Transcendent Aura, Top-Tier Charm

Splat!

The venomous arrow flying toward Die pierced Chen Mo's back with a vicious whistle.

At once, a figure let out a muffled groan of pain before collapsing into Die's arms.

Blood soaked Chen Mo's back.

Blood frothed endlessly from Chen Mo's mouth, staining Die all over.

Die stared blankly at the scene, her whole body stiff. Scenes of her time with Chen Mo surfaced uncontrollably in her mind, and tears streamed down her face as she threw back her head and cried out, "No!"

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Intimacy bonus triggered. Obtained proficiency in 1st-grade Alchemy.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Intimacy bonus triggered. Obtained one Dou Emperor-level Azure Lightning Blood Eagle Beast Flame.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Intimacy bonus triggered. Obtained one One-Star Dou Emperor Experience Card.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Intimacy bonus triggered. Obtained one 1st-grade Detoxification Pill.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Intimacy bonus triggered. Cultivation increased by one level.

Ding! Intimacy bonus triggered ten times in a row. Obtained Qiankun Sword Body (Upgradeable).

"Wuwu, Chen Mo, it's all my fault. I'm the one who dragged you into this. Y-you mustn't die..." Die did not dare pull out the poisoned arrow. Instead, she pressed down on the bleeding wound and spoke in utter grief.

"Cough, cough... I won't die. But if we don't leave now, I really will die here."

Chen Mo coughed up two mouthfuls of blood and smiled weakly, his face pale.

"Ah, Chen Mo, you're okay? You scared me to death. Come on, we're leaving right now."

Die's eyes were swollen from crying. Sobbing, she saw that Chen Mo had knocked all the Mercenaries to the ground, then hurriedly helped him up and headed into the distance.

"A bunch of trash! Get up and chase them! That brat was hit by my poisoned arrow. He can't have gone far!"

The Sinister Man roared.

As Chen Mo staggered through the yellow sand, he felt increasingly exhausted, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

Before long, he could no longer endure the haze before his eyes. After walking some distance, his legs gave out and he fell straight down.

Die kept telling Chen Mo to hold on and not fall asleep. The instant he fell, she was dragged down with him.

Chen Mo's body had already reached its limit. After that fall, his vision went black, and he finally lost consciousness completely.

What he did not know was that, at the moment he fainted, his head had bumped into something soft and trembled slightly.

Die let out a soft moan, but she had no time to worry about where Chen Mo's head had landed. She gently patted his face and called, "Wake up, wake up."

When she could not wake him no matter how she called, Die began to panic. She touched his forehead and felt that his skin was burning hot. He clearly had a fever.

She instinctively glanced at the arrow wound on Chen Mo's body and found that the area had turned pitch-black.

"That arrow was poisoned." Die looked stunned, and tears began flowing uncontrollably again.

"It's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have taken that arrow. Why are you so foolish?"

Filled with self-reproach, Die glanced at the Mercenaries who could pursue them at any moment. Gritting her teeth, she hoisted Chen Mo onto her back and continued fleeing.

Yet she herself did not realize that something within her seemed to be awakening, and her speed as she fled had increased considerably.

Ding! Favorability +2. Obtained one 1st-grade Qi Recovery Pill.

"Impossible! A severely injured Dou Master and a Snake-Woman who can't use Dou Qi—how could they simply vanish?" Hearing his subordinate's report, the Sinister Man's face twisted as he roared.

"Boss, it's true. By the time we caught up, we really couldn't find any trace of those two," the reporting Mercenary said tremblingly.

"You couldn't find them? What, did they grow wings and fly away?" the Sinister Man bellowed.

"Which way did the two people you mentioned go?"

Suddenly, a figure appeared before the Sinister Man and his group, speaking in a rough voice.

In the darkness of sleep, Chen Mo vaguely felt something being drawn out of his body. He instinctively groaned, and then something began sucking at his back.

He could only sense it vaguely. He could not break free from the darkness to see what was happening.

"Pah!" Die lay behind Chen Mo with her red lips pressed to his back. She sucked out the poisoned blood pooled around his wound and spat it out.

After repeating this several times, once all the poisoned blood had been removed, Die carefully felt around his back and confirmed that there were no injuries other than the arrow wound and the earlier knife wound.

Die tore off a corner of Chen Mo's black trousers and used it to bandage him.

The material of her short skirt was clearly unsuitable for the task.

After treating his wound, Die washed the bloodied bandage clean, then began wiping down Chen Mo's body bit by bit.

Die wiped him with great care and looked at him just as intently. She started from the corner of his lips, wiping away the dried blood there, before wiping Chen Mo's face.

This was the first time Die had admired Chen Mo's face from so close. Although she had been close to him last time as well, it had been too dark to see anything clearly.

His face was incomparably handsome, his sharply defined features seeming carved from stone. Beneath his Sword Brows, those deep, star-like eyes were full of charm, enough to draw anyone in if they were not careful.

Perhaps because of everything Chen Mo had done before, Die could not help letting her thoughts wander as she looked at him.

If her hand had not touched his burning skin, she would have kept staring.

After wiping Chen Mo's face, she began wiping his back.

While wiping his back, Die washed the bandage more than ten times. The bloody water she wrung out made her heart ache just looking at it.

Once everything had been taken care of, Die vaguely heard Chen Mo murmur, "Water... water..."

Die hurriedly scooped up some water and brought it to Chen Mo's lips.

But a problem arose.

How was he supposed to drink?

Chen Mo had not awakened at all, and his mouth was shut.

Die looked at him and hesitated for a moment. Then, she gently bit her red lip and made up her mind.

She first took a mouthful of water and held it in her mouth without swallowing. Then she swept aside her long hair, leaned down to Chen Mo's lips, and kissed him.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained one Favorability Coin. Kiss bonus triggered. Obtained Transcendent Aura, top-tier charm.

After Die pulled away from Chen Mo's lips, her face was flushed hot. She had actually kissed him.

She gazed deeply at Chen Mo and thought that the little water from before might not be enough. So she took another mouthful, held it in her mouth, and kissed him again.

"That should mean you're not thirsty anymore, right?"

Touching Chen Mo's still-burning body, a trace of bashfulness flashed through Die's eyes. Remembering the method she had used to cool him down the previous night, she pressed herself against his back again and held him tightly.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Mo finally broke through the darkness in his consciousness and slowly opened his hazy eyes.

Before him was a spacious cave. The cave walls had only tiny cracks, and light shone in through them.

He slightly moved his numb body, then suddenly heard the drip-drip sound of water. Turning his head, he saw a small pool not far away.

Drops of water fell one by one from a crack in the rocks above the pool.