Chapter 39
Mei Liangyu and the other person went to the second floor, each finding their own medical clinic room and taking out medicine trays and various medical tools from the cabinets. The medicine bottles made different sounds as they clinked against each other on the table.
Zhongli Shan faced the mirror, dampening a cloth with warm water to wipe the blood from his neck. Midway through, he glanced at Mei Liangyu who was still fiddling with medicine bottles: "Take her along another day?"
Mei Liangyu didn't look back: "Where to?"
"Not me, you just said you'd take Nangong Sui along." Zhongli Shan frowned, looking at Mei Liangyu thoughtfully. "You two have a good relationship?"
"Taking my Junior Sister to experience high-level military formations, what's wrong with that?" Mei Liangyu replied casually.
Zhongli Shan withdrew his gaze: "So you've come to accept this Junior Sister?"
Mei Liangyu: "My Master decided it. Do I get a say in accepting or not accepting?"
Zhongli Shan rolled up his sleeves, picking out small debris fragments embedded in his arm. His expression was calm and composed, his picking movements steady. He said while working: "Didn't you think Nangong Sui was very special the first day you met her, shining brightly?"
Mei Liangyu was mixing ointments from different medicine bottles, replying quickly: "When she was on the Trial Ground, she was backlit, facing the morning sun. That naturally made her look like she was glowing."
Zhongli Shan: "Oh."
"What do you mean 'oh'?" Mei Liangyu's tone was ominous.
Zhongli Shan stared at his wound: "Nangong Sui is indeed beautiful."
Mei Liangyu: "That's stating the obvious."
Zhongli Shan continued: "I just didn't expect that in your eyes, she'd look even better than what others see."
Mei Liangyu asked: "How much better?"
Zhongli Shan said: "According to you, the most beautiful one."
Mei Liangyu countered: "Isn't that exactly what most beautiful means?"
Zhongli Shan said in a deep voice: "Not necessarily."
Mei Liangyu turned around holding the medicine jar: "Then name someone who's most beautiful."
Zhongli Shan answered without thinking: "Su Tong."
Mei Liangyu sneered: "Shut up."
The two kept chatting back and forth while picking debris from their wounds, but fell quiet once they finished treating the wounds and began applying medicine.
……
Yu Sui quietly watched Shi Yuezhen treat Li Jin Shuang below.
Medical School Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Healing Touch, specifically for people whose Five Elements energy had reversed and gone chaotic. When Five Elements energy in the human body became disordered due to injury, it hurt more than being cut with a knife. Walking, talking, even blinking would affect the energy within the body.
Shi Yuezhen couldn't help sighing that Li Jin Shuang had managed to walk from the Military School to here, showing how incredibly strong this girl's pain tolerance was.
"It looks like she attempted the military formation alone," Shi Yuezhen said.
Yu Sui nodded in understanding.
Li Jin Shuang truly had no friends. Due to family reasons, she was loyal to Xun Zhiya and would listen to Xun Zhiya's words, but would never ask Xun Zhiya to accompany her to attempt formations.
"When the Military School opens formations, they set up many checkpoints inside. For high-level formations like this Level One Military Formation, going alone makes it easy to get injured," Shi Yuezhen said. "The Military School doesn't encourage disciples to attempt formations solo either."
Yu Sui asked innocently: "Senior Sister, how long do Military School formations stay open?"
Shi Yuezhen said: "Seven days. Today is the first day. Do you want to go too?"
Yu Sui thought about it. This time it was opened by the Military School itself, just Level One Black Wind City. There shouldn't be any other complications.
"I'd like to go, but if I go alone, I definitely won't pass either. I might even get injured on top of my current injuries." Yu Sui tilted her head toward Li Jin Shuang. "Look at her, a Fifth Realm practitioner injured this badly."
She thought of Mei Liangyu: "Senior Brother just said he'd take me along another day, but I don't know if his words are reliable."
Shi Yuezhen smiled: "Your Senior Brother and the others are probably going to challenge realm-breaking formations. Following them would be even more dangerous."
Yu Sui looked at Li Jin Shuang again: "With her injured like this, can she still challenge military formations in a couple of days?"
Shi Yuezhen said: "I'll help calm the chaotic Five Elements energy. The rest are external injuries that look serious but won't be after tonight's medicine application. If she wants to, it's not impossible."
Yu Sui pulled over a chair to sit by the bed, watching the unconscious Li Jin Shuang. She always dressed as a man, even drawing her eyebrows in a masculine style. Usually stern-faced and coldly aloof, she looked like a refined young master.
Even in men's clothing, you could tell Li Jin Shuang was very beautiful.
Perhaps because she was beautiful, she looked convincing as a man, and most people couldn't tell if she was male or female.
Now Li Jin Shuang was severely injured, her face pale, vulnerability filling her features. Her usually high-tied hair had been loosened by Shi Yuezhen to clean her wounds, black hair spilling down. As Shi Yuezhen cleaned her face and removed her makeup, her true appearance was revealed.
Yu Sui propped her face with one hand, looking at Li Jin Shuang and saying softly: "She's really beautiful."
Shi Yuezhen nodded: "It would be better if she didn't dress as a man."
What necessity did the Nanjing Li family have to raise a girl this way?
Yu Sui's bright black eyes reflected Li Jin Shuang's appearance, looking from her face to neck to shoulders and back. Years of cultivation had left not an ounce of excess flesh on her body, with resilient lines and snow-white skin. Just looking at her was heartwarming.
Why did she have to appear as a man to support the Li family?
Yu Sui thought absently while her Wind-Listening Ruler buzzed. She opened it to check, finding a message from Gu Qian sent to "Qian."
She hadn't closed the return message channel to Gu Qian.
On Gu Qian's side, he could only see this "Qian" character, unable to see the sender's inscription, making it impossible to confirm the identity.
Gu Qian's current message said: "Since you're skilled with Wind-Listening Rulers and can bypass Communication Courtyard monitoring to send messages freely, can you also see different message information from people's Wind-Listening Rulers?"
Yu Sui replied without changing expression: "Cannot."
Only an idiot would reveal that to you.
Gu Qian continued: "You can't control others' Wind-Listening Rulers?"
Yu Sui replied: "Cannot."
Gu Qian: "Then what can you do?"
Yu Sui didn't reply to him.
Gu Qian stared at the unresponsive Wind-Listening Ruler, grinding his teeth in frustration. When had he ever been manipulated and threatened like this? He absolutely couldn't swallow this humiliation.
Ji Meng and Huo Xiao offered suggestions from the side: "At least for now, this mysterious person seems to be on our side. Not immediately dangerous, right?"
"If the goal is the Pagoda, he definitely can't let the academy notice anything about it either, or it would be disadvantageous for his own actions." Huo Xiao analyzed calmly. "But we should be careful of his Wind-Listening Ruler manipulation ability."
Ji Meng raised his hand: "Let's try not to discuss important matters through Wind-Listening Rulers from now on."
Gu Qian said in a deep voice: "We wouldn't use Wind-Listening Rulers anyway."
Ji Meng scratched his head: "But sometimes Wind-Listening Rulers are really convenient."
"If he can bypass inscriptions to send messages, he can definitely control Wind-Listening Rulers too. If he impersonates you or me sending messages, it would be hard to distinguish." Huo Xiao suggested: "From now on, when we send messages, we should establish coded signs that only we know, just in case."
Ji Meng nodded: "That's good."
Gu Qian also thought this was a good suggestion, tapping the table: "What kind of signs?"
Far away at the Medical School, Yu Sui watched the three through the Five Elements Light Core placed at Gu Qian's location, finding their sign-making session quite amusing.
Such thorough analysis, such clever little minds.
But that was about it.
……
Shi Yuezhen was busy taking care of Li Jin Shuang first, so Yu Sui waited patiently. Just when Li Jin Shuang's treatment was finally finished and Yu Sui had just removed her clothing, other disciples with emergency situations called Shi Yuezhen away.
Yu Sui wasn't in a hurry, lying on the bed playing with her Wind-Listening Ruler.
Zhongli Shan and Mei Liangyu from the second floor had also finished treating themselves and came downstairs.
While still on the stairs, they saw Shi Yuezhen rushing around busily below.
Zhongli Shan said: "Cang Shu didn't come?"
"He'll come later," Mei Liangyu looked down at his Wind-Listening Ruler.
Xing Chun asked in the group chat: "Dinner?"
"Dinner," Cang Shu replied. "I'm at the dining hall getting food for Yuezhen. What do you want to eat?"
Xing Chun resentfully typed on his Wind-Listening Ruler: "If you're eating with Yuezhen, then I won't come."
Mei Liangyu replied: "Zhongli Shan and I are eating at the medical clinic."
Xing Chun: "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Cang Shu looked at his Wind-Listening Ruler and blinked in confusion.
Aren't you still going to eat with Yuezhen and me?
Shi Yuezhen saw the two come down and asked them to help mix ointments: "All external injuries, also from Black Wind City injuries, same as what you need."
Both Zhongli Shan and Mei Liangyu had taken electives in Medical School, so Shi Yuezhen dared ask these two to help mix medicine.
Zhongli Shan got to work immediately. Mei Liangyu was slacking off playing with his Wind-Listening Ruler beside him when Zhongli Shan elbowed him to wake him up. Frowning and glancing at him sideways, he finally put away his Wind-Listening Ruler.
Partition numbers were labeled on the medicine jars. Zhongli Shan mixed quickly, and Mei Liangyu looked over each batch to prevent errors.
"For partition one," Zhongli Shan handed him the prepared medicine jar.
Mei Liangyu took the medicine jar to partition one. The moment he lifted the curtain, his gaze fell unexpectedly on the person lying by the bed.
When Shi Yuezhen was called away, she had been applying medicine to Yu Sui's back. After she left, Yu Sui didn't bother with it, maintaining her half-undressed state to cool off.
Mei Liangyu's eyes caught sight of snow-white skin, a slightly curved spine, and long and short fierce red marks on the pale back. The visual impact of fragile beauty and brutal wounds made him quickly drop the curtain.
Yu Sui turned around alertly, only seeing a corner of the dropped curtain swaying slightly.
Mei Liangyu reacted quickly, his body responding almost the instant his vision caught something inappropriate. The curtain concealed the pale skin in the partition. Mei Liangyu's brow twitched slightly as he heard Yu Sui's soft, gentle voice from inside: "Senior Brother?"
Only an idiot would respond.
Mei Liangyu didn't answer, putting the medicine jar back on the table.
Zhongli Shan looked up at him, silently asking what was wrong. Mei Liangyu glanced toward Shi Yuezhen: "Not convenient. She can wait for her to come back."
Yu Sui had arrived before him but was still waiting to finish changing her medicine.
Mei Liangyu didn't know how she managed that.
Yu Sui had intended to get up and look outside, but seeing Li Jin Shuang frown and slowly struggle to wake up, she didn't get up, staying by the bed to watch her open her eyes.
"You're awake." Yu Sui waved at Li Jin Shuang. "How do you feel? If your Five Elements energy is still chaotic, I'll help you call Senior Sister to check."
The partition was brightly lit with candle flames. Li Jin Shuang's vision went from blurry to gradually clear, seeing a delicate small face with moist, bright eyes full of worry looking at her. Beautiful brows slightly furrowed, anyone being watched with such a gaze would feel their heart soften.
In her daze, Li Jin Shuang saw through Yu Sui to another woman, the person who had been beside her bed when she woke up sick and injured as a child, the first to rush to her.
She was still not fully conscious. The blurred phantom overlapping with Yu Sui in her eyes made Li Jin Shuang's heart ache. Tears flowed from her eyes, her throat dry and hoarse as she called with infinite difficulty: "Mother."
Yu Sui was slightly stunned.
She touched her own face and looked at the not-quite-awake Li Jin Shuang in confusion, timidly shrinking back a little: "I'm not old enough for that, am I?"
What did missing one's mother feel like?
What did it feel like to want to confide in and seek comfort from one's mother when injured, sad, and feeling wronged?
Looking at Li Jin Shuang with tears in her eyes, Yu Sui couldn't imagine. She could only wait quietly for Li Jin Shuang to wake up on her own.
More injured disciples came to the medical clinic, several people supporting a severely wounded disciple who could barely walk, about to rush into partition one when Mei Liangyu stopped them: "Go to the second floor."
Shi Yuezhen had just come out from next door, seeing this scene and also directing the disciples to the second floor, sighing: "Too busy tonight. I need to call someone to help watch."
Mei Liangyu gestured toward partition one: "My Junior Sister still hasn't finished changing medicine?"
Shi Yuezhen frowned in annoyance and hurried in with the medicine jar to see Yu Sui.
Mei Liangyu said to Zhongli Shan: "Why don't you go upstairs to check on that person just now?"
Zhongli Shan slowly put down his Wind-Listening Ruler: "I'm not a Medical School disciple either."
Mei Liangyu sneered: "Who told your Military School to open military formations?"
Zhongli Shan: "..."
Only you know how to talk.