darknovel Chapter 237 Don't force yourself, give me your hand!
Chapter 237 Don't force yourself, give me your hand!
The night flowed down through the gaps in the layers of the tree canopy.
Mo Chengyue squatted on the open ground in the center of the camp and casually picked three rough stones to build a simple stove.
He took out two pieces of withered boxwood branches, each about the thickness of a fingertip, from his storage bag and placed them between the stones.
He flicked his right index finger, and a wisp of fire talisman spiritual power, deliberately suppressed in temperature, silently landed on it.
The layer of grease on the surface of the withered branch was slightly swirled by the spiritual fire, and immediately a cluster of orange-yellow flames less than half a foot high shot up.
The fire remained still in the woods at night, producing no extra smoke or sound.
"When you're out and about, you have to be careful even when you light a fire. You're living a life worse than that rat that's sitting in the library."
Mo Chengyue rubbed his hands together and walked around the fire.
After confirming that the faint smoke emitted had been completely swallowed up by the outer array, he sat down cross-legged.
He casually placed the Rain Flower Sword across his knees.
The three women, each with their own agenda, had now dispersed and occupied three different locations within the camp.
Yu Jianhuan leaned lazily against a piece of dead wood covered in moss.
Jin Qiaoqiao leaned against the innermost sheltered bluestone and closed her eyes to regulate her breathing.
Holding the gleaming Azure Spirit Sword, Su Qingying stood alone at the spot closest to the gap in the array on the southeast side.
The faint glow of the campfire illuminated Mo Chengyue's profile, making it half bright and half dark.
A rustling sound of a skirt rubbing against each other came from his left rear.
"After nightfall, the chill in this shabby forest really knows how to find a place to creep in; it's so cold that your bones feel like they're fighting each other."
Yu Jianhuan tightened the collar of her rose-purple dress and moved to the man's side with small, delicate steps.
She casually bent down to sit, the soft edge of her right shoulder, tightly wrapped in fabric, brushing against the outside of the man's arm.
"Junior brother, feel your senior sister's hand. It's as cold as ice. Shouldn't you show some brotherly affection and make the fire burn brighter?"
As she spoke, she held up the back of her fair hand and waved it in front of Mo Chengyue.
The ten nails, painted with bright nail polish, were strikingly red in the dim firelight.
Mo Chengyue picked up a piece of dry grass and threw it directly into the middle of the fire.
The hay ignited into a ball of orange-red light the moment it touched a spark.
He didn't even spare a glance for the person next to him; he was already mentally ranting and raving.
A dignified Core Formation stage cultivator, what are you pretending to be, this delicate little white flower?
But he knew very well that it would be a bad idea to expose a woman's vanity in front of her at a time like this.
The resulting carnage would be far more troublesome than being surrounded and attacked by a hundred monsters.
He subtly shifted his weight slightly to the right.
There was just enough space between his knees and Yu Jianhuan's to fit a book.
The beauty mark at the corner of Yu Jianhuan's eye twitched twice in the firelight.
She noticed the deliberately created distance, and the smile on her lips deepened.
"Junior brother, who are you guarding against? There are no outsiders in this desolate wilderness. Who would gossip about us here?"
A muffled groan, extremely suppressed, suddenly came from the darkness opposite.
Jin Qiaoqiao was struggling to untangle the blood-stained bandages wrapped around her left arm with one hand.
She gritted her teeth, grabbed the end of the cloth strip, and pulled it outward with all her might.
As the last piece of cloth, soaked in dark red medicine, was peeled away, the massive laceration stretching from the shoulder to the elbow was fully exposed to the air.
The skin and flesh on both sides of the wound were twisted outwards in a grotesque manner.
The newly grown tender flesh was covered with a layer of dark bruises, and in the deepest part of the wound, turbid yellow pus was even oozing out.
Jin Qiaoqiao took out a white porcelain medicine bottle from her storage bag.
She laboriously pried open the bottle cap with two fingers of her right hand, preparing to pour the powder onto the horrific wound.
"Tsk."
Mo Chengyue originally planned to feign deafness and muteness to deal with Yu Jianhuan's various tests.
When he caught a glimpse of the worsening wound out of the corner of his eye, his brows instantly furrowed into a tight knot.
He stood up abruptly and rummaged through the deepest part of his storage bag at his waist, finding a small black medicine bottle and a neatly folded, clean piece of cotton cloth.
He took three steps in two and squatted down in front of Jin Qiaoqiao.
Jin Qiaoqiao didn't even have time to react.
Her right hand, which was about to pour out the medicine powder, was firmly pressed down in mid-air by a warm and large palm.
All the muscles in her body tensed up instantly at that moment.
A strong sense of defensiveness flashed in her bewitching golden phoenix eyes.
The demon princess's deep-seated arrogance made her extremely averse to this uninvited physical contact.
She tried to pull her arm back forcefully.
"Take your hand away. It's none of your business to interfere with my injuries."
Mo Chengyue's fingers were gripping her wrist.
He didn't even lift his eyelids; all his attention was focused on the wound that was constantly oozing pus.
"Take a close look at the area of suppuration yourself."
He freed his left hand and gently used the edge of a clean cotton cloth to remove the blackened scabs next to the wound.
His tone was devoid of any tenderness or pity; it was entirely the tone of a doctor issuing an ultimatum to a disobedient patient.
"The infected area is a whole size larger than when we first set up camp, and the demonic energy under the wound has already started flowing back through the meridians."
"That broken medicine in your hand can't even suppress the surface infection, let alone clean up the rotten flesh underneath that's completely dead."
"If you keep stubbornly holding on for three more days, this arm can be sawed off and used to make soup."
"When the time comes, are you planning to pay someone to carry you away, or are you prepared to dance around the ruins on one hand and one foot? You choose."
Jin Qiaoqiao opened her mouth.
The defiant words that were already on the tip of his tongue were abruptly cut off by these words that combined deflection and attack.
She looked down at her blackened arm again, a flicker of panic in her eyes.
There was no exaggeration in what he said.
She is currently in a stage of serious injury and has not yet recovered. The young master of the Great Roc's claw not only tore her flesh, but also damaged the very foundation of her demonic power.
The backflow of demonic energy means that her body is suffering the backlash of its own power.
She clenched her back teeth, her chest heaving with each breath.
"Then I'll have to trouble you to be merciful."
Mo Chengyue completely ignored her sarcastic remarks and continued his smooth movements.
He used one hand to pry open the stopper of the black medicine bottle and poured out a small amount of silver-gray powder onto the clean cotton cloth.
He held the edge of the cotton cloth and spread the medicine powder over the area where the suppuration was most severe.
The moment the powder came into contact with the necrotic skin, Jin Qiaoqiao's shoulders immediately shrugged upwards.
With her other hand, she gripped the edge of the bluestone beneath her with all her might.
"If you feel pain, shout it out loud. Holding it in can cause your blood and qi to flow backward."
"If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute."
Jin Qiaoqiao turned her face to the darkness on the other side.
She stared at the roots of the withered tree next to her, her eyes reddening, but she didn't make a sound.
Mo Chengyue used a cotton cloth to wipe away the oozing pus and blood bit by bit.
He changed to a new cotton cloth, soaked it in the medicinal powder, and applied it again.
His fingers moved with such practiced skill that it was heartbreaking.
Jin Qiaoqiao watched his smooth and effortless actions, and a sense of doubt arose in her heart.
How many injuries must this guy have suffered to be so skilled at bandaging?
This is definitely not the kind of mental fortitude and practical experience that an ordinary outer disciple should possess.
"Alright, don't get it wet tonight. A new scab should form by tomorrow morning."
Mo Chengyue threw the remaining half bottle of medicine into Jin Qiaoqiao's arms, stood up, and walked back to the campfire.