“What did you just do?” Wu Bei heard a huge explosion, and even Yue Jin’s voice. She quickly stopped what she was doing and asked the strange person in front of her.
Song Yin raised her eyes and shook her head humbly.
“No need to thank me, just pay me.”
“Nobody thanked you, I’m asking what you did,” Wu Bei reached out and grabbed her collar. “If you were plotting something malicious, I’ll throw you off this immortal crane right now…”
“Twenty spiritual stones,” Song Yin held up two fingers, closing and opening them in front of her eyes. “To find the malicious wielder for you.”
Wu Bei raised an eyebrow, smiling with an evil charm. “Oh, you’ve got real skill, then it seems you knew who I was all along.”
“The Great Dao of the world is vast and endless; mundane matters are nothing but trifles. This humble Daoist is not interested in such things.”
Seeing her smile, Song Yin smiled back. “On the contrary, Fellow Daoist, you are tied down by worldly affairs, keeping the matters of that year bottled up in your heart, never truly forgetting.”
As she spoke, before Wu Bei could react, she shoved the thin jade slip shaped like a petal from her hand into Wu Bei’s chest, and took the opportunity to snatch her storage pouch.
Yun Lingyue had specifically given that to her not long ago.
Yun Lingyue was generous; there was quite a bit of money inside. By her calculations, at least a hundred spiritual stones.
“You! Give it back!” Wu Bei yelled exasperatedly.
“The malicious wielder is right there in Huai Jin City, and Wu Ju is there too. You have your own path; I believe you will certainly encounter them along the way.”
“Across vast distances and the passing of years, the one you are looking for might not just be within the Chongxiang Sword Sect at this moment; there are traces of her in Qian Chao City as well.”
“After calculating so much, I’m just collecting a small fee. Look at you, little Fellow Daoist, so impatient again.”
Song Yin flipped backward to retreat. One hand jingled the pouch, the other held her Heaven’s Mystery Disk, and she stood on the crane’s head.
The immortal crane felt the weight on its head and irritably shook it.
Shaking her off.
Wu Bei looked down in surprise, only to see the person’s clothes fluttering, completely unconcerned about falling, before disappearing into the clouds.
“Who… who was that?”
“Wait, give me back my money!”
Inside the Disciplinary Hall, Yue Jin was utterly stunned.
Who exactly was that person? They could actually spy back through the exposed magic artifact, and even affect the artifact itself and the person controlling it from outside.
Baili Xianrong hadn’t expected this situation either. The paper kites she left there couldn’t be summoned back due to residual spells. There was nothing she could do but destroy all the paper kites present first, leaving no evidence.
Afterward, new ones arrived.
Yue Jin didn’t bother looking. She quickly threw down her sword and went forward to pick up Fu Lingyi, who had fallen into the water, holding her close and checking her physical condition.
Fortunately, she had just fainted; there was nothing seriously wrong.
“Tell me, what just happened?”
The message on the paper kite was no longer leisurely, but aggressively questioning.
“How would I know?” Yue Jin lowered her voice. Although Fu Lingyi was unconscious and couldn’t hear her, she still couldn’t be too careless. “This is your magic artifact, isn’t it? You don’t ask it, but you ask me? Do I look like someone capable of doing something to that extent?”
“I don’t believe you. Do you have other cult members in the Chongxiang Sword Sect ?”
She rested Fu Lingyi’s head on her shoulder, put her arm around her, and walked out of the Disciplinary Hall. “Your guesses are really baseless. How many days have I been in the Chongxiang Sword Sect ? What kind of cult members could I have? Besides, even if I did, could I hide them from you?”
“Heh, the Demon Lord indeed acts as bizarrely as the legends say, making it impossible for others to fathom.”
The paper kites flew over, left these strange phrases, and then scattered.
“I will find out.”
“It’s a pity this time, but next time, it won’t be so easy.”
Yue Jin didn’t have time to bother with them. She took off her outer robe and covered Fu Lingyi with it. She hurried back to the bamboo house in her courtyard and gently placed her on the bed.
Fu Lingyi’s body was very hot. The effects of the icy water she had been in and the prolonged electric shocks were clearly taking a toll on her.
It wasn’t light yet; none of the disciples were awake. Yun Lingyue had gone down the mountain ages ago and wouldn’t be here at this hour.
Yue Jin sat by her side, worrying anxiously. One moment she would check her forehead temperature with her hand, the next she would run out again, getting flustered.
What she didn’t see was that the moment she left the room, Fu Lingyi opened her eyes. Her gaze was clear, fixed on the direction Yue Jin had left, showing no signs of unconsciousness.
Yue Jin was out for a moment, returning with a basin of hot water. She placed the basin on the floor and gazed at the person on the bed, thinking for a long time about what to do.
She couldn’t find a medical cultivator anywhere now, nor did she understand spiritual herbs or wondrous plants, or what could be used as medicine. She only remembered that when she was very young, Yue Yuanqiu had told her that when someone was sick, they needed to be wiped down.
Wipe down the whole body with hot water, and when the temperature goes down, the fever will break.
Yue Jin walked over and sat by the bed.
Fu Lingyi on the bed had her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling. She looked very uncomfortable, as if she wasn’t resting peacefully even in her sleep.
“Pardon my intrusion.”
Unlike back in the hot springs, this time she was taking off someone’s clothes while they were asleep, so it naturally felt a bit guilty.
Yue Jin reached out and unfastened the frog buttons at her collar, loosened her waist belt, and took off the thin, damp green robe.
Her fingertips trembled slightly. Fu Lingyi lay on the bed, only in her underclothes. Her body seemed even hotter than before, and her face was a bit flushed.
A small area of her chest was exposed, revealing a patch of snowy white skin.
Yue Jin bent down, picked up the hot towel, wrung out a bit of water, and moved it to Fu Lingyi’s neck.
Her underclothes had been pulled open slightly. Yue Jin turned her head, not daring to look, and began to explore the area and wipe according to memory.
Bit by bit, from the shoulders downward, her own face was also red, as if she herself were sick.
She accidentally brushed against something soft and quickly pulled her hand back, as if she’d been burned.
This wouldn’t work. She couldn’t reach the important areas by just wiping. She had to take off all the clothes…
Yue Jin turned back, gritted her teeth, and struggled internally for a long time before finally deciding to untie Fu Lingyi’s underclothes.
Fu Lingyi was indeed seriously ill. Her face was getting redder and redder, her brows furrowed, and her lips pressed tightly together.
Her firm, strong abdomen was exposed to the air. Yue Jin slowly pulled the clothes down. If she went any further, she would see the unseen depths.
For some reason, she swallowed.
“Senior Sister!”
Suddenly, a shout came from outside the door, startling Yue Jin so much she quickly let go and almost fell to the ground.
“Senior Sister, ah, Senior Sister, something’s wrong!”
The shouting outside grew louder. Yue Jin scrambled up and stood awkwardly, pacing, grabbing a blanket to cover Fu Lingyi as if to hide her, covering her completely, even over her head.
“Senior Sister Fu!”
It wasn’t light yet, and the young outside disciple outside was calling out with a sob in her voice. After Yue Jin went out, she gently closed the door behind her and rushed out to remind her, “What are you shouting about? What’s wrong with you, not sleeping late at night? Don’t you know your Senior Sister is confined in the Disciplinary Hall?”
An outside disciple this young probably couldn’t even control a sword properly, let alone treat illness. It was better not to tell her Fu Lingyi was inside, to avoid disturbing her rest.
The young disciple was sobbing uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. When she saw Yue Jin, she burst out crying even louder, “Sister, Sister, do you still remember me? I came with others to see you before. I’m… I’m Feng Ruian…”
“Shush, shush, don’t shout,” Yue Jin pulled her aside, away from the room, not wanting her to wake the person inside. “I remember, I remember everyone. So, what do you need Senior Sister Fu for?”
She did remember a group of outside disciples coming to mill around her room back then when they had nothing to do, making a fuss, but she couldn’t remember the specific people.
“Senior Sister Yun isn’t here, and I’m too anxious, so I could only come find Senior Sister Fu. But I forgot Senior Sister was in the Disciplinary Hall, boohoo. Sister, what should I do? My junior sister who shares my room has disappeared and hasn’t come back yet…”
The young disciple named Feng Ruian couldn’t stop crying, hiccuping and clutching Yue Jin’s arm tightly.
Yue Jin felt helpless and could only ask, more as a formality, “You, you let go first. Who is the junior sister you share a room with? The sun is almost up; maybe she just went out to play.”
“Waaah, Sister, it’s… it’s Xiao Bei, the little junior sister Wu Bei. She has a head of white hair, have you seen her? She’s not someone who likes to just play around. After she went down the mountain yesterday afternoon, she never came back. Something must have happened!”
Yue Jin: “?”
“Xiao Bei?”
She was completely speechless. She thought it was something serious. Wu Bei hadn’t even properly handled her departure before going down the mountain. If everyone in the Chongxiang Sword Sect found out, how would she explain herself?
Yue Jin comforted Feng Ruian, patiently guiding her with a gentle tone. “Don’t worry, she’ll definitely be alright. How about this, you go back to sleep first, and I’ll immediately use thousand-mile sound transmission to contact Yun Lingyue and ask her to look for her down the mountain.”
“But,” Feng Ruian said, pursing her lips, finding it difficult to speak. “Sister, they say you can’t use spells. How can you use thousand-mile sound transmission?”
“…I’ll use Senior Sister Fu’s red spiritual jade to send her a message. That should work, right?”
“Okay, okay!” She immediately brightened up, her eyes full of expectation. “Then quickly go get it! I’ll wait here for you, Sister.”
Seeing she couldn’t get out of it, Yue Jin had no choice but to go into the house and search. She found the red spiritual jade in Fu Lingyi’s storage pouch. She was careful not to make too much noise as she took it out and, under Feng Ruian’s watchful gaze, somewhat reluctantly sent a message to Yun Lingyue.
“Wu Bei is missing. Search down the mountain quickly.”
Never mind, might as well send it. Anyway, Yun Lingyue might not even find her, and Wu Bei should be almost out of Nanyang County by now.
After finally sending the young disciple away with a perfunctory effort, Yue Jin tiptoed back into the room, intending to get a fresh basin of hot water to continue what she was doing earlier.
She looked towards the bed and saw Fu Lingyi had turned over, facing inward, the redness on her face had faded, and she was sleeping very peacefully.
Yue Jin went over and reached out to touch her forehead and cheek. They didn’t seem hot anymore either.
Is she better?
She found it a bit strange, but then she thought, as a cultivator, Fu Lingyi shouldn’t get sick so easily.
As long as she’s better, that’s fine. Otherwise, if things continued like that, she didn’t know if the fever would make her delirious.
But she still couldn’t let down her guard.
Yue Jin moved a stool and sat by the bed, leaning half her body against the bed frame, silently keeping her company, waiting for daybreak to go down the mountain and ask a physician to come see her.
She had been busy for a long time all night and hadn’t slept, staying in a state of tension. Now that she was relaxed, sitting there, she gradually felt sleepy.
Yue Jin closed her eyes to rest. Before long, she actually tilted her head and fell asleep just like that.
Fu Lingyi opened her eyes.
She sat up halfway, staring intently at Yue Jin by the bed, her expression unreadable.
Thanks for the chapter