Chapter 27: Coma

Both of them could feel the chaotic thumping of hearts, which sounded exceptionally clear in the quiet cave.

Zora was stunned. Her head was immobilized, and her eyes could only see the end of the cave. She listened carefully; it was indeed messy, and the beat was even more powerful than before.

In contrast, Vane’s lips pulled into a straight line, his face turning cold.

He was more confused by this heartbeat than anyone, and he wanted to suppress it more than anyone. He even felt a dark irritability toward this uncontrollable state, along with an indescribable self-loathing. His lack of resistance toward being a servant was already a mindset he couldn't fathom, let alone anything else.

Zora, however, grew quiet.

The moment he could invoke a sliver of spiritual power, Vane bit his lip. He first directed the power into his chest like an invisible hand, tightly constricting his heart. For a moment, the sensation of impending death took the upper hand, and her words finally sank deep into his mind, no longer surfacing.

He was ruthless toward others, and equally ruthless toward himself.

He swallowed the blood welling up in his throat.

A moment later, the spiritual power that had been shackling his heart—an act akin to suicide—withdrew entirely. Aside from a few moments of palpitations, his heartbeat finally smoothed out.

Zora only heard Vane’s heart slow down to an impossibly low rate at one point, then beat rapidly before finally returning to normal. It was too strange; she couldn't quite tell what had happened.

But sensing that spiritual power could be moved, Zora cast the matter aside and focused entirely on washing her meridians over and over.

After a short while, she stood up and touched the spot on her face where the embroidery of his collar had pressed; there was a faint mark.

Only after she left his embrace did Vane move. He untied the blood-soaked black cloth; it was heavy, and a twist of the fabric could still squeeze out fresh blood. For some reason, the spiritual power hadn't healed the wound; instead, it had caused the flesh to fester.

Zora watched and said, "Let me."

Vane glanced at her and then looked away, giving a nearly imperceptible "Mhm." He then roughly untied the black cord binding his sleeve and rolled it up.

The flesh was stuck to the clothing. Separating them was excruciating, yet he acted as if he felt nothing, pulling it away directly. Only the cold sweat on his brow indicated that he wasn't actually immune to the pain.

Zora’s old short blade was still strapped to her leg beneath her hem. She drew the short blade.

The youth's wound was gruesome, the flesh mangled. Finding the necrotic tissue, Zora cut it away with composure. Except for a single tremor the moment the blade touched him, he did not move again.

As several pieces of dead flesh fell, fresh blood followed. Zora looked around and was about to tear his hem when she realized that, except for the missing piece, the rest of the fabric was embroidered with simple formations.

Vane spoke at the right time: "The formation became useless after my last mission."

She gave an "oh" and then used the knife to cut a piece, binding it tightly over his wound.

When she finished, her hands were covered in blood. Vane didn't look at her, instead pulling a clean handkerchief from his storage bag. After Zora wiped her hands, she burned the handkerchief along with the necrotic flesh.

"Do you have any strength left?" She looked at Vane, whose lips were pale.

"I'm fine." He stood up.

They returned to the mission site once more, as the completion of the task required proof. The Black Serenity Valley disciple's body was cold, and the other man was still unconscious. Because the "Mountain God" hadn't issued orders for a long time, the village was restless, and the patriarch had sent someone to investigate.

When that person arrived, Zora and Vane sensed it and hid in a tree beforehand. Neither wanted to be discovered; they preferred to avoid trouble and never proactively contacted anyone outside of their mission.

The youth lowered his eyes, watching with indifference. The girl, meanwhile, watched the handless wrist behind the bushes, which was being pecked at by birds.

"Great Immortal? Great Immortal?" the man called out cautiously. "The patriarch sent me to thank the Great Immortal for resolving the matter of the former patriarch and letting him take office."

Furthermore, a woman in the village named Mother Xu wanted to ask if her son could achieve immortality. She had heard that someone in the December Sect killed their father and mother to enter the Path of Heartlessness; could one also enter the path by killing their wife and daughter? Her son had tried it, but it didn't seem to work. Mother Xu had quietly asked this man to ask the Immortal if something was still missing.

In this village, some of the ignorant and malicious people worshipped Immortals; they didn't commit evil because of the Immortals, but had always been this way.

The man gradually drew closer, then suddenly seemed to see a terrifying scene. He collapsed instantly, his pupils dilating and his lips trembling.

"Ah... AHHH!!" The man scrambled away in a panic. "The Immortal has transcended and left this place! Patriarch! Patriarch—!"

Zora didn't quite understand why he described death as "transcending."

Vane gave a cold snort and flicked a stone, instantly piercing the head of the man who had been woken by the noise. Before the villagers could become agitated, they left the area and rushed toward the sect.

Arriving at the main road to the sect, Zora walked in front, her storage bag containing the severed head of their target. When she turned in the mission at the Great Hall, she pulled out the head wrapped in cloth. The scent of blood filled the hall, and the recording disciple’s face immediately turned pale. "Junior Sister, you can use a Shadow-Recording Stone to record the process of killing the enemy; there's no need to bring the body back."

Zora was expressionless. "I have no money to buy a Shadow-Recording Stone."

"Or you could just cut off the target's hair..."

She grew a bit unhappy, frowning. "Give me the money."

"...Fine. Also, affairs following the mission are usually handled by the mortal government; after all, investigating and solving cases in the mortal world is best left to mortals." Having finished, the disciple immediately shut his mouth and nimbly handed her the spirit stones.

She turned and left. The disciple swallowed hard as he looked at the head on the counter with its eyes still open. "The... the new disciples these days are truly impressive... in every sense of the word..."

Zora stepped out of the hall. Vane followed behind her, silent. The pain from his wound was increasing; he couldn't tell what kind of spiritual tool it was that could actually resist spiritual power. Drenched in cold sweat, the youth's lashes fluttered faster. He pursed his lips, his face pale, and his steps grew slower and slower.

Zora, walking ahead, didn't notice at all. The scene before Vane’s eyes gradually blurred. As he fell to the ground, his last conscious sight was the girl's receding silhouette.

For some reason, he didn't want to call out. He bit the tip of his tongue with a sense of stubbornness, just like the heartbeat in the cave that had made him feel defeated; he was determined to win this round.

In the next instant, he fell into darkness.

After walking for a while, Zora turned around to ask something, only to find no one behind her.

Zora: "?"

She thought for a moment and decided Vane wouldn't leave without a word, so she walked back a distance. Finally, she spotted the youth halfway back, but he was unconscious, lying silently on the stone path.

Zora was startled. Fearing he was dead, she crouched down to check his breathing. He was alive. She struggled to flip him over; the stone path was stained with a bit of fresh red.

Zora flew on her sword into the Golden Wave Hall. Jin Chuyang had just stood up when he saw the girl landing slowly, with his disciple slumped on her sword like a corpse.

Clatter!

The teacup in Jin Chuyang’s hand fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.

Zora said seriously, "He might have excessive blood loss or a backlash from the blade wound, but he hasn't had time to die yet."

"?" It took him a moment to process what she was saying.

Jin Chuyang walked quickly to Vane's side, squeezed the youth's wrist, and breathed a sigh of relief. Although the breath and pulse were weak enough to seem dead, he was alive.

Vane was taken to his room and laid on his bed. Jin Chuyang carefully investigated with his spiritual power and said, "Miasma was driven into his wound. The more he used spiritual power, the more severe the wound became."

This was very painful. If anything, the fact that Vane had held out until now to faint showed a very powerful endurance. He looked at Zora. "It's fine, I can erase this miasma. Then he just needs to rest for a while."

Zora nodded.

That night, after Zhou Shijin heard her tell the story in her flat tone, she laughed a few times. "You were lucky. Many disciples are immobilized by various underhanded tricks in the early stages. Because of their lack of experience, they are found by the opponent while trying to hide and are killed without resistance."

Vane didn't know how long he had been unconscious. When his consciousness cleared, he didn't open his eyes. He first suppressed the quickened breathing that came with waking up and sensed his surroundings in the darkness. There was only a numbing sensation in his wound; he should be lying on a bed.

Only then did he open his eyes.

The top of the bedframe was dimly lit by the glow coming through the window. The youth's dark pupils moved slightly, scanning the room. His gaze stopped by the window.

The girl was sitting there. A couch had appeared there at some point. She had taken off her shoes and tucked her feet in, leaning her upper body against the window frame to read a book by the sunlight. Her lashes and eyes both turned brownish in the light, her eyes looking like translucent amber, flowing and clear.

"..."

Vane didn't make a sound. He looked back at the top of the bed. For a time, there was only the slight sound of pages turning in the room.

...

Zora finished another book in Vane’s room. He had been asleep for two days and two nights and still hadn't woken up. She snapped the book shut.

The youth reflexively closed his eyes, and his hand beneath the covers gripped the bedsheets tighter due to the action. He didn't know why he had reflexively closed his eyes; that sense of stubbornness rose again. Just as he was about to open them, he felt the soft pad of the girl's finger press against his philtrum.

Vane, having immediately lost his resolve: "..."

Zora didn't notice the tremor in his lashes just now; she was looking with absolute seriousness to see if he was dead. Although his condition had improved, he had slept for so long that there might be some other hidden factor. So she came here every day, fearing he had truly gone to the underworld. Even if the Oracle said the villain wouldn't die in the early stages... what if? Zora, who had never experienced the baptism of modern web novels, was very worried.

She had brought a stack of books and a soft couch provided by Zhou Shijin, and spent her daily reading time here. Every time Jin Chuyang saw her arrive, he thought she was meticulously caring for his disciple and was very moved. Little did he know she was just reading in the room, occasionally checking to see if he was still alive.

Zora finished checking his breath once more and returned to the soft couch to continue her new book.

Vane opened his eyes and stared at the bed top for a moment. He spoke: "Zora."

His voice was too small; Zora didn't react.

"..."

He sat up; she still didn't react. By the time Vane finished checking his wound, she was still focused on her reading. Zora happened to look up and met the gaze of the youth sitting up in bed. Who knows how long he had been watching her like that.

She was startled, her eyes widening for an instant before she realized Vane was awake.

"You're awake?"

Vane gave a "Mhm," but then lowered his eyes. He wasn't wearing his outer robes, only a white inner garment. The collar hung loosely below his deep collarbones, and his ponytail was down. The youth's face was pale, and as he lowered his lashes, he looked pointlessly fragile.

"You slept for two days," Zora walked to the side of his bed and recalled, "But your Master said it's best to lie down for five."

He looked up at the blue hair ribbon she had tied casually at the side of her head. He paused and said, "Okay."

For the next three days, Vane indeed didn't go out. When Zora was reading, he was also reading. When Zora wasn't there, he would get up and look for his outer robes.

The blood-stained robes were placed on the table by the wardrobe; his storage bag and other items were naturally there as well. Among them was a daisy hairpin. A cheap hairpin from the mortal world, it had long since faded during this time, revealing its wooden essence.

He didn't want to think about the strange, out-of-control heartbeats of a few days ago; he deliberately ignored them. Vane looked down at the hair accessory, his obsidian eyes dark.

He squeezed the hairpin in his palm and then let go; his fingertips had been stained with a patch of mottled color. The youth simply thought habitually and uncontrollably:

—

She needs a new hairpin.