Help, I’m Being Forced to Marry a Frail and Sickly Immortal Doctor! 40

Chapter 40: Short Are These Bitter Days

She was worth it for her to do so.

Ning Ruoque waited for a little while, awkwardly manipulating her spiritual energy to spread Yin Buran’s cloak on the table, and then carried Yin Buran onto it as well.

Chu Xuan then covered her with another fur blanket, tucking her in tightly so that not a single wisp of wind could get in, before she was satisfied.

The two of them tiptoed out of the house and spoke with the door ajar.

Chu Xuan gritted her teeth. “With that attitude of yours just now, do you owe Yin Buran a million?”

Ning Ruoque answered in a second, “How did you know?”

Chu Xuan: “…”

How did she know? She had only ever seen Ning Ruoque holding a sword, and it was rare to see her holding a person. That movement was so cautious, as if she were holding a fragile piece of porcelain.

However, a certain sword cultivator didn’t dare to hold her tightly, only daring to loosely wrap her arms around her back, which looked a little comical.

Chu Xuan glanced at the warm room. Yin Buran was sleeping soundly.

Because of the exceptionally vigorous fire, there was a faint blush on her face, and she finally didn’t look so pale.

Chu Xuan sighed. “Yin Buran is afraid of the cold. This time, she rushed to the north, mainly for you, right?”

One had to know that she had been startled by Ning Ruoque’s communication at first, and after hearing Yin Buran’s voice, she was stunned for a long while.

It was just when her subordinates came to report that Azurefall Creek was searching everywhere for clues about the secret letter that she had hurriedly contacted Qin Jiangli.

Chu Xuan stroked her chin, racking her brains but still unable to figure out how things had turned out this way.

“Could it be that you two really got together behind my back back then? How come I have no impression of it at all?”

One had to know that she was just too lazy to care about some trivial details, not that she was really stupid.

Chu Xuan poked Ning Ruoque with her elbow. “You too. Didn’t you feel that something was not right?”

Ning Ruoque answered with incomparable certainty, “No.”

If she had really lost her memory, there should be a large blank space in her memory. But her memory was very normal, with clear details and logical consistency, and it didn’t match what Yin Buran had said at all.

So Ning Ruoque had always firmly believed that Yin Buran was lying to her.

However, ever since she learned the secret of the art of life and death, she had been a little shaken. What if it was the irreversible Heavenly Dao that had caused her to lose her memory?

But the Heavenly Dao was ruthless. Unless there were special circumstances, it would not interfere with cause and effect.

If this was the price for Yin Buran to resurrect her, it would be too strange.

If it were to set things right, the Heavenly Dao could have just taken back her life. To just erase her memories related to Yin Buran, what was that?

Ning Ruoque’s brows furrowed into a deep “川” character. She just felt that these mysteries were as messy as a ball of yarn, a jumbled mess that couldn’t be sorted out.

Chu Xuan also knitted her brows, frantically pulling at her curly hair.

“I also don’t remember why the Xuan Yao Grand Formation was called that name. If Yin Buran hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed anything was wrong.”

She had only recently figured it out.

That was her proudest work. Even if she was usually uninhibited, it was impossible for her to be so casual about such a thing.

However, such an abnormal behavior was so easily overlooked by her. Chu Xuan suddenly felt a wave of fear.

She slapped her head. “How about this, I’ll contact the fortune-teller after I get back.”

Ning Ruoque nodded. She needed more people and things to follow the clues and reach the truth.

Then, she would do what needed to be done.

The topic returned to the right track. Chu Xuan took out a notebook and handed it to Ning Ruoque. “I’ve searched almost every house.”

She had even deliberately melted the snow to see if there was anything buried under the flagstone path.

“No people, no demons. The tables are all covered in dust. Only a few rooms have a lot of medicinal herbs and medical books.”

“By the way, I also found a secret door. I didn’t go in because I was afraid of a trap.”

After all, the medical books and notes were all neatly arranged and placed in a conspicuous place. This was more like it was done on purpose, which aroused Chu Xuan’s vigilance.

Ning Ruoque casually flipped through a few pages.

The handwriting on the pages was elegant, but the person who wrote it seemed to have no strength, and the writing was crooked.

The content was also very obscure, with many words she had never seen before.

She could only understand the general idea. This was a notebook about how to nourish remnant souls.

In order to find the best way to nourish them, the owner of the notebook had found many remnant souls to experiment on.

As for where the souls came from…

Only those who had been dead for a long time and those who had suffered great pain before death would have fragmented souls.

Ning Ruoque and Chu Xuan looked at each other and tacitly understood each other’s thoughts.

Chu Xuan sneered, “Are you not going to hide it anymore?”

“I wasn’t bluffing before. There really is only a person named He Pengpeng in the village. By the way, she also has an older sister.” She spoke with great enthusiasm and recounted the demonic calamity in detail.

A three-tailed zhanji had attacked the village and killed many people.

The current emperor was mediocre, and demonic calamities had been frequent in recent years. The court could not handle this matter, so Xiaochi Village, along with Yunling Town, was abandoned.

Ning Ruoque frowned as she listened. Logically speaking, the demon race should have been greatly weakened after losing a demon god. How could they still be so active?

Chu Xuan rambled on for a long time. When she got excited, she wanted to pull Ning Ruoque to the secret room.

But the person before her suddenly pushed her away and walked into the house.

Yin Buran was awake.

Still sleepy-eyed and dazed, she was already looking around, searching for Ning Ruoque’s figure.

She wanted to get down, but before her feet could touch the chair, Ning Ruoque had already stepped forward and carried her down.

The just-woken Yin Buran had a dazed expression, as obedient as a porcelain doll.

Ning Ruoque unconsciously softened her voice. “Do you want to rest a little longer?”

Yin Buran shook her head, her eyes as clear as autumn water.

She directly reached out to Ning Ruoque. “What did you find?”

It seemed that she hadn’t slept peacefully and had even spared a part of her energy to listen to the movements.

Ning Ruoque handed her the notebook and couldn’t help but add, “With me guarding you, you don’t have to be so vigilant.”

Yin Buran was nestled in a chair, casually flipping through the notebook, and answered casually.

“I’m afraid that as soon as I open my eyes, you two will have drilled into a secret room, a trap, and a monster’s lair.”

This kind of thing used to happen often.

In the first few days of arriving at the ancient battlefield, every time Yin Buran woke up from her sleep, what greeted her were her “good teammates” who were covered in blood and still foolishly brewing tea and roasting meat for her.

Unable to refute, Ning Ruoque hugged her sword and sulked to the side.

Chu Xuan, on the other hand, scratched her head in embarrassment. “Haha, you’re making me feel embarrassed.”

After a moment of silence, Yin Buran had roughly finished flipping through the notebook.

She circulated her qi to regulate her breathing, managed to pull herself together, and planned to take Pengpeng’s pulse.

Ning Ruoque turned her head to observe and found that her expression was as usual, and she did not comment on the actions of the owner of the notebook.

The inner room was even quieter. The kang was heated warmly, and the air was filled with a faint, clear fragrance.

Qingtong was dozing off, her head nodding, and she was about to hit the table, while Qieyu was meditating and cultivating.

Chu Xuan tiptoed closer to Qingtong and slammed the table.

The latter jumped, and as she woke up from her sleep, she met Chu Xuan’s teasing smile.

She was so frightened that she lost her balance and fell to the ground with a thud, grimacing in pain.

“You, you, you—”

Qingtong was both ashamed and angry, wishing she could punch Chu Xuan.

But Yin Buran walked past her and dropped a light sentence, “Quiet.”

Qingtong pouted and did not dare to speak.

On the earthen kang to the side, Pengpeng was curled up in a quilt, sleeping soundly.

Yin Buran lowered her eyes and gently placed her fingers on her pulse. The child shrank her shoulders, and her delicate brows furrowed.

After a long while, Yin Buran withdrew her hand, her expression still indifferent, without joy or sorrow.

Ning Ruoque asked softly, “Is Pengpeng also a demon’s body with a human’s soul?”

“Mm.” Almost without hesitation, Yin Buran gave her answer.

Everyone present had already expected this result, but to have it truly confirmed was another matter.

After all, Pengpeng was so lively, she could cry and laugh, and she could even gently coax people, no different from an ordinary child.

Qieyu couldn’t bear to listen anymore and quietly turned her head, her eyes red.

Chu Xuan found the research notes and placed them by the bed. Qingtong took them and flipped through them to distract herself.

Yin Buran’s fingertips tapped the tabletop. “This person’s method of nourishing remnant souls is quite exquisite.”

Qingtong asked curiously, “How exquisite?”

Yin Buran: “Equivalent to a hundred of you.”

“…”

There’s no need to be so direct.

“Unfortunately, even so…”

Yin Buran stood up and explained slowly, “The soul and the body are not compatible, so her mind has degenerated from an adult to a child. If she doesn’t find a better body soon, she won’t last long.”

Seeing that Yin Buran knew so clearly, Ning Ruoque became even more certain that her rebirth must be related to Yin Buran.

But with it came a deep anxiety.

How should she repay the other’s life-saving grace? If she and Yin Buran had no marriage contract, would she regret it after she came to her senses?

She thought she had hidden this anxiety well, but she didn’t realize that Yin Buran’s peripheral vision had swept over, and she had pressed her lips together.

The group had been busy for half the night, and it was almost dawn.

Chu Xuan paced back and forth in the room, bored, but she suddenly paused and looked at the door.

The old wooden door creaked open, and a little cold wind mixed with snowflakes drifted into the house, gradually melting in the warm air.

Then a white-robed figure appeared gracefully, shook off the remaining snow on her clothes, and then unhurriedly lifted her veiled hat, revealing a pair of gentle eyes.

Her figure was thin and slender. She clearly had a young and beautiful face, but her hair was full of gray, and her complexion was as white as a piece of paper.

Her exposed wrists and neck were all wrapped in bandages.

As if she had been bedridden for a long time, her whole body was filled with an undeniable sickliness.

She smiled weakly at the group. “This is truly a rare occasion. For the Divine Pivot Lord and Sect Master Chu to grace this place with their presence, it really makes this small village shine.”

“My name is He Zhen. I am Pengpeng’s older sister.”

Ning Ruoque quickly reacted. This was actually a medical cultivator.

No wonder Pengpeng had mistaken Yin Buran for her sister. This sickly appearance, from a distance, really looked exactly like Yin Buran.

It was even more serious than Yin Buran’s, and even her breathing was intermittent.

Ning Ruoque looked at her, then at Yin Buran, and the worry in her eyes almost materialized. She was afraid that Yin Buran would also become like this.

If she had ears and a tail, they would probably be drooping in dejection right now.

One step further, and she would be curled up in a corner, facing the wall in self-reproach.

Yin Buran frowned.

So annoying. If she had known, she wouldn’t have mentioned this to Ning Ruoque.

How could she make the stupid sword cultivator understand that she was completely worth it for her to do so?