Unexpected Night 2

Su Qing stepped forward to check on Tianning.

As if nothing happened, Tianning propped herself up from the floor. Standing, her disheveled black hair half-hid a pale face, expression unreadable. Her posture was rigid, like a ghostly figure in white.

Su Qing’s scalp tingled. Rubbing her face, she asked, “You okay? How’d you fall off the bed?”

Tianning replied, “I’m fine.”

Her tone was cold but steady, no hint of weakness. Su Qing mostly believed her—maybe a cultivation mishap caused the fall.

Tianning spoke first. “It’s late. Sleep.”

Su Qing blinked. “Oh, okay. You’re really fine?”

“Fine.”

“Good then.”

Su Qing watched Tianning walk normally toward her bed. Two steps in, *thud*—she collapsed headfirst onto the bedframe, body half-draped over the bed, half-twisted awkwardly on the floor, completely still.

Su Qing: *…This doesn’t look fine.*

Approaching, Xuejin Sword bristled defensively.

Su Qing raised her hands. “No bad intentions. I just want to check what’s wrong.”

Perhaps sensing her sincerity, Xuejin Sword retreated a step, gently nudging Tianning’s cheek.

Su Qing was stunned to see such vivid worry in a sword. Squatting, she turned Tianning over, revealing her face.

Brushing aside her hair, Su Qing saw a deathly pale complexion.

Her fingers grazed Tianning’s skin—scalding hot, alarming. Tianning’s closed lashes trembled, as if enduring immense pain.

This wasn’t just spiritual energy depletion.

“I mean no harm. I’m checking for injuries.”

To Xuejin Sword, Su Qing said, pulling back Tianning’s collar to expose her shoulder and neck.

As expected.

Su Qing’s gaze hardened.

Tianning’s shoulder and neck were ghastly—two purplish-red wounds, festering and swollen, horrific.

The injury from fighting for the Carefree Sword, left by the Young Master, hadn’t healed.

Worse, Tianning had frozen her wounds with frost. To halt the spread, white frost embedded deep in the purplish flesh, sealing the rot.

She was ruthless to herself.

Su Qing couldn’t fathom how Tianning endured high-intensity work and sword practice with such injuries.

But it clicked: no money for healing herbs, no time to rest.

“This is tricky. I don’t know how to heal.”

Asking Xuejin Sword if Tianning had healing pills, she got a shake of the hilt, as expected.

Tang Yueling wasn’t in the dorm, likely fretting over the Red Rust Sword. Even if she were, Su Qing wasn’t sure she’d help Tianning.

The two didn’t get along.

Left with no choice, Su Qing hoped for Senior Sister Weiyue. She tried contacting her via Lingpass, but it was too late—no reply, probably meditating. Unable to wait, she messaged Senior Sister Zhuxu. Thankfully, Zhuxu was online.

Without hesitation, Zhuxu told Su Qing to take Tianning to the Mirror Lake ravine where Su Qing once healed. Though not there, Zhuxu remotely lifted the barrier, granting free access.

Grateful, Su Qing vowed to buy Zhuxu fifty chicken legs later. For now, she focused on Tianning. @Infinite Good Reads, Only at Jinjiang Literature City

Stuffing all her savings in her pockets and securing her wooden sword at her waist, she felt safer with money and a weapon.

With Xuejin Sword, she wasn’t worried about carrying Tianning.

She placed Tianning on Xuejin Sword, slinging her arm over her shoulder to steady her. Thanks to a month of training, Su Qing’s strength kept her from being helpless.

“Let’s go, slow and steady,” she told Xuejin Sword. “I’m taking your master to heal.”

One person and one sword supported another, trudging toward Mirror Lake.

Tianning’s burning cheek pressed into Su Qing’s neck. Su Qing held her head to ease the jolts.

Anxiety made the path feel endless. The tranquil moonlight soothed her restlessness.

They reached the familiar ravine.

The shimmering lake, clear to the bottom, rippled under the mountain breeze. Su Qing waded in, lowering Tianning from Xuejin Sword, supporting her head to let her lie in the water.

She loosened Tianning’s collar to let the water seep in, but the frost sealed the wounds tight—water couldn’t penetrate.

Frowning, Su Qing reached for the ice. Barely scraping the edge, Tianning convulsed, a trickle of dark red blood oozing.

Tianning didn’t make a sound, but blood seeped from her bitten lip.

She was biting down to endure the pain.

Su Qing froze, afraid to move. To Xuejin Sword, she said, “I’ll hold her. You—”

Xuejin Sword trembled anxiously, trying to convey something. But it wasn’t Su Qing’s natal sword, and she wasn’t Tianning’s innate sword body—she couldn’t understand it.

“Is the sword bond stopping you from harming your master? This isn’t harm—it’s healing.”

“I’ve only got a wooden sword. If not you, who’ll cut?”

Human and sword stared, both frantic.

Xuejin Sword spun in place, then, as if resolved, shot into the air, flying off.

*Where’s it going?*

Su Qing was baffled.

Soon, Xuejin Sword returned—not alone. Trailing it was the furious, red-glowing Red Rust Sword, chasing aggressively.

Xuejin Sword screeched to a halt before Su Qing. Red Rust Sword overshot, looped back, and charged, ready to brawl.

Xuejin Sword dodged Red Rust’s onslaught, uninterested in fighting.

“This… you want Red Rust Sword to do it?”

Su Qing groaned. “I can’t control Red Rust Sword!”

Xuejin Sword evaded another attack, shaking its hilt at her.

A spark of understanding hit Su Qing—

A furious shout rang out. Tang Yueling, riding an artifact, stormed in. “Xuejin Sword! I was talking to Red Rust Sword—why’d you butt in? Who sent you? Qi Tianning?”

Su Qing’s eyes lit up, waving wildly. “Yueling!”

She got it—Xuejin Sword’s real reinforcement was Tang Yueling.

Though she looked ready to kill.

At least she was human.

*@Infinite Good Reads, Only at Jinjiang Literature City

“Her wounds won’t heal because the flesh inside is worse—probably completely rotted,” Tang Yueling said, examining closely. Her slender fingers traced an area on Tianning’s shoulder and neck. “We need to cut out all this flesh.”

Su Qing’s scalp prickled. “That’s too much—she’ll die of pain!”

“She’s already half-dead from it,” Tang Yueling huffed. “Give her a Numbing Pill, cut out the rot, then use a Regeneration Talisman. She’ll be fixed in a flash.”

She asked, “You hold, I cut, or I hold, you cut?”

Tang Yueling rolled up her sleeves eagerly. “I’ll do it—my hand’s heavy. It’ll hurt more.”