Chapter 994

Night fell, the medicine immortal went to rest in the neighboring room, leaving Han Wuxian to guard the still-unconscious Yan Xirou. Outside the thatched hut, creatures in the swamp emitted various eerie sounds, and occasionally the distant howl of an unknown animal could be heard.

Han Wuxian sat beside Yan Xirou, carefully wiping the cold sweat from her forehead with a damp cloth. The woman suddenly shifted uneasily, her lips parting slightly as she uttered a faint sleep-talk:

"Don't... father... I was wrong..."

Han Wuxian startled—this was the first time he heard Yan Xirou mention her family. Her expression turned anguished, tears sliding from the corners of her tightly shut eyes.

"It's all right..." he gently patted her shoulder, like soothing a frightened child, "You're safe now."

Yan Xirou seemed to hear him, gradually calming. Han Wuxian was about to withdraw his hand when she suddenly seized his wrist with astonishing strength.

"Don't leave..." she murmured in her dream, her voice carrying a vulnerability never before heard: "Don't leave me alone..."

Han Wuxian's heart trembled; he let her hold him: "I won't go."

Moonlight seeped through the crack in the window, falling on Yan Xirou's face. At that moment she shed her usual cold hardness, appearing especially young and fragile. Han Wuxian suddenly realized that, despite fighting side by side for so long, he knew almost nothing about her past.

"What have you been through..." he asked softly, of course receiving no answer.

After an unknown span of time, Han Wuxian also grew drowsy. Just as he was about to close his eyes, Yan Xirou suddenly spoke—this time not sleep-talk, her voice soft yet clear:

"Han Wuxian... why did you save me..."

Han Wuxian started, thinking she had awakened, but found her eyes still tightly shut, as if she were unconsciously confiding in a half-dream, half-waking state.

"Back in Lin Shan Cheng... I could have escaped on my own..." her voice broke: "No one has ever... risked danger for me..."

Han Wuxian held his breath, daring not to disturb this rare moment of frankness.

"My father... I don't understand why he would personally hand me over...." a tear rolled down: "Only you... ask for nothing in return..."

Her voice faded, her breathing returning to steady. Han Wuxian's heart surged—beneath that icy exterior lay such deep loneliness and pain.

He gently grasped her hand: "From now on, you won't be alone."

Those words felt like a promise, ringing especially clear in the silent thatched hut.

At dawn, Yan Xirou jolted awake, instinctively assuming a defensive posture. After clearing her surroundings, she relaxed and then noticed Han Wuxian asleep, slumped beside the bed. His hand still held hers, warm and dry.

She reflexively tried to pull her hand away, but stopped upon seeing Han Wuxian's weary face. In the sunlight, his eyelashes cast tiny shadows on his face, and the corner of his mouth bore a freshly healed scar—left from blocking a Profound Gate cultivator's sword for her.

He is merely a Golden Core cultivator—how could he do this?

An unfamiliar soft emotion spread through her chest, and Yan Xirou let out a gentle sigh.

Just then, the medicine immortal burst into the hut: "Someone has broken the formation!"

Yan Xirou immediately sat up, then steadied herself against the wall from dizziness. Han Wuxian also woke; they exchanged a glance and both looked out the window—far above the swamp, several sword lights pierced the toxic mist, flying toward the hut.

"Profound Gate people!" Han Wuxian struggled to his feet; though the poison had been dispelled, his body remained weak.

The medicine immortal cursed, snatching a skull from the wall: "You dare intrude on my turf—you're tired of living!"

Yan Xirou forced herself to stand, her legs still trembling: "We must go; we can't implicate the medicine immortal."

"Too late." The medicine immortal sneered: "They've already found this place." He turned to Han Wuxian: "There's a secret passage in the rear chamber leading to the other side of the swamp—take her through."

Han Wuxian supported Yan Xirou: "And you?"

The medicine immortal's eyes flared with green light: "I haven't stretched my bones in ages." He patted the row of oddly colored vials at his waist: "Perfect chance to test my newly concocted poison."

Yan Xirou gave the medicine immortal a deep look: "Your lifesaving kindness is unforgettable."

The medicine immortal waved a hand: "Hurry up and get out—don't die outside and waste my Seven-Revolutions Resurrection Pill."

Han Wuxian half-supported, half-carried Yan Xirou toward the rear chamber. As they neared the door, he glanced back. The medicine immortal stood in the doorway, his stooped frame suddenly seeming to tower, surrounded by an eerie green glow.

The secret passage was damp and dark; the two staggered forward. Yan Xirou's condition was worse than imagined, and after only a short distance she began to pant.

"Rest a moment." Han Wuxian had her lean against the wall and sit: "They won't catch up right away."

Yan Xirou shook her head: "We can't stop... Profound Gate has tracking arts..." She tried to rise, but her legs gave way and she pitched forward.

Han Wuxian caught her just in time; the woman's slender frame felt astonishingly light in his arms. Their eyes met, and both recalled the unspoken promise from last night.

"I'll carry you." Han Wuxian turned and squatted: "This time I'll be the one to bring you."

Yan Xirou hesitated a moment, then clung to his back. They continued through the passage, faint sounds of fighting and screams echoing behind them—whether from the medicine immortal or the Profound Gate cultivators, unknown.

At the end of the passage lay a concealed swamp exit, outside a dense reed thicket. Han Wuxian emerged carrying Yan Xirou; the morning sun stabbed at their eyes, making them hard to keep open.

"Head east..." Yan Xirou whispered in his ear: "Thirty li away lies an abandoned Daoist temple."

Han Wuxian adjusted his posture, making sure she wouldn't be scratched by the reeds: "Hold on tight."

He stepped eastward; the weight on his back gave him a strange sense of steadiness. Though the road ahead was unknown and strong foes pursued, his heart felt unusually calm, for they were no longer fighting alone.

In the swaying reeds, the two figures gradually receded, leaving only a faint trail of footprints that the swamp's mist soon blurred away...

Elsewhere.

The medicine immortal looked at the fallen Profound Kun Dao cultivator, sneering: "Just because you're a few Void Refinement cultivators, you dare break into my home?"

"You.... Wang Tie, you dare!"

"Hmph."

After watching those cultivators succumb to poison and die, Wang Tie drew a deep breath.

"I never expected that by sheer chance I'd saved that fellow's daughter, but... such a fiend could stir up wind and rain even as a mortal, and now he's the Five Regions' recognized Gray Mist Yanluo; to take revenge, we'd likely need his daughter's help."

Wang Tie gritted his teeth; in truth he wished that man's whole family would perish. He had once thought him merely a wealthy commoner—who could have imagined that six hundred years later he'd become a great calamity plaguing the Five Regions?

Wang Tie had been doing well in his own sect, even finding an opportunity to break through to late Void Refinement, but who could have imagined... that day two hundred years ago....

His sect was utterly slaughtered, his dao partner Long Yu died tragically, and only he and his junior martial brother Xiao Ran, who were out traveling, escaped the catastrophe....

With such a great grudge, how could we not avenge it!