Chapter 84 [084] Tonight
Zhongli Jin knew that he wouldn't be able to get through this easily.

His hands were shaking constantly, he was breathing heavily, and beads of sweat the size of beans were running down his forehead, across his cheeks, and down his neck into his collar.

The snow-white bandage wrapped around his chest seemed a little at a loss, as if it thought it had accidentally offended the boy just now, so it didn't dare to continue for the time being.

But it didn't know that Zhongli Jin needed to continue at this moment.

"Don't stop..." The boy's hoarse voice sounded in the snow, "Please..."

His eyes were blurred, and his handsome and delicate face showed an expression of extreme desire.

"Shi Qing..." He panted and whispered softly, "Go on, please..."

The bandage cautiously poked its head out from under the boy's clothes. The front end was like a snake's eye, staring at him quietly, as if asking what to do next.

Zhongli Jin bit his lower lip lightly, his usual gentle and jade-like temperament like a banished immortal completely gone at this moment. He looked at the white bandage with his head slightly tilted, as if he could see the girl behind it through it.

So the boy, who had completely lost consciousness, with empty eyes, gently kissed the bandage based on the instinct he needed at the moment.

He admitted that he was a little despicable at this moment, as if all his rationality was taken over by the strong emotion. He abandoned his former elegance and gentleness and took advantage of Shi Qing's ignorance and insomnia.

It's just a bandage.

In fact, it cannot truly represent Shi Qing.

It can express some of the girl’s emotions and convey some perceptions, but an object is always just an object.

Perhaps knowing this, Zhongli Jin indulged himself.

At this moment, he was madly craving for restraint and embrace.

Bandage tested the boy a few times, and after making sure that the boy wasn't offended, he did as he requested.

The young man's aura was like a combination of cedar and snow lotus. Even if his body was extremely hot, that aura always made him feel comfortable and at ease.

The bandage was cold, but the scorching heat transmitted back seemed to make the girl opposite frown slightly.

He wanted to return to his waist, but suddenly he heard the boy's hoarse moan and begging in his ears: "Just a little while, just a little while."

So the bandage stopped.

On a snowy night, among the stone pits.

The body is as hot as fire and the friendship is long-lasting.

The boy's bony hands reached down and grasped the bandage.

After the last sigh was uttered, the empty and lifeless eyes finally closed, and the owner of these eyes finally fainted in near satisfaction.

*
Shi Qing opened his eyes.

His expression remained calm and cold.

She did not recall the bandages immediately, but stayed in the stone pit for the time being and continued to protect the unconscious boy.

Through the visual perception of the bandages, she saw Zhongli Jin at this moment, with a handsome, fair, delicate and beautiful face still with a slight blush from before, red lips that were tempting, a beauty that was almost like a seductive rose. The white snow-white coat loosely covered the boy's strong body, messy, loose, and his hair stuck to his cheeks. It was a look of embarrassment after the joy, but more deadly and tempting than poppy.

Before this, Shi Qing always knew that Zhongli Jin was very handsome, but this seemed to be the first time that she was faced with the beauty of a young boy so directly.

At this moment, Zhongli Jin looked as fragile as a porcelain doll, unconscious in a snow pit. She also looked like a princess of a fallen country. One felt that she would be discovered by a passing emperor in the next second and taken away to be the queen.

In fact, Shi Qing had never seen any emperor, empress, princes or ministers. He heard about the identities of those mortals from a group of experienced senior brothers and sisters, or from a junior sister who had gone down the mountain for two years.

She made a gesture with her fingertips, and after the problem on Zhongli Jin's side was solved, Mu Nianxi could also let go.

As soon as she recalled the bandages that bound Mu Nianxi, the woman stood up and quickly walked back into the cave.

Chang Zhu had already fallen asleep beside him, and Chen Xiang was also drowsy leaning on Shi Qing's shoulder.

A woman's figure appeared at the entrance of the cave, and the madness in her eyes at that moment was full of jealousy and murderous intent.

But as he stepped in, he covered it all up again, with an expression of heartache and anger, "Daoyou Shiqing, I admit that I listened to everything you and your sister said just now, I--"

Shi Qing raised his hand, signaling her not to make any sound.

Mu Nianxi was stunned.

Chen Xiang seemed to be showing signs of waking up.

Shi Qing tapped the girl's temple, causing Shen Xiang to fall asleep again.

Children should not listen to conversations between adults.

She placed Shen Xiang carefully beside her and used a small soft bag as her pillow.

Only after she had done all this did she finally look up at Mu Nianxi. Her brown eyes looked at him calmly and indifferently, and she said, "What do you want to say?"

Obviously, Shi Qing was sitting and Mu Nianxi was standing, but at this moment, their positions seemed to be reversed.

The woman stared into Shi Qing's eyes, as if for a moment, her disguise had been seen through by the other party.

But—impossible!

It took over Mu Nianxi's body, not created a body of its own like last time. No matter how sharp Shi Qing's eyes were, he would not be able to see it!
Chang Zhu's snoring echoed for a long time in this small and quiet cave.

It seemed that the moment Shi Qing and Mu Nianxi confronted each other, all other sounds of wind and snow disappeared without a trace.

After a while, Mu Nianxi said, "I just...feel sorry that my junior brother got poisoned for you, so I want to help him get rid of it...Fellow Daoist Shi Qing, why do you look at me with such contempt?"

Shi Qing blinked. There was actually no emotion in her eyes, but she didn't know how a woman could sense this.

"You're worrying too much." Shi Qing said, "You can handle the poison, no need, just sacrifice yourself."

That's what she meant.

No matter how torturous the poison is when it attacks, as long as you can endure it, it will be fine. No matter what method you use to endure it, it does not actually require a woman to sacrifice her life for it.

"What's more..." She looked into Mu Nianxi's eyes and said word by word: "If this really happens, how will you two meet each other from now on?"

What's more, if this really happened, how would Senior Sister Mu Nianxi and Junior Brother Zhong Lijin meet and get along with each other in the future?
"...So that's how it is." Mu Nianxi forced a smile. "I was anxious and distressed at the time, so I was inevitably a little impulsive. Plus, I do have a crush on Jin'er... For me, this is not something that can be forced."

"It's you, not Zhongli Jin." Shi Qing said, "He doesn't want to."

Otherwise, I wouldn't try my best to refuse.

Therefore, Shi Qing helped him escape and restrained Mu Nianxi.

——He doesn't want to.

These three words made Mu Nianxi's face extremely pale, and at the same time, madness and hatred appeared in his eyes.

She quickly lowered her head to hide the color in her eyes, pretending to be about to cry, and choked up: "I know... I will never do this again in the future. I hope that Daoist Shi Qing will not tell anyone else about what happened tonight."

"Yeah." Shi Qing nodded, "I can't say it."

"You untied me, but Jin'er has already gotten through it?" Mu Nianxi was quite smart. She knew that with Shi Qing's personality, he would only solve other problems after ensuring the safety of others.

Shi Qing said: "Well, he's fine."

Although I don’t know how Zhongli Jin was able to relieve the pain just by wrapping bandages around his body.

My whole body is covered with bandages, so why couldn't I get relief when I was suffering from the love poison before?
She couldn't figure out the answer to this question.

"Where is Jin'er now and when will she come back?" Mu Nianxi asked softly.

"Safely, he will be back tomorrow morning." Shi Qing said, "He's fine." The bandage strip can be used as a sharp blade protector, and it carries the same spiritual power as her. Zhongli Jin will be fine, and when the boy wakes up tomorrow, he can come back by himself.

Mu Nianxi sneered, "Daoyou Shiqing, don't be so defensive against me."

Shi Qing: “……?”

"I just want to know where Jin'er is. I won't do anything to him. Why are you just trying to get by with the three words 'safely'?"

Shi Qing: "...No, I don't know the location."

There is nothing but snow everywhere I look, how can I know the exact address?

Mu Nianxi saw that Shi Qing's eyes were calm and composed, as if he really didn't know where Zhong Li Jin was. He only knew that the young man was in a very safe place now.

She gritted her teeth slightly, only able to suppress her resentment temporarily.

*
The snow was cold and Zhongli Jin was woken up by the cold.

He opened his eyes and found his limbs were frozen stiff. He immediately used his spiritual power to warm himself up.

After his body warmed up a little, the boy slowly sat up.

His dark and messy hair was scattered, his head was aching, his clothes were disheveled, his collarbone was open, revealing his fair and delicate collarbone and chest, and the cold wind was still blowing in through the crotch.

Zhongli Jin quickly straightened his collar and carefully recalled what happened last night.

His mind was a little fuzzy now, as if he was groggy after a hangover.

Suddenly, a snow-white figure flashed before his eyes, and a snow-white bandage was reflected between the boy's ink-black pupils!

It circled around the young man, and the hemispherical light shield it formed blocked all the black evil energy from outside.

Zhongli Jin was slightly stunned, and the broken strings in his mind suddenly connected the moment he saw it!

He remembered the strange feeling in his body last night and wanted to go out to find a place to suppress the love poison with spiritual power and ice and snow. However, he did not expect that not long after he went out, his senior sister Mu Nianxi followed him and hugged him, wanting to detoxify him.

At the critical moment, it was Shi Qing's bandage that rescued him and dragged him to this safer snow pit.

Afterwards, he began to have mental problems, his mind was tormented by the flames of the love poison, and it was shattered into pieces, and finally collapsed completely!

However, when he was awake at this moment, Zhongli Jin clearly remembered everything he did last night.

"Help me... please..."

"Tighten it a little tighter..."

"Shi Qing...go down..."

Zhongli Jin: “!!!”

It's just a memory, but the joy and satisfaction he felt after last night's relief are deeply engraved in the boy's mind like a brand!

He felt something strange in his body and immediately stood up and straightened his clothes and belt.

However, even if he has tidied up his clothes and combed his hair, he still looks handsome, dust-free and elegant, but the boy's touch, senses and memories are something he can never erase!

[…Youngster? Why are you so flustered? ]

The old man's voice was accompanied by a yawn as if he had just woken up. He existed in the form of a spirit and would stay in the ring when he had nothing to do, and he didn't need to sleep. But for some reason, these past few days, his eyelids would droop at night, and he was too sleepy to bear it, so he had to close his eyes early.

Zhongli Jin suppressed his panic and tried his best to keep his voice calm and normal. Qingfenglangyue: [No problem, I just found myself here suddenly and I feel a little confused.]

The old man paused, then looked around and said in surprise: [Youngster! Where is this? ! ]

The young man said: [I don’t know.]

I stumbled around last night, being dragged along by Shi Qing's bandages, and I don't know where I am now.

The bandage stopped spinning. Knowing that Zhongli Jin was fully awake, it suddenly used its spiritual power to shake off the surrounding evil spirits, and in the process dealt with the low-level monsters that surrounded him, clearing a path for its own way.

Zhongli Jin immediately followed, his eyes fixed on the bandage strip flying in front of him.

An unnatural blush appeared between the boy's picturesque eyebrows and cheeks.

The five senses are connected.

Shi Qing naturally knew everything that happened last night.

The bandage was under her control, so - it could be said that Shi Qing was helping him.

How should I face it when we meet later?

*
After walking for a while, the sky brightened and the boy saw the cave where he had stayed last night.

The bandage disappeared from Zhongli Jin's sight with a whoosh, and must have returned to Shi Qing's arm.

Zhongli Jin took a deep breath and walked in.

At a glance, I saw the emerald green figure still sitting cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed.

Shi Qing was still meditating, but when she heard the boy's footsteps, she opened her eyes, her eyes were extremely calm, and she asked calmly as usual: "Are you okay?"

"..."

Zhongli Jin looked at this clearly and realized that at this moment, the expected awkwardness and unnaturalness did not seem to arise between the two of them.

It was because the girl's eyes and expressionless face showed that she didn't take what happened last night seriously at all.

"...I'm fine." Zhong Lijin said, staring at Shi Qing quietly, his Adam's apple rolling slightly: "How about you?"

Shi Qing seemed a little puzzled, but still said: "Very good, why do you ask this?"

She had been here with her eyes closed and regulating her breathing, and she was fine. However, she asked if Zhongli Jin was okay, because the young man had been suffering from the torture of the poison last night. But why did Zhongli Jin ask this?

Seeing the indifference in Shi Qing's eyes, Zhong Li Jin knew that last night meant nothing to her.

The boy's initially turbulent heart seemed to slowly calm down at this moment, and even - it was as if a basin of cold water was poured on him, chilling him from head to toe.

"Thank you so much for helping me last night, Senior Sister." Zhong Lijin's voice also faded: "Thank you so much for helping me."

"No need," Shi Qing said, "It should be."

"Senior sister, you seem to not care about this kind of thing. But if it happened in the mortal world, it would have been a disguised form of physical intimacy." Zhongli Jin said mockingly.

Shi Qing raised his eyes and said, "In the world of cultivation, there is no such thing as rules and regulations."

"Helping others, no need, care,"

The world of cultivation does not have those rules and regulations of the mortal world. If you do this to help others, you don’t have to care about them.

"That's it—" Zhongli Jin understood what she meant, and suddenly sneered. He walked in front of Shi Qing and slowly squatted down. His pupils were extremely dark at this moment, even thicker than ink, dark and deep.

He moved closer to Shi Qing, made eye contact with the girl, and said softly with a somewhat strange tone: "Can you also ask Senior Sister for help with her bandages tonight?"

I'm back and things are basically over. The person in my family who had cancer passed away yesterday morning.

When he was ill, my mother and I took turns taking care of him, day and night, like working in shifts.

Maybe it's a relief to be gone. It's actually not that difficult to personally help with the funeral process for the first time.

I didn't feel anything deep when he passed away. I just felt relieved that I didn't have to wait on him at his bedside anymore.

When I was packing up this afternoon, I saw old photos and suddenly realized that he seemed to be gone.