Ren Yuanhao held a gray-black pill in his hand, the life-saving elixir that the female mountain demon had desperately sought.
He hesitated. The potency of the medicine, whether fierce or gentle, was unknown. Mountain demons and humans had vastly different constitutions. If the dosage was wrong, it would likely bring more harm than good to Ye Lan.
"Yuanhao, we are still a long way from the city. Without a doctor, leaving Ye Lan in this state..."
Although Shen Lan Ni didn't specialize in medicine, she was a martial artist and had some understanding of taking pulses. Her brow furrowed, "No, her pulse is too chaotic, her qi and blood are stagnant, and her body temperature is like a furnace. Even if we both work together to guide her qi and blood, it won't be of much use."
"Stop dawdling. Since that female monkey risked her life to get this medicine, it must have an incredibly miraculous effect. If you keep hesitating, Ye Lan might be in danger!"
Ren Yuanhao knitted his brows, finally making up his mind. He carefully cupped Ye Lan's face and placed the gray-black pill into her mouth.
The three waited quietly for a miracle.
After a while, the feverish qi and blood in Ye Lan's body subsided. The sun was high, dappled light filtering through the trees. The forest was hazy, and the mountain wind carried a hint of coolness. Summer clouds gradually gathered, suggesting a change in weather.
"I didn't expect this little girl to be so stubborn."
Shen Lan Ni's hand had barely left Ye Lan's wrist. Every rise and fall of the pulse tugged at more than just her heart.
"Without her, I'm afraid Master Yun's tomb..."
Yang Lingxue wiped the blood from Ye Lan's face. Whenever her gaze fell upon Ye Lan's clothes, it reminded her of rose petals falling in the snow, a beauty so poignant it was suffocating, as if her heart would stop beating along with it.
Ren Yuanhao's eyes never left Ye Lan. He felt that his relationship with her was, perhaps, better than with any other woman. Maybe it was her stubbornness, her intelligence, and then sometimes her girlishly delicate demeanor. When he was with her, he didn't have to think too much, unlike Yang Lingxue, whose temper was as unpredictable as the weather, unlike the "violent woman" who preferred to settle things with her fists, unlike Zhang Yingfang, who liked to cling to him.
—Damn it, is this the time to be thinking about this? What's wrong with me?
Ren Yuanhao truly wanted to slap himself. Just then, Ye Lan, who had been unconscious, her eyebrows twitched slightly. Miraculously, she awoke!
"Ye Lan!"
Ren Yuanhao was the first to lean over her.
"Phew, here, could this be hell?"
Ye Lan's eyes still showed a hazy red, her form like a flickering flame swaying from side to side.
"Don't talk nonsense, you're fine."
Ren Yuanhao reached out and grasped Ye Lan's hand.
"Really? Do you want to know what I saw before I died..."
"What did you see?"
"A vast, vast lake, clear and pure. Just as I was feeling disappointed, a figure suddenly appeared before the lake..."
"A figure? Silly girl, that's just a hallucination."
"No, you don't know how much I wanted to live when I saw that figure..."
"Don't imagine things, you are alright now."
"If it weren't for that figure, I don't think I could have held on. And that figure was you..."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yuanhao tightened his grip on Ye Lan's hand and said softly, "I'm here, I've always been here. You'll get better."
"Really? Mmm~"
Before Ye Lan could finish, she turned her head and vomited a mouthful of blood.
"Ye Lan!"
Ren Yuanhao's brow furrowed, his eyes filled with worry. Shen Lan Ni, however, said, "Don't worry, the pill is working now. It's clearing out the stagnant blood in her body."
"It's going to rain again tonight. I'll go back and see if those guys have caused any trouble in the bamboo hut."
As Yang Lingxue was about to leave, Ren Yuanhao pulled her back.
"Don't go. It's safer for everyone to be together now."
"Oh."
Yang Lingxue nodded sullenly, stopping in her tracks. Although she was also worried about Ye Lan, her nature meant that seeing the affection between them, seeing Ren Yuanhao's concern for Ye Lan, naturally made her feel uncomfortable.
"Lingxue, I think you and Ye Lan should join my taekwondo gym." Shen Lan Ni said with a solemn expression, not joking.
Yang Lingxue pouted and grumbled, "No, I don't want to become a violent woman."
"I... I don't object. At least it might save my life at a critical moment." Ye Lan's breathing was weak, but her mind was much clearer.
"Alright then, once your injuries have healed, I'll teach you some basic skills."
As Shen Lan Ni spoke, Ye Lan vomited another mouthful of dark red, foul blood.
"This medicine is truly miraculous. With her injuries, it would normally take half a month to expel this foul blood, let alone recover half of her qi and meridians. Ren Yuanhao, come here. If you and I combine our efforts to help her regulate her breathing, it might be even faster."
"No, no need. Yuanhao's old injuries haven't healed yet. Don't trouble yourself for me. If that guy gathers more enemies, you'll still need to rely on them~ cough~"
Ye Lan's haste caused a violent coughing fit.
"Precisely because of that possibility, you need to get better quickly." Shen Lan Ni slowly helped Ye Lan to sit up and said gravely, "However, Qing Xuanzi was beaten so badly by Ren Yuanhao, I doubt any daredevil would dare to come looking for trouble. In this regard, Ren Yuanhao, you are even more violent than I, the 'violent woman'."
Ren Yuanhao had been completely consumed by rage at the time and hadn't considered anything else. Now, being teased by Shen Lan Ni, he did feel a bit uneasy – after all, by doing what he did, he had completely crippled Qing Xuanzi.
Each holding their own thoughts, they channeled their qi to their palms and placed them on Ye Lan's back. Two streams of qi gently entered Ye Lan's body, helping to guide the disordered qi within her.
However, as soon as they exerted their strength, they discovered a massive surge of qi accumulated at Ye Lan's dantian. This qi flowed continuously in a clockwise direction, like a giant vortex, steadily absorbing the qi the two were channeling into Ye Lan's body!
They both realized something was amiss at the same time, but it was too late to withdraw their hands!
The faces of the three instantly flushed, and sweat poured like rain! Even the naive Yang Lingxue could see the problem!
"Hey, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"
Yang Lingxue was anxious but utterly helpless. At that moment, the sky suddenly changed, dark clouds gathered, and the mountain wind swept up from the bottom of the cliff, carrying a bone-chilling coolness. A torrential rain was ready to give the mountain a grand cleansing.
As if guided by an unseen force, Yang Lingxue suddenly reached out and placed her hands on Ren Yuanhao and Shen Lan Ni's shoulders, feeling an incredibly strong pulling force immediately envelop her.