Chapter 64: A Tiger Falls In The Flatlands

Chapter 64: A Tiger Stranded in the Shallows

Flaunting his prowess felt glorious in the moment, but the harsh reality was that his pursuers would also make landfall to chase them down; even the riders seen along the shore earlier might well be assassins.

Zhao Changhe dared not linger. Pulling Cui Yuanyang along, he fled for his life. Bursting out of the path and spotting the fields, they darted haphazardly along the ridges, and before long, slipped into a small grove of trees, moving nimbler than rabbits.

There were no mountains here... Fortunately, in this ancient world, woods were still plentiful, offering whatever concealment they could manage. The enemy could not give chase on horseback, and if they pursued on foot, the terrain could be used to his advantage. They could afford a brief respite.

When they had boarded the vessel, the evening sky had been draped in twilight, yet after that fierce battle and their harrowing escape across the river, the sky was not yet entirely dark, proving just how brief the encounter had been.

But this fleeting window of time had cost Zhao Changhe more injuries than any he had sustained since his transmigration. He had taken a kick earlier and had been struck by a poisoned spine underwater. Even now, his chest continued to bleed, dyeing his tattered clothes a brilliant crimson. His face was deathly pale, his condition abysmal.

Yet, they had crossed the river at last. Had they made it past the most troublesome hurdle?

Exhausted, Zhao Changhe leaned against the back of a tree, panting with immense effort. "This is... bloody unscientific. Why didn't the poison on his weapon dissolve in the water? And wasn't he afraid of swallowing the poisoned water himself..."

Cui Yuanyang shook her head. She was ignorant of these underworld tricks, nor did she possess Zhao Changhe's current leisure to obsess over the root causes. Seeing him bleeding continuously with nothing to bind the wound, she felt that if this carried on, he would perish from blood loss, dying without even needing a fight...

She stamped her foot anxiously. "A man like you, still thinking about this at a time like this... Besides, with injuries like yours, you ought to speak less. Speaking strains the wound, yet you actually channeled your inner qi to shout so grandly about meeting again in the future..."

"Cough." Zhao Changhe let out a dry cough. "Other things can be forsaken, but one must always maintain appearances. You wouldn't understand."

Cui Yuanyang was speechless.

"Hey, what do you think of that arrow shot of mine just now? Could I choose a courtesy name for myself in the future—how about Zilong? It just so happens my surname is Zhao."

"What are you even blathering about! Get some proper rest!" Cui Yuanyang was so exasperated she stamped her foot repeatedly, while Zhao Changhe merely chuckled.

She truly could do nothing with him, but looking at his current state, her heart genuinely ached.

Recalling how he had carved out his own flesh and doused it with wine just moments ago, it brought pain merely to look upon, yet his expression had not changed in the slightest. Cui Yuanyang truly felt that even the elders of her own clan who graced the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Rankings could not compare to this man's fierce valor; they were simply not on the same level.

Was this the difference between a mountain bandit and a noble house?

No, in all the space between heaven and earth, there was only he, Zhao Changhe.

He was in such a terrible state now, all because of the injuries sustained while escorting her... What could she do for him?

Cui Yuanyang bit her lower lip, pondering for a moment before slipping behind the tree.

Zhao Changhe paid no heed to her movements. Though he cracked jokes aloud, he was actually circulating his inner qi to force out the poison.

The medicine Cui Yuanyang had administered earlier had only suppressed the poison to prevent it from spreading; it had not cured it. But the benefit of inner cultivation lay in the fact that poison could be expelled. Everyone could do it on television, so there was no reason it should fail when it came to him. At the very least, this Wild-Ass Eight-Fold Refinement ought to be considered a divine technique!

In truth, a careful examination revealed that this toxin was not extraordinarily potent; at least, it did not seal the throat upon contact with blood. Its primary effects were corrosion and weakening the muscles, meaning its permeability was quite ordinary and relatively easy to manage. Urged by his inner cultivation, the poison within his blood was pushed outward almost visibly, draining along the wound.

He could even feel a portion of the toxin being directly dissolved by his inner qi, rendered completely inert.

This essentially confirmed another attribute of Zhao Xiaoyuan’s martial manual: a high resistance to poison, which would be a godsend for roaming the jianghu in the future.

He increasingly felt its nature resembled the Nine Yang Divine Technique, though it was a pity he could not use this cultivation as his primary focus for now, given the so-called disadvantage of his age... Zhang Wuji, after all, had the Wudang Nine Yang as a foundation since childhood.

Forget it, he had no mind to ponder such matters for the moment.

Though the poison was being expelled smoothly, Zhao Changhe's sense of exhaustion grew heavier and heavier.

Earlier, driven by a surge of raw bloody courage, he had barely registered the sensation of pain. It was not that he was truly an iron-willed stoic, but rather that it closely related to the traits of the Blood Fiend Technique. It was common knowledge that in a state of frenzied agitation, many things could be ignored, and one characteristic of the Blood Fiend Technique was precisely to plunge a person into such a state.

Yet similarly, once that state passed, the ensuing fatigue was extraordinary, and he was profoundly exhausted now.

Not only was he fatigued, but the wounds he had forced himself to ignore earlier now began to throb with agony. The internal injury from that kick, which had seemed of little consequence before, now sent a dull, wrenching pain through his lower abdomen.

Having plunged into the river, his entire body was drenched and had not been dried; now, the dampness and chill began their assault.

Every affliction descended at once.

To make matters worse, the painful negative side effects of the Blood Fiend Technique also began to manifest due to the high-intensity channeling of his cultivation.

When in good spirits, he could endure this agony, but what of a time of weakness?

It was as though a hoard of accumulated debuffs exploded all at once. When Cui Yuanyang emerged from behind the tree, the Zhao Changhe she beheld—who had just moments ago resembled a god descended to earth—had at some point slipped from his seated posture to the ground, curled into a ball and groaning in agony.

"Brother Zhao!" Cui Yuanyang hurriedly stepped forward to support him. "How are you? I... I still have medicine..."

But looking down into Zhao Changhe's eyes, Cui Yuanyang's heart leaped in even greater alarm. Those eyes had somehow turned blood-red, filled with a frantic, savage aura, as though he might spring forward in the next instant and tear her to shreds.

With his negative states erupting in full, Zhao Changhe was, for the first time, nearly unable to suppress that mind-consuming fiendish aura. Or perhaps, in his subconscious, he no longer wished to suppress it. When one was no longer conscious, perhaps there would be no more pain?

"You..." Retaining the final vestiges of his will, he forced out a low, strained whisper, "Stay away from me, as far as possible... Right now, I am... very dangerous..."

"Impossible!" Cui Yuanyang said anxiously. "You are in such a terrible state, and your wound is still bleeding! How can I abandon you and care nothing for you!"

"It is not a matter of whether you abandon me or not... It is that my cultivation style can cause a loss of sanity. I cannot control it... When that happens, it will no longer be me... Get far away, quickly... Ugh..."

Cui Yuanyang suddenly extended her fingers and struck Zhao Changhe's acupoints, sealing the remainder of his words completely.

"Did you truly think Yuanyang is simple-minded?" Cui Yuanyang grumbled. "Your brain must be fried by the fever right now, for you didn't even consider that I know acupoint sealing?"

Zhao Changhe was left speechless.

Biting her lower lip, Cui Yuanyang began to strip away Zhao Changhe's tattered garments.

Zhao Changhe’s eyes widened in question.

His chaotic consciousness was nearly shocked back into clarity. What—what—what do you think you are doing!

The little white rabbit painstakingly peeled away the big black bear's clothes, her face flushing slightly as she produced a bright red strip of silken cloth.

Seeing the mandarin ducks embroidered upon the cloth, Zhao Changhe was utterly dumbfounded.

Is that not your undergarment?

Cui Yuanyang cast a glance at him, her eyes bearing an unreadable mixture of reproach and resentment. She lowered her head shyly, sprinkled some medicinal powder over Zhao Changhe’s wound, and then meticulously wrapped the makeshift bandage made from her undergarment.

This was perhaps truly the only thing within reach that could serve as a bandage.

"Does it still hurt?" Cui Yuanyang adjusted his clothes once more, gently wiping away the sweat that poured from his brow from enduring the agony, and spoke softly, "You do not have to carry everything on your own... Yuanyang is not a little fool who only drags you down."

The corner of Zhao Changhe's mouth twitched.

That was true enough. At the very least, she knew how to row a boat... and they had coordinated well; when told to cast the rope, she did so cleanly and decisively.

In truth, this girl possessed quite a bit of potential.

"Now it is my turn to take care of you." Cui Yuanyang selected several medicines and stuffed them into Zhao Changhe's mouth. "The flaws brought about by your Blood Fiend Technique, I know not how to resolve... These are medicines to restore vitality and replenish qi and blood. Sleep well after taking them, and you should feel much better..."

Saying this, she scratched her head. "I am not entirely certain, it is just a guess. Could it be a case of the constitution being too weak to take such tonics?"

Zhao Changhe remained silent.

I can also feel that among these medicines of yours, there are some meant for aphrodisiac purposes... Truly, you could first unseal my mute acupoint, honestly.

Forget it, he would attempt to break the sealed acupoint with his inner qi.

The sky finally turned completely dark, plunging the grove into pitch blackness. Cui Yuanyang began to feel a sense of trepidation. The pillar of heaven upon whom she relied most heavily had collapsed; now, with the night dark and the wind high, everything around her appeared terrifying. Yet, knowing full well that there were people nearby searching for them, she dared not strike a fire.

Never mind, she would first find some water for Brother Zhao to drink.

Cui Yuanyang turned to leave, but with a sudden "Ah!", her foot caught on a tree root on the ground, and she fell flat on her face like a tumbling rabbit.

With her rabbit ears drooping forward, Cui Yuanyang lay sprawled on the ground in the shape of a cross, weeping softly. That fragile facade of wanting to care for someone instantly crumbled.

We are both of the third tier of the Mysterious Pass, yet Yuanyang is so useless.

I should never have let him walk this path of thorns; how wonderful it would have been to go with him to behold the misty rains of Jiangnan... Wuuu...

From the outside, faint voices drifted inward: "Go look in that direction! Zhao Changhe is wounded, he certainly couldn't have run far!"

They had finally found this place!

Cui Yuanyang suddenly sprang up, rushing over to try to hoist Zhao Changhe onto her back and flee, but he was unexpectedly heavy—for a moment she couldn't manage to lift him at all.

From her back came Zhao Changhe's sighing voice: "Damn, the mute acupoint's finally unsealed. You little brat, what are you playing cute for? Hurry up and unseal my acupoints—the battle's starting!"