The setting sun finally dipped below the horizon, and night fell.
The hasty battle in the forest had determined its final victor.
But as the winner, Gu Qing was in no good condition at the moment.
Blood poured from the wound in his abdomen, and the pain struck like twisting blades, making his vision blur and his hands tremble slightly.
The only fortunate thing was that the sword hadn’t injured any vital organs. It wasn’t fatal, and he could endure the pain and keep moving.
Given the circumstances, he could only treat the wound briefly. After applying medicine and stopping the bleeding, he hurried toward the place where he had left Qiu Niang.
After walking a short distance across the snow, Gu Qing spotted the mountain hollow, but the sight before him made his heart tighten.
The bamboo basket had somehow been overturned, and the frail figure of the girl lay a few steps away from it. She didn’t know Gu Qing had returned. In the shadow beneath the trees, she propped herself up with her arms and started painfully crawling inch by inch forward.
That was the direction Gu Qing had left in at the beginning.
Perhaps a few months ago, this distance would have required nothing more than lifting her foot, just like any ordinary person.
But now it was different. Relying only on herself, every step she took was unbearably difficult. What seemed like just a few short steps to others might take her a very long time, demanding immense effort and hardship.
The wind and snow persisted, and the night was as dark as ink.
The girl’s frail figure trembled, as if she might be swept away by the wind at any moment.
Cold snowflakes fell on her head, her shoulders, and her face that was as pale as snow.
A faint, delicate whimper echoed through the forest, only to be quickly swallowed by the wind.
So it turned out her crying was not entirely silent.
She had always been able to hold it in, always able to endure. After all, she had always been a strong child.
Gu Qing slowly walked up to this strong child and crouched down.
Then he reached out and gently picked her up.
He had done this countless times over the past three months, but only this time was it so gentle, so careful.
“Didn’t I tell you not to worry and wait for me to come back?”
There was no real blame in the man’s voice. He simply didn’t know what else to say, so this was all he could manage.
In response, she repeated the same three words, over and over, her voice broken and hesitant.
“I’m sorry…”
Leaning against his chest, she sobbed, her voice hoarse as she said those words again and again.
Of course, she knew Gu Qing wasn’t blaming her just as Gu Qing knew why she kept apologizing.
She felt that she had caused trouble again… no, she had always been trouble, a huge burden.
“Alright, it’s okay now. Don’t cry.”
Gu Qing wasn’t very good at comforting others. Somewhat clumsily, he wiped away the girl’s tears, repeatedly murmuring that everything was fine. It was truly a poor attempt at comfort, lacking any real sincerity.
What girl in this world could be soothed so easily?
Gradually, the girl really did stop crying. She pressed tightly against Gu Qing’s chest, clutching his clothes with three fingers, as if the moment she let go, he would slip away and her world would once again be left with nothing.
“Don’t cry. I’ll take you to find medicine.”
After saying this, Gu Qing carried Qiu Niang back to the bamboo basket, placed her inside, and tucked her in securely with a thin blanket.
The snowy mountain was cold. Especially after nightfall, when the chill grew even harsher, biting to the bone.
This was one of the reasons why mountain foragers never chose to stay overnight in the mountains. Combined with the low visibility at night and the risk of losing one’s way, the divine mountain at night was naturally silent, so quiet it felt as though only the two of them remained alive.
Along the way, they walked and stopped in turns.
Of course, they also talked. But whereas Gu Qing was usually the one who spoke, today it was the opposite. Most of the talking came from Qiu Niang, while he listened.
He listened as she spoke of a past she had never wanted to bring up.
It was fragmented, more like explanations. She was explaining why the people from Tianshi Temple were hunting her, and how she had ended up in Xiqi.
But in truth, even she didn’t know why Tianshi Temple was so determined to capture her. She didn’t understand the secret of her own body, nor did she know that the temple’s master, the current Imperial Preceptor of Great Zhou, didn’t intend to kill her but to capture her and refine her into medicine.
She had only vaguely guessed some things, knowing that she likely had great talent in the path of cultivation.
Time passed little by little, and the night grew deeper.
Perhaps tired from talking, the girl leaned against Gu Qing’s shoulder and gradually fell silent.
Returning to the matter at hand, the most urgent task was to find medicine.
They called it searching for medicine, but in truth, Gu Qing had no idea how to search or where to even begin.
Not just him. Even the entire Red River market likely had little in the way of clues.
People only knew that the spiritual herb was called “Heavenly Heart Lotus” and the most recent records of it dated back a thousand years. Perhaps it had already gone extinct, and people simply clung to their illusions, unwilling to admit it.
And right now, Gu Qing was indulging in that very illusion.
He imagined that behind some tree, the Heavenly Heart Lotus was quietly growing, waiting to be discovered by him by chance.
The night wind carried ice and snow, and every gust sent a chill through the body.
Gu Qing also felt cold, a little dazed.
He thought he should find a place to rest properly.
More importantly, the wound on his abdomen still needed more careful treatment and time to heal.
After wandering aimlessly for a while longer like a headless fly, he grew tired and casually found a wind-sheltered cliff. Leaning against the rock face, he sat down and closed his eyes to rest.
Suddenly, he heard a low, disbelieving gasp by his ear.
“What is it?” Gu Qing asked.
“Up… up there…”
The girl’s voice trembled, stuttering in rare uncertainty.
Gu Qing followed her gaze and looked up. At the top of the cliff, beneath the brilliant river of stars, a deep-blue lotus was quietly in bloom, swaying gently in the wind. It was beautiful beyond words.
It was hard to describe the feeling of seeing it. Beneath the starry sky, it stood out so vividly…each petal radiating a brilliant azure glow, blooming there in quiet stillness, as if it had been waiting for them for a very, very long time.
Though they had never seen the legendary “Heavenly Heart Lotus”, at this moment, both Gu Qing and Qiu Niang knew without a doubt that this was it.
It could only be it.
And so, Gu Qing slowly smiled. “See? I told you we’d find it.”
The girl gazed at the swaying lotus, her eyes flickering, and softly murmured an acknowledgment.
But now that they had found the Heavenly Heart Lotus, how were they supposed to get up there?
Just by sight alone, the cliff was at least a hundred zhang tall, and all around were sheer, barren rock walls, rising abruptly like a stalk pulled from dry ground. There was simply nowhere to climb.
It was enough to make one shrink back in fear.
Gu Qing slowly stood up. He said nothing, only took out his short sword, cut off a section of his sleeve, and used it as a rope, measuring it against his right hand.
Qiu Niang was still staring blankly at the lotus and didn’t notice what he was doing.
Not until he began cutting off the two hemp ropes from the bamboo basket.
What was he planning to do?
The girl snapped back to her senses and was about to ask when she saw that he had already hoisted her onto his back and firmly secured her in place with the two hemp ropes.
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