It was now nighttime. The temperatures in the cavern had dipped even further, and the fire started by Jun Xiaomo had almost burnt out, leaving only some glowing embers flickering in the mound of ashes.
Ye Xiuwen laid beside the fire. His arms twitched, and then he slowly opened his eyes.
“Ugh…” Ye Xiuwen lifted his arms weakly as he rubbed his forehead. This action also drew his attention to the wound on his shoulder as a wave of pain a.s.saulted his senses. Then, Ye Xiuwen noticed that the cavern was filled with a dank and heavy stench of blood, before he turned his attention to his white garments which looked like they had been immersed in black blood – dried streaks and patches of blood populated his entire set of clothing. It was a terrifying sight.
Ye Xiuwen replayed the scenes just before going unconscious in his mind, and he was certain that they ended with a warm embrace and a soft sensation on his shoulders.
That’s right. Ye Xiuwen had not fully lost his consciousness even while Jun Xiaomo was sucking out the blood from within his body. In his stupor, everything that Jun Xiaomo had done for him had been etched in his memory before he went unconscious. Even though he was not entirely sure of what Jun Xiaomo had done, he knew that his injuries before his consciousness faded were extremely severe, yet his body seemed to have recovered substantially right now. How could he not connect the dots and guess that this young man must have done something for him to aid in his recovery in his downtime?
Ye Xiuwen threw a complicated glance over at the man laying at the side – he never imagined that Yao Mo would do all these things for him.
Yet very quickly, he realized that Yao Mo’s present condition was not normal. The slim young man’s eyebrows were knit tightly together as he curled up into a ball by the remaining embers of the fire, and there were traces of blood stains seeping out of his mouth. This young man was even s.h.i.+vering uncontrollably!
“Yao Mo!” Ye Xiuwen got up anxiously. It was relatively difficult for him to do so in his current state, but he couldn’t care less. He hurriedly made his way over to Yao Mo’s side, and patted on his shoulder, calling out to him again, “Little Mo!”
Jun Xiaomo had sucked out the poisonous blood in Ye Xiuwen’s body. Even though she spat most of it out, she had inadvertently swallowed some of it. Under these circ.u.mstances, the Green Elder Python’s blood had already been diluted substantially and would not cause any life-threatening issues for Jun Xiaomo. However, it would still cause her to experience incredible pain for a day or so. Right now, the poison in her body was in full blown manifestation. Coupled with the dipping temperatures in the cavern, Jun Xiaomo’s body naturally found it hard to deal with the situation.
To make matters worse, she was even running a temperature right now.
Squeak squeak! The little packrat noticed that Ye Xiuwen had finally awakened, and it quickly ran over to the straw located on the side of the cavern and scuttled about on it as it squeaked at Ye Xiuwen.
Ye Xiuwen immediately knew the little packrat’s intentions. He made his way over to the pile of straw, hefted a big bunch of straw over and piled it onto the dying embers of the fire started by Jun Xiaomo, giving it a new lease of life.
The fire blossomed once again and illuminated the cavern with a warm glow. In her semi-conscious state, Jun Xiaomo also felt the renewed source of warmth, and she instinctually inched closer to the flames.
But she was getting too close to the flames for comfort – her hair was almost close enough to be singed by the flames! Ye Xiuwen hurriedly got over to her side and carried her away from the fire. In her stupor, Jun Xiaomo realized that she was moving further from the flames, and she furrowed her brows even more tightly and began to struggle.
“Bear with it for a while. It will get warmer very soon.” Ye Xiuwen patted Jun Xiaomo’s head as he a.s.sured her. Then, he immediately retrieved a thick blanket from his Interspatial Ring and wrapped her up tightly, leaving only her head exposed.
Jun Xiaomo had previously also given Ye Xiuwen a thick blanket for his cover, but that blanket had since been soaked through by Ye Xiuwen’s blood. If he placed this on Jun Xiaomo’s body right now, the dampness of his blanket would only make Jun Xiaomo feel colder. Therefore, Ye Xiuwen had taken out a fresh set of blankets to cover Jun Xiaomo with.
“Cold…” Jun Xiaomo murmured in discomfort. Seeing this, Ye Xiuwen had no choice but to hug her close to his body, hoping that this would allow her to feel warmer.
Squeak squeak! The little packrat looked at Jun Xiaomo with darkened eyes, then looked dejectedly at its own paws and small body, before finally turning around and looking away.
Jun Xiaomo’s teeth were still chattering, but she was already looking much better than just a little while ago. Her eyebrows were still knit together, and she was clearly still locked in that semi-conscious state in discomfort.
In fact, she was now having a nightmare. The nightmares of her previous life had once again resurfaced in her present weakness, manifesting in such a full and corporeal manner that she was completely drawn into that tormenting period of her previous life.
“Mar--…martial brother…I’m sorry…” Jun Xiaomo muttered in despair under her breath, as her eyes were filled with tears.
These tears were not obvious in the dimly lit cavern right now, and Ye Xiuwen naturally did not notice this. However, Ye Xiuwen did hear Jun Xiaomo’s murmurs at this instant.
Martial brother? Didn’t Yao Mo say that he was just a rogue cultivator who hadn’t joined any sects? Why would he have a martial brother?
A trace of suspicion flashed across Ye Xiuwen’s heart, but he did not press the issue.
However, Jun Xiaomo once again murmured subconsciously. This time, her murmuring even carried with it traces of sobbing as she groaned nasally, “Martial brother Ye…I’m sorry…”
Ye Xiuwen’s body froze in shock immediately as he looked down towards Yao Mo in surprise.
At this time, Yao Mo’s head was still buried in his arms, and he could only see the top of his head. This young man’s ink-coloured hair was scattered about haphazardly, as though it were a soft, crumpled piece of silk.
It suddenly dawned on Ye Xiuwen how similar Yao Mo was to his little martial sister – even his silhouette looked exactly like his little martial sister’s back.
If Yao Mo and his little martial sister stood side by side with the same hairstyle and had their backs facing Ye Xiuwen, there was no way Ye Xiuwen would be able to tell them apart.
Ye Xiuwen’s heart thumped quickly for a moment before he managed to calm himself down.
How could this be possible? Ye Xiuwen mocked himself in his heart, thinking that he must have been mistaken. How could Yao Mo be Jun Xiaomo? After all, his little martial sister had only learnt fire spells her entire life, and she had never been exposed to things like formation arrays, humanoid puppets, talismans and the like, much less be able to use these things so effectively against Ke Xinwen.
Ye Xiuwen’s eyes darkened, and he hugged Yao Mo close to him while his eyes stared vacantly at the cavern’s entrance… That narrow pa.s.sageway right there was the point of access between the cavern and the rest of the world. But just as much as it was so narrow that the starlight could not enter; the feelings in his heart were completely stifled.
Ye Xiuwen’s gaze was distant and vacant. At this moment, no one knew what this First-Seat Disciple of Heavenly Peak was thinking right now.
On the other side, the Dawn Sect disciples had begun to realize something was amiss given how Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen had not returned for several hours. Therefore, they had no choice but to spread out and began combing through the woods for them. Of course, they had no qualms if Yao Mo had perished in the wilderness. But Ye Xiuwen was the First-Seat Disciple of Heavenly Peak after all, and losing him during the travels would be a ma.s.sive deal.
At the very least, if he was still alive, they had to find him; and if he was dead, they would need to recover his corpse. This was the very least they could do to give an account to Heavenly Peak.
However, despite searching for half a day, their efforts were in vain. They only saw a dead wild boar lying in the wilderness whose wounds look like it had been caused by Ye Xiuwen’s Wind Blades. Apart from that, they could not even find a trace of his garments.
“That’s strange. Why didn’t martial brother Ye bring this wild boar back after killing it? Where has he and Yao Mo gone to?” One of the disciples asked in bewilderment.
“Who knows? Martial brother Ye’s an enigma sometimes.” Another disciple replied in dismay. He personally felt that Ye Xiuwen’s opinions were always different from that of everyone else. Take how he treated Yao Mo for example – even though Ye Xiuwen was from the same sect as everyone else, he still insisted on hanging out with the outsider Yao Mo.
Could it be that martial brother Ye has already forgotten how this outsider Yao Mo has tarnished Dawn Sect’s name? The Sect has an ingrate among its numbers, huh.
Ke Xinwen also noticed the aftermath of his schemes, and even he was unable to tell whether the traces of blood left behind belonged to Ye Xiuwen or the wild boar. Despite that, his eyes gleamed viciously, and he couldn’t help revealing a wicked smile on his lips.
Even if his schemes had inadvertently resulted in the demise of Yao Mo and Ye Xiuwen right now, he would nevertheless have disposed of the two people he hated the most in this world right now. And the prospects of this gave him a sick sense of satisfaction.
If this means that I would be punished by Qin Lingyu, then so be it! Ke Xinwen thought to himself smugly. But in the next moment, as he thought about how he was now under Qin Lingyu’s control, a sense of indignation once again swelled up in his heart.
Ah. Just wait till I find a way out of this predicament. I’ll let Qin Lingyu know I’m not to be messed with!
Qin Lingyu also personally a.s.sisted in the search for Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo. Truth be told, he wasn’t too bothered about whether Yao Mo lived or died, because the thing he coveted the most was the treasures stored within Yao Mo’s Interspatial Ring. But obtaining Yao Mo’s Interspatial Ring required Yao Mo’s presence after all. If Yao Mo had been eaten by a spirit beast, then where would Qin Lingyu go about locating his Interspatial Ring?
Therefore, no matter what reason they had to come up with, he would still mobilize all of Dawn Sect’s disciples to comb the woods for the whereabouts of the missing duo.
“Martial brother Qin, it’s getting late. Do we still have to continue searching?” One of the Dawn Sect disciples asked Qin Lingyu as he took a break and caught his breath.
By now, these disciples had been combing the entire woods for almost half a day for Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo. This entourage of people had made haste and travelled for a few days, and their initial plan was to rest today. Yet these plans had been completely ruined, and their rest had ended up turning into a pointless search for Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo.
As a result of this, several disciples wore a dark and gloomy look on their faces, and they directed their anger and frustrations at Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo.
“Forget it, let’s go back then.” Qin Lingyu ordered, “We’ll wait for them until tomorrow. If they still don’t show up by then, we’ll continue on our way without them.”
Even though he seriously coveted the Interspatial Ring on Yao Mo’s hands, the completion of the Sect’s mission was nevertheless of the highest priority. If they dallied for too long, then there was a good chance that they would not be able to complete their tasks in time. This would be an even more unacceptable outcome.
And besides, if Ye Xiuwen and Yao Mo still did not return after another day, then it would be rather safe to a.s.sume that they might already have ended up in the stomachs of spirit beasts.
Hearing Qin Lingyu’s orders, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and followed Qin Lingyu and Ke Xinwen back to their campsite.
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Just like that, an uneventful night pa.s.sed by silently, and the first ray of light on daybreak once again illuminated the earth and penetrated the dense foliage of these woods.
Ye Xiuwen and Jun Xiaomo had stayed in the cavern all night. Even though they could not see the earth being illuminated by light right this moment, they were nevertheless able to guess roughly how much time had pa.s.sed since falling down the hole.
Jun Xiaomo finally rode out the painful and tormenting night, and her body had gradually recovered. After Ye Xiuwen wrapped Jun Xiaomo’s body tightly with blankets and warmed her body up, Jun Xiaomo felt somewhat stifled, so she stretch out her arms from the blankets and hugged Ye Xiuwen tightly. She even rubbed her head in Ye Xiuwen’s chest gingerly.
Ye Xiuwen: ……
Ye Xiuwen did not know why, but ever since it occurred to him that Yao Mo could be Jun Xiaomo, he started to feel rather awkward being so close to Yao Mo. Even after rationalizing and telling himself so many times that Yao Mo could not be Jun Xiaomo, Ye Xiuwen continued to feel strange when he drew closer to Yao Mo.
Just like right now, the young man was rubbing his head and burying his face in his chest, just like a little pet would do.
In these circ.u.mstances, particularly because Ye Xiuwen could not see Yao Mo’s face right now, he would immediately come under the “illusion” that the person in his bosom right now was Jun Xiaomo.
Ye Xiuwen closed his eyes, trying hard to dispel these thoughts that the person in his arms right now was Jun Xiaomo.
But sometimes, when certain thoughts occur to a person, it can be extremely hard to dispel those thoughts no matter how ridiculous they were. Ye Xiuwen looked down, as though he were looking at Jun Xiaomo. Just at that moment, Jun Xiaomo’s eyelids also moved.
Slowly, Jun Xiaomo opened her eyes.
Jun Xiaomo muddleheadedly looked at that blood-stained white garment in front of her eyes. Then, as her eyes looked up, following the edges of the garment, she saw a chest, then a neck, and then finally a pair of clear eyes gazing at her meaningfully, as though deep in thought.
That…What’s going on right now?! Jun Xiaomo’s brain took a double take as she processed the information, and then it struck her like a lightning bolt when she finally realized what kind of mistake she had made again.