A Guide to Self-Rescue in the Cultivation World - Chapter 25

Her voice began to tremble, every word seemingly coated in thick ice.

“Then”

They came, those transparent, yet incredibly lethal and unkillable monsters.

Ming Luo’s eyes instantly filled with overwhelming terror. Her voice shook even more violently, unable to form a complete sentence.

“Xuan Yangming. he didn’t even lift a finger himself. The Shadow Soldiers he brought, and those twisted, bizarre skeletons… they felt no pain, couldn’t be killed… they just knew how to… slaughter.

They swarmed like a tide, pouncing and tearing at anyone they saw. The Elders and my Senior Brothers and Sisters fought to the death, but it was useless. Cut one down, and ten or a hundred more followed. Their bl00d splashed everywhere. Xuan Yangming floated through the pain he created like a ghost… just to find me… just to find me!”

Her voice became softer, barely a whisper. It seemed that the immense suffering had, at that moment, seized her throat.

Suyao.Ming Luo whispered, “Do you think  if I hadn’t gone into Xuan Yangming’s meditation room to look for this jade token, my Senior Brothers and Sisters, the sect Elders, maybe they wouldn’t have suffered such a terrible fate…”

She reopened her hand, revealing the cracked jade token. The character “Xin” (Faith) carved on it seemed incredibly heavy in the misty air.

Zhou Suyao looked at the jade pendant in her hand, speechless for a long time. She finally understood why the sorrow in Ming Luo’s eyes was so deep, and why her obsession with rebuilding the sect was so powerful.

Because it wasn’t just about revenge.

“Don’t be too sad,” Zhou Suyao said softly. She wasn’t good at comforting others, but given the situation, she managed a few extra words. “You must rebuild the Xinchong Sect. Make Xuan Yangming understand that his greed can only destroy him; it can’t destroy what truly exists.”

Hearing this, Ming Luo lifted her tear-filled face, nodding: “Yes, I know. Especially in this situation, I need to be stronger.”

The two continued their quiet conversation, and the atmosphere gradually eased. The bluestone path wound downwards, cutting through a dense bamboo forest. The rustling bamboo shadows added to the tranquility. In the distance, the flying eaves of the guest house were vaguely visible.

It was then!

“Whoosh!”

An extremely subtle sound of air being cleaved, barely audible over the wind, struck without warning, aimed straight for the back of Ming Luo’s heart.

Their objective was to deliver a fatal blow. They wanted to ensure Ming Luo became a corpse that could not speak!

It was too fast!

The assassins were clearly masters of stealth; their aura was completely merged with the environment. Not a single person among the three present had any premonition until the instant the arrow was released!

Zhou Suyao was only just recovering from severe injuries, her spiritual power far from replenished. She felt a wave of icy death instantly wash over her. It was an almost unconscious, instinctive reaction. Before the piercing shriek of the arrow could reach them, she violently slammed Ming Luo aside.

Pfft!

The arrow tore through flesh, instantly piercing her left shoulder. She let out a muffled groan, stumbling backward, her light-colored robes quickly soaked in bl00d.

Ming Luo, thrown to the ground, was still shaken. She looked at the dark red bl00d rapidly spreading on Zhou Suyao’s shoulder, her face instantly paling: “Suyao!”

Seeing the sudden turn of events, Zhou Zonglan, hidden in the dark, instantly appeared from the bamboo forest. His ancient longsword swept up a fierce torrent of cyan sword qi, cutting straight toward the direction the arrow came from.

However, there was clearly more than one assassin!

The moment Zhou Zonglan showed himself, two other ghostly figures abruptly emerged from two different directions. They were entirely wrapped in black, tight-fitting clothes, their faces covered by pale masks, revealing only a pair of emotionless, cold eyes.

Their movements were unbelievably fast, like incorporeal ghosts. They held black bone daggers, glinting with an ominous cold light, and silently stabbed toward the still-terrified Ming Luo.

Their target remained, consistently, Ming Luo!

As for Zhou Suyao and Zhou Zonglan, they were merely obstacles to be cleared!

Zhou Suyao’s left shoulder was intensely numb. At that moment, she could only swallow the bl00d, circulate her spiritual energy, and desperately try to block the fatal strike.

In this moment of life and death—

Time seemed to be gently nudged by an invisible, massive hand.

An ineffable pressure instantly enveloped the entire bamboo forest.

The two black-clad assassins lunging at Ming Luo suddenly froze. Beneath their masks, their pupils contracted, revealing disbelieving terror.

Immediately after, a figure appeared as if from thin air, standing silently in front of Ming Luo.

It was Zhou Shan Yuan.

No one saw how he arrived; it was as if he had been standing there all along, only manifesting from the void just now.

He was still the same slender figure, with the same pale face, but his expression was utterly blank, like still water that hadn’t moved for millennia.

Yet, in his hand, he was gently holding that same seemingly snapped peach blossom branch.

The branch was dull and unremarkable, looking like a dead twig casually picked up from the roadside.

But the moment the dead branch appeared—

With two sounds as crisp as tapping jade, the two assassins, along with the terrifying silver-glinting daggers in their hands, silently, without warning or struggle, instantly turned into two wisps of fine black smoke. They vanished completely into the air, without even time for a scream.

It was as if they had never existed.

The other assassin, currently entangled with Zhou Zonglan, shuddered violently. His masked eyes stared fixedly, filled with boundless horror and despair.

Pfft—

Zhou Zonglan’s sword light flashed. The assassin’s body was instantly sliced open, bl00d spraying.

Everything happened in a flash.

From the assassins’ appearance to their collective demise, only a few breaths had passed.

The bamboo forest instantly returned to the gentle rustling of the wind through the leaves.

Zhou Suyao, clutching her profusely bleeding arm, stared blankly at the slender figure shielding Ming Luo, and the worn peach blossom branch in his hand.

Eldest Senior Brother… it was Eldest Senior Brother again…

Just like in front of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where he conjured a peach tree to block the attack, Eldest Senior Brother had once again appeared at her most dangerous and helpless moment.

He had instantly annihilated the fatal threat with an almost absolute, crushing advantage.

But… why?

Why would the person who could coldly watch the Demon Clan’s destruction in the illusion choose to appear without hesitation every time she needed him, even using such terrifying power?

A vast sense of contradiction once again assailed Zhou Suyao’s mind. The coldness of the illusion and the protection in reality, like two inseparable threads, tangled into a confusing mess in her head, giving her a splitting headache and making her nearly unable to stand.

She was moments away from blurting out the question.

“Eldest Senior Brother… are you the person from the illusion… or are you the person here?”

However, Zhou Shan Yuan seemed to have already read her mind. Before she could speak, his eyes met her confused and struggling gaze with an open frankness.

The look was too heavy, containing too much that could not be spoken.

But it lasted only a brief second.

The next moment, Zhou Shan Yuan’s gaze shifted to the still-shaken Ming Luo, his voice returning to its calm tone: “Zonglan, take Miss Ming Luo to the guest house.”

“Understood,” Zhou Zonglan immediately complied. He helped the paralyzed Ming Luo up but couldn’t help but look back and say, “Eldest Senior Brother, please take care of Suyao too.”

“Naturally,” Zhou Shan Yuan nodded.

The Third Senior Brother finally left.

The entrance to the bamboo forest path was instantly left with only Zhou Shan Yuan and Zhou Suyao.

Zhou Suyao clutched her fiercely aching left shoulder. Bl00d continually seeped between her fingers, quickly staining her light-colored sleeve and making her face look as pale as snow.

But her eyes remained fixed on the slender figure before her. The question that was ready to burst from her throat was choked back by a more surging emotion as he turned to face her.

In front of her, Zhou Shan Yuan’s gaze fell on her profusely bleeding shoulder. The tranquility in his deep eyes, which he’d worn while facing the assassins, instantly shattered, like a stone dropped into a deep pool, quickly rippling in his gaze before being suppressed by a greater, unspeakable weight.

He moved toward her. Zhou Suyao felt instantly enveloped by the clean, warm scent of peach blossoms radiating from him. The scent caused a strange tremor in her chaotic mind, and her body instinctively tried to step back, only to stumble from the sharp pain in her shoulder.

“Don’t move.”

Zhou Shan Yuan’s low voice sounded, carrying an undeniable command, yet somehow less ethereal than usual, with a closer, more real hoarseness.

His fingers gently peeled away her hand, which was soaked in bl00d and covering the wound. His fingertips were cool. When they touched her hot skin, she keenly sensed the faint tremor coming from his touch.

Then, he quickly pressed several of her acupoints to staunch the bleeding.

But Zhou Suyao could feel that his fingers were still shaking.

What was he guilty about? Or what was he suppressing?

Zhou Suyao frowned. She stared at the close-up profile of her Eldest Senior Brother’s face, able to see the faint blue veins beneath his pale skin and the soft shadows cast by his long, dense eyelashes.

This face, which had been so cold and distant in the illusion, was now close enough for her to feel the slight movement of his breath.

“Eldest Senior Brother…” she thought. “What kind of person are you, really?”

Just as she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard Eldest Senior Brother whisper again: “Bear with it.”

Instantly, Zhou Suyao felt a surge of pain far greater than before. Her vision was instantly shrouded in darkness, her consciousness almost leaving her body.

In the throes of the pain, she completely lost control of her body. Her uninjured right hand instinctively clutched fiercely at the broad lapel of Zhou Shan Yuan’s robe.

The sensation was cool against her hand, and beneath the fabric…

The solid chest of an adult male.

Zhou Suyao recoiled as if she’d been burned, pulling her hand away abruptly. But as she released him, she suddenly remembered that she was leaning entirely against her Eldest Senior Brother. Letting go now would mean falling face-first onto the ground.

Oh well.

It was too late for self-reproach. She tightly closed her eyes.

But the anticipated pain never came.

A pair of firm, strong arms caught her steadily just before she could fall, lifting her into his embrace.

His arms wrapped tightly around her waist and back, securing her entire body against his chest. Her injured left shoulder was carefully avoided, but her face was left with no choice but to pressed against his robe, which radiated warmth.

Instantly, the scent of bl00d near her nose was diluted by his cool, clean aura.

Zhou Suyao’s consciousness was already drifting from the dizziness of bl00d loss, and her body was too weak from the pain to move. At this moment, she could only rely passively on his embrace. Through the thin fabric, she could clearly feel the rise and fall of his chest and his powerful heartbeat, which seemed a little too fast.

Eldest Senior Brother, she tried to say something, but her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum.

“Don’t talk.”

Zhou Shan Yuan’s voice sounded above her head. It was still low and calm, but it seemed to hold a hint of soothing reassurance.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Suyao felt a powerful yet gentle spiritual energy. Wrapped in this energy, the intense pain began to slowly recede. The cold numbness was instantly replaced by a warm current, gradually pulling her consciousness back from the abyss of agony. However, the weakness in her body became even more pronounced, forcing her to lean helplessly in this contradictory embrace.

The bamboo forest was quiet. The last rays of the setting sun filtered through the gaps in the bamboo leaves, casting circular, mottled spots of light on the two figures wrapped in an embrace.

Zhou Suyao closed her eyes, burying her face deeper. Her chaotic thoughts temporarily settled under the spiritual energy’s comfort. But the next moment, a new question quietly took root in her heart.

—This immediate embrace, versus the cold back she saw in the illusion. Which one was the real him? Or rather, which one was the him that her heart secretly… longed for?

She didn’t dare to think deeply. The weakness of her body and the warmth of the spiritual energy blurred her consciousness. For this moment, she only wanted to briefly fall asleep in this embrace.

Zhou Shan Yuan held her, feeling the gradually steady but still frail breaths of the person in his arms. He slowly raised his hand, seemingly wanting to brush the bloodstains from her face, but froze right before touching her skin.

His fingertips subtly curled, then slowly retracted.

He held her as if she were the most precious item in the world, yet also like a flame that threatened to burn his reason. Then, he looked up at the setting sun disappearing into the deep clouds of the bamboo forest.

The evening wind blew, and the bamboo leaves rustled.

As if whispering a destiny no one could explain.

He didn’t use the key for instant teleportation. He simply held her like this, walking slowly into the depths of the bamboo forest in the deepening twilight.

Perhaps only this stolen time could give him a semblance of peace.