Chapter 012 Linjiangxian (VI)
"Most of my injuries were sustained during my lifetime, so you don't have to think too much about it."
The skin beneath his clothes was slowly cracking, and the knife and sword scars all over his body soaked his clothes. Xu Hexue tried his best to hold his sleeves tight, not wanting her to see anymore.
He has no flesh and blood. The wounds on his body and the blood he bleeds are actually concrete manifestations of the damage to his soul. He looks like a living person with wounds all over his body and blood flowing out, but in fact, that blood is his diminished soul fire.
As long as he uses magic in the world of the living, any injuries he suffers before or after death will become a severe punishment for him.
But Xu Hexue was unwilling to tell her this.
"But helping me will indeed make you very painful." Even though he often looked sickly, Ni Su could tell how he was doing now compared to before.
No wonder he walked so slowly from the Rainbow Bridge to this inn, much slower than usual.
"Although I know medical skills, they are useless to you," Ni Su squatted down, knowing that he didn't want her to touch him, she just put her hands on the edge of the bed, "Tell me, how can I help you?"
Xu Hexue lowered his eyes and looked at Ni Su lying on the edge of his bed. Several candles were burning behind her. The bright and warm light cast a layer of light golden velvet on her hair.
"Please light another lamp."
He said.
"Okay." Ni Su stood up immediately upon hearing that, went back to the table and added another candle. She put the candlestick down and turned around, and saw Xu Hexue holding the bedpost with one hand and slowly sitting up.
He was looking out the window again.
Ni Su turned and followed his gaze. By the lattice window, a soul fire was wrapped in a silky silver light.
"Ni Su."
His weak voice came from behind: "Found it."
There was a drizzle at night in Yunjing, but the night market scenery did not diminish. Under the felt tents were many people having midnight snacks and chatting. The tiles along the river were brightly lit, and layer upon layer of light shadows swayed on the Yunxiang River. Night boats with lanterns hung on them passed slowly and leisurely under the bridge.
There were too many people on the street, and riding horses at night was not allowed under the emperor's feet. Ni Su ran fast in the crowd, and the soft rain brushed her cheeks. Many pairs of strange eyes lingered on her for a short time, but she was unaware of them. She only knew to follow the soul fire that others could not see.
The gate of Yunjing City was like a mountain crouching in the dim light. Ni Su watched the soul fire passing over the city wall. She suddenly stopped and looked at the city defenders standing straight in front of the closed city gate with their armors hard.
A gust of breeze blew the rain sideways, and thunder rumbled in the sky. Ni Su felt a hand around her waist, and she looked up and saw a person's profile.
His thick and long eyelashes left a beautiful shadow under his eyelids. Ni Su held a lantern in her hand and instantly rose up with the wind, following him silently to the top of the city wall.
The shadow of the light flickered gently above their heads, and the defenders at the city gate and on the city wall looked up almost at the same time, only to see that the rain and fog were getting thicker in the night.
As the wind and rain hit them, Ni Su saw dust floating in the air and immediately pulled his sleeve: "Let's go down quickly."
But as soon as she finished her words, Xu Hexue seemed to lose his strength and support, and fell towards the forest floor with her.
There was a rustling sound of rain, but the expected pain did not come. Ni Su opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a sleeve with a dark black and silver crane pattern. She was lying in someone's arms.
It was an embrace that was a hundred times colder than the rain hitting her cheeks.
"Xu Ziling, how are you?" Ni Su stood up immediately.
Xu Hexue shook his head and raised his slender fingers. Ni Su followed the direction he pointed and found the floating soul fire.
"Why is my brother outside Yunjing City ?"
Ni Su felt more and more uneasy and weird.
"Follow it and you will find out."
Xu Hexue stood up by holding the tree trunk, and raindrops from the pine branches dripped down and flowed over his knuckles.
The last flame in the lantern was extinguished by the rain. Ni Su instinctively looked up at his eyes. Sure enough, they were dark and empty.
Ni Su reached out her hand, but suddenly stopped and asked softly, "Can I touch you?"
She remembered his silent resistance in the inn just now.
Xu Hexue turned his head towards the direction of her voice, as if he was looking at her. As raindrops fell, he half closed his eyes and slowly stretched out his hand.
Ni Su looked at his outstretched hand and shook it without hesitation.
Raindrops dripped through the fingers of the two people. Ni Su supported him and followed the soul fire forward. Although there was no lantern to illuminate, the bright dust floating on Xu Hexue's body was like a pale moon, allowing her to see things with difficulty.
The rain in the mountains became heavier and muffled thunder exploded.
In the dilapidated Buddhist temple, a little beggar who was sleeping against the wall suddenly woke up with a start. Although it was early autumn, the weather was still hot, but the beggar's tattered clothes were wet by the rain in his sleep, and he couldn't help shivering when he woke up.
I don't know who lit the candle in the temple, but it was only half burned. The little beggar raised his head and the rain flowed through the cracks in the broken tiles onto his face.
There was a rustling sound, and the little beggar looked and saw his grandfather holding up a half-burnt candle and looking at the Buddha statue carefully.
"Grandpa, what are you looking at?"
The little beggar wiped the rain off his face.
The gray-haired old beggar poked his head out and waved at him: "Boy, come and see the back of this Bodhisattva."
The little beggar didn't understand what was going on, so he climbed up from the haystack. Rainwater poured down the cracks in the broken tiles, making the ground wet and slippery. He had no shoes on, so he treaded carefully through the water, muttering, "The Bodhisattvas in the mountains are all made of clay by poor people like us. What's so good about them..."
Before he could finish his words, the little beggar heard footsteps approaching. The grandfather and grandson turned around and saw a flash of lightning outside the foggy mountain temple, illuminating the figure of a woman.
Her plum-green silk skirt was stained with mud and raindrops dripped down the strands of light hair on her temples. Her eyes first fell on the beggar grandfather and grandson in the temple, but she quickly moved away. She lifted her skirt and walked into the room, looking around.
The grandfather and grandson couldn't help but follow her gaze.
The old beggar accidentally burned his hand with wax. He hissed and saw the woman looking at him again. He was confused and asked, "Girl, what are you doing?"
In a Buddhist temple in the mountains, with the sound of rain at night, the old beggar suddenly met a young girl, which made him feel very surprised.
"When were you here? Did you meet a young man?"
Ni Su's shoes were soaked and the sound of her stepping on the water was loud.
"This is not a good place to stay. Apart from us grandpa and grandson, who else would come here where we can't even hide from the rain?" The little beggar spoke first.
This is indeed a place where you can't hide from the rain.
There are air leaks on all sides, and it is damp and waterlogged.
But Ni Su came here chasing that soul fire. If her brother Ni Qinglan was not here, why would the soul fire wander here?
There were flashes of lightning and roars of thunder, briefly illuminating the broken eaves. The cold light of the lightning collided with the warm light of the candle flame that the old beggar had carefully protected, and Ni Su saw the soul fire again.
She followed it with her eyes and walked quickly behind the clay statue of Buddha.
The soul fire disappeared.
The rain hit the broken tiles, dripping loudly.
Ni Su looked around hurriedly, but this Buddhist temple was so small, with only ruins and broken windows. A cold light fell obliquely on her face. Ni Su felt stiff all over and turned around suddenly.
The light and shadow cut like a knife across the Bodhisattva’s mottled painted shoulders and neck.
The color of the mud on its broad back is different from that of other places, like new mud that has not yet dried.
The beggar grandfather and his grandson looked at each other in confusion, when they saw the girl suddenly pick up the bricks on the ground and smash them hard on the back of the Bodhisattva.
"What are you doing? Don't be disrespectful to the Buddha!" The old beggar was so scared that he dropped the remaining wax.
Ni Su turned a deaf ear and just kept smashing as hard as he could.
The smoke and dust made her cough uncontrollably. The bricks and stones suddenly smashed the entire back of the Bodhisattva, and pieces of mud fell off. The old beggar suddenly lost his voice: "The inside of the Bodhisattva is actually empty..."
At this moment, something inside was wrapped tightly with black cloth and fell heavily to the ground, interrupting the second half of the old beggar's words.
The stench of decay became more pronounced in the damp rain.
Lightning flashed frequently. The little beggar looked carefully and saw a half-rotten hand exposed under the black cloth. He was so scared that his eyes widened and he screamed.
The old beggar quickly covered his grandson's eyes, and when he turned around, he saw the pale-faced girl actually took two steps forward, leaned over, and stretched out her hand.
Her hands couldn't stop shaking.
He paused in mid-air for a moment, then suddenly clenched his fingers and exerted force to completely lift up the black cloth.
Thunder rumbled and rain fell like a waterfall.
The old beggar turned around immediately after taking one look and almost vomited.
The corpse on the ground was unrecognizable, but Ni Su recognized the silver hairpin in his hair and the clothes he was wearing as being sewn by his mother before he left.
Her brain was buzzing, and Ni Su's lips were slightly open, trembling violently, unable to make any sound.
The beggar grandfather and grandson were so frightened that they didn't care whether it was raining or not. They ran out of the temple in a hurry, one in front of the other.
The night rain was heavy and pouring everywhere.
Ni Su's knees went weak and she fell to the ground.
“Brother…”
Tears fell like clusters, Ni Su supported herself in the mud with both hands, "Brother..."
Xu Hexue's figure was so faint as he held onto the door frame and slowly groped forward that the beggar grandfather and grandson who had just run past him didn't even notice his presence.
"Ni Su?"
He called softly.
There was still a candle burning in the temple, but the light did not belong to him. Everything was dark in front of his eyes. He could not hear Ni Su's response, but he could hear her sobbing heavily and calling the word "brother" vaguely.
The night rain interweaves her helpless cries,
Xu Hexue followed the sound and groped forward, moving little by little to her side.
He stretched out his hand tentatively, gradually moving it downwards, groping patiently until he touched her shoulders and back, his hands wet with raindrops.
She was soaked to the skin.
Xu Hexue touched the straps, took off his dark cloak, leaned over silently, and gently put it on her.
