Her fingers were slender and long, her fingertips slightly cool, like a piece of warm, lustrous jade.
With one hand supporting his back, she brought the bowl to his lips with the other. Her movements were gentle and careful, as though afraid of breaking a precious piece of porcelain.
A bowl of warm water touched his cracked lips.
The water was warm, carrying the distinctive sweet freshness of melted snow, like the first spring rain falling upon earth parched by a long drought.
The muscles in Wang Xian's face twitched. The instant his chapped lips touched the water, a sharp pain shot through them, followed by an indescribable relief.
He struggled to open his mouth and drank, sip by sip.
The water flowed down his throat like a sweet spring soaking into dry earth, immediately easing the burning pain.
He could feel that warm moisture spreading from his throat to his chest, then flowing into his limbs and bones, as if water had once again been poured into a dried-up riverbed.
The bowl was quickly emptied. Without asking anything further, Youli rose and poured him another bowl.
Wang Xian drank the second bowl more slowly.
Nourished by the water, his consciousness gradually cleared, and the haze in his eyes slowly faded.
He began to examine his surroundings... This was a cave, not large, but clean and orderly.
The cave walls bore marks of blades and chisels, clearly carved by human hands. A pile of dry firewood sat in one corner, the fire still burning beneath a clay kettle that steamed gently.
Outside lay endless snow and rolling mountains. Heaven and earth were silent and desolate, as though he stood beyond the mortal world.
"Alas!"
Wang Xian let out a sigh. Even he did not know whether his trip to Sunset