IVYSCP - Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth to finish the half bowl of medicine, Ling Qingyue felt her brows were about to tie themselves into knots.
Lu Yao laughed beside her.
Pei Si poured her some tea. Ling Qingyue took it and gulped down two mouthfuls to clear the bitter, complicated taste from her mouth, then asked, "How long do I have to drink this medicine?"
Given Gu Huai's medical skill, shouldn't her prescription work instantly and be done in one go? Best if she only had to drink this one bowl. Ling Qingyue did not want a second.
Lu Yao calculated. "When it comes to brewed medicine, the Little Medical Immortal usually prescribes half a month's supply, three times a day, morning, noon, and evening."
Ling Qingyue was speechless.
Pei Si was right after all. Her medical skill really was lacking! And she was stingy, too!
Lu Yao added, "The Sect Leader also said that after the two seniors have taken their medicine, you can soak for a while in the medicinal pool behind the Water Cloud Dwelling. It will help your injuries heal better."
"Mm, got it." Pei Si nodded.
Ling Qingyue looked down at the robe she wore, still stained with blood that had not been dealt with. She looked at Lu Yao and blinked. "But we don't have a change of robes."
To be precise, she was the one without. The one she was wearing belonged to Pei Si. Pei Si certainly wasn't lacking. A senior of her stature lacking robes would be a joke if word got out.
Lu Yao, hearing this, was delighted to run the errand. "Then I'll go prepare robes for the two seniors."
"No need." Pei Si stopped her as she headed out.
Both of them turned to look at her. Ling Qingyue rested her chin on her palm, tapping her cheek with her fingertips, and asked in a troubled tone, "Then what am I supposed to wear?"
Her little scheme couldn't have been more obvious.
A trace of amusement flickered in Pei Si's eyes. She reached out and pressed a finger to the corner of Ling Qingyue's mouth, stopping a certain someone from grinning too smugly.
"Wear mine."
Ling Qingyue tucked in the corners of her lips and said, very demurely, "Alright then."
Lu Yao was speechless.
So that question from Senior Ah Xi just now hadn't actually been directed at her after all.
Feeling her presence was somewhat superfluous, Lu Yao silently withdrew from the courtyard and even closed the door behind her.
The medicinal pool was not hard to find. It lay just beyond the rear side of the Water Cloud Dwelling, fed by cold spring water drawn from the mountain peak. Mist rose in dense shrouds above the water, and the bottom of the pool was paved with every kind of medicinal stone. It had likely been prepared by Gu Huai for Nie Wenxiao.
"This is quite a nice place." Ling Qingyue rather liked it. Shangtianqiong didn't have one, but once she returned, she could ask her senior sister to make one for her too.
A faint rustling of fabric came from beside her. Ling Qingyue's gaze shifted slightly. She froze for an instant, then hurriedly turned her head away.
It's improper to look, improper to look!
Pei Si had already untied her sash. Her outer robe slipped from her shoulders.
Ling Qingyue looked up, looked down, looked everywhere except to the side. After her eyes had busied themselves for a moment, she suddenly remembered: she and Pei Si were married. What was there to be improper about!
So she boldly stole another glance. But Pei Si's figure was no longer beside her. When she looked again, the woman had already entered the medicinal pool, wearing only a thin inner garment.
Pei Si tilted her head back slightly to look at her, her hair loose, her eyes dampened by the mist until they gleamed. Her voice seemed to carry the moisture too. "It's quite good. Aren't you coming in?"
"Coming, coming." Ling Qingyue answered twice, a flicker of regret rising in her heart.
She had stripped down to just her inner garment as well and was about to step into the water when she heard a cool, clear voice: "Take it all off."
Ling Qingyue froze.
She even thought she had misheard and asked hesitantly, "What?"
"Take everything off. Come in."
Pei Si's face was half-hidden in the watery mist, hazy and indistinct. Speaking such words, she seemed like a spirit luring someone in.
Ling Qingyue pinched the edge of her garment, feeling it was unfair. "You haven't taken everything off."
That familiar light laugh came again. Ling Qingyue thought Pei Si seemed even more like a spirit now, like one of those pure, pale lotus spirits who appear pristine and flawless but are exceedingly dangerous, giving off a delicate fragrance that draws people in unawares, enticing them close, and then swallowing them whole.
Ling Qingyue felt that she was now being enticed by this spirit.
"You have injuries on your back. If you don't take it off, how can I examine them?"
Ripples spread across the pool's surface by the edge. It was Pei Si's hand gently stirring the water.
"You also took two bolts of heavenly lightning. How do you know you don't have injuries on your body too?"
Stripping entirely was fine, but she couldn't be the only one stripped entirely.
Ling Qingyue's ears grew hot as she spoke. She knew those who studied formations were all very clever, and Pei Si surely understood her implicit meaning.
"You're right. Then I'll take everything off too. You can examine me."
Ling Qingyue's lashes trembled. She slowly lifted her eyes. Through the hazy mist, the woman gently raised her hand and shed the last inner garment from her body.
The lotus spirit gave off a delicate fragrance and began to entice.
A soaked inner garment, controlled by spiritual energy, landed at Ling Qingyue's feet.
The soft, slick fabric brushed against her ankle, leaving behind a faint fragrance that did not belong to her. Ling Qingyue swallowed unconsciously.
She had been successfully enticed by the lotus spirit. She lifted her hands, removed her last inner garment, and stepped into the medicinal pool.
The pool water was ice-cold, yet the moment it touched her body, a warm current flowed along her meridians.
The water only reached her waist. Ling Qingyue bent her legs, wanting to hide herself away.
Before she could hide properly, a hand lightly tapped the water's surface twice, and ripples spread outward in rings.
"Come here."
Ling Qingyue's breathing faltered. She bit the corner of her lip and moved toward Pei Si.
The face obscured by mist gradually grew clear, and it was not only the face that became clear.
Ling Qingyue saw the lotus spirit's true form. That delicate fragrance grew stronger, making her head feel slightly dizzy.
So white, so beautiful, ah, no…
Ling Qingyue suddenly lifted her head. Her foot slipped, and she nearly fell into the water. Pei Si reached out, forcefully pulling her back. In the confusion, their bodies pressed together without warning. A strange sensation spread through them, and both went rigid at the same time.
Ling Qingyue's hand braced against Pei Si's shoulder, her ears burning hotter and hotter.
"Are you alright?" Pei Si asked softly.
Hearing that utterly unruffled tone, Ling Qingyue felt a surge of defiance. She herself was nearly cooked through. How could Pei Si have no reaction at all!
Thinking this, Ling Qingyue's hand moved from Pei Si's shoulder, sliding upward to wrap around the woman's neck. She hugged her tightly, their bodies pressing close together.
This time, she not only felt Pei Si stiffen, but also saw the ears hidden beneath her long hair flushing red.
So she was the same as her after all, just putting on a show of perfect composure.
Pei Si had no idea why she had suddenly embraced her. Her hands hovered tentatively at Ling Qingyue's waist. "What's wrong?"
The almost-touching, almost-not-touching hand was a little ticklish. Ling Qingyue looked at the fair neck before her, bent her head close, and bit down.
"Ah." Pei Si drew in a sharp breath.
Having bitten her, Ling Qingyue immediately released her grip and turned away. "Weren't we going to look at the injuries?"
Pei Si came back to herself. She raised a hand and touched the place she had been bitten, her fingertip tracing the faint ring of teeth marks. It was exactly where the red mole lay, and now it felt slightly hot.
Her light-colored eyes rippled with mist, and within that mist was reflected the silhouette of a single person, sinking deep into her heart.
Seeing no movement from her, Ling Qingyue tilted her head. "Pei Si?"
Pei Si blinked and let out a soft breath. She raised her hands and swept Ling Qingyue's hair from her back over her shoulders.
With a spell, she wiped away the dried blood on her back, revealing three shocking wounds.
Injuries inflicted by heavenly lightning were not something ordinary spirit pills or wondrous medicines could treat. They required the Heavenly Dao's grace, but Ling Qingyue's lightning tribulation this time had not brought down the Heavenly Dao's grace. These three wounds would likely ache for a very long time.
The edges of the wounds were charred black, and in the center, vivid red flesh was visible. Even the slightest movement would cause beads of blood to well up.
Pei Si did not dare touch them. She only stroked the surrounding skin. "Does it hurt?"
Ling Qingyue had been playing with a lock of her own hair. She shook her head at the question. "It's alright. As long as I don't pull at them, it doesn't hurt too much. It shouldn't be serious, right? Isn't it said that demons heal themselves when injured?"
"Do you think this body of yours is truly a demon's?" Pei Si asked.
Ling Qingyue wanted to turn around. A palm pressed against her shoulder blade, the warmth and smoothness of the touch stilling her movements. "You've seen it yourself. Demonic markings can't be faked. Only demons have demonic markings."
"Not necessarily." Pei Si recalled something and said softly, "There is another possibility."
"What?"
"Half-human, half-demon."
Ling Qingyue turned around, surprise in her eyes. "Half-human, half-demon?"
Pei Si's gaze wavered slightly. She pursed her lips and turned her head toward the stone ledge at the side. "Let's go over there."
Only then did Ling Qingyue realize they were completely undressed and facing each other. She hurriedly crouched down until only her head was above water. "Alright, alright."
Sitting side by side on the submerged ledge, only their shoulders and necks above the water's surface, they continued their earlier conversation.
"Immortals and demons cannot coexist. I've never heard of any half-human, half-demon."
As soon as she said this, Ling Qingyue recalled that she had been dead a hundred years ago. This thing might have appeared after her death.
But that still didn't make sense. After the Immortal-Demon War, the Demon Race had been driven to the Great Wilderness. Even a half-human, half-demon would need a demon to exist.
"A few decades ago, there really was one case." Pei Si glanced at Ling Qingyue hesitantly. "It's connected to your good friend Yu Liuli."
"What?!"
Ling Qingyue jerked in surprise, twisting at the waist. The pull on the wound on her back made her hiss in pain.
Pei Si gripped her shoulder anxiously. "Be careful."
Ling Qingyue nodded. "Go on. What happened to Yu Liuli? She didn't become that half-human, half-demon, did she?"
"It wasn't her."
Ling Qingyue let out a sigh of relief.
"She hid Qiu Feng in Lingxu Immortal Palace. Qiu Feng was the name she gave that half-human, half-demon. Later, Qiu Feng was discovered. It happened to be during the Three Thousand Gathering. Your senior sister Lou Wudu was present as well. She intended to execute Qiu Feng on the spot, but Yu Liuli risked her life to protect her. In the end, both of them were cast out into the Great Wilderness."
The Great Wilderness, a place where the Immortal Realm's spiritual qi was pitifully thin, even worse than the Mortal Realm. For immortal cultivators to set foot there was to walk a path to certain death, to say nothing of the Demon Race that dwelled there as well.
"Your senior sister's attitude toward the Demon Race seems to…" Pei Si hesitated, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Ling Qingyue's eyes reddened slightly. She knew what Pei Si was trying to say.
"That's not true. My senior sister treats me very well. I was raised by her. She would definitely be very happy that I've come back to life. Besides, I didn't choose to become a demon. As long as I leave this body and rebuild a new one, I won't be a demon anymore." Under the water, Ling Qingyue found Pei Si's hand and slipped her own into it.
Pei Si held her hand and brought her other hand up to stroke the reddened corner of her eye. "Alright."
Ling Qingyue sniffled and said in a muffled voice, "I was thinking that soon I'd go back to Shangtianqiong and use my jade token to startle Xiao Yue and Liuli. They'd be so happy too that I've come back to life."
She was grieving for Yu Liuli.
Pei Si thought of how the three of them had once been inseparable back at Shangtianqiong.
She would not tell her the rest for now.
In that Immortal-Demon War, Yue Shouming's eyes had been wounded by a Blood Demon. She had lost her sight in both eyes, her spiritual veins half-ruined, and could never again use the Heavenly Divination Art.
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