Chapter 7s.h.i.+n Jiao was unable to move as he was sitting behind her, Cherry Lao"s head is in his arm and her eyes are throwing daggers on him. He was a little embarra.s.sed as he saw her jade-white twin peaks covered with a bra that he made from the wolf"s skin. Her eyes suddenly tear up as indignation and shame filled her heart. As a virtuous maiden, how could she accept that a man has seen her body and worse clothe her?
"Umn… I"m… I"m sorry… I promise I didn"t violate or did anything to you while you are unconscious. I just clothe you a little as your old clothes barely covered your body anymore. I haven"t finished making the rest of the clothes so…" s.h.i.+n Jiao tried to explain.
Those words from s.h.i.+n Jiao made the situation worst and her feeling of being disgraced grew more. It was a confirmation that he really did saw her naked body which is hard to bear for a maiden. This made her eyes start to wet and then she started sobbing as tears won"t stop falling. And since she can"t lift her hand she was unable to hide her pitiful face from s.h.i.+n Jiao.
Seeing this s.h.i.+n Jiao"s heart felt a little depressed, he knows that he made a big mistake. Seeing her starts to cry louder broke his heart, especially upon looking at her pure eyes and almost angelic feature. So without a choice, he put the soup down, grab the wolf skin blanket to cover her body and carefully wipe her tears.
"Look I promise you this. If you get well I"ll let you hit me as a punishment for your grievances, okay? So stop crying now, you have to eat. Please…" s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a small sigh trying to console her.
Seeing the sincere and pleading look in his eyes, Cherry Lao"s anger was like a burning coal being douse with water. His caring eyes and that smile made her heart skip a beat and her sobbing gradually stopped.
"Why am I feeling this way towards him? He clearly is a stranger to me. I should be angry because of what he did to me especially him seeing my whole…" she thought as her face turn red thinking of what might have happened.
"Okay, stop crying now. Here… eat this first." s.h.i.+n Jiao said as he feeds her the soup with care.
Because of the damage taken by her body, she was almost paralyzed and was unable to move, so s.h.i.+n Jiao patiently feeds her. After finis.h.i.+ng the soup he laid her body carefully on the bed and tucked her in. Cherry Lao this time had already calmed down and accepted the fact that the young man in front of her is the one who saved her life. Although he had seen what he shouldn"t have, she didn"t have a choice as it already happened. Judging from his reactions it seems that he didn"t really care about that matter so she just let it be. Well, she also has seen him naked and that thing… thinking up to this part Cherry Lao"s face began to blush once more.
After eating some soup too and cleaning the place, s.h.i.+n Jiao sat beside her. And as if it"s just natural, he grabs her wrist and checked her pulse. She was shocked by his actions but didn"t react that much.
"What do you think you"re doing?" she asked with an annoyed voice.
"I"m just checking your pulse to make sure that your body is healing well. Don"t worry I"m well trained when it comes to this kind of things."
s.h.i.+n Jiao didn"t bother looking at her as he busies himself checking and feeling her pulse. His only wish at this time is to be able to control spiritual energy, as it would be easier to check the body condition using the Qi. Hearing his explanation she just kept her mouth shut, what can she do? She can"t even move her body, only her neck and up are mobile for now.
"Just one questions though. Do you know medicine? Or do you have any healing potion or pill?" s.h.i.+n Jiao asked as he remembers that some cultivators have knowledge in medicine.
He knows that the woman has a spatial tool as when he was cleaning her body, he didn"t see any pouch in her, but the red ring on her finger with might have been a spatial tool but he is unable to use Qi so he is unable to open it.
"Yes, I have some healing pills in my ring. But it is locked with my spiritual mark, so you will not be able to open it."
"Oh, I see… Well, we have no choice then but to wait for your own body to heal itself up… But don"t worry, I will protect you and help you okay?" s.h.i.+n Jiao a.s.sured her with a smile.
Seeing him smile handsomely made Cherry Lao"s heart beats faster. And then a tinge of red appear on her jade-white cheeks. s.h.i.+n Jiao was dumbstruck upon seeing the beautiful blush on her face.
"d.a.m.n, this girl is too beautiful. I have to control myself, this is a new world and I don"t want to attract problems." He said to himself as he averted his gaze.
Both of them stayed in the cave for a couple of days, they began to make small talks about their lives. s.h.i.+n Jiao, presented himself as a traveler from a small village who wanted to explore the world. He explained that since his village is small and secluded he is uncultured of the world around him. Which makes sense that he is truly ignorant of almost everything. While talking he learned about her background and why she is in the forest. But there are things that she didn"t disclose about her. This made their interaction a little bit close and the awkwardness between them slowly disappear.
After a few days, s.h.i.+n Jiao would go out every now and then to gain more experience and learn more about the place he is in. The sphere in his dantian steadily increased, and after 5 days it is already at 10 spheres. What confused him now is that no matter how many beasts he hunts the sphere won"t increase. So he changed his focus on researching and making new artifacts or equipment in secret. He didn"t want to show his ability yet even to Cherry Lao as it might endanger his or her life in the future.
Every day he did his job taking care of her and gives her everything she needs. Because of his action, she starts to feel the reliance on him. Although she can"t absorb spiritual energy anymore, since her body is already refined, the food she consumes is absorbed by her body automatically and serves as a catalyst to repair her damaged organs and tendons slowly.
"I guess this is how it feels like to have a man to rely on." She said to herself as she thought of the things he did for her.
Though s.h.i.+n Jiao helps her every day, she felt like he just doing it like a service or pity towards her. They talk, they laugh but she felt like he was to reserve and cautious.
"Is he not attracted to me? Maybe I"m not that attractive to him or he had a special preference." She thought to herself as she looks at his nonchalant reaction every time they converse.
But this also made her appreciate him more as a man. Although she is not thinking of finding a partner yet as her goal is to be a powerful cultivator. But if she could find someone someday, she wanted her man to be like s.h.i.+n Jiao. Someone who would talk to her and even hear her out when she complains.
Two weeks later…
The darkness of the night was chased out by the glorious light of the rising sun. Inside a cave, where a dim luminous stone is the only source of light. Cherry Lao slowly opens her eyes and a smile appear on her small mouth. As morning is one of her most antic.i.p.ated part of the day, because of every day. s.h.i.+n Jiao would always carry her outside the cave to help her absorb the morning rays of the sun. Every time she would think about being hugged by him she can"t help but blush.
She then shyly touched her face and giggled as she slowly turns to look at the side where s.h.i.+n Jiao usually sleeps. But seeing that no one was there she suddenly frowns and felt displeased, then she suddenly froze and her eyes went wide open. She felt two soft hands on her face and a realization suddenly dawned on her. She can now move her limbs and body, although still a little stiff at least it"s the start.
Then she forced herself to sit with great difficulty. When she was able to do that Cherry Lao felt happy. Now a glimmer of hope can be seen in her eyes. While she was still entranced by her recovery, the stone door of the cave slowly opens and s.h.i.+n Jiao enters. When he saw the woman on the bed sitting while wearing the rough beast skin clothing he made, he felt surprised and happy at the same time.
"Oh, you can sit now! That"s amazing! I guess your body is almost healed." s.h.i.+n Jiao excitedly walks towards the bed and sat beside her.
"Yeah, I can move my body now, but a little stiff though. I can still feel some pain when I move. I think I still need a couple of days to be able to heal completely."
"That"s good… how about spiritual energy? Can you absorb it now?"
"Wait a minute I"ll try…" Cherry Lao said as she closed her eyes and feel her surroundings.
Then she suddenly opens her eyes and shook her head.
"No I can"t, I don"t know what the problem is." She said in a sad tone.
"Hey, don"t feel down. I"ll help you with that problem okay. At least now you can move." s.h.i.+n Jiao cheered.
"s.h.i.+n, thank you for taking care of me all this time."
"Geez, what are you thanking me for. Aren"t we friends?"
Cherry Lao bit her lower lip upon hearing his answer. She felt like there"s something wrong with her, as she felt a little frustrated and angered by what he said.
The following days, s.h.i.+n Jiao spends his time helping her regain her movements slowly. He also improves the way he makes clothes using beast skin, as they now feel and look like proper clothing. He improved making clothes for her so that she would feel relaxed and not too cautious around him. After another week, she can now move around the cave. Although she still can"t absorb spiritual energies, at least she can now walk by herself and help with the ch.o.r.es. Then she discovered some weird things in the cave that s.h.i.+n Jiao always uses, like the metal box with two holes at the top which he uses to cook food. With a twist of a k.n.o.b, you can control the heat without using your own energy because it uses a beast core. And what she likes the most is the one he called bathtub, whenever she takes a bath she can choose the temperature of the water which makes her feel relaxed and comfortable. These amazing things made her a little curious about who he really is.
Meanwhile, outside the cave which is full of danger a shadow is traveling through the forest by jumping from tree to tree, this shadow is s.h.i.+n Jiao. He is moving like a specter wearing weird black goggles, black leather jacket, black pants with a side holster holding a Glock 17 handgun artifact, then a dark wakizas.h.i.+ blade on his back, and military-like boots with some strange runes in it. These are some of the equipment that he crafted combining his modern knowledge and the crafting method of Gubu.
As he swiftly moves through the forest he can feel the effect of his equipment. First is the goggles, which has the ability to detect spiritual signatures, night vision, heat vision, and can zoom in and out for about 3,000 km. This idea is actually not his, but of Gubu. He just modified the blueprint and made it smaller hence it becomes a goggle. The second is the boots which can improve the agility and speed by 3 times the normal speed of the wearer through the use of runes and a beast core.
While he was monitoring and trying the usage of his newly crafted artifacts a loud roar interrupted his thought. Not too far from him is a tall cliff, a giant monkey-like creature suddenly plummeted to the ground. Its body is full of wounds as blood sprayed everywhere as it fell. Then he saw that it was smashed into a pulp on the rocky side of the cliff. He first observes the surroundings as s.h.i.+n Jiao is afraid of encountering another beast who might be stronger than the giant monkey. Judging from the appearance of the monkey it is a level 3 beast which s.h.i.+n Jiao could not face head-on. If it was defeated, then maybe it"s enemy if above it in level or another level 3 beast but stronger.
After some time, as no other creature appear. s.h.i.+n Jiao decided to approach the carca.s.s of the giant monkey. He then quickly store it in his ring and ran. Using his goggles he detected a giant snake"s energy signature at the top which is now moving away from the cliff.
s.h.i.+n Jiao decided to just run back while checking his surroundings to prevent himself from being followed. Since his goggles are like an X-ray vision of organisms with spiritual or natural energy he can evade facing other beasts. Not to mention being followed. Not long after, he reached the cave and breathe a sigh of relief. Before entering the cave he hid all his equipment in his ring.
As he enters the first thing he notices is the beautiful figure of Cherry Lao who is focused on cultivating while sitting on the bed. This made s.h.i.+n Jiao smile as he can feel a simple fluctuation of energy around her body. Although not that strong the energy is there, and that is the first time he felt the spiritual energy, which gave him an idea of what to do next for his cultivation.