The situation turned out to be much, much worse than he imagined.
The next day, Zhao Weixin broke up in high fever. After examining him, the town's medic advised Yu Qingyu against traveling. Spending a few hours in a carriage was likely to worsen Zhao Weixin's condition even further.
Not wanting to sabotage his disciple's recovery, Yu Qingyu had no choice but to wait.
But one day had passed, and then another, and another… But Zhao Weixin's fever was not going down at all. To make matters worse, his wounds started festering. The medic tried to treat them with various medicines, but to no effect.
Yu Qingyu was sitting by the bed, next to the unconscious and delirious Zhao Weixin, feeling completely defeated. '520, any ideas what's going on with him?'
[I am not sure. I cannot analyze the physical condition of other people, aside from Host. However, considering that the town's medic wasn't able to diagnose the cause of his condition, it is possible that it is some sort of demonic infection.]
Yu Qingyu froze in place as if struck by a lighting, his eyes opening wide. 'Demonic infection?'
[Yes. Host can try checking it himself. You might be able to detect some demonic qi within his body.]
Casting a glance at Zhao Weixin, Yu Qingyu gulped loudly, feeling nervous. He slowly got up and stood by the bed. Taking a cloth prepared on the side, he rinsed it in a small basin with some cold water, and wiped off the sweat from his disciple's forehead. Then, he placed his hand on Zhao Weixin's head, closed his eyes, and focused.
There was an uneven stream of fairly weak spiritual energy coursing through Zhao Weixin's meridians… And it was mixed with a lot of demonic qi, which was close to dominating over Zhao Weixin's qi! It was likely getting stronger with time. If things were to continue like that, it would soon completely consume his energy, ruining all of his cultivation!
'520! What now?' he asked, panicked.
[You need to get an expert healer to take care of him as soon as possible. I recommend sending Liu Wei to bring someone from the sect,] 520 suggested.
'…Liu Wei?' Yu Qingyu bit his lip, hesitating. He couldn't trust Liu Wei. What if he goes to the sect, but doesn't send anyone over?
But going himself, and leaving Zhao Weixin under Liu Wei's care also didn't seem safe. Although Liu Wei was still playing the role of a good disciple, and was very helpful over the past few days, he was still Yu Qingyu's enemy… And Yu Qingyu had absolutely no idea what might be going on inside his head.
But he didn't have any better options. So, in the end, when Liu Wei came over to bring dinner and medicine, he brought the topic up.
"Molin, I will need you to go to the sect, and ask them to send a healer as soon as possible. Weixin has been infected by demonic qi," he briefly explained.
Liu Wei's expression turned serious. "Is it dangerous? What will happen to him?"
Yu Qingyu just shook his head in response. "I'm not sure. This is not my area of expertise. But as you can see, his condition is getting worse every day."
Liu Wei observed Yu Qingyu in silence, with dark, unreadable eyes. "…This disciple understands. I will leave immediately." He bowed down, and not even waiting for Yu Qingyu's answer, he turned around and quickly left the room.
Leave immediately? Yu Qingyu knitted his brows, looking out of the window. It was still bright outside, but the sun was slowly closing down on the horizon. By the time Liu Wei arrived at the sect, the night would have fallen already.
'Well, then a healer might arrive tomorrow early afternoon… As long as Liu Wei does the task as he should,' he thought to himself, slightly lifting Zhao Weixin's head off the pillow in order to feed him the medicine.
Hours later, in the middle of the night, he was dozing off on the chair, unwilling to leave Zhao Weixin alone, not even to take a nap, when all of a sudden, someone knocked on the door. Yu Qingyu jumped in his seat, almost falling down on the floor.
He glanced at the window to confirm that the sky was still pitch black. Who would bother him at this hour?
He slowly got up, wiping the faint trail of droll from his chin with the back of his hand, and brushed his long inky hair to the back, uncovering his face. He must have still looked like a mess, but his looks were the last of his worries right now.
As he opened the door, his eyes, despite still being sticky with sleepiness, opened up wide. He then proceeded to blink a few times in disbelief.
In front of his door stood Liu Wei, accompanied by two other members of their sect, both healers, judging by their uniform.
"Shizun, I have brought healers, as you asked."
Yu Qingyu still stood in place, frozen in shock.
Seeing him unmoving, Liu Wei frowned. "Shizun? Is there something wrong?"
This finally brought Yu Qingyu back to reality. "Ah, no. I'm just surprised. I didn't expect you would return so soon," he explained, stepping to the side to let the healers into the room.
"Your disciple ran around our whole peak, banging on everyone's door, and asking to come and save his shixiong," one of the healers interjected.
"Ah… Is that so?" Yu Qingyu glanced between the healers and Liu Wei with a lot of mixed emotions. He couldn't comprehend what exactly was happening. "I'm so sorry about that…"
The healers just waved their hands dismissively, and went over to the bed to examine the patient.
Yu Qingyu and Liu Wei kept on standing by the door awkwardly, not saying a word. Yu Qingyu had his sight on the unconscious Zhao Weixin. Liu Wei, however, observed Yu Qingyu with a dark expression in his eyes.
"Shizun should go get some sleep," he said finally. Yu Qingyu was about to protest, but before he was able to say anything, Liu Wei added, "Now that the healers are here, Weixin-shixiong is in good hands. Shizun doesn't need to worry."
At first, Yu Qingyu still wanted to protest. He simply didn't feel comfortable letting wounded and vulnerable Zhao Weixin out of his sight. But Liu Wei was right… The healers would be able to take care of him better anyway. And Yu Qingyu was exhausted…
So in the end, he let out a long sigh. "Alright then. Good job today," he praised Liu Wei and ruffled his hair. He was so tired that he didn't even think what he was doing.
He also didn't feel Liu Wei's eyes on his back as he walked down the corridor toward his room, as the man stared at him with utter disbelief painted all over his face.