Chapter 17: Chapter 17: The Pearl Incident (Part 3)
At the foot of Lutai Mountain lay a vast lake, where it was said that Gu Diao once hid to drag people under; hence, no one dared linger around it even now.
Xuanji and another carried the rman to the lake shore and gently placed him on the rocks. Zhong Minyan had sprinted all the way and had forgotten to regulate his breathing, now so exhausted that he couldn't speak, only squatting on the ground to catch his breath while sporadically saying, "Xuanji...you, you first...take care of him..."
Xuanji squatted next to the rman, seeing his body covered in wounds, with not a single area left intact, and couldn't help but sigh, "Does it hurt? I have dicine here that I can give you."
The rman just quietly watched her, seemingly unable to understand her words, without even blinking.
Xuanji tugged on Zhong Minyan's sleeve, "What should we do, he seems not to understand ?"
"You... why do you care if he understands or not! If it needs dicine, apply the dicine; if it needs releasing, release it!" Zhong Minyan finally collapsed on the ground, wanting to say no more.
Xuanji took out the antiseptic dicine exclusive to Shaoyang Sect from the pouch at her waist, staring at his wounds for a long while, covered in blood and liquid, filthy, with so parts even having the flesh flipped open and whitened by soaking.
She quickly tore her handkerchief in two, moistened it with lake water, and cleaned his wounds before applying the dicine. Fortunately, due to recent demon hunting, there were many injured people, so there was so leftover gauze and bandages in her pouch, enough to securely wrap him up.
After applying the dicine, Xuanji heaved a sigh of relief and simply imitated Zhong Minyan, sitting on the grass, chin resting on her knees, blankly staring at the rman.
Although this was her third ti closely observing a rman, the previous two tis had him in the water. Now without water, he appeared even more pale and disheveled. His long hair, like seaweed, was tangled and hung over his chest and back, unlike normal human hair color, as his was black like ebony wood, richly purple in sunlight.
His eyes were the pale blue of lake water, his eye sockets longer than those of humans, making his gaze seem deeper. Below his straight nose were thin lips, pale due to much suffering, his appearance quite haggard.
Nevertheless, no matter how one looked at him, he was a person of distinctive allure. Perhaps not as refined as Yu Sifeng, nor as handso as Zhong Minyan, but anyone who saw him once could never forget him. They would not forget those faintly sorrowful pale blue eyes, nor the unique gentle calmness about him.
Xuanji, gazing at him, grew foolishly entranced, vaguely sensing a smile in his clear eyes. She suddenly jolted back to reality and tugged at Zhong Minyan's clothes, exclaiming, "Look, look! He's smiling! Could it be that he feels free and happy now?"
Zhong Minyan propped up his head to look at him, "Where is he smiling? You must be seeing things!"
He stretched his limbs, leaped up from the grass, looked around, and said, "Where is that Si Feng lad? Why hasn't he co yet? Could he have run into trouble? Xuanji, why don't you go ahead and check?"
Xuanji wasn't even listening to him, as she was already tenderly holding up a stead bun to the rman's face.
"Are you hungry?" she asked cautiously, "Would you like to eat this?"
The rman still didn't speak, just gazing faintly at her. Xuanji put the bun to her lips, took a bite to show it was edible, then offered him the unbitten portion, her expectant eyes practically sparkling.
He still didn't move, sitting there as if he were made of wood.
"He doesn't like our food, does he!" drawn over by her actions, Zhong Minyan speculated, "He's a rman and should eat what rfolk eat."
Xuanji curiously asked, "What do rfolk eat then?"
"Uh..." Zhong Minyan pondered seriously, "rfolk live in water, similar to fish... they probably eat little bugs or shrimp! You might as well dig up so earthworms to feed him!"
Earthworms?! Xuanji couldn't help but facepalm, and it seed the rman across sweated a bit too, yet he still remained silent.
"rfolk, and humans, eat the sa, things," Yu Sifeng's voice sounded from behind.
Zhong Minyan quickly jumped up, "How did it go? Any discovery?"
Yu Sifeng shook his head as he walked over, first checking the rman, seeing his body wrapped in bandages, he gently asked Xuanji, "Did you, do this?"
Xuanji nodded, "It's just that I don't know if human antiseptic dicine will work on him."
He smiled, "It'll work. Don't worry."
Seeing her holding the stead bun, he smiled again, "However, rfolk, don't prefer, these snacks, so, don't bother, anymore."
Xuanji "Oh-ed" softly, seemingly disappointed, and resigned herself to packing up the stead cakes to save as a snack for later in the evening.
Zhong Minyan looked around and said, "What should we do? Release him into this lake? What if soone discovers him?"
Yu Sifeng squatted in front of the rman as if seeing a familiar friend, gently smoothing his ssy long hair, and whispered, "Don't be afraid. Stay here for a few days. Don't let anyone catch you. In a month, soone will co to pick you up."
The rman seed to understand his words, blinking his eyes in agreent. Zhong Minyan couldn't help but be surprised, "He can understand Si Feng's words! Eh? Could it be that rfolk don't understand the standard Central Plains accent, but prefer the dialect from the west?"
Yu Sifeng sighed and shot him a look before turning back to the rman and said, "Rember my words. Soone will soon co for you."
Xuanji asked, "Si Feng, how do you know soone will co for him?"
Yu Sifeng paused before speaking lightly, "We at Lize Palace have people specifically responsible for handling injured and juvenile weak demons. Not every sect in the world is like your Shaoyang Sect, driven to exclude those who are different."
Zhong Minyan felt sowhat irate upon hearing this, but upon reflection, he realized Si Feng was right. If it were his master or senior uncle who had encountered this rman, they wouldn't have thought twice about capturing him.
Feeling guilty yet unwilling to admit it, he snorted and walked away in silence.
Xuanji said softly, "I don't exclude those who are different. I only help those who want help, whether they are demons or humans."
Yu Sifeng remained silent. After a while, he gently pushed the rman and said, "Go. Take this bottle of elixir with you. If you feel hungry, just take one. It's also beneficial for your wounds." He tied a small purple ceramic bottle around the rman's waist with a rope.
The rman looked up at him profoundly, then looked at Xuanji before suddenly raising his head and emitting a clear and lodious cry.
The sound was unimaginably beautiful; upon first hearing it, they got goosebumps all over, as every pore opened up, washed over by a refreshing and exhilarating sensation, leaving them completely relaxed.
After one last glance at Xuanji, the rman gracefully leaped into the lake, his silver fishtail flicking dreamily in the sunlight, spilling light all around, and slipped into the water without even causing a splash.
The three of them stared blankly as the ripples spread wider and wider, the rman's pale silhouette disappearing from sight as his song lingered in their ears—so entwining, drifting off into the heavens, intoxicating all the clouds in an instant.
It was unclear how much ti had passed before Xuanji awoke from the dreamlike song, and when he looked back at the lake surface, not a single figure was in sight.
"Hmm, what was he singing just now?" Zhong Minyan was still sowhat dazed. "It sounded so beautiful; I've never heard anything like it before."
Yu Sifeng said flatly, "He was thanking us. Many say that rfolk use their songs to bewitch the mind. In reality, it's because they themselves have demons in their hearts. To rfolk, their voice is their most precious treasure. Thus, they offer this treasure to those who show them kindness."
Xuanji, still filled with a lingering thrill, touched her arms, where the goosebumps had not yet subsided.
After a mont, she suddenly smiled and said, "Does this count as a perfect completion of the pearl incident?"
The other two were first startled, then laughed together, three hands extending in unison as they exclaid, "A perfect ending! We are heroes!"
We are heroes!
That afternoon, those words lingered over the lake surface.
Three teenagers, for the first ti in their lives, tasted the joy of being heroes.
Back at the inn, their excited, flushed faces only prompted Chu Yinghong to incessantly ask what they had done that afternoon, but no one spoke, simply smiling.
This was their secret, a secret of friendship, from now on, for a lifeti.
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OK~ Today's second update completed~~
Continuing with two more updates tomorrow~
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