"Hoo, hoo, hoo~"
The gasps of running echoed in the depths of the dense forest. Qing Zhu, taking advantage of the dimming light, emerged from the cave, searching for edible plants and herbs that could alleviate the poison.
Fortunately, luck was on his side. He found some edible mushrooms and herbs that could relieve pain.
He tucked the mushrooms and herbs into his embrace and ran back quickly.
...
Qing Yuan hugged her knees, her head buried deep between her legs.
The rustling sounds swirled around her ears, like the whispers of demons. She covered her ears, but the sound seemed to penetrate everywhere, drilling into the marrow of her bones through her ears.
Her head throbbed as if a hand had pierced her skull, churning her brain.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, you stinking mouths!"
Qing Yuan suddenly lunged up, thrashing at the air like a madwoman. The bloodshot eyes stared at her surroundings, as if she truly saw something, filled with bone-chilling hatred and madness.
She cried out in unbearable agony. The fear and struggle of the past few days seemed to have found an outlet. But suddenly, she spotted the cloak in the corner and remembered Qing Zhu. Qing Yuan forcefully covered her mouth, tearing at her own palm until it was bloody and mangled.
Blood dripped from between her teeth. The whispers and the intense pain in her brain were masked by the pain in her palm. She let out a low laugh, hoarse, carrying a destructive resolve and madness.
"Senior brother, forgive my cowardice."
Qing Yuan closed her eyes, tears sliding down the corners of her eyes.
When she opened them again, she looked at the protruding cone-shaped stone on the cave wall.
"Found it!"
A playful voice suddenly came from outside the cave. Qing Yuan's motion towards the stone paused, and she abruptly looked towards the entrance.
The moment she saw the man wearing the Luosha mask, Qing Yuan no longer hesitated and resolutely rammed herself into the stone.
With a "thump," blood splattered, and Qing Yuan's vision suddenly went black, then was stained with blood.
Her body collapsed to the ground. Qing Yuan looked at the dim stone wall above, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She felt cold, shivering, but the whispers and the bone-deep fear had dissipated and drifted away. She pulled at the corner of her mouth, wanting to smile.
She wanted to say to her senior brother: "Senior brother, you said I was afraid of pain, afraid of hardship, afraid of everything. But look, I'm not afraid of anything now!"
She heard footsteps, as if someone had crouched down to examine her.
"Heh~"
She heard a mocking cold laugh.
The man wearing the Luosha mask lifted Qing Yuan and walked towards the cave entrance.
Blood dripped all the way. When he reached the cave mouth, the man tossed Qing Yuan onto the ground like a discarded rag.
Seeing Qing Yuan, who was still breathing, the man couldn't help but sneer, "The bugs from Lin Yuan are truly tenacious!"
After speaking, he leaped onto the treetops, his entire being seeming to blend with the canopy.
As he neared the cave, Qing Zhu, for some reason, began to feel uneasy. He felt agitated and fearful, as if something was being stripped away from his life.
Qing Zhu couldn't help but quicken his pace. He didn't believe in gods or Buddhas; he only believed in himself. But at this moment, he wished that gods, Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas truly existed.
The closer he got to the stone cave, the more pungent the smell of blood in the air became. Qing Zhu grew more desperate. He had been comforting himself until he saw Qing Yuan lying at the cave entrance, on the verge of death.
"No, no..."
Qing Zhu rushed towards Qing Yuan, kneeling beside her. He tore off his sleeve to try and stop the bleeding, but blood still poured out unstურთი. Qing Zhu frantically used the corner of his robe to wipe away the blood, but he couldn't wipe it clean.
Right, that's it! The outer robe he left with Qing Yuan had needles in it. Silver needles to acupuncture points could stop bleeding!
Qing Zhu's hands and feet felt weak, and he couldn't stand up. He almost crawled into the cave and took out the needle packet.
Qing Zhu's hand, holding the needle, trembled. He gripped his right wrist tightly with his left hand and inserted the needles into several major acupoints, such as Tianquan and Zhongju.
The bleeding stopped.
Qing Yuan opened her mouth, trying to say something.
But she had no strength. Even though the bleeding had stopped, she could still feel her life ebbing away.
She was not going to live.
But senior brother, senior brother must not die!
With all her might, she pulled at Qing Zhu's sleeve. Her face, bathed in blood, was filled with anxiety and pleading.
Qing Zhu lowered his head and brought his forehead close to her lips, faintly hearing a single word: "—Escape!"
Just then, a cold glint flashed. Qing Zhu looked up sharply, only to see a streak of frost. Qing Zhu instinctively closed his eyes.
The expected pain did not come. Instead, he heard a loud thud nearby.
Qing Zhu suddenly opened his eyes and saw several figures appear in the forest. Upon recognizing one of them, Qing Zhu suddenly fell to the ground, covering his face and weeping.
Nan Shiying walked to Qing Zhu's side. Ignoring him, she crouched down and placed her hand on Qing Yuan's wrist. She took out a bottle of medicine from her embrace, opened the lid, and placed a pill into Qing Yuan's mouth.
Then, based on the silver needles Qing Zhu had inserted, she added a few more. Afterward, she picked up the corner of Qing Zhu's sleeve to wipe the blood from Qing Yuan's face and sprinkled wound medicine on her injuries.
As for the poison in Qing Yuan's body, Nan Shiying could not resolve it immediately.
Fortunately, it was not a fatal poison.
After doing all she could, Nan Shiying glanced at Qing Zhu. Qing Zhu had stopped crying and was now a truly unsightly mess of tears and snot.
Nan Shiying tutted with a hint of disgust. Qing Zhu haphazardly wiped his face and then knelt before Nan Shiying, performing a kowtow.
Nan Shiying grabbed him by the back of his collar and lifted him up. "Alright, tell me what happened!"
Before coming here, she had suspected that the Changming Mountain incident was inevitably linked to Medicine King Valley. According to reports from spies, their last battle on their travels was in Wucheng.
And not long after they entered Changming Mountain, a fog appeared.
No matter how she looked at it, they were suspicious. However, at this moment, Nan Shiying overturned all her previous conjectures and judgments.
She was now desperately trying to know why the fog had appeared in Changming Mountain and who the man who wanted to kill them was.
That person could actually exchange so many moves with Ying Yi and was still not defeated.
Qing Zhu held Qing Yuan's hand and recalled everything that had happened that day, still feeling a chill run down his spine.
He said, "That day..."
They had come to collect herbs. Their master had spotted a hundred-year-old blood ginseng on a cliff halfway up the mountain, and they were racking their brains trying to figure out how to pick it. However, from afar, they saw a group of people dressed in white robes and wearing Luosha masks appear on a protruding stone platform below the cliff. They were forcing a group of young girls in their prime and young children, stripping them naked, stabbing them thousands of times, and letting them bleed to death.