Chapter 107 Heartbea

t

Snowfall on Mount Mei was slightly stronger than that in Luoyang, and a chilly wind was blowing. It howled across the mountain, and the secluded valley, with its shriveled grass and single flickering flame looked far from civilisation and pitiful.

There was a small pile of firewood in the cave now, and a fire was burning beside it. Not far away from it lay the still unconscious Red Bean. Her soaked long robes had already been dried by the fire, but it was obvious that the temperature in the cave was still a little cold for her.

Her eyes were shut, and she kept shivering. At the same time, her brows were tightly furrowed, and it was evident that she was suffering.

Ye Que stood serenely beside the fire. He was holding onto a wooden stick, and a snowcock was pierced through by it.

The feathers of the chicken had been plucked cleanly off, and its innards had already been dug out, leaving only the tender flesh of the bird on the stick. Ye Que cast a glance at Red Bean and made the fire burn even stronger. As it crackled and rose a few more inches high, the warmth in the cave increased slightly.

The white snowcock was swiveling on the fire, and its skin was the first part to change color. It turned from snow white to a pale yellow, then to golden yellow before it began to char slightly. The epidermal layer began to curl and even looked as though it had turned crispy.

A drop of golden yellow fat dripped from the flesh of the bird as it slowly swiveled in the flame, before trickling along its skin and falling into the fire. The flames instantly soared before dying down again, and the sweet scent of meat pervaded the cave.

Ye Que brought the stick right in front of him and used his finger to poke the outer skin of the snowcock. After feeling that it was just right, he tore off the tenderest part of the bird at the center of its wings and scooped up a small pile of snow outside the cave before using his Spiritual Force to melt it. He then slowly fed Red Bean with the water and meat.

Snowcocks were highly resistant to cold and their meat contained many calories. It was perfectly suitable for Red Bean in her current condition.

Ye Que used his Spiritual Force to slice the snowcock meat and let it follow the flow of melted snow water into Red Bean's stomach. Eventually, she stopped shivering and there was a reddish glow on her face.

Ye Que finished the rest of the snowcock and fed Red Bean another three times.

As the night grew darker.

The snow grew heavier.

The howl of the cold wind grew more intense.

The temperature in the cave dropped, and it became pointless even to sit right beside the fire. Of course, it was not a problem for Ye Que as he had his Divine Energy for protection. This level of coldness was not a concern for him.

However, Red Bean was still unconscious, and even though she had a high level of cultivation, she had not channeled her True Energy; in fact, it was continuously seeping away, and her Spiritual Sea still seemed as though she was in battle. "Could it be that she still hasn't managed to subdue the Undying Dragon Bones?"

As a practitioner, she should not be feeling so cold, even without Spiritual Force to protect her!

Ye Que shook his head; he was feeling a little frustrated.

After a while.

A soft grunt came from Red Bean, who was lying down beside him. It sounded as though she was in great pain.

"Sigh."

Ye Que turned and sighed. He lifted his head to look at the immense amount of snow falling from the skies before turning his attention to the fire beside his hand, and finally to Red Bean who was lying on the floor.

"What should I do?"

"Let her fight this on her own? Based on her level of cultivation, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Even if I wanted to help her, how should I go about doing that? There's already a fire burning, and I've given her water and calories. What can I do?"

"Do I have to hug her to keep her warm then?"

Ye Que did harbor some dirty thoughts. Even though he was a practitioner, he was not purely a "Taoist" or "Buddhist". In his previous life, he trained in swordsmanship, and after reverting back to his youth, he went with whatever he felt like doing. Naturally, this meant that he did not have any strict rules to follow, nor did he have to, as he never joined any sect. Strictly speaking, the only sect he joined was the Divine Sect, of which he was its leader. He wrote the rules of the sect.

However, he immediately smashed the thought into pieces when it began to take root.

It was true that he liked Red Bean, but he was no ruffian. The young lady was unconscious now, and wouldn't it be taking advantage of her if he hugged her without her consent?

Furthermore, if she got to know about such a thing, it was hard to say what she would do, what with her volatile temper. If things went wrong, she could very possibly dice him into pieces. Even if his head was left intact, it was hard to say if she would not slice his private parts away.

"Sigh."

Ye Que sighed again before looking reluctantly at his own body. He then took off his overcoat and covered Red Bean with it.

"I'm done all I can as a loyal friend!"

"Look, I've even given you my overcoat. If you still continue to feel cold, there's not much I can do for you anymore. At most, I'll make the fire burn stronger."

He added all of the firewood beside him into the fire, and the flames did really burn more intensely, but it did not help much. It was still as cold as it should feel in such weather.

What good could this small flame do in never ending snow and howling, chilly wind?

Ye Que covered Red Bean's entire body with his overcoat and wrapped it tightly around her, only leaving her small face exposed. Luckily, men's clothes were larger in nature and Ye Que himself was tall and big enough for his coat to cover the entire body of Red Bean.

At first, it worked. After a while, Red Bean could be heard grunting intermittently, and ever her teeth had begun to chatter.

He placed his fingers lightly on Red Bean's forehead.

It was boiling hot!

Red Bean was having the chills!

It was unexpected that a practitioner of her level would get the chills, and for her body temperature to soar to such levels.

It seemed like the act of absorbing the Undying Dragon Bones was far too tough for Red Bean to handle. It had even shattered all of her defense mechanisms and temporarily transformed her into an ordinary person.

Red Bean's body temperature was getting increasingly high, and her cheeks were burning bright red by now. Yet, there was not a single drop of sweat on her forehead.

It was indeed rather impossible to sweat in such cold conditions.

Ye Que stared blankly at Red Bean and he struggled to decide what to do next.

"Should I hug her or not? Should I? She should be able to understand if I hug her under such conditions, right? Yeah, she most definitely will."

Ye Que gritted his teeth and scooped Red Bean up lightly from the floor and hugged her in his chest when he heard her moan in pain again. At first, he only touched her body slightly, but without waiting for him to adjust his position, the young lady in his chest instinctively squirmed and wormed her way deeper into his chest, and rubbed her head against it.

She was totally behaving like a hurt kitten.

Ye Que slowly channeled his Divine Energy and increased his own body temperature slightly. He raised his arm but did not know where to place it.

After circling around her body for a long while, he placed his left hand on Red Bean's back and used his right arm to cradle her head.

Both of them were sitting in the cave beside a flickering flame, while snow was falling from the skies. It was entirely white outside, and the land was completely silent. Ye Que could only hear both of their hearts beating, as well as Red Bean's soft breathing.

At first, their hearts beat at different rhythms, but gradually, they fell into the same cadence.

Ye Que did not lower his head to look at Red Bean, who had nestled into his chest. He used to be a Demon-slaying Asura, but he dared not look at her, as if she was a fearsome beast. Vaguely, a layer of scales appeared on one side of Red Bean's face. It looked like fish scales, but it was more fearsome than that. It looked very faint.

Naturally, Ye Que did not see it, as he had lifted his head to face the roof of the cave. His mind was blank right now.

Tonight, Ye Que did not train; it was a marvel. He merely stared at the cave and spent the entire night listening to the falling snow and heartbeats.

He even managed to remember how many times his heart had beaten—a grand total of 52,821 times.