Volume 1, Chapter 39: Petitioning the Capital

"Smack!"

The crisp sound of a slap echoed through the chaotic room, sounding exceptionally jarring.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant.

Wang Teng clutched his burning cheek, utterly dazed. He stared at his father in disbelief, his reddened eyes filled with shock and confusion. Never once since he was a child had his father laid a finger on him.

Wang Defa’s palm trembled slightly; it hurt him in his heart to strike his own son, but he had no other choice. Taking a deep breath, he forcibly suppressed the myriad of emotions roiling within him and turned around, his face instantly plastered with an almost sycophantic smile.

"Divine Doctor, my son... my son is ignorant. He was blinded by the pain and was spouting nonsense. Please, I beg you, do not take it to heart!"

As he spoke, he turned back, grabbed Wang Teng by the hair, and forced his large head down toward Ye Xuan.

"You unfilial brat! Still not kneeling to kowtow and apologize to the Divine Doctor?"

Wang Teng’s forehead slammed heavily against the edge of the bed with a dull thud. The sharp pain made him grimace, but what felt even more humiliating was his father’s unquestionable command.

"Father... you..."

"Apologize!"

Wang Defa’s voice was hoarse and low, heavy with warning. Wang Teng saw a hint of fear in his father’s eyes that he had never seen before—a fear that sent a chill to his core. In the end, he unwillingly squeezed a few words through his teeth.

"I... I am sorry..."

These three words were as faint as a gnat’s buzz, filled with endless spite and resentment.

Wang Defa, acting as if he hadn’t heard, immediately let go and bowed and scraped to Ye Xuan once more, his fleshy face smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum.

"See, Divine Doctor? He knows he was wrong. Please... please be the bigger person and treat him as soon as possible!"

Ye Xuan’s expression had not fluctuated in the slightest from beginning to end. He seemed to ignore the farce the father and son were performing, merely glancing at Wang Defa with indifference.

"When I treat patients, I do not like being disturbed."

"Yes, yes, yes! We understand! We’ll leave at once!"

Wang Defa, as if granted amnesty, replied repeatedly. Not daring to hesitate for even a second, he turned and barked at the servants and maids who were already paralyzed with fright in the room: "What are you all staring at? Get out! All of you, get out!"

At his command, the crowd scattered like birds and beasts, scrambling out of the room. Wang Defa personally closed the door with the utmost caution, his movements so gentle it was as if he were afraid of disturbing Ye Xuan inside.

Standing outside the closed door, the draft in the corridor made Wang Defa realize that his back was already soaked with cold sweat. The sycophantic smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by an impenetrable gloom and gravity. He tilted his head toward the silent old steward behind him and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Wang Fu."

"Master," the old steward bowed.

"Go to the pigeon loft immediately. Use the fastest Gyrfalcon and send a message to Chen the Third in the capital."

A flicker of shrewdness and ruthlessness glinted in Wang Defa’s eyes.

"Have him investigate one thing for me!"

"Has Su Qingxue, the daughter of the Grand Secretary Su Changqing, truly left the capital recently?"

"Tell him this is a matter of the utmost urgency. I must have accurate news by tomorrow!"

The old steward’s entire body shuddered, a look of horror flashing in his eyes, but he did not ask a single question, merely nodding heavily.

"Yes, Master, I shall attend to it at once."

With that, he turned and hurried away, his figure quickly disappearing into the shadows of the courtyard.

Wang Defa watched the direction the old steward had left, his fists clenched tightly inside his sleeves. He had not reached his current position in Yun'an City through brute force alone.

The daughter of the Grand Secretary?

The title was too heavy, too terrifying—enough to crush everything he possessed.

But he had to verify it!

If what that boy said was true, Wang Defa would concede; even if it meant bankruptcy, he would have to appease the anger of the Su family.

But if... if that boy was just bluffing, trying to swindle him...

A murderous glint flashed in Wang Defa’s eyes.

Then he would let that arrogant, reckless boy know what it truly meant to wish for death but be unable to die!

...

Inside the room.

As the door closed, the last sliver of light vanished. In the oppressive atmosphere, only Wang Teng’s heavy breathing remained.

Without his father’s suppression, the spite and rage in his heart grew like wild weeds.

"What kind of sorcery did you use on my father!" Wang Teng glared at Ye Xuan, roaring with a twisted face. "Do you think you can scare me like this? Once my father comes to his senses, you’re dead! Let me tell you, once my leg is better, I will definitely..."

Ye Xuan paid no heed to his clamoring. He simply walked with a composed gait, step by step, slowly toward the large bed.

His footsteps were light, almost soundless as they touched the floor, but in Wang Teng’s ears, they sounded like the tolling of a death knell, each one striking his heart.

"What... what are you doing?" Wang Teng’s voice involuntarily trembled.

Ye Xuan said nothing. He arrived at the bedside and looked down at him, his gaze as icy as if he were looking at a corpse.

Suddenly, Ye Xuan reached out.

His movement was not fast, but it made Wang Teng’s pupils constrict sharply.

That hand pressed with surgical precision onto his broken right leg, right at the fracture site that had been crudely splinted with wooden boards.

"Ah—!"

A heart-wrenching scream tore through Wang Teng’s throat! It was a pain beyond description, as if countless steel needles were frantically churning through his bone marrow.

"Now, your pathetic life and this leg are in my hands," Ye Xuan’s voice was light and calm, yet carried a chill that made the soul tremble. "I advise you to behave. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind breaking it a bit more thoroughly."

"You... you wouldn't dare!" Under the immense pain, Wang Teng still roared with bravado. "This is the Wang household! You dare touch me on my own turf? My father is right outside! Someone! Help—"

His cries for help were cut short.

Ye Xuan flicked a finger, and an invisible force precisely struck Wang Teng’s mute acupoint.

Wang Teng’s mouth remained wide open, his throat straining, but he could not produce a single sound.

The world suddenly turned silent.

Only his eyes, widened to the limit by sheer terror, remained.

He was afraid. He was truly afraid!

This young man was wicked in his methods and ruthless in his nature; he was no "Divine Doctor"—he was a devil!

Ye Xuan looked indifferently at the expression on his face, which shifted from ferocity to terror and finally to despair, before slowly withdrawing his hand. He looked at the broken leg, which had already begun to swell and turn dark, and frowned slightly.

"Hmph. A simple fracture, yet you damaged the tendons by struggling recklessly."

"If this leg had been left for another half-day, even an immortal couldn't save it; it would have just rotted away."

"Meeting me is the greatest stroke of luck in your life."

"Even though it was I who broke your leg."

Having said this, Ye Xuan ignored him, took a cloth bundle from his robe, and slowly unfolded it.

A row of silver needles of varying lengths and thicknesses shimmered with a cold, piercing light under the dim candlelight.

Wang Teng lay on the bed, unable to speak or move, forced to watch as Ye Xuan pinched the longest needle and slowly drove it into his mangled, bloodied leg.

An infinite, overwhelming fear instantly swallowed him whole.