"I almost died! Argh... Ahhh! Get that thing away from me!"
Ni Ni Layan was trying to help him, pressing a damp cloth against the burns on his body as he lay sprawled before her on the hotel bed.
He had been moaning in pain for hours. His clothes were charred, and he was in a wretched state because of Ni Ni Layan, who was now using ice in an attempt to soothe his agony.
"No one told you to challenge me," she said coldly. "You have only yourself to blame. You are too weak to endure even a flicker of my flames. Next time, know who you are raising your sword against."
In truth, she felt a twinge of guilt. Looking at him now, seeing how much he was suffering... He was incredibly stubborn, and crazy enough to actually try and stab her.
Although what she had done to him gave him every right to be furious, she told herself she was merely defending herself. If he was weak, he should blame his own frailty. She felt she had every right to discipline him, to ensure he would never dare point a blade at his queen again.
"...You ***... Your mother ***... Your father ***... Your ancestors ****!"
While the sewer pipe of his mouth spewed out the worst of his rage, Ni Ni Layan decided to leave the hotel room and head outside.
"All Phoenixes are just a bunch of ****... Whoever allowed you to live is a ****!"
It was truly pathetic; poor Morse couldn't even open his eyes to see that she had already left. He continued to vent his rage into the empty air.
Outside, Ni Ni Layan stepped out of the hotel doors and looked around. People were strolling everywhere—the air was thick with the sounds of chatter, laughter, clapping, and footsteps. A cacophony of life.
The common people... so this is how they live. There they were before her, in a reality that couldn't be faked.
She returned to the receptionist and asked, "Is there a place in this market that sells spiritual herbs?"
The girl at the front desk smiled, recognizing the beautiful girl who had carried that wounded man in on her shoulder. "Do you mean the specialized spiritual herb market for medicine?"
In Lin Province, cities and markets were partitioned like supermarket aisles. So many goods were sold that they had become highly specialized branches.
"Well, yes... not exactly, but tell me anyway."
As a Phoenix and a former master of the Demonic Sect, she had learned countless medicinal recipes. Even non-medical herbs, when prepared correctly, could possess healing properties.
Ni Ni Layan left the hotel again, this time with a city map the girl had given her. The receptionist had marked their exact location so she would know how to navigate back.
On her way, she first passed through the meat markets, searching for a specific ingredient: a Blue Croquette Chicken.
"What? I've never heard of such a thing in my life!" a vendor barked. "If it's a spiritual chicken you're after, don't waste your time here. Only the noble families' farms own spiritual poultry."
And certainly, the amount of money she had was nowhere near enough to browse the shops of the wealthy. Look at that single silver tael she held...
the Heavenly Phoenix was poor. Who could believe it? She once possessed riches that could buy life and death itself. But all the human currency she had left was what remained from before she went into hiding in the mountains.
Who knows... she might have suffered a stroke if she found out that a single one of her feathers had been sold for an astronomical sum as an aphrodisiac—and was later traded for a limited-edition adult magazine.
When she realized that all the recipes she knew required spiritual herbs, she seriously considered stealing. There was no other solution or way. All the materials she needed were, to her former self, useless trash—even looking at them was a waste of time. But it seemed that even the simplest "trash" was out of reach now.
She truly wanted to treat Morse because she felt guilty. She had caused him so much pain due to her excessive selfishness. But she also had a goal: she needed him to be in good health so he wouldn't hate her even more, allowing her to continue her attempts to seduce him. Therefore, she began searching for painkillers. At least he could regain some consciousness until he returned to his family home and received proper treatment.
"Is this painkiller good for burns?" She held a glass vial in her hand and showed it to the vendor.
"It's a good type for kitchen burns. Are you a housewife? It's the best-seller for beginner housewives who can't control the fire. It's useful."
We are so far apart... She said that in her mind, imagining the vendor's reaction if she asked him if it could heal burns from Phoenix fire—and not just ordinary fire, but the evolved kind.
Was she searching in the wrong place all along? Was stealing the best solution? But what about her pride? How could she look at herself, a former ruler, and steal? And for whom? A male... a mere person she thought was just a follower or a tool.
"Hah..." She sighed as she walked through the streets, on the roads, among the passersby, breathing in the scent of the lower world while looking around. The crowded market had vanished, leaving only a few stalls here and there.
"Has the market ended already?" She had spent so much time. She wondered... is Morse okay? She didn't know why she was exhausting her mind. She kept persuading herself that she was merely helping him so she could continue her pursuit of cultivation through him. But she saw a human.
Panic, fear, mixed emotions... it made her deny that he was just a tool. Instead, he was a human—a real human. Even though his intentions seemed mysterious at times and his behavior strange, he appeared sincere.
"I need to go back."
She was also trying to convince herself that he was the one at fault.
If only he had agreed to practice Dual Cultivation with her, she could have helped him with her power by now.
Why is he so stubborn? Does he see me as trying to devour him? If only he hadn't kept defending his chastity like a madman, things wouldn't have come to this.
What she knew about men was that they were lustful animals, but she saw a different model. Is sex truly not the only solution? What is so special about chastity that he clings to it so fiercely.
On her way back, she caught sight of an incredibly strange old man sitting on the sidewalk. Before him lay an odd display of medicines—spherical pills that looked far too perfect and far too bizarre.
"Old man, are these medicinal herbs?"
Strange as it was, she asked him. He looked up at her with pitch-black eyes, messy, filthy hair, and missing teeth.
"Beautiful lady... we have the finest first-grade pills here. Medical, specifically. What does my lady need? A 'Witch's Beauty' pill? Or is the lady a naughty one, looking for a 'Dragon's Arousal' pill?"
She shook her head in refusal. "I want painkillers for burn injuries."
He grinned a hideous smile and immediately produced five pills. "This is what you need. Painkillers... exactly as you requested."
Ni Ni Layan squinted at the pills' shapes. "Are these truly painkillers for burns?"
He snapped back instantly, "For everything!"
She was taken aback by his strange answer. "What do you mean 'everything'?"
His laugh grew wider. "Everything means... everything."
The man was starting to irritate her greatly. She paused for five minutes, then began heading back, memorizing the bizarre names of the pills he had given her.
When she finally returned to the hotel, the sun was about to set. She entered and went up to their room. Opening the door, she found that Morse had already fallen into a deep sleep. Looking at him, she felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't eaten well in a long time; he hadn't slept properly. Even water—he drank it with extreme caution, only after ensuring it wasn't spiked with an aphrodisiac.
She felt guilty for depriving him even of the blessing of sleep, but it was for his own good.
"Wake up. I brought you the painkiller."
No response. He seemed utterly exhausted. Immediately, she pressed down on one of his burns to wake him with the pain.
"Curse you! Who are you?! Are you that damned Phoenix? What do you want from me now? To kill me? No surprise there... just kill me now! I don't want to live! Since I met you, my life has been spiraling down faster than anything!"
He was in a truly wretched state.
"Don't worry. I brought you a painkiller so you can endure until we reach your family lands."
"What? A painkiller? What does it look like? No—don't tell me it's an aphrodisiac! If you even try to rape me, I'll swallow my tongue and kill myself right now!"
He wouldn't actually do it—he didn't want to die—but he was trying to threaten her.
"Don't worry... trust me."
What about trying the mildest one? she thought. "Painkiller x2."
Mathematics. Nothing could be more peaceful than that...
When Morse swallowed the pill, he immediately felt able to open his eyes. But everything he looked at turned into two. Everything.
When Ni Ni Layan realized he was hallucinating, she immediately gave him the pill with the least dangerous name: "Calm Heart."
As Morse swallowed it, the hallucinations began to fade, and he started to drift off. Just as she felt she had finally succeeded, she noticed his heartbeat... it was slowing down dangerously. He was dying!
Ni Ni Layan immediately gave him an electric shock. Morse jolted awake.
"No, no, no! I don't want it! I don't want it!"
But he was then given the third one with the gentlest name: "Pain Love." From the name alone, "Pain Love" sounded better than "Blazing Hell" or "The Centipede."
When Morse took this pill, he finally calmed down properly. He even smiled...
Before he got up and tried to bash his head against the wall.