Despite the sense of impending doom, and the shock that washed over all of them, Yueshi surprisingly felt something holding them - stopping their fall.
Looking up, he saw a tender and small hand holding his own. Seeing her bloodied state, he cursed at himself. This was his fault.
However, in her weakened state, Yuan Yue would not be able to save them.
Right now, the man's hands had slipped from his throat, however, he was still firmly holding onto his legs. Unless he let go, they all would end falling.
"Let it go." He mustered the strength to speak, however, Yuan Yue did not answer. She was just as stubborn as he was, so there was no way she would let it go.
Aware of that, he tried to kick the man, which, unfortunately, was a futile attempt at getting free.
None of them wanted to die, and there was no way he was going to let go; that being so, as things were, they were all going to die.
Right now, You Ping was still under the effect of the mental attack, and Liangshi almost had one of her arms severed before.
As of this moment, the older woman was holding onto Yuan Yue with all her strength, however, they were still slowly slipping closer to the hole that had been made on the pathway.
The seconds passed by slowly as the two girls were dragged closer to the hole, and Yueshi could feel that at any instant they would fall.
He was also extremely worried about Yuan Yue's condition. Because of the amount of blood loss, her body had already started to lose color and was becoming paler by the second.
Suddenly, Liangshi released a surprised, and horrified, shout.
Her hand had grown tired a while ago and, to help it, was drenched in sweat. The result? Yueshi could see the endless blue sky as he fell toward the bottom of the canyon.
The hand that had been holding him released its grip when they started to fall, knowing it was of no use anymore.
Yuan Yue, with an awry smile, was falling together with him, her face turned toward him.
At that moment, it was as if the world had slowed down and he could not even think properly – the only thought passing through his mind was 'is this how things will end?'
He had been determined to climb the ladder, to reach out for the skies, and to find a way to go back… he had sworn to love Xuehua for a lifetime, and promised to give his best to learn how to love Yuan Yue.
Yet, now, everything was going to end.
No.
That was something he could not accept.
Only he, himself, knew of his story and what he had gone through. And while he could not say that he was the person that suffered the most in the world, he was not willing to just die like that.
There were many things he wanted to do and experience, and there were also debts he had to collect.
Looking above him, his eyes interlocked with Yuan Yue's.
This disciple sister of his… even now, she was trying to act tough, as if she did not care about life and death. Yet, he could see deep down in her eyes – the fear, the sorrow, and the unwillingness.
There was no way he could let her die, too.
Extending his arm, he hugged her body. Although Yuan Yue seemed surprised for a moment, she soon held him tightly too.
He could feel the faint, slight shudders of her body as he embraced her, at which he gave her a reassuring smile – wanting to tell her that even if he died, he would not let the same happen to her.
Then, with his other hand, he stabbed his spear forward, trying to pierce the rocky walls.
Unfortunately, he seemed to lack the strength to do so as it was easily deflected. Right now, his only free arm was the one with the broken shoulder-blade, and even moving it was already hard enough, to not talk about putting enough force on his thrust.
'There is no way I will give up!' Telling himself so, Yueshi tried another time.
Sparks flew everywhere as the spearhead hit the rocky walls, yet, not even a dent was left on it. All the while they continued to fall; not only that, he could even hear the bandit leader doing the same as him.
After doing the same thing for the third time, Yueshi released a soft groan of pain.
Yuan Yue wanted to change places and let his good arm free, however, he could not allow her to do so.
Honestly, he was afraid she would do something stupid, like letting go of him so that he could save himself.
And apparently, he knew her well enough. Yuan Yue indeed had such ideas, knowing that with less weight and with his better arm, Yueshi's chances of saving himself would be higher.
Because of that, she felt a bittersweet feeling seeing him not letting her go, despite being capable of imagining what she wanted to do.
'Then, let's try this…' Yueshi gasped for air before deciding to give his all in one, last attempt. He knew that if he continued trying without success, he would only tire himself out.
Alongside his surging will, the Ancestral Dragon Seal on his nape started to faintly glow.
Because it had not been long since he overused it against the Ape Queen, the amount of power he could use was limited. Nonetheless, in this situation, it would have to do the trick.
Soon after activating the seal, he felt a warm strand of energy circulate through his body. Then, he put everything he had in his arm – he could feel the extreme pain as his meridians were overcharged and as the qi wreaked havoc inside of him, further damaging his already wounded organs.
Nonetheless, he withstood it with clenched teeth, not even releasing a yelp of pain.
He didn't care if his recklessness could cripple his arm, as long as he could do something then he'd even wager his life.
Then, when all the energy he had left in his body coalesced on his arm, he once more pushed his spear toward the rocky walls. An explosion-like sound echoed as his arm moved, the entire qi inside of his arm propelling the spear forward, then, making no sound whatsoever, his spear pierced the rocky wall without meeting any resistance.
Nonetheless, the forces of gravity made it so they did not stop falling, though their falling speed started to decrease over time.
Yueshi could only bite his tongue and endure the pain; his arm had become a bloody mess as many veins ruptured, and even a few meridians had been broken apart, being completely destroyed.
Notwithstanding, he still had to endure the pressure of gravity as it threatened to break his bones at any instant.
However, he did not let go. Grabbing Yuan Yue firmly, he set his resolve in saving both of them, even if he had to pay with his arm for that.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of an explosion coming from below. He did not even need to look to see what had happened – the bandit leader had, probably, been unable to stop his fall and crashed on the ground.
'Serves you right.' He was sure that the man had turned into meat paste by now.
And while he thought the man deserved that, his demise also made Yueshi's will to not let go increase even further.
'Soon it will end.' He reassured himself. His vision was becoming blurry as time passed, and he felt extremely tired – ah, he thought, he really wanted to sleep right now!
--- - -
When Yueshi opened his eyes again, he could feel his entire body aching, as if he had been run over by a carriage.
He tried to move, but his body was too sore and he could not find enough strength in himself to even lift a finger.
Silently, he stared at the unfamiliar, irregular ceiling made of stone. Closing his eyes, he made his best to remember what had happened, many memories soon crossing through his mind.
After he slowed their fall with his spear, they successfully landed on the bottom of the canyon. There, they found the bandit's leader corpse, which had become a bloody mess because of the fall; however, staying there could bring them trouble.
With him too tired and weak to even move, Yuan Yue had to drag him inside a nearby cave. He could faintly remember her exchanging shouts with Zhu Xiong before he fell unconscious, though he could not remember what, exactly, they spoke about.
Opening his eyes once more, he looked around.
Yuan Yue was lying next to him, her eyes closed as she, too, rested. She should have eaten a few pills since her wounds stopped bleeding, though they would still take days, or even weeks, to heal.
It was only after checking her that he took time to examine his own body.
As he had expected, his arm was as good as gone. It was still attached to his body, however, he could not even feel it; the veins had burst, the meridians collapsed and the muscles were torn apart.
All in all, unless he found some miraculous medicine, he would not be able to heal it. Well, with its current state, maybe even a miraculous medicine would be of no use.
He also guessed Yuan Yue fed him something, as his internal injuries were stabilized. Before they left, Xiao Yao had passed them a lot of pills and concoctions, so many that he could not even remember all their names.
With his meticulousness, there should have been some meant for internal injuries among them.
Nonetheless, he would probably take a few months to heal.
The damage he had suffered in his internal organs was not a joke, or better saying, the damage he accumulated with all the moving, jumping, and fighting after being already hurt was too severe.
Yueshi would need to avoid any fight for the following months if he wanted to recover, and even training was
going to be hard, if not impossible.
Unless he used some powerful medicine, that is.
While Yueshi was lost in his thoughts, he heard a small groan coming from his side. Immediately, he looked toward Yuan Yue – it was as if the heavens were toying with him, and another trail was waiting just ahead.
Yuan Yue's eyelids fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes. She glanced to the side in an unconscious movement; her eyes brightening a bit when she saw Yueshi awake. She tried to say something, but her parched and sore throat could not let out a single sound.
Seeing her glazed, foggy eyes, Yueshi instantly grew worried.
Was it because she had exerted herself too much after being wounded, and therefore lost too much blood, or was there another force at effect? Yuan Yue was clearly in pain right now; she was pale, her pupils dilated and her body shuddering ever so slightly.
Yueshi almost blurted the most stupid question one could make in such a situation – "are you okay?" – however, he merely stared at her in the end.
Observing her from the head to the toes, he tried to find what could be causing such an effect on her.
"Frost… bit…e." Her lips moved slightly as incoherent words left her mouth. It was only after a while that he understood, his eyes jolting open as shock crossed through his face.
His heart was immediately made into a mess.
If he heard right, what he hoped he didn't, Yuan Yue was poisoned during the battle with the Frostbite Ape Queen.
Just thinking about it was enough to make his body go completely stiff, his heart skipping a beat and his expression scrunching up into anxiety and horror.
It also made him wonder - why the hell had she not said anything?
Yet, soon enough, the answer presented itself to him. It was so clear that there was no room to doubt, and by now he knew her so well that there was no way he was wrong.
Yuan Yue was strong and confident, ever so playful and carefree… however, at the same time, she had the bad habit of acting though, not wanting to worry those around her.
With the fact that the Frostbite Poison was such a serious matter - and their situation gave them no leeway at all - it was just like her to not even say a word about it!
He wanted to complain and scold her, saying she should not have been moving around like this, and telling her she should have told him. But in the end, he could not bring himself to say it.
First, it was thanks to her they won, and second, even if she had told him, what could he have done?
"I will go find help." He felt extremely weak right now, but he could not just stay here and watch her be consumed by the poison.
However, just as he wanted to rise from his sitting position, he felt a hand rest above his own.
Right now, Yuan Yue's tender and small hands were as cold as winter ice, lacking the warmth of a few days before; however, he could still feel her emotions through this simple touch.
She did not want him to leave, not because she had given up, but because he was in no condition to do so.
Honestly, it was meaningless; he would only be throwing his life away and they would both die, and she did not want that to happen.
At the same time, she could feel his intense unwillingness through their interlocked fingers.
He did not want to see her die and he did not want to lose her. Not only was she a dear friend, but he truly liked her from the bottom of his heart.
Like that, they spent a few minutes in silence, only staring at each other.
The Frostbite Poison was a slow-acting one, and if it was not because Yuan Yue had moved around too much, it would have taken a while for it to flare up.
Still, she could probably endure for a few more days while it slowly consumed her, freezing her organs, her blood, her bones, and her flesh – turning her, from inside out, into an ice sculpture.
Time passed and Yueshi spent the entire night awake just watching over Yuan Yue.
As time passed by, a thin layer of ice formed around her body, and despite him preparing a bonfire through great efforts, it was all in vain.
He could feel as her breath became slower as time continued to flow, and understood that the chances of saving her were becoming slimmer and slimmer.
He fed her all sorts of pills, however, none of them were able to deal with the Frostbite Poison. Not only was this poison extremely strong as it belonged to the Ape Queen, but it was also a special type of poison that required a particular type of medicine to be cured.
Honestly, even if Xiao Yao was here, he would only be able to watch.
Yueshi's heart was beating madly as he pondered over ways to save her, however, finding an answer for that was not easy.
'No, wait…' Suddenly, however, he felt as if he had been enlightened. The poison was consuming Yuan Yue because she was too weak right now, however, didn't he know of a way to deal with that?
Had he not gone from being a normal person to the third stage in a single night? Then, he had once more defied all odds and gone from it to the late phase of the fourth stage in a single evening.
Above all, it was not only his strength that had increased on both occasions!
Even if he was wrong, he was willing to try. As long as there was hope, as long as he could do anything that had the slightest possibility of helping her… then he would do anything.
Even if his actions seemed insensible, and even if she started to think bad of him later.
If he could save her, then he didn't care if heavens and earth condemned him later.