Yan Zijin slowly raised her hand as her fingers trembled from both fatigue and frustration.
Dust and dried blood clung to her fingertips.
Her gaze narrowed ’I lost my storage ring...’
That ant no clean robes. No healing pills. Not even a simple comb to fix the tangled ss her hair had beco.
She was a sect elder, a peak cultivator, soone who prided herself on composure and discipline and now, she is sitting here half-naked, bloodied, and helpless in front of her own disciple.
"...Zhao Tian," she called softly, her voice still strained from the earlier injuries. "Do you have your storage ring with you?"
He gave a faint nod "I do, but it’s useless here. The space energy in this place is completely unstable. Any kind of spatial artifact is sealed. I tried opening it... nearly caused a spatial backlash."
Yan Zijin clicked her tongue in annoyance and leaned back against the rock again.
"It’s infuriating," she muttered under her breath.
The sticky sand clinging to her skin and the dried blood sticking to her thighs are making her skin crawl.
She couldn’t even brush her hair away without feeling grit on her scalp.
Zhao Tian looked at her for a mont before raising his hand "We can at least be grateful we’re able to use astral energy here."
As he spoke, an orb of pure water appeared above his palm, floating gently.
"Need so water?"
She nodded without hesitation "...Mhm."
He cupped his hands and let the water flow into them, then carefully brought them to her mouth.
His touch was careful and she leaned forward slightly as she began to drink.
The first drop touched her tongue, and she nearly moaned in relief.
The water was cool, pure, and filled with gentle astral energy.
It soothed her dry throat, her cracked lips, and the exhaustion in her bones.
She drank greedily, gulping it down until his palms were nearly empty.
"Ha..." she exhaled after finishing, licking a droplet from the corner of her mouth. "That was... better than any wine."
She leaned back again, her shoulders sagging, finally feeling a sliver of peace.
But the feeling didn’t last.
Her nose crinkled as the sticky sensation across her skin beca even more apparent.
The dried blood on her neck and the sand clinging to her legs.
She squird slightly, shifting uncomfortably against the stone.
"Ugh... these sticky sands and blood clots... It’s driving mad," she muttered, almost to herself.
Zhao Tian’s eyes flickered toward her, and he summoned another stream of water in his hand, this ti shaping it into a delicate ribbon that danced across his fingers.
"I can clean and scrub you if you want," he said casually.
Yan Zijin turned her head slowly and gave him a long flat look.
"Would you try to touch inappropriately while doing it?" she asked bluntly.
Zhao Tian shook his head and replied with an innocent face "No, Master."
There was an awkward beat of silence between them.
She sighed and closed her eyes again "That is not our main concern right now..."
Her voice softened, touched by both sarcasm and seriousness.
"Is there any way out of here, or should we just... start a family here and settle in?"
Zhao Tian blinked, then chuckled dryly, "Hmm... if we do start a family here, raising a child would be a problem."
He pointed upward toward the cracked sky and desolate wasteland.
"There’s no food. No real shelter. Only water because I can make it. It would be hard to raise a baby."
He leaned back, stretching slightly. "So I don’t think that’s a good idea, Master."
Yan Zijin opened one eye, "I see..."
"Then, I will just sleep a little longer."
...
A few minutes passed.
Then, a faint splash stirred Yan Zijin’s mind.
Her eyelids fluttered open.
And what she saw made her blink... not once, but twice.
Before her, there is a round stone basin, large enough to subrge a person completely.
Steam rose gently from the surface of the clear water.
The edges of the structure were smooth and the floor of the tub was cushioned with a thin layer of softened sand.
Even small, polished stones had been arranged neatly around it, almost like a border.
It was a bath.
"...Tian?"
Zhao Tian turned around at the sound of her voice and a smile appeared on his lips.
"Oh, Master, you woke up. Co here and bathe. I made it for you."
Yan Zijin sat up slowly and inced in pain "You... made a bathtub...?"
Zhao Tian nodded and gestured toward it. "Yep. Earth elental to shape it. Water elental to fill and fire elental to heat it."
"I kept it warm but not too hot... thought you’d prefer sothing soothing. The sides are solid, and I reinforced the base with my earth elental to keep it from leaking into the sand."
She stared at him for a long mont, unsure whether to be impressed, flattered, or deeply confused.
"...This place is supposed to be a death trap," she said slowly. "And you’re over here building luxury baths?"
He shrugged casually "I thought you’d appreciate it, Master. You said the blood and sand were driving you crazy."
Her lips parted, but no words ca. Because deep down... she did appreciate it.
Very much.
Still, she narrowed her eyes. "And you expect to strip naked and walk into that in front of you?"
Zhao Tian blinked. "Huh? Oh- uh, no. I didn’t an to."
"I was going to walk away and stand guard. I only made it for you to feel better... not to stare."
Yan Zijin’s expression didn’t soften, but a faint heat brushed her cheeks.
She looked away and muttered, "At least you rember I’m your Master."
"...Always," he said under his breath in a quiet voice.
She stood up, albeit slowly and Zhao Tian instinctively stepped forward, catching her elbow to help stabilize her.
She didn’t push him away and used his support to reach the tub.
When she finally found her balance, she looked at him.
"...Turn around."
He nodded and turned to show his back to her.
"You better not peek," she warned.
Hearing this, he smiled dryly "I won’t."
She took a deep breath and her fingers moved to the tattered remnants of her robe.
The blood-crusted fabric peeled away slowly, and the cool air prickled across her exposed skin.
Painfully, she raised her leg and entered in the bath before slowly subrging herself in it.
The water wrapped around her, and she sank into it slowly, letting it embrace her tired body.
It soothed the scrapes along her legs, the bruises on her arms and the soreness in her back.
The dried blood loosened and drifted away, dissolving like red ink.
She let out a sigh of relief.
"...It’s perfect. Thank you, Tian."
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