Chapter 451: Secret of the Sword Hut

Chapter 451: The Secret of the Sword Hut

Yue Hongling woke slowly, the sky already dusk.

Her first instinct was to search the surroundings with her eyes, hoping to catch sight of Zhao Changhe.

She was not disappointed. Zhao Changhe sat by the tent’s edge, having actually lit a fire. On the fire sat a stove, and atop the stove rested a clay pot, from which faint herbal scents wafted.

He was… brewing medicine?

When had he learned such a skill?

For some reason, seeing him tending to the medicine warmed her heart more than any other scene might have.

It felt like coming home after a long, hard day, to find a husband who had prepared a fragrant meal, waiting for your return.

It also felt like no matter how many storms raged outside, here there was always a solid harbor.

That restless, wandering heart, without realizing it, grew lazy and unwilling to move.

No, this cannot be…

Yue Hongling struggled to sit up, but Zhao Changhe immediately sensed it. He turned his head, frowned, and spoke in a displeased tone: “Lie down!”

Yue Hongling: “?”

Oh ho, this little brother had a temper now.

Zhao Changhe said, “Last time in the Xuanwu secret realm, that energy crystal cleansed your body and smoothed over some of your old hidden injuries. Do you think you can just waste yourself again? Day after day, fighting for your life, and after the fight, you still play the tough hero—do you even care about your body?”

Yue Hongling pouted her lips and, somehow, muttered under her breath: “Maybe it’s you who wants this body.”

Zhao Changhe: “?”

Yue Hongling leaned back, stiff-necked, staring at the ceiling, and said nothing more.

Really, how could she say such shameless, flirtatious things to him? They hadn’t seen each other for so long; there was even a bit of unfamiliarity…

Come to think of it, her injuries didn’t hurt much—they seemed almost healed. Only the wound on her shoulder, the one from her life-or-death struggle with Lan Tiankuo, still ached… Ah, was this bandage applied by him? For such a long wound, he would have had to remove her clothes to bind it…

Zhao Changhe shot her a glare but said nothing for a moment. He opened the medicine pot, observed it for a while, nodded, took a wooden stick to lift the pot and set it aside, then wrapped his hands thickly with cloth strips and carefully poured the medicine.

Yue Hongling secretly watched his movements from the corner of her eye. She felt so lazy, yet also inexplicably happy. The corners of her lips unconsciously lifted into a smile, though she didn’t even notice it herself.

Zhao Changhe brought the bowl of medicine over, sat beside her, and blew on it gently a few times: “Here, the medicine is ready.”

Yue Hongling heard her own voice, soft and sticky: “What medicine? Aren’t my injuries all external…”

“Of course it’s to replenish blood and heal tissue trauma…”

“When did you learn medicine?”

“Just now.” Zhao Changhe scooped up a small spoonful, blew on it for a long time, and brought it to her lips, pale from blood loss: “Ah…”

Yue Hongling opened her mouth and drank. Though it was bitter enough to make her wince, it felt like honey water, sweet from the root of her tongue down to her stomach.

Sisi had just reached the doorway. She poked her head in, glanced, and her face crumpled like a lemon peel. She turned and left indignantly.

The two, both with extremely keen senses, seemed to feel nothing. They continued, spoonful by spoonful, drinking the medicine leisurely.

Only when the entire bowl was finished did Yue Hongling still look at him with eager eyes, as if wondering why the medicine was so little. Zhao Changhe couldn’t help but laugh at the sight: “You’re clearly a little girl two months younger than me.”

Yue Hongling snorted twice, hugged the blanket, and turned inward, refusing to look at him.

From behind came Zhao Changhe’s voice: “Does this mean next time we’ll use this side-lying, rear-entry position?”

Yue Hongling turned back indignantly: “I knew it—that’s all you ever think about! Did you treat my wounds just so you could use me sooner?”

“Heh.” Zhao Changhe reached out and wiped the lingering medicine stain from the corner of her lips, his eyes smiling: “Little girl.”

“Hey!”

Zhao Changhe leaned down and gently pecked her lips: “Rest well.”

Then he stood up, placed the empty bowl on the corner table, and said, “From a doctor’s perspective, you’d better lie still for three days… But your physique seems to have changed. Your recovery is much faster than an ordinary martial artist’s, and there’s a fierce, killing intent within you. Is that from absorbing the True Martial Sword Stone?”

“Mm… I feel like I’m forging a kind of sword body. I don’t know what to call it.”

“In theory, it’s called the Supreme Sword Body. But since you didn’t follow the sword stone’s energy completely, it might become your own unique sword body. How about calling it the Changhe Body?”

Yue Hongling glared: “This is clearly the Hongling Body! How is it the Changhe Body?”

“Because it belongs to Zhao Changhe.”

“Pah! Shameless!”

Zhao Changhe sat back down and slid his arm behind her neck.

The girl who had just called him shameless leaned into the hollow of his shoulder with natural, gentle ease.

Zhao Changhe whispered in her ear: “Does it belong to Zhao Changhe?”

Yue Hongling shrank against his shoulder, pouting for a long time, before finally murmuring, “Yes.”

In her heart, she could even guess what Zhao Changhe would say next, something aggressive like: “From now on, don’t go out alone fighting until you’re covered in wounds, because this body is mine…”

But unexpectedly, Zhao Changhe didn’t say that. Instead, he said, “So I have to take good care of her. When you still want to roam the world with your sword, you can do so even more freely.”

Yue Hongling’s heart gave a “thump,” as if a heavy stone had crashed into a lake, sending ripples spreading in circles, leaving her tingling and numb.

“You…” She wanted to say something, but her lips were sealed again.

Yue Hongling gave up speaking. She parted her lips slightly, letting him invade.

Her mouth was full of medicine’s bitterness. Let it choke you.

Zhao Changhe didn’t mind the bitterness at all. He kissed her fiercely, pouring out the longing of their long separation, until finally, satisfied, he held her close, feeling the rare, tender dependence of the valiant female knight.

There was a deep sense of satisfaction in his heart… Who could ever see Yue Hongling like this?

The pallor of blood loss on Yue Hongling’s lips had been kissed into a rosy hue, and her face was faintly flushed. She felt that her behavior since waking was hardly like Yue Hongling at all.

But what could she do? Exhausted as she was, he had descended like a heavenly god, appearing by her side, so gently brewing and feeding her medicine, even saying it was so she could roam the world with her sword more freely.

When had he become so good at this…

They held each other quietly for a while before Zhao Changhe finally asked the main question: “Hey, what happened at the Sword Hut? I saw traces of your battle with the Sword Hut disciples. It looked like you were injured.”

“I was injured.”

“Did you discover something about them?”

“Mm…” Yue Hongling said, “Originally, I just went to visit the Sword Hut normally, wanting to learn from their techniques. Normally, as Yue Hongling, I’m a fairly well-known swordsman in the martial world, and I had no enmity with the Sword Hut. If I came to visit and spar, a sword sect should have welcomed me. We could have exchanged knowledge and both benefited…”

“And then?”

“When I arrived, the Sword Hut had already moved. Some people were still moving the remaining items. I didn’t think much of it—just a routine relocation. I went up and greeted the leader politely, asking curiously where the Sword Hut was moving to. The leader was evasive. During the conversation, I sensed something was very wrong, so I carefully observed their convoy…” As she spoke, her tone grew heavy with lingering fear: “And then I recognized a familiar face in their ranks—someone I had seen in the martial world before, who was definitely not a Sword Hut disciple.”

Zhao Changhe asked curiously, “Had he joined the Sword Hut?”

“I just greeted him, but he didn’t respond at all. His eyes were vacant, as if devoid of any living presence.”

Zhao Changhe shuddered: “Corpse puppets? Sword slaves?”

“My first thought was also corpse puppets… But recognizing that familiar face had clearly touched a taboo. The leader suddenly changed his expression and ordered an attack on me. I fled toward the side mountain, fighting as I retreated. During the battle, I realized those suspected corpse puppets felt no pain. That’s why I got injured.”

“I thought it was Shi Wuding who arrived…”

“No, by the time Shi Wuding arrived, I had already escaped.” Yue Hongling looked a bit smug: “My sweat-blood horse runs fast. Later, they chased me all the way, and I fled into the southwest… Oh, and in Shu Commandery, they also tried to intercept me. Shu Commandery has problems.”

Many perplexities suddenly became clear.

The "relocation" of Bashan Sword Hut had no other reason—it was clearly because they had begun researching the methods of corpse puppets or sword slaves, afraid of being seen by outsiders, so they moved the entire sect to Miaojiang.

Here, the trick of controlling people with gu worms is not so unusual. Even if the Xia people saw something amiss, they could dismiss it as a result of combining Miaojiang's gu arts.

However, Yue Hongling, that "heroine's luck" sort, happened to catch sight of them at the tail end of their relocation, and even recognized an acquaintance—so the outbreak of battle was inevitable...

How could Shu Commandery also be involved in this matter? Coupled with the current unrest in Miaojiang, Yue Hongling might have accidentally triggered a very significant world storyline.

She, a lone wandering swordswoman, actually couldn't do much... But luckily, after arriving here, she somehow ran into Sisi, and they could cooperate to stir up some trouble. Otherwise, alone in Miaojiang, even if she triggered the storyline, she could only watch helplessly as events unfolded, unable to do anything.

"One person alone is ultimately not enough." Zhao Changhe smiled slightly: "No worries, your husband is here."