Seeking a chance to survive at the foot of Youning Cliff
Chapter Forty-Five
On the night of the sixteenth, a torrential rain fell on earth.
The long-overcast sky was suddenly hit by a torrential downpour, the rain lashing down relentlessly and unreasonably, knocking down leaves but unable to rouse the heavily injured man who lay asleep beneath the tree.
The man stepped on the dew-drenched grass with his cloth shoes, squatted down, and placed his finger under Zhou Yulin's nose. "You're not dead? You're really lucky."
The woman took off her headscarf, took out herbs from her medicine basket, applied them to the wound on the woman's leg, and tied it tightly. "Then come home with me."
She easily lifted Zhou Yulin with one hand, saying, "Remember my name is Qing Youning."
Qing Youning pondered for a few seconds, "Since I saved your life, I will be your future master." Her gentle voice reached Zhou Yulin's ears, sounding like a beautiful dream.
Zhou Yulin knew nothing of this; when she woke up, it was already a month later.
"Hiss." Zhou Yulin looked down at her legs, which were secured by the wooden plank. The sound of pounding medicine came from outside. She vaguely remembered that she had confirmed with the senior in her mind that there was no danger before choosing to jump off the cliff.
Unexpectedly, the cliff was a thousand feet high. If Zhou Yulin hadn't grabbed a tree to cushion the fall, she would have likely died instantly. She tried to move her legs, but found that the part supported by the plank had lost all feeling.
Is this at the bottom of the mountain? Who saved me?
Zhou Yulin got out of bed and limped to the door.
"Oh, you're awake?"
The woman looked at her with a smile in her eyes, "It's a miracle that you didn't die after falling from the mountain."
A miracle? Only Zhou Yulin knew that she almost died.
“Since you saved me, you are my savior.”
"Miss?" Qing Youning frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with the address, and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. "Call me Master."
"..." Zhou Yulin looked at the beautiful woman in front of her, "I already have a master."
Upon hearing this, Qing Youning was taken aback. "You have a master?" But she quickly looked down at the herbs she was working with and casually asked, "Who is your master?"
Zhou Yulin was about to speak, but then she suddenly fell silent, as if remembering something.
She lowered her head, leaning against the door, the pain bringing her back to her senses. "I don't have a master. My master doesn't want me anymore."
"Oh," Qing Youning replied rather indifferently.
"Then become my apprentice."
The words that fell carried a heavy weight. Zhou Yulin looked up at the woman in the light green medicinal robe. The woman only left Zhou Yulin with her back turned. She was busy pounding medicine in her hands, but she kept muttering, "Your master doesn't want you. She has no taste."
"I'm just a useless spiritual root."
"Who said that?" The woman raised her voice, her tone unfriendly. "Even if my apprentice is a good-for-nothing, he's a genius among good-for-nothings."
She put the pounded herbs into a medicine jar, sealed it, and appeared in front of Zhou Yulin in the blink of an eye. She took Zhou Yulin's hand, felt her pulse, and asked, "Compared to before, do you feel any difference in your spiritual meridians?"
Zhou Yulin answered based on her intuition, "It needs to be clearer. I couldn't sense any spiritual energy before, but after waking up..."
Qing Youning added with a straight face, "He broke through the Qi Refining stage and reached the Foundation Establishment stage in one step." His tone was indifferent, as if reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in one step was a very common thing.
Zhou Yulin sensed the spiritual energy the woman was infusing into her body, gently cleansing every inch of her spiritual meridians like water. It seemed that the other party was a medicine cultivator. There were very few medicine cultivators left in the world. Even though many sects still retained the name of medicine cultivators, most of them existed in name only and learned only the most basic pharmacology.
What are you spacing out about?
Qing Youning noticed Zhou Yulin staring at her and winked at her, "Even if I'm good-looking, you don't have to stare like that."
The person in front of her certainly had the looks to back it up, so Zhou Yulin didn't say anything to refute him. Besides, he was her savior, so she didn't mind praising him a few more times, "Senior, you are very good-looking."
Qing Youning's face darkened. "Don't you dare call me senior!"
"..." Zhou Yulin tentatively called out, "Master...?"
"Hey!" Qing Youning finally smiled. "Good boy, that's a good child."
The woman clearly didn't look much older than Zhou Yulin.
The woman was extremely beautiful, especially her eyes, which were incredibly alluring. When she smiled, one couldn't help but want to pile everything in front of her. Unfortunately, her beauty was inversely proportional to her culinary skills; the more beautiful she was, the worse her cooking was.
"..." Looking at the lump of black charcoal in front of her, if Zhou Yulin hadn't seen that Qing Youning also had a lump in front of her, she would have suspected that this person had served up charcoal meant for cooking as food.
"Want to try some?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yulin's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally sank to the bottom. She picked up the white jade spoon beside her, scooped up a spoonful of air, symbolically put it in her mouth and chewed it a few times, "It's acceptable."
Qing Youning smiled and said, "That's good. Remember to finish your food."
After saying that, she picked up her plate and turned to leave.
Zhou Yulin and the lump of charcoal were left sitting there, staring at each other.
No, we can't stay here any longer.
This woman's cooking is poisonous!
The thought of having to eat this kind of meal every day from now on filled Zhou Yulin with a sense of desolation.
Fortunately, in the following days, the woman would take her own plate out to eat after cooking, which gave Zhou Yulin a chance to survive.
About two weeks later, after the woman's medicinal bath and pills, Zhou Yulin was finally able to get out of bed and move around freely.
The woman's days were very regular. She would go out early in the morning to collect herbs, return at noon to make medicine, and cook and prepare medicine for Zhou Yulin in the evening.
She was very attentive to her patients, carefully inquiring about Zhou Yulin's daily condition. Although such days were monotonous, they made Zhou Yulin feel extremely at ease.
She felt that this woman possessed a magical power that could soothe all the noise and restlessness around her. But this woman must also have an untold story.
"Master." After two weeks, Zhou Yulin had gotten used to this title. She sat at the door and immediately went to greet the woman who had returned, taking the basket from her hands.
"I'm so angry today! Some reckless person dared to steal my herbs." Qing Youning seemed to get angry as she talked about it. "Floating Life Grass loves to suck blood. I had just finished talking to this person when he cut off his own palm. Do you think this person is crazy?"
Zhou Yulin moved a chair for the man and helped him organize the herbs, while listening to Qing Youning's complaints, "He's quite handsome, but I didn't expect him to be so stupid. I told him I had a way, but he just stubbornly insisted on going into the cave."
"Do you think all sword cultivators are a bit mentally ill and can't understand human speech?"
The sword cultivator present listened to the complaints of the person next to him, his expression unchanged, and added with a word of affirmation, "Indeed."
“I was originally planning to leave, but then I remembered that this man promised me ten thousand taels of gold, and I was really reluctant to part with it. After thinking about it, I still followed him into the cave.” Qing Youning took the tea that Zhou Yulin handed her and took a small sip. “Unexpectedly, something happened in the cave, and we both fell into the pool.”
"Master seems to be alright." Hearing this, Qing Youning raised her eyebrows with a smug look. "Of course, who is your master?"
"Who is he?" Upon hearing this, Qing Youning slowly turned her head to look at her silly disciple who was propping his head up and asking her earnestly.
"...Can't you have any emotional intelligence?" Qing Youning looked at Zhou Yulin with exasperation and sneered twice. "Can't you tell that this is just self-praise?"
"I'm sorry, Master."
Seeing the pitiful look on the man's face, Qing Youning's anger subsided considerably. After all, why should she argue with a little kid? So she continued, "Luckily, I found the exit in the secret passage and was able to escape. But this man broke his promise. Not only could he not produce ten thousand taels of gold, but he also threw me a tattered book and ran off with the floating grass I picked."
When Zhou Yulin saw Qing Youning angry for the first time, she couldn't help but become curious about that person. "Did that person leave their name? Master can take revenge one day based on their name."
Without hesitation, Qing Youning replied, "Yes, he said his surname is Yan and his given name is Fengshi. Yan Fengshi, Yan Fengshi, I think it would be better if he were called 'Born at the wrong time'."
"Yan Fengshi?" Zhou Yulin's expression froze. Remembering something, she took the book Qing Youning handed her, opened it, and the familiar handwriting came into view. This was the same book as the one in the Xuanling Sect's library.
"What, you've read this book?" Qing Youning keenly noticed that Zhou Yulin's expression was off and leaned closer. "This book isn't anything special."
However, when her gaze fell on the page about borrowing spirits, she immediately threw the book eight feet away as if she had seen something dirty. "It's better not to read such a book."
Seeing Qing Youning's furious expression, Zhou Yulin was about to say something when the woman angrily said, "That liar not only cheated me, but also tried to corrupt my disciple. He is unforgivable! If I ever see him again, I will definitely pin him to the ground and beat him up."
The dishes Qing Youning cooked that night were a shade darker than usual.
After Zhou Yulin took a bite with a grim expression, Qing Youning finally left, relieved.
In a secluded corner, where no one knew, Zhou Yulin retrieved the book.
She tried to call out to the person in her mind, but to no avail.
She also tried to call upon the Jade Without Falling, but to no avail.
A constantly rising cultivation level, and a master who appeared out of nowhere.
Everything seemed like a dream to her.
As Zhou Yulin looked at the book, she recalled the shock and astonishment she felt when she first saw it. Yan Fengshi—if the person appearing today was indeed Yan Fengshi, then why was he here? Was he searching for the Floating Life Grass for someone?
The floating grass is often associated with the saying that life is but a fleeting dream.
The user will fall into a deep sleep until someone wakes them up.
As Zhou Yulin pondered, melodious piano music drifted from outside the door. She walked out uncontrollably, pushed open the door, and saw a woman bathed in moonlight, playing a mournful melody she had never heard before. "You're still awake?"
Qing Youning turned around and smiled, a faint smile that seemed to hide a hint of sorrow. "I haven't asked your name yet. What's your name?"
"Zhou Zhao".
Qing Youning nodded. "A good name."
"Are you married? With your looks, you must have many admirers."
The other person winked at Zhou Yulin with a gossipy look, which made her think back to the past.
When she was still in the Xuanling Sect, some disciples wrote her love letters, but she didn't accept them at all, only leaving a casual remark, "Only those who have beaten me deserve to be accepted by me." So for many years afterward, no one wrote her any more love letters.
She only pursued him; she didn't remember anyone ever pursuing her.
"No, but I have someone I like."
"Oh?" Qing Youning became interested. "Who is it?"
Perhaps because she was facing a stranger, and considering that she might never see this person again, Zhou Yulin didn't deliberately hide anything, saying, "My senior brother."
"Oh? Why?"
“He takes good care of me. He has taken care of me since I was a child. He is a very good person…” Qing Youning looked at Zhou Yulin, who was counting his senior brother’s good points on his fingers, and rubbed her temples. “Stop, my good disciple. You have said so much about how he takes care of you.”
"But none of these are liking," the woman's gentle voice carefully explained. "Can you distinguish whether your feelings for your senior brother are dependence or liking?"
Dependence and liking?
Seeing the confusion and bewilderment in Zhou Yulin's eyes, Qing Youning rolled up her sleeves. "What you just talked about was dependence. What is liking? Liking is being willing to go through fire and water for someone, liking is being able to risk your life for their survival, liking is—he came only for you."
As she read the last word, Zhou Yulin's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She remembered that she had visited Xiaobie Mountain several times before she died.
At that time, the girl had many doubts about her senior brother's demonic possession. After Chen Muyao rescued her senior brother, she entered the sect and went into seclusion, which made Zhou Yulin even more suspicious that Chen Muyao might have interfered and caused her senior brother to become a demon.
Chen Muyao has an annoying junior brother named Huining.
The man had clenched his fists, his eyes red, and said something to her.
"Zhou Yulin, a heartless person like you doesn't deserve anyone's affection in this life." Hui Ning's eyes were filled with hatred, but it didn't bother Zhou Yulin at all. As she turned to leave, he said that Chen Muyao went to Jinyang City for her sake.
"Liking someone means that because of you, I am willing to protect the people you cherish and care about."
Qing Youning's voice and Huining's voice intertwined.
Zhou Yulin looked at her palm, and her heart skipped a beat.
The question she couldn't answer then suddenly found its answer at this moment.
“I am willing to go to Jinyang City.”
It turns out everything was expected.
The long moon hangs lonely tonight. Zhou Yulin fell asleep to the sound of the zither, but then remembered that dream that had haunted her for so long, and suddenly sat up, propping herself up on her hands.
No, she had to get out of here alive and find Chen Muyao to get to the bottom of things.
What exactly does he mean?
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