Before her body felt like it was falling apart and her hips went completely numb, Yun Qingyue finally caught sight of the sea. Compared to the bustling liveliness of the day she first arrived here, the seaside this afternoon was desolate and quiet.
Only a few children gathering shellfish were working and chatting away.
"Those martial arts people finally all left yesterday."
"Totally, totally!"
"What were they even looking for? Treasure?"
"They were all carrying weapons, so scary..."
"Goudan, how come your little sister didn't come today?"
"At noon today she went to the south bank to wash clothes, and she got scared half to death by someone."
"What happened? What happened? Did those masters beat someone up?"
"No, there was a guy who fell down and threw up a ton of blood. My sister got so scared she ran straight back without even grabbing her things. When my dad, mom, grandpa, and grandma all went over to the south bank together, there was just a huge pool of blood and no person in sight!"
"Ah, what about the guy? Did he die?"
"I don't know, they couldn't find him. But my dad and mom won't let me go play over there anymore. Little Cui is still so spooked she hasn't recovered her wits yet!"
"Ah, then we aren't going to play over there anymore either. Having your soul scared right out of you—how awful!"
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue guessed that the man vomiting blood must be Li Xiangyi. At this point in the timeline, it should be right after the monk rescues him and he comes back to the East Sea.
But where was the south bank? Could the seaside have an opposite shore? Yun Qingyue spun around in place, found south, and headed off leading her horse!
After walking about two kilometers, Yun Qingyue spotted a stretch of reef beach. She had no choice but to tie her horse to a large rock and deploy a robot to keep watch. Crossing the rocky patch, she spotted the traces of blood they had talked about.
So where had Li Xiangyi gone now? Surely he hadn't jumped into the sea?
No, he would never do something like that. He must have felt bad for scaring people and gone into hiding! But where could he possibly hide?
Walking a bit further, she saw a grove of trees. Yun Qingyue resolutely stepped inside, and after a short distance, the woods turned into a bamboo forest.
Suddenly, Yun Qingyue spotted a few drops of blood on the bamboo leaves, and following the trail, she found another patch of blood not far ahead.
Splattered in starry droplets, it was scattered across the bamboo stalks, leaves, and the ground! This was a small hillside; she had no idea how far he had walked.
Still, this Li Xiangyi was something else! He could walk this far while constantly throwing up blood. She really admired him—her own legs already felt a bit like jelly!
Climbing to the top of the hill, she looked around and saw no one. Had she gone the wrong way?
Or should she keep walking? If no one was there, she would just switch directions and search again! Wait, that didn't seem right. Yun Qingyue squatted down and picked up a scrap of fabric. Ah, nice material!
No! She had gone the right way—fabulous! Excitedly standing up, she carefully surveyed her surroundings until she finally spotted what looked like a slip mark off to her front right.
She quickly ran over. Sure enough, at the bottom of a small slope, she saw a person in white with red-trimmed borders lying face down on his side. Right near his jaw was a patch of dried blood.
Judging from the surrounding marks, Li Xiangyi must have slipped. Yun Qingyue hurried over to his side and reached out to test his breathing... Yun Qingyue let out a long sigh of relief, unable to help herself from exclaiming, "Thank goodness, you're still alive! You've got nine lives!"
Yet a new problem arose: Yun Qingyue tried, but she simply couldn't budge this guy! He looked so slender, so how on earth was he this heavy? She couldn't move him at all—how was she supposed to get him out of here?
Right now, she didn't dare pull out a robot to help. If only she had spent a bit of money to hire some villagers to come search with her, instead of dealing with this mess! Right—the Stamina Enhancement Potion!
Because of Yun Qingyue's distrust of the System, these potions had only ever been used on Qi Mushan back on Yunyin Mountain. The rest were still sitting there untouched, so she took one out to see.
The Stamina Enhancement Potion triples a person's stamina after drinking it, lasts for three hours, and has no side effects! ...Screw it! She tilted her head back and gulped down the potion in one breath, instantly feeling like everything before her was trivial.
Yun Qingyue took a deep breath, squatted down, hoisted the man onto her back, and stood up. She tested her balance—good, she was standing. It took a bit of effort, though; after all, this guy had long arms and legs that really got in the way!
Stumbling all the way out of the woods, the man on her back suddenly let out a painful groan, "Ngh... hurts...!"
Startled, Yun Qingyue immediately leaned him against a tree and gently asked, "Li Xiangyi, are you awake? Where does it hurt? My carriage is right up ahead, let me take you to get treated! Li Xiangyi, can you hear me?" A flurry of questions tumbled out of her mouth.
The man in front of her moved slightly, raised his head a fraction, panted heavily, and asked in a weak voice, "Who are you?" Yun Qingyue thought to herself: Even at a time like this, he's still this guarded?
Yun Qingyue: "Never mind who I am. If you can walk, I'll support you. My carriage is right up ahead, getting you treated is what matters most. You're about to die, what are you afraid of?"
Seeing that the man still wouldn't budge, Yun Qingyue grew furious, squatted down without another word, hoisted him onto her back, and started walking.
Now it was the turn of the man on her back to widen his eyes in shock. Yet he was far too weak; just as he moved his arm to get down, he unexpectedly got swatted. "Don't move, behave! You're in this state and you're still thrashing around—careful I drop you. Do you have any idea how heavy you are?"
Li Xiangyi breathed like gossamer, ".........Fine."
Wahhhhh, Yun Qingyue was practically ready to cry. What was she supposed to do next?
There was nothing in the carriage except bedding. How was she supposed to explain the sudden appearance and origin of everything? What if Li Xiangyi didn't believe her?
Lost in her chaotic thoughts, she was completely unaware that the man behind her was scrutinizing and sizing her up.
Li Xiangyi was equally puzzled at the moment. He was certain he didn't know this young woman carrying him. Yet, he genuinely didn't sense any threat or dangerous intent.
That was because this young maid had no inner force; she was red-faced and exhausted from carrying him, every step a struggle. But who was she? Could she have mistaken him for someone else? Surely no one would come looking for him right now!
The nervousness, concern, and panic reflected in the young woman's eyes were real. Yet why did her aura suddenly seem to turn restless again? Was she starting to realize she had the wrong person?
At this point, Yun Qingyue finally gave up on her pointless fretting. She decided to trust this man's character and moral standards; after all, even after suffering a decade of torment, he had ultimately chosen to spare those who had harmed him.
Whether forced or not, in the end he had done it willingly, so surely he wouldn't harm someone who had saved him!
"Put me down, please. I can walk on my own." When the reef beach finally came into view in the distance, the man behind her spoke up abruptly: "The road ahead isn't easy to walk, and I can see you don't have much strength left. I can walk by myself, I just need you to help support me a little. Thank you!"
Oh my god, he was hurt this badly, struggling just to talk, yet he was still this polite and so afraid of troubling others?
Was he already starting to act like those netizens said? No way, she didn't know how to untie emotional knots or give psychological counseling!
Thinking this, Yun Qingyue slowly squatted down just as he had asked, then quickly stood back up to support the wobbling man.
Yun Qingyue: "Are you alright? Let me carry you instead, you're hurt too badly, walking on your own will make your injuries worse, I..."
Li Xiangyi: "It's fine, I can."
Yun Qingyue: "Alright, alright, stop talking and save your energy for walking. I'll support you, we'll take it slow, okay?" Yun Qingyue coaxed him in the tone one might use on a toddler.
Li Xiangyi said nothing, merely casting a faint glance at her before slowly and speechlessly moving forward!
Supporting the injured man with all her might, Yun Qingyue finally reached the carriage. Li Xiangyi looked at the lifeless yet autonomously moving humanoid... er... puppet before him... it was a puppet, right?
He tilted his head slightly to look at the young woman beside him, letting this puppet half-support and half-carry him into the carriage. The maid had climbed in a step ahead of him to lay out the bedding and wait for him!
Hit by a sudden wave of warmth from this unexpected care, Li Xiangyi lowered his head, leaned half-against the carriage wall, and softly said, "Many thanks for the trouble."
Yun Qingyue, completely thrown off by his cautious courtesy all the way here, scratched her head and tentatively said, "So, um... my name is Yun Qingyue, and I know you are Li Xiangyi, the Sigu Sect Master."
Feigning ignorance of Li Xiangyi's startled twitch, she continued: "Six days ago, when I couldn't find you at the East Sea, I went to Yunyin Mountain and rescued Senior Qi from a man in black..."
Li Xiangyi suddenly sat up and grabbed Yun Qingyue's arm: "What did you say? What happened to my master?"
Yun Qingyue hadn't expected it, but since this person was Li Xiangyi, even if she had expected it she couldn't have dodged: "Hey, don't rush, let me finish! Let go, let go, it hurts!"
Li Xiangyi: "Oh, oh, my apologies!" He finally let go. Were his hands made of iron pliers? Ow, that hurt like hell!
Yun Qingyue rubbed her arm and went on: "Both seniors are fine, it's just that Senior Qi was harmed and lost all his cultivation and inner force. I gave the senior medicine, and Senior Cen said that as long as he recuperates properly, his martial arts can be trained back, so don't worry. Right now, the most important thing is your body. External injuries are easy to treat, I can handle those. It's just the poison you've been hit with, I'm a bit unsure what method to use..."
Her words were interrupted by a weak male voice: "Many thanks to the young lady for saving my master. The poison I bear has no cure, so there's no need to trouble the young lady, I..."
Hearing this made Yun Qingyue furious. How could this guy be like this? What a big deal it was to be this pessimistic.
So Yun Qingyue hastily cut Li Xiangyi off, saying angrily: "How can you be like this? What kind of big deal is this? If you're poisoned, you just figure out a way to detoxify it. If you're betrayed by friends, you just ditch them, problem solved! They were blind and threw you away for immediate gains—their loss, wouldn't you say? You can cut your losses in time! Do you know how many people went to the beach looking for you the days you went missing? Do you know how many people cried in frustration because they couldn't find you and felt useless to save you? As for Heroine Qiao breaking up with you... well... that's just because your relationship wasn't a match! If it doesn't match, you split up, no big deal. Just find a matching one later! If shoes don't fit, you swap them for a pair that does. Otherwise, the one who suffers is the person wearing the shoes. Heroine Qiao could let go, and you're a big man and can't figure it out? Such a loser! It's not like the sky is falling and you're about to die right now. For a top hero under heaven, you can't even take a little blow like this? You're even worse off than a little woman like me!"
After rattling off her vent in one breath and taking a few deep breaths to finally calm down, Yun Qingyue realized she had said way too much. She was a total stranger, sticking her nose in where it didn't belong.
Mainly, she simply couldn't stand seeing someone fail to cherish their own life! So she sheepishly apologized: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scold you on purpose, it's just that I can't stand seeing people throw away their lives so casually, I..."
Stunned and bewildered, Li Xiangyi snapped back to his senses and said solemnly, "Many thanks to the young lady for scolding me awake. Everything happened so suddenly that I couldn't react in time and drove myself into a dead end. All the way back to the Sigu Sect, I found that the decisions I made had triggered such severe consequences, and I felt nothing but regret. My former friends, brothers, and fiancee were all blaming me. Those fifty-some righteous men just vanished like that, and I blamed myself endlessly. Not knowing how to make amends, I felt the path ahead was pitch black! Now that the young lady has scolded me awake, I will work hard in the future to make amends for my mistakes!"
Even as he figured things out, Li Xiangyi grew even more guarded inwardly. How on earth did this young woman know all these things? Especially about A-Mian—no one else should possibly know about that!
Who on earth was she? He would just keep her by his side and watch; whatever her motives were, they would eventually come to light!
Yun Qingyue: "Ah, haha, well... um, it's nothing, haha. Well... um... we, we shouldn't talk about this, let's talk about... um, talk about your health, haha!"
Looking at the flustered, gradually blushing young maid before him, Li Xiangyi broke into the first genuine smile he had worn in days and asked, "Then may I ask, Miss Yun, regarding the poison in my body—you mentioned earlier that you had an idea. What method might that be?"
Ah, speaking of that, it was time to get serious: "Alright then, this is external medicine, this is a Detoxification Pill, and this is a Body Recovery Potion. Take care of your external injuries first. We need to find a secluded and safe place, and get you a lot of things prepared before you can take the later doses."
"Go straight down this road on the right, bypass the bamboo grove, and there's a small mountain behind it, but your carriage won't reach the foot of the mountain!" Li Xiangyi pointed out a direction and told Yun Qingyue to drive the carriage.
"...I'll treat the wounds now, but what about this carriage...?" Yun Qingyue sprang into action. Right in front of him, she put the robot away, not missing the astonishment in his eyes, his constricted pupils, or the hesitation in his speech.
Yet, Yun Qingyue feigned total casualness and said, "See? This isn't a problem, nothing to worry about. Hurry up and treat your injuries, I'm going to drive, bye-bye!" Waving her hand, she dropped the carriage curtain and let out a long breath.
Yun Qingyue thought to herself: Since I've made up my mind, I won't hesitate. I have to trust myself, and I have to trust Li Xiangyi's character. If worst comes to worst, I'll just hide. Anyway, with all my equipment, running far away to hide won't be a problem at all. Let's do this!!!