Chapter Fifteen: A Handsome Stranger Who Refuses to Reveal His Name
Cough! Cough!
Just a couple of coughs, but the pain radiating throughout her body jolted Qinyan Yuya awake from her daze.
Where am I?
Qinyan Yuya cautiously sat up, her jet-black eyes flashing with a faint red glow. In her perception, this dim cave instantly became as bright as daylight, every detail clear and vivid.
As a cultivator who had already reached the fourth stage of the Void Return Realm, seeing in the dark was effortless for her, no need for any special spells.
The first thing that caught her eye was the large round stone at the cave's entrance. It seemed to fit perfectly with the outline of the cave, leaving only slivers of light around its edges.
It must be nighttime outside, the light very dim.
With her spiritual awareness extended, she sensed only a few poisonous beasts moving within a few miles. Apart from herself, there was no sign of anyone else.
Was she saved?
Images flashed through her mind: surrounded by a group of bandits, fighting desperately, captured, and then, seizing an opportunity while they were preparing some kind of venomous insect, tearing open the life-saving talisman her master had given her, and teleporting thousands of miles away.
Such teleportation was inherently risky, but luckily she landed in a place amidst a heavy rainstorm and caught sight of the fellow disciple she had just recently met...
"He saved me?"
Seeing the two stacks of talismans and several porcelain bottles nearby, Qinyan Yuya was momentarily stunned. Then, she glanced at herself, and a blush crept onto her pale cheeks as she lightly bit her rosy lips.
Unfortunately, her rare display of shyness as a beauty was now wasted without anyone to appreciate it.
—Li Changshou had long since slipped away, who knew for how long.
The reason Qinyan Yuya suddenly felt bashful was because she noticed the over a dozen wounds on her body that had been neatly bandaged. The bandages were made of the "Qi-Retaining Hemostatic Cloth" that disciples of the Du Xian Sect could easily obtain—clean linen soaked in various medicinal solutions.
To be honest, the bandaging was done quite perfectly, with the inner layer of the "Qi-Retaining Hemostatic Cloth" coated with a healing ointment. At this point, most of her injuries had almost healed, except for the lingering pain.
However...
The wounds on her shoulder socket and left ribcage were very deep, and when bandaging, it was necessary to remove her long skirt from her shoulders, exposing some...
As well as the more private areas such as her legs and waist...
All covered and tended to by...
Qinyan Yuya suddenly raised her right hand and gave herself a slap on the face, saying firmly, "Brother Changshou saved my life and patiently treated my injuries like this. How can I doubt his character?"
Her gaze quickly returned to its usual clarity, and she examined herself internally, finding her breath had also stabilized, and overall, her injuries were almost healed.
Obviously, someone had also adjusted her spiritual energy.
Turning her head, she found a neatly folded parchment lying where she had been lying just now, which had been used as a pillow. It had a few bloodstains on it, seeming to have some writing on it.
Picking it up and reading it, she found a message and a simple map drawn on it.
"'Fellow disciples should help each other without much thought. This place is two thousand miles away from the Chaotic Miasma Treasure Forest. Below is a map for detouring from this place.'"
"Everything should be considered in terms of one's own life. There are also Miasma-Repelling Talismans, Concealment Talismans, Detoxifying Pills, and Qi-Nourishing Pills nearby."
"A word for the junior disciple: People's hearts are unpredictable, do not trust easily. The road ahead is perilous, take care of yourself."
"From a handsome man unwilling to reveal his name."
Qinyan Yuya blinked, looking at the last line of words, a bit puzzled by its meaning.
The handwriting quickly faded and disappeared within a few breaths, but fortunately, the map below was not treated in the same special way. It depicted the terrain and proportions in detail, and her current location was specially marked.
It's worth noting that the detour route on the map was completely opposite to the direction Li Changshou was heading at this time.
"This Brother Changshou... is really a thoughtful and kind person."
Qinyan Yuya furrowed her brows slightly, rolled up the parchment, and put on a solemn expression, murmuring softly, "Great kindness should not go unacknowledged. If Yuya survives this time, I will give my all to repay Brother's kindness."
With that, she made a respectful gesture towards the parchment and then put away the map.
Looking down, she found Miasma-Repelling Talismans and Concealment Talismans affixed to her shoulders. At this moment, these two talismans still had sufficient spiritual power and did not need to be replaced immediately.
Packing up the various items beside her, Qinyan Yuya sat down and began to regulate her breath, restoring herself to optimal condition.
Her great sword lay in the corner, its spiritual light gradually returning.
Gradually, two figures appeared in her mind...
The person on her left was her childhood sweetheart and fellow disciple, Yuan Qing, who would quickly catch up once she showed up.
Qinyan Yuya had long felt that this fellow disciple from the same hometown and sect, who always seemed to be close to her, was a person of questionable character, so she had always kept her distance from him.
But she didn't expect that once he tore off his usual hypocritical facade, he would be so malicious and despicable!
What had happened these past few days?
Yuan Qing was determined to trap her by any means necessary, even planting insects on her in order to force her to submit and become his 'plaything' under the pretext of future rebellion!
If it weren't for the protective talisman given to her by her master, she would have been controlled by the insects by now, afraid even to think about seeking death!
"People's hearts are unpredictable," Brother Changshou's words were indeed not false.
Thinking of this, Qinyan Yuya smiled bitterly, feeling a mixture of disappointment and anger at the world.
But among the two figures in her mind, the person on the right...
This figure was originally somewhat faint, but now it gradually became clearer; there was only a slightly turned profile and the familiar back view.
Qinyan Yuya had not met this Brother Changshou before the advent of this trial, and she was only slightly surprised to learn that he, a ninth-level Nascent Soul cultivator, was coming to the Northern Lu Continent to find medicine.
What impressed Qinyan Yuya the most was his illness of 'trembling when in contact with women'...
Wait a minute!
Brother Changshou had such an illness, yet he endured the pain of convulsions and frothing at the mouth, patiently bandaging over a dozen wounds for her?
What selflessness, what righteousness!
In her mind, Qinyan Yuya fabricated such a scene:
In the dim and narrow cave, a certain senior brother was trembling all over, breathing irregularly, his limbs somewhat deformed, his face twisted in agony. But his eyes were unwavering, as he removed the crimson fairy skirt of the unconscious girl on the ground...
Smack!
Qinyan Yuya slapped herself again.
'Brother went through such pain to save me, and I actually doubted his character just now.'
She bit her lip, making a respectful gesture towards the parchment.
"If I have the opportunity to repay Brother Changshou in the future, I will not hesitate or be stingy."
With this resolute oath, Qinyan Yuya's gaze became even more determined. She began to pack up all the items in the area and then grasped the hilt of her great sword.
Changing to a half-kneeling posture, her blood-stained skirt spread out around her, her left hand holding the sword finger upright in front of her body, her whole body's aura began to tremble continuously!
To survive.
To expose Yuan Qing's true face, to repay Brother Changshou's true kindness, to send a letter to her father, warning him to beware of these rebellious villains!
Qinyan Yuya's right hand gripped the hilt of the great sword, and a fiery red light began to shine from it.
"Nine Elements, Solidify the Lotus of the Heart!"
She murmured softly, and the great sword in her hand emitted waves of fiery light, with clear patterns appearing on its surface, and the original cracks on the blade quickly disappeared.
With her long hair dancing, fiery lotuses floated around Qinyan Yuya, illuminating her delicate skin like a starry sky.
"Immortals in the north, humans in the south, soaring through the clouds and flames, shining beyond the seas!"
"Fire Phoenix Sword Casket!"
"Open!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sound of swords rang out, echoing for miles!
The stone at the cave entrance exploded, and a fiery figure quickly rushed out of the cave, surrounded by a dozen flying swords!
After dashing dozens of yards away, Qinyan Yuya concealed the flames around her body and disappeared rapidly into the black forest filled with miasma, heading southwest...
Uh, heading northeast, galloping away!
'Judging by intuition, this should be the right direction to the southwest. As long as I follow the detour route left by Brother Changshou, I can definitely avoid those wicked thieves. I must survive and go back!'
Meanwhile, six hundred miles north of Qinyan Yuya's hiding place.
Li Changshou lay prostrate on a cliff, carefully searching for crevices filled with miasma.
After another half day of work, Li Changshou could only shake his head and leave the area.
In this way, in the region recorded in ancient texts to have Fairy Solving Grass, there was no harvest...
Li Changshou found an open space and sat cross-legged, holding a dagger in his hand, drawing all the areas he had searched on the ground, and then pondered for a while.
Let's continue north for two or three days.
After so much effort and still not finding the Fairy Solving Grass, there was still some unwillingness in his heart. After all, he had prepared for this "Northern Continent Exploration Plan" for so long...
"Keep trying!"
Patting his knees, Li Changshou got up and headed north, leaving behind only a trail of afterimages in the night.
Perhaps due to yesterday's heavy rain, there were a few gaps in the miasma clouds in this area, and a ray of moonlight happened to shine on Li Changshou's path.
Li Changshou also felt a bit of literary sickness in his heart, finding a good position and hiding behind cover, standing in the moonlight and gazing at the moonlight for a few moments.
Ah, this moon is so long...
Huh, this shape is so white...
Hmm, this crescent moon is so round and large...
The poisonous mist surged, and the hard-won moonlight was suddenly cut off.
"Bro, are you getting old?"
Li Changshou raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and chuckled softly. Then, leaning forward, he dashed away, blending perfectly with the night.
As for fellow cultivators and whatnot, they were even more terrifying creatures than junior disciples like her, like unstable nuclear bombs...
Can't provoke, dare not think.
And compared to cultivators like Qinyan Yuya, who had a unique appearance but too complicated identity, Li Changshou felt that...
Senior Sister Jiujiu, who was already quite powerful, was more reassuring.