After finishing his tea, Lin Que sat cross-legged on the bed, regulating his breath and nurturing his depleted divine sense.
It wasn’t until the sun dipped below the western hills that he opened his eyes again.
“Time to prepare dinner.”
As he spoke, Lin Que pounded his thighs a couple of times before getting out of bed. “Come to think of it, Wanyuan is really late today.”
Normally, Qin Wanyuan would leave in the morning and return by early afternoon. Today, she was indeed much later than usual.
Just as he started to feel a bit concerned, he suddenly heard Qin Qian’er’s startled voice outside the door.
“Sister, what happened to you?!”
Hearing that, he immediately pushed the door open, only to be met with the sight of Qin Wanyuan covered in wounds.
Blood dripped onto the floor with soft plinks, and Lin Que’s expression gradually turned cold.
At that moment, Qin Wanyuan was being supported by Qin Qian’er. Lin Que quickly strode up to her, placed three fingers on her wrist, and used his spiritual energy to assess her injuries.
They were indeed somewhat serious, but thankfully not life-threatening. With a few days of rest, she would recover.
“Weren’t you just sparring with Senior Sister? How did you end up like this?” Lin Que asked with a frown.
He didn’t immediately assume it was Jiang Moqing’s doing…although it was certainly possible for her to be this heavy-handed.
But after examining Qin Wanyuan’s wounds, he noticed that aside from a few shallow sword injuries, most were claw marks and bite wounds from beasts.
Surely Jiang Moqing didn’t fight like a wild animal.
“It was the demonic beasts in the back mountain,” Qin Wanyuan said weakly.
The “back mountain” she referred to was actually a stretch of forest infested with demonic beasts, located roughly a few dozen li from the Sword Seeking Sect.
Even around the forest’s outer edges, there were many demonic beasts at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. The deeper one ventured into the woods, the stronger the beasts became. Some were even said to have reached the level of shapeshifting great demons.
There were no human settlements within ten li of the forest, but because it was rich in medicinal herbs, many of which were aged and rare, quite a few herb gatherers and rogue cultivators risked entering it to harvest resources.
Since the Sword Seeking Sect was the only major sect within a hundred-li radius, and many of its sect missions involved that forest, people had grown accustomed to calling it the “back mountain.”
“We’ll talk later. Let me treat your wounds first.”
Lin Que carefully carried Qin Wanyuan back to the room, gently placed her on the bed, and began tending to her injuries with great care.
While he was treating her wounds, Qin Wanyuan slowly recounted the events that had led to her being hurt.
That morning, she had left home as usual to spar with Jiang Moqing. They practiced until noon before taking a break.
Originally, Qin Wanyuan planned to head home after finishing her meditation, but when she saw Jiang Moqing changing into a fresh outfit and preparing to go out, her curiosity got the better of her and she asked where she was going.
After all, to her knowledge, Jiang Moqing hadn’t stepped outside once over the past half month, so she asked offhandedly.
Jiang Moqing merely said she was heading into the depths of the demonic beast forest to seek a breakthrough opportunity.
As a sword cultivator, one had to kill. Regular practice and sparring could only improve one’s technique. If one truly wanted to break through quickly, they had to comprehend the essence of life and death.
Seeing this, Qin Wanyuan took the initiative to suggest going together. She genuinely wanted to improve.
While the system had indeed said that completing its missions would help her grow stronger, Qin Wanyuan never intended to pin all her hopes on it. She knew she had to put in her own effort as well.
One could never be too prepared.
Perhaps it was because over the past half month, she had trained and sparred with Jiang Moqing daily and had become somewhat familiar with her. Combined with their relationship as sect sisters, Jiang Moqing didn’t turn her down.
In the end, on their way into the inner region of the demonic beast forest, they encountered several Nascent Soul stage demonic beasts, one of which had cultivation equal to Jiang Moqing’s, at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm, just a hair away from breaking through.
The two of them barely escaped with their lives after a brutal battle.
However—
To cover for Qin Wanyuan, who was only at the Core Formation stage, Jiang Moqing had sustained heavy injuries herself.
“Lin Lang, this was my fault. If not for me, Senior Sister wouldn’t have been hurt.”
Qin Wanyuan pushed herself upright and held Lin Que’s hand. “Lin Lang, could you go to Senior Sister’s cave and check on her for me? Please?”
“…Alright. I’ll go.”
Lin Que had originally intended to remind Qin Wanyuan that Jiang Moqing was his former Dao partner and that he needed to keep an appropriate distance. But considering that Jiang Moqing had been injured protecting Qin Wanyuan and with Qin Qian’er still present he held his tongue.
Once Qin Wanyuan’s condition had stabilized, Lin Que left her in Qin Qian’er’s care and set off with a batch of freshly prepared healing medicine.
Before long, he arrived at Jiang Moqing’s cave residence.
He knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside.
“…Senior Sister, it’s me,” Lin Que said softly.
“I’m fine. Go back and look after junior sister.”
Jiang Moqing’s voice came from within. It was weak and distant.
She seemed to know that Lin Que had come alone and, unwilling to cause any misunderstandings, didn’t even open the door.
“It was Wanyuan who asked me to check on you.”
“And?”
“I wanted to confirm the state of your injuries. After all… you were hurt protecting her,” Lin Que said calmly.
There was a moment of silence from within.
Then, the door slowly opened.
Jiang Moqing stood before Lin Que, dressed in a plain, light-colored gown. Her face was pale, almost devoid of color, and her long, ink-black hair was damp. A few strands clung to her flawless skin, lending her an air of fragile beauty.
Yet her expression remained cold and detached, like a plum blossom blooming proudly in the heart of winter.
“I’m fine. You can go back now.”
She repeated herself, her gaze lowering slightly, avoiding Lin Que’s eyes.
But as she looked down, she saw Lin Que’s hand extended toward her. His hand was just as she remembered: long, slender, and well-defined, the perfect hand of a swordsman.
That was Jiang Moqing’s first thought.
In his palm was a porcelain bottle.
“Senior Sister, this is healing medicine. Please take it…. just a small gesture from Wanyuan and me,” Lin Que said softly.
His words were calm, polite ….and distant.
And yet,
Jiang Moqing’s fingers unconsciously curled into her palm, slowly tightening until her nails pierced the skin. Only when blood began to seep out did she come back to herself.
She looked up and met Lin Que’s gaze only to realize that he had been looking at her the entire time.
As their eyes met, she seemed to catch a flicker of emotion deep within the young man’s gaze. It was not as calm and detached as his voice had been.
It was something more complicated.
There was pain.
There was conflict.
And… anger.
Even after being deeply hurt, he still couldn’t bring himself to be truly heartless.
No one knew how much time passed before Jiang Moqing finally averted her gaze. She reached out quickly and snatched the porcelain bottle from Lin Que’s hand.
“I’ll take the medicine. You… should go,” Jiang Moqing said.
The heart that should have been trained to sever all feelings in the Heartless Valley and Emotionless Cultivation had, in that moment, wavered.
“Alright.”
Lin Que made no move to linger. He turned and started walking away.
But after only a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
“Senior Sister, before I go, I have one question.”
“The beast that attacked you… where exactly in the forest did it appear?”
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