The shadows of the trees rustled, and the insects and birds slept peacefully. In the heavens and earth, only the low humming of the spring breeze blowing across the mountain peak remained.
The wild cat was breathing weakly under the tree, letting out a few painful moans from time to time as a fishy-sweet scent permeated the air.
A shadow suddenly fell over its head. The wild cat stared guardedly at the person in front of it, wanting to climb up, yet its hind legs were limp and unable to move. Terrified, it squeezed some threatening air out of its throat, and its entire soft fur instantly puffed up.
The person reached out his hand, his palm holding a few pieces of shredded chicken meat.
Without rushing or impatience, he waited quietly until the cat could no longer endure its hunger, tentatively extending its head to swallow the meat in big mouthfuls.
Once his palm was licked clean, he unfastened the pouch at his waist and took out some water, pouring it into a small cup.
The cat was parched as well, burying its head to lap up the water. The person in front of it suddenly moved, making it want to back away in fright, but it was already too late.
The person picked it up with practiced skill, carefully examining its hind leg.
It was indeed broken.
Frightened, the cat struggled fiercely, scratching his hand hard with one paw and leaving an eye-catching trail of blood.
Yet the other party continued holding it as if he didn’t care at all, taking out some medicinal powder from his robe and pouring it onto the wound on its hind leg.
“Jiang Xing?”
A voice suddenly came from behind. The cat’s struggling grew even more violent, adding two more bloody scratches to the back of that fair hand.
When Zishu Bai arrived, what he saw was precisely such a scene: Jiang Xing holding an injured wild cat.
For some reason, he actually felt that this scene was very surprising—as if the Jiang Xing he knew would absolutely never do something like this.
“Be careful, don’t get scratched!” He subconsciously stepped forward, seeing Jiang Xing’s scar-covered hand, and said urgently, “You’re bleeding.”
The light in Jiang Xing’s eyes instantly sank, his face turning somewhat unsightly. “Why are you here?”
Hearing the coldness in his tone, Zishu Bai lowered his eyes, saying softly: “I originally wanted to go back to rest, but I ran into a talkative old man on the road, so I stayed a bit longer.”
Yan Zhun had low alcohol tolerance; after drinking half a cup, he had gone back to sleep feeling dizzy. On his way back to the hall, Zishu Bai happened to see an equally drunk old man by the roadside, and thinking that the night was chilly and the wind cold, he felt he should send the old man back.
In the end, as soon as that old man saw him, his eyes lit up, talking endlessly about how his bone structure was extraordinary, his talent exceptional, and even asking if he wanted to learn an exclusive technique. Zishu Bai had no choice but to listen to those drunken words, managing to break free with great difficulty.
However, as soon as his words fell, Jiang Xing’s face turned even darker as ink, silently retracting his gaze from him.
He hadn’t expected that even though he had already sent someone to stall that old Sect Master, in the end, Zishu Bai still casually stumbled upon the opportunity by the roadside.
The protagonist halo is truly disgusting.
He turned back around to continue applying medicine to that wild cat; if the wound wasn’t treated quickly, it would fester.
The scent of the Lotus Heart Brew lingered in the night air. Anyone could tell that he had drunk wine, and quite a lot of it.
Zishu Bai watched Jiang Xing care for that cat with practiced movements, and his heart felt as though it had been bumped very gently by something.
So Jiang Xing wasn’t as cold and rigid as he appeared; at least a certain corner of his heart was soft, revealing just a tiny bit, a tiny bit of it only after drinking wine.
He cautiously reached out his hand, tentatively saying, “Let me hold it for you while you apply the medicine.”
Jiang Xing showed no intention of paying attention to him at all, applying the ointment while turning a deaf ear.
Now he wasn’t even willing to let him help—did he detest him that much?
Zishu Bai lightly pursed his lips. Some words rolled in his throat a few times before he couldn’t help saying them out loud: “Why, in the end?”
Jiang Xing’s movements paused slightly, but he still didn’t answer, as if treating him entirely as air.
“Why aren’t you willing to be friends with me?” Zishu Bai was truly bewildered. He didn’t know what he had done wrong; everything had clearly been fine when they were in Sand Town at the beginning. “Didn’t you say earlier that under heaven, only I could help you?”
Hearing this, Jiang Xing finally turned his head to look at him.
Zishu Bai subconsciously swallowed his saliva, waiting for him to speak.
“Help?”
Jiang Xing stared at him coldly. “The so-called help you offered was humiliating me with a dual-cultivation spell?”
Zishu Bai instantly froze.
“And also, didn’t you say my spiritual power would grow? Why didn’t I feel anything at all?” Jiang Xing let out a cold laugh, pushing him away fiercely. “Why don’t we lay it bare—you actually did it on purpose, didn’t you? Seeing my reaction made you very pleased with yourself, didn’t it?”
Caught off guard, Zishu Bai was pushed to the ground. He stared at him in astonishment, and only after a long while did he seem to find his own voice, murmuring in a low voice, “That wasn’t a dual-cultivation spell…”
Jiang Xing said in a deep voice: “You said it yourself only Dao companions use that kind of spell. I agreed, that’s true, but I didn’t know there would be such a strange reaction. You deliberately didn’t tell me!”
“I…” Zishu Bai looked at him, at a loss for words. After a long silence, he took a soft breath and said: “The side effect of spiritual sense blending is feeling dazed and having a faster heartbeat. Because that is a spell used between Dao companions to have heart-to-heart talks, allowing one to converse with the other in a dream, thereby comprehending the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to increase one’s cultivation.”
That was not a dual-cultivation spell at all! How could he possibly engage in dual cultivation with someone he had just met not long ago?
As his words fell, Jiang Xing’s entire body went rigid.
“If you don’t believe it, I can go find that book recording the spiritual sense blending spell for you to see.” At the thought that Jiang Xing’s cold attitude toward him was due to a misunderstanding, Zishu Bai hastily defended himself, “As Heaven and Earth are my witness, I definitely didn’t lie to you, nor did I have any intention of humiliating you. Your reaction was too intense perhaps it has to do with your constitution. You should have told me at the time; it was my first time using this spell, so I didn’t know this kind of situation would happen.”
Jiang Xing fell silent.
Zishu Bai felt that he had seemingly explained things clearly, so he babbled on in concern for him: “So, what was your reaction? Where felt uncomfortable? Why didn’t you tell me then…”
Seeing that he still didn’t speak, Zishu Bai could only grab his wrist, attempting to help examine him, only to have his hand flung away fiercely.
“Get out.” The voice was low, lacking its previous cold rigidity, and instead sounding somewhat stifled.
Zishu Bai looked at him intently, saying with absolute seriousness: “If you don’t explain clearly, I won’t leave.”
This trick again—like sticky dog-hide plaster.
Jiang Xing took a deep breath, raising his eyes to stare at him.
Being so close, Zishu Bai seemed to be able to smell the sweet lychee aroma and warm wine scent on Jiang Xing’s body, which smelled strangely pleasant.
“I ejaculated.”
An answer without any warning.
Zishu Bai’s mind went blank for an instant, frozen on the spot in a daze.
“Heard it clearly now? Satisfied?”
Their gazes met. Those eyes that were usually indifferent and cold were now tinged with drunkenness. As if scorched by that gaze, Zishu Bai quickly shifted his eyes away, his eyelashes trembling slightly as a hot, flush crimson rapidly climbed onto the tips of his ears. Even though he hadn’t drunk a single drop of wine, it was as if he had gotten drunk right along with him.
He muttered in a low voice: “How could you even say something like this…”
The veins on Jiang Xing’s forehead throbbed. He kicked him away, almost cursing, “Weren’t you the one asking and asking endlessly?”
Afraid that he would get angry again, Zishu Bai hurriedly said: “It’s my fault. I should have investigated clearly before using the spell. It must be a constitution issue—your constitution is different from ordinary people, far too sensitive and fragile.”
“Are you done yet?”
Zishu Bai honestly shut his mouth.
Jiang Xing pinched his forehead, turning his eyes to look at the wild cat in his arms, which had actually fallen asleep in his arms out of exhaustion.
He gently petted that fluffy little body twice; the texture was quite good, just like the big fat cat he used to raise before.
“According to what you mean, as long as I dream tonight, I can converse with you in the dream to comprehend the Dao and increase my cultivation?”
“Mm.”
Zishu Bai didn’t say a single extra word anymore.
Hearing that his cultivation could increase, the gloom in Jiang Xing’s heart dissipated a bit. Pausing, he frowned again: “Don’t you know healing spells?”
“How do you know?” Zishu Bai looked at him in surprise.
Naturally, he had seen it in the original book. How could Jiang Xing possibly tell him? Frowning even tighter, he answered completely out of context, “Then what are you standing there in a daze for? Heal it.”
Hearing this, Zishu Bai said with some hesitation: “My medical skills aren’t skillful yet right now. There might be some bad side effects.”
More side effects?
Jiang Xing found that he was truly incompatible with Zishu Bai—a random sentence from Zishu Bai could make him choke with rage.
He gritted his teeth, squeezing out a few words: “As long as it doesn’t heal it to death, heal it for me.”
“It won’t be healed to death,” Zishu Bai let out a sigh, reaching out his hand to place it on the wild cat in his arms. “It’s just that some small mistakes might occur.”
In the next moment, gentle spiritual energy overflowed from his palm, wrapping around the wild cat’s body softly.
Such a fat cat it must have been well taken care of on ordinary days. How could its hind leg be broken? Truly pitiful.
After half an incense stick of time passed, the wild cat finally woke up from its deep sleep, lazily stretching its body with its tail held straight up. It looked in a good mood, and the wound didn’t hurt anymore.
Jiang Xing now completely believed that Zishu Bai wouldn’t lie—he truly wasn’t skilled in medical arts, at least definitely nowhere near the level of bringing the dead back to life as written in the later parts of the book.
Looking at that wild cat’s body, which had grown fully twice as fat, as well as the tiger-like stripes that had appeared out of thin air on its body, his eyelids twitched violently.
Next time this fat cat bumped into someone to beg for food, it would probably knock the person to death.
Zishu Bai touched the bridge of his nose, saying in a low, embarrassed voice: “The leg has been reattached.”
The wild cat happily leaped into the bushes, disappearing without a trace.
Jiang Xing let out a long breath. He had decided: from now on, he would never let Zishu Bai help him do anything again. At least before Zishu Bai grew into a true Dragon Aotian protagonist, the further he stayed away, the better he was far too unreliable.
He packed up the mess on the ground and, without even saying goodbye, stood up to leave.
Zishu Bai stood on the spot seeing him off, looking quite happy. “Rest early, Jiang Xing.”
Did this fool think that after explaining the misunderstanding clearly to him, they could still be friends? Or was he feeling pleased with himself, thinking he had helped him out after turning a wild cat into a wild boar?
Having no choice, Jiang Xing turned back around and warned him in a cold voice: “I’m telling you, don’t think you have a good relationship with me. You’re not allowed to strike up a conversation with me in front of Wu Moxun, nor are you allowed to tell anyone that you’re my friend.” He didn’t want to get infected by Zishu Bai’s hate-attracting constitution.
Not knowing whether Zishu Bai understood his meaning or not, he froze for a moment and asked tentatively, “Then in private, can I strike up a conversation?”
Stupid pig!
Jiang Xing glared at him ruthlessly, pointed toward the direction of the North Palace, and commanded in a cold voice: “Get out.”
“Oh.” Zishu Bai obediently left.
Before leaving, he looked back at Jiang Xing’s receding figure once more, letting out a soft chuckle.
See you in dreams.