Chapter 102 - 101: I am a herbalist

Chapter 102: Chapter 101: I am a herbalist

The woman eventually returned to the crater, her pale-blue fur cloak fluttering as she descended from the edge with a wisp of spiritual energy beneath her boots.

She landed lightly beside the unconscious man, then approached him cautiously, stopping just beyond arm’s reach.

"First, let’s see if you’re still breathing."

She crouched and held two fingers beneath his nose, waiting until she felt a faint stream of air against her skin.

She then checked his pulse with her fingertips, finding it weak but still present.

"Oh, good. You’re not dead yet."

She straightened slightly and examined his condition.

His grey robes were torn and soaked with blood, while the fragments of his shattered mask lay scattered in the snow beside his face.

Judging by the state of his body, he had suffered terrible injuries, and she doubted he would last long if he remained exposed to the freezing wind.

The woman pursed her lips, looking rather troubled.

"If you were dead, I’d have to dig a grave and bury you. Do you have any idea how troublesome that would be in this weather?"

She shook her head, then noticed the storage ring on his finger. Her expression changed almost immediately.

"Of course, if you’re already dead, I suppose I could take this as compensation for burying you."

She leaned closer to inspect the ring, a small smile appearing on her face as she convinced herself that her reasoning was perfectly sound.

"I’m not stealing. I’m simply collecting payment for my labor."

"Alas, it is hard to be a good person nowadays."

With that justification settled, she reached toward his hand.

However, just as her fingers were about to touch the ring, Chen Yuan suddenly moved.

His right hand shot up and seized her wrist.

"AHHH!"

The woman screamed and stumbled backward, instinctively trying to wrench her arm free.

Her spiritual energy surged around her body, and for an instant, she nearly struck him with her free hand.

"W-What?!"

She stared at the man in horror.

Chen Yuan’s fingers remained wrapped around her wrist, but his eyes were still closed.

His bloodied face showed no sign of consciousness, and his breathing remained as faint as before.

The woman swallowed nervously and tried to pull away again.

"Let go! Let go, you corpse!"

As though hearing her complaint, Chen Yuan’s fingers gradually loosened. His hand slipped from her wrist and fell back into the snow, leaving the woman frozen in place.

She stared at him for several seconds before cautiously leaning forward.

"Hey?"

No response.

She waved her hand in front of his face, then checked his breathing once more. Only after confirming that he had passed out again did she finally release the breath she had been holding.

"You nearly scared me to death!"

She clutched her chest and glared at the unconscious man, as though he had deliberately reached out to frighten her.

After a while, her gaze drifted toward the surrounding snowfield. Leaving him here would almost certainly result in his death. The woman looked back at him and sighed.

"I really shouldn’t get involved in something like this."

She rubbed her forehead, then glanced at the storage ring on his finger once more.

"...And now I can’t even take my payment."

She seemed genuinely disappointed.

Then she looked at his pale face and the blood freezing around his robes, and her expression gradually softened.

"Fine. I’ll save you anyway."

She rose to her feet and circulated her spiritual energy, gathering a faint blue glow around her hands.

With a careful motion, she guided the energy beneath Chen Yuan’s body and lifted him from the snow.

His body rose slowly into the air, suspended by her spiritual energy as she guided him toward the forest.

"I hope you’re like super rich you know," she muttered, glancing at his shattered mask. "A payment of 10000 spiritual stones would help a lot."

The woman guided Chen Yuan through the snow-covered forest as she followed a winding trail up the mountainside.

The higher she went, the stronger the wind became, forcing her to tighten her pale-blue fur cloak around herself while carefully maintaining the energy supporting his body.

After passing several rocky outcrops and a narrow ridge, she finally reached the summit, where a wooden house stood on a broad ledge overlooking the endless mountain ranges below.

The house was built against a towering rock face, with its rear wall resting directly against the mountain and its front extending over the steep slope.

Its dark wooden roof was covered in snow, while several stone chimneys released thin streams of smoke into the grey sky.

A narrow wooden bridge connected the entrance to the rocky path, and beneath the eaves hung bundles of dried herbs.

The woman landed on the wooden platform and guided Chen Yuan through the entrance, closing the door behind them with a gentle push.

A wave of warmth immediately greeted her.

Unlike the bitter cold outside, the interior was comfortably warm, heated by a large stone stove near the center of the house.

Red embers glowed beneath an iron pot, and the faint crackling of burning wood.

Several thick rugs covered the wooden floor, while warm blankets had been folded neatly over a cushioned bench beside the window.

Shelves lined the walls, filled with ceramic jars, wooden boxes, glass bottles, and bundles of medicinal plants tied together with thin strings.

Some containers held dried roots and leaves, while others contained powders of different colors.

Near the window stood a long worktable covered with a mortar and pestle, a small balance, several sharp knives, and an assortment of tools used to prepare spiritual herbs.

A faint medicinal fragrance lingered throughout the room, mingling with the pleasant scent of burning wood.

The woman guided Chen Yuan into a separate bedroom and lowered him onto the bed.

The moment his bloodied robes touched the clean bedding, she looked down at the spreading stains and grimaced.

"Ah! My sheets!"

She stared at the dark red marks with genuine distress before turning toward the unconscious man.

"Do you have any idea how long it takes to wash these? I just changed them a few days ago!"

"I should’ve learned the cleaning spiritual technique early on... "

Sigh...

Chen Yuan remained motionless.

The woman puffed out her cheeks before letting out a long sigh.

"Fine, fine. I’ll deal with you first."

She fetched a pair of scissors from a nearby drawer and returned to the bedside.

After hesitating briefly, she began cutting away the torn outer layers of his robes, carefully removing the blood-soaked fabric.

As the damaged clothing came away, more of his injuries became visible.

But the first thing she noticed would be the hefty weapon that the man had hidden after he was fully naked.

The woman gradually stopped complaining as her pupils dilated and her cheeks flaring in red.

"Ooohh... "

She turned her gaze back to the man’s face and then back down there as she couldn’t help but blurted out in shock, "that’s a woman killer."

Though she hurriedly slapped her face and stayed true to her purpose.

Her gaze then discerned the man’s state to understand the degree of injuries better.

Chen Yuan’s body was in terrible condition.

Several patches of skin across his shoulders and chest had blistered and split, with dark bruising spreading beneath the surface.

Thin trails of dried blood ran down his torso, and some wounds had reopened during his fall, leaving fresh stains on the cloth beneath him.

His ribs were badly damaged, their outlines distorted beneath swollen flesh, while the bones around his left shoulder had fractured under the tremendous pressure he had endured.

His arms were covered in smaller wounds, and several places along his forearms had swollen so severely that the skin had turned an unnatural shade of purple.

The damage to his right hand was far worse.

The skin across his fingers had burst open, leaving the flesh raw and bloodied.

Several fingernails had cracked or broken away, while deep fissures extended from his fingertips toward his wrist.

The hand was swollen and discolored, and the exposed flesh looked as though it had been torn apart.

The woman examined everything in silence, occasionally turning his arm slightly or lifting the blanket to check another injury.

Despite the gruesome sight, she showed little sign of disgust.

She had handled injured people before, and the sight of blood was hardly enough to unsettle her.

Still, when she finally looked at his face, she could not help pausing.

His mask had fallen away, revealing a sharp jawline, a straight nose, and features that remained striking despite the blood smeared across his cheek.

There was something devilishly handsome about him, yet the faint softness of his sleeping expression made him appear unexpectedly gentle.

The woman swallowed.

How can someone look this devilish and kind at the same time?

Especially that weapon of his...

I hit a jackpot...

She stared for a moment longer than necessary before abruptly shaking her head and wiping the corner of her mouth with her sleeve.

"Focus! What are you thinking about at a time like this?"

She pulled the blanket back into place and turned her attention to his injuries, her expression becoming more serious as she considered the work ahead.

"I don’t know whether to call you lucky or unfortunate."

She placed two fingers against his wrist again, trying to sense the faintest trace of life within him.

His condition was dire, but he was still alive, and that meant there was a chance she could help him.

The woman rose and walked toward the worktable, where she began selecting several ceramic jars and wooden boxes from the shelves.

"I’m a spiritual herbalist, you know. It’s a rare profession, and there aren’t many people willing to spend their lives growing, identifying, and preparing spiritual herbs instead of cultivating their strength directly."

"It’s a boring spiritual art that should’ve been discarded already from the current era."

She returned with a tray of medicinal ingredients and set it beside the bed.

After arranging the jars, she rolled up her sleeves and looked down at Chen Yuan.

"But bad news..."

She paused, then gave an awkward laugh.

"I’ve never treated a cultivator before. I usually treat mortals down the mountain."

For a moment, she looked at the bloodied man as though hoping he might wake up and offer some advice.

He did not.

"Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?"

She rubbed her hands together, took a deep breath, and began preparing the medicine.