Chapter 236: with translation of chapter title

"You're looking for death?"

Before he could feel the slickness on his neck, Niu Dingtian's intoxication wore off, and he shouted coldly.

His hand was extremely strong; in that instant, the person in the dark lost all strength to resist.

Although it was pitch black before his eyes and he could see nothing, a rich fragrance assailed his nostrils, mixed with a faint smell of blood. Obviously, this person was not Bao Tong.

Feeling sudden wetness beside his hand, Niu Dingtian took out the fire striker from the head of the bed, lit it, and by the weak flame saw a pair of eyes brimming with tears, full of despair.

"Is it you?"

Niu Dingtian startled, and the force in his hand involuntarily eased a bit.

The person before him was none other than the black-clad woman who had thrown chopsticks at him in the Pine-and-Crane Pavilion this afternoon.

At this moment, her left arm was wrapped in a layer of black gauze, bleeding outward, and a small crossbow mechanism peeked out from her sleeve.

Upon seeing Niu Dingtian's face, she immediately held back her tears and fear, suppressed the feeling of suffocation in her neck, and locked her eyes with his in a stubborn stare.

"She must have been wounded outside, then caught by the midnight downpour, and fled into the grass hut."

"Or perhaps someone is hunting her down."

Niu Dingtian pondered briefly, and a plan formed in his mind.

If she had really come for him, what she shot at the Pine-and-Crane Pavilion this afternoon wouldn't have been chopsticks.

After glancing at the wound on the black-clad woman's left arm, Niu Dingtian removed her crossbow mechanism and slowly loosened his grip on her neck.

"Cough cough cough..."

Free from restraint, the black-clad woman's eyes burned with tears as she clutched her neck and coughed violently.

Niu Dingtian lit the oil lamp, sat on the bedboard made of embedded wooden sticks, and mused: "You shot me three arrows; I choked you once; nobody died, so nobody should blame anyone."

As soon as his words fell, the black-clad woman, who had just caught her breath, sprang up like a fur‑bristling wildcat, seized a blue‑stamped Asura blade, and slashed at Niu Dingtian.

Although her gaze was fierce, her strength was directly weakened by eighty percent due to her injury.

At that moment, she exerted force suddenly, and blood gushed from the wound on her arm like a flood.

Niu Dingtian lightly chopped with his palm; the precious sword clanged to the ground. The black-clad woman still wanted to attack, but before she could swing her arm, she went limp and collapsed onto the bedboard.

Afterward, she gripped the edge of the blanket with her right hand, forced herself upright, and stared coldly at Niu Dingtian.

Niu Dingtian didn't really care; some people's aggressiveness is merely a facade, meant to hide their inner inferiority and unease.

Just now, the tears and fear in that girl's eyes, he had seen them crystal clearly.

After a moment of contemplation, Niu Dingtian looked into the black-clad woman's eyes and asked:

"Did you swim here from the lake?"

The black-clad woman said nothing; her eyes held no warmth, still staring at Niu Dingtian.

Merely her slightly trembling body and her gradually disordered breathing showed that she was certainly feeling unwell.

Niu Dingtian let out a soft sigh; this was obviously a girl with a psychological defect.

After glancing at the water stain on the bedside that looked like wrung‑out wet clothes, he got up, found a stack of dry firewood, lit it in the mud‑built earth stove, set up an iron pot, poured in clear water, then took out the earlier torn silk robe, tore a few long strips of cloth, and threw them in.

Afterward, he simply stood by the earth stove, head lowered, watching the water in the pot until it boiled.

Seeing Niu Dingtian's actions, the black‑clad woman on the bedboard had wariness in her eyes.

Outside the house the heavy rain continued, but the flames in the stove also dispelled much of the indoor dampness.

Niu Dingtian extinguished the fire, picked out the cloth strips and hung them on the pot's edge, then looked at the black‑clad woman and said: "The wound easily festers if it touches raw water; later, when the hot water cools, we'll wash the wound, and after the strips dry we'll bandage it."

Having said that, he picked up his clothes, opened his umbrella, turned and walked out of the grass hut, arriving at the nearby cool pavilion.

He was soaked all over, feeling miserable, and needed to change clothes quickly.

But just as he undid his belt, he heard the grass hut next door creak open.

The door was opened.

Afterward, a figure stumbled out from inside, braving the rain toward the boat. The lake surface was pitch black, and in the blink of an eye the black‑clad woman vanished from sight.

Niu Dingtian raised his eyebrows and shouted:

"Miss, the boat can't be rowed away! I need it to get into town for a drink!"

These words aren't nonsense; I deliberately commandeered Bao Tong's small boat just for convenience in travel—how could I let someone snatch it away as soon as I got hold of it?

"Plunk——"

But just as his words fell, a splashing sound suddenly came from the lake, indistinct in the pouring rain.

"Any fish?"

Niu Dingtian froze for a moment.

"How could this be such a coincidence?"

Having realized it, he hurriedly leapt out of the cool pavilion and lunged toward the ink‑black lake surface.

……

After a dozen breaths——

Returning to shore once more, Niu Dingtian horizontally embraced a delicate figure and entered the grass hut with a grim face.

Both were soaked as if immersed in water; their heavy clothes clung tightly to their bodies, continuously dripping water onto the ground.

Upon reaching the bedside, Niu Dingtian glanced at the person in his arms, then at the bedboard, and a hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

The bed had a grass mat, rice straw, and a quilt; if he simply laid her down like that, and the weather didn't clear up over the next few days, he wouldn't be able to sleep on the bed.

But no matter what, with injuries this severe, her soaking‑wet clothes must be removed, after all, his current cultivation isn't strong enough to dry water‑logged garments.

Feeling the delicate body in his arms trembling like a swinging pendulum, Niu Dingtian hesitated slightly, then pulled off the green satin cloak she was wearing.

Before his eyes appeared an exquisite, otherworldly face; due to her injuries, it was now excessively pallid, devoid of any color.

When his gaze fell upon her fair, slender neck and he saw a bluish‑purple choke mark, Niu Dingtian couldn't help but start.

……

What a sin!

What sin……

He sighed softly and carefully unwound the black gauze from the woman's wound.

He sighed lightly, then carefully untied the black gauze bandage on the woman's wound.

He reached into his chest and pulled out a boxwood comb, a bronze mirror, two pink handkerchiefs, and three small wooden boxes.

He reached into his bosom and pulled out a boxwood comb, a bronze mirror, two pink handkerchiefs, and three small wooden boxes.

She still has a womanly charm.

She still has a womanly charm.

Niudingtian thought silently.

Niu Dingtian thought silently.

He took off his outer clothing and socks, then placed the girl on the wooden bed.

He removed his outer clothes and socks, and Niu Dingtian laid the girl on the bed board.

He cleaned the blood from around her wound, exposing an ulcer that had started to turn pale.

He wiped away the blood around her wound, revealing an ulcerated sore that had already begun to whiten.

While washing her wound with a warm-water-soaked cloth, the girl, though hazy, still felt pain and her body trembled and shrank.

As he cleaned her wound with a cloth dipped in warm water, the girl, still dazed, felt pain and her body shrank back trembling.

I ought to have brought some sorghum wine.

I should have brought back some sorghum liquor.

After cleaning her, he gazed at her snow-white arms and murmured.

After cleaning, looking at the girl's arms, white as snow, Niu Dingtian muttered to himself.

The wound was festering, lacking any healing ointment or anti-inflammatory medicine, and the humid, rainy weather made it hard to treat.

The wound is somewhat ulcerated; there's no wound medicine, no anti-inflammatory drug, and with the damp, overcast weather, it's troublesome.

While pondering with a frown, he noticed the girl's faint, deep, sweet and cloying fragrance, and his heart fluttered.

As he frowned in thought, he caught the girl's faint, heavy, sweet, cloying scent, and his heart stirred suddenly.

There's no medicine to borrow... Ah Bi said it's more than ten li to the southeast.

No medicine to borrow…… A Bi said it's over ten li to the southeast.

The night is dark, but if you follow the direction and row, you'll always spot lights even in the dead of night.

The night is dark, but as long as you follow the direction and row, you can always see lights even late at night.

Having thought of that, he swiftly got up, grabbed two thick cloths, tucked them into the girl's damp undergarments, covered her with a blanket, then moved the earthen stove next to the wooden board and lit a fire.

Thinking of this, he quickly rose, found two thick cloths, stuffed them into the girl's wet underclothes, covered her with a blanket, then moved the earthen stove beside the board and lit a pile of firewood.

After finishing everything, Niudingtian picked up the Asura sword from the ground, stepped out of the thatched hut, and quickly disappeared into the dark night.

Having done all that, Niu Dingtian picked up the Asura Blade from the ground, left the grass hut, and swiftly disappeared into the pitch‑black night. (End of chapter)