Twenty-Three Frames

Pei Ling: I really don't want to hear it.

By the time Pei Ling had weathered Toxicity's assault and could move again, the old sea turtle had died. So Pei Ling stripped off its shell and made a nest for his little pet.

Seeing the old fellow again made Pei Ling's Sea of Consciousness throb. And when he thought about how his little maneuver at the South Sea Extremity seemed to have spared the old fellow trouble in the future, he felt uncomfortable all over.

Maybe he should strip off the old fellow's shell himself after all. He remembered how much his little pet had liked that nest.

Oh, right. He didn't have a pet now. His little pet was probably still clinging to life in the Abyss.

Pei Ling clicked his tongue.

Qiao Ranran was busy bonding with the little darling when she heard it. She looked up and noticed that Pei Ling's complexion was wrong. As a Medicine Cultivator, she was exceptionally good at reading people.

She knew Pei Ling had been in poor condition all along. His skin had an unhealthy pallor, and he often looked scarcely better than a corpse. But now his face had taken on an ashen tinge.

It was a dangerous color. If his earlier pallor had come from severe injury and weakness, this was the color of a dying man.

Without a word, Qiao Ranran caught Pei Ling's wrist. She moved so quickly that Pei Ling, distracted for a moment, did not even think to dodge before her warm, slender fingers settled over his pulse.

It was a dangerous place to touch.

Pei Ling stared at Qiao Ranran's fingers, his gaze turning distant.

Qiao Ranran's expression darkened too. She could tell that the Spiritual Power in Pei Ling's body was surging again. The Meridians she had already cleared of Toxicity were showing signs of corrosion—and the Toxicity was the same deeply rooted poison in his Divine Sense, only far more potent. She could sense it, but she could do nothing about it.

Until now, she had done everything she could to confine the poison to Pei Ling's Divine Sense, and he had seemed to have it well under control. Why had it suddenly flared up? Thinking of how his Divine Soul had been wrong ever since he returned from the South Sea Extremity, Qiao Ranran felt she had found the answer.

Qiao Ranran quietly withdrew her fingers. "Are you all right?"

The moment her fingers left him, taking that one trace of warmth with them, clarity returned to Pei Ling's eyes. His gaze rested calmly on Qiao Ranran. Toxicity had sharpened his senses: he could feel it gnawing at him, but he could also feel her warmth and smell the richer fragrance of herbs that accompanied each breath she took.

Yes. That was the scent. When they first met, it had been like a glimmer of light amid endless pain. If he had been the man who returned from the Abyss, he would have sneered at that light, perhaps even wanted to snuff it out himself. But he had only just come back then, still affected by the youthful despair and struggle lingering in this body. The instant the light appeared, he had wanted desperately to reach for it.

And with it, he had caught hold of that herbal fragrance, as though it could ease the pain that had plagued him for who knew how many years.

Pei Ling looked straight into Qiao Ranran's eyes and said, one word at a time, "Qiao Ranran, my head hurts."

Qiao Ranran had never expected him to say that, much less call her by name. She froze. In all the time they had known each other, Pei Ling had always called her "Senior Sister" in a tone that sounded normal yet somehow felt strange.

Then she heard him insist, each word distinct: "Qiao Ranran, I said my head hurts."

"Ah!" Qiao Ranran came to her senses and immediately took out her Silver Needles.

If it was just a headache, Qiao Ranran thought she could handle it. But as she inserted the needles, Pei Ling stubbornly stared at her with those pitch-black eyes. His unwavering gaze gave her the unsettling impression that something was deeply wrong.

Well, it was not just an impression.

Pei Ling's eyes were frightening when he stared straight at someone like that.

Qiao Ranran remained perfectly calm. As long as she held her Silver Needles, she felt utterly at peace. Pei Ling's stare was nothing to her.

In truth, Qiao Ranran thought Pei Ling was remarkable. She did not know how badly it hurt, but pain that ate into the Divine Soul and felt as though it were tearing apart could not be easy to bear. Yet apart from his dreadful complexion, Pei Ling showed no sign of it.

He sat there quietly and let her apply the needles. However she looked at him, he seemed remarkably well-behaved.

Even Qiao Ranran's voice softened without her noticing. "Does it still hurt?"

Pei Ling, the picture of good behavior: "Yes."

Chapter 23: Twenty-Three Frames

Pei Ling really was in pain. He had simply grown used to it long ago. After Qiao Ranran treated him, the pain eased, and he almost felt unaccustomed to its absence. Watching her ask after him so gently, he suddenly felt that a little pain might not be so bad.

But Qiao Ranran's Spiritual Power soon ran out. She stopped applying the needles and moved aside to meditate and recover.

The look Pei Ling gave her immediately turned disdainful.

Qiao Ranran ignored him. She had seen plenty of disdainful looks; his made no difference. While her Spiritual Power was depleted, she circulated her Cultivation Method and carefully separated out the Blood Jade Nectar still moving through her body.

Her Divine Sense located it. She carefully "sliced" off a sliver, guided it slowly through her Meridians into her dantian, then used the Spiritual Power she had just gathered there to refine it with great care. After a long while, wisps of blood-jade mist emerged in her dantian and slowly seeped deeper. Carried by the circulating Spiritual Power, they spread throughout her body, quietly transforming her dantian, Spirit Root, and Meridians.

That did it.

When Qiao Ranran opened her eyes again, she got a fright. Fortunately, years of keeping up appearances left her face perfectly composed as she stared at Pei Ling, who was right in front of her. In other words, she had not reacted in time. By the time she realized she ought to jump, the moment had passed.

Ranking List

|

Transmigration into a Book

Sweet Romance

Time-Travel and Rebirth Romance

Big Black Loves Fish

Double Rebirth

Cultivation Fantasy