NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: Are You Ill?
Chapter 8: Are You Ill?
“What?”
“Elder Xianyun, what do you mean?”
Gu Ming’s eyes widened in shock, darting between Lin Mu and Elder Xianyun.
“Elder Xianyun, my brother was merely impulsive. He—”
Gu Yueling tried to explain, but Elder Xianyun cut her off with a stern rebuke.
“If your brother was impulsive, why didn’t you stop him?”
Elder Xianyun snorted, his piercing gaze fixed on Gu Yueling. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t react in time!”
“I’m no fool!”
His words left Gu Yueling speechless.
He was right.
With her fifth-grade cultivation, she could easily have restrained Gu Ming if she’d wanted to.
Yet she hadn’t moved when Gu Ming lunged.
Her inaction betrayed her true sentiments.
Elder Xianyun didn’t linger on the Gu siblings. Instead, he approached Lin Mu and bowed deeply. “Xianyun pays respects to the Divine Physician!”
“Who are you?”
Lin Mu frowned, his tone cautious.
The scene stunned the Gu family members.
They had assumed Elder Xianyun knew the woman in white and had intervened for her sake.
But it was Lin Mu, the blind physician, whom Elder Xianyun truly esteemed—and he seemed eager to curry favor.
“The Divine Physician has many duties—it’s no surprise you don’t recall me!”
Elder Xianyun chuckled, stroking his beard. “Five years ago, I passed by Yanshan Benevolent Clinic, gravely injured. The old clinic master refused to meddle in worldly affairs, but you, Divine Physician, treated my wounds.”
“I’ll never forget such a life-saving debt!”
With that, he bowed deeply once more in homage to Lin Mu.
“So it was you~”
Lin Mu’s face lit with recognition, and he smiled. “I recall a monk was with you then.”
“How is he now?”
“Thanks to your kindness, my junior brother fares well and is currently in Yanshan City.”
The monk, named Yehe, shared the same master as Elder Xianyun. One followed Daoism, the other Buddhism, making their bond unique.
Though unaffiliated with any sect, both were second-grade cultivators, renowned in the martial world.
This time, passing through Yanshan City, the Gu family had invited them to a banquet, hoping Gu Ming might become their disciple.
“Gu Ming, send word to my junior brother at once—I won’t attend the banquet!”
Elder Xianyun didn’t know the full rift between the Gu family and Lin Mu.
But he had no interest in their feast now. His gaze toward the Gu siblings dripped with disdain.
Were it not for Gu Yueling’s master, he’d not spare them another word.
“Elder Xianyun, I was wrong earlier. Please forgive me this once!”
Gu Ming stepped forward, pleading softly. “If Father learns you’re skipping the banquet, he’ll flay me alive!”
“What’s that to me?”
Elder Xianyun sneered, unmoved.
Gu Yueling, quick-witted, nudged Gu Ming. “Brother, apologize to Lin Mu!”
“Apologize to Lin Mu? Why should I—”
Gu Ming stopped short, realization dawning as his face flushed.
For the sake of his martial future, he reluctantly shuffled toward Lin Mu.
“Lin Mu, I wronged you earlier.”
Gu Ming clasped his hands, anger still smoldering in his eyes.
Elder Xianyun remained impassive, offering no response.
Gu Yueling, recalling Elder Xianyun’s earlier command, prompted again. “Brother, Elder Xianyun said… to kneel…”
“You’re sharp, girl!”
Elder Xianyun nodded faintly, his stance clear.
Unless Gu Ming knelt to apologize, Elder Xianyun would not attend the Gu family’s banquet.
Even Monk Yehe, already arrived, would depart.
Gu Ming stood frozen, caught in a dilemma.
Sweat beaded on his forehead in the winter chill.
To kneel or not?
After agonizing, his knees began to bend.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Elder Xianyun’s eyes.
“Never mind~” Lin Mu interjected suddenly. “I’m blind—I wouldn’t see you kneel anyway!”
“Wutong, let’s go~”
Lin Mu’s cane deftly blocked Gu Ming’s knees before they touched the ground.
Such was his nature—easygoing, content with his quiet life.
He still held some fondness for Gu Ming and refused to be Elder Xianyun’s tool to test him.
Gu Ming sighed in relief, glancing at Elder Xianyun.
But Elder Xianyun’s focus was on Lin Mu alone.
“Divine Physician, may my junior brother and I visit you later?”
“Are you ill?” Lin Mu asked bluntly.
“Uh… no!”
“Then why come to the clinic?” Lin Mu continued as he walked. “Yanshan Benevolent Clinic isn’t an inn. Don’t disturb the patients resting there!”
He paused, as if struck by a thought, and added softly, “Gu Ming isn’t a bad person~”
With that, he resumed walking.
Lin Mu’s final words were a gesture of goodwill toward Gu Ming.
Elder Xianyun could hardly refuse the Gu family’s banquet now.
But taking Gu Ming as a disciple? Out of the question.
After a moment’s thought, Elder Xianyun addressed Gu Ming. “My path values freedom of heart—I’ll never force myself into discomfort.”
“Your temperament is unsuited to be my disciple.”
Gu Ming’s faint smile vanished, leaving him crestfallen.
But Elder Xianyun’s next words rekindled his hope.
“If you’re willing, I can persuade my junior brother to take you as his disciple.”
“But his path demands endurance—and you must forswear marriage forever.”
“What do you say?”
“I’m willing!” Gu Ming shouted without hesitation.
Martial success outweighed all else. Marriage was trivial.
If needed, he’d sacrifice everything.
“Brother, you…”
Gu Yueling’s eyes widened in disbelief. She hadn’t expected Gu Ming’s obsession with martial arts to run so deep.
If he joined Monk Yehe and became a monk…
Wouldn’t the Gu family’s lineage end?
Regret surged within her.
If only she hadn’t urged him to apologize to Lin Mu.
She couldn’t fathom her father’s reaction to this news.