Song Lianzhou’s divine sense spread outward, finally discovering a tricky corner suitable for taking cover. A collapsed rock lay horizontally in the nook, just barely enclosing that space.
“Junior Brother, stop holding on; drop the barrier!” Song Lianzhou motioned for him to look over. “Let’s hide over there!”
“Alright!” Qingmiao retracted his barrier.
The two drew their swords simultaneously, moving so rapidly they practically wove their blades into a blur of light. For a time, only the clanging sounds of impact and crisp dropping noises could be heard. The sword tips collided fiercely with the hidden weapons, briefly sparking with fire in mid-air.
Fighting and retreating step by step, the two finally reached the hiding spot.
Seemingly nearing the end of the mechanism, the arrow rain grew even more violent. Song Lianzhou’s sword swung with such blinding speed it left afterimages. After protecting Qingmiao and shoving him into hiding, he had no time to spare for himself, and before he could react, an arrow grazed swiftly past his waist.
“Hiss”
Song Lianzhou sucked in a sharp breath of air, forcing himself to slash out one final wave of sword qi before collapsing behind the crevice of the rocks.
Qingmiao hurried over to prop him up. “What’s wrong? Are you alright?”
His palm suddenly made contact with a patch of damp wetness. Pausing in shock, Qingmiao lifted his right hand and caught the pungent, heavy stench of blood. “You’re hurt?!”
“Just a minor graze… Hiss… Cough, cough, cough…”
Relying on Qingmiao’s support to prop up half his body, Song Lianzhou felt a sweet, fishy surge rush up his throat, forcing him to collapse back down as his strength gave out.
He looked down toward his waist: the minor graze had already split open into a long, narrow gash, and even his night-traveler clothes had been torn with an opening that looked as though it had been scorched.
A stabbing pain hit him like a torrential storm, blurring Song Lianzhou’s vision, yet his brain continued operating at a breakneck speed without a moment’s rest.
So that was it.
The spiritual energy on those hidden weapons possessed a corrosive effect; no wonder it was able to break through the barrier he had set up.
[Host, what happened to you?!] The system popped up in front of his eyes with a bang, its electronic voice spiking in absolute panic. [I only took a short nap, how did you manage to get yourself into such a state??]
[I’m fine,] Song Lianzhou groaned mentally. [D-don’t worry about me.]
[Does it hurt badly?]
[It doesn’t hurt,] Song Lianzhou replied instinctively, pausing for a moment before adding, [Alright, it still hurts a little.]
After all, as someone who had lived as a modern human, he had never suffered such a severe injury before.
[Hold on, Host, I’ll go patch up your pain perception right away!]
The pain in his waist seemed to lighten slightly, allowing Song Lianzhou to finally recover a bit of his wits and muster some strength.
Accepting the ointment handed over by Qingmiao, he applied it to the wound, which immediately triggered another wave of bone-deep agony. Suddenly, he noticed the little sprite before him staring wide-eyed, fixing a direct gaze upon his injury: [Wait, what is this item… Why is it showing up now? No, something definitely isn’t right here…]
[Host, this is an emergency, I need to rush back to the Time-Space Administration to report this right away!]
Before his words could fully fade, the system vanished on the spot at light speed.
Panting and wincing, Song Lianzhou sat cross-legged, desperately trying to quiet his mind and steady his breathing as he attempted to suppress the burning pain at his waist.
Catching Qingmiao’s worried gaze, he managed a forced smile. “It’s nothing major, I’ll be fine after resting for a bit.”
“Is bleeding rivers considered nothing major?” Qingmiao offered a harsh verbal critique before pulling a bottle of pills from his storage ring. “Here, take these. They’re pills Feiyi refined; their healing effect is exceptional.”
Obediently swallowing the pills, Song Lianzhou watched as Qingmiao clamped down on his own sleeve with his teeth and gave a sharp rip.
Startled, Song Lianzhou asked, “Why are you suddenly tearing your own clothes?”
“To bandage you.” Clutching the strip of cloth, Qingmiao approached with a puzzled look.
“Right, I can do it myself.” Feeling somewhat between laughter and tears, Song Lianzhou took the cloth strip from Qingmiao’s hands.
He had been entirely preoccupied with figuring out how to escape, completely forgetting that he still needed to bandage his wound.
Feiyi’s pills worked wonderfully. Before long, Song Lianzhou felt refreshed and the wound hurt significantly less. Propping himself up, he simply wrapped the wound himself before returning to his original spot to cross his legs and regulate his breathing.
Closing his eyes, he sensed his spiritual energy complete cycle after cycle through his meridians, though he always felt as though a pair of eyes were staring straight at him.
Opening his eyes, he saw Qingmiao sitting directly in front of him, staring fixedly at him without blinking.
Assuming Qingmiao was feeling nervous, he offered a gentle reassurance. “Don’t worry, Senior Brother will definitely get you out of here safely. I’m just regulating my breathing to recover my spiritual energy now, and I’ll be fine in no time.”
“Who’s worried about that!” Qingmiao blurted out, pausing for a few seconds before violently whipping his head away and stubbornly deflecting, “Right, that is what I’m worried about.”
Song Lianzhou paused for a moment as well, catching the drift. “You’re worried about me?”
“No! Don’t flatter yourself! Only when you’re fully recovered can you lead me out of here.”
Unable to hold back a chuckle, Song Lianzhou shifted slightly, which immediately pulled at his wound. “Hiss…”
Qingmiao’s gaze instantly sharpened like a pair of daggers. “What are you thrashing around for?!”
“I won’t, I won’t.” Still unable to suppress his smile, Song Lianzhou inched a bit closer to Qingmiao. “Junior Brother, I actually have something I’d like to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t take it the wrong way. Look, since it’s just the two of us here, it’s a great opportunity to chat about some topics between men.”
“What on earth is it?” The lengthy prologue made Qingmiao inexplicably nervous.
“Well…” Song Lianzhou smiled pleasantly at him. “Why do you hate me so much, anyway?”
“When did I ever hate…” Qingmiao reacted out of sheer reflex, sputtering out a few words before slamming to an abrupt halt.
Fixating his eyes on the ground, he let out a soft huff. “Because I hate Feiyi, and since Feiyi likes you, I hate you too.”
A child’s logic was always so straightforward yet bizarre.
His smile deepening, Song Lianzhou pressed on. “Then why do you hate Feiyi?”
“Because…” Qingmiao thought for a moment before snorting coldly, “Because she’s spoiled, overbearing, and willful! She always picks fights with me and gives me silly nicknames! Ever since I first entered the sect, she’d constantly come looking to pick quarrels. Master and Second Senior Brother always showed favoritism toward her too whenever I went to complain, they’d just tell us kids to go play by ourselves.”
Song Lianzhou mused, “Is there any chance she genuinely just wanted to play with you back then?”
When Qingmiao entered Gu Qingci’s tutelage, Feiyi wasn’t very old either. Compared to Hua Zuojiu, who was much older than her, she undoubtedly preferred seeking out Qingmiao to play.
However, having kept up their bickering all the way until they were this grown up took a remarkable amount of perseverance.
“Regardless of whether she genuinely wanted to play with me back then, the fact remains that she always finds me an eyesore now.” Qingmiao turned his head away in an exceptionally awkward manner. “With so many people around, she always zeroes in on my flaws to nitpick! Hmph, since she hates me, I’m going to hate her right back.”
“Oh~~” Song Lianzhou deliberately dragged out the ending syllable. “Hiss… but knowing Feiyi’s straightforward temperament, if she truly hated you, she probably wouldn’t even bother saying extra words to you.”
“Besides, didn’t she team up with you on this mission and gift you the pills she refined?”
Qingmiao: “……”
Song Lianzhou continued, “And you as well if you truly hated Feiyi, why did you always quietly protect her whenever conflicts broke out between your group and Zhao Xian and the others?”
“!! How did you…”
“How did I know? Even though Senior Brother was standing far away, my eyesight is great, you know! I saw everything clearly from a distance that day, so don’t even think about arguing your way out of it.”
“I was, I was just…” Choked up by the interrogation and left speechless for a long moment, Qingmiao finally offered a weak, stubborn defense. “That’s because she’s still my fellow sect member! Fighting with her amongst ourselves is one thing, but if someone else were to beat her up, wouldn’t that cause Master and Senior Brothers to lose face?”
What a stubbornly soft-hearted, awkward little fellow. He clearly cared about her, yet refused to admit it.
Chuckling secretly to himself, Song Lianzhou said, “Well, you certainly put a lot of thought into it. Qingmiao, how are you already so ancient even at such a young age?”
“I am not small to begin with!”
Unable to bear this strange interrogation any longer which felt as though it was stripping away his defenses and striking straight at his soul, Qingmiao flushed red as he poked his head out of their hiding spot to escape. “Have you recovered yet? When can we leave?”
“I’m ready, let’s go.”
Just as Song Lianzhou prepared to follow him out, Qingmiao’s expression shifted drastically, and he reached out to stop him.
“Hold on, don’t move. Someone’s outside.” Qingmiao lowered his voice.
As the final syllable dropped, Song Lianzhou heard footsteps approaching from outside as well.
The sound came from nearby, step by step—light, slow, resembling a hunter holding absolute victory in his grasp, walking leisurely toward the inescapable hiding place of his prey.