Please, Don’t Die - Chapter 35

Suddenly, the cold lake trembled violently, sending gusts of wind rippling outward.

Then, a handful of medicinal powder abruptly changed direction midair, carried by the wind and flung back toward Cong Shuang.

Her cheeks were instantly coated in white frost, and her eyes turned fierce in an instant.

Seeing that poisoning had failed, Cong Shuang swiftly changed tactics, lunging with lightning speed toward Ying Qujie’s neck.

The sound of slicing air scattered the lingering powder.

Ying Qujie’s heart sank as he dodged. The moment Cong Shuang was about to break through the barrier of baleful energy, he put a safe distance between them.

A distance safe for Cong Shuang.

Glancing at the restless, black-and-red baleful energy swirling around him, itching for a fight, Ying Qujie earnestly advised, “Miss Cong Shuang, if you have something to say, you can speak directly. There’s no need to resort to violence first.”

“Are you mocking me?” Cong Shuang sneered, her nostrils flaring with disdain. “Then I’ll make sure to act now.”

Moments later, Ying Qujie shook his head as he watched Cong Shuang, her neck tightly gripped by the baleful energy.

Her face flushed purple with suffocation, veins bulging as she strained against the tightening force.

Usually, when evil creatures provoked this baleful energy, it would simply crush and devour its prey. The fact that Cong Shuang had lasted this long was already impressive.

Suddenly recalling He Qingsheng’s patience with Cong Shuang, Ying Qujie pondered, she couldn’t be allowed to die.

But He Qingsheng was at the center of the lake, unable to spare attention for what was happening here.

Ying Qujie scanned his surroundings, his gaze landing on the red bracelet around his wrist.

It was all baleful energy, all He Qingsheng’s.

After weighing the bracelet against the energy, he raised his hand and decisively spoke:

“Hey, tell your colleague to rein it in. Don’t kill her, Miss He still has use for her.”

Cong Shuang glared hatefully at Ying Qujie’s actions, but as his words fell, the pressure around her neck suddenly loosened.

Cool air rushed into her lungs, and she coughed violently.

It actually worked. Ying Qujie let out a sigh of relief.

But before he could fully exhale, a crisp crack sounded beneath his feet.

Then, the ground shattered, fissures spreading like a grotesque spiderweb, dust surging into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the world seemed to collapse.

Ying Qujie steadied himself and glanced at Cong Shuang, her hands were still bound by the baleful energy.

But then, a rope shot out from the side of a massive pillar, looping precisely over her shoulders.

A woman’s figure flashed past the pillar’s opening.

Cong Shuang hooked onto the rope, grinning as she kicked off the ground. Using the momentum to launch herself upward, she grabbed a handful of shattered stones and hurled them at Ying Qujie’s eyes.

Grit and debris clouded his vision. Ying Qujie raised his sleeve to block, but the spot where he stood was immediately smashed apart by a heavy impact.

Amid the violent tremors, the runes on the towering pillar seemed to writhe as if alive.

Instinct warned him not to approach it.

An arrow whistled through the air. He twisted midair, dodging the attack.

The baleful energy surrounding him, as if enraged, split off another strand and surged toward the pillar’s open window.

The attacker seemed to realize something, swiftly abandoning the assault and yanking Cong Shuang back before slamming the window shut.

Ying Qujie plummeted straight down, the icy, frenzied wind stinging his ears.

Only then did he truly grasp the depth of this frozen lake.

It was a fall where even hitting the water could shatter him to pieces.

Ying Qujie steadied his breath and channeled his energy, using the falling rocks to adjust his posture midair, hoping to minimize the impact.

The icy pool lay dark and silent.

Yet the expected splash never came.

Centered around He Qingsheng, a barrier seemed to have been forcibly shattered by some unknown force.

The entire space flipped upside down, the lake water surged backward, completely overturned.

The surroundings twisted and contorted as if crumpled and chewed beyond recognition.

Ying Qujie felt an irresistible pull yanking him forward, leaving no room for resistance.

Caught off guard, he crashed onto a patch of grass.

A crisp crack echoed.

Ying Qujie’s lips twitched, his leg was broken.

The grass beneath his hands was damp and soft. Bewildered, he looked up, but the opulent and eerie underground palace was gone. Instead, he found himself in a serene, picturesque paradise.

“Ow!”

Yan Xingyi let out an exaggerated yelp. His clothes, soaked from the icy water, clung to him as he sprawled in a rice paddy like some drowned ghost.

“Heavens! My rice seedlings! Just wait till I catch the little brat who did this!”

An old man’s furious voice echoed from afar.

Something poked Yan Xingyi’s back from beneath the paddy. He sprang up instantly and bolted.

“Holy! what the hell was that?!”

He Qingsheng remained silent. She had cushioned Yan Xingyi’s fall earlier, consider it an act of mercy.

With a dark expression, she pulled her wooden puppet out of the mud.

Only after the old man gave up chasing Yan Xingyi and stormed off did she rinse her sleeves and climb onto the field path.

In the distance, rolling green mountains stretched endlessly. Nearby, tender rice seedlings swayed in the paddies. Crystal-clear mountain springs cascaded down the cliffs, splitting into two streams at the foot, one irrigating the fields, the other meandering past the town.

The small town, with its white walls and dark-tiled roofs, was bathed in the gentle smoke of hearth fires. The sounds of chickens and dogs mingled in the air, peaceful and harmonious.

Yet the layout, the scenery, it all felt eerily familiar.

He Qingsheng floated up, and as her view expanded, she realized the source of this déjà vu.

This place… was unmistakably Jimo Town!

Earlier, at the central platform of the Frozen Lake, she had been ensnared by a guardian array.

The array had no effect on ordinary mortals, and for cultivators, breaking it would have been child’s play.

The caster’s intention was likely to drag whoever triggered the array into this illusion.

Whether it was the Tianxiang Tower or the hidden passage, the baleful energy outside had been restless, itching for action because it could sense the presence of sinister entities lurking nearby.

But now, this illusion was tranquil and stable. He Qingsheng glanced at the listless baleful energy hovering around her and fell silent for a moment.

What kind of temperament is this?

She pinched a wisp of the energy between her fingers. During the lake’s inversion, she had glimpsed Ying Qujie plummeting as well.

Lowering her eyelids, she flicked the energy in her hand.

“Get to work.”

The crimson-black energy pointed in the direction Yan Xingyi had fled, swayed left and right three times, then melted into a puddle in her palm.

The message was clear, Not looking for him.

He Qingsheng frowned. “Who said anything about Yan Xingyi? Find Ying Qujie.”

The puddle of energy instantly perked up, its tip curling into a large question mark.

“Pathetic.” She flicked the question mark, displeased. “If we find him, do you really think you’ll lack for sinister prey?”

The energy nuzzled her fingertip, stealing a taste, then split into countless fine threads and vanished in all directions.

He Qingsheng lowered her hand, gazing into the distance with calm, unreadable eyes.

Relying on her memory, she could even deduce the exact locations where the Wood Demon Ming Shu and the Drought Fiend had met their demise in the void.

Every detail of the Wood Demon’s final moments was vividly clear before her eyes.

“Evil creatures devour their masters.”

These four words surfaced in her mind.

He Qingsheng didn’t know whether this baleful aura truly belonged to her, but there was no doubt, it was unnaturally sinister.

Even a momentary lapse in her spiritual stability had allowed it to rebel against her.

What would happen if her mental state wavered for longer?

He Qingsheng closed her eyes briefly. This meant that from now on, no matter what illusion she found herself in, she had to maintain absolute rationality.

Absolute rationality, whether in hatred or in joy.

Suppressing the violent urge for control within her, she toyed with the Water-Nurtures-Wood bead and strode in the direction guided by the baleful aura.

Coincidentally, it aligned with the path Yan Xingyi had taken in his escape.

…

In the mortal realm, it was the third month of spring, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom.

Her emerald-green sleeves fluttered, stirring up a rain of petals. As she moved through the grove, He Qingsheng’s mood lightened slightly.

When they met later, she would definitely have to remark, “Physician Ying really has a taste for leisure and elegance.”

The whereabouts of Prince Liang were unknown, and both she and Yan Xingyi had ended up in a rice paddy, covered in mud.

Ying Qujie, on the other hand, had chosen a picturesque spot, a sea of blossoms beneath a gentle rain.

Ying Qujie, who had indeed picked a lovely location, was currently sitting on the ground, motionless as a statue.

He didn’t even bother to brush off the peach blossoms covering his head.

With his leg broken, he couldn’t move, but fortunately, he still had some medicinal pills on him. He had taken a few as a temporary measure.

However, for injuries involving bones and tendons, even the most miraculous elixirs required time to take effect.

He stared gloomily at the shrunken red bracelet on his wrist.

When a wisp of baleful aura had sought him out earlier, he knew He Qingsheng would soon come looking for him.

But in his current state…

“Hahaha, Physician Ying, don’t be shy now!”

Her unrestrained laughter echoed through the valley, startling flocks of birds from the peach grove into flight toward the distant mountains.

When He Qingsheng found Ying Qujie, he was covered in peach blossoms. Beneath his emerald-green robes was a tiny, delicate child, so fresh and tender.

If not for his strikingly refined features, she might not have recognized him.

Ying Qujie sighed in resignation. He had expected this.

But the exasperated expression on his current dumpling-like face only made him look adorably precocious.

Even squatting on his palm, the small wooden puppet seemed towering compared to him.

He Qingsheng commanded, “Bring it closer.”

Ying Qujie glanced at her. In his child form, his eyes were round and dewy, utterly devoid of intimidation.

After a three-second standoff, Ying Qujie relented and obediently lifted the puppet closer to his cheek.

He had known this would happen.

He Qingsheng gleefully pinched Ying Qujie’s cheek. “So adorable, Physician Ying. If only there were some sensation to it.”

Ying Qujie mumbled, “Mmph… no sensation… why… mmph… pinch?”

“Didn’t you allow it?” He Qingsheng grinned brightly. “Besides, it’s not like I’ve never lived before.”

What a wicked sense of humor.

Ying Qujie reached out and pinched the puppet’s cheek in retaliation.

Hmm. Rock-hard.

He withdrew his hand discreetly, pretending nothing had happened.

Of course, He Qingsheng didn’t miss the gesture.

“Physician Ying, how childish.”

“I wasn’t.”

A blue glow flowed into Ying Qujie’s right leg as He Qingsheng gave his cheek one last poke. “Ah, so your leg’s broken. Poor little thing.”

As spiritual energy circulated, before Ying Qujie could react, He Qingsheng announced, “There. All done.”

He released the acupressure point that blocked pain. Sure enough, the fractured area was completely healed, with not a trace of discomfort.

Ying Qujie stood up, shaking off a shower of peach blossoms.

“Thank you.”

“No trouble. If anything, I’ve inconvenienced the physician.” He Qingsheng assessed the situation and decided now wasn’t the best time to climb onto his head again. She abandoned the idea and sat to the side instead. “What did Cong Shuang intend to do to you?”

“Was she trying to kill you?” He Qingsheng reached out to catch the peach blossoms Ying Qujie had shaken loose, a shadow flickering imperceptibly in her eyes.

“Not entirely.” Ying Qujie paused while straightening his robes.

“At first, she didn’t seem to want me dead, she just drugged me. But when she realized the drugs had no effect, she went for the kill.”

He Qingsheng nodded to show she understood.

A wisp of baleful energy lingered on Cong Shuang’s neck. She wasn’t worried about losing track of her once they left the illusion.

Ying Qujie finished adjusting his robes and scooped up He Qingsheng from the ground into his palm.

“Let’s go. Where to now?”

He Qingsheng glanced at him. The young Ying Qujie’s face was the picture of calm, steady reliability, meeting her gaze with an open, unguarded expression.

Of course, one had to ignore his bright red ears.

“South of the peach grove. We’re going to find Yan Xingyi.”