Chapter 125 Suffering As the saying goes, even the wisest person can make a mistake. ...

Zhou Yaren vaguely regained consciousness once, during which his body was constantly being shaken, making him dizzy and his stomach churn. In addition, he was delirious and felt an excruciating pain all over his body, as if his tendons were being severed inch by inch, making it extremely unbearable.

"He's been sweating profusely, quickly wipe him off."

Zhou Yaren felt as if her ears were stuffed with cotton wool, her hearing blocked by a thick barrier, making it impossible to distinguish who was speaking. The sound of waves crashing all around them confirmed they were on a boat; no wonder they were rocking so violently.

Then a damp cloth was gently wiped on her forehead, then across her cheeks and down to her neck.

"What should we do, Senior Brother Liuyun?" Lin Mu said worriedly, wiping Zhou Yaren's sweat with a handkerchief. "If this continues, will Tingfengzhi be able to make it?"

"I have already sent a letter to Taihang, asking Elder He to rush to Pinglu as soon as possible."

Elder He is the most senior physician in the Taihang region. He is skilled in acupuncture and moxibustion and has a deep understanding of meridians. It would be most appropriate to ask him to treat Tingfengzhi's injuries.

While taking Zhou Yaren's pulse, Li Liuyun said, "Throughout this journey, Tingfeng knows that all of her meridians are protected by the Yin energy, so she won't collapse for the time being. She should be able to hold on until we reach Pinglu."

“Extreme Yin energy,” Lin Mu looked at the Death-Reporting Umbrella in Zhou Yaren’s arms, which he had never let go of even when Zhou Yaren was unconscious, “Is it a false accusation?”

Li Liuyun nodded: "Yes."

Lin Mu was filled with mixed feelings, because Ting Fengzhi and Bai Yuan had fought side by side in this desperate situation, unafraid of death, and risked their lives to protect each other until this moment, until the very end.

Lin Mu thought: This must be what they call sharing life and death.

He has always liked the phrase "to live and die together" because it encompasses deep affection, mutual support, and a heroic and unwavering commitment.

No one will be left behind.

There is no greater affection or friendship than this.

As if possessed, Lin Mu slowly reached out his hand, and just as he was about to touch the Death Umbrella, a medicine bottle was shoved into his palm. Lin Mu suddenly looked up, somewhat stunned, at the fellow disciple who had given him the medicine bottle.

Yu Heqi said, "Why are you looking at me? Quickly apply some medicine to your burns."

"Oh," Lin Mu said calmly, "Your face isn't clean."

Yu Heqi exclaimed "Ah!" and turned around to lie on the gunwale, sticking his head out to look at his reflection in the water. Sure enough, it was still just a cat's face.

He was shirtless, and when he turned his back, a large patch of shocking blisters was visible from the back of his neck to his spine. This was because Wen Yi had just applied ointment to him and hadn't put on his clothes yet. In any case, there was no one else on the boat except the boatman who was rowing.

As he did this, the deck tilted to one side, and Lian Zhao, who was sitting on the gunwale, lost his balance. The boot he had just pulled off fell into the river with a splash.

"Hey!" Lian Zhao tried to grab it, but a wave swept the boot away. "Hey, my shoe, what are you doing?"

Wen Yi glanced at it indifferently: "Your shoes have two holes in them, with your big toes sticking out. You think you can still pull them back in and wear them?"

Lian Zhao: "I only have that one pair of shoes! What will I wear if I throw them away!"

Yu Heqi immediately pulled off one of his black boots and handed it over, without hesitation: "I'll make up for mine."

Lian Zhao turned his head and saw the burnt sole of the shoe, charred and burnt. He brushed it aside and said, "Yours is even worse than mine. At least mine still has a sole!"

After saying that, the boys looked at the burnt-through shoe soles and laughed.

"Laugh!" Lian Zhao couldn't help but grin, revealing a row of neat white teeth. "You can still laugh!"

"Haha, senior brother, I'll make it up to you, you just didn't want it."

Upon hearing Yu Heqi's words, Lian Zhao snatched the worn-out shoe from him, threw it into the river, and swung it around.

"Hey!" Yu Heqi couldn't stop her in time. "My shoes!"

"An eye for an eye."

This made Lin Mu and Wen Yi laugh uncontrollably.

After Lian Zhao finished reporting, he instructed Yu Heqi, "Lift up your stinky feet."

Good heavens, the middle of my foot was burned, and the skin and flesh were rubbed raw and bloody during the escape.

Lian Zhao grabbed his ankle: "Even in this state, you're still grinning from ear to ear."

Yu Heqi looked at Lian Zhao's big toe, which had a blister bigger than a walnut on it, and his teeth were wide open: "Anyway, crying is out of the question."

Lian Zhao really wanted to slap this kid on the foot until he cried!

Yu Heqi vaguely sensed the other party's intentions, immediately withdrew his foot, curled up cross-legged on his knees, and did not take the injury to heart. He grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his face.

Wen Yi, with his shirt open, had a burn mark on his abs from laughing. After applying ointment and letting it air dry for a while, he was walking toward the deck when he suddenly heard two screams from behind.

"ah!"

Lian Zhao was pulling down his waistband, revealing a scar on his hip bone.

Lin Mugang pulled his clothes down to his elbows and twisted his neck to look at the burns on his shoulders and back.

Li Liuyun had just finished tying up his clothes.

Upon hearing the scream, the disheveled boys turned around in unison and saw two beautiful young women standing on the deck of a nearby passenger ship. When they saw the group of naked men with their bare chests and arms, they covered their eyes and turned their heads away in embarrassment.

The boys were so frightened that they quickly put on their clothes to cover themselves, their expressions panicked and their movements chaotic.

Some of the older women covered their mouths and chuckled at their flustered appearance, while another woman jokingly called out, "Young men, it's windy on the water, be careful not to catch a cold."

The voice was quite charming.

Several young men, busy dressing, couldn't resist the teasing and jokes, their faces instantly turning red. None of them noticed the approaching passenger ship, nor dared to look up. They quickly put on their clothes, letting the passenger ship pass first. Therefore, none of them noticed the man on the passenger ship wearing a straw hat, with a scar under his three-white eyes. The man's gaze swept over Zhou Yaren on the boat, lingering briefly on the death-reporting umbrella before he silently disappeared into the cabin.

After the merchant ship sailed away, the flush on the faces of the boys gradually subsided. Just as they were feeling embarrassed and unsure of what to do, their stomachs started rumbling. So they rummaged through the food box prepared by the boatman and pulled out some dry food.

This was originally the boatman's own ration, a kind of fried porridge made from coarse grains. It was dry, hard, and rough to eat, and it could even irritate his throat when he swallowed it.

Even though the boys weren't exactly pampered, they still found it hard to swallow, but their hunger was unbearable, and they were starving. At times like this, they were lucky to have anything to eat, so they had no choice but to eat in silence.

Although Li Liuyun's meals weren't all refined, he had never eaten such coarse bran before; it was no different from chewing rice husks. Because it was so difficult to swallow, he had to gulp down two mouthfuls of cold water to wash it down.

Whenever Lin Mu wiped Ting Fengzhi's sweat with a handkerchief, his gaze would always unconsciously drift toward the Death Shot.

Whether out of curiosity or for some other reason, he approached several times, but hesitated to make any rash moves.

He sat next to Li Liuyun, chewing on his dry rations, looking at the Death Umbrella, seemingly wanting to say something but stopping himself, scratching his head and cheeks.

Li Liuyun turned his gaze and saw that Lin Mu had scratched his ears until they were red. He paused for a moment and asked, "It itches?"

"ah?"

Li Liuyun: "Your ears are itchy?"

Lin Mu looked bewildered: "It doesn't itch."

Lian Zhao stared at him: "If it doesn't itch, why are you scratching so much?"

Lin Mu stammered, "My um..."

The junior brother couldn't hide his thoughts, and Lian Zhao could see right through him at a glance: "Is there something you want to ask Liu Yun?"

"Ah, ah," Lin Mu exclaimed twice, struggling to organize his thoughts, "I just feel... it's a bit strange. Ting Fengzhi has been clutching this umbrella the whole time. Um, Senior Brother, you said it's the source of Bai Yuan's power, and just now on Zhongtiao Mountain, when Ting Fengzhi was fighting the Smiling Man, the mountain was blocked by snow. Now Ting Fengzhi's life hangs by a thread, and this extremely yin energy has been protecting his entire body's meridians. I mean, I mean, could Ting Fengzhi sense Bai Yuan?"

Li Liuyun listened patiently, then pondered and said, "I think so."

Lin Mu immediately sat up straight and blinked. "Then, how did you sense it? Is it...?" Lin Mu was very curious and voiced his guess, "Could you sense it just by touching that umbrella?"

No wonder this junior brother was so distracted; he'd been thinking about this all along. Li Liuyun asked, "You want to touch it?"

Lin Mu opened his mouth, but didn't utter an "ah".

He wanted to touch it, but felt awkward and didn't dare to.

As for why he felt awkward, Lin Mu thought, it's like if Bai Yuan were standing in front of him right now, he certainly couldn't touch her, that would be too offensive.

Returning to its origin and becoming an umbrella is the same, so Lin Mu stiffened his neck and shook his head against his will.

“It shouldn’t be,” Li Liuyun said. “I accidentally touched it yesterday when I was giving Tingfeng acupuncture, but I didn’t sense anything.”

Lin Mu asked blankly, "No?"

"Bai Yuan and Ting Fengzhi have a close relationship. I think only Ting Fengzhi can establish this kind of connection with her."

Lin Mu's shoulders slumped: "I see."

"I thought Tingfengzhi was doomed, and even the death umbrella couldn't save him, but I never expected to turn the tide in the end." It was too thrilling, Lian Zhao sighed. "That smiling man should be buried in the sea of ​​fire by now, right?"

Smiling face perished in the flames, but he jumped off the cliff without hesitation, using the trees on the precipice as a cushion. The branches couldn't withstand the immense weight of the fall, and sharp splinters tore open his back. Xu Zhangfang lost his balance again, desperately grabbing onto a cypress branch as he plummeted. The branch broke, slicing his arm in several bloody lines. He plummeted downwards once more, but fortunately, a horizontal branch of an old tree caught him around the waist. Xu Zhangfang crashed to the ground, landing with a thud in a pool of cold spring water.

The burns all over my body are extremely painful, and this pool of cold spring water can help relieve the pain.

He hadn't suffered like this in a long time.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have made this mistake.

How did I manage to slip up?

It's unbelievable that I still managed to miss.

Xu Zhangfang leaned against the hard, cold rock, his whole body immersed in the cold pool, looking up at the raging fire and billowing smoke on the mountaintop as he reflected on his actions.

As the saying goes, even the wisest person can make a mistake.

Xu Zhangfang couldn't help but sigh, "Even the most meticulous plans can have flaws."

As he was secretly making plans, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from afar. Xu Zhangfang did not turn around. Only after the newcomer stopped by the cold pool did he lazily say, "You walk so slowly."

"Mr. Fang." The man in black looked up at the wildfire, thinking that this guy was really good at causing trouble. He had just smashed the ferry crossing and now he was setting fire to the mountain, causing chaos everywhere. The man in black cursed inwardly, but didn't show it on his face. "Why are you taking a bath, sir?"

This blind bastard! Xu Zhangfang was stung by his words. He wanted to retaliate, but he didn't have the strength. So he had to give up and sighed, "I messed up."

The man in black received a message from his informant, realizing that his plan had failed and all his meticulous arrangements had come to naught. He then said, "They sailed east... no, they went east."

Xu Zhangfang's eyes reflected the firelight on the mountaintop, and he suddenly perked up and said, "Take off your clothes."

"..." What kind of outrageous request is this? The man in black asked warily, "What do you want?"

What the hell can he do? Not only was his robe torn to shreds by Tingfengzhi, but it was also burned to ashes. He can't exactly run around naked, can he?

"We can't let the tiger return to the mountain." Xu Zhangfang splashed water, and in a somersault, he directly ripped off the black-clad man's outer robe, which he wrapped around himself as he landed. Without turning his head, he sang a line from a Qinqiang opera, "Let me kill my way through."