many possibilities. Was she poisoned under her nose? Or had someone tried to silence her earlier?

Jiang Li took a drop of blood from Yingxia’s fingertip. She smelled it and frowned. Her sense of smell was extraordinary; she detected a faint scent of a rotting corpse.

She took out a small box, placed the blood into a jade bowl inside, and woke up a crystal-clear, jade-like worm. The worm lazily drank the blood, then its body began to rot and turn into a disgusting corpse-worm before slowly reverting to its crystal state.

“Master, it is the Corpse-Poison from the Longevity Sect.” Jiang Li circulated her spiritual power through Yingxia to check for internal injuries. She reached out to unbutton Yingxia’s collar.

Before she could touch the clothes, a red thread bound her wrist.

Jiang Li’s professional mask nearly cracked. “Master, I must check her injuries.”

“Where?” Yan Huaixi asked, squinting.

“On her shoulder. She must have been scratched by a poison corpse.”

Yan Huaixi stood up and unbuttoned Yingxia’s clothes herself, revealing the old claw marks. Jiang Li gave her Master a strange look. Yan Huaixi looked expressionless, as if Yingxia owed her a debt, but this refusal to let anyone else touch the girl was bizarre.

Jiang Li suddenly felt a chill—her Master was staring at her. She quickly looked away and focused on the wound.

The scratches had healed outwardly, but faint marks remained despite the expensive scar creams.

“I knew it,” Jiang Li clicked her tongue. “Which quack treated this? The poison wasn’t rooted out. It lingered and seeped into her internal organs. My usual antidotes might not even work now!”

The room went silent. Then, Yan Huaixi chuckled—a chilling, hollow sound.

“I thought the Tianqiu Sect actually developed an antidote. Turns out they are just a bunch of useless fools!” Yan Huaixi was furious at the sect’s incompetence, but she was also mocking herself for believing them. “Can you cure her?”

Jiang Li pondered. “This poison was the work of the previous Sect Leader. Her ability… you know best. Rooting it out will take days, but if we wait, the damage will be irreversible. Unless…”

“Unless,” Yan Huaixi cut in, “we use the blood of a ‘Medicine Human’ created by the poison’s maker?”

“…Yes.” It was the only way Jiang Li could think of.

The previous Sect Leader was a madwoman who created five of the world’s ten deadliest poisons. She had sought a “universal antidote” by turning children into Medicine Humans. Only one survived: Yan Huaixi. Her blood was the perfect panacea.

Yan Huaixi’s first reaction was a sigh of relief. If her blood worked, Yingxia could be saved.

Jiang Li hesitated. Was it worth the Master harming herself to feed an opportunist? “I will try to find another way,” she said, assuming the Master would refuse.

“If you use my blood,” Yan Huaixi said slowly, “what is the dosage? How many times a day?”

“Huh?” Jiang Li looked at her in disbelief.

Yan Huaixi gave her a sharp, irritated look.

“Ah… half a bowl, three times a day. I will also prepare some tonics. Her organs need mending.” Jiang Li hesitated again. “Master, you don’t have to hurt yourself. She… she isn’t worth it.”

“Go prepare the medicine,” Yan Huaixi interrupted.

“Yes.” Jiang Li left, wondering if the “Left Guardian” was transitioning from “opportunist” to “femme fatale.” Why was the Master still touching her face?

Once alone, Yan Huaixi looked at Yingxia. “Not only are you a liar, you are a nuisance.” She pinched Yingxia’s pale cheek until some color returned. “I have to bleed for a liar like you. You’d better have a good explanation when you wake up.”

She pricked her finger and smeared her blood on Yingxia’s dry lips. Suddenly, her finger was caught.

Soft, wet heat licked her fingertip. A jolt of electricity shot through Yan Huaixi’s body. She stared, her face flushing crimson. She wanted to pull away and yell “shameless,” but the girl was unconscious. She had to swallow her embarrassment alone.

Jiang Li walked back in and saw the scene. She wondered why humans needed eyes at all.

Yan Huaixi quickly withdrew her hand, though her finger still tingled. Jiang Li hurriedly treated Yingxia’s fractured arm and fled the room as fast as possible.

Yan Huaixi lit candles, illuminating Yingxia’s fragile, transparent face. She was so delicate now that Yan Huaixi couldn’t even stay angry without feeling suffocated by worry.

When Yingxia’s fever spiked again, Yan Huaixi bit her lip. “Don’t you dare wake up as an idiot.” Then she smiled sadly. “Actually, an idiot wouldn’t scheme or betray.” But deep down, she knew she missed the girl’s clever, mischievous eyes.

Inside the darkness of her mind, Yingxia felt like she was being crushed by a truck, then thrown into a furnace, then drowned in a deep sea. Just as she wanted to give up, someone forced something metallic and foul-smelling blood into her mouth.

She resisted, but then something soft pressed against her lips, forcing the liquid down. Frustrated, Yingxia bit the soft object.

The pain and fear caused her consciousness to “cry.” The person forcing the medicine seemed startled and stopped. Then, Yingxia was lifted into a gentle embrace. The movement was so light it felt like being wrapped in a cloud. A familiar humming reached her ears—a gentle melody that had saved her from nightmares before.

The warmth of the “medicine” began to chase away the pain. Yingxia found a comfortable position and curled into the warm embrace.

Outside, Jiang Li waited by the door. When the humming stopped, she massaged her numb legs. Incredible. The Master is singing a lullaby.

She knocked and entered. She thought nothing could surprise her anymore, but when she saw her Master’s red, swollen, and slightly bitten lip, her pupils shrank.

They were just feeding medicine… why is the Master’s lip broken? Did the spoon not work? Is the mouth more efficient?!

Yan Huaixi turned away, touching her bitten lip. Is Yu Yingxia a dog? I’ll get my revenge when she’s better!

Seeing Jiang Li standing there like a dazed idiot, a blushing Yan Huaixi threw both the servant and the empty bowl out of the room.

“Keep your mouth shut,” a threatening voice echoed from inside. “If I hear a word of this, you’re dead.”

Jiang Li covered her mouth and raised three fingers to the sky, swearing her silence.

Support After Transmigrating into a Book as Cannon Fodder, I Pampered the Villain