Thirty Li Outside the Union Sect.
Lin Qiyè ran until his legs grew weak.
Three chasing shadows closed in behind him, sword qi slicing diagonally through treetops, scattering a shower of leaves.
"Damn those bastards! They're like a stubborn plaster!"
He cursed without stopping, veering left into a dense grove. Spotting a hollowed-out rock formation nearby, he darted inside and crouched breathlessly, waiting for his pursuers to pass.
The three pursuers reached the edge of the woods, halting abruptly. They exchanged glances but did not follow him in.
Lin Qiyè leaned against the rock wall, panting. After a moment, the pursuers withdrew and left.
Strange.
He looked down. The sole of his boot had sunk into a patch of dark, sticky mud—so dark it was almost black.
He scanned his surroundings again. The chirping of insects had ceased, the rustling of wind had vanished, and the spiritual energy felt thick and oppressive, pressing against his skin with an indescribable stickiness.
His thoughts raced. They had strayed into the outskirts of the Hehuan Sect's territory.
"Well, I really did wander in."
But his pursuers wouldn't dare follow him in, which saved him the trouble.
His stomach growled loudly, reminding him he hadn't eaten a thing since last night.
Just then, his gaze fell upon several fruits hanging beside the cave entrance. Round and plump, half green and half red, they emitted a faint sweet fragrance carried by the forest breeze into the hollow, making his mouth water.
A normal person encountering wild fruit in unfamiliar territory would turn tail and run.
But Lin Qiyè's legs were weak. The fruit looked bright and fresh, with no strange smell. He reached out, picked one, turned it over a couple of times, saw nothing unusual, and bit into it.
A mouthful of juice flooded his throat—sweet yet tinged with a faint, indescribable metallic tang.
He frowned, tossing the half-eaten fruit aside.
Then, everything hit him at once.
First, a wave of heat surged from his abdomen, spreading along his meridians to his limbs. The heat grew unbearably intense, impossible to suppress.
His legs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground. Pure yang energy raced chaotically through his body, his meridians straining taut and swollen. A searing heat surged from his very bones, growing more intense by the moment.
Lin Qiyè braced himself against the ground, sitting cross-legged to channel his energy and suppress the surge.
It was useless.
His qi grew more chaotic, his limbs began to tingle, and his consciousness started to drift.
"...What the hell kind of fruit is this..."
His voice had grown faint by the time the words left his lips. His head lolled to the side, and he collapsed beside a pile of boulders.
Yao Wuxin had been walking through this forest with her medicine basket for nearly two hours.
This area bordered the Hehuan Sect's territory, where spiritual energy was chaotic and impure. Yet, the very herbs she needed grew lush and abundant here. She had slipped out secretly to gather them, unbeknownst to anyone in the sect.
Her basket was nearly full when she parted a thicket of thorns to head back. Suddenly, her footsteps halted.
A man lay sprawled in a rocky hollow, his spiritual energy spilling wildly from his body. The pure yang energy radiating from him was unusually dense.
The instant that aura washed over her, she felt momentarily dazed, something deep within her stirring violently.
She immediately took half a step back, suppressing that sensation.
Stepping forward, she placed two fingers on his wrist. His pulse was chaotic and turbulent, his yang energy running wild, already beginning to scorch his meridians.
Glancing up at the nearby rock wall, she noticed several fruits still clinging to the branches. One of them was half-eaten, its broken surface oozing sap.
Her heart sank as recognition dawned.
Dragon's Saliva Union Fruit.
A forbidden fruit at the edge of the Union Sect's territory, causing outsiders to accidentally consume it year after year.
Yao Wuxin rose and took two steps toward the exit before halting.
Better safe than sorry.
As the daughter of the Yaowang Sect's leader, she had sneaked out today to gather herbs. This area bordered the Hehuan Sect, and the stranger's identity was unknown. Intervening rashly could implicate her sect, making it impossible to explain upon her return.
Reason enough.
Yet, that phrase surfaced in her mind at the most inopportune moment—her father's voice, deep and solemn...
"As a disciple of the Medicine King Sect, saving lives and healing the wounded is your sacred duty. As the daughter of the Sect Leader, you must set an example through your actions—only then will you be worthy to lead the sect in the future."
Yao Wuxin stood frozen in place.
She turned back. The man's complexion was visibly deteriorating—fine beads of sweat glistened on his forehead, and his lips were turning pale.
If she delayed any longer, he would be ruined.
She turned back, dragging him deeper into the hollow to shield him from the dew and insects. From her storage pouch, she retrieved a Calming Pill, a Focus Pill, and a Miasma-Dispelling Pill. One by one, she forced them into his mouth, pressing down on his throat to help him swallow.
Then she waited half an incense stick's worth of time.
No reaction whatsoever.
The potency of the pills was instantly consumed by the rampant pure yang energy within his body, leaving the qi in his meridians untouched, its path unchanged.
Wu Wuxin bit through his fingertip, using his vital blood as a catalyst to summon his life-bound spirit beast.
A droplet of blood transformed, and the Five Poisons Beast emerged from it. Pale green all over, it had a round head and a pair of translucent leaf-like wings on its back.
and a bud yet to bloom atop its head. It landed on her hand, lifting its gaze to meet hers.
"Go. Help him sort his spiritual veins."
The Five Poisons Beast flew to the man's chest, emitting a soft, pale green glow that seeped into his body, clearing the chaotic qi within inch by inch.
After about half an incense stick's time, the Five Poisons Beast began to tremble. The color on the bud faded by more than half,
yet it still failed to suppress the rampant surge of yang energy, merely delaying further damage to his meridians.
The spirit beast dragged its weakened body back, curling up on her hand as it panted softly.
Yao Wuxin stared at the man's increasingly ashen complexion, motionless.
She had exhausted every possible means—the elixir, the spirit beast—all to no avail. Leaving would be understandable.
Yet a line of text surfaced from a corner of her mind—a passage from the Medicine King's texts she had memorized, never imagining she'd need it one day...
"The venom of the Dragon's Saliva Bliss Fruit is profoundly Yin and utterly perverse. Neither medicinal power nor spiritual energy can neutralize it.
Only the pure spiritual energy of an unblemished maiden, united in yin-yang harmony with the afflicted, can harness the power of heaven and earth to dissolve it."
Those words lingered in her mind, suspended for an eternity.
Yao Wuxin stood rooted to the spot, utterly still.
The forest breeze rustled the leaves, a soft, fragmented whisper.
She lowered her head, biting her lower lip until she tasted iron.
She ran through every possible path in her mind—from the perspective of a healer, from the perspective of the sect leader's daughter,
and from every word her father had spoken. In the end, there was only one conclusion.
After an unknown length of time, she raised her hand, retrieved a calming pill from her storage pouch, placed it beside the Five Poisons Beast,
hung her medicine basket on the rock wall,
then wiped her face before stepping cautiously toward the unconscious man.
Moonlight streamed through the hollow's opening, spilling onto the ground and slicing it into fragments.
That night, not a sound escaped the rock hollow. It was utterly still.
Within Lin Qiyè's body, the uncontrolled surge of pure yang energy gradually subsided in the prolonged silence.
The burning heat receded, his meridians no longer scorched, and his breath gradually steadied.
As dawn approached, Yao Wuxin sat motionless. Deep within his dantian, something lingered—
extremely subtle, extremely faint, impossible to define,
yet it felt profoundly pure.
Before she could discern it further, a telepathic symbol violently crashed into her consciousness.
It was her father's voice—urgent, uncontrollably panicked—
"Wuxin, there's been an emergency at home. Return immediately!"
Yao Wuxin sat bolt upright, her body weak and her limbs lacking strength.
Lin Qiyè remained unconscious, though his complexion had stabilized and the energy within his meridians had settled.
She retrieved a bottle of healing pills specially crafted by the Medicine King Sect from her storage pouch and placed it in his bosom.
She unfolded a talisman paper and took out a spirit brush, intending to write something. But her hand trembled uncontrollably as she held the brush. The characters that fell onto the paper were crooked and uneven, the ink smudging in two places.
In the end, she managed only a few words.
"Do not worry. The poison is neutralized. Rest well."
No name. No signature.
She folded the talisman twice, tucked it beneath the medicine bottle, rose to her feet, mounted the Five Poisons Beast, and rode toward the edge of the hollow.
Outside the hollow, dawn was breaking.
Birds began chirping in the woods, their voices faint yet persistent.
After she left, she did not look back. Her footsteps quickly faded into the morning light.
All that remained in the rocky hollow was a patch of dried, dark red stains on the ground, the bottle of elixir nestled in the sleeping man's embrace, and the few crooked characters pressed beneath it.
Lin Qiyè clutched the scrap of cloth in his hand, thumb pressed against its edge, frozen in place.
Her mind raced through every possible scenario, only to grind to a halt at the dark stain on the ground. She couldn't move forward.
It was blood.
The blood left behind by the person who saved him.
The wind blew in from outside the cave, lifting and settling the scattered leaves, their rustling sound faint yet persistent.
Lin Qiyè lowered his head, tucking the piece of cloth into his bosom, pressing it close to his heart.