Her consciousness, like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon, slowly awakened in a soft darkness.
Huang Xun'er's eyelashes trembled lightly. The first thing that entered her sight was a sky full of stars, their scattered glimmers filtering through gaps in the leaves and casting mottled patterns of light and shadow across the grass.
The burning sensation throughout her body had vanished without a trace, replaced by a thread of exhaustion from having survived a calamity. A faint stabbing pain still lingered in her meridians—the mark left behind after the poison had been forcibly expelled.
She moved her fingers, and the soreness throughout her body made her frown.
Turning her head, she saw Hua Xiaoyao sitting cross-legged atop a large rock not far away, his eyes lightly closed and a faint current of air swirling around him. Clearly, he was regulating his breathing to recover.
Thinking of how she had been delirious before, tearing at her clothes, and then remembering that this unfamiliar young man before her had saved her, Huang Xun'er's cheeks instantly flushed red, embarrassment and gratitude intertwining in her eyes.
She struggled to rise, but the moment she moved, she tugged at the meridians that had yet to fully recover, making her sharply suck in a breath.
Hua Xiaoyao opened his eyes at the sound, his gaze falling upon her with a hint of concern. "You're awake? The poison in your body has been cleared, but your meridians are damaged. You should not move about too vigorously."
As he spoke, he rose and walked over, handing her a bottle of pills. "These are Spirit Calming Pills. After taking one, it will nourish your meridians and ease your fatigue."
Huang Xun'er accepted the porcelain bottle. Her fingertips touched its cool surface, yet her heart felt even warmer.
She