Chapter 282

All around was silent; only the bright moon hung in the sky, and the shadows of trees lay upon the ground.

Suddenly, a dark cloud drifted across the sky, blotting out the moonlight.

The whole world plunged back into darkness.

Yilin had her true Qi sealed, so her eyesight was no different from an ordinary person's; everything she saw was a dim, murky expanse.

Only the sound of a mountain stream flowing nearby indicated that this world still possessed life.

But this could not bring Yilin the slightest sense of security; on the contrary, it made her all the more anxious and uneasy, as if that out-of-place sound of flowing water had summoned all the filthy things in the vicinity, which now surrounded her in a tight ring.

Yilin had always been timid, and tonight she had suffered a great upheaval; for the moment her spirit lost its grip, it was only natural that she grew suspicious of ghosts and demons.

The silhouettes of mountain peaks in the night, the restless shadows of trees, now seemed to her like a host of demons dancing wildly.

In the dense forest, on the branches, it seemed as if one fierce ghost after another was hiding, watching her with greedy, predatory eyes.

Yilin grew even more afraid, feeling that though the heavens were vast and the earth was vast, she alone remained.

Loneliness and fear formed a great hand in the darkness, gripping her throat, choking her.

When a person is afraid, they start imagining things; the more they imagine, the more afraid they become.

Thus she fell into a vicious cycle.

The girl swallowed hard with difficulty, then squeezed her eyes shut tight and began silently reciting scriptures.

She was acting like an ostrich.

As long as she couldn't see it, the danger seemed not to exist.

……

Yilin would never have guessed that the kind-hearted person she was worrying about was at that very moment engaged in the most intimate exchange with the "Flower Thief."

A delicate moan, half like weeping, half like murmuring, and Huang Rong's body went limp.

Jiang Sishui caught her, leaned close to her ear, and laughed: "Hard work, Rong'er, keeping me company in putting on this little show—are you satisfied with a reward like this?"

Huang Rong panted a few rough breaths, and the look in her eyes as she gazed at Jiang Sishui could almost draw silk: "Brother Sishui, for that little nun you've really gone to a great deal of trouble."

"Rong'er jealous? How about I—"

"No! I haven't! I'm not jealous! Don't you dare!"

Sensing Jiang Sishui's restless stirring, Huang Rong hurriedly shook her head in denial.

Although being out in the wild had its own special thrill, right now she only wanted a proper rest.

Huang Rong took the Lingxu Sword that Jiang Sishui had handed her earlier, handed it back to him, and said lazily: "Brother Sishui, from here on Rong'er can't be of any more help to you—take Rong'er back."

Jiang Sishui calculated the time; Yilin had been left there for quite a while now. He nodded and said: "Alright."

A flash of light—Jiang Sishui, holding Huang Rong in his arms, returned to Mantuo Shanzhuang.

He laid the girl on the couch, tucked the quilt around her, exchanged a few more tender words, and only then turned and left.

"Brother Sishui, may you get what you wish for."

Huang Rong watched Jiang Sishui depart through the teleportation, sighed softly, then stopped thinking about it, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

……

Rustle, rustle…

The sound of heavy footsteps came, jolting awake Yilin, who was already like a startled bird.

Listening to the footsteps drawing closer, Yilin's heartbeat grew faster and faster.

They're here!

Who was coming? Who had won? The Flower Thief? Or that kind-hearted person?

Or… neither of them? But some other unrelated person?

All these thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant; Yilin held her breath tightly.

Suddenly, a dull thud—as if something heavy had fallen to the ground.

Before Yilin could figure out what was going on, she felt a stream of true Qi strike her from a distance, unsealing the acupuncture points that had been blocked.

True Qi began to circulate through her meridians, and Yilin was startled to discover she could move!

In an instant, a surge of intense joy welled up in her heart. Yilin hurriedly propped herself up to sit, then looked toward the source of the sound at once.

That single glance gave her a tremendous fright.

She saw a person sprawled on the ground, clothes ragged and torn all over, covered in bloodstains, hair in wild disarray, looking as if his breath was fading and his life hung by a thread.

Clearly he had suffered grave injuries.

Yilin's expression shifted between shock and uncertainty; she could not tell whether the wounded person was the Flower Thief who had abducted her, or the kind-hearted soul who had saved her.

Just then, the precious sword clutched in that person's hand caught her attention.

A scabbard of verdant green leather, slender and elegant, with half an inch of blade peeking out, radiating a blue-green glow—crystalline, dazzling, impossible to look at directly.

"A sword…"

Yilin paused briefly, hesitated, then, plucking up her courage, gripped the hilt and slowly drew the blade.

Hiss—ring—

A faint, clear note trailed into a long hum; the blue-green blade, etched with patterns, glittered brightly, like a pool of autumn water in a cold, deep tarn.

"It's him! He's the one who saved me!" Yilin was instantly excited.

Although she had not seen the scene of their fierce battle, when that kind-hearted person had appeared, he had struck out with a blue-green sword-light—she remembered that clearly.

Besides, if the person before her were the Flower Thief, he would not have unsealed her acupuncture points before losing consciousness.

Having worked all this out, Yilin's heart suddenly cleared.

But the next moment, she grew tense again.

Because the man before her looked to be gravely, gravely wounded.

Yilin crouched down, gently rolled the man over onto his back so he was facing upward.

By the moonlight, the little nun was finally able to see that handsome, elegant face clearly.

It was Jiang Sishui.

But Yilin clearly did not recognize him; she merely committed the face of this "life-saving benefactor" firmly to memory.

Her gaze moved downward — the front of his clothes was already soaked through with blood.

With his life hanging by a thread, Yilin could not afford to care about the difference between men and women; blushing, she pulled open Jiang Sishui's garments.

She saw a wound squarely in the center of his chest, bloody and gruesome, and close to the heart — clearly extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, the bleeding had already stopped, and the injury was temporarily held in check.

Yilin steadied herself and thought: "No matter what, I must save your life."

She immediately took a wooden box from her bosom, opened the lid, and inside was "Heavenly Fragrance Mending Paste."

She reached out again and gently pressed around the edges of Jiang Sishui's wound, discovering that the acupoints in the surrounding area had already been sealed, and the point-sealing technique was extremely skillful — far beyond what she herself could manage.

Yilin was delighted in her heart, and hurriedly applied the "Heavenly Fragrance Mending Paste" onto the wound.

This "Heavenly Fragrance Mending Paste" was the Hengshan Sect's sacred wound-healing medicine; once applied, even if the acupoints near the wound loosened, it could keep the injured person safe.

Having dealt with the external injury, Yilin fished out a porcelain bottle from her bosom, pulled out the stopper, and poured out three pills.

These were "Bai Yun Bear Gall Pills," also a sacred wound-healing medicine of the Hengshan Sect; paired with the "Heavenly Fragrance Mending Paste" — one taken internally, the other applied externally — the two worked together, doubling the effect.

Yilin immediately stuffed the "Bai Yun Bear Gall Pills" into Jiang Sishui's mouth, then channeled her true Qi to help him swallow them down.

Only after doing all this did she finally let out a long breath of relief, wiping the slight sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

Looking at Jiang Sishui, who was still unconscious, Yilin's heart was full of self-reproach: "It was I who harmed this person. I truly wish the wound were on me, not on him."

"If the Bodhisattva is merciful and can let this big brother come through unharmed, then even if it means I... I... I fall into the eighteenth layer of hell, never to be reborn for ten thousand kalpas, I would do so willingly."

The girl murmured softly, her expression resolute, her voice utterly sincere.

Just at that moment, Jiang Sishui suddenly slowly opened his eyes.

Yilin was overjoyed at the sight, and called out: "This big brother, you... you're awake? Are you all right?"

Jiang Sishui's gaze seemed to wander for a moment, then, as if remembering something, he hurriedly urged: "Quick, leave this place, in case that person's accomplices return!"

Accomplices?

That flower-snatching thief actually had accomplices?

Yilin was startled, then a thought flashed through her mind: "Right! Leave this place! No matter what, I must keep this big brother safe — I absolutely cannot let him fall into the villains' hands."

Thinking of this, without a second word, she hurriedly picked up Jiang Sishui and, channeling her energy, ran at full speed.

She did not dare run toward Yanxia City, fearing someone might be lying in wait; so, using the cover of night, she headed straight into the deep mountains.

She ran seven or eight li in one breath, until there was no path ahead of her, arriving at a mountain hollow, before finally stopping.

Yilin's heart eased slightly; she lowered her head to look at Jiang Sishui, and saw him wearing a smile, gazing at her.