Li Luoning stretched out his hand toward the crow and suddenly clenched his fist. With a muffled burst, the crow exploded and died on the branch.
Mie Xingzhe stared at what had just happened and stood frozen for a long moment.
"Ma...Master just... just,that was..."
He did not know whether it was the cold night wind or the shock of what he had just seen, but his heart pounded wildly, his breathing turned quick, and his trembling hands accidentally knocked a loose stone from the cave wall.
"Who is there?"
The instant their eyes met, Mie Xingzhe felt his scalp go numb. There was a thick, unmistakable killing intent in Li Luoning's eyes.
Still thinking he was trapped inside the nightmare, Mie Xingzhe saw Li Luoning looking at him and immediately turned and ran deeper into the cave.
"That man just now was not Master. There would never be such icy coldness in Master's eyes, nor such naked, savage killing intent. I must still be dreaming. I am still in the dream. Hide, hurry and hide. I do not want to hear those words again. I do not want to."
Li Luoning had only just turned around when he caught sight of Mie Xingzhe stumbling into the cave.
"Nian Nian?"
After all, by his own reckoning, Mie Xingzhe should not have awakened for at least several more days. Feeling uneasy, Li Luoning hurried after him. The moment he entered, he saw Mie Xingzhe in the wide cave, panicked and frantic, searching everywhere for a place to hide.
"Nian Nian?"
At the sound of that voice, Mie Xingzhe stopped dead. His eyes were full of terror. His body went stiff and trembled slightly, and for a moment he even forgot how to breathe.He could only inch around bit by bit until he was facing Li Luoning.
Seeing how stiff and terrified Mie Xingzhe looked, Li Luoning thought the poison in his body had still not been cleared and that this was simply another state he entered while trapped in a nightmare. He reached out, meaning to guide him back to lie down.
"Do not come over here!" Mie Xingzhe shouted in fright and hurried backward.
Li Luoning froze in surprise. Li Luoning carefully took two steps in front of him, then shifted and moved two steps in another direction, and found that Mie Xingzhe's eyes were fixed on him the whole time.
"Nian Nian, it is me. I am your Master."
Now certain that Mie Xingzhe was not trapped in a nightmare, Li Luoning stepped forward again and tried to take his hand.
"No... no, do not come closer..." Mie Xingzhe flailed both hands wildly in front of him and stumbled backward again and again, until he accidentally stepped on a small stone. His ankle twisted, and he fell hard to the ground.
Li Luoning was startled by his reaction. Seeing him fall, he instinctively tried to help him up, yet Mie Xingzhe reacted even more violently.
"Let go, let go of me. Do not, please, do not. Please do not say those things again..."
While pleading, Mie Xingzhe waved his arms in every direction, trying to protect himself.
What exactly did he see in that nightmare, for him to be so frightened of me that he looks as if his soul is shattering?
Li Luoning's hand, which had been reaching out to help him, stopped halfway. His deep eyes were full of confusion and pain.
"Nian Nian, it is me," Li Luoning said softly, drawing his hand back.
Mie Xingzhe seemed not to hear him at all. He kept inching backward, like a startled bird desperately searching for somewhere to hide.
Watching him like this, Li Luoning felt heat rise in his eyes. Without realizing it, he followed him step by step.
"Master? No , you are not ,I truly know I was wrong. Please stop ..."
Seeing Li Luoning continue toward him one step at a time, Mie Xingzhe begged in a choked voice.
"Nian Nian, what is wrong with you?" Li Luoning looked at him, feeling as if the world inside Mie Xingzhe's eyes was collapsing bit by bit. Every word of pleading from him was like a blade, piercing Li Luoning's heart again and again.
The fierce struggle, on top of a body that had not yet recovered, left Mie Xingzhe's lips pale and his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat. Cold sweat ran down from his temples, soaking the strands of hair clinging to either side of his face. His back was drenched through.
Even though he was already out of strength, even though his arms were trembling with weakness, he still tried to move away little by little.
Bang.
His elbows suddenly gave out beneath him, and the side of his face hit the ground with a thud. When he tried to push himself up again, several sharp stones had cut his cheek, and blood mixed with dirt and grit slowly seeped from the wounds.
"That is enough! Look clearly at me. Who am I? Look clearly at where you are!"
Li Luoning finally lost his patience. He stepped forward, seized Mie Xingzhe's face hard in one hand, and forced him to look directly at him.
"Let go, let go of me. do not, do not do this. Please..."
Li Luoning's sudden forceful reaction frightened Mie Xingzhe so badly that he completely lost control. A wave of cold rose from his stomach, and his whole body shook uncontrollably.
Choking out his pleas, Mie Xingzhe squeezed his eyes shut, and tears streamed down from the corners.
"Nian..." Li Luoning seemed to be losing control as well. He suddenly raised his hand as if to slap him.
"It is the middle of the night. Are people not supposed to sleep?"
Their voices woke Jiagu Qing, who had been sleeping elsewhere in the cave. Still yawning, he dropped down from above and landed beside them, staring at the pair in their very unusual pose.
"What are you two doing, shouting like this in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?" Jiagu Qing asked, then kicked Mie Xingzhe once.
"Ji... Jiagu-senior..." After taking that kick, Mie Xingzhe finally calmed down a little and looked up at Jiagu Qing with wet lashes still fluttering.
Jiagu Qing rubbed his eyes at once, then looked more carefully at the two of them. He stepped closer, rubbed his eyes again, and stared once more.
" You are awake?"
Only then did Mie Xingzhe finally understand. He really was no longer inside the nightmare. Everything happening now was real. Master had truly rescued him, and he was no longer trapped in the nightmare Nangzhe had set for him. After all, Jiagu-senior could never have appeared in a dream like that.
"So... so I was not dreaming."
Mie Xingzhe murmured the words, still half unsure.
Li Luoning had just opened his mouth to answer when Jiagu Qing suddenly reached over, grabbed Mie Xingzhe by the ear, and hauled him up off the ground.
"You little brat, you woke up and immediately started yelling and wrecking my fine dream. You still want to dream? Your Master and I spent so much effort dragging you back from the gates of death, and the first thing you do when you wake up is start shouting and causing trouble. I have not even settled accounts with you yet. I sent you to Pingyan Land to buy medicine, and instead you caused a scene that big and nearly lost half your life. I say your skin is itching for a beating..."
Still holding Mie Xingzhe by the ear, Jiagu Qing snatched up the branch they had been using for the fire and smacked him across the backside again and again.
Li Luoning stood stunned for a moment, then very sensibly got to his feet and stepped back a few paces. Standing with his hands tucked into his sleeves, he watched the spectacle with an expression that openly said he was enjoying it. Jiagu Qing kept swatting Mie Xingzhe while dragging him in circles, and Mie Xingzhe kept twisting sideways, trying to dodge.
"Ow, Senior, no, wait, ah... Senior, I am sorry, I am sorry... ah... it hurts, it hurts..."
Mie Xingzhe dodged and squirmed, but his ear was still trapped in Jiagu Qing's grip. He could only twist his body and run in circles around him.
In Liao Yin Immortal Realm,
Situ Fanzhi was inside his room in closed-door cultivation, trying to absorb the Chixi Dan into his body as quickly as possible.
He did not notice the toad quietly hopping closer and closer beside him.
The black-ringed toad bounced nearer until it reached him. The black aura it gave off slowly seeped into Situ Fanzhi's body along with the power of the Chixi Dan he was absorbing.
The Chixi Dan, which had originally glowed with a golden-red light, was little by little wrapped in the black mist coming from the toad, and the two gradually merged together.
With his eyes closed, Situ Fanzhi sensed nothing amiss. He merely frowned slightly and paid no attention to the momentary discomfort.
Yet the fine beads of sweat on his brow and the slight tremor in his fingertips, where they touched one another, revealed that something was wrong. The black-ringed toad released more and more black mist. Situ Fanzhi's brow drew tighter and tighter. Though his eyes stayed shut, his eyeballs could clearly be seen moving restlessly beneath the lids. The seal in his hands began to loosen. His lips, once ruddy, gradually turned purplish and trembled without stop.
As his power continued to circulate, Situ Fanzhi, who had been absorbing the Chixi Dan, gradually began to draw in even more of the black mist from the toad. Meanwhile, the black-ringed toad, still exhaling its black mist, now began absorbing the golden-red aura coming from the Chixi Dan.
Watching all of this through the toad's eyes, Ou Shinan gave a wicked smile as he looked at the Crystal Cold Ice inner core in his hand.
"I had originally meant to wait a few more days. But now that those master and disciple are so eager to come and die, I may as well grant them their wish. At this rate, when exactly is the Immortal Lord going to finish cultivating? I do not have the patience to wait that long. Better that I lend him a hand."
Ou Shinan glanced at the Crystal Cold Ice inner core in his hand, then suddenly crushed it to powder. Turning his palm, he sprinkled the shattered dust gently into the tea nearby.
Inside the cave in Xueling,
Li Luoning and Jiagu Qing sat beside the fire, while Mie Xingzhe stood off to one side looking aggrieved, both hands tucked behind his back like someone being made to stand aside and reflect after being scolded.
Li Luoning glanced at Mie Xingzhe and smiled faintly.
"Senior, Nian is still injured. Can we let him sit down and rest first?"
The moment he heard Li Luoning plead for him, Mie Xingzhe brightened at once. His eyes lit up, and he looked at Jiagu Qing while nodding vigorously.
"Sit for what? The few smacks I just gave him already opened his meridians. Once you send some spiritual power into him later, he will be completely healed in less than an hour. I only hit him a few times, and look at how much it pains you. Honestly, each master really does dote on his own disciple."
Jiagu Qing shot Mie Xingzhe a meaningful glare, then glanced sidelong at Li Luoning.
Hearing Jiagu Qing say that, Mie Xingzhe immediately understood. He took two steps toward Li Luoning, then dropped to his knees with a thump.
"Master, just now I could not tell reality from the nightmare, and I showed you disrespect. That was Nian's fault."
He bowed his head and admitted his mistake.
"You were only poisoned and trapped in a nightmare. What crime is there in that? I do not blame you."
"There, that is better. Between master and disciple, what is there that cannot be spoken through? Oh, and little medicine fool, I have not finished talking about you yet."
Jiagu Qing had just been smiling warmly at the two of them, but suddenly changed the subject.
"This little golden core has still not learned how to properly control the strength of the Floating Light Golden Seal inside him. What exactly have you been teaching him as his master? Spend less time with those medicine pots and a little more time on your disciple."
Jiagu Qing scolded him from the side.
"It is not Master's fault..." Mie Xingzhe had just begun to defend Li Luoning when Li Luoning put a hand on him and stopped him.
"Senior is right. It is I who have been negligent in teaching him."
Li Luoning did not argue. He only accepted it with a calm smile.
"The Floating Light Golden Seal inside this little golden core is something that could protect all three realms. If one day either of the twin dan wishes to shatter the core and destroy the world, then only the thing inside him can protect the three realms and all living beings. The entire world already knows he is the vessel of that golden seal. If you do not teach him how to use it, then sooner or later he will be taken away again, just like this time."
Jiagu Qing continued to complain.
"Senior, could you not at least hope for something better for me?" Mie Xingzhe muttered softly.
"What exactly am I supposed to hope for? That you go and snatch someone else's bride, then get locked up and beaten by the head of the house and nearly lose half your life? Because of you, I even had to throw away my dignity and fight with some pansy reeking of flowers."
At that thought, Jiagu Qing looked thoroughly displeased.
"A pansy?" Master and disciple looked at each other, both confused.
"The one from Jingyun Residence before, the one who smelled of pear-gardenia blossoms from head to toe. A grown man, and he carried that scent inside and out. Disgusting."
Jiagu Qing clicked his tongue and made no attempt to hide his contempt.
"Senior, are you certain that the scent on that man was pear-gardenia blossoms?" Hearing this, Li Luoning's heart suddenly skipped.
If his guess was right, then the person Jiagu Qing had encountered at Jingyun Residence was Nangzhe's real identity in Liao Yin Immortal Realm. If Nangzhe truly was Ou Shinan, then every suspicion Li Luoning had formed until now would finally make sense.
"Of course I am certain. I cultivated those pear-gardenia blossoms with my own hands back then. There were only two plants in all, and you took one of them and made it into medicine powder. How could I possibly forget it?"
Jiagu Qing sounded completely certain.
"Senior, do you remember what that person looked like?" Li Luoning pressed further, wanting final confirmation.
Jiagu Qing rubbed his chin and thought it over.
"As for his appearance... yes, he was a handsome man, one of those white-robed, drifting types, not much different from all the young disciples in your immortal sect. And when I fought with him, besides the scent of pear-gardenia blossoms, there was also a faint smell of medicine."
"A smell of medicine?"
Li Luoning felt as though he already had the answer. In Liao Yin Immortal Realm, besides the people from Jingyun Residence, the only ones who carried the scent of medicine were those who moved in and out of the alchemy room all day.
Now that the Medicine King was gone and Jingyun Residence had been sealed, there could only be one person left in Liao Yin Immortal Realm who still carried that medicinal scent.
"Senior, do you remember any other features he had?" Li Luoning wanted to be absolutely certain.
"A distinguishing feature... oh, right. He had a purple silk forehead ribbon."