The First Summoner - Chapter 25

“Mm. Xue’er will listen to Grandfather.”

Shen Xue smiled sweetly, every inch the obedient and sensible granddaughter.

The sight of her smile brought Shen Yan’s icy attitude back into the family head’s mind. His displeasure and disgust toward Shen Yan deepened.

Hongri supported Shen Yan all the way back to Xicui Courtyard.

When Yinyue saw her mistress almost completely covered in blood, shock seized her face. She rushed forward.

“Miss, what happened?”

Hongri turned to a guard. “Quickly! Bring Physician Huang!”

The guard hurried out of Xicui Courtyard to summon the physician.

Once Shen Yan reached her room, more blood welled into her mouth and ran from the corner of her lips. Her beautiful face was deathly pale.

Yinyue fetched a clean cloth and carefully wiped away the blood, her heart aching.

“Miss, how were you injured this badly? Who did this to you?”

“The family head!” Hongri answered, her eyes red with anger.

She could not understand how he could treat his own granddaughter this way. Even if Miss possessed no spiritual power, she did not deserve such cruelty.

Yinyue stiffened.

Silence settled over the room.

Shen Yan took the cloth from Yinyue and wiped the blood from her own lips.

“I’m fine.”

The words only made both maids hurt for her more.

Physician Huang arrived soon afterward.

“All of you, leave the room,” Shen Yan instructed.

Hongri and Yinyue withdrew.

Then Shen Yan spoke to the red-robed man inside her spatial domain.

“Close your eyes.”

Feng Xingyao lowered his eyelids. His teasing voice sounded directly in her mind.

“You have a remarkable talent for creating trouble. Your old wounds have yet to heal, and already you have added new ones. If you had behaved a little more obediently, perhaps that Shen family head would not have treated you so harshly.”

His tone remained lazy.

“Sometimes you need to be clever. Stop charging straight ahead like a bull.”

Shen Yan said nothing.

She knew which response would have served her best.

She simply had not chosen it.

Perhaps it was simply her nature.

Physician Huang treated her wounds and applied medicine once more.

Her voice was gentle. “Yanyan, you are so badly injured, yet you never make a sound. Aunt Huang truly doesn’t know what to do with you. You don’t always need to be so strong. You can cry and complain to me sometimes.”

Shen Yan shook her head. “Aunt Huang, it doesn’t hurt.”

After Physician Huang left, Shen Yan dressed again.

In the silence of her room, she spoke as though to herself.

“I know which response would be the intelligent one. But people are often influenced by emotion and choose a different path.”

Inside the spatial domain, Feng Xingyao paused at her belated answer.

The corner of his lips lifted.

“Then control your emotions.”

“Mm.”

Shen Yan realized she had immersed herself too deeply in the original girl’s identity.

When she saw the family head’s hypocritical face, she could not help demanding justice for the girl who had died.

Shen Yan entered the spatial domain.

Their gazes met openly, neither attempting to conceal a thing.

Her eyes moved to the places where the sealing chains had pierced him, but his clothes covered the wounds.

Out of courtesy, she asked, “Are you feeling better today?”

His eyes were black as obsidian. When he raised one brow, wicked charm seemed to come naturally to him.

Red robes. Black hair. Cold, pale skin.

He looked like a figure painted into a magnificent scroll. A faint smile rested on his bewitching face, languid enough to captivate anyone who saw it.

“Better.”

Shen Yan found his beauty almost demonic. Beneath it lay an intangible air of aggression that made him seem extraordinarily dangerous.

If circumstances had not forced her hand, she would never have chosen to bargain with such a man.

Ninefold appeared and threw himself into Shen Yan’s arms.

He sniffed, then raised his small face at the heavy scent of blood.

“Master, how did you get hurt again?”

Shen Yan had no answer.

Since arriving in this world, she had indeed been injured with alarming frequency.

At least none of the wounds had threatened her life.

Ninefold caught her little finger in both hands and tugged hard.

“Master, you need to find the Blood-Devouring Pearl quickly! Then he can break the toxic seal for you.”

Shen Yan frowned.

Feng Xingyao had noticed the bruising and swelling across the back of her left hand—the mark left by the family head’s cane.

He spoke without warning.

“Ninefold. Come here.”

Ninefold ran over instinctively. “What?”

“Massage my legs.”

Ninefold puffed up with anger.

He knew being summoned could never mean anything good!

The sharp pain in Shen Yan’s left hand had not faded after Ninefold’s tug. She closed her fingers slightly, then stretched them again.

She had entered the spatial domain for an important purpose.

She needed to practice Meteor Flame Fist.

She had decided to register for the Qiutian Sect’s competition and use it to enter Lingyan Forest. But reaching the forest was not enough.

She needed sufficient strength to seize the Blood-Devouring Pearl.

Depending on herself would give her the greatest chance of success.

When Ninefold heard that she intended to train inside the spatial domain, he stared in alarm.

“Master, your injuries haven’t healed!”

He was about to stop her from such self-destructive behavior when Feng Xingyao spoke behind him.

“Let her train.”

Ninefold spun around and stared at him in disbelief.

Then he folded his arms and asked in horror, “Are you hoping Master dies so you can take the universally beloved me back?”

Feng Xingyao smiled.

“I have no use for a piece of junk like you.”

Ninefold flushed with humiliation and anger.

He planted both hands on his hips. “I am the renowned Ninefold Demon-Suppressing Pagoda! A divine artifact! How dare you call me junk? I refuse to accept it!”

“Oh?” Feng Xingyao raised a brow.

Ninefold’s courage vanished instantly.

Looking pitifully aggrieved, he muttered, “Fine. I give up.”

While the two of them argued, Shen Yan had already begun practicing with her fire ability.

She was quick-witted. After grasping the key to the fist technique, she attempted to substitute her fire ability for spiritual power.

Boom!

A blazing fist erupted.

The temperature across the empty spatial domain surged.

Ninefold stared at Shen Yan in astonishment.

Master had truly succeeded!

“Wow! Wow! Wow!”

He shouted with excitement.

Feng Xingyao propped his cheek on one hand and watched Shen Yan’s fist technique with open interest.

One glance was enough to tell him that her cultivation technique and battle art belonged to the lowest grade.

His broad sleeve slipped down and gathered above his elbow, revealing pale skin.

The wrist once pierced by a sealing chain had healed completely. Not even the slightest trace of injury remained.

Only Feng Xingyao knew that while his external wounds had closed, his internal injuries remained.

Even if they could heal, recovery would take a very long time.