The Cannon Fodder Also Has a Will to Survive [Rebirth] - Chapter 28.2

For a cultivator, losing a limb isn’t fatal; as long as the core is intact, spiritual energy can regrow it. Thus, replacing a bone was considered a “minor injury” with life-long benefits. But the method for a Heavenly Spirit Root was different.

Xue Nian couldn’t bring himself to say it. He flipped to a page in a “wild history” booklet and showed it to An Jiu. As An Jiu scanned the text, his face turned deathly pale.

The text recorded that to successfully transfer a Heavenly Spirit Root, the wound from the bone implantation must be kept open to monitor the fusion. If the fusion grew too high, the host’s meridians had to be cut to force the assimilation to regress. Furthermore, the host’s cultivation had to be abolished beforehand; otherwise, the host’s spiritual energy would instinctively heal the open wounds and cut meridians.

Those who had endured this in the past were left with few physical losses, but the mental trauma was infinite. Most went mad, unable to cultivate properly, forever trapped in the memory of the “bone-scraping and meridian-cutting” pain. Eventually, they became nothing more than “furnaces” for others.

And who is to say that wasn’t the goal of the planners all along? A “waste” of a Heavenly Spirit Root who couldn’t cultivate but could still serve as a perfect tool for others.

By the time An Jiu finished reading, his back was soaked in cold sweat. That kind of torture just thinking about it was terrifying. Extraction of the spiritual root really wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

An Jiu’s lips trembled. “I… I’m afraid of pain…” he whispered to himself. Then he looked up at Xue Nian. “Do I have to go through this?”

Xue Nian wanted to comfort him, but he couldn’t lie. This was likely the cruel truth.

An Jiu suddenly slammed the table and stood up. “Why should I have to endure this? I harmed An Yunge, but I never intended to torture him! I owe him, right? I’ll give him my spiritual root as compensation! I’ll pay him back! Why do they have to go through such elaborate lengths to torture me!”

He was hysterical. His mental state was clearly fracturing. He turned and ran back to his room, rummaging through a corner until he found a standard-issue sword. His face was still pale, but the smile was gone, replaced by a cold, murderous aura.

“What are you doing?” Xue Nian cried, grabbing An Jiu as he tried to rush out.

An Jiu’s eyes moved slowly. “I’m going to stab An Yunge to death,” he said softly. “I just realized the price of giving him my root is too high. I reflected on it; the mistake was that the poison didn’t kill him in the first place.”

“I’m going to end it now. Either he dies or I die. Death is the end of everything!” He was overstimulated, driven to the edge.

They were in a death-loop. It had to end. He had poisoned An Yunge and caused him trouble, but in reality, An Yunge had only lost four years of time and his memory. He hadn’t suffered any fatal damage. His spiritual root was damaged, but not irreversibly; even without An Jiu, Si Xuanye and Han Zhong had a thousand ways to fix it. They just wanted the Heavenly Spirit Root to force An Yunge’s root to mutate.

An Jiu thought: I can pay for my mistakes, but I won’t be a scapegoat!

It was too unfair! He had been a “misfortune-bearer” for two lifetimes. Why was he repeating the same path? Why was it getting even worse? He should just kill the source of the disaster or be killed by him!

An Jiu’s madness wasn’t just because of the bone it was because of Si Xuanye’s decision and the silence of the other two. Did those three men truly not know the interaction between the bone and the root? If they didn’t, why would Si Xuanye emphasize the delay in breaking the seal? Why would Han Zhong have no objection?

But what hurt most was Lin Jingyuan. An Jiu had thought the man had given up the Catalyst Bone for him. He had felt guilty and moved. But it was all for An Yunge’s path. In the end, the two men he thought cared for him were just being hypocritical.

An Jiu felt a suffocating pain in his chest. He realized he was still just a mortal; he had promised not to expect anything, yet the moment someone showed him a shred of kindness, he couldn’t help but try to hold onto it. He was starved for love a pathetic, humble wretch.

Xue Nian wanted to stop him, but looking into those rabbit-red eyes, he couldn’t speak. Fine. I’ll just follow him. With me there, he won’t get hurt. And An Jiu had no cultivation; he couldn’t really hurt An Yunge.

Xue Nian followed as An Jiu ran toward An Yunge’s courtyard. Arriving ahead of the boy, he saw An Yunge putting down a medicinal bowl, a trace of brown liquid on his lip.

Xue Nian frowned. “What happened? You were fine last night.”

Seeing Xue Nian, An Yunge looked panicked. “Senior Brother Xue Nian I’m fine.” He tried to hide the bowl behind his back.

Xue Nian seized his wrist and pulled the bowl into view. “Still trying to hide it from me?”

An Yunge lowered his head in shame. “I I went into the depths of the Demon-Abyss Forest. I heard there was a Crystalline of Redemption on the cliffs of the Endless Sea that could reshape spiritual roots. I just wanted to…”

Xue Nian understood. He was moved. Yunge is still the same sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. He had revealed the truth about the Catalyst Bone to Xue Nian, then risked his life in the forest to find a way to save An Jiu from that fate. Both boys were innocent; it was their Master who was too headstrong.

Xue Nian was about to warn An Yunge when An Jiu burst in with his sword. The boy had no cultivation, but four years of training weren’t for nothing. A swordsman’s forms still worked even without spiritual energy.

Xue Nian wasn’t sure if the injured An Yunge could withstand the attack. Should he stay out of it? As he hesitated, An Jiu walked past him, ignoring him, and leveled his sword at An Yunge.

“An Yunge! It’s time to settle this!”

An Jiu’s eyes were red, but he wasn’t crying. He was just too stimulated. He had the aura of someone who had nothing left to lose. He knew this was a moment of impulse, and that once he calmed down, he’d be afraid again. He believed the “Protagonist” was invincible. But he was here to die. He had nothing, would get nothing, and was losing his own root  and yet he was still being punished.

Nothing. I have nothing. His soul was screaming in agony, though no one could hear it.

An Yunge stood up, but before he could act, Xue Nian stepped between them, protecting An Yunge just as he had protected An Jiu from Fang Yuhe earlier.

An Jiu gave a mocking smile of “as expected.” He wasn’t surprised. How could he ever be compared to An Yunge? Everyone would pick An Yunge. Hadn’t he known this since he was a child?

“Get out of the way! Do you have to interfere in our business?” For the first time since his rebirth, An Jiu held his head high before the “Protagonists.” “If you want to interfere, then do it. Cut right here. It’s easy.”

The boy raised his free hand and slowly, meticulously traced the line of his narrow, beautiful neck. It was an alluring scene; the boy had outgrown his youth and begun to show his true elegance. With his head held high, sword in one hand and the other stroking his own throat, he looked like a breathtaking, dangerous painting.

Xue Nian had no time to admire it. He stepped forward to disarm the boy, fearing he would hurt him. A person with hesitation always loses.

Seeing Xue Nian was determined to stop him, An Jiu lunged forward with a merciless strike. Xue Nian dodged, not wanting to strike back. An Jiu seized the opening, darted under his arm, and aimed his sword straight for An Yunge’s vitals.

An Jiu’s sword talent was excellent. An Yunge parried a few times, looking overwhelmed. An Jiu found it strange An Yunge was a Qi-Refining cultivator, and a trained martial artist from his time in the mortal world. How was he struggling against a “waste” with no cultivation?

But An Jiu wasn’t a strategist. Driven by emotion, he didn’t overthink it; he saw an opening and took it. If he could kill An Yunge, the shadow would be gone forever.

But when the sword actually struck, he felt a sense of floating disbelief. The sensation of steel entering flesh hit his brain in a flash. He had stabbed An Yunge in the abdomen.

He had actually done it. A standard sword had run through An Yunge’s body.

An Yunge was covered in cold sweat, his lips pale. A streak of crimson leaked from his mouth. “Xiao Jiu… are you satisfied now?”

“An Jiu! Do you have any idea how badly Yunge is hurt because of you?” Xue Nian roared.

An Jiu was dazed, then shoved away by the shocked but quick-reacting Xue Nian. The shove was too hard, and An Jiu slammed into the ground. As he lay there, he was still confused. What does his injury have to do with me?

His arm was scraped, a stinging, detailed pain. Or maybe it was his heart he didn’t know why. Xue Nian had told him the truth, so An Jiu had trusted him. He hadn’t expected Xue Nian to turn on him so quickly.

An Jiu watched Xue Nian cradling An Yunge, then looked down at his own scraped arm and the blood seeping out. It wasn’t as much blood as An Yunge was losing so, I won! He told himself that, but his frantic breathing seemed to deny it.

His heartbeat was erratic. He ignored the feeling, watching the dying An Yunge to see if he would truly die. Every time An Jiu thought the boy was dead, he returned healthier than ever, and An Jiu was the one who suffered.

Would there be a miracle this time?

Drip— Drip—

Warm, sticky liquid fell onto An Jiu’s scraped arm. He looked down and saw two “blood flowers” blooming on his wound. He didn’t understand what it was.

The next second, a searing pain seized his heart and spread through his entire body. An Jiu gasped for air, tilting his head back to breathe. The blue sky above turned a deep, bloody red. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat. Still looking up, An Jiu slowly collapsed.

At the peak of Dongqi.

Si Xuanye, who was in meditation, snapped his eyes open.

The power he had used to seal An Jiu was collapsing!

He sensed the location and used a Shrink-the-Earth spell, appearing instantly at the disciple’s quarters.

“What happened!” Si Xuanye’s voice was filled with a rare, panicked rage.

Xue Nian, who was frantically stuffing pills into An Yunge’s mouth, flinched. He looked up to see his Master standing before him. Because Si Xuanye was standing directly in front of An Jiu, his large frame completely hid the boy on the ground.

Xue Nian thought Si Xuanye was angry because of An Yunge’s injury. He didn’t know where to start; if he told the truth, An Jiu would be punished… and Si Xuanye likely wouldn’t tolerate another attempt on An Yunge’s life. But he couldn’t lie; how could he face An Yunge if he did?

He hesitated, then chose to protect An Yunge. An Jiu was the one who had attacked first. “Master, Xiao Jiu stabbed Yunge but it’s just a flesh wound. He didn’t hit anything vital.”

To a cultivator, a non-vital wound was nothing. An Yunge would stop bleeding immediately with pills and would heal in a few days without a scar. Xue Nian thought he was being fair; though he spoke from An Yunge’s side, An Yunge was the victim.

But Xue Nian didn’t know that An Jiu, lying on the ground, was still conscious. Hearing those words, An Jiu let out a slow, ragged breath. His eyelids flickered and then closed in exhaustion.

Si Xuanye snorted coldly, turned, and scooped An Jiu up from the ground. He sent a wave of spiritual energy into the boy’s body to stabilize the surge while checking his meridians. No, it won’t work. The seal must be broken now. If not, An Jiu’s meridians would shatter, leading to certain death.

Only then did Xue Nian realize An Jiu was unconscious. As Si Xuanye carried him away, the boy’s head hung back limply. Even more terrifying was the fine stream of blood leaking from An Jiu’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The face that had been so vivid and beautiful a moment ago was now a tragic, bloody mess.

“Xiao Jiu! What’s wrong with him?” Xue Nian released An Yunge and stood up to follow.

Si Xuanye ignored him, vanishing with another spell. Xue Nian looked back at the fallen An Yunge and then decided to follow his Master.

An Yunge was semi-conscious, but he had removed the sword, bandaged the wound, and taken the pills. He would be fine. Xue Nian had ignored An Jiu because An Yunge was the one who was stabbed; in his mind, An Jiu wasn’t hurt and didn’t need attention.

He hadn’t expected this. As he hurried toward the Qinghui Pavilion, he recalled the shove he had given An Jiu. It had been too hard.

Xue Nian felt a wave of regret. He wanted to protect both, yet he had protected neither, and both were now broken. Even with a second chance at life, he was still a failure.

An Jiu is on the brink of death as the clashing energies within him finally tear through his meridians. As Si Xuanye prepares to break the seal, what will happen when the boy’s Heavenly Spirit Root finally manifests in the presence of his “Good Big Brother” and the Master who wants to use him as a tool?

A single relevant follow-up question to guide the conversation forward: Do you think An Jiu’s hysterical attack on An Yunge has permanently severed his bond with Xue Nian and Han Zhong, or will his near-death state elicit a new wave of protective guilt from them?