“Aiya! My Iron-wire Golden Beetle!” A young girl’s voice, clear as a warbler but thick with resentment, rang out in the silent night.
“I squatted for four whole hours waiting for it to emerge from the earth! Who is it?! Who’s so lacking in public morality?!”
Wu Yan twitched her fingers, wanting to speak, but she couldn’t make a sound. Soon after, she heard a flurry of hurried footsteps running toward her.
By the cold, desolate moonlight, she could barely make out the newcomer.
It was a young girl wearing a pale yellow short robe and skirt with her hair tied in twin buns. She looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. There were several mud streaks across her face, making her look quite filthy. She didn’t have the slightest air of an Immortal Disciple; instead, she looked like a wild brat who had been rolling around in the mud.
Wu Yan recognized her.
Lin Wan’er.
She was a sect disciple sent by Medicine King Valley to participate in an exchange program with the Piaomiao Sect, and she was currently residing on Medicine Peak.
This little girl from Medicine King Valley hadn’t stayed on Medicine Peak in the middle of the night. Instead, she had run all the way to Zhuqu Peak’s territory just to catch an Iron-wire Golden Beetle—a rare medicinal insect that only grew in soil rich with Sword Chi.
At this moment, Lin Wan’er was running over fuming, ready to settle the score with the culprit who had scared off her insect and made her wait in vain for so long.
However, when she saw clearly who was lying in the grass, those peach-blossom eyes that were originally filled with fury instantly went wide.
Under the moonlight, she saw Wu Yan’s pale but undeniably stunning face, along with the wounds visible beneath her blood-soaked, tattered clothes.
“…Whoa.” Lin Wan’er let out a gasp of wonder. Her original resentment vanished in an instant, replaced by a fervor as if she were looking at a rare treasure.
She didn’t care about the escaped insect anymore. She knelt directly in the mud, unconcerned about the filth, and reached out a finger to dab a bit of blood from Wu Yan’s wound, bringing it to the tip of her nose to sniff.
“This blood energy…” Lin Wan’er muttered to herself as she unceremoniously reached out to press on Wu Yan’s shoulder. Her eyes were shining. “This is a top-tier experimental subject! Although she’s been put through the wringer, this feeling… tsk tsk, it’s practically a work of art!”
Although Wu Yan’s consciousness was blurred, she still felt an instinctive shudder of disgust.
“Hey, wake up?”
Lin Wan’er reached out with her muddy little hand and patted Wu Yan’s cheek. “I don’t know which Senior Sister you are, but you’re in luck. Since you scared off my bug, you’ll have to use your body to compensate—it just so happens I’m in need of a new experimental subject.”
***
When she woke up again, the sensation beneath her had changed from cold, hard dirt to a soft, warm Cloud Silk Quilt.
The air no longer held the stench of mud, replaced instead by a strange medicinal fragrance.
Wu Yan forced her eyes open. Her sight was met by pink gauze curtains and an exquisite bamboo ceiling.
She shifted her body and realized that her blood-soaked clothes had been changed.
The wounds on her body had also been treated.
“You’re awake?”
A crisp voice sounded. Lin Wan’er had washed the mud off her face and changed into clean clothes. She was currently sitting by the bed with her legs crossed, fiddling with a pair of shimmering silver scissors.
“This place is…” Wu Yan’s voice was raspy.
“Medicine Peak’s back mountain, Tingquan Cottage.”
Lin Wan’er looked at her with a beaming smile. “I picked you up from the side of the road. I have to say, you actually managed to faint while heading home. If this young lady hadn’t happened to be there digging up precious medicinal materials, you’d be getting carried off by wild wolves right now.”
“Zhuqu Peak doesn’t have wild wolves,” Wu Yan replied expressionlessly.
Looking at Lin Wan’er, Wu Yan couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief.
Although Lin Wan’er had an eccentric personality, as a disciple of Medicine King Valley, her medical skills were beyond doubt.
Furthermore, she was not a member of the Piaomiao Sect. For the current Wu Yan, this made her even safer.
“Thank you… Junior Sister Lin, for saving me.”
“No need for thanks.” Lin Wan’er waved her hand and suddenly leaned in close to Wu Yan. A sly smile appeared on her baby face. “Let’s talk about the matter of compensation. That fall of yours scared off the Iron-wire Golden Beetle I had been squatting over for four hours. That was my precious medicinal material. How do you plan to settle this debt?”
Wu Yan was startled and was about to suggest paying with Spirit Stones, but she was interrupted by Lin Wan’er.
“I don’t lack Spirit Stones.” Lin Wan’er’s eyes scanned up and down Wu Yan’s body like she was looking at a satisfying specimen. “I see your physical constitution is quite good. Why don’t you become my experimental material and test medicines for me? How about it?”
“While I am very grateful that you saved me, I am afraid I cannot comply with something like testing medicines.”
“Sigh, I knew people like you always have this kind of temperament.” Lin Wan’er acted as if she had expected this, raising the scissors in her hand and leaning toward Wu Yan.
*Snip, snip.*
The bandages on her body, along with her clothing, were cut open together, revealing Wu Yan’s pale skin.
The wound on her back was still somewhat black; that was the old wound’s Blood Poison acting up. Although the piercing wound on her left shoulder had been treated by Lin Wan’er, it still left a shocking scar.
Lin Wan’er seemed to have absolutely no concept of personal space.
She extended a slender finger, coated in shimmering green ointment from a medicine bottle on the table, and unceremoniously pressed it onto the wound on Wu Yan’s back.
“Sss…”
As the ointment entered the flesh, the piercing pain caused Wu Yan’s body to jerk violently, and she broke into a cold sweat instantly.
“Endure it a little.”
Even as she said this, Lin Wan’er’s movements didn’t stop. She even went a step further, leaning closer to Wu Yan.
Warm breath brushed against Wu Yan’s neck, carrying a cloying sweet scent.
“Senior Sister, if it hurts, just cry out. There’s no one else here, and I won’t laugh at you.”
Lin Wan’er’s voice became soft and sweet, carrying a hint of playful teasing.
As she applied the ointment, her eyes continuously swept across Wu Yan’s back.
“Senior Sister, this body of yours… it really is perfect.”
While applying the medicine, Lin Wan’er muttered in an almost obsessed tone, “Whether it’s the Piaomiao Sect or Medicine King Valley, I’ve never seen an experimental subject who meets my requirements as perfectly as you do, Senior Sister.”
Wu Yan’s body stiffened abruptly. An instinctive sense of crisis made her subconsciously want to pull away.
“Don’t move around.”
Lin Wan’er’s expression immediately turned stern. In that instant, she transformed from a fawning girl into a strict physician.
She pressed down firmly on Wu Yan’s shoulder with one hand while her other hand rapidly applied medicine to the wound on Wu Yan’s left arm.
Wu Yan (Inner) lay beside Wu Yan, speaking up as if she wasn’t bothered by the chaos. “Oh my, little Wu Yan~ Look at you trying to be brave earlier. Now you’ve become the passive one, haven’t you?”
Wu Yan: “…”
She could only close her eyes and play dead.
A full hour passed.
Lin Wan’er finally clapped her hands and straightened her back. Looking at the wounds she had re-bandaged, she said happily, “Alright. You’re all bandaged up.”
“…Thank you. I will repay this debt.”
“Eh? But since you aren’t willing to be my experimental subject, how are you going to repay it?” Lin Wan’er deliberately placed her right index finger against her lips, asking in an innocent tone.
“Within the limits of my ability, I can grant you one request, provided it is not immoral.”
“Oh?” Hearing Wu Yan’s words, Lin Wan’er was stunned for a moment. Then, as if she had thought of something, a fox-like cunning smile appeared on her face.
“Then I won’t be polite~ I want to save this opportunity. Perhaps I’ll be able to use it soon~”
Looking at Lin Wan’er’s eager expression, Wu Yan felt a sense of unease, but since she truly owed Lin Wan’er a great favor, she could only silently accept it.