Chapter 156: Destiny Cannot Be Forced

Meeting the cold glare from Situ Jing, Ji Yao felt as though she had just been doused with a bucket of icy water, her mind instantly snapping back to complete clarity.

Gossip involving mighty figures was indeed not something one could casually meddle with!

It had been far too long since Ji Yao last indulged in watching gossip, and her recent days had been consumed by brain-racking affairs. Upon accidentally stumbling upon a topic that genuinely interested and relaxed her, she could no longer suppress her little hobby and desperately wanted to learn more.

"Senior, my head has been aching constantly lately, and yet you still flicked me! What would I do if I really became stupid?" Ji Yao felt that her relationship with Situ Jing could afford to be a little closer.

If she didn't seize the opportunity to build intimacy now, was she supposed to wait until the mighty senior ascended to immortality before trying to cling to her coattails?

"Alright, don't I know you by now? You just wanted to hear a story. It's fine to tell you, but we must wait until we return. This is hardly a suitable place for your leisure."

Situ Jing tossed the backtracking stone in her palm. "We cannot get involved in the matter of the Demonic Forbidden Land for the time being. Who knows what its true purpose is, utilizing so many people to orchestrate all this? If it were in the past, I might have said that fellow simply wanted to prevent my ascension. But even after I went into seclusion, the other party not only blocked the heavenly dao of ascension but also carried out so many schemes. Clearly, there may be things happening here that I am unaware of."

Ji Yao's brows furrowed even deeper. "Our ultimate goal remains ascension, which makes this Demonic Forbidden Land the firewood at the bottom of the cauldron. Even if we do not wish to utilize this power, we cannot simply allow it to remain forever in the hands of the adversary."

"Leave the matter of the Demonic Forbidden Land alone for now. Since the senior apprentice brother of the Lingyun Sect came along with you this time, his words will carry more weight than yours anyway, and his injuries are the best proof of that."

Her heart sinking, Ji Yao couldn't help asking, "Will Senior Brother's injuries not heal completely?"

Feeling her cheek being lightly pinched, Ji Yao heard Situ Jing's voice.

"Even ordinary mortals speak of a hundred days to recover from fractured bones and strained tendons. If the injuries your senior brother suffered were instantly transferred to your body, you would likely have breathed your last on the spot. How could you possibly have lasted long enough to take any medicine?"

Situ Jing paused for a moment. "Where are you people even at, yet already someone is severely injured? The situation has escalated to such a degree; who can say you won't be injured again on the road ahead?"

"I am able to protect you because of our connection. When necessary, I can borrow your body to act on my own accord. But given my current state, I cannot look after two people at all times. Moreover, your senior brother is a sword cultivator; he has his own pride."

***

Ji Yao was left speechless. She knew that most of what Situ Jing said was the truth, yet she still wanted to advocate a little for Mu Baiyun.

"Very well, give these two items to him!" Situ Jing said as she handed a jade slip and a deep purple bead to Ji Yao.

"Consider it settling the slight affinity I share with him. Go on. Even if he wakes up, he won't be able to move for the time being. He might as well use this time for comprehension."

Only then did Ji Yao realize what the two objects in her hand were. When she looked up again, Situ Jing had already vanished, leaving only the Universe Disc hovering above the desk, glowing softly like the moon.

Returning to the bedroom once more, Mu Baiyun was still floating motionlessly and quietly within the sphere of light. Unwilling to disturb him, Ji Yao sat down cross-legged on a futon to meditate and recover her spiritual energy, repeating the process of infusing spiritual power into the array beads.

Three days passed in succession. Mu Baiyun showed no sign of waking up whatsoever, while Ji Yao had completely filled the final array bead with spiritual power and restored her own dantian.

During this period, Ji Yao had invited both Situ Jing and Qian Xun to check on him, and they both unanimously agreed that Mu Baiyun was in no grave danger and that waking up was merely a matter of time.

Seeing that the time within the Sumeru space was now synchronized with the outside world, the dark night sky reflected a deep blue without a single trace of starlight or moonlight. Yet everything indicated that a full day was about to come to an end.

With a worried gaze, Ji Yao looked at Mu Baiyun lying on the bed. He was still as pale and sickly as he had been three days ago, completely devoid of color in his face. Suddenly recalling what Qian Xun had said on the first day, Ji Yao once again took out the jade bottle containing the Ten-Thousand-Year Sky Cyan.

Qian Xun had said that applying just a single drop would suffice. Looking at the healing saint medicine, already half-depleted in the bottle, and then at the slightly dry, tightly pressed lips of the man on the bed, Ji Yao first fetched a cup of fresh water and dabbed it onto his lips.

The water moistened Mu Baiyun's lips, but without exception, the excess droplets rolled down the corners of his mouth again, not a single drop entering his mouth.

Ji Yao felt that the number of times she had furrowed her brows over the past few days was probably enough to give her permanent wrinkles on her forehead. With a helpless sigh, she pressed her temples on both sides, hardened her heart, and took a small sip of the Ten-Thousand-Year Sky Cyan herself.

This time she wasn't reckless, nor did she specifically try to hold Mu Baiyun's head in place. Instead, she slowly lowered herself and pressed her lips against his.

The surprise came with absolute abruptness. The eyes of a certain someone snapped open without the slightest warning. Meeting gaze to gaze, Ji Yao started in shock, her hands pressing down in a flustered motion as she attempted to raise her head and stand up.

Who would have thought that her long hair, having fallen to both sides, was precisely pinned beneath her hands? Rising far too hastily, she failed to succeed, and her head bumped right back down, her poor lips colliding once more against the other's teeth.

***

Ji Yao raised her head slightly, keeping some distance. Wincing and about to pout in pain, she suddenly remembered that she still held a small mouthful of the Ten-Thousand-Year Sky Cyan in her mouth—she certainly couldn't spit it back into the bottle!

Guided by the principle of not wasting anything, Ji Yao blinked at the person below who remained completely silent, leaned in once more, and in one smooth motion transferred the medicine over.

Straightening up immediately afterward, she reached out to drape an outer robe over Mu Baiyun, then leaped two meters away, standing frozen in place as she waited for Mu Baiyun's reaction.

And what was Mu Baiyun's reaction? To put it accurately, there was no reaction at all. From the initial clear-headed opening of his eyes to the way events had unfolded up to this moment, Mu Baiyun was instead somewhat bewildered. Was that junior sister just now?!

The faint scent of blood reminded him that there seemed to be blood on his lips.

After watching Mu Baiyun lie quietly for quite a while, his expression suddenly darkening as he raised a hand toward his lips, Ji Yao hurriedly spoke up, "Please forgive me, Senior Brother; desperate times call for measures. The medicine just now was for healing, capable of repairing damaged heart meridians. You must absolutely not waste it."

Of course he knew. The moment that medicine entered his mouth, it dissolved into pure spiritual power, spreading along his esophagus into the extraordinary meridians and collateral channels like a warm current. As it flowed through his internal organs, it continuously repaired the deep-seated injuries within his body.

"Junior Sister... I seem unable to get up yet." Mu Baiyun's words carried no emotional fluctuation whatsoever, sounding merely like the statement of a simple fact, without bringing up what had just happened at all.

Ah! She had completely forgotten about that! Ji Yao took two steps closer, helped Mu Baiyun sit up, and considerately helped him put on the outer robe that had been draped over him.

"Senior Brother, your meridians are still blocked. You will need to wait until you wake up and clear the meridians yourself. Once they are fully unblocked, you should be able to move freely. If you need anything during these next few days, just let me know."

Throughout this, Ji Yao remained standing, so she could not see the expression on Mu Baiyun's face. Naturally, she treated the preceding event as nothing more than a bizarre mishap. Since the person involved wasn't bringing it up, she found it even more awkward to broach the subject again.

"Junior Sister..."

Before Ji Yao had even finished processing the call, she was pulled forward with a firm tug, landing squarely seated on the edge of the bed with her face directly confronting a delicate, pink-flushed cheek.