章 20: Slumbering Cherry Blossom — III

Hu Lijing huffed silently as he helped Li Xinyuan get out of his surgical robes and dispose of them, with a roll of his eyes, the amber-haired man commented, unamused.

"You are such a handful, Master."

Li Xinyuan pouted harder and grumbled, standing straight albeit a bit too lightly on his feet. "Shut up." He scoffed, feeling a rather dizziness set in. "I'm exhausted."

This feeling was familiar. Almost strong enough to give him a deja vu. Did Li Xinyuan go through this exact same thing right before his death?

This dizziness, this weakness in his body, all of it pointed towards one thing—

"Low blood sugar." Under his breath, the surgeon mumbled, eyes blurring, his sight going in and out of focus which made it hard for him to see anything clearly.

"Huh?" Hu Lijing said, very intelligently while burning the sullied blue robes with his flames. He turned to look at Li Xinyuan, concern etched on his handsome face as he watched the man standing weakly. "Did the Master say something?"

Li Xinyuan stumbled on his feet, gently shaking his head as he held his forehead and opened his mouth, tongue darting out to lick at his chapped lips.

"No.." but before he could even finish his words, the surgeon stumbled, imbalance filled his body as he went tumbling backwards.

Had it not been for Hu Lijing who rushed to him in timely manner and caught him just in time, Li Xinyuan would have the most embarrassing fall of his life.

The amber-haired man cursed under his breath, concern laced his voice inside out as he supported the nearly unconscious surgeon and hurriedly carried him out of the tent where the surgery took place.

Holding Li Xinyuan in his arms, Hu Lijing rushed through the narrow path, muttering intelligible phrases under his breath as the surgeon's head lolled against his chest, heartbeat quickening.

"Lijing." The surgeon managed to mumbled, voice hoarse from disuse as he tried to open his eyes. "Hu Lijing."

The man glanced down at him, expression dark as he brushed past a doctor and bursted into Li Xinyuan's assigned tent, quickly putting the surgeon on the bed.

"Stay awake, Master." Hu Lijing grunted, quickly fetching a cup of water for him to drink. "What happened, please tell me. Is it poison? Or a foul play?" He asked, visibly anxious as he supported Li Xinyuan to sit up on the bed.

The ravenette slowly shook his head, squeezing his eyes such as he massaged his temple to nurse a splitting headache throbbing inside his skull. It felt like a jackhammer was beating within his head, rather incessantly.

The longer Li Xinyuan's silence prevailed the faster Hu Lijing's thoughts whirled, countless possibilites ran around, circling his mind as he pursed his lips into a thin line, anxiously watching his Master groan in discomfort.

"Just tell me what is wrong?" He asked again, sounding a little more desperate than he would like. But he paid it no mind. Li Xinyuan was his top priority right now. "Is something wrong with your body?"

Li Xinyuan grunted, another wave of headache struck, making his skin crawl. "No, the non-stop surgeries took a toll on my body," he explained, raspily. "My sugar level seemed to have dropped."

Hu Lijing frowned harder. For one, he couldn't understand the exact meaning behind Li Xinyuan mostly incoherent mumbling. But he could understand the gist of it.

"Sugar… Dropped.." The amber-haired man repeated those words to himself, rubbing his chin contemplatively as he glanced at Li Xinyuan from the corner of his eyes. "Does it mean that you will be fine after consuming something sweet?"

Li Xinyuan groaned, feeling the nerves behind his eyes pulsate as he nodded, laboriously. "I should be." He turned away from the source of light, the headache making it too difficult to focus on anything but the discomforting sensation that drove his senses haywire.

Hu Lijing's lips pulled downwards, a deep grimace marred his face as he stood up quickly and strode towards the door while grumbling to himself but loud enough for Li Xinyuan to hear.

"This is what you get for stubbornly practising inedia when you're overworking everyday while pushing your body to its limit, Master." Hu Lijing stopped at the door, head bowed as he added, reluctantly. "Why don't you understand that while your cultivation is high, your body has yet to become strong enough to withstand months of starvation?"

Li Xinyuan snorted, opening his mouth to fire a retort at him. Only to be crudely interrupted even before he could get the words out.

"No, don't say a word, Master," Hu Lijing scoffed, pushing the curtains apart. "I'm going to bring you something sweet to eat. Meanwhile you will obediently stay laid down on that bed."

"Are you ordering me around, Lijing?" Li Xinyuan grumbled, playfully. Only to wince as another headache overpowered him. "Shit…"

"Serves you right, now stay there. Pretend you're dead for all I care. Just don't move."

With that, the amber-haired man stormed out, annoyance bleeding in his form.

"I can't even open my eyes, you think I can move, you dumbass." Li Xinyuan grumbled half-heartedly as he crossed his arms on his chest, lying on the bed, obediently.

This instance of low blood sugar was worse than anything other Li Xinyuan had ever faced in both of his lives. It was a horrible mix of low blood sugar combined with severe migraine.

Perhaps it was because of him practising inedia for months on end that somewhat weakened his body enough to crumble at the first attack.

For God's sake, it was worse than when Li Xinyuan had been surrounded by terrorists and forced to fight his way out while fighting to stay conscious.

Way worse.

…

The darkness of his tent didn't matter, the flickering flame of the lamp mattered not, the pain from migraine ebbed and flowed, an erratic rhythm in its being.

Li Xinyuan groaned silently shifting on the bed as he waited for Hu Lijing to come back. The veins in his head throbbed, pulsing painfully under his skin as he drew in a harsh breath.

It was a discomforting sensation. But it was familiar. Nothing was more familiar than being all alone struggling with the ache wrought upon him by none other than his own body which fought against him quite vehemently.

The all-consuming veil of darkness of the night only amplified by Li Xinyuan closing his eyes seemed alive, the pained sounds of wounded soldiers — who were being treated — seemed to eat him alive. As much as Li Xinyuan hated hearing their agony, he could do nothing to abate them in his current condition.

Even opening his eyes felt like an unthinkable chore, the dim light of flickering ambers a beast intent on causing him more pain.

Biting his lips until the plush flesh swelled, the surgeon gasped, headache intensifying to the point where he could barely think.

In a last ditch effort to somehow try and ebb the agony in his person, Li Xinyuan waved his hand, extinguishing the lonesome flame and plunging his surroundings in darkness.

Only then did he find himself able to take a — albeit difficult — breath, sweat making his robes cling to his person. It was discomforting.

And just like that, he passed out, curled up to himself.

…

"Xinyuan, what are you doing? Let's go!" The blurred face called out to him, cheerful and bright. It was a familiar voice.

"You should go alone, I have something to do," Li Xinyuan shook his head, lips pursed as he looked at the black sedan parked right across where he was standing.

It was a car he recognised.

The man with a blurred face turned to look at him, his face contorting as Li Xinyuan watched, feeling out of depth.

"You won't come?" The voice changed, no longer was it warm, no longer was it jovial. The man leaned closer.

Everything in the space distorted beyond recognition and by the time Li Xinyuan could react, the man was behind him, more a monster than a human.

Arms slithered around his shoulder, making the surgeon quiver. One arm wrapped itself around his shoulder whilst the other moved to hold his chin, lifting it up.

"Why do you think I'm like this?" He asked, voice dipping into something more inhumane as the rotting flesh fell off his face.

"Why—"

Li Xinyuan jerked awake, eyes flying open as a gasp left his lips. He froze.

On the side of his bed, stood a tall silhouette of a man looming over him. Terror seized his heart. And then—

—A scream tore through Li Xinyuan's lips.