Chapter 92 Who wouldn't? Please, Shen Tianji? ...
Qing Guiyu was stunned by his rhetorical question.
What are you going there for?
Go and dig up his family’s ancestral grave which is smoking.
The words rolled around on her tongue, but she still couldn't bring herself to say them. Seeing his face, pale with confusion yet flushed with her sudden closeness, she forced herself to swallow them back.
Not very polite.
Fortunately, Shen Yan was no longer in prison. Shen Juansheng always believed what she said and never asked any further questions.
Qing Guiyu also breathed a sigh of relief. This matter involved the secrets of three peerless martial arts, and it was a complicated matter. She herself was still a mess. How could she sort it out?
What's more, with his sharp mind, the more he talks, the more mistakes he makes. Who knows, he might lead you into some new scheme.
*
In just a cup of tea, he had changed into a clean and neat black robe with narrow sleeves, and his long hair was tied up with gold thread. Except for his face which looked even paler due to blood loss, he didn't look at all as if he had been beaten by her.
The assassin from Northern Frontier, whose jaw had been dislocated, was dealt with silently. Qing Guiyu didn't ask, and Young Master Jin Sheng didn't say anything either. It was all very well.
Since he had to turn back, Qing Guiyu naturally decided to ride a horse by himself and stay away from him.
"Miss Qing," the black-robed young man stood under the moonlight, his body still stained with the lingering smell of blood and medicine, but his voice remained gentle and calm. "I can't see, and I'm not a good rider. If I were to go alone, I'd probably delay our journey."
Then she was back in this familiar situation.
She rode on horseback, with Shen Juansheng holding her in his arms, behind her.
Traveling day and night, returning to the snow-capped mountains. This sounded so ambitious, but in reality, she had to carry a human-shaped trouble that was colder than ice, and eat dirt in the freezing wind for several whole nights.
Chen Jiansheng was probably really afraid of her getting angry, so he remained very quiet the whole way. He just sat quietly behind her, his arms around her waist, not daring to get too close.
It sounds easy to travel together, but it almost cost Qing Guiyu his life.
It’s not that the journey is difficult, but the half-dead ancestor behind her is really too much trouble.
The two of them rode together, galloping through the bitter night wind of the north. Shen Juansheng's eyes seemed to be blurring out again, perhaps because the bloody battle at Tunyun Tower had consumed too much of his mind.
She endured it for an unknown amount of time. Just when she was about to feel uncomfortable because of this strange atmosphere, a soft voice suddenly came to her ears.
"Miss Qing," he asked, "are there stars in the sky?"
"Yes." She looked up. The northern night sky was extremely high and far away, and the stars were as clear and bright as ice. "There are a lot of them."
"Is it beautiful?"
"good."
He laughed softly, the laughter was so light that it lingered behind him.
"What does it look like?" he asked with a smile. "I can't see it clearly. Can you describe it to me?"
Qing Guiyu's irritability was inexplicably relieved by his question.
She looked at the brilliant starry sky, racking her brains to find some suitable words.
"It's just... sparkling," she stammered, "twinkling, some brighter, some dimmer, all connected together, like... like..."
Like what? Like the tiny golden threads on his robe, shimmering in the candlelight.
I couldn't say this, I just felt embarrassed.
He seemed to know what she was thinking, and laughed again behind her, and the vibration of his body was clearly transmitted to her.
"Well," he said, "Miss Qing said it very well. I seem to...see it."
The two men stopped talking, leaving only the monotonous sound of horses' hooves on the wasteland and the whistling of the night wind.
At first, he just quietly put his arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. But after a few more hours, Qing Guiyu realized something was wrong.
The breathing behind her became more and more rapid, even a little hot. Even through several layers of clothes, she could feel the burning chill in his body.
Shen Juansheng had previously sustained severe internal injuries from her palm strike and the forced use of his internal energy. Now, after this long journey, the cold and reversed blood colliding within him had probably already reached the brink of collapse.
Qing Guiyu quickly reined in his horse and found a sheltered valley.
"Come down," she said.
Shen Juansheng followed his instructions and slid off the horse. His legs gave way, and he nearly fell to his knees. Qing Guiyu quickly supported him and felt his pulse. It was blazingly hot, and the pulse was as chaotic as a galloping horse.
"Chen Tianji," she said, so angry that she wanted to laugh, "You are really very capable. I don't need to do anything this time, you can torture yourself to death."
He leaned against her, a little delirious due to the fever, and just rested his face on the side of her neck and responded vaguely.
Qing Guiyu cursed again in his heart, but he did not dare to be negligent. He half supported and half carried him into a dry cave that could barely shelter him from the wind.
The cave was pitch black. She fumbled for a tinder and lit a small pile of dry branches. The orange-red flames spread, dispelling some of the chill and illuminating Shen Juansheng's face, which was flushed with fever.
He lay on the ground with his eyes closed, his eyelashes trembling on his face, but his lips were too red, the only bright color in this desolate place.
The black clothes had long been soaked with dust and night dew from running around, and they clung tightly to his body, outlining the thin but not too weak body lines.
"This is such a hassle." Qing Guiyu looked at the sky helplessly, but he finally unpacked his bag. He had to straighten out his reversed qi and blood first, otherwise the cold poison would attack his heart, and even the gods wouldn't be able to save him.
But this requires undressing him first.
Staring at the tight belt and complicated buttons, he felt that it was even more difficult than solving a killing game in Tianji Pavilion.
She had been practicing medicine for many years and had seen all kinds of scenes of torn flesh and broken bones, but she felt it was a bit troublesome to deal with a man who had a cold poison in his heart and was involved in a shady business.
She wanted him to lie down so that she could unbutton his clothes and give him acupuncture, but even though Shen Juansheng was delirious with fever, he still pressed his hands tightly on her chest with a frown.
"Chen Juansheng, let go!" She patted his hand pressed against his chest, but it didn't budge. She tried to pry it open again, but the fingers seemed like cast iron and still didn't budge.
It was too familiar, too familiar, and she was so angry that she was at her wit's end.
"Bear with it," she whispered, not caring whether he could hear her or not, and she opened his sweat-soaked collar from behind. Beneath the dark silk robe lay a firm back, and she could clearly see the beautiful pelvic floor bones and the graceful lines that extended down his spine.
What a sin! Qing Guiyu closed her eyes and first cleared her mind of all the random thoughts. She was a doctor, treating patients, not taking advantage of a pretty thing.
She calmed her mind, gathered the inner strength of the Yellow Emperor's Absolute Needle in her hand, and tapped several large acupuncture points on his back with her fingers like plucking a string.
"Hmm..." The person in his arms let out a muffled groan, his body trembled, and then fell down again.
Qing Guiyu didn't dare delay and took out several slender golden needles from her needle bag. She used her internal energy to pierce the acupuncture points on his back. Where her fingertips touched the acupoints, she could clearly feel the tense and trembling of his subcutaneous muscles.
This man's body was the most paradoxical battlefield in the world. The icy cold of his internal energy and the feverish surge of his blood battled within him, and every meridian felt like a taut silk string, ready to snap completely with the slightest misstep.
As the golden needle inserted, she carefully guided the chaotic qi and blood, trying to reintegrate them into the meridians.
Every time he faced him, it took ten times more energy than normal healing. Fine beads of sweat oozed from Qing Guiyu's forehead. His internal energy was depleted, and even his breathing became a little heavy.
The young man in her arms seemed to sense her hardship and simply leaned against her quietly, his breathing gradually steadying. The hand that had been tightly clenched against his heart also slowly dropped a little.
In the moonlight, you can see the red mark on the corner of his eyebrow left by the needle, which looks like blood on his pale skin.
His body became cold again, and her hands were frozen by the ice. After removing the needle, she quickly ran to warm herself by the fire, and suddenly heard a faint crackling sound behind her.
Shen Jiansheng seemed to wake up.
"Miss Qing," he paused for a moment and suddenly said, his voice so low that it seemed as if he was talking to himself, "Thank you."
"What are you thanking me for?" Qing Guiyu moved closer to the fire and said, "You know everything in your heart, and I don't dare to kill you."
"No," he shook his head, the golden strands in his hair trembling softly, "Thank you... for taking me with you."
*
Fortunately, Huangdi's acupuncture was really effective, and the injury... was basically caused by her, so she knew how to treat it and how to regulate the qi. Therefore, even though her tendons were not fully intact, it was easier to treat than his previous cold poison.
After nightfall, when he once again set foot on the secret mountain path leading to the Snow Mountain Prison, Young Master Jin Sheng had regained his usual refined and elegant demeanor. However, his complexion was paler than before, a bit like the snow that had been hidden from the sun year-round.
They hurried along the old salt road and returned to the forbidden area of the snow-capped mountains in just two days.
The vast valley, surrounded by mountains, remained heavily guarded, but the dull, heartbeat-like sound of chiseling in the walls seemed to have ceased. The firelight had also become much sparser, revealing a dead silence.
When the patrolling soldiers of Tianji Pavilion saw Chen Juansheng, they looked even more awed than last time. They didn't even dare to look up at him, and they bowed and retreated.
This was of course because Chen Yan escaped.
Under her care, Shen Juansheng's injuries, though not fully healed, were stabilized. He changed back into clean black clothes before the forbidden area, holding her in his hand, his footsteps soundless. The icy film around his eyes seemed to thicken even more, making him look like a part of this cold prison, cold and distant.
Qing Guiyu was held by his hand and walked in the familiar corridor that was as winding as the human internal organs.
She still remembered every step of the formation, and how the young man had used a few golden needles in the medicine house to teach her the "Heavenly Tribulation" that was enough to trap and kill the world's masters.
"...I'm afraid you won't be able to find me."
He said.
Now that I think about it, I wonder how many layers of true and false thoughts are hidden in these words.
The further they went in, the more intense that familiar, bone-chilling chill grew. The corridor was eerily silent, with only the sound of two footsteps, one in front and one behind.
Finally, the huge natural ice cave appeared before our eyes again.
But this time, without Chen Yan's resentful gaze and hoarse curses, there was only a dead silence. The night pearls on the four walls emitted a cool and soft light, illuminating the cave like a glass world that did not belong to the human world.
In the center of the cave, the cold pool surrounded by black ice still looks like a huge piece of black glass. Here, one can feel a bone-chilling chill rising continuously from the bottomless center of the pool.
Qing Guiyu shook off his hand and walked quickly to the edge of the pond.
The huge black ice coffin still sank quietly to the bottom of the pond. The figure in the coffin, dressed in gorgeous clothes, was blurred in the distance by the clear yet deep water.
In front of the cold pond, the chained, haggard old man had disappeared.
Only a few forcibly broken chains remained, scattered on the cold stone ground, with one end still deeply embedded in the ice wall.
Chen Yan really escaped.
"Shen Engraving Sound," she turned back from the cold pond and looked at the young man standing quietly behind her, "How deep is this pond?"
"I don't know." Shen Juansheng shook his head. "I was thrown in once when I was four years old. I just remember sinking for a long, long time without reaching the bottom."
He said it calmly, but it made people feel a little inexplicably panicked.
"Is there no boat?" She bit her finger.
"No," the deep voice replied, its voice echoing in the empty ice cave. "Besides my father and I, no one else has ever been here. No boat is needed."
That makes perfect sense. Qing Guiyu was speechless. She circled the cold pond twice, wondering if she could use her Qinggong skills to leverage the momentum and leap over the icy ridges. But the ice was slippery, and the distance was too great; the risk was too great.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind, each one rejected by herself. The surface of the pond was as smooth as a mirror; no matter how skilled her Qing Gong skills were, she wouldn't have any leverage. If she asked the Tianji Pavilion to build a bridge, who knows how long it would take. And if she tried to find a plank of wood floating ashore, it would make too much noise. Not to mention where would the plank come from in this damned place, what if it disturbed something at the bottom of the pond...
She was looking at the dark bottomless pool with worries, but the person behind her walked up to her quietly.
"I need to think of a way to get down." Qing Guiyu turned his head and looked at Chen Juansheng who had followed him, and spoke concisely.
"No."
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, she responded, without even a hint of her usual gentle smile. Under the cold glow of the night pearl, her overly beautiful face looked as white as ice and snow.
"Don't even think about it,"
Young Master Jin Sheng said sternly,
"The water is made of melted black ice that's been there for thousands of years. It's freezing cold. You can't go down there." The voice was cold. "What do you want to know? I'll go down and tell you everything, word for word."
Qing Guiyu scratched his hair angrily. What kind of nonsense was he talking about? Did he know that he was blind?
"Miss Qing, be obedient," Young Master Jinsheng slowed down his voice, each word coming out as a demand, laced with gentle cruelty. "I don't want to... use any other means to keep you."
Qing Guiyu was startled by his appearance.
This guy is having another attack.
But today, I absolutely cannot let him do as he pleases.
"Another way?" She raised an eyebrow. Instead of retreating, she took a step forward and looked him straight in the face. "Are you going to restrain me like you did in Dragon City a few days ago and then do whatever you want with me?"
Shen Juansheng's body trembled violently, and the blood drained from his face instantly. The hand holding her also trembled, as if it had been burned by fire.
"I..." His lips moved, and his beautiful eyes were instantly filled with complete panic and pain.
"I'm not..." He seemed to want to explain himself, but he didn't know where to start. In the end, he just turned away awkwardly, "I was worried something might happen to you."
He remained silent, a gesture of complete rejection. But what he said did make sense. Qing Guiyu paced back and forth by the pond worriedly.
The surface of the cold pond was calm and dark, with no visible bottom. Steam rose from it, and the chill was biting. Going in directly would be a death wish.
But that ice coffin is the key to solving all the mysteries.
Got it.
Her heart moved,
"Chen Juansheng," she walked towards him, "can you lend me that thread?"
Shen Juansheng turned his head to the side, his face expressionless.
"What is Miss Qing going to do?" His voice was calm.
"Hold two sticks, I'll go and take a look from above." Qing Guiyu pointed to the ice coffin.
"no."
He refused almost immediately. His voice was not loud, but it was cold enough to freeze the water in the cold pond.
"Miss Qing," he took a step closer to her, his gentle and soft aura vanishing, and his sharp edge suddenly emerged. "I told you, the water beneath the pool is ten thousand year old black ice, the cold is bone-chilling. If you fall in, you will die."
This is not a negotiation, it is a statement and a warning.
"I won't fall." Qing Guiyu met his pressing gaze, not giving in at all. "Isn't your thread incredibly strong? I've used it before, and it's more than enough to hold me up in the pond."
"That's different." Shen Juansheng shook his head stubbornly, a look of pain and resistance on his face. "...That's something I use to kill people, not for you... not for you."
"You can wear it and make people afraid of you," he hesitated, then added, "but you... don't use it."
He exposed his nature and methods in front of her, and drew a clear line between them, awkwardly unwilling to let her be tainted by them in the slightest.
This was the second time Young Master Jin Sheng said "no" to her.
The first time was at the villa, when she was going to look for Chen Yan.
The second time was right now. It was all related to this cold pond.
Qing Guiyu felt a little sad after hearing this.
After all, someone was truly worried about him. This place was a prison, a tomb, the source of all his pain and fear. He didn't want her to set foot in this hell that belonged to him.
The two men were in a stalemate. The ice cave was dead silent, with only the occasional sound of water droplets, tap, tap, tap, as if some icy water was dripping resolutely from the cold wall.
Qing Guiyu sighed in his heart.
When dealing with someone like Shen Juansheng, ordinary methods are probably useless.
But he himself, on the other hand, knew everything—here suddenly a light bulb went off,
She recalled the time in that room in Longcheng when he had deliberately made that alluring plea. She recalled how he had been so reluctant, yet had immediately given in under her threat of "I'll really leave."
She thought she was probably crazy to come up with such an idea.
But right now, it seems this is the only way.
Hmm—
Qing Guiyu felt a little uneasy in his heart, but he had to keep a straight face.
She tightly grasped the bamboo flute in her hand, cleared her throat, and tentatively spoke in a tone that was unfamiliar to her, with a hint of hesitation and softness.
"Please?"
She hesitated for a moment, really worried that the timing was not yet right, and then looked at his somewhat tense expression, which was slightly obscured by his hanging black hair, and added three words.
“…Shen Tianji?”
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