"Please...Don't Make Me Hate Myself Even More."

Su Huaizhu led his elite fighters and confronted the fighters commanded by Gu Ruohai towards the Bamboo Garden Island.

Most of the fighting was still happening at the suspension bridge in the distance. Only Gu Ruohai, Feng Lin, two first-class fighters from the Village of Mount Qianfeng, and two swift fighters from the Wujiang Sect reached the island. 

Su Huaizhu’s eyes hovered over the last two for a moment, then shifted to Gu Ruohai. A sarcastic smile appeared on his face.

“There will always be a war between you and me.” He said calmly. “All the sins this one committed in the past, has shaped the present...as this fight will end in the death of one of us.”

As soon as the last word ended, he drew out a soft, whip-like sword from his waist and leapt toward Gu Ruohai.

Gu Ruohai raised his sword to block the attack, but suddenly frowned and cast a suspicious glance at Su Huaizhu.

Who didn’t give him a chance to question. Su Huaizhu performed a beautiful dance with his blade. The sword's edge was like a magnificent beast—as if it could swallow Gu Ruohai whole.

Gu Ruohai had no choice but to counter. 

Clenching his teeth, Mei Shisan drew his sword and faced Feng Lin. He ordered the other elite petal retainers to stop the other four righteous fighters.

The petal retainers under Su Huaizhu’s command were among the best martial artists in the Evil Sect. In addition, the Tengyun Pavilion and the Village of Mount Qianfeng knew the purpose of this battle from the start and cooperated with each other to gradually block the Wujiang Sect, who were in the dark, from entering the battle.

Gu Ruohai and Su Huaizhu traded several moves. To outsiders, they fought fiercely, as if one of them was really going to die like how Su Huaizhu predicted. 

However, only the two that were fighting knew the truth. Neither of them were using their full strength—but even so, Gu Ruohai furrowed his eyebrows tighter and tighter, and reduced his strength once more.

“What happened to you?”

After a long struggle, Gu Ruohai finally couldn’t keep the question inside. He asked using his internal energy, condensed the sound of his voice into a thread as it transmitted to Su Huaizhu’s ears only. “Why is your internal energy and your breathing...this chaotic?”

Su Huaizhu shook off the other’s sword, aggressively rushed forward, locked eyes with his opponent and danced a series of the Divide Lotus Techniques to push the other back.

Gu Ruohai didn’t break eye contact. Waves suddenly appeared in his formerly calm-water-like eyes, bringing out some emotions that were difficult to suppress...

Their eyes continued to stay on each other for only a moment, before Su Huaizhu turned around, used the Cherished Flower Steps and fled into the distance. 

Gu Ruohai followed closely to catch up.

Aware of the abnormal action, Mei Shisan turned around and called out “Sect Leader!”. But he was immediately pulled back to the fight by Feng Lin’s deadly slash, with no way for him to get away.

Feng Lin whispered a secret, “If you go too, your men can’t stop them all.”

Mei Shisan had no choice but to lead others to block the open space in front of the suspension bridge to prevent the members of the Wujiang Sect from finding the slightest opportunity to sneak in.

* * *

Su Huaizhu fled into a gorgeous side chamber on Bamboo Garden Island. Under the moonlight that was clear as the water, one could vaguely see a fan-shaped plaque with the words ‘Green Velvet’ on the door of the hall.

However, this originally dazzling hall was now unbearably silent. Not one light was lit—it had long been uninhabited, leaving only countless precious decorative items. The beaded curtains using pearls and the gently moving gauze curtains, quietly existed in this lifeless dark room...

Su Huaizhu held the door frame for support and coughed in his sleeves a few times. He pulled away from the initial confusion from seeing this room as he gradually refocused.

He wiped the lingering blood on his lips, smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Gu Ruohai stopped next to him, pulled on his wrist and flipped his hand to reveal the bloodstains on the back. His eyes locked on the crimson colour.

Under the moonlight, the blood’s colour was dark like ink, and it was more ominous against Su Huaizhu’s pale skin.

Su Huaizhu forcefully swallowed back the bloody scent in his throat, used his internal energy to shake Gu Ruohai away…he was about to escape from this room.

Then, a soft cry instantly called behind him.

“Zhu Zhi-er…”

Hearing this nickname, Su Huaizhu subconsciously stopped. It seemed that he couldn’t suppress the surging emotion in his chest anymore as he suddenly bent forward and coughed violently.

Gu Ruohai immediately rushed forward and held the man in his arms, but he was shivering from the biting cold emitting from the coughing man.

The trembling was more obvious with the skin contact. Gu Ruohai didn’t know what to do, so he had no other option but to use his internal energy to explore Su Huaizhu’s meridians and try to find the root of the problem.

“...Damn it!”

Su Huaizhu cursed as he stretched out his hand to push Gu Ruohai away, scolding, “Keep your internal energy...away!”

He was short of breath and shaking like a leaf. But he held back all of his pained groaning by biting his cuffs. He frowned, forcibly using the Half-Withered Crimson through his meridians as if he was resisting something difficult to suppress.

Gu Ruohai came closer, asking anxiously, “What’s wrong with your body? When did this start? What...what’s going on?”

Instead of answering, Su Huaizhu focused his internal energy into his palm and pushed the other away. He squeezed out a vicious low growl from his throat, “Scram—!”

The moment after he shouted, he couldn’t hold back, coughing up two mouthfuls of blood foam.

Witnessing this scene, how could Gu Ruohai have the heart to leave?

He leaned forward, moved his hand like lightning, grabbed Su Huaizhu’s wrist, used his internal energy to offset the other party’s resistance, and dragged the person into his arms.

The warm internal energy from the righteous sun metal skill was poured into Su Huaizhu’s meridians like an unstoppable force, trying to find out the crux of the issue.

Unexpectedly, not long after his internal energy entered his body, Su Huaizhu could no longer suppress his suffering as he gave a dull groan from the unbearable pain.

The next moment, Gu Ruohai was slammed against the wall by a huge force.

Su Huaizhu left a series of red marks on Gu Ruohai’s lips because of his bloodstained lips...mixed with almost uncontrollable heavy breathing, like the ecstasy of a dried fish when the earth was blessed with a dense rain, or like a desperation of a hungry man when he saw delicacies...in addition to this, there was also a very dangerous intention hidden beneath. 

However, Gu Ruohai's shock was not because of this sudden strange development.

After the kiss, he was stunned for a moment before he could finally find his voice, which was trembling, “...You have Emotion Gu? Su Huaizhu! When...when did you get tainted with Emotion Gu?”

Su Huaizhu’s fingers were deeply buckled into the gap of the stone brick on the wall. He gritted his teeth, using Gu Ruohai to support himself upward, but he fell on his side as blood overflowed from the corner of his lips.

“Leave here.” He ordered in a hoarse voice. “I don’t...I don’t want to hurt you..” He coughed from trying to talk.

Gu Ruohai pursued the truth. “Who...poisoned you with Emotion Gu?”

Between heavy gasping, Su Huaizhu snapped, “I told you to leave! Immediately—”

“Emotion Gu...E’Lou...Was it Luo Jin?”

“You scram—!”

“Zhu Zhi-er…”

“—Go away!”

In spite of Su Huaizhu’s opposition, Gu Ruohai embraced the man tightly into his arms and mumbled with difficulty, “It was because of this Emotion Gu that you acted like that back then...Wasn’t it? Why didn’t you tell me? This kind of thing...as long as you tell me...how could I abandon you? Zhu Zhi-er...I…”

Su Huaizhu coughed again and trembled wildly. Even with the Half-Withered Crimson, it could not completely suppress the tormenting Poisonous Gu in his body.

Instinctively, he tightened his arm slowly to return Gu Ruohai’s gesture, but it was more like locking a prey in a cage. A long sigh came out from his throat...

“I couldn’t…” His whispering was so weak that the other person could barely hear it. “I couldn’t hurt you…”

Then he swallowed to say in a less hoarse voice, “Go and find...find someone for me, any petal retainers will do…”

Gu Ruohai clutched Su Huaizhu’s robe from the back and clenched his teeth. “Find someone...to do what?”

Su Huaizhu sneered lowly. “You should be able to guess it…”

Gu Ruohai remained silent.

But his hand gripping Su Huaizhu’s clothes became tighter and tighter, blue veins loomed on his forehead, and it was obvious that his mood was fluctuating, which contradicted the external calmness.

“If you delay for too long, I’ll die…” Su Huaizhu’s next words were cruel as he pushed the other away. He coughed once more and smirked, “If you don’t find someone...I’d rather die than...touch you even just once...you can try and continue to drag this on…”

“Since any petal retainers can help you,” Gu Ruohai bellowed. “Why can’t I? It’s not like...we haven’t done this in the past…”

Su Huaizhu rolled his eyes, glanced at Gu Ruohai, who could see his throat trembling to say the next word, “...Rotten old man…”

Gu Ruohai stared at the person before him, who was obviously very weak, yet still insisting on being the villain. Without saying anything, he reached forward to disrobe the other man.

Su Huaizhu roared, “Wait! You—”

Then, two screams sounded behind them at the same time.

“Sect Leader!”

“Pavilion Lord!”

Su Huaizhu took the opportunity to push Gu Ruohai away. He turned to the newcomers and frowned unwittingly. “Shisan…”

Mei Shisan leapt down beside Su Huaizhu, seeing his troubled appearance, he urged anxiously, “Poisonous Gu...Sect Leader, this subordinate...please allow this subordinate to help you…”

“Go find someone else,” Su Huaizhu gasped. “You’ve already reached the ninth time…”

Mei Shisan insisted, “Sect Leader, the incident at the Chrysanthemum Hall...Only the most trusted servants that know of your conditions remain on this island, many of them also reached the max numbers...but as long as it’s to help you through the difficulty, even if it means dying, all the subordinate will gladly lay down their lives for you!”

Gu Ruohai suddenly raised his head and looked at Mei Shisan. His eyes were as sharp as a dagger. “...Dying?”

Mei Shisan didn’t answer.

Feng Lin frowned at this time and said, “Pavilion Lord, this...The battle outside is at a stalemate. Once the Tongyun Monastery and the Xuanji Temple learned there is nothing for them on Iris Island, they will be coming to the Bamboo Garden Island next. We didn’t negotiate with Tongyun Monastery yet, not to mention more Wujiang Sect’s fighters following them. I’m afraid this won’t be easy to deal with.”

Su Huaizhu smiled softly, coughed a few times and urged Gu Ruohai, “You go deal with what's important. I’ll...be there soon after. Mei Shisan, help me in…”

Hearing what the other man said, Gu Ruohai tightly clasped him on the wrist and refused to let the person go.

Su Huaizhu comforted with a smile, “...The overall situation is important, so listen.”

As if there was a mad beast inside of Gu Ruohai, he waved Mei Shisan back, stretched out his hand and grabbed Su Huaizhu’s jaw to force the other man to look into his eyes. After a short struggle on trying to express it in words, he said through his gritted teeth, “Indeed, the overall situation is important. If I appear in the battle without you, my pavilion could only seize your island sooner!”

Su Huaizhu didn’t answer.

Gu Ruohai asked, “What’s your plan? Does it have anything to do with those wine jars filled with oil? Even if there’s a delay, would it change anything in your plan?”

Su Huaizhu lowered his eyes and pondered over carefully.

Gu Ruohai finally couldn’t bear to watch him like this and lowered his tone, “Based on what your petal retainer said. I assumed doing it once or twice is fine, right? Please...don’t make me hate myself even more...I made a terrible mistake twenty years ago. Now, I can finally help you through these difficulties, would you even deny me a single chance at that?”

After a long time, Su Huaizhu closed his eyes as if he had lost all of his willpower. 

He reluctantly turned his head and ordered, “Mei Shisan, go to the Forbidden Ground and summon Su Yang. Let him lead everyone...just to buy us some time…”

Mei Shisan frowned. “But Sect Leader…”

Su Huaizhu gave him a faint glance and reassured, “Just go. This is not...There is an old guy who volunteered to help me. What is there for you to worry about…” He muffled another cough. “...Go.”

Seeing this, Mei Shisan agreed to the order and left.

Gu Ruohai took Su Huaizhu into his arms and informed Feng Lin, “Go ahead and stand guard for us.”

Feng Lin looked at the two embracing men with a complicated look. He cupped his fists and nodded. “Understood.”

Su Huaizhu sighed and used the other’s arms to lean into Gu Ruohai’s embrace.

Gu Ruohai picked up the other man and stepped into the Green Velvet Hall.

The huge door to the hall slammed shut behind the two, and the quiet atmosphere was restored. Only the moonlight fell on the open space in front of the hall, which created a feeling that was incompatible with the chaotic world.