Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Life-Saving Immortal Medicine

Below the north city gate of Song Jiang Town, a stretch of bare sand spread out beneath the wall. A few tents had been pitched, pressed close to the west and north sides. On the battlements above, guards stood with swords at their hips. Every so often, city defense officers paced past with patrols, torchlight cutting through the dark.

The System had brought Tu Hua—house and all—to a spot opposite the exile convoy’s campsite.

Unlike last night, the escort constables hadn’t separated themselves from the prisoners. They’d set their tents in an outer ring, hemming the exile convicts in like livestock penned for the night.

The temperature difference between worlds was always there, but at night it turned sharp, biting straight through bone.

Tu Hua went to the wardrobe and shrugged into a warmer cashmere coat. She grabbed a dark, lightweight backpack, stuffed it with supplies, and shoved in a thick stack of long-lasting heat pads. On her way out, her eyes snagged on a folding fruit knife on the coffee table.

She hesitated, then stuffed it in too.

Better to have it and not need it. If something happened, running back home to take photos for item delivery might be too slow. Carrying a little on her body meant she could help Xie Yu Chuan and the others immediately if things went bad.

And if the System glitched while she was outside her house… at least she’d have something.

The System sounded faintly exasperated. [You can use System functions to collect items and submit them through item delivery. The host can automatically feed the ward.]

Tu Hua said with perfect righteousness, “No money.”

The moment she stepped out, cold wind slapped her in the face. She hunched her shoulders, tucked her chin down, and headed straight across to find the Xie family’s position.

In the darkness, nobody noticed her at all.

The massive city gate loomed to her right. The moonlight was blocked. Most of the light came from torches farther ahead, and the ground was nearly invisible.

She kicked a rock by accident and almost twisted her ankle.

The pebble skittered—and in the dead quiet, it landed with a crisp clink.

Clatter!

Several soldiers shot up, blades out.

“Who’s there?!”

Tu Hua froze, startled—then remembered, half a beat too late, that they couldn’t see her. After a few seconds, she kept walking.

The sound wasn’t loud, but the night was so still it felt like everyone had collectively stopped breathing. It made people suspicious.

Someone hurried over to the spot where the sound came from.

“Just a pebble,” the soldier reported.

“Send a few people over there to check,” someone ordered.

“Yes!”

Tu Hua glanced back. The soldiers’ faces were tense, searching the area like they expected an enemy to materialize out of thin air. After a full sweep turned up nothing, they finally settled back down.

Tu Hua frowned. She hadn’t been gone that long. Why was security suddenly this strict?

She looked down and gently ground her toe into the sand, scraping out a small pit.

Tu Hua stared at it.

She could leave traces here?

Then, right before her eyes, the tiny pit smoothed itself over, filling in as if the sand had never been disturbed.

Tu Hua’s scalp prickled.

[Host, your current energy state is unstable. Try not to leave obvious traces.]

So that was it.

Before the version update, when her energy was unstable, moving around in Great Liang had been like drifting air—no real impact, no physical imprint.

After the update, the way she manifested—and what she could affect—would probably shift as her energy accumulated.

But this was not the time to study her “new features.” She needed to find Xie Yu Chuan.

After that pebble incident, she abandoned the idea of turning on a flashlight.

A bright beam suddenly appearing in the dark? These ancient people would lose their minds.

Luckily, patrolling constables moved through the camp with torches. Tu Hua used that shifting light to scan the prisoners’ area.

Soon, she spotted a familiar face.

Xie Yu Chuan’s second sister, Xie Zhen.

The Xie family rested near the west wall, still some distance from its base. Tu Hua threaded through the crowd and drew closer.

As soon as she reached them, she heard Xie Zhen speaking in a tight, anxious voice to Old Madam Xie.

“Grandmother… Yu Chuan won’t be in trouble, will he?”

“Wait and see. The situation isn’t clear.” Old Madam Xie’s voice was hoarse, exhaustion ground into it like dust.

Tu Hua stopped and looked down at the family.

What happened to Xie Yu Chuan?

When she’d asked him at the supermarket, he’d said it was nothing serious.

Now the air around them said otherwise.

She searched for him—and realized he wasn’t here.

And…

Scanning the surrounding crowd, she noticed something else.

Were there fewer exile convicts than before?

She’d only been gone a day. What on earth had happened?

The System hadn’t warned her, which meant Xie Yu Chuan wasn’t in immediate danger of death.

That eased her, just a fraction.

Tu Hua opened WeChat. “Xie Yu Chuan?”

His chat window didn’t budge.

“Did he pass out again?”

Last time in the Imperial Prison, it had been the same—when he was unconscious, she couldn’t reach him.

[No. The ward is not in danger of dying right now,] the System said.

Tu Hua frowned harder. Then why the silence?

Nearby, Xie Zhen leaned against Old Madam Xie and whispered, “Song Jiang Town has always been a trading hub. How could a brawl happen for no reason?”

Old Madam Xie kept her eyes closed, resting. After a moment, she said, “When Yu Chuan left, his gaze was steady. He must have a plan. Don’t panic. Watch and see.”

Tu Hua caught the key words: brawl. Left.

He’d been called away.

As she was trying to guess where he might be, her phone suddenly lit up.

The brightness flashed across Xie Zhen’s face.

Xie Zhen flinched and rubbed her eyes, thinking it was a trick of the light.

A message arrived—from Xie Yu Chuan.

“Yu Heng did not mean to disturb the Household God, but the situation is urgent. Does the Household God have a spirit pill that can stop bleeding and save a life? Could this humble one beg for a single pill to save someone?”

Tu Hua’s expression sharpened. “Where are you right now?”

“Song Jiang Prefecture Yamen.”

“Don’t move,” Tu Hua said. “Wait there. I’m coming to see.”

She had hemostatic supplies, but she didn’t know who he was trying to save. Better to look first.

She told the System to shift her coordinates.

[After the new version update, the System can move the host directly to new coordinates. Do you need to bring your real estate?]

“No,” Tu Hua said. “Send me over first.”

In a blink, the world snapped into a new scene.

She stood in a room, and the moment she arrived, the thick stench of blood hit her.

Ahead, Xie Yu Chuan looked down with icy calm at two men in strange clothing, bound tight on the floor.

His voice was cold enough to frost stone.

“Want to die? Not that easy in my hands.”