The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Lu Xiaosan chewed on the human flesh in his mouth and sneered at Anan beneath him, "If I had bitten your throat, would you have died or not!"

Ananda seemed lost in extremely painful memories; his expression was one of extreme terror, and he kept repeating through tears, "I'm sorry... Father... Mother... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Seeing this, Lu Xiaosan slammed his head against his head again and roared, "Don't play dumb with me, get up and talk!"

The violent collision of their foreheads instantly brought Ananda to his senses. He gasped for breath, enduring the excruciating pain in his wound, and sneered, "If I had wanted to kill you, you would have been dead long ago."

Lu Xiaosan chuckled, "Yeah, if it weren't for this, why would you still be alive?"

Lu Xiaosan moved closer to his face, his expression extremely fierce, and said through gritted teeth, "You have your rules for not killing me, and I'm even less inclined to kill you, but now we're even. Next time we meet, I'll definitely take your dog's life!"

Ananda's expression remained calm as he gave a wry smile and said, "Is that so?"

Lu Xiaosan immediately shouted, "Sharp-tongued woman, we men have finished dealing with our business. Now it's your turn to fulfill your duties."

The two women emerged from the corner, and Tian Gao followed the sound, using both hands to wrap silk threads.

A flash of silver light appeared, one strand pulling Lu Xiaosan back to their side, while the other tightly bound the injured Anan to the ground.

Upon seeing him, Wen Ying exclaimed in surprise, looking as if she was about to cry, "Brother Lu! Hang in there!"

She immediately lit a candle and began searching for medicine and bandaging the wound, fulfilling her duties as a doctor. Meanwhile, the golden retriever could only circle the injured Lu Xiaosan, wagging its tail anxiously.

Sweet Cake flashed to Ananda's side, holding a gleaming dagger in her hand, and said coldly, "Goodbye, Junior Brother."

But as if she had thought of something, she held the knife in the air and hesitated to bring it down.

Seeing her like this, Ananda covered his wound and couldn't help but laugh, "Is Senior Sister pitying me? Hmph, people like us are most afraid of getting emotional."

Without hesitation, Tian Gao thrust his blade straight at Ananda's head, but just as they made contact, Ananda transformed into a dark shadow.

Sweetie exclaimed, "Quickly, put out the candles!"

Wen Ying remained unmoved by his words and quietly bandaged Lu Xiaosan's wounds by candlelight.

Ananda escaped by following the shadow cast by the lamplight.

Sweet Cake stepped forward and couldn't help but ask, "Miss Wen, why... you could have killed him, then you would have been safe..."

With tears in her eyes, Wen Ying sobbed as she bandaged Lu Xiaosan's wounds, "His life, my life... I... don't care. I only know... if I don't treat... Brother Lu's wounds... Brother Lu will die..."

Sweet Cake then saw Lu Xiaosan, pale as a ghost, lying unconscious from excessive blood loss under the candlelight. Red gauze used to stop his bleeding was scattered all over the ground.

Sweet Cake softened a bit and immediately knelt down, saying, "I'm sorry, Miss Wen. You are a noble person of the Three Venerable Palace. I really shouldn't have ordered you like that."

"Get up quickly, if you kneel again... I'll really get angry," Wen Ying said while bandaging her wound.

Sweetie got up and helped her treat Lu Xiaosan. After some treatment, Lu Xiaosan finally breathed steadily and slowly fell asleep.

Seeing Wen Ying staring at the sleeping Lu Xiaosan, she seemed lost in thought.

Sweet Cake then asked, "Miss Wen, is there something on your mind that you need my help with?"

Wen Ying turned her head to the side, and her beautiful face, tinged with a hint of melancholy, appeared even more captivating in the dim candlelight.

She asked, "Do you know anything about Brother Lu's injury?"

Sweet Cake was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then said seriously, "He has been stabbed dozens of times, all of them superficial cuts. Fortunately, the blades were not poisoned, and he will recover in a few days with proper rest."

He thought that saying this would make Wen Ying feel better, but she sighed and said softly, "Brother Lu has three one-inch deep wounds on his shoulder, seven on his arm, two two-inch knife wounds on his back, and six knife wounds on his thigh. Even... there's a bloody gash in his mouth. Not to mention all the punches and kicks he's taken. Am I right?"

Sweet Cake lowered her head silently and said softly, "No...that's right, that's true."

"Then do you know what kind of knife Ananda used?"

Sweet Cake pulled a throwing knife from her bosom and showed it to Wen Ying, "That knife is the same as this one."

Wen Ying stood up, looked at the knife, and smiled, "Very good...very good..."

"You and Ananda are from the same school, so please use this knife to cut the same wound on my body as Brother Lu, just as I told you," Wen Ying suddenly requested of Tian Gao.

Sweet Cake was so frightened that she took three steps back and immediately clasped her hands in a fist and said, "Please, Miss Wen, don't think too much about this."

Wen Ying shook her head and smiled, "It's not that I'm being unreasonable. Along the way with Brother Lu, everyone I've met has their own code of conduct and rules. And I, of course, also have rules that I share with my patients. Please, you must agree."

Sweet Cake gritted her teeth and thought for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, I can't comply!" and left.

But fearing that Ananda might return injured, she stayed near the wooden hut to protect him. She hoped that by tomorrow, Miss Wen would be more lucid.

The next morning, when Sweetie returned to the cabin, she found Wen Ying limping and taking care of Lu Xiaosan. Wen Ying also had the same wounds as Lu Xiaosan on her body.

Sweet Cake hurriedly caught up, "Miss Wen, you really are on your own body too...!"

She shook her head again. "No, if that were the case, you shouldn't be able to get out of bed right now. What exactly did you do to yourself?"

Wen Ying blew on the medicine in the spoon, gently fed it to Lu Xiaosan, and only after making sure he swallowed it did she reply, "Miss Sweet Cake is overthinking it. I was indeed in so much pain last night that I couldn't get out of bed. But by this morning, I was almost fully recovered."

Last night, after Wen Ying left Tian Gao, she used a knife to cut herself in the same way.

However, her technique and strength were inferior to Ananda's, and her injuries were naturally not as severe as Lu Xiaosan's. In addition, her innate recovery ability was amazing, which led to the scene this morning.

Sweetie didn't understand what was going on, but seeing that she had recovered about 70-80%, she didn't ask any more questions. Instead, she helped her take care of the injured Lu Xiaosan.

After a long while, seeing that Lu Xiaosan had finally woken up, Wen Ying's worry turned to joy, and she spent a long time showing concern and care for him.

The two chatted comfortably, when Lu Xiaosan suddenly noticed the wounds on Wen Ying's body and asked weakly, "Little... Golden Hair..., what... happened to your wounds?"

Wen Ying laughed awkwardly, "It's...it's...a wound I accidentally left last night...hehehe."

Lu Xiaosan turned to Tian Gao with some skepticism, hoping to get her answer.

Sweetie wanted to tell the truth, but Wenying kept giving her meaningful glances, hoping she wouldn't tell Lu Xiaosan the truth and make him worry and angry.

Helpless, Sweet Cake could only cough twice and nod in agreement.

At the same time, Wen Ying smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Lu Xiaosan looked at Tian Gao with a resentful expression, it was unclear whether he believed her or not.

Seeing him suddenly point at the sweet cake, she said sternly and resentfully, "I...I asked you to take good care of her yesterday, didn't I? What...went wrong?"

Sweet Cake was a little angry. "You two are showing off your love here, why are you taking it out on me?"

She was about to retort when she saw Wen Ying shaking her head repeatedly, her face full of pleading.

Sweet Cake dared not disobey her superiors' orders, so she could only silently lower her head and bear all the burden alone.

After Lu Xiaosan calmed down, Wen Ying said to him, "Brother Lu, you have knife wounds on your back and thigh. Lying flat like this must be very painful."

Lu Xiaosan hissed, his expression pained: "Yes, this wound hurts terribly when touched."

Wen Ying smiled and said, "Lying on your side like this will make things much better." Then she carefully adjusted Lu Xiaosan's position.

Lu Xiaosan said happily, "It works! The wound really doesn't hurt anymore." Afterwards, Wen Ying taught him various techniques that she had tried the night before, all of which worked immediately.

Lu Xiaosan only thought that Wen Ying's medical skills were superb, but little did he know that this was the most suitable position for the patient to recuperate, which Wen Ying had tried all night while enduring severe pain.

This is just one aspect of the power of empathy; its greatest appeal lies in its ability to soothe the patient's soul. For someone suffering, grand pronouncements from others can only offer temporary relief. What truly comforts them is having someone genuinely understand their feelings and pain, and accompany them through that suffering to step into the light.

This time, Wen Ying simply didn't let him know.