Jiu Baiyun carried Yun Yao, who was barely breathing, his heart heavy.
Without daring to delay, he quickly sidestepped and squeezed through the door.
Bang!
The courtyard gate slammed shut behind him with a dull thud.
He carried Yun Yao, strode quickly across the yard, and headed toward the house, wanting only to lay her down as soon as possible and check her wounds.
But just as he was about to step onto the front porch, the nearly unconscious body in his arms moved ever so slightly.
Yun Yao’s eyelashes, stained with blood and dust, seemed to flutter for a moment, and her brows furrowed in pain.
She appeared to have sensed something familiar in the depths of her coma.
A cold hand, also smeared with blood and dirt, lifted unconsciously, groping as if trying to grasp something that could give her comfort or confirmation.
Jiu Baiyun’s entire focus was on Yun Yao’s severe wounds and getting inside quickly; he never expected this sudden movement.
The next moment, an extremely intense, indescribable sensation exploded from the base of his tailbone and swept through his whole body!
“Ugh—”
Jiu Baiyun shuddered violently, as if struck by an invisible electric current.
He stumbled, nearly falling with Yun Yao in his arms onto the steps.
He sharply sucked in a breath, his teeth grinding audibly, barely suppressing the strange moan that almost escaped his throat.
That cold hand had grabbed, without missing its mark, the fluffy white tail behind him—the tail that had been nervously swaying from his tension and hurried travel.
A wave of extreme tingling, sharp stabbing pain, and intense electric current assaulted his nerve endings.
After all, a tail was one of the most sensitive parts of a fox demon.
Being grabbed directly by an external force now—the stimulation was bone-deep.
He could clearly feel Yun Yao’s unconscious fingers sinking into the fur of his tail tip, even clenching slightly!
“Mm…”
A tiny whimper escaped Yun Yao’s lips.
It seemed that grabbing this “warm, soft” thing gave her a strange comfort amid the pain, and her fingers unconsciously tightened a little more.
“Ss—let go! Let go!”
Jiu Baiyun’s voice went off-key, laced with pain and extreme embarrassment.
He froze in place, not daring to move an inch, afraid that any sudden movement would pull at Yun Yao’s wounds, and even more afraid he’d lose control of his instinct and throw her off.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead and slid down his cheek.
He could feel his tail bristling uncontrollably, stiff and erect, the tip trembling violently in Yun Yao’s hand.
Even the white fox ears on top of his head shot straight up, the tips vibrating at high frequency.
After a long moment, Yun Yao’s clenched fingers finally loosened slightly.
The grip that had nearly taken half of Jiu Baiyun’s life vanished.
Jiu Baiyun almost immediately sucked in a breath through his teeth, a sound full of relief and lingering fear.
Although his tail instantly softened from its stiff, bristled state, the residual tingling and stabbing pain still surged around his tailbone, making his scalp tingle.
‘Quick! Get inside!!’
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s urgent voice sounded in his mind.
Clearly, she had also experienced that “soul electric shock” sensation just now.
He didn’t even need the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s reminder.
The moment Yun Yao’s fingers loosened, Jiu Baiyun suppressed the aftershocks from his tail and the stiffness in his body, pushed off the ground with force, and rushed into the house.
Jiu Baiyun moved quickly, but when he reached the only crude wooden bed in the room, he gentled his touch to an extreme, carefully laying the barely breathing Yun Yao flat on the bed.
After doing this, Jiu Baiyun almost reflexively jumped back a big step, instantly creating distance from the bed.
Only then did his gaze fall back to Yun Yao, unconscious on the bed.
Seeing her pale face and the gruesome wounds that went deep to the bone, his brows knitted tightly, and a troubled look appeared on his face.
Just now he hadn’t thought that far.
Now he remembered: his own house didn’t have any medicine at all!
He instinctively looked again at the terrible wounds on Yun Yao’s shoulder and abdomen.
The dark red blood was seeping more slowly, but it was still slowly soaking her torn clothes and the rough bed boards beneath her.
Without medicine to stop the bleeding, disinfect, and bandage, just blood loss and infection alone would be enough to kill her.
Not to mention that she might have even more serious internal injuries or residual foreign spiritual energy inside her.
“Yao Hu!”
Jiu Baiyun immediately placed his hope on the Yao Fox Demon Venerable.
“What do we do now?”
He couldn’t just watch her die right here in his place…
‘First, use spiritual energy to stop her bleeding.’
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s voice quickly responded, and Jiu Baiyun immediately understood her meaning.
“So… that thing is on her now?”
‘Yes. Hurry and take it back to restore some of your own spiritual energy!’
Even so, when his gaze swept over Yun Yao, Jiu Baiyun still hesitated.
Forget the fact that taking back something he’d given away felt bad…
Just the thought of frisking someone while she was unconscious wasn’t good…
‘You’re still worrying about that at a time like this?’
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable saw Jiu Baiyun lingering and unwilling to act, and spoke impatiently.
Finally, Jiu Baiyun stopped hesitating.
He quickly leaned down close to the bed.
He reached out his hands, carefully avoiding the deepest wound on Yun Yao’s shoulder, and gently probed inside her blood-stained collar.
His fingertips touched the cold, sticky fabric soaked through with blood.
Jiu Baiyun suppressed his discomfort and patiently felt around in the lining of her collar.
The unconscious Yun Yao seemed to sense the touch and let out an extremely faint moan of pain, her brows tightening painfully, and her body instinctively flinched.
This subtle reaction made Jiu Baiyun freeze instantly, holding his breath, until he confirmed she wasn’t reacting further.
Then he carefully continued his search.
Soon, his fingertips touched a warm, hard object about half a palm in size.
Found it!
Jiu Baiyun’s heart relaxed.
He immediately used two fingers to carefully pull the jade token out from the collar lining.
The jade was warm and smooth.
The bloodstains on it looked especially glaring in the dim light, but he could clearly sense the spiritual energy fluctuation contained within.
Without further hesitation, Jiu Baiyun immediately sat cross-legged on the floor by the bed.
The spiritual energy stored in the jade token began to flow continuously, strand by strand, through his palm and into his body under his circulation.
However, Jiu Baiyun did not indulge in the comfort of his own spiritual energy recovery.
When he felt that the energy flowing into his body was enough to sustain a small spell, he unhesitatingly interrupted the absorption process.
His gaze fell again on Yun Yao’s wounds.
Jiu Baiyun’s expression was very grave.
Without much deliberation, Jiu Baiyun pressed his fingers together, and a faint golden light glowed at their tips.
He quickly pointed at the deepest, fastest-bleeding wound on Yun Yao’s shoulder.
The faint golden spiritual energy light touched the upturned skin and flesh, making a slight sizzling sound, accompanied by a faint smell of scorching.
The unconscious Yun Yao trembled violently, letting out a groan of pain, and cold sweat immediately beaded on her forehead.
As if the pain was too intense, Yun Yao’s eyes opened a slit.
“Is it… you…”
Her vision was blurry, but she could faintly make out that familiar characteristic.
She wanted to reach out a hand, but soon sank back into unconsciousness.