Zi-ning had never seen a huanhun dan in her past life, but she had definitely heard of it. Rumoured to be made by a reclusive hermit that was known as the River Immortal, the pill was said to be able to cure all ailments—and even resurrect the dead. Ru-an had once spent an enormous amount of effort to locate the River Immortal for the sake of the miracle pill, hoping to present it as a gift to the king in exchange for the throne. He never succeeded.
"You're the River Immortal?" she asked, staring at the old man.
She had always believed that the old hermit and the huanhun dan were merely things of legend, but she had been mistaken.
The elder huffed. "River Immortal? What a useless fancy title."
Zi-ning rushed forward, dropping to her knees in front of him. She pressed her forehead to the ground. "Please, could you give me one huanhun dan? I beg you. I will do anything you ask in exchange for it," she pleaded.
She remembered the day they brought her brother, Yongxing, home from the battlefield. His broken armour hung from his shoulders, his clothes stained with blood, and his face was ghastly white. He had lain unconscious for a whole two months, with the physicians exhausting all their means to save him, but to no avail. Even the best medicines from the palace that she had begged Ru-wen for had not been able to help. His condition began to deteriorate, until eventually he left this world for the next. That day, she had cried until her eyes were dry, mourning the loss of the older brother that had loved her so.
If Yongxing had survived, maybe things would have been different.
Now that she had a second chance, she would not let him die before her eyes once more.
"No!" the old man barked. "Why would I give it to you? I've already wasted one of this imbecile as it is," he said, waving a bony finger at Zhenghuan. "Now stop making so much noise and disturbing my peace. Once you're recovered, get the hell out of here." Scowling, the eccentric man shuffled back towards the house, slamming the door shut behind him.
Zhenghuan set down his firewood, then bent over and helped Zi-ning back up to her feet. "Old Man Hu a bit of an oddball," he said. "The more you want it, the less likely he'll give it to you." He looked at Zi-ning questioningly. "Why do you want the huanhun dan so badly?"
Zi-ning bit down on her lower lip. There was no good way for her to explain the real reason why she wanted the pill. It would make no logical sense whatsoever. Instead, she shrugged. "Why not? Who wouldn't want a pill that can bring back the dead?" she said, trying to sound casual.
Zhenghuan gave her a pointed look, then turned away and headed for the river's edge. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me," he said. "Everyone is entitled to their secrets." He picked up a stone, skipping it across the water's surface.
Zi-ning was surprised. Was he going to let her off the hook this easily? Or did he simply not care?
Isn't it better if he doesn't probe? She wasn't prepared to tell him the truth anyway. Still, a slight inexplicable sourness tingled at the tip of her tongue. Shaking off the sensation, she walked over to his side.
"How are you feeling? Were you badly injured?" she asked.
Zhenghuan looked perfectly well, but it was impossible for him to have escaped unscathed after falling from such a height. She studied him from head to toe, trying to figure out whether or not he might have any injuries hidden from view.
He shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "I'm fine," he said. "Suffered from a few broken ribs and a broken ankle, but Old Hu's huanhun dan did its job well. The fractures mended in only a day, and now there's only a bit of residual stiffness in my limbs." He rotated his shoulders, as if to prove that he was as fit as he claimed. "What about you? Your injuries were lighter, but Old Hu said the huanhun dan would not work on you, so he had to administer some weaker medications."
The huanhun dan won't work on me? But why?
She moved her fingers to her forehead, wincing at the sting. Besides that, she didn't seem to have suffered anything more than a few light abrasions. She glanced up at the towering cliff, shuddering at the thought of how she had fallen from that immense height. Then, she turned back towards Zhenghuan, eyeing him suspiciously.
Was he telling the truth about his own injuries? If Old Man Hu had to bring out a huanhun dan in order to treat his injuries, that suggested that Du Zhenghuan's injuries had been serious enough to put him on the brink of death.
She remembered the warmth of his arms around her as they plunged from the cliff, shielding her from the impact of their fall. A faint blush spread across her cheeks.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhenghuan asked.
Zi-ning turned away, embarrassed by her own behaviour. She squatted down and picked up a stray pebble, tossing it up and down on her palm. "Thank you," she said. The last thing she wanted was to owe anyone any debts, because a debt meant a connection, and someone like her could not afford to form any connections, any threads that tied her to another. But despite that, fate had other plans. Now, she owed Du Zhenghuan a life debt—and she would have to pay it back as soon as she could, in order to severe this connection that had been formed between them.
"You're... welcome?" He sat down beside her. "You have a penchant for attracting trouble, don't you? It seems like there's always someone who wants you dead."
She scoffed. And they already succeeded once, she thought.
"I happen to be standing in the way of many people, that's all," she replied.
"Intentionally so?"
"That's none of your business."
The two of them sat in silence for a long while, just watching the river waters flow by. The valley was a hidden utopia, a place of peace. If possible, Zi-ning would have liked to stay here forever, to build a small dwelling among the blossom trees the way Old Hu had, and live out the rest of her life in this small patch of heaven.
But she could not. That was not why she had returned.
If she stayed here, then everything would go back to the way they were. Ru-an would be victorious, Meiyan would become queen, and everyone she loved and cared about would be sentenced to a terrible end.
She stood up.
"Where are you going?" Zhenghuan asked.
"I need to speak to Old Hu," she replied. Since she had managed to find her way here, then she could not leave empty-handed.
#
The old man was far more stubborn than she anticipated. Even despite her grovelling and pleading, he did not relent, refusing to give her the huanhun dan that she asked for.
"No, no, no, no!" his voice echoed from inside the locked room. "No matter what you say, I will not give it to you. I never give my medicines to anyone. Not now, not ever!"
Zi-ning had been kneeling outside his door for an entire day, but still he would not budge. He would not even open his doors for her.
"Then I'm not leaving," she called out. "I'll never leave this place until you agree to give me a huanhun dan. Please, I need it to save a life!"
Seconds later, the doors burst open. The old man stood at the doorway, hands on his hips, his face wrinkled up with scorn.
"I knew I shouldn't have rescued the two of you. Burdens!" he railed. "You want the pill so badly? Fine! If you can gather two full baskets of devil's vines and extract their cores, then I'll give you one. Now get out of my sight!" He rapped her on the head with his gnarled wooden walking stick, then retreated back into his room.
Zi-ning's eyes lit up. Two baskets of cores from the devil's vines. She didn't expect it to be an easy task, considering how unwilling the River Immortal seemed to be with parting with his miracle pills, but at least it was no longer an outright rejection. No matter how difficult the task was, she had to complete it, for Yongxing's sake.
"Do you even know what devil's vines are?" Zhenghuan's voice piped up from behind. He was sitting on a log, descaling some fishes for dinner.
She shook her head.
"The cores of devil's vines are a rare medicinal herb, that can cure up to twenty different poisons. But they are extremely hard to obtain. The vines can only be found growing in dark crevices at the coldest mountaintops."
Zi-ning's brows knotted in a frown. They were stuck at the bottom of a deep valley. How was she possibly going to reach a mountaintop that was high enough for her to be able to find devil's vine?
"I might happen to know a place where you can find it," Zhenghuan added, a slight smile quirking upon his lips, "if you ask nicely."
"You do?" Zi-ning scrambled to her feet and ran over to him. "Can you show me where it is? You don't have to come with me. You can just mark it out on a map and I'll get them myself."
"Even if I drew it out, I doubt you'd be able to get there on your own. I'll go with you, and you can add it to the debt you owe me."
"You really don't have to—"
"If we set off now, we might make it up the mountain by nightfall. Hurry up."
Zi-ning sighed in exasperation. Zhenghuan had already picked up two empty rattan baskets and was heading down the river bank. Clearly he wasn't taking no for an answer.
She weighed her options for a brief moment, then ran along to catch up with him. As much as she hated having anything further to do with Du Zhenghuan, she did not have any other choice. She needed his help if she hoped to exchange the vines for a huanhun dan.