The First Summoner - Chapter 62

Shen Yan seized the young man’s wrist.

Their gazes locked. In the next instant, she counterattacked at full speed, slamming the gravely wounded youth against the carriage. Her knee drove mercilessly into the wound on his abdomen. His body curled, and a pained groan escaped him.

Shen Yan tore the dagger from his hand and plunged it into his arm.

Tan Zhuang also sensed the additional presence in the carriage.

“Yanyan, is that brat still inside?”

“He is. Don’t worry, Uncle Zhuang. I’ve subdued him.”

That hardly reassured Tan Zhuang. He pulled open the curtain and found Shen Yan’s knee pinning the youth’s bleeding abdomen, preventing him from gathering any strength, while his own dagger pierced his left arm.

His consciousness was fading, his lips as pale as paper. He was barely alive.

Tan Zhuang tensed. “I’ll drag him out right now!”

He grabbed the youth by the ankle and began hauling him roughly from the carriage. A bloodstained token fell from the young man’s clothes with a clang.

Shen Yan picked it up.

“Tianfang Sect. Young Master.”

Tan Zhuang stopped pulling. Hongri and Yinyue stared in shock. This dangerous, gravely wounded youth was the young master of the Tianfang Sect, which had been annihilated only days ago!

No wonder so many experts were hunting him.

Tan Zhuang looked at the youth’s weak face in surprise.

This brat was the young master of the foremost sect in the Pingze Western Region?

Tianmen had once maintained relations with the Tianfang Sect, though the connection was shallow. Tan Zhuang hesitated.

“Yanyan, this…”

Shen Yan looked down at the young man’s handsome, weakened face.

His dark, cold eyes stared back. He neither begged for mercy nor pleaded for rescue. He seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

“Do you have any medicinal pills?” she asked coldly.

His voice was hoarse and dry. “None left.”

He had suffered too many wounds in the past few days and consumed every pill he possessed.

Shen Yan was direct. “Do you have money?”

The youth froze. “…Yes.”

“How much can you give me?”

He lowered his eyes, concealing the icy hatred within them. Agony assailed his entire body, yet it could not compare to the desolation in his heart. Everything he had was gone.

His pale lips twisted. “Save my life, and you may have all my money.”

He coughed up blood immediately after speaking. Dizziness nearly dragged him into unconsciousness, but he bit his tongue hard to stay awake.

He did not dare sleep.

He trusted no one.

When disaster struck the Tianfang Sect, his closest friend had betrayed him and tried to kill him.

He had lost his family and everything he possessed. That only made survival more important. He had to live to take revenge!

Perhaps sheer will allowed him to lift his hand. He clutched Shen Yan’s arm and stared at her with shining black eyes.

“Save me!”

Shen Yan showed no pity.

“Saving you is too dangerous. I can’t bear the risk.”

After a pause, she continued, “But since fate brought us together, give me six thousand taels of gold and I’ll sell you two second-grade pills. I’ll also bandage your wounds well enough to keep you from bleeding to death.”

The youth froze again. An unreadable look entered his eyes before he laughed weakly.

“…Agreed.”

…

The carriage never stopped.

Half an hour later, the black-clad youth stood in a rice field, most of his body hidden by the tall stalks. In the desolate silence of the night, violent coughs racked him, sometimes bringing up blood.

He gripped two second-grade pills as though they were priceless treasures.

They were his lifeline.

The blood had been wiped from his face, revealing peerless features. His profile was breathtaking, his brow knotted and pale lips compressed into a hard line. The corners of his ink-dark eyes were faintly red, layers of moisture gathering within them.

A tear slipped down his cheek.

He laughed as he cried—mourning his destroyed sect and mocking his own helplessness.

After an unknown length of time, the tears dried upon his face.

His expression became numb.

…

Inside the carriage, Hongri sighed. “Miss, I never imagined we would meet the Tianfang Sect young master, Pei Su…”

Pei Su was eighteen, with top-tier talent and cultivation. Given his former status, people from small kingdoms like theirs would never have had the opportunity to approach him.

Hongri smiled as she remembered. “Pei Su truly is handsome! No wonder people always said one glimpse of Pei Su could ruin a woman for life.”

Shen Yan raised a brow. “Do you want to marry him? If so, we’ll turn around and pick him up.”

Hongri blinked. “How would this servant dare dream of someone like him? Nearly every unmarried girl in the Pingze Western Region wanted to marry him, but that may not be true now. The Tianfang Sect is gone, and he’s being hunted. Being with him would be far too dangerous…”

Shen Yan hummed in agreement.

Pei Su was indeed dangerous.

That was why she had made him leave the carriage.

…

At first light, the carriage finally reached Nanxiao Kingdom and went straight to Shen Yan’s residence.

She had sworn not to enter the Shen estate again. She could only ask Tan Zhuang to learn the situation from her father.

She waited in the residence.

Tan Zhuang soon returned—with Shen Tianhao.

The moment he saw his daughter after so many days, his eyes reddened. He strode forward and pulled her tightly into his arms.

“Yan’er, Father came too late.”

“You didn’t.”

After releasing her, Shen Tianhao dismissed Hongri and Yinyue. They entered the main hall together.

Shen Yan sensed that his blood vitality was weak.

“Father, are you truly all right in the Shen residence?”

“I am.”

Knowing he would not tell her the truth, she let the matter drop.

“Why exactly did Ah Huai disappear?”

“Western Region Academy sent word that your brother had not contacted them for one month, so they notified me.”

“Wasn’t it six months?”

Shen Tianhao’s expression was grave with worry. “He left on the mission six months ago, but remained in contact with the academy during that time. The messages stopped one month ago.”