Acupuncture Treatment

Having too good a memory was not a good thing.

It meant he could remember every injury and every nightmare with perfect clarity, using them to torment himself over and over.

That night, the soul-calming incense failed to suppress the pain in his heart. In his dream, he returned to Jinfeng Mountain Manor and fell back into the golden birdcage.

The Joyous Union Brand on his back burned with a faint heat. His body could not move, forcing him to sit on the floor and watch the young men who accompanied guests enact one absurd scene after another.

This filthy, depraved world—its very air was too dirty to breathe...

Yet his desire was forcibly aroused and wantonly toyed with.

So filthy. So disgusting.

In despair, Yue Wuhuan curled himself into a ball, trying to evade every hand reaching toward him, wishing he could cut away every inch of skin that had been touched. He was filthy all over, wretched beyond measure. He could not breathe. He died again and again, but each time he woke, he was still in the cage, repeating the last nightmare until he lost his mind, gave up struggling, and let his body be utterly ruined.

Then, all at once, crimson lotus flames burned away the cage, and a clear medicinal fragrance scattered the foul miasma.

He realized that the lewd voices around him had vanished. He cautiously opened his eyes and saw a youth dressed in snow-white robes.

There was no filthy scent on the youth, no filthy desire in his eyes. From within his layered sleeves, he extended a hand, and even his fingertips carried an air as clean as snow.

It took Yue Wuhuan a long time to realize that hand was being offered to him.

With a thread of yearning, he wanted to touch the cleanest existence in the world. But the moment he raised his hand, the red welts on his wrist and the spots of filth in his palm came into view. He swiftly withdrew that dirty hand, wanting to hide it behind his back, only to see the traces left on his body after accompanying guests. There was not a clean place anywhere on him.

"Don't touch me. I'll dirty your hand..."

"Don't look at me. I'll dirty your eyes..."

"Don't save me. Just kill me..."

He was terrified. He kept backing away until he hid in the darkness, where he could no longer see his own body.

The youth stubbornly came closer, extending his hand again and again until he stepped into the darkness and drove Yue Wuhuan back with nowhere left to retreat. At last, the youth took off his clean snow-white robe, draped it around him, and pulled him into an embrace. As though tending the most precious treasure, he removed Yue Wuhuan's shackles one by one and wiped the stains from his body bit by bit.

Those earnest eyes held only his reflection. A clear breath wound about the tip of his nose, and soft fingers were like sparks, kindling the fire of his desire. His heart sank; his reason faded. He became a dreadful monster, wanting to possess him, wanting to tear the youth apart and swallow him whole, wanting to keep him at his side forever.

He wanted to defile that body completely...

He wanted to greedily profane that purity...

He wanted to repay kindness with betrayal...

Panting, Yue Wuhuan abruptly shoved away the youth's tenderness. He knew he could not go any closer.

The youth noticed his body's humiliating reaction. After a moment's thought, he placed a red divine-sense bead in Yue Wuhuan's palm.

The divine-sense bead gave off a scorching sensation. As divine sense moved through it, the bead followed the heart's desire.

Yue Wuhuan felt the Joyous Union Brand on his back rapidly dissipating, and the shackles on his body fell completely away. Yet his desire spread wildly.

Following that desire, the youth slowly removed his inner robe and untied his white jade crown. Fine, soft hair spilled loose. Vivid, seductive red marks rapidly appeared on fair skin. His cool, aloof aura was invaded by desire, like a holy deity walking onto an altar in hell and falling into a demon's arms, using the clearest voice to say, word by word, what Yue Wuhuan wished to hear:

"You can dirty me."

"You can do anything to me."

"Everything you want, I'll give it all to you."

"Including myself."

"..."

Every delusion in his heart became reality.

The demon could no longer remain rational. Inch by inch, he claimed every bit of territory; little by little, he invaded every breath.

Blasphemy.

...

Yue Wuhuan opened his eyes, panting. The mixed scent of cloying sweetness and herbs still lingered in his nose. Suddenly realizing something, he slowly turned his head and abruptly saw Song Qingshi lying by the bed. He held a lamp made from a luminous pearl, and eyes that blinked in the pearly light stared at Yue Wuhuan, seemingly excitedly awaiting something.

He stared blankly for a long while, then slowly closed his eyes, suspecting he had not woken up yet.

"Don't go back to sleep!" Song Qingshi stopped him. "Wake up, quickly!"

Yue Wuhuan finally came fully awake. In a hoarse voice, he asked hesitantly, "My lord, why are you here?"

"Wuhuan, listen to me!" Song Qingshi happily announced the good news. "I finally found a way to reduce the side effects of the Six-Meridian Restoration Decoction! So I came to wake you first thing in the morning. Get up quickly! Let's go for treatment!"

Yue Wuhuan blankly looked at the sky outside the window, where just a sliver of dawn had appeared.

It should be the fifth watch, shouldn't it?

Song Qingshi had solved a problem that had plagued him for days. He felt utterly exhilarated—absolutely ecstatic—like a fan whose team had won the World Cup. His mind was racing, and he wanted to chatter to everyone he met. In all of Medicine King Valley, Yue Wuhuan was the one person who best understood his way of thinking and the source of his happiness, so Song Qingshi had endured until morning before coming to drag him away. "Hurry, hurry!"

"All right." Yue Wuhuan smiled. Then he realized something, stopped in the act of lifting the covers, and said softly, "My lord, please wait outside first. I'll come out after I get dressed."

Song Qingshi finally realized what he had done was inappropriate. At the institute, many experiments had to be watched around the clock. He and his senior brothers and sisters took shifts, and waking people in the dorms in the middle of the night was routine. He had consequently forgotten that although the protagonist shou was a man, he was very likely attracted to men too. They ought to avoid suspicion. Casually running to someone's bedside like this had the flavor of a late-night ambush.

Yue Wuhuan had psychological problems. A misunderstanding would be disastrous...

At that thought, Song Qingshi immediately composed himself, determined to demonstrate the flawless bearing of an upright gentleman, and turned to leave.

Yue Wuhuan let out a long breath. He lifted the covers, looked with distaste at the traces of released desire, but the alluring scene from his dream surfaced before his eyes. Remembering that youth who had allowed him to take whatever he wished, he could not help bending over again. He desperately restrained his shameful thoughts so as not to sully that sheet of white paper.

He was so filthy...

...

Song Qingshi waited anxiously outside for a long time. At last, Yue Wuhuan emerged, washed, groomed, and neatly dressed. Seeing that his expression was normal and that he did not seem angry over Song Qingshi's recklessness, Song Qingshi immediately put his worries aside and happily dragged him straight to the treatment room.

The treatment room held two boxes full of gold acupuncture needles.

Traditional Chinese medicine had an acupuncture-anesthesia method, but it could provide only local anesthesia. Its effects varied from person to person, its pain relief was incomplete, and it was far less convenient and effective than Western anesthetic methods. Patients did not accept it either, so it was generally used only under highly exceptional circumstances.

Song Qingshi suddenly realized from the original body's memories that this world possessed special meridians and dantians, which amplified acupuncture's effects manyfold. Spiritual power could also be fed in as the gold needles pierced acupoints, allowing precise control of local anesthesia.

In an instant, a door to a new world opened before him. He experimented on himself several times and determined that acupuncture could limit the anesthetized area to the blocked points in Yue Wuhuan's meridians. Without compromising the treatment's efficacy, it would reduce the pain by fifty percent and keep the suffering caused by the Six-Meridian Restoration Decoction within what a human body could endure.

Song Qingshi stumbled through the explanation for a long time before finally making the principles clear to Yue Wuhuan. "I'll use more than two hundred gold needles all over your body. Don't worry, it won't hurt. It'll only feel a little numb and itchy. Then we'll proceed with the medicinal bath. Once your meridians have been successfully unblocked, I'll remove the needles and use medicine to rebuild your dantian."

Yue Wuhuan looked at him and remained silent for a long while.

"Though you'll need to take off your clothes for the needles, and there may be some touching, I'm a doctor. In a doctor's eyes, there are no genders—only patients!" Song Qingshi thought Yue Wuhuan might have reservations, so he solemnly swore, "You don't need to be on guard. I promise I won't have strange thoughts about you or do strange things!"

But he had strange thoughts...

Yue Wuhuan stared blankly at those pale pink lips. Recalling the scene from his dream, his throat tightened. He took a breath and forcibly suppressed those shameful thoughts, then slowly untied his belt and lowered his head. "If it's you... you can touch me..."

Only faint scars remained on his shoulder. His warm, light-honey skin was like jade and carried a barely perceptible sweet fragrance. His shoulder blades spread like butterfly wings; the Joyous Union Brand had become lush, decadent patterns on those wings. Strength lined his slender waist. This body was too perfect, capable of stirring desire at any moment.

Song Qingshi considered it and decided not to overestimate humanity's resistance to beautiful things. He found a bath towel to wrap around Yue Wuhuan, then calmed his mind and used his spiritual sense to determine the needle placements before inserting them one at a time.

"Can you feel it?"

"Yes."

"What does it feel like?"

"Aching, tight, itchy..."

Once Song Qingshi confirmed the needles were correctly placed, he relaxed and continued inserting them one by one.

When he reached Yue Wuhuan's back, he suddenly noticed a red birthmark on his shoulder blade, shaped like a tiny phoenix. Covered by the Joyous Union Brand, it had blended in and was not very noticeable.

He paused with the needle and studied it for a long time before he could not help saying, "You have a very beautiful birthmark."

"I inherited it from my mother." Recalling his childhood, Yue Wuhuan grew considerably less tense. "She was a dancer in the palace, from overseas, with red hair and golden eyes. My father took a liking to her and made her a consort. Many aspects of my appearance come from her."

"A mixed-race child? Your mother must have been beautiful." Sensing his relaxation, Song Qingshi tried to keep talking. "Black hair and curls are dominant genes. Black eyes aren't actually pure black, but dark-color inheritance has a higher proportion, which is why yours became dark gold like amber. Your eyes have another name: angel pupils..."

Yue Wuhuan did not understand what he was saying after that. "My mother... was indeed very beautiful..."

"What kind of person was she?"

"A very gentle person. Everyone in the palace liked her."

"Do you want to go back and see her?" Song Qingshi felt that seeing family again would help psychological recovery. "I can take you back."

Yue Wuhuan's voice suddenly stopped. After a long time, he said with difficulty, "There's no need. She has already passed away."

Song Qingshi's hand, holding the needle, froze in midair. He realized he had stepped in it again.

"They... heard that my mother resembled me and had ideas about her. They wanted to abduct her and make her a slave." Yue Wuhuan's voice lost all feeling. He was used to pain now, numb to it. "To save my mother, I compromised on many things I never wanted to do, but... they went anyway. Fortunately, my country was destroyed years ago. My imperial father and crown-prince brother died on the battlefield. My mother killed herself on Phoenix Terrace alongside the empress. They are all dead. I'm so happy they died cleanly, without being humiliated, without having to see what I have become..."

Song Qingshi's heart was about to melt. He could not comfort pain like that. He only wanted to give the person before him a hug.

He had just extended his hand. After thinking it over, his fingertips had barely touched Yue Wuhuan's shoulder before he withdrew them, remembering that Yue Wuhuan hated touch intensely and would be unhappy.

He lowered his head, picked up another gold needle, and told himself that everything would get better.

Yue Wuhuan noticed the movement behind him and turned his head. Then he suddenly saw a faint hint of a red mark inadvertently revealed at Song Qingshi's collar.

His eyes widened in disbelief. He thought of things he should not have thought of, then reached out without hesitation and roughly yanked Song Qingshi's collar open.

Around his collarbones beneath the snow-white robes were several mottled dark-red marks. Against skin like white jade, they were especially glaring, gradually overlapping with last night's wild, unbearable dream.

The youth did not struggle. He sat obediently where he was, looking at him with innocent, bewildered eyes, seemingly unable to understand why he was so agitated.

His breathing began to quicken. He could barely suppress his filthy desire.

"What is this?"

Author's Note:

Song Qingshi's analysis: Yue Wuhuan is the shou. I have no interest in these things, so it is completely safe for us to live together!

Yue Wuhuan hides his big gray wolf tail and smiles: You're absolutely right.