Mei Man’s thoughts were a tangled mess.
How had that wolf disappeared? And why had Shen Shushi suddenly appeared—completely naked and looking so wretched?
But it didn’t take long for her to piece together a clue.
The Shen Shushi who had tackled her was more like a mindless monster. His eyes were a deep brown, but the whites had taken on a faint amber hue. Blood kept dripping from his wide-open mouth, staining even the tip of his tongue a glaring red. Yet that did nothing to obscure the sight of his sharp fangs.
Amber eyes, teeth shaped like wolf’s fangs, an injured mouth, and such ferocious aggression…
Had he transformed from that wolf?
The thought flashed through Mei Man’s mind, making her heart sink.
So… he was a demon?
She knew that demons existed in this world, but in all her life she had seen only one. There was no time to think about it now, however.
Although Shen Shushi had taken human form, he was no different from a wolf.
His hands were still shaped like sharp beast claws, pinning her shoulders down with enough force to nearly crush her bones.
He opened his mouth wide and bared his stark-white fangs. If she hadn’t promptly raised her right hand and desperately braced it against his neck, he might have bitten straight through her throat.
But he was simply too strong. Before long, Mei Man’s hand began to ache and numbness set in, making it tremble. It was clear she wouldn’t be able to hold him back much longer.
The talisman. The message talisman.
Mei Man kept her eyes fixed on him while frantically working her left hand, trying to tear open the talisman.
But then she suddenly froze.
In this moment of deadly tension, she saw Shen Shushi’s eyes slowly becoming clearer. The honey-brown color in the whites of his eyes was gradually fading, bit by bit turning white.
His teeth were shrinking too, becoming shorter and blunter.
—He was turning back into a human.
Mei Man stared intently at the changes in his face. Her right arm was already trembling so badly that it could barely hold him off, slowly bending beneath his weight.
She was breathing heavily, every muscle in her body so tense it had gone rigid. The hand clutching the message talisman was slick with sweat.
Run. Run!
Every bone and shred of flesh in her body seemed to shriek in a high, piercing voice. Her temples throbbed with pain.
Yet she remained perfectly still, her thoughts torn between ripping open the message talisman and taking a gamble.
If she didn’t escape now, she might die at his hands.
But she would never get a better opportunity than this.
She could die. Unlike jumping down, where she might still have a chance to survive, failure here would mean certain death.
But what if she missed this chance? How long would she have to wait?
Stab him with the broken arrow! Run!
Her breathing grew even more violent, each exhalation loud enough to be startling. Her entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Don’t run. Don’t run!
Her heart pounded faster and faster, until even her soul seemed to quiver, tremble, and scream.
Suddenly, Mei Man gritted her teeth, released the strength in her right arm, and let it bend limply against her chest.
With nothing holding him back, Shen Shushi immediately lowered himself.
At the instant he bit down, she steeled herself and turned her face away, squeezing her eyes shut.
A sharp pain pierced the side of her neck.
He had bitten her.
His pointed fangs easily broke through her flesh. The pain made cold sweat pour from her, leaving her entire body drenched as if she had been washed in water.
Mei Man tightened her grip on the broken arrow, almost instinctively preparing to drive it into him.
But just before she could strike, the fangs stopped sinking deeper. She clearly felt Shen Shushi’s body suddenly stiffen.
She had won the gamble.
Wild delight swept through her heart.
She had actually won.
Mei Man’s eyes twitched. She unclenched her aching teeth, then lifted a hand as if to push him away and cried out in panic, “Immortal Master, it hurts! It hurts so much! You—you’re… What’s wrong with you? What happened to you? I’m sorry, please don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
Shen Shushi abruptly pushed himself upright. His eyes had regained their clarity, filled with shock, while his face was as pale as paper.
The wound on his upper palate was still bleeding. Blood pooled on his tongue before dripping from its tip.
The drops landed on Mei Man’s face and mingled with her tears.
Unable to hold herself back any longer, Mei Man burst into tears. She wanted to cover the wound on her neck, but she didn’t dare, leaving her trembling hand hovering in midair.
She continued crying out, “Don’t kill me,” as though she had witnessed something utterly terrifying.
“You…” Shen Shushi let out a strained breath, panic still weighing on his eyes. Yet his hand had already settled over her wound. “Don’t move. Don’t move.”
Mei Man struggled desperately, wailing and begging for mercy, as if she feared he would snap her neck in the next instant.
“Stop crying. Don’t cry. I won’t kill you. I won’t hurt you. It was only an accident just now, and it’s over now. Calm down and don’t move. I’ll treat your wound.” Shen Shushi’s reassurance was disjointed and incoherent, utterly unlike his usual solemn, proper self.
Mei Man struggled, trying to avoid his touch.
Clearly unskilled at comforting people, Shen Shushi resorted to the most direct method and clapped a hand over her mouth.
In his panic, he nearly babbled. “Shh, shh, stop crying. Don’t shout. I—I am only trying to treat your wound.”
Mei Man stared straight at him and stopped struggling, but her tears continued to spill as though they cost her nothing, gathering along the edge of his palm.
Shen Shushi seemed to have been scalded. His hand trembled involuntarily.
His other hand pressed against the side of her neck, and warm spiritual energy spread over the wound like a layer of water.
The bleeding stopped quickly, and the pain gradually faded.
Mei Man was still crying, though her voice slowly quieted until only soft sobs remained.
“The bleeding has stopped. The wound will heal soon. Don’t cry. I’m going to take my hand away.” Shen Shushi had regained some of his usual sternness. He tentatively loosened his grip, and when Mei Man didn’t cry out, he withdrew his hand completely.
Only then did he belatedly realize that he was naked. His expression changed instantly, and he raised a hand, using spiritual arts to conjure a set of loose, wide-sleeved robes.
Even so, with blood on his face and his hair hanging loose, he still looked rather disheveled.
Shen Shushi briefly cast a spell to stop the bleeding in his mouth, then asked her, “Why did you trespass into this lord’s cave dwelling?”
He did his best to keep his tone controlled. There was a hint of remorse in his expression, though it was inevitably mixed with a trace of displeasure.
Mei Man supported herself as she sat up and wiped away her tears. “I came to deliver medicine.”
“Deliver medicine?”
“The senior sister from the Medicine Valley had something else to attend to, so I offered to bring it.” Mei Man took a packet of medicine from her robes and tried to stand, but her legs had gone numb, and she sank back down.
Shen Shushi reached out to pull her up. The moment she glanced at his hand, however, she hurriedly looked away as though terrified. Then she braced herself against the ground and sprang to her feet, not forgetting to retreat several steps.
His expression stiffened for an instant, his hand stopping in midair.
Mei Man covered the wound on her neck with one hand. He had treated it roughly; the bleeding had stopped, and the injury had mostly healed, but she could still feel the faint imprint of the bite. With her other hand, she offered him the medicine, keeping her head lowered and refusing to look at him.
“Immortal Master, this is the medicine from the Medicine Valley.”
Shen Shushi took it and asked, “You came to deliver the medicine. Why didn’t you give it to the gatekeeping boy?”
Mei Man said nothing. She merely raised her head slightly and cast a glance at the puppet person whose original form was impossible to make out.
Following her gaze, Shen Shushi saw it too.
He fell silent for a moment before asking, “You… when did you come in?”
Mei Man lowered her head even further, trying far too hard to appear casual. “I haven’t been here long. I didn’t see anything. Immortal Master, I’ll be leaving now. I have to get to the teleportation array as soon as possible, or my senior sister will be kept waiting.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry,” Shen Shushi said. “Your wound hasn’t fully healed yet, and there’s still a trace of… some demonic poison inside. It won’t be easy to deal with. My spiritual power hasn’t completely recovered, so I need to wait a little longer. Once I’ve treated your wound, I can send you back. There’s no need to rush.”
Mei Man forced a smile. “I’d rather not. I happen to be staying in the Valley of Medicine these next few days, and the medicine I’m taking contains Cleansing Poison Pills. They should be enough to dispel it.”
Perhaps sensing her resistance, Shen Shushi did not bring it up again. Instead, he asked, “How did you end up in the Valley of Medicine?”
“It’s… something,” Mei Man replied vaguely. “If there’s nothing else, Immortal Master, I’ll be leaving now.”
“Mei Man.” Shen Shushi stopped her again. “It would be best not to mention what happened today to anyone else.”
She lowered her head and nodded. “I understand. There’s no need for you to worry, Immortal Master. I won’t tell anyone.”
Shen Shushi looked at her, a hint of struggle seeming to pass through his eyes.
From his silence, Mei Man sensed what was coming. She sneered inwardly: So this was how all those high-minded, proper people acted. Even when bribing someone, they had to do it in such a roundabout way—pretending it wasn’t their own idea, as though someone had forced them into it.
After waiting for quite some time, she finally heard him say, “You were frightened today, and that was my fault. As your elder, I won’t bother with empty formalities. If there’s anything you want, you may tell me. Consider it a small token of my apology.”
Without even thinking, Mei Man replied, “My senior sister repeatedly warned me beforehand that I must not trespass into an Immortal Master’s residence. But when I saw no one outside, I entered without permission. I was the one who broke the rules, so how could I possibly ask you to make amends?”
“If someone has been injured, an apology is only proper,” Shen Shushi said. “Asking you to decide on the spot is indeed rather abrupt. Why don’t you return first and take your time thinking it over?”
He asked her to sit inside for a while longer, but she refused. Her face had grown even paler.
Seeing how frightened she was, he felt even more guilty. He told her to wait a moment while he went to the alchemy room to fetch some medicine.
Mei Man agreed readily enough, but the moment he had left, she ran off again.
As if! If she accepted the medicine today, how could she possibly bring up the matter of taking him as her master?
She pulled out a handkerchief and first rubbed her face with it in disgust, wiping away the blood.
Tsk. Filthy.
She stuffed the handkerchief back into her pocket, thinking she would burn it as soon as she returned. Then she took out another one and hurriedly tied it around her neck, hiding the small bite mark.
When she passed the archery grounds, Mei Man glanced over once more.
There was no one left on the field. She had no idea where that group had gone, and Qiu Heyang was nowhere to be seen either.
She wasn’t worried that he would come looking for her. After all, she had always enjoyed paying lip service while doing as she pleased, and running away at the last minute was nothing unusual for her. He should have gotten used to it by now.
Mei Man went straight to the teleportation array. She waited there for nearly half an hour before her senior sister finally arrived.
Perhaps noticing the new item around Mei Man’s neck, her senior sister looked at it several times. But the two of them were not particularly close, so she did not ask about it.
Mei Man had expected Shen Shushi to come looking for her, but she hadn’t expected him to come so soon.
She had only just returned to the infirmary and was taking Cleansing Poison Pills from her senior sister when he arrived at the door.
Shen Shushi had already tidied himself up, and there was no blood left on his face. Only a faint red speck remained beside the bridge of his nose, resembling a tiny vermilion mole.
He usually looked so unapproachable that his arrival made her senior sister nervous. She nearly shoved the medicine straight into Mei Man’s mouth.
Fortunately, Mei Man dodged in time and avoided swallowing it.
Shen Shushi merely said that he had something to discuss with Mei Man. Her senior sister, an experienced hand at reading between the lines, immediately understood. She turned and left the infirmary, claiming that she needed to go down the mountain to collect some medicinal herbs.
Once she was gone, only Mei Man and Shen Shushi remained in the infirmary.
With a solemn expression, he asked, “I said I was going to fetch medicine. I wasn’t saying it just for show. Why did you leave?”
Mei Man thought to herself, What a joke. She had nearly died, and he thought one bottle of medicine would be enough to brush her off? As if.
Outwardly, however, she naturally had to put on an act. Clutching her neck, she said, “Immortal Master, you already treated my wound, and I injured you as well. It wouldn’t be right for me to take anything else.”
Shen Shushi’s brows drew together slightly. He asked again, “For ordinary illnesses and minor injuries, one can simply ask a medical cultivator to cast a healing spell. Why are you recuperating here in the infirmary? Could it be… that you’ve encountered some trouble?”
Mei Man began pretending to be mute.
Not only did she pretend she couldn’t speak, she also put on an affected display of sighing and hesitation, as though she were concealing some difficult matter that she could not bring herself to voice.
