Chapter 9: Not Dead Yet

He stared coldly at her, waiting for her to continue. He JiYang saw that he seemed even angrier.

“I was rash. I won’t do it again.” Taking the initiative to apologize is always better than waiting to be beaten, right? As they say, one can’t hit a smiling face. She peered hopefully at Mo Jin; unfortunately, he was unmoved.

“That’s all you want to say?” He said lowly after a pause. She shivered.

“I really know I was wrong. I definitely won’t be so impulsive in the future!” She looked down at her fingers, twisting them together nervously.

“He JiYang.” He rarely said her name, except when he was serious or angry. “This isn’t just the first or second time.”

“I know… I really will be more careful in the future.” She said softly, shrinking into herself. The movement made her cough from her injuries, and she purposely exaggerated it.

Mo Jin took a deep breath, before letting it out helplessly. In the end, he couldn’t continue lecturing her. He could only say simply, “Recover.”

“Yes!” She hurriedly closed her eyes to cultivate and recuperate, giving a sigh of relief since she knew she passed his anger.

Na Sa was much stronger than her, so in the battle just then she inevitably got internal injuries, dark bruises, and deep cuts that even showed bones. However, for cultivators, these were just surface injuries that could be healed with cultivation and medicinal pills. Already, bleeding had stopped, fractures were reforming, and the smaller cuts had healed altogether.

The more damaging injuries were to the spiritual veins, meridians, and the mind.

Unsurprisingly, many of her spiritual veins had cracks from trying to counter a stronger force. Fortunately, Na Sa couldn’t make the final strike, so her injuries weren’t too serious. She could heal in a couple months, but Mo Jin’s situation was more uncertain.

It was a long night for all of them.

The next day, Nie Lan woke up very early but obediently sat in her room, leaning her ear against the wall to see if she could hear any movements from He JiYang. She waited for several hours but didn’t dare to even step into the hallway in case of pursuers.

It was a long time before He JiYang awoke. Mo Jin had cultivated on the opposite bed the whole night. She walked over to him, placing a soft hand on his forehead, almost as if measuring his temperature. Hearing her approach, he slowly opened his eyes.

“How are you?” She said softly, voice still laced with sleepiness as she sent her energy into his body. As expected, his meridians were ruptured, and his immortal bones were fractured. His spiritual veins, which were almost shattered, could barely hold back the chaotic internal energy rioting throughout. She frowned deeply.

He felt a warmth flowing through his body from where she laid her hand, soothing some of his veins. The girl’s eyes were closed as she focused, and he stared at her eyelashes that were weakly trembling. He looked away and nudged her hand. “I’m fine.”

“Do you need more pills? I still have some.” She withdrew her energy and took back her hand, pulling out some pill bottles and handing it to him. Fortunately, she still had quite a few. When she left her sect 9 years ago, she brought everything with her. Once, she had the best resources and dripped with money; not much of it had been used until the past 3 years.

He silently took them, opening the bottles to identify the scents.

“Let’s leave quickly.” As she got ready, she thought again about the Green Lantern pill. If they could find a suitable alchemist and produce it, that would be very helpful to Mo Jin. Unfortunately, she had no clue about next steps. She felt helpless; He LiGe would’ve known how to get it. But he wasn’t here, so she could only urge them to cultivate in seclusion to recuperate and get stronger.

Originally, they were headed towards the Winter Everest region to harvest some ice-based herbs suitable for calming Mo Jin’s internal injuries. The area also wasn’t very popular with most cultivators; although some spots were rich spiritual energy, the beasts were very strong for their low core level.

However, this also made it an incredibly suitable place for He JiYang to cultivate and get stronger. In addition, He JiYang practiced the Frost Jade sword style, prepared for her top-quality water spiritual root by her shifu. This style was known for its light and adaptable movements, flowing like a dance but every strike accurate and penetrating. More importantly, cold and snowy environments like the Winter Everest region was the best for training and body tempering for practitioners of this style.

She sighed. Once, she cultivated with such diligence and eagerness that she was known as the poster child of her sect. Fortunately, she had a good personability and an open character, so she didn’t attract too much envy turned into hate. Now, her cultivation path was smooth, she had a stock of resources still saved, her perfect environment was ready and waiting, yet she didn’t have any enthusiasm. Who knows how many people doomed to stay unknown would shake her collar and curse her for wasting her talent?

“What should we do with Nie Lan?” She asked. Before, they planned on staying for a few more days in hopes of finding an alchemist. Nie Lan could’ve followed them as they left the city, and He JiYang would stop at a town a distance away to settle her. Unfortunately, Mo Jin’s condition now was too serious, so they needed to hurry.

He glanced at her with a brow raised. Right, this demonic cultivator only had one answer to solve problems, which was to kill.

Author's Note: I try so hard to come up with fancy chapter titles. But some days, like today, I can only admit defeat...