Chapter 87: FU HANZHENG AVENGED HIM THOROUGHLY

The young woman continued without pause, clearly relishing the chance to share every detail she had gathered during his absence.

"His name is Li Yan. Some say he barely scraped into the sect with a common yellow root, yet somehow outscored disciples who trained their entire lives for the examination. There are rumors that he cheated, that senior brother Hu Bai pulled strings on his behalf, though no one has managed to prove anything of the sort." She lowered her voice further, leaning closer as though the next detail carried particular weight.

"He has already earned a place in the Apothecary Department under the eccentric master himself. Some even say the master dotes on him more than he has ever doted on any other disciple."

Li Wei absorbed the name without any particular reaction at first, turning it over the way he might turn over any piece of sect gossip destined to be forgotten within the week. Li Yan. Common enough as names went, and certainly not rare enough to mean anything on its own.

The thought of his own brother did not surface, not immediately, not even as a passing possibility worth considering. He had long since filed away that entire Chapter of his life as finished business, ending the moment the silver had changed hands and the arrangement reached its natural end.

It had never once occurred to him that the boy he sold off might have survived, let alone climbed his way into a sect prestigious enough to draw rumors.

"Interesting," he said instead, already turning his attention toward more immediately useful pieces of information. "Anything else worth knowing while I was away?"

The young woman continued chattering happily, delighted to have his undivided attention for however long it lasted, and rattled off several more names and minor incidents from the weeks he had missed, none of which struck him as particularly noteworthy compared to the earlier story.

Li Wei let the name Li Yan slip quietly to the back of his mind, unremarkable and unexamined, already reaching instead for whatever gossip might prove more useful to his own standing within the sect.

Fu Hanzheng returned to the Apothecary Department later, having spent the better part of the morning occupied with matters far removed from his usual duties. He found Li Yan waiting exactly where Anyu had settled him, and something in his expression softened the moment their eyes met, all traces of the cold authority hehad shown during Elder Shen’s execution folding away entirely.

"Yanyan." He crossed the room in a few quick strides, crouching slightly to bring himself level with Li Yan’s seated position. "How are you feeling? Anything still bothering you? Any lingering discomfort you have not mentioned?"

Li Yan offered him a small, genuine smile, some of the earlier heaviness from the day’s events easing at the familiar fussing.

"How could I possibly feel off, Master, when you were the one who avenged me so thoroughly?" He tilted his head slightly, teasing warmth threading through his tone. "You are not merely the head of the Apothecary Department, after all. You are the great sect master himself."

Fu Hanzheng huffed out something between a laugh and a sigh, reaching forward to pinch Li Yan’s cheek between two fingers, an affectionate gesture that had become familiar enough over their time together that Li Yan no longer flinched from it.

"Flattery will not spare you from what comes next." He released Li Yan’s cheek and straightened, gesturing toward the door leading deeper into the residence. "Follow me. I want to run a proper examination, given everything your body has endured over these past several days."

Li Yan rose without argument, trailing after his master toward the small sickroom tucked at the rear of the residence, a space lined with shelves of carefully labeled remedies and a single low table equipped for exactly this kind of examination. The scent of dried herbs hung thick in the air, familiar enough by now that Li Yan barely registered it as anything beyond the ordinary comfort of his master’s domain.

Fu Hanzheng guided him onto the table with practiced efficiency, starting with his height and weight, murmuring quiet observations to himself as he compared each measurement to whatever internal standard he kept for a boy Li Yan’s age and cultivation stage. He clicked his tongue softly at one of the numbers, muttering something about insufficient rest before moving on without further comment.

He drew a small vial of blood next, his touch far gentler than the sharp precision he had shown Elder Shen only hours earlier, entirely focused now on the careful, thorough work of ensuring his disciple’s well-being.

"This will help confirm whether any lasting damage remains from the Nightmare Gu," Fu Hanzheng explained, setting the vial aside for further testing. "I want to be certain nothing lingers in your system before I allow myself to consider this matter fully resolved."

Once the blood had been drawn, he moved into a slower, more deliberate scan, palms hovering just above Li Yan’s chest and skull, spiritual sense extending outward in careful, methodical sweeps meant to detect anything hiding beneath the surface that ordinary examination might miss entirely.

"I am also screening for any additional Gu that might still be concealed within you," he said, his focus never wavering from the task. "Elder Shen’s associate proved considerably more skilled than he was. I would rather find nothing and know for certain than assume you are safe simply because the nightmares have stopped."

Li Yan sat still throughout the entire process, oddly comforted by the meticulous care in his master’s hands, a kind of attention he had spent his entire first life believing himself unworthy of receiving from anyone at all.

He watched Fu Hanzheng’s face as he worked, brow furrowed in quiet concentration, lips pressed thin with the same seriousness he brought to every task he considered important.

"You truly do not need to worry so much, Master." Li Yan kept his voice soft, watching the careful way his master’s hands moved. "I already feel considerably better than I did this morning."

"Better is not the same as fully recovered." Fu Hanzheng did not look up from his work, though something in his tone carried unmistakable warmth beneath the sternness. "Sit still and let me finish."

Li Yan obeyed, settling back against the table, and allowed the quiet hum of his master’s spiritual sense to wash over him without further protest.