CH 67

Ran Feize’s complexion changed. He quickly probed Su Xiaopei’s pulse and then rummaged in his bag to procure the antidote pills, crushed one and fed it to her along with water.

Ji Jiawen came over after scouting ahead a little to take a look. “It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. The resulting color looks frightening but the toxicity is not fatal.” 

He brought out the remnants of two broken arrows, “I retrieved them and took a look- it is a common type poison. It is dissimilar to the one Great Swordsman Fang suffered from as this one is only poisonous for a short period of time. Even while it is effective, it is not lethal so it will be fine.”

Ran Feize’s expression remained dark, “She is not learned in martial arts and lacks internal energy.”

That silenced Ji Jiawen. He immediately understood that while this poison was common and well-known to them, for someone like Su Xiaopei, it could prove fatal.

“Then, Big Brother has the antidote pills from our Xuanqing Sect in your bag.”

[TL/N: Not biological siblings, just denotes how they regard each other.]

“Brother Ji.”

“Senior can call me Eighteen.” As Ji Jiawen was ranked eighteenth in the Xuanqing Sect, his fellow sect brothers and those close to him have always called him Eighteen.

“I’d like to entrust something to you.” Ran Feize was solemn and serious, and Ji Jiawen returned it in kind, “Senior, please speak, I will do my utmost.”

“With Miss Su like this, I am not confident she won’t be further injured whilst scouting with you.”

Ji Jiawen nodded his understanding. The dangers of scouting were enormous.

“I ask that you scout ahead on your own to bring Xiao Qi’s group and medicine back. Under the current circumstance, it is more feasible for you to lead them here than for Miss Su and I to go to them. Only with the protection of a larger group can I safely take Miss Su out of here.”

Ji Jiawen gritted his teeth, looked at Su Xiaopei who was soon losing consciousness, and in knowing the great responsibility that was now placed on his shoulders, nodded his head with vigour. “I will definitely make haste.”

He glanced down at the weapon in his hand. “I will leave this sword to Senior.”

Ran Feize gave it a look and brushed a light touch to its handle before declining, “Forget it, take it with you. If she loses consciousness, I cannot carry her without risking her falling in the middle of a jump. I won’t have any hands to hold a sword when carrying her, so you can take it.” 

“Senior.”

“With a sharp weapon in hand, it’ll make scouting and breaking the barriers easier. Bring aide back.”

Ran Feize spoke without much emotion, yet Ji Jiawen felt as if with every word, the weight of a thousand gold sat heavily on his heart. He felt fevered, his blood pumping with fervour. For as long as he lived thus far, at his age, he had never been entrusted with so much. He didn’t know how to express his determination besides nodding his head.

“Go quickly.” Ran Feize didn’t concern himself with his mood and rushed him.

Ji Jiawen quickly removed the sword from its sheath and couldn’t help ask before leaving, “That’s right, Senior, what is the name of this sword?”

“Good Sword.”

It was fortunate Ji Jiawen managed to not fall off the tree. Good Sword, what kind of name is that? There was not a hint of prestige, connotative meaning, or elegance. 

“Are you not leaving?  If you don’t, return me the sword and I’ll cut you.”

Ji Jiawen hastily dashed off like a streak of vapour.

Su Xiaopei had lost all strength at this point and her body felt like it was on fire, but she still couldn’t help but smile.

“You were able to hear it? Still able to smile?” Ran Feize sat cross-legged and pulled her into his arms to encircle her. “Then you must remember to hold on a little longer and wait until they come to rescue.”

“If Warrior is impatient, then it’s better to personally go retrieve the reinforcement; that would’ve been a faster method than sending him.”

“I will not abandon you.”

“Did I not take medicine? Could it be that it’s fake?”

Ran Feize choked- this useless fellow would dare spite the medicine.

“Selling fake medicine is too immoral, Warrior should return and give them payback.”

“I made it myself.”

“Ah, then Warrior must keep in mind to cease making them; rather not mislead others or yourself.”

“Hm, you’re still quite alert and in good spirits.” Only her complexion looked ghastly, her voice too weak, and her body burned hot. It gnawed at his heart. “If you have this much energy, then sleep a little more. All will be well once you wake.”

“I’ve seen wuxia films where circulating internal energy forces out poison- give the center of the back a smack. Smoke will then emerge from the crown of their heads and the poison will be removed.”

“If I smacked the center of your back, you’ll be dead. It’d be better for you to sleep.”

“Don’t smack aiming to kill, just enough to drive the poison out.”

“There’s no such method, you’re speaking nonsense. Behave and sleep. This poison is nothing lethal, most people are able to survive it. How much weaker than this can you be?”

Is that so? Then why does he seem so nervous? Wait, is he mocking her for being weak? So inconsiderate, he really didn’t know how to comfort people.

“Warrior, I have something to tell you.”

“Say it after you wake.”

“In truth, I really am a demoness.”

“…….”

“So if I die, leave me here and return yourself. I’ll come to look for you later.”

“…….”

Su Xiaopei’s heart beat fiercely- why wasn’t he speaking? She really had no strength left, even her eyes refused to open, so she could only wait for his response. In the end, the wait was long before she heard him again, “Miss, it is broad daylight, and I do not fear spirits. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Not scared? She was though. She feared she would truly die here in front of him only to then disappear….. Wait, if she died of poison, would her body still be considered intact and when she comes back round, would she return to this very same time and place? Or would this shell of a body disappear and a new one be created? Who thought of this trashy setup? Was the program designer even reliable?

“Then if you’re not afraid, don’t abandon me. But I must say these unpleasant words beforehand. If you see something strange and bizarre occur, then you must mentally prepare yourself and not blame me. Do not fear me or become sad. You must not become sad, I don’t want you to be sad…..” She spoke and spoke, till she really couldn’t. Her head hurt something fierce and her whole body felt so terribly afflicted that she found it hard to breath. 

Warrior, if you brought medicine, why couldn’t you bring the good ones?

Su Xiaopei felt as if she fell asleep and dreamt many dreams that didn’t seem like dreams at the same time. 

All the same, she saw Cheng Jiangyi.

He just stood there, smiling as he looked at her. She was so furious that she rushed up to him and gave him a good shove. “Hey, just where did you go and hide?”

Chang Jiangyi had an inexplicable look on his face, “I never hid, I’m right here.”

“ ‘Here’ my ass, I can’t find you.”

He was flabbergasted. “Are your eyes malfunctioning? Are both your eyes and brain no good? Alas, don’t be like this next time.”

Su Xiaopei’s head throbbed terribly, enough to take away all her patience. Cheng Jiangyi’s face wavered before her eyes and seemingly transformed into Ran Feize which infuriated her even more. “Hmph, you better not imitate the way Warrior speaks or else I will not ‘play nice’ with you.”

“And how will you not ‘play nice’?” Cheng Jiangyi continued to laugh, but his face was becoming blurry, “Let’s see if you have the ability, ha ha.”

Ha ha? He still dared to laugh at her. Su Xiaopei stared down at him, stared at him with all her strength, and tried hard to get a good look at his face. But she could no longer see clearly and she became nervous. She reached out, wanting to grab him, but she grasped in vain.

“Miss, Miss.” Someone was calling her. It was Ran Feize’s voice from the sound of it.

“I just said not to imitate Ran Feize’s way of speech, or else I’ll pummel you, I definitely will.”

She really wanted to punch someone but her fist was lacking strength. She brandished it with added vigour, but it seemed as if someone held fast to it and she could no longer wave it about. 

She felt herself wandering around, felt as if she was laying in her bed, and then, felt as if she was in Ran Feize’s embrace atop the tree.

“Su Xiaopei, if you desire to return, then return. If not, then stay here. Having you floating about this way and that is putting our system under great strain.”

System, what system?

“Ah, right, the red string of fate system. Number 2238, do tell me, what kind of garbage system is this that it becomes so easily overwhelmed? Have the server changed and implement another then. Is the program even written reliably? Shall I introduce a good engineer to you? You’re all too unreliable and even your system is the same. I’m definitely going to file a complaint against you, definitely filing a complaint.”

“Are you going to return or not?” Number 2238 looked very innocent, yet the meaning behind his words were clearly ‘are you going to die or not’. Su Xiaopei was incensed.

“Then I will not die; I’m going to be far from dying. Go let that Cheng Jiangyi die, why isn’t he dead? Why aren’t you urging him to decide whether he wants to return or not? I’m surely the most innocent person here, okay?”

“Miss, Miss. Xiaopei, Xiaopei*.”

[TL/N: Quite funny how while Xiaopei is her actual name, under other circumstances, adding 小(xiao) in front of a person’s name is a term of endearment. kekeke]

Su Xiaopei opened her eyes to see Ran Feize’s face. “Warrior, did I not tell you, when I’m scolding someone, wait until I’m done before talking to me?”

“Is it unbearable?” His eyes clearly showed his heartache.

“Not unbearable. Very angry”, she said.

“Looks idiotic.”

Su Xiaopei tried to keep her eyes open with all her might but she truly couldn’t, so she closed them again. “I’m surely not idiotic, my grades were always good.”

She thought she had spoken but she hadn’t, in truth. She had only opened her eyes and closed them just as soon. She then felt someone caressing her face but she couldn’t tell where she was. Was she in her bed asleep or on a tree? She felt once more, someone holding a finger to her lips. Ah, right, she had bitten through her lip and it sting intensely. After a while, something softer than a finger pressed gently onto her lips, but she couldn’t be sure as she was pulled under into darkness.

Ran Feizi quietly and gently brushed his lips on her cheek. Her face was burning and it distressed him. Seeing the wound on her lips, he couldn’t help but bow his head and give her light peck. “Didn’t you say you are a demoness? Then quickly reveal that supernatural power, quickly jump up and tell me you are just trying to scare me, that you’re alright.”

Su Xiaopei didn’t respond and even her breathing became too shallow to be audible. That moment when she opened her eyes, it surely can’t be a momentary regaining of consciousness before death. 

[TL/N: 回光返照- ‘last brilliance of the setting sun’]

Ran Feize’s heart shattered with sorrow. The sky was already dark. Ji Jiawen had not returned much less brought back the others. Ran Feize thought to himself that he couldn’t delay any longer with Su Xiaopei this ill. She had still managed to mutter nonsense and wave a fist but now, she was laying too still, not moving even an inch. With her in this condition, he must forge his way out and bring her to safety. Unfortunately, night had arrived and there just had to be no moon in sight either. Ran Feize’s heart was akin to this dark night, as if a black hole had been carved into it, cold and desolate.

He looked around in no particular direction. Though he had familiarized himself with the surrounding terrain during the day, what was he to do beyond it? How was he to avoid triggering the hidden arrow traps?

Suddenly, he heard an erratic ringing coming in spurts; it was at times seemingly close and at others, far.

The Juiling Cleaver.

Ran Feize sat upright. If the Juiling Cleaver was here, then the Jiuling Taoist was also here. But how did he get through this Linglong* barrier?

[TL/N: 玲珑 means delicate/intricate and elegant. TLing this would be a bit long and this seems to be the barrier’s name, so I’m leaving it as is.]

A moment passed, then the ringing sounded again. Ran Feize let out a long whistle and the ringing became more rapid as if it was rushing over in his direction. At this time, Ran Feize heard Ji Jiawen shouting ‘Senior, Senior’. Ran Feizi used all his effort to whistle loudly once more, and then after a long while, he finally saw both the Jiuling Taoist and Ji Jiawen. He was able to see them because they had live torch. 

The two of them rushed over to Ran Feize’s side. The Jiuling Taoist had already heard about the situation from Ji Jiawen on their way over, and so without another word, he reached out to probe Su Xiaopei’s pulse. He then took out a bottle of medicine. Ran Feize quickly snatched the medicine from him and took a look, then proceeded to smell it. 

“They are Baicao pills”, explained the Jiuling Taoist.

Baicao pills were sage-level antidote medicine. Once Ran Feize knew that it was safe, he hurriedly fed it to Su Xiaopei. The moment she successfully swallowed the pill, everyone finally released a sigh of relief.

“Once day breaks, we must leave this matrix barrier swiftly. Even with the antidote, I’m afraid we will still need to fetch a physician to look at her.”

Ran Feize touched Su Xiaopei’s forehead and then probed her neck pulse- it seemed to be beating less erratically. So everyone proceeded to explain their side of the situation.

It turns out that despite Ji Jiawen being thorough with creating landmarks to lead the way, as he lacked experience, he became a little unsure as soon as the matrix formation shifted. In addition to that, the landmarks seemingly became increasingly disordered the further he ventured; they were nothing like how he remembered them. The farther he walked, the more lost he became until he eventually ended up deep within the opposite end and became trapped there. The Jiuling Taoist, on the other hand, had been divining with the eight trigrams daily, ever since his group had entered the matrix formation. He had been constantly troubled as two days ago, the divination revealed there was big trouble ahead. So the Jiuling Taoist went to find the head of the Xuanqing Sect, Jiang Weiying.

In this case, although the Jiuling Taoist’s identity was still a mystery, the accuracy of his divinations was known to all. Moreover, since those within this matrix barrier all came from different schools and sects, anyone would be concerned about the safety of their own people. And so, when Jiang Weiying quickly selected a group of people to enter the complex array to scout it, the Jiuling Taoist insisted on going along with them. Jiang Weiying allowed him, but in order to avoid any suspicions, no other members of the Shensuan Sect were allowed to participate.  

Upon entering the Linglong barrier, they were all greatly alarmed to see the chaos ensuing within and quickly went in search of Xuan Qi and Cao Hedong. Fortunately, once they were past the mist curtain behind the barrier, the two teams successfully merged after catching sight of Jiang Weiying’s smoke signal. Only they couldn’t find Ran Feize, Su Xiaopei, and Ji Jiawen. The Jiuling Taoist’s eight trigrams divined a terrible omen and had wanted to enter the misty area of the barrier to find the missing. Unfortunately, as night fell and it being a moonless night, everyone agreed that they should wait till daylight before moving, as the darkness was too dangerous. There were even some who questioned the motives of the Jiuling Taoist, hypothesizing whether he had planned to silence someone under the cover of the foggy barrier and then engineer an incident to escape blame.

The Jiuling Taoist was, of course, indignant. He lit a torch and entered on his own to conduct the search. After looking around for a long time, he found the trapped Ji Jiawen who had been up to his ears in agitation. After hearing of Ran Feize and Su Xiaopei’s situation, the two then hurried over. 

After Ran Feize finished listening to their explanation, he too, revealed to the Jiuling Taoist the clues to his case. “Miss Su was able to find out that at the time of the crime, Fang Ping had not heard any sound.”

The Jiuling Taoist was shaken. “Is this true? How did she make this discovery?”

“She naturally has her own methods. We usually investigate such matters after all, and she is adept in discerning people.”

“Can she prove this? Prove that Fang Ping indeed did not hear nor see anything and prove my innocence.”

Ran Feize shifted Su Xiaopei slightly to allow her to nestle more comfortably. He felt her neck once again to find further improvement. Only then did he reply, “Should Sir Taoist be truly innocent, then there will naturally be a means to prove it.”

The Jiuling Taoist looked at Ran Feizi and then laughed loudly, “So it is, so it is. It is no wonder the divination emphasized the necessity of your presence, so it is for this reason.

Ran Feize waited until he finished laughing before he spoke again. “Having me is useless, only Miss Su can solve Sir Taoist’s unjust treatment.”

The Jiuling Taoist gave him a look, “Young man, since this old one ventured out here to rescue you all, then I will naturally do my utmost. You need not worry that I might find it troublesome to try and take this young lady out of the barrier and thus not help her.” 

He then muttered to himself, “Fang Ping, oh Fang Ping, you and I have no grievances between us. Why are you doing this?