Help, I’m Being Forced to Marry a Frail and Sickly Immortal Doctor! 4

Chapter 4: A Sword’s Startling Appearance

“Are you looking at the mole on my collarbone?”

Ning Ruoque took a deep, silent breath, thinking she couldn’t possibly hurt the woman for real.

Yin Buran wasn’t so annoying as to be unbearable.

Just as she was pondering, Yin Buran, right in front of her, calmly placed her fingertips on Ning Ruoque’s pulse.

Ning Ruoque reacted instantly, pinning that overly familiar wrist to the pillow.

It was cool to the touch, and the pulse, just like Yin Buran herself, was faint and weak.

So slender, she could hold down two of them with one hand.

And yet, even when restrained like this, Yin Buran didn’t resist, merely staring at her lazily.

Because the leaning posture had brought them closer, Ning Ruoque inadvertently glanced over and caught sight of a small, dark mole on the other’s right collarbone.

Yin Buran suddenly spoke, “Are you looking at the mole on my collarbone?”

Ning Ruoque froze, then snatched her hand back as if she had been burned.

Caught peeking, even if it wasn’t intentional, she still whispered a quiet “sorry.”

She shifted her gaze to the tassels on the bed curtains and stiffly changed the subject. “Were you taking my pulse just now?”

“Mm, I have to find the reason for your memory loss.”

Her pulse-taking interrupted, Yin Buran slowly drew her hand back into her cloak, seemingly with no intention of continuing.

Ning Ruoque watched her lower her eyes without a word, feeling that she hadn’t given up, but had already found the answer she was looking for.

Ning Ruoque said, “I thought you’d be more interested in my rebirth.”

After all, such a thing was too bizarre. No one would believe it even if she told them.

Even she herself hadn’t figured it out.

“I am quite interested, but it doesn’t matter,” Yin Buran said, turning the jade bracelet on her wrist. “There will be plenty of time in the future.”

She added naturally, “After you and I are married—”

“What are you talking about? I never agreed to anything like that!”

Ning Ruoque interrupted in a fluster, her mind racing through her previous actions, afraid she had said something wrong to give Yin Buran the wrong idea.

“I have no improper thoughts about you,” Ning Ruoque stressed righteously. “Even if there is a misunderstanding, we should investigate it clearly before discussing anything further.”

She felt she had made herself clear enough.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished her declaration, a mist began to gather in Yin Buran’s eyes. Then, she covered her lips and began to cough softly.

The intermittent coughing caused her to bend over slightly, like a butterfly being pulled and shaken by the wind.

Ning Ruoque sucked in a sharp breath.

“…That’s not it.”

Ning Ruoque was used to fighting and killing. The beings she usually faced were either violent demonic beasts or fellow Daoists who, like her, walked the path of the sword.

The former felt no pain, and the latter wouldn’t even blink an eye even if their bones were broken and they were on the verge of death.

Therefore, she had absolutely no experience comforting people.

Was Yin Buran always like this in the past? Like a handful of snow, melting with the slightest pressure.

She awkwardly tucked the cloak tighter around the woman. Then she picked up the teapot from the table, warmed the water with her spiritual energy, and brought the cup to Yin Buran.

“Drink some hot water.” Even her tone was cautious.

After waiting for Yin Buran to finally calm down, the woman looked at her listlessly. “I have no strength.”

Ning Ruoque frowned. “No strength to hold a cup?”

Yin Buran’s eyelashes fluttered, which Ning Ruoque took as a silent admission.

In Ning Ruoque’s eyes, it meant she was extremely weak but was too proud to admit it.

That made sense, given what a proud person she was. Ning Ruoque had no choice but to place the cup on a small table nearby.

The moment the porcelain cup touched the tabletop, Ning Ruoque felt a chill down her back. Something was wrong.

She turned around. Yin Buran was staring at her with a blank expression.

As if she had committed some heinous crime.

Ning Ruoque could even hear Yin Buran’s soft breathing and the occasional suppressed cough.

She felt a little restless, even her ears started to itch, and she had no idea what else to talk about.

She could only go and close the window, to put some distance between herself and Yin Buran and to hide her own discomfort.

Just as she approached the window, the sword cultivator in black froze.

A few crisp sounds of tiles clashing came from the roof, as if some living creature was moving.

Within a few breaths, the rustling sound had moved to the eaves.

Climbing walls in the middle of the night—that didn’t sound like a good thing.

Ning Ruoque scanned the room and finally fixed her gaze on the small knife lying forlornly on the floor. At the moment, it was the only thing that could be used as a weapon.

She picked up the knife and called out to Yin Buran, “Borrowing this for a moment.”

A faint “mm” came from behind her. Ning Ruoque vaulted out of the window, her black robes melting into the night.

She quieted her breathing, pressing herself against the wall, waiting for the thing on the roof to come down so she could get a clear look at whether it was human or ghost.

Crack. A broken tile fell. The courtyard lamp flickered. She looked up, but the roof was empty.

The intruder’s movement technique was not bad, their cultivation level likely above the Spirit Induction realm.

Ning Ruoque tightened her grip on the knife, listening carefully to every sound in the courtyard.

Until a small stone rolled half a circle.

She suddenly swung the knife. The wind from the blade was sharp and fierce, sweeping across more than half of the small courtyard, breaking all the grass and trees in its path.

Before the other party could react, Ning Ruoque had already flown over. The wind from her blade forced her opponent out of the shadows and into the lamplight.

It was a man with a ferocious and distorted face.

They were less than ten steps from Yan Lingge’s room. Ning Ruoque immediately understood that the other party was most likely after Yan Lingge.

Seeing that he had been exposed, the man clearly didn’t want to waste words and struck out with his palm towards Ning Ruoque’s heart.

She dodged to the side and, as she raised her hand to counterattack, caught a glimpse of sharp, strangely black nails.

With a crisp clang, the blade struck the man’s arm, cutting a long, narrow wound. Yet, as the flesh tore, not a single drop of blood was shed.

Ning Ruoque frowned, her doubts growing.

No breath, black nails, emitting an aura of death—this was clearly a living corpse!

But whether it was its strength, movement technique, or the toughness of its skin, it was not on the same level as the one Ning Ruoque had encountered before.

She fought with the living corpse for a few rounds, then retreated several meters away with the agility of a rabbit and hawk, flexing her wrist.

Yin Buran’s knife was only three inches long, shaped like a willow leaf, and incredibly light. But by the same token, its blade was too thin and narrow, and easily damaged.

After several swings and cuts, a notch had already appeared on the blade.

Ning Ruoque let out a soft hiss. This little knife must be very expensive. What was she going to use to compensate Yin Buran!

The sound of the fight between the person and the monster was not quiet, enough to attract the attention of others. Ning Ruoque was not injured, but the fight was a bit strenuous.

Her intuition told her that she couldn’t delay any longer.

For a monster to be able to sneak into an immortal sect three or four times, it was hard not to suspect Brightlight Pavilion’s strength, or—

Their stance.

Thinking of this, Ning Ruoque no longer hesitated and charged forward again. Her attacks were fiercer and more ruthless, each move aimed at the living corpse’s vital points.

Fortunately, although Yin Buran’s knife was fragile, it was sharp enough. Every swing could leave a wound and tear through flesh.

As the blade clashed with the claws, the latter clearly showed signs of retreating.

It wanted to escape, but Ning Ruoque would not allow it. A cold wind suddenly rose in the winter night, and her blade’s momentum was like a blizzard sweeping across the barren plains, determined to destroy all obstacles.

Perhaps knowing that its end was near, the living corpse also became desperate, fiercely swiping its claws at Ning Ruoque’s unguarded eyes.

Ning Ruoque had experienced such battles thousands of times, and her sword had always been held steady.

But this time, her heart skipped a beat for no reason, and the tip of her knife deviated by a few millimeters.

“Senior, be careful!”

Ning Ruoque heard Yan Lingge’s panicked shout.

She subconsciously wanted to correct her move, but her body felt incredibly stiff, and it was difficult to even move a finger.

Looking down again, Ning Ruoque saw herself confronting the living corpse.

Her soul had actually left her body!

Before she could be astonished, the cold winter wind rushed towards her, carrying a few faint wisps of plum blossom fragrance. When she came to her senses again, the ferocious living corpse was still in front of her.

In an instant, Ning Ruoque adjusted her posture and met the attack head-on, neither dodging nor evading.

The living corpse’s neck was like window paper. With a soft hiss, it was pierced through.

The living corpse’s sharp nails stopped just an inch from Ning Ruoque’s eyes.

Ning Ruoque pulled out the knife. The living corpse fell stiffly to the ground, its eyes wide open in death.

She frowned, her grip on the knife tightening.

The danger of slaying a monster was not enough to stir the waves in her heart. It was that momentary soul separation that had given her a real scare.

Perhaps it was because she had just been reborn, and her soul was not yet stable. But there were more important matters at hand, and Ning Ruoque had no time to dwell on it.

Yan Lingge had been hiding in the room all along, listening to the intense battle outside with flying sand and stones, feeling as if every second was a year.

After waiting for Ning Ruoque to finally deal with the living corpse, she rushed out. “Senior, are you alright?”

She reached out to help, but Ning Ruoque stepped back, neatly avoiding her touch.

“I’m fine. There’s something strange about this living corpse.” Ning Ruoque wanted to examine it under the dim courtyard lamp.

She had killed the fiend residing in the corpse, but unexpectedly, the body had returned to its original appearance, showing no trace of its previous sinister and terrifying state.

Before she could take a closer look, a cry of alarm came from the courtyard gate. “Junior Brother?!”

The spiritual energy fluctuations from the fight were too great and had already attracted people from Brightlight Pavilion.

The first to rush in was a strange young woman. She ran in such a hurry that the lantern in her hand fell to the ground with a thud, scattering sparks.

There were no living males present. The only one who could be called “Junior Brother” was the corpse lying on the ground.

The young woman knelt, checking the man’s pulse in disbelief.

Naturally, there was none. Moreover, there was a blatant knife wound across the corpse’s neck.

She immediately glared at Ning Ruoque, who was holding the knife, seemingly having already identified the culprit.

Just as Ning Ruoque was about to explain, Xu Chuo strode into the courtyard, her eyes sweeping between the corpse and the willow-leaf knife.

When she spoke again, her face had darkened, and her voice was no longer as gentle as before.

“Why did you kill my fellow sect member, fellow Daoist?”

Being inexplicably slapped with such a huge accusation, Ning Ruoque would naturally not let herself be put in a passive position.

She looked up. “When I attacked, he was already a living corpse.”

As soon as her voice fell, the young woman immediately retorted, “My junior brother was perfectly fine before. He’s at the Dust Cleansing realm. How could he possibly turn into a living corpse?”

This was indeed true. Even in death, a cultivator’s body is protected by spiritual energy, and it would be impossible for a weak yin creature like a living corpse to possess it.

Ning Ruoque had been puzzled before as to why this living corpse was more than twice as strong as its kind.

Only after hearing the young woman’s rebuttal did she understand that this was actually a cultivator!

What on earth had happened to turn a cultivator into a monster, and for it to appear so openly in an immortal sect?

Seeing her silence, Xu Chuo immediately said forcefully, “You say my junior brother is a living corpse. Do you have any proof?”

As she spoke, a bell chimed softly, and a dozen or so cultivators poured in from the courtyard gate, surrounding the two.

This posture did not look like they were about to reason with her. She hadn’t even carefully examined the corpse.

Yan Lingge was too scared to speak, her face pale. She kept looking at Ning Ruoque, hoping she could come up with a solution.

They were outnumbered and at a disadvantage.

But Ning Ruoque let out a soft scoff, a faint smile on her lips. “Of course I can explain. But you, Brightlight Pavilion, can’t just bully people with your numbers.”

“Why don’t you first prove to me that encountering a living corpse twice in one day is purely a coincidence?”

Her knife had no sheath. The lights from all directions gathered, and the blade reflected a line of light that fell on her cold eyes.

For a moment, it was hard to tell whether it was the sharp, glaring light of the blade, or the person’s aura that outshone the blade.

Xu Chuo was stunned for a moment, almost forgetting that this person was only at the Spirit Induction realm.

To dare to question a sect at the mere Spirit Induction realm—what audacity.

Her face cold, she pulled out a radiant green jade bell from her sleeve. Just as she was about to make a move, the previously tightly shut room door suddenly opened.

“So noisy.”

The voice was not loud, even carrying a sleepy hoarseness. But everyone heard it clearly.

Xu Chuo’s movements froze.

The corners of her mouth twitched, forcing a stiff smile.

“…Venerable one, why are you here?”