Chapter 2 - Nexus Pill? (1/2)

“Chen, it’s fine to stop for the day and rest your body if you’re worn out. Don’t force what can’t be helped. The welfare of your body takes priority,” Ye Zhanxiong advised.

The middle-aged man had long given up on the idea that damaged meridian channels could ever recover on their own. The only way to repair them was to use a Nexus Pill which was simply out of reach for the Ye’s Family due to the hefty price it fetched. Even if every asset in the House of Ye was liquidated, they still would not be able to afford it.

“I have faith that I’ll not remain a crippled man forever, Uncle. My meridians will recover,” Ye Chen replied firmly.

Ye Zhanxiong froze before the pangs of heartache coursed within his chest. He ruffled the young boy’s hair and gave a forced smile. “You’re a good kid, Chen. It doesn’t matter if your meridians ever recover. Your uncle and the entire Ye Family will always be here for you.”

“I know.” Chen nodded. It’s been three years since his meridian channels had been punctured yet some clansmen had continued to be scornful and laughed at him. Most of his kins had treated him with utmost compassion, gathering as much resources as they could salvage to trade for countless medicinal pills to make sure Ye Chen’s meridian channels would not degenerate. All in the hopes that the family would one day be able to obtain a Nexus Pill for the body to reconnect his damaged meridian linkages.

“You should visit your old man more often when you can, you know.” Ye Zhanxiong muttered as he sighed.

The thought of his father wrung Ye Chen’s heart. For the sake of his recovery, his father had shouldered a colossal burden alone for three years, greying his hair prematurely and aging himself physically until he looked a decade older than he really was. Ye Chen could not think of any way to repay his father’s deeds.

“I will.”

Ye Zhanxiong returned to where the acolytes were training, leaving the young lad sitting cross-legged on the boulder still, lost deep in thought. A lilting voice came about close to his ears, rousing him from his trance.

“What’s in your mind, Big Brother Ye Chen?” A little twinge of convivial airiness heard underneath the voice.

Ye Chen turned. Before his eyes was a face of elegance and demureness belonging to a fifteen or sixteen-year-old maiden. A smile curled on her lips as she laid eyes on him. Today, she had donned a lavender dress, with her eyes and the arches of her eyebrows exquisite, and her pupils luminous akin to the surface of a clear lake. She looked heavenly with supple skin as fine and fair as snow. A mild lovely scent drifted from the young maiden’s body and drifted toward him, lifting up his mood instantly.

Ye Chen’s heart swelled a little with affection for the girl before him. “Why are you here?”

“Do you not like me around?” She giggled.

“That wasn’t what I meant! It’s just rare to see you in the training ground, you know?” Ye Chen could not help breaking into a grin. Little Rou was simply the only person he could be at complete ease with.

Nobody knew if Little Rou was even an actual scion of the Ye Family, and nor did anyone else in the entire House of Ye knew if Rou was her real name or merely a nickname that stuck. Unsurprisingly, no one had any idea who Ye Rou’s parents were supposed to be. The most everyone knew of this enigmatic girl was that she was left in the care of the House of Ye by a stranger when she was young.

Ye Rou joined the clan as a waif, and understandably, she was not considered an actual member of the clan. Very soon, torments and bullying caught up to her from her peers. Fortunately, Ye Chen was a precocious child who protected Ye Rou on his own accord. He treated her like how a brother would to a sister. Hence, the girl had naturally been tailing him ever since.

It was too late when the bullies regretted their actions. The little ugly duckling had grown into a belle of captivating beauty. They were suddenly struck with an intense mournfulness. It did not matter if reparations had been attempted as their undesirable impressions now left no mark in Ye Rou’s mind.