Chaotic World Book-Chapter 277 - 272: Living with Hongling

"Snap~ Snap~ Snap!"

The clashing sounds of the Fire Knife and Fire Stone echoed amidst the rocks, as sparks scattered bit by bit.

This was a truly laborious task; lighting a fire was incredibly difficult when one only had dry grass and no oily tinder. Zhao Changhe had never imagined that someday he would complain about Xia Longyuan in this respect: "You’ve unified the entire realm for so many years, yet haven’t even managed to come up with a lighter! The shame of a transmigrator!"

But then he thought, even if a lighter were invented, it would be toast in the water, perhaps even less effective than the Fire Knife and Fire Stone... So he resigned himself to keep striking.

Finally, the fire caught, and Zhao Changhe ecstatically stuffed other dry branches and twigs in. In no time at all, a warm bonfire had taken shape in the middle of the rocks.

The space was windless, and the fire stable. Zhao Changhe leaped up in joy, grinning like a child.

Yue Hongling, naked, peeked out from behind a rock to watch him.

Zhao Changhe, elated, gestured, "You can bring your wet clothes to dry now!"

Her head withdrew, "Don’t come over here!"

"Like I care," Zhao Changhe ignored her and settled back down by the fire, cheerily pulling out new clothes from his bundle.

He had intended to dry a set for himself, but upon pulling them out, he remembered he had also bought a set of men’s white clothes for Yue Hongling. He laughed and hung them up to dry, "You’re in luck, no need to wear the fancy red garb anymore."

Yue Hongling was furious, "Zhao Changhe!"

Zhao Changhe looked skyward.

Yue Hongling glared at him from behind the rock for a long while before suddenly smiling, "Right, I’m spoiled. If you’re so capable, don’t you ever kiss me again."

Zhao Changhe immediately shrank back, "You’re fragrant, fragrant."

"Hmph." Her head finally disappeared from view.

The atmosphere, however, suddenly fell silent.

An empty space, a serene coast; a warm fire, just a stone’s distance away.

She was bare, he knew.

This mere acknowledgment made it impossible to remain calm. It was as if one could hear each other’s heartbeat through the space, thumping loudly.

Zhao Changhe bowed his head, tending to his wound. After a while, he suddenly said, "This shouldn’t be a sea; it’s a large lake."

Yue Hongling hummed in response, well aware that he was intentionally changing the subject, yet she leaned against the rock and laughed at herself.

What was she thinking? Her independence and self-reliance gained from wandering alone, all seemed to have vanished in such a short time. It was as if the experienced one from the Worldly Society was him and not her, as if she was like Cui Yuanyang back then, knowing nothing.

In fact, Yue Hongling knew why Zhao Changhe thought this place was a lake. Because the water wasn’t salty, and the wounds didn’t sting like they would have in salt water. It was not only unsalted water but possibly exceedingly pure, so pure that it might even lack many essential elements.

This kind of water might not be very beneficial to drink but didn’t have any adverse effects either; replenishing fluids was still fine, and it was even better for washing wounds. That was the meaning behind Zhao Changhe’s words.

Neither of them spoke further, quietly cleaning their wounds, reapplying medicine and bandages. The exhaustion of their bodies slowly dissipated here.

Zhao Changhe moved a portion of the fire closer to the rocks, very deliberately without looking, "Yours."

Yue Hongling glanced at the small bonfire beside her, it was warm, just like him.

She lowered her head again and hummed a response, saying nothing more.

Zhao Changhe returned to his bonfire, wearily fiddling with the fire for a while before unknowingly dozing off against the rock behind him.

He was utterly exhausted.

Yue Hongling quietly watched him for a long while, then she too slowly closed her eyes.

...

The next "morning," Yue Hongling opened her eyes.

Actually, it was hard to tell if it was morning since the sky was not visible here, and it was still dark, making it impossible to discern the hour.

The little bonfire beside her had extinguished at some unknown time.

Yue Hongling, having adapted to the darkness and rested for an entire night to regain quite a bit of strength, found her night vision capabilities to be incomparable to the previous night’s. Aside from not being able to see too far, the pitch-black space before her was almost no different from daytime.

She conducted an internal inspection first thing, noting chaos from the fighting while injured. Thankfully, there was no infection in the external wounds, and a night’s rest with medicine applied had improved her condition somewhat; however, the internal injuries were rather troublesome. Hu Lie ranked forty-first on the Human List, and it was no joke: the knife Qi infiltrating her body had tangled everything up, causing severe damage to her meridians and almost wrecking her Dantian.

She had taken medicine last night, but it seemed to have no effect. Hardly had she rested for the night and gathered some True Qi when it was nearly all scattered, unable to form properly.

Yue Hongling sighed, stopped the internal inspection, and propped herself up.

Looking down at herself, she realized she had yet to dress... There was no wind here, nor was it cold, and she oddly felt nothing...

Yue Hongling rubbed her head with some embarrassment. Just like that, she had spent the night with a man and gone to sleep without any panic or feeling of shame—how soundly she had slept... Was it because she was too tired? But upon waking, she felt fine, not even the first thought about it...

Carefully, she stuck her head out again, looking toward the campfire on the other side.

The campfire had also become very small, with a little flame flickering on the verge of going out. Zhao Changhe hadn’t woken up yet, leaning heavily against the rock, his face furrowed in distress as he slept, his whole body curled up uncomfortably.

During the latter half of yesterday, Zhao Changhe had borne it all. His depletion far exceeded her own. She guessed not only was he suffering from injury and exhaustion but also the backlash of Blood Evil was beginning to surface... such an imposing man shrunken, like a child.

Yue Hongling carefully moved from behind the rock and quietly reached out her hand to grab the white male clothing he had hung aside, quickly pulling it back to her.

Moments later, Yue Hongling, dressed in male attire, appeared from behind the rock, puffing her cheeks at the soundly sleeping Zhao Changhe, her face flushed with more embarrassment than when she had been bare.

What kind of ridiculous clothes did you buy? There’s no fabric from the right shoulder all the way to the right arm; my entire arm is exposed!

Do you want to see me wearing this?

Yue Hongling clenched her fist, feigning a punch. Her fist hovered near his cheek, but ultimately she held back with a "huff."

Glancing back, the flame was indeed about to die. Yue Hongling sprang up and frantically began gathering branches to add to the fire. As she watched the tiny flame regain strength, a smile involuntarily emerged on her face.

No wonder he laughed like a child yesterday, joy can sometimes be so simple.

She checked the package; there was still some dry food inside, well wrapped in oil paper. Although it seemed to have been dampened a bit, it was mostly fine.

She took out the dry food and ate it slowly with water, her spirits growing even happier. ƒreewebɳovel.com

After eating, she went to the lake to wash up properly. After thinking it over, she decided to jump in and wash vigorously... Yue Hongling didn’t understand why she felt the need to wash, she had already claimed not to be tainted with any dirt... Was it to convince him that she was clean? Why did she need to make him believe anything, what was she preparing to do?

Yue Hongling didn’t know, but she washed herself naturally and then put the shoulder-baring outfit back on, combing her hair back by the campfire.

Women know their grooming can take a long time, yet when she returned, Zhao Changhe was still asleep, even more tightly curled than before, brow deeply furrowed, even making soft groans.

A jolt ran through Yue Hongling’s heart, and she reached out to touch his forehead.

He had a fever, and what’s more, the knife Qi inside him was causing havoc, with his internal organs all in disarray. The Evil Qi hidden within his blood and Qi seemed to be drawn out, echoing, roaring, surging like a wave.

— He wasn’t just sleeping; he was actually unconscious.

Yue Hongling hurriedly took a healing pill from the package and stuffed it into his mouth, but he couldn’t swallow it, and it fell out.

Yue Hongling, though experienced in Worldly Society, was always solitary and had never encountered "taking care of a sick person"; she honestly didn’t know how to help him swallow and was at a loss for a while.

After a long thought, she simply propped him up, leaning him against her shoulder, then chewed the medicine herself, and bending down, fed it to him mouth-to-mouth.

It was just like passing Qi yesterday, perfectly normal.

Oh, you dare to spit it out!

Push it in!

Zhao Changhe, in his unconsciousness, finally felt the moistening effect of the medicine. The rampant knife Qi felt slightly better, his meridians were nourished by the medicine, and a cool, refreshing sensation spread out, slowly bringing him to consciousness.

Still with his eyes closed, he felt the softness in his mouth, his lips and tongue entwining.

Her hand was around his neck, and the sensation felt even stranger—why did it seem as if the contact on his neck, his arms warm and smooth like jade, was uncovered?

He gradually became aware of the situation. Though Yue Hongling could sense this, her hand instinctively tightened around him, murmuring unclearly, "Don’t move; let your sister help you."

She transferred the True Qi she had accumulated nightlong without reservation into his body, "Circulate your Qi, don’t think too much."

Zhao Changhe then kept silent, resting in her embrace, receiving the True Qi and sorting out his meridians.

In reality, what transpired was this: in the darkness, by the warm glow of the campfire, a man nestled in her arms, a soft kiss amidst the silence.

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