One Door Away, Pavilion Master Xue Was Kneaded Into a Sopping Mess

"No."

Shen Qingyun pinched the crimson pill he had just taken out between his fingers. "This last step is extremely dangerous. One mistake, and the meridians will be ruined. Any interference could waste everything."

Lin Mubai rushed forward anxiously. "But..."

"Mubai," Xue Ning cut him off softly. "Listen to Lord Shen."

Shen Qingyun glanced at Lin Mubai and softened his tone a little. "First, help your mother onto the bed."

Lin Mubai did not argue again. He carefully lifted Xue Ning from the wheelchair and carried her toward the bed in the inner room.

After settling his mother in place, Lin Mubai stood by the bedside and refused to move for a long while.

Xue Ning said gently, "Mubai, be good. Go wait outside for Mother. Mother isn't afraid of pain."

Lin Mubai's eyes turned faintly red, and he nodded hard.

Shen Qingyun stepped forward and handed the pill, still carrying a warm medicinal aura, to Lin Mubai. "This Bone-Reforming Blood-Melting Pill, you need to feed it to your mother yourself."

Lin Mubai took the pill and, with great care, placed it into Xue Ning's mouth. Watching her swallow it, he finally turned and left the inner room, looking back three times with every step.

"Elder Sikong," Shen Qingyun said, turning to the man who had been leaning against the doorframe with his sword in his arms the entire time, "please set up a sealing formation. No one is to enter."

Sikong Lin drew his long sword a half-inch from the scabbard, and an invisible barrier instantly enveloped the entire room.

Outside the door, Lin Mubai stared at the faint halo and clenched both hands.

"Mother will definitely succeed. I'll be waiting outside," he murmured.

Sikong Lin glanced at him and, in a rare show of speech, said, "She won't die."

Lin Mubai: "..."

Inside the room.

For the sake of treatment, Xue Ning had already removed her outer robe, leaving only a close-fitting moon-white inner garment and a pair of silk underpants.

She lay flat on the bed, her legs straight and pressed tightly together.

Shen Qingyun stood at the bedside, fully focused. He took a deep breath, formed a seal with both hands, and a faint blue glow lit up at his fingertips.

"Pavilion Master Xue, forgive me."

The instant the words fell, his hands moved like butterflies through flowers, and his fingertips landed with perfect precision on the major acupoints in Xue Ning's legs.

This technique was highly specialized. Its purpose was to stimulate the muscles and meridians in the legs at a high intensity, waking the dormant life force within them while also preparing for the medicinal power about to erupt.

At this moment, Xue Ning's legs still had no feeling at all.

Shen Qingyun's movements were extremely fast, leaving afterimages in their wake. To ease Xue Ning's tension, he kept working while casually making conversation.

"Your son is pretty protective of you."

At the mention of Lin Mubai, Xue Ning's expression visibly softened.

"Yes," she sighed lightly. "All these years, the Sword Pavilion has been battered by storms, and it's just been the two of us, mother and son, relying on each other. He's been like this since he was little, like a little hedgehog. Anyone who gets close gets pricked."

The blue glow at Shen Qingyun's fingertips flared brighter as spiritual power flowed endlessly into Xue Ning's legs.

"Mm. The next part will sting a little, but it's nothing. Relax. His personality must have caused you plenty of worry, hasn't it?"

"Ah..."

Xue Ning suddenly let out a short cry. A faint but unmistakable sting shot into her calf like a needle.

She bit her lip and forced herself not to make another sound. "It's all right... He's talented, and he's willing to endure hardship. It's just that... he's too emotional."

The two of them chatted in fits and starts like that, and the atmosphere in the room gradually grew less tense.

However, as time passed, an abnormal flush began to spread across Xue Ning's fair skin.

The medicine had begun to take effect.

Shen Qingyun's expression turned instantly grave.

He could feel the meridians in Xue Ning's legs writhing frantically. That domineering medicinal force was like a wild horse gone free, charging recklessly through her body.

"Next is the final step."

Shen Qingyun said in a low voice. He drew a clean silk handkerchief from his sleeve and held it out before Xue Ning.

"In a moment, your legs will recover full sensation. It will hurt a great deal. Remember this: no matter how much it hurts, you absolutely must not move or everything will be ruined. Bite down on this."

Xue Ning did not hesitate. She opened her mouth and bit down on the silk handkerchief, which still carried a faint medicinal scent.

She tilted her head slightly and, beyond the screen, looked toward the tightly closed carved wooden door.

On the paper window, the restless silhouette of someone pacing back and forth could be seen.

It was Mubai.

For Mubai's sake, for the Sword Pavilion's sake, what was this little bit of pain worth? Xue Ning said that to herself in her heart.

The blue light at Shen Qingyun's fingertips suddenly turned crimson. He had driven his own spiritual power to its limit.

His hands turned into a blur as he rapidly pressed, kneaded, and guided along Xue Ning's legs.

"Mmph!"

Xue Ning's eyes flew wide open.

Agony!

Cold sweat instantly soaked through her clothes, and a few loose strands of hair stuck to her forehead, making her look pitiful and fragile.

She bit down hard on the silk handkerchief, a muffled whimper escaping from her throat as her hands gripped the bedsheet beneath her tightly.

Her legs had already fully recovered their sensation, and because of the medicine's effect, every sensation had been magnified several times over.

Beyond the unbearable pain, there was even an extremely strange numbing tingling mixed in with it.

It felt like a fine electric current was climbing up her bones, layer by layer, leaving a shivering aftermath in its wake.

So uncomfortable.

She wanted to move so badly.

Xue Ning's body trembled faintly out of her control, and her legs instinctively tried to curl up to relieve that indescribable torment.

But she couldn't move.

Shen Qingyun's warning was still ringing in her ears.

All she could do was force herself to endure, swallowing every bit of pain and strangeness down into her stomach.

"Bad!"

Shen Qingyun suddenly barked in a low voice, his brows locking together.

"There is still residual Cold Abyss Qi! That sinister yin energy is struggling to the death under the pressure of the medicinal power, trying to mount one last counterattack. Your meridians can't withstand this tearing clash of cold and heat anymore!"

At his words, a flash of panic appeared in Xue Ning's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

She looked at Shen Qingyun and signaled that she could still hold on.

"No, we have to disperse the excess medicinal power to the rest of your body, or your legs will be completely ruined!"

Shen Qingyun made a decisive choice and shifted his hands upward.

His warm palms left Xue Ning's calves and settled on her rounded thighs.

"Mm..."

Xue Ning's body stiffened violently.

The numb, prickling sensation that had already been hard to bear multiplied more than tenfold the instant Shen Qingyun's hands moved.

His technique was extremely fast, spiritual power surging like a torrent as it kept forcing the medicinal force pooled in her legs outward.

Thighs, lower abdomen, arms...

His hands roamed over Xue Ning's body, and every touch felt like he was striking a spark against her nerves.

It was torment even harder to bear than pain.

Xue Ning's breathing grew quick and ragged. Her eyes, which had been shut tight, suddenly flew open, the corners glistening with water and a trace of dazedness in their depths.

She bit down on the silk handkerchief with all her strength, yet her body was like a fish deprived of air, twisting in agony on the bed.

That strange numb tingling had completely drowned out her reason.

It flowed along her blood, into every limb and bone, and finally gathered deep in the hollow of her lower abdomen.

"Almost there. Hold on."

Shen Qingyun's voice seemed to come from a very far place, carrying a touch of hoarseness.

His hands finally came to rest on Xue Ning's flat lower abdomen, making the final guiding sweep.

The spiritual power at his fingertips carried a searing heat, seeping little by little into her skin.

And in that instant.

The long-suppressed numb tingling, like a volcano erupting, completely broke through the dam of her reason.

"Mm--!"

A broken, distorted cry spilled from Xue Ning's throat as her body arched sharply upward.

Then she collapsed back onto the bed, gasping in huge mouthfuls, her chest rising and falling violently.

Her underpants were already completely soaked.

...

Outside the door.

Lin Mubai paced back and forth like an ant on a hot griddle.

"Senior Sikong, why is there no sound coming from inside at all?" he asked anxiously.

Sikong Lin shot him a cold glance, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "If my sealing formation were so weak that you could hear what was happening inside, wouldn't that mean I was a complete failure?"

Lin Mubai: "..."

Unable to answer, he could only turn back toward the tightly shut door again, clasp his hands together, and pray silently.

...

Inside the room.

A deathly silence.

The air was thick with rich medicinal fragrance, and with a trace of something else... an indescribably sweet, heady scent.

Xue Ning raised a trembling hand and pulled the silk handkerchief from her mouth.

She sucked in great mouthfuls of fresh air, her hollow gaze fixed on the top of the bed curtains.

Her face was still flushed, the heat refusing to fade.

Shen Qingyun withdrew his hands and silently stepped back two paces.

Silence spread between the two of them.

After a long while.

Shen Qingyun was the first to break the suffocating awkwardness.

"It should... be healed."