Crimson Blood Pill

Li Tui pushed open the door to the main room, and a wave of thick incense mixed with a sickly-sweet, bloody stench washed over him.

The room was dim. A bronze lamp flickered beside the screen, stretching the shadows into grotesque shapes.

Zhao Yuanchong half-reclined on a brocade couch, his robe hanging open and an almost-empty wine cup in his hand. Two maids knelt beside the couch. One was massaging his legs, the other peeling grapes, their fingertips trembling.

On the floor.

Two young men lay curled up on the green bricks, motionless. One had his neck twisted, the blood at the corner of his mouth already black and congealed. The other's chest rose and fell faintly. His eyes were stretched wide, fixed on the rafters, while a wheezing "huh, huh" rasped in his throat, each breath flecked with blood.

Li Tui stood by the door. His gaze swept over the room, his face expressionless. He lowered his eyes and bowed. "Young Master."

"Just in time." Zhao Yuanchong raised his eyes lazily and drained the last of his wine. Then he casually tossed the empty cup to the floor. It struck the green bricks with a crisp crack, shards scattering everywhere.

He pointed at the floor. "Get rid of these two useless things."

Li Tui asked no questions and spared them no further glance. He went over and crouched to check. They were both fifteen or sixteen, dressed in coarse short jackets and trousers, their hands and feet rough from labor. They were servants from the outer courtyard who did heavy work. One had a broken neck and was already dead. The other had a caved-in chest and several broken ribs. More air escaped him than he drew in, and the light in his eyes was rapidly fading.

He left the one still twitching alone and dragged the one with the broken neck aside.

Zhao Yuanchong climbed down from the couch barefoot and sauntered over to Li Tui. He looked down at the boy who still had half a breath left in him.

"Tell me," he suddenly asked, his voice full of a child's curiosity. "When someone's about to die, does it hurt?"

Li Tui kept his head lowered. "This servant doesn't know."

"Why not find out?" Zhao Yuanchong laughed, raised his foot, and lightly nudged the sunken part of the boy's chest with his toe.

The wheezing in the boy's throat abruptly stopped, then turned into a shrill scream. His whole body arched up before crashing back onto the floor. He made no sound again.

He was dead.

Zhao Yuanchong drew back his foot, his expression unchanged, as if he had just stepped on an insect. He turned to Li Tui, watched him for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"Are you afraid?"

Li Tui kept his eyes lowered. "Whatever Young Master orders, this servant will do."

"And if I ordered you to die?" Zhao Yuanchong tilted his head, his youthful face utterly serious.

"This servant's life belongs to the Zhao Mansion." Li Tui's voice was steady. "If Young Master wants it, he may take it."

The words came too smoothly, making them sound all the more false. Zhao Yuanchong stared at him for a long while, then suddenly broke into giggles, laughing so hard he doubled over, as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Enough, enough." He waved a hand and sauntered back to the couch. Sitting down, he casually pulled a palm-sized celadon bottle from his robes, uncorked it, and tipped out a crimson pill about the size of his thumb. Fine, dark patterns marked its surface, like congealed blood.

"Your reward." He tossed the pill over.

Li Tui reached out and caught it. The pill was warm in his hand, with a spicy, sweet fragrance that seemed to stir his blood just to smell it.

"This is called the Crimson Blood Pill." Zhao Yuanchong propped his chin on his hand, his eyes shining as he watched Li Tui. "The mansion's alchemy workshop just made it. They say it can invigorate the blood and help build true qi. I tried two. Boring. You give it a taste."

He spoke lightly, as if sharing a snack.

Li Tui looked at the pill in his palm. It was blood-red, its markings uncanny—not at all like an ordinary pill meant to strengthen one's qi. In his previous life, he had seen far too many similar "rewards." Some were poison, some were parasites, and some were even more insidious things designed to control the mind.

But now.

Li Tui didn't hesitate. He put the pill in his mouth.

The pill dissolved as soon as it touched his tongue. A surge of heat, like molten lava, exploded inside him and charged fiercely down his throat! It felt less like swallowing a pill and more like gulping down a lump of red-hot charcoal.

Wherever the heat flowed, it scalded his meridians as if they'd been doused with boiling water. Excruciating pain and a strange, prickling numbness spread rapidly through him. The small amount of blue-green true qi in his dantian seemed to ignite, churning wildly as its circulation instantly sped up several times over!

Li Tui groaned and dropped to one knee, the veins on his forehead bulging.

"Hm?" Zhao Yuanchong leaned closer, eyes fixed on him without blinking. "Why did you turn so pale? The first two turned bright red, like boiled shrimp."

Li Tui gritted his teeth and didn't answer. He could feel the pill's domineering fire poison clashing violently with his wood-element true qi. With every circulation of his qi, it felt as if countless needles were scraping the inside of his meridians, the pain reaching all the way to his bones.

After three breaths, cold sweat had drenched his whole body.

After five breaths, a thread of dark red blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Ten breaths.

Li Tui's eyes snapped open, bloodshot. He drew a deep breath, forced down the blood that surged in his throat, and slowly straightened up.

The true qi in his body still surged wildly, its burning pain and fire poison no weaker than before. But he stood firm. Apart from his pallor, nothing seemed amiss.

Zhao Yuanchong stared at him for a long while. The eager interest on his face gradually faded.

"Boring." He pursed his lips and leaned back against the brocade couch, his voice listless. "Same as always. At least the first two rolled around on the floor."

Li Tui lowered his eyes and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "This servant is too dull. I've disappointed Young Master."

"I wouldn't say I'm disappointed." Zhao Yuanchong waved a hand, his eyes still fixed on Li Tui's face. "I just think... you're a little too boring."

He paused, then suddenly smiled, though there was no warmth in it. "All right, get rid of these two corpses. Throw them far away. Don't dirty my courtyard."

"Yes."

Li Tui said nothing more. He bent down, dragged one corpse in each hand, and turned to leave the room.

The instant the door closed behind him, the calm on his face shattered. The fire-poisoned qi still barreled through his body, and every breath brought a needle-sharp pain. Dragging the corpses, he staggered toward the depths of the West Courtyard. Every step felt like walking on the edge of a blade.

When he reached the abandoned garden, he tossed both corpses into a shallow pit, covered them with soil, then scattered some dead grass over the top.

When he was done, he stood beside the pit for a while. The moonlight was ghastly pale, casting a ghostly sheen over the freshly turned earth.

Li Tui slowly breathed out, his breath condensing into white mist in the cold night. He lowered his head and watched his fingers tremble. Beneath the agony in his abdomen, another force of true qi was coursing through him, nearly beyond his control.

The night wind swept through the abandoned garden, stirring up dead leaves with a soft rustle.

Li Tui said nothing. He simply turned and disappeared into the deeper darkness.