Chapter 14: A Bug Eating Through The Heart (Part 4 of 4)
Phoenix"s coquettish eyes narrowed, and suddenly in the darkness of the night, he gave me a smile. It was like white snow suddenly falling on a mountain that was teeming with burning red plums - extremely dazzling. The surrounding people all froze at Phoenix"s smile, the cheeks of the immortals in the bird tribe suddenly floated two intoxicated red clouds, the Peac.o.c.k G.o.ddess" eyes twinkled.
But a dash of cold wind pa.s.sed through my body. Although Phoenix was usually mercurial in his moods, his personality leaned towards the dark. He was usually cold and scathing towards me, for him to suddenly smile at me, I couldn"t help but gave a cold shudder, I was so frightened I lowered my head.
The ends of Phoenix"s robes moved even though there was no wind, the precious sword in his hand was suddenly pulled out of the scabbard. The sound of the sword being unsheathed was sharp and glaring to the ears, the sharp blade of the sword slowly pa.s.sed very closely to my downcast eyes. My heart was alarmed.
Master Pu Chi moved and the side of his body blocked me from the front. His back was straight and tight, as if he was an arrow on a stretched bow, he had a fully prepared and antic.i.p.ating aura. The two of them were caught in impa.s.se, suddenly Phoenix raised his head upwards and laughed darkly, "Why? Can I even hurt Night"s wife?" When he finished speaking, he turned his body with a swish of his robes. It was like the pouring rain after the fierce clashing of thunder, he left a group of people awkwardly staring at each other.
The Peac.o.c.k G.o.ddess gave me a look then she hurriedly chased after Phoenix. I did not know if I had sensed wrongly, but in her gaze I sensed an unfriendly wrath.
I dazedly watched their retreating shadows, my soul was still frightened and unsteady. I wasn"t sure if in the smiling eyes of Phoenix, I had actually read a killing intent that had quickly flashed by.
I saw the Peac.o.c.k G.o.ddess chased after Phoenix within a hundred steps and said something to him, Phoenix waved his hands at her as if in rejection. The Peac.o.c.k G.o.ddess reluctantly led her bird tribe immortals towards the palace where the Heavenly Empress resided, with each step, she turned back thrice. But Phoenix remained where he stood, he lifted up his head towards the night sky full of stars, it was not clear what he was thinking about. The guardsmen behind him stood tall and stern, the weapons in their hands shone with an intimidating aura.
Master Pu Chi let out a breath of air and said, "Truly, he fights and love in the same way. Since Phoenix became the Fire G.o.d, the fire in his stomach has only grown."
I said lightly, "No wonder he needs to self incinerate every five hundred years."
"Self incinerate? Beauty is speaking of the nirvana fire rebirth?" Master Pu Chi thought for a moment and decided, "That is indeed an accurate description."
At this, there was a sound of alarmed surprise within a hundred steps, "His highness!"
I turned towards the shout of the sky soldiers and saw that Phoenix"s precious sword had dropped onto the ground, he held his chest and he staggered, his footsteps were not steady, it seemed like the general who was as strong as the mountain was about to collapse. I did not know if my divine consciousness was still affected by Phoenix"s murderous intent, but seeing Phoenix about to faint, I moved faster than I could think, in a moment I had left behind Master Pu Chi who had still been muttering to me and had reached Phoenix.
I pushed away the surrounding sky soldiers and saw that one of the soldiers was holding Phoenix"s arm, Phoenix"s eyes were closed as he held his chest, his brows furrowed together as if he was suppressing a deep painful torture, he said, "It"s fine, it is only the old pain from the Plague Needles, I need only tolerate it for a while and it will go away."
My heart was struck, so it was a bug slowly eating through the bottom of one"s heart. I heard the soldier hurriedly said, "Since it"s pain from an illness, then one must seek a diagnosis, one should not tolerate and let it drag out. I shall bring his highness to Lao Jun to seek a diagnosis and get some medicinal pills."
"There is no need to hurry, I have medicine to heal the Fire G.o.d"s illness," After I spoke, I immediately regretted, just now Phoenix wanted to kill me but I did not bear any resentment and actually wanted to save him, I was indeed overly generous.
"What good method does Jin Mi Immortal have?" Who knew that despite the soldier"s honest face, he would still suspect me?
I lazily said, "It is only a few divine lingzhi holy gra.s.s, even if it cannot heal the Fire G.o.d"s illness , it will not kill him."
"Divine lingzhi holy gra.s.s!" The soldier"s thick honest face turned red, he must have felt shame for suspecting me. He immediately apologised and commanded the men to carry Phoenix back to his palace for me to give the medicine.
On the way back to the palace, I noticed that Phoenix"s eyes were half closed, he did not speak, his expression was indecipherable, it was not clear what he was thinking, it was not known if he was in pain. Only when the soldiers placed him on his bed in his bedchambers did he slowly open his eyes, but he did not even look at me once, he only stretched out his arms, waved his hands at the soldiers, and they naturally left.
Phoenix"s eyes closed again and both of his hands were placed on his stomach. He was silent as he laid on the bed, his brows tightly furrowed, his cheeks clenched, it appeared that it was so painful that he had to bite his teeth down. But, his face was no longer weak and white, in fact there seemed to be a light glow of joy spreading.
As I exercised my powers to grow the divine lingzhi holy gra.s.s, I nervously examined my surroundings. In the large bedchambers, there was no one else, if Phoenix tried to slash me with a sword when he woke up, there really would be no one to stop him.
Thinking of this, my hands could not help but gave one shudder, I was truly regretful. I started to think of whether I should renege on my promise and sneakily leave while Phoenix was still faint. At this moment, Phoenix gave out a light sound, it seemed he was truly in pain, his ten fingers slowly bent forward, seeing him like this, the strangeness of the bug in his heart suddenly attacked me again. Unconsciously, I forgot about my intention to leave, I tightened my grip on the budding divinelingzhi holy gra.s.s.
But my heart could not help finding it strange, the previous time when Phoenix was injured by the Plague Needles, I had already given him the divine lingzhi holy gra.s.s to take, I also did not hear of him having any signs of pain or residue symptoms afterwards. Why after he showed such a burst of energy by swiping a sword at me, he would suddenly break down on the floor?
Although I had my suspicions, I also thought that Phoenix was always compet.i.tive and headstrong, he would never show a single trace of weakness to anyone, much less pretend to be sick. Thus, I let go of my suspicions and brought the water that had been boiled with the divine lingzhi to the bed. I saw that Phoenix"s eyes were opened and he was gazing steadfastly at me. I was so surprised that I almost poured the water in my hands on his face.
With some effort, I steadied my mind and said, "Since you are awake, you should drink thislingzhi water. I will no longer interrupt you and will head back."
As I just turned around, I heard a painful groan. When I turned back, I saw that one of Phoenix"s palms was holding his forehead, the other hand grabbed the side of the bed, the force of which was so great that the knuckles started to turn white.
I observed for a moment then sat at the bedside and ma.s.saged his forehead. I asked casually, "Wasn"t it your chest that hurt just now? Why is it now your head?" The hand that was holding onto the side of the bed very cooperatively clutched at Phoenix"s heart, there were two beads of sweat in the middle of his brows, he lightly gasped, "I only feel my whole body aching, I can"t pinpoint where it aches..."
Seeing Phoenix"s face full of pain and suppression, I overlooked that strange feeling of a bug eating through my heart. I must say that I experienced some satisfaction - who asked him to bully the weak fruit me previously on the basis that he was older and had greater divine cultivation.
After observing for a while, finally, I kindly carried him up, he leaned on the bed frame as I fed him the lingzhi water. Who knew that when his thin lips touched the spoon, he turned his head away and said disdainfully, "Too hot."
I had no choice, I could only blow the spoon with my mouth, then tried to feed him. He would lightly taste it and then drank it down with some compromise. A small bowl, under his picky disdain, took at least one hour to finish. If I had known earlier that it would have been so much trouble, I would have knocked him unconscious and poured it through his mouth!
I carried him to lie down on the bed comfortably, seeing his breath stabilise, his brows relaxed, I thought he must be ok, and stood up to leave. But, everytime I stood up, Phoenix would start to moan in pain. Since, we flower world people always wanted to complete a good thing we started, I could only grow more divine lingzhi and made medicine for him. Over one night, he actually ate five divine lingzhi holy gra.s.s before he finally slept. This was truly a wasteful extravagance!
I was tired after waiting on him for a night, so I was too lazy to move. I laid on the bedside and fell asleep for a while. When I woke up, I habitually rubbed my eyes but felt that something was pressing onto my right hand. Phoenix"s face was using my hand as a pillow, and he slept with a face full of satisfaction.
I was angry and took back my hand to go towards the door. As I left, I heard a voice that sounded like an illusion, "So, your heart still has a few traces for me?"
Phoenix must be dreaming.
As I left the palace, there were a few female immortals who had greeted me with surprise. Since I had not been here in a while, it was only natural that they showed some concern for me when they saw me walk out of Phoenix"s bedchambers in the morning.
I lifted up my head to look at the rising sun. The "yin"* hour had just pa.s.sed and there were very few people walking on the streets of heaven. I slowly and leisuredly walked forward and saw that at the end of the street was a seven coloured rainbow. I couldn"t help being surprised, there was no rain yesterday, so how could there be a rainbow? I suddenly remembered what Night had once said, if you walked on the rainbow bridge, you would reach the Four Stars palace. The previous times when I went to Four Stars palace, it was Night that led me. So, I took the rainbow bridge and tried to find my own way to Night"s place to seek some breakfast.
*This is between 3 to 5 am.
Comment: I think the first time Phoenix collapsed, he was really experiencing heart pain. But, later, he pretended to be ill to take advantage of Jin Mi. I am in full approval of it - it"s nice to see that Jin Mi does have a heart. I always found this metaphor of a bug eating through the heart interesting - the bug is perhaps also eating the unfeeling pill?
But my favourite part of this chapter was actually the rainbow bridge. I like to think Night left it there for Jin Mi.