Chapter 154: Situ Jing's Discovery

"You didn't have the protective jade pendant given to you by your master?" Situ Jing reminded her coolly.

Ji Yao was momentarily stunned. Oh, that's right, she had completely forgotten. The jade pendant Mo Daoyan had given her could not only be activated manually, but it would also passively block a fatal blow for her.

Even if Mu Baiyun hadn't stepped in to block that attack, she would have at most been injured, not killed on the spot. Given how urgent the situation was back then, neither of them had thought of it!

After all, she had been clutching the pendant in her palm the whole time, yet it hadn't even crossed her mind to use it for defense, let alone Mu Baiyun! Ji Yao quickly let go of her regret.

"The situation was too critical, neither of us thought of it. At that time, the pendant was right in my hand, and I didn't react in time either!"

Situ Jing cast another glance at the injured man on the bed, whose paleness and delicate beauty seemed almost unreal. Judging solely by his appearance, he looked like the type of sickly weakling who needed constant protection, making it rather difficult to feel any sense of security around him.

Could it be that the times had changed, and young girls nowadays actually favored this type?

Mu Baiyun's face had already been cleaned by Ji Yao, and the wounds on his body had been treated with medicine. Seeing Situ Jing finally shift her gaze to Mu Baiyun, Ji Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

Situ Jing pressed her fingertips to the bridge of her nose before speaking, "His heart meridians and internal organs are all damaged, which is why his internal meridians are blocked and congested, preventing spiritual energy from circulating properly. The residual spiritual energy within him is currently trying its utmost to repair this damage, leaving him with no spare strength to wake up, and moreover—"

"And what?" Ji Yao asked anxiously.

Situ Jing shot Ji Yao a look and suddenly reached out toward Mu Baiyun's chest, startling Ji Yao so much she shivered.

"Senior Situ?"

"What? You just fondled him all over, and you didn't manage to check anything?" Situ Jing's hand stopped an inch away from Mu Baiyun's chest.

Ji Yao blushed for a rare moment. Just as she was about to offer an explanation, she saw the other's hand move.

Threads of lightning Qi snaked outward from Situ Jing's fingertips, piercing into the skin on Mu Baiyun's chest and causing his fair complexion to flush involuntarily.

After seemingly locating the right spots, Situ Jing discharged the lightning Qi three times in succession before retracting her hand. She teased Ji Yao, "What on earth were you doing before I arrived?"

"If you couldn't spot the internal organ injuries because you used the wrong method, surely you could have felt these three broken ribs simply by running your hands over him with a bit of force, right?"

Ji Yao was left somewhat dumbfounded. Could she tell the truth—that she hadn't dared press her hands directly against his skin for fear of applying too much weight and worsening his injuries?

Ji Yao looked apprehensively at the three spots where Situ Jing had applied her treatment, desperately wanting to check them herself to be sure. After a moment of hesitation, she ultimately held back.

"Senior, did you just reset his bones for him? Do you know when he'll wake up?"

Situ Jing sat down on a nearby chair and sighed, "If he relies entirely on his own self-recovery, it will take about a year for him to wake up. And lying here like this, he'll be bedridden for at least a decade.

"If he has suitable medicinal pills to take daily, he will probably only remain unconscious for a month. With the assistance of a medical cultivator, he could fully recover within a year."

Medicinal pills? She seemed to recall that Mu Baiyun himself had some on him, but since he was currently unconscious, there was no way for her to open his storage artifact!

Besides, even if she had the medicine, after a month, was she supposed to just drag Mu Baiyun back like this? How was she going to explain that when the time came?

"Senior, there must be other ways, right? Oh right, the Myriad-Year Azure Sap! That will definitely work!" As she spoke, Ji Yao pulled out the small jade pouch Situ Jing had given her back then.

Back then, when Gu Qiu suffered those kinds of injuries, she had only used a single drop. It stood to reason that it should work for Mu Baiyun as well.

Ji Yao opened the jade pouch and squeezed a drop onto his lips. Who would have thought that he was completely unconscious with his teeth tightly clenched? Not a single drop went in; instead, it simply trickled down the curve of his lips, completely wasting such a peerless healing treasure.

Ji Yao furrowed her brows, preparing to feed him another drop, when she was stopped by Situ Jing from the side.

"Girl, have you thought this through? This is your life-saving medicine. Getting more won't be easy; those hundred-odd drops were accumulated over tens of thousands of years. If you waste it now, what will you do if you encounter danger in the future?"

Ji Yao didn't hesitate in her heart. Her worry for Mu Baiyun was one aspect, but she had also considered another factor: while Situ Jing could certainly escort her back safely, what about everything that came after?

"Senior, I've thought it through. You don't need to persuade me. There are some things one can do, and some things one simply cannot. I wouldn't be able to live with my own conscience."

Situ Jing released Ji Yao and sighed once more. "I don't know whether this disposition of yours is a blessing or a curse. With a personality like yours, you're going to face a lot of struggles in the cultivation world."

Before standing up to leave, Situ Jing cast a final look at the two people on the bed—one sitting, one lying down. "Fine, do as you please!"

Ji Yao didn't turn around. Though no sound was made, she knew Situ Jing had already left. Her gaze remained fixed on the jade pouch in her hand; she was never a cold-blooded person after all, still tied deeply to the mortal world!

After trying three times in a row without a single drop successfully entering Mu Baiyun's mouth, Ji Yao couldn't help feeling exasperated.

The senior even said your subconscious is self-repairing, yet you don't even know enough to open your mouth for such a good thing! Do you still want to get better or not?

Looking at Mu Baiyun, who remained completely oblivious, Ji Yao gave up on the dropping method. Instead, she took a small sip herself, steadied his head with both hands, and pressed her lips straight against his.

The force was somewhat heavy; while it successfully parted Mu Baiyun's teeth, Ji Yao's own lips smashed against his teeth as well. Disregarding the pain, she hurriedly seized the opportunity to pass the Myriad-Year Azure Sap gathered in her mouth over to him.

"You—" Situ Jing, who had returned midway, happened to witness Ji Yao's actions. Her face stiffened slightly, accompanied by a small sapling beside her whose two leaves curled inward.

The boy's uniquely youthful voice rang out unusually clearly in the room: "I didn't see anything!"

No, wait, I can explain!

Ji Yao hurriedly let go of Mu Baiyun. The moment she opened her mouth to speak, she felt a sharp pain in her lips. Touching the tip of her tongue to them, she even tasted a trace of blood, turning what she wanted to say into three simple words: "Hiss, it hurts..."

Situ Jing had no idea what expression to use to face this foolish girl before her. She couldn't tell if this girl was exceptionally daring or truly losing her mind; her intelligence quotient was completely offline!

After a long while, Situ Jing finally managed to recover her voice.

"You deserve it! If you ask me, you should have just dislocated his jaw, fed him the medicine, and popped it back into place afterwards. Who knows, it might have even cured that brat's resting-bitch face!"

Could she really have done that? Ji Yao looked back at Mu Baiyun's pretty face and decided against it. Seeing that his handsome face showed signs of improving, what if that maneuver made his facial paralysis even worse?

With that thought, Ji Yao touched her lips and chuckled secretly.

What a beauty! She didn't seem to have gotten the short end of the stick after all!

"Ji Yao, you're done for! You're having spring dreams..." The boy's voice rang out clearly once again.

Her face darkening, Ji Yao turned her head to glare fiercely at the small sapling.

"Qianxun! You're a tree, where on earth did you learn that word? Besides, this is called feeling pleased with myself, pleased, do you understand?!"