My Name Is... Lin Yao
"Cough, cough, cough..."
In the darkness, waves of intense pain coursed through Gu Yuan's body. Something was pressing down on him as well...
"What on earth happened?"
"Why did the ancient tomb suddenly collapse?"
"Cough, cough, cough..."
A coarse, choking stench of decay kept wafting into his nose, making him cough violently.
"Mm..."
?
A faint moan reached Gu Yuan's ears.
Along with it came a delicate fragrance that stirred his senses.
Who was that?
Judging by the voice, was it a woman?
As the moan sounded, Gu Yuan distinctly felt a body wriggling gently on top of him...
Wait, could the corpse have come back to life...?
Gu Yuan's first thought was of the ancient corpse in red.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Being pressed up against the ancient corpse in red... Hiss-
Please, no!
True Yang Art.
Yang flames sprang to life at his fingertips, illuminating the surroundings.
Gu Yuan was startled to discover that the person lying on him was not the ancient corpse in red,
but an unfamiliar woman. Her brows were tightly furrowed, her face contorted in pain. A boulder had smashed a huge, horrifying gash into her back, and she had passed out from her severe injuries.
The sight left Gu Yuan's mind momentarily sluggish.
Without this woman, he would have been the one struck by the boulder...
And his true qi would never have withstood it. Death would have been his only fate!
She was protecting me...!
But why?
As far as Gu Yuan could remember, he had never met this woman!
"Miss? Miss, can you hear me?"
The woman did not respond.
Blood kept welling out of the wound on her back, a horrifying sight.
"I won't let you die!"
Gu Yuan took out the Dragon Seal and sent surging waves of true qi into it.
The Dragon Seal trembled, and golden dragon qi spiraled into the sky, forming lines of scripture.
This was the Great Li Imperial Dynasty's world-suppressing cultivation art-
"Imperial Deliverance Unceasing Scripture."
True essence protected the body, renewing itself without end.
It possessed supreme defensive power and could also bring the dead back to life. Its powers were wondrous beyond measure.
With his Martial God Physique, Gu Yuan could disregard some of the Imperial Deliverance Unceasing Scripture's cultivation requirements, and he cultivated it at an extremely fast pace.
In less than a quarter of an hour, he had already reached minor accomplishment.
"Miss, I'll heal your wounds now."
His true qi transformed into golden dragon qi and poured into the woman's body in an endless stream. The terrifying wound on her back began to heal slowly...
Qi Yueli gradually regained consciousness.
When the tomb was about to collapse, Gu Yuan's figure had been the first thing that appeared in her mind.
She had known full well that, caught off guard, Gu Yuan would never withstand the falling rocks. His chances of survival were slim...
So she had moved, rushing to Gu Yuan's side almost instinctively.
By then, Gu Yuan had already passed out, and a huge falling boulder was about to strike his body.
With barely a thought, Qi Yueli had rushed forward, held him tight, and taken the fatal blow for him.
She did not know why she had done it... She had not even had time to think.
The boulder had slammed into her back.
Gradually, darkness had swallowed her. The world around her had grown colder and colder, until her blood seemed to freeze and her consciousness faded...
In her daze, Qi Yueli had felt a measure of release... It would be nice to sleep like this forever.
Her consciousness had vanished, and she had only awakened again when she felt a warm current, heated true qi circulating through her body.
"Mm..."
"Miss, you're awake?" Gu Yuan's eyes lit up, and he increased the flow of true qi from his hands.
Her phoenix eyes stirred and opened. Qi Yueli discovered that her entire body was pressing down on Gu Yuan, and the clothes that were all that separated them were soaked with sweat.
It was no exaggeration to say they were skin to skin...
!!!
"What are you doing?!"
Qi Yueli's expression changed. Her true qi surged as she struck the ground and sent herself flying sideways.
However.
Her injuries had not healed, and she could not steady herself. In the end, she fell heavily to the ground once more, letting out a muffled groan of pain.
"Miss, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I was healing your wounds."
Gu Yuan hurried to his feet and went to Qi Yueli's side. He was filled with gratitude toward this unfamiliar woman who had saved him.
"Thank you for saving me despite the danger, miss. I, Gu Yuan, will repay this debt."
Qi Yueli breathed a sigh of relief.
Her reaction just now had been entirely instinctive as a woman. Now that she knew she had misunderstood Gu Yuan, she felt a trace of remorse.
But the feeling of their skin pressed together still brought a faint blush to her face.
Though she was an empress, she had no experience whatsoever with matters between men and women...
"I was passing through and accidentally fell into the tomb. I only happened to save you, so there's no need to repay me."
Gu Yuan smiled faintly. "That won't do. I, Gu Yuan, repay every kindness and avenge every grudge.
"Whether you meant to save me or not, the fact remains that you saved me, and that cannot be changed. So I must repay you!"
"May I ask your name, miss?"
Qi Yueli pressed her lips together slightly.
Repay me? You've been wanting to rebel all along...!
Fortunately, she was in disguise. Otherwise, Gu Yuan would surely have turned and run.
At that thought, Qi Yueli slowly spoke.
"My surname is Lin, and my given name is Yao."
Lin Yao?
Gu Yuan searched his memory carefully. There did not seem to be anyone by that name in the original story, which meant Lin Yao had nothing to do with the plot.
That was definitely good news.
"Miss Lin Yao, your injuries haven't healed yet. Shall I continue treating them?"
"All right."
Gu Yuan stepped forward, pressed both palms against Qi Yueli's back, and steadily channeled true qi into her.
Half an hour later, Qi Yueli's injuries had healed. She slowly rose to her feet and said,
"Thank you."
"The true qi in your body is abundant, Miss Lin. You healed most of the injuries yourself. I merely served as a catalyst."
Gu Yuan was astonished.
He could clearly sense the surging true qi in Lin Yao's body. It was incomparably powerful; she was at least at the First Grade realm.
"Without a catalyst, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have woken up, much less been able to heal myself."
"We're even."
Gu Yuan shook his head.
How could they be even? If not for him, Lin Yao would never have been injured with her First Grade strength.
But he could tell that she did not seem to want him to owe her a favor.
Gu Yuan simply changed the subject.
"What brought you here alone, Miss Lin Yao?"
"I heard from others that there was something strange about Mount Mangdang, so I came to investigate. I didn't expect to find an ancient tomb in the mountain... What about you? You barely have any martial cultivation, yet you dared come to a place like this."
Gu Yuan smiled. "I came looking for treasure."
"Treasure?"
"Yes. I entered the tomb to look for treasure, but it seems I've gotten myself stuck here instead."
Qi Yueli followed Gu Yuan's gaze upward.
They had now fallen to the bottom of a rocky ravine. The burial chamber had collapsed, sealing them in on all sides, and they could not tell which way was which.
"I'll go up and have a look."
Qi Yueli soared into the air and blasted the rock wall with her true qi.
Gu Yuan immediately felt the earth shake and the mountain tremble.
"Miss Lin Yao, we're inside the mountain. Forcing your way through the rock wall could cause an earthquake. I'm afraid we'd be buried before we found a way out..."
Hearing this, Qi Yueli stopped at once and landed in front of Gu Yuan again.
"Then what do we do?"
Gu Yuan was not worried.
The Prince of Qingzhou's heir had escaped safely, which meant there was more than one passage leading outside.
"Don't worry, there must be a way. Let's look around first."
Before he had finished speaking, a chilling howl rang out in the darkness...!