Chapter 51
huff--huff--
Hold.
Are you catching up?!
The view in front of him gradually widened, and Tang An glanced back hastily.
There was nothing behind me, only the rustling of the bushes in the wind.
He gradually slowed down his pace and finally stopped at a relatively flat open space, holding his knees and breathing heavily: "It seems that I haven't caught up."
The little fox running in front to lead the way stopped and looked back at Tang An vigilantly.
"Ouch?"
"Well, it's safe for now."
Tang An took a deep breath and waved to the little fox.
The little fox's ears twitched twice, and after confirming that there was no danger, it quickly ran back to Tang An, raised its head, rubbed his trouser legs with its wet nose, and made a weak whimper, as if asking about his condition.
"It's really okay now." Tang An squatted down and touched the little fox's furry head. "Thanks to you just now. If you hadn't helped us in time, we might not have been able to escape."
The little fox seemed to enjoy the compliment very much. Its big furry ears immediately drooped down, its eyes narrowed, and it let out a satisfied purr from its throat, enjoying his touch.
The collar of Tang An's shirt moved, opening slightly. Shen Qi, who had regained some consciousness, carefully poked his head out from inside, then jumped lightly onto the warm back of the little fox.
The little fox froze suddenly, the expression of enjoyment disappeared, the body stretched straight, and it didn't even dare to shake its tail, as if it was carrying something extremely precious and fragile on its back.
"How do you feel?" Tang An lightly touched the scales on Shen Qi's body that were charred and curled up by the fire with his fingers, his tone full of worry and guilt.
If it wasn't for the frequent blood drawing to extend his life, which caused Shen Qi's vitality to be seriously damaged, how could he be so weak that he was easily captured by a blind old monster?
Shen Qi rubbed Tang An's fingers with his cold little head, conveying the message that he was fine.
"There's an ownerless cave not far ahead. Inside is a magical spring that's incredibly effective in healing wounds. Let's take shelter there first."
Shen Qi's voice rang directly in his mind, with an unconcealable fatigue.
Tang An was still a little unaccustomed to this method of transmitting secret messages, and subconsciously touched his ear: "Okay, I'll do as you say, but you have something to say. I'm not in any serious condition for the time being, but about the blood..."
His words came to an abrupt halt as he felt a soft and slightly cool touch on his fingertips. He looked down and found that Shen Qi had closed his eyes again and fell into a coma, his small body rising and falling slightly with his breathing.
Tang An sighed, carefully lifted Shen Qi from the fox's back, and hid him back in his clothes. Then he patted the little fox's head and said, "Let's go."
The cave that Shen Qi mentioned was extremely hidden. Looking around, there were only bushes of varying heights on the flat open space.
Tang An almost reached the edge of the flat ground. There was a bottomless cliff ahead, and he couldn't find any entrance like a cave.
Finally, under the guidance of the little fox, they returned to the place not far from where they started and stopped in front of a huge tree with extremely ancient and tangled roots.
The little fox released the hem of Tang An's clothes, which it had been holding in its mouth, and raised its head and called out twice: "Aoao."
Tang An looked up and saw the treetops towering into the clouds. Standing under the tree and looking up, he felt a little insignificant, as if he was sitting on an airplane overlooking the ground...
His thoughts suddenly stopped.
airplane?
This unfamiliar word suddenly flashed in my mind. Before I had time to think about it, I saw the little fox suddenly start digging the soil with its front paws. Mud splashed everywhere, and its two snow-white front paws turned pitch black in a short while.
Seeing this, Tang An, although confused, stepped forward to help: "Is the entrance down here?"
The little fox did not respond, but just dug harder. After about a minute, it suddenly stopped, turned its head and barked at Tang An twice, signaling him to step back with its eyes.
Although Tang An was confused, he still took two steps back as instructed.
The next second, something happened that stunned him.
The little fox raised its hind legs slightly, and a liquid with a distinct fishy smell dripped into the small hole it had just dug.
Tang An: “…”
He subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to rub his temples, but seeing that his hands were covered in mud from digging the soil, he had no choice but to put them down and turned away silently.
So the entrance isn't here?
Tang An's face darkened.
Or maybe the cave that Shen Qi mentioned was just a cover, right?!
Is this little fox simply marking its territory?!
After the little fox had dealt with the most important matter in his life, he skillfully used his hind paws to dig up the soil and covered it up. Then he ran to Tang An, clamped his throat, and made a soft and coquettish cry, trying to get away with it.
Tang An looked at it helplessly: "It's no use pretending to be cute now, you..."
Before he could finish his words, they were completely drowned out by a huge boom.
The ground beneath his feet began to tremble slightly. Tang An's face changed. He quickly grabbed the little fox's skin by the back of its neck and quickly retreated several feet.
I saw that the towering ancient tree that was originally standing quietly was uprooted at this moment and slowly moved to one side, with dust rising up and blowing towards me.
Tang An immediately covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves and squinted his eyes.
The earth-shaking noise lasted for about ten seconds before gradually subsiding.
The dust slowly dissipated with the wind, revealing the scene under the original location of the ancient tree.
A deep cave entrance, roughly large enough for two adults to pass through side by side, appeared before their eyes.
The little fox broke free from Tang An's hands, ran swiftly to the edge of the cave, turned back and called out to Tang An who was still in a daze, urging him to go in quickly.
Tang An came back to his senses and subconsciously touched Shen Qi who was still sleeping in his arms. He gritted his teeth and stepped into the dark cave entrance.
At the moment when his last strand of hair sank into the cave, there was another dull bang. The ancient tree seemed to have life. It slowly moved back to its original position and covered the cave entrance tightly.
The surroundings returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
The startled sparrow landed back on the branch and continued to leisurely preen its feathers.
It was pitch black inside the cave, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you.
Tang An had no choice but to stretch out his hand and grope the cold and damp cave wall, moving carefully step by step inside. As time passed, his eyes gradually adapted to the darkness and he could barely make out the vague outlines of nearby objects.
The sound of gurgling water came to my ears, clear and pleasant.
Tang An walked in the direction of the sound of water and saw a faint white light faintly coming from a distance. The further he walked, the brighter the light became.
The little fox reacted faster than him. It roared excitedly, jumped over in a few leaps, and jumped into the spiritual spring that was emitting white mist with a splash. It floated comfortably in the water and took a nap leisurely.
This spiritual spring is not big, it is irregularly round and can only accommodate one person for soaking.
Remembering what Shen Qi had told him before he fell into a coma, Tang An immediately and carefully took Shen Qi out of his arms, and found a magical instrument shaped like a banana leaf that was flashing with a faint spiritual light from his storage ring. He gently placed the weak little dragon on the leaf and let the leaf float on the surface of the spiritual spring water.
Then he found an antique wooden ladle, scooped up a spoonful of warm and clear spring water, and slowly poured it on Shen Qi's charred scales.
"I always feel that this scene is a little familiar."
Tang An muttered subconsciously while watering the plants.
Warm spring water, wooden ladle...
Is there a towel missing?
Without warning, an image flashed through his mind.
A short-haired man with eyebrows and eyes very similar to Shen Qi, with a bath towel casually wrapped around his waist, slowly walked towards him. The other party was holding a glass of iced drink with water droplets condensed on the wall of the glass and a straw inserted in it.
"Tired?" the man's voice was low and pleasant, with a smile on his face.
"Nonsense, my back hurts." It was clearly his own voice, but it carried a natural and intimate complaint that he had never had before.
Tang An felt a warm palm covering his lower back, kneading it neither lightly nor heavily, with the fingertips exerting an ambiguous strength.
'It's too hard here, let's go to the bed later...'
'roll! '
The self in the picture seemed a little embarrassed and annoyed, using his elbow to press against the other person's cheek which was about to touch his neck.
'I'm sleepy.'
'Are you really sleepy?'
The restless hand slid down cunningly, brushing across the tailbone.
The self in the picture trembled violently, his waist instantly went limp, and a suppressed moan escaped his mouth.
"Enough, that's enough..."
"Baby, one more time..."
Crash——
In reality, Tang An's hand trembled, and a whole bucket of spiritual spring water poured directly on his head.
The slightly cool spring water instantly dispelled the inexplicable heat. He jumped up from the ground and wiped his cheeks and hair in a hurry. He felt his face was incredibly hot and his heart was pounding.
What was that just now?!
Those images...
That man...
That extremely intimate atmosphere...
Tang An's face was flushed and his heart was beating fast, spinning around like a headless fly. Shen Qi, who was lying on the banana leaf floating with the waves, seemed to be disturbed by his movement and slowly opened his eyes.
Seeing the man in a panic and with a red face, Shen Qi thought something had happened again. He became anxious and did not care that his body was far from recovered. He forced himself to transform into a human form and stood up from the water with a splash.
"What happened?" He was eager to step out of the spiritual spring.
Seeing Chen Qi suddenly wake up and turn into a human form, Tang An subconsciously wanted to go forward to support him, but his eyes were unexpectedly caught off guard by a naked chest and slender legs.
He retracted his feet as if burned, turned around quickly, covered his eyes with his hands, and his voice changed: "Wait, wait! Put on your clothes first!!"
After a rustling sound of dressing, Shen Qi's slightly hoarse voice came: "Okay."
Tang An then dared to slowly put down his hand, but his ears were still red, his eyes were erratic, and he didn't dare to look directly at Shen Qi, and subconsciously kept a distance.
"This cave you mentioned is really hard to find." He tried to cover up his embarrassment with words, "Who would have thought that the entrance was actually under a tree."
"It was my negligence." Shen Qi's tone was apologetic and helpless, "How did you find it later?"
Tang An raised his finger and pointed at the little fox that was still floating comfortably in the spiritual spring, quietly absorbing spiritual energy for cultivation. "It was Xiaohong. It dug a hole, then peed, and the tree moved away on its own."
Shen Qi: “…”
He silently looked at the hidden little fox, a complex expression flashing in his eyes, which eventually turned into a sigh: "All things have spirits. It has a deep connection with you and me. Perhaps we will meet again in the future."
Tang An caught the word: "Future?"
The corners of Shen Qi’s lips raised slightly in an elusive arc: “Well, the future.”
As an immortal who had lived for countless years and witnessed the vicissitudes of life, he once thought that the end of life would be eternal silence, and during this long time, he waited quietly and lonely for that day to come.
Shen Qi pondered for a moment, then took out a small, crystal-clear jade bottle from his arms. At the bottom of the bottle lay a piece of radiant scales that contained great vitality.
"This is my Heart-Protecting Scale." He placed the jade bottle in Tang An's hand. "Gu An has devoted his life to the path of immortality, but he is obsessed with delusions and will never be able to achieve perfection."
Tang An looked down at the warm jade bottle in his hand: "So this..."
Shen Qi said seriously, "Grind it into powder and take it with warm water, once in the morning and once in the evening. It has the effect of prolonging life."
Tang An: “…”
Chen Qi clenched his fist against his lips, coughed twice, and a faint smile flashed across his eyes: "Sorry, you look too solemn. I wanted to liven up the atmosphere. This scale can prevent a fatal disaster in a critical moment. Just treat it as a protective magic weapon."
Tang An clenched the jade bottle in his hand, his expression serious: "This is something you gave to Gu An. I will keep it for him for the time being, but are you really okay?"
A bitter arc appeared at the corner of Shen Qi's mouth: "To be honest, it's not very good."
Even a dragon's blood essence is not infinite. If it were a mortal with no cultivation, he would have died long ago after losing so much blood.
Tang An frowned, "If I were Gu An, I would definitely not want to see you sacrifice yourself like this."
Shen Qi looked at him with deep eyes: "Fortunately, you are just Tang An."
Tang An said anxiously: "But——"
Chen Qi blinked slowly and interrupted him, "Are you afraid of appearing too cold? It's simply because you and I are not from the same generation, and our time together is far less than that of Gu An. If it weren't for this unexpected incident, you and I would have been parallel lines that never intersected. Naturally, you wouldn't, and there's no need for you to care about my life or death like Gu An does."
Tang An's cheeks instantly turned redder. He subconsciously covered half of his face with his hands and lowered his voice: "Sorry..."
Shen Qi's words accurately revealed the unspeakable guilt deep in his heart.
That was indeed the case, and that was why he felt extremely indebted to Shen Qi.
He had thought several times about no longer relying on Shen Qi's blood, but this body had already developed a strange dependence on blood. Without it, it would be like a fish out of water, with only one way to go, death.
But he doesn't want to die.
He longed to live.
"It's alright." Chen Qi's voice softened, and he reached out and gently patted Tang An's shoulder. "I didn't want to see Gu An perish, so I willingly offered my blood to prolong his life. You were also innocently implicated, so there's no need to feel guilty for me. Survival is the instinct of all living things. You and I both have our own selfish desires, and there's no distinction between superior and inferior."
He withdrew his hand, his eyes falling on the hideous, unhealed scar on his wrist, as if muttering to himself: "The existence of you and Chi Ying is a reminder of me and Gu An..."
"Eternal life eventually comes to an end. After all, if we don't die, how can you exist in the future? I believe that if Gu An saw me in the future, his shock and fear would be far greater than when I first saw you."
Tang An was stunned when he heard this.
Chen Qi's gaze became somewhat distant, as if it could penetrate time. "In his cognition, I am an immortal species that lives as long as the heaven and earth. As long as the heaven does not perish, my body will not die. He certainly never thought that I would also face the day of extinction."
The scene before him changed like a kaleidoscope. The cave, which was empty with only a spiritual spring just now, gradually dissipated and grew larger.
Gu An, who was always cold and aloof, walked alone in a shadow without sunlight, holding a lifeless body in his palm and looked at it for a long time.
"Why did you die?"
"Isn't it said to be the strongest and most immortal species in the world?"
After a long silence, a drop of cold and crystal clear water slid down silently and landed right on the cold dragon's body.
"Too……"
"If you were still alive, how could you possibly fall in love with someone as mundane as me?"
"I should be happy. You, thousands of years later, are finally with my future self..."
"Stay together forever."
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