I was still mesmerized by the appearance and the actions of that strange bird, then I was startled to see the serious and grave look on Lu Jian's face, then hearing what he said, I directly responded saying while patting him on the shoulder :
" We already are brothers so why are you so serious and rigid, it must have something to do with that message you have gotten, but still whatever that unnerve you, feel free to tell me about it .
Seeing how warmly and closely I talked with him, the expression on his face softened a little and was replaced by one that seem to reek of embarrassment, but he still squeezed his fists and said :
The message just now came from my sister's personal maid, she was telling me that my sister had survived for yet another day .
His words made me and Chu Jian to focus instantly on hearing what he have to say, seeing our dumbstruck expressions, he said :
Well since we are all Brothers here, sharing this might actually help, even if it didn't, it shouldn't make matters to become worse than they are already are, my sister Lu Hua was quite the prodigy when she was young, managing to reach the third layer of Flesh Tempering while still 10 years old, her mastery over her Martial Arts ( both techniques and skills ), was something that made even the three academies in the capital eye her out for a special recruitment .
At this, I saw Lu Jian getting quite emotional and he seemed to hold a great amount of honor for that sister of his in his heart, but then his expression turned grave again and his face carried a great resentment and bitterness to it as he continued to say :
Then suddenly something strange befell her, a curse of some kind that forced her rapid pursuit of Martial Arts, my parents said that had contracted a disease, they sent for esteemed doctors from all over the dynasty in hope of getting my sister disease be cured and her getting back to normal again, but in the end there was no satisfactory results .
What's worse, was the fact that the disease or that curse actually kept growing strong with my sister, once that cursed erupted for the first time, my late mother was the first one to fell under it, the doctors who were here to help all got scared of their wits and fled for their lives, they all determined the disease incurable and left .
But after they did the suffering of my sister only increased from that point forward, we weren't able to grieve the loss of our mother appropriately yet, but that damn curse suddenly become even more intense and left us unable to do so in peace .
The curse had weird way of erupting from time to time, during that time my older sister would be suffering from a painful torment, but with how frequent did that started to happen, my father was forced to put her away and prevented her to go out or have much contact with other people once the night descend .
The disease or that curse only tends to erupt once the sun set, it get even more intense when the moon is hung up in the sky, at that time we will all pray for her survival, the disease eruption forbid people from trying to help her, so she can only depend on herself for survival .
One of the reason my dad has went out this time was because he heard that the Emperor's own doctor was finally back, he wanted to ask him to help with her situation, but after a month of travel, all news about him was lost, even Little Hawk which was following my dad and should have reported to us if something were to have happened didn't come back .
We were unable to send troops in hope of finding him due to our own tight circumstances as you should have already noticed, there was also the fact that the City Guards and the Yemen would have stopped any expedition that have more than 8 men in it, something about stopping any thoughts of rebellion .
All we could do was to task Martial dojos and bounty hunters to search for any traces of him even, but for the last 3 months no word had came back, my sister had now become unable to even walk without using a supporting chair that one of the Crafting Master had made her .
The disease eruption is still carrying on and becoming even more frequent than before, those that overstep into the marked boundary when the curse erupt would end up turning into a skeleton instantly without even the chance to scream or save him or herself, but once the sun rises it would directly dissipate as if it never existed .
That's why I wanted to ask you before when we first met, if it would have been for you to ask Master Chen to help me out, I now plead to for that same purpose today, especially after seeing the miraculous method that you have just used, I hope that you would grant my request .
I looked at him suddenly kneeling on the floor and kowtowing one time after the other and was at loss of what to say or do, not to mention how bizarre and dangerous his sister situation was, just the fact that he wanted me to ask Master to help was already an impossible task, so what could I possibly say or do .
Please, I'm willing to do anything, even if it meant sacrificing my own self, I will gladly be your servant if he managed to heal her .
Seeing that I had stayed quiet for some time without answering him seemed to make him misunderstood my action as a negative response, so he planted his head in the floor and his tone started to become insanely sore and bitter filled with both but helplessness .
" Well for starters, I hope you can get up first, not to mention that you will keep embarrass yourself but you will embarrass us as your brothers as well, if you wanted help then of course we will answer your call, there is no need for you to do things like that .
" Don't forget, even without our brotherhood, I still owe you a great favor, so don't presume that I'm not willing to help just because I was still engrossed in my own thoughts, but before I ask my Master to lend a hand, could you take me to your sister and let me assess her situation first .
As I said these words and helped Lu Jian up, I saw that the corners of his eyes were starting to redden, he managed to stop his tears from starting to pour down, I looked at him like this and my only thought was to hope that I can be of any actual help to him and his sister, otherwise the future might become even more ugly than it already is .
Brother Tian also know about medicine ? .
It was Chu Jian chance to finally voice out his thoughts, seemed to be shocked at this for some reason, but now that I thought about it more deeply, I found his reaction quite proper, disregarding of the fact that I had a seal filled with knowledge on all kind of mundane diseases and their cures in my mind and some of the herbal recipes that could help alleviate the pain and injuries, I really have no experience in healing someone .
Injuring someone and healing him using that unique method like how I dealt with that Bu Fan seemed be one of the few things that is related to healing and medicine, it was a gamble yes, but what other choice do I have, could I find it in my heart to tell him that the person who hold the last bit of hope which he was depending on was now dead .
Since he already came to seek me thinking that this unique method was imparted to me by Master, then even if I fail, I should just clear Master's name regarding ever teaching me such a method, replying to Chu Jian inquiry, I said while shaking my head :
" Well, I won't say that I'm that knowledgeable or anything, but I'm able to assess how critical the state of his sister is in and that would help me in convincing Master to make hurry .
The two seemed to buy this excuse and took some time to realize what I was saying, but after a few minutes seem to pass, Lu Jian nodded his head and Chu Jian did the same, soon we were seen heading towards where Lu Hua was staying .
Lu Jian had suggested that Chu Jian stay here, the reason was quite simple, his whereabouts were still hidden, only his existence was known to the family members, but if a thing regarding this were to be leaked, the situation would be beyond chaotic, so in the end only us two were currently heading towards where the sister of his was resting .
As we get back the family mansion, he checked the situation a few times, just so that he can finally confirm that no third person know of this place existence, I used my enhanced senses and confirmed that there wasn't a shadow of a person around us, I told him the results I found, but he preferred to still do this for some reason .
After everything was taking care of here, we started to head towards another remote place, well, I was able to clearly see now some of the contrasts that had started to give me some guesses about what was exactly going on .
We reached a remote but lush area, that was the most distinctive thing about this place we reached, in 10 meters or so around the place where she supposedly lived the plants were completely withered and the color of the ground become desolate gray .
Then after that 10 meters, the plants and the green scenery were given a chance to exist again weirdly, so strange, that was my first thought, then as I kept looking at the only small house in this area, I saw the doors were opened and surprisingly a familiar face came to great us .
The maid Tu Tu came to great Lu Jian, then she was dumbfounded when she found me standing behind him, so stunned that the little girl's mouth was widely open, she pointed at me with her shaky hand and said :
You, you, you .... .
But it seem that me appearing here was too much of a shock to her, she weren't able to muster any actual words to say, seeing her like this, I couldn't help but smile a little in my heart at how ridiculous she looked, Lu Jian stepped forward and as if he was somewhat worried that I might take an offense said :
Tu Tu, Young Master Tian had come here with an offer to help Hua'er, so be more respectful to him, okay ? .
The girl whose mouth was already opened wide enough to swallow an apple whole was once again dumbstruck by this new realization, but seeing the respectful tone her young master used to address me, she out of courtesy still was about to bow her head and great me, but I stopped her .
" How your things had been, older sister ? .
As I said this, I saw an ark of a smile appeared on her face, but it was Lu Jian's turn to be completely bewildered at this kind of revelation, he looked at me then now at the smiling little maid a few times then said :
Do you two know each other ? .
Tu Tu was about to nod her head, but she glanced at me one last time and then she for some reason shook her head, I seeing her doing this started to explain how we came to know one another, after recounting everything that took place, Lu Jian's expression was quite weird as he stared at Tu Tu, the girl who wanted to be my big sister .
But even though the girl looked quite embarrassed under his stare, as if she had done some grave mistake or something of sort, but after a few seconds passed, Lu Jian still hadn't done anything, he just kept staring at both of us in silence, I starting to feel embarrassed as well, coughed slightly as to let him come back to his senses .
Luckily he soon recalled what mission did we came her for, he asked Tu Tu about his sister's state and if it was okay to enter the house and check on her, Tu Tu seemed to have been jolted awake from her daze as well and she soon startled nodding quickly .
As we both walked to the small living quarter, Tu Tu leaned into my ears and said :
Do you really have a way to heal my Young Miss, a lot of famous Doctors came to try and all of them failed, some were even injured gravely in the process, are you confident ? .
Seeing that she was actually concerned about me, I patted her on the head much to her annoyance and said whispering in her ears :
" I had told you before that I will be returning the favor and the goodwill you and your young miss had shown me, today was as good time as any to do so, don't you think .
The girl was suddenly stuck in her place, she didn't continue to lead us to the house and I and Lu Jian turned only to see that she was actually starting to sob, her eyes become teary and her gasps were quite loud, I had no clue about what seem to be happening, but unlike the clueless me, Lu Jian seemed to have been able to grasp what was going on, he went to the petite girl and patted her on the shoulder .
The girl stopped sobbing and while wiping her tears, she was saying :
I hope that you can save my Young Miss .
So that was all this about, that was why she was getting emotional all of a sudden, I nodded my head and couldn't help but become a bit curious about the Lu Family Young Miss in my heart .
We were finally led into the house, surprisingly it was empty, the only maid assigned to this ared was Tu Tu, Lu Hua was the one who ordered things to be like this, Tu Tu then said that she will go ask for the Young Miss permission for me to enter .
After a few minutes, we were finally given the order to arrive before her, as we entered through the door leading to her sleeping chamber, I was stunned at seeing how she looked like, Lu Hua was a beautiful and mature girl whose every weak move seemed to reek of endless majestic and elegance, her ink black hair like waterfalls stretching to a far length behind her, her eyes was a black abyss .
It only took one look at them before you would find yourself entranced by her and unable to remove your eyes, she had sick complexion and white like jade pale skin, she looked a little bit more beautiful than Chu Ji Xi, hopefully the latter wasn't able to read my mind at the moment .
Jian'er, it has been a while since you came and visit me, who is the young man beside you ? .
Thegirl'svoice was enough to soothe the troubled hearts, soft, sweet but also piercing, giving her yet another unique charm exclusive to her, there was also a strange aura in the air here circling around her as the center .
Hearing his sister's complaint and her inquiry about my identity, the brother of her directly recounted what happened yesterday to her and introduced me to her, she turned to me and said with a polite smile :
To think that Jian'er would be this trustful of you as to even become a brother in oath with you, surely Young Master Tian is a prominent and person worthy of respect and adoration, Lu Hua greets you, sorry for my inability to greet you with a bow .
The girl's tone carried a turbid amount of emotions, surprise, sadness, bitterness, both negative and positive emotions mixed with one another and seemed to have fallen into a stalemate, the girl managed to bear with that disease of her for over 10 years now, so she of course managed to build a strong-headed and determined character, but she was still a girl nonetheless .
" I heard about the beauty of Lu Family's daughter, let me confess that the rumors didn't give you justice, the pleasure of meeting you today is all mine .
She let out a small and quite weak chuckle, I was able to see that she wasn't exasperated with my words, just tired and wanted to get some rest, after sharing a few pleasantries words with one another, I looked at Lu Jian and nudged him to state our business here .
Sister, this good brother of mine is Master Chen Fan's disciple, he is here to assess your situation as to notify the Master behind him to try and help you, I hope that you can cooperate with him .
As Lu Jian finished saying this, I saw that the girl's tired expression turned slightly into one that of annoyance, I didn't understand what was going on until I heard her tone grow colder as she said :
Has Father also agreed on you doing this, or has he still yet to come back, maybe he even already forsaken the two of us, for more than 10 years had I stayed here obediently wishing that this endless torment would be finally over, countless people came and boasted about their capability to find what was exactly wrong with me, but you and I know what befell them, do we not ?.