White Dew stuffed handful after handful of pills into her mouth. Her expression was grim as she immediately sat down cross-legged and began to recover her Lingli.
She had to recover quickly.
She had to restore her strength as fast as possible so she could go back for Jiang Huai.
‘I don’t know how he’s doing right now. Did he manage to break through the encirclement?’
White Dew remembered her lover’s pale, bloodless face from the moment she left.
He had looked like a man on the verge of death.
Recalling his cries for her to leave, a wave of unbearable grief washed over her.
Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
‘He said he had a way, but does he really? What could he possibly do?’
‘No, I will definitely go back to save you. Wait for me… please, you must wait for me.’
‘Once I recover 70% — no, 30% — of my Lingli, I will go back and rescue you. I will bring you back.’
The vitality transmitted through the White Dragon Mark was becoming weaker and weaker, to the point where she could barely feel it.
This symbolized that Jiang Huai’s life force was on the verge of vanishing.
White Dew began to digest the medicinal power frantically.
She absorbed the turbulent Lingli from her surroundings with almost no refinement, ignoring the risk of her Meridians rupturing.
She absorbed it all with reckless abandon.
Not far away, Chihuang stood with red-rimmed eyes as she tended to the heavily injured Dragon Race Elite.
She suddenly noticed that the Lingli in the area was being violently drained.
A rotating vortex formed in the sky, gathering toward White Dew’s location.
Clearly, White Dew no longer cared about the side effects or the purity of the refined Lingli.
Haunted by the uncertainty of Jiang Huai’s life or death, her only thought was to bring him back as quickly as possible.
Even if… even if…
White Dew didn’t dare to finish the thought. Her heart simply could not accept such an ending.
Even though she had lived through the wars of the Primordial Era, the thought that her lover and the father of her child might sacrifice himself on this battlefield caused her to feel a sharp, heart-wrenching pain.
A moment later, after Chihuang had settled the wounded Dragon Race Elite, she cautiously spoke to White Dew.
“Clan Leader White—”
She wanted to ask what would happen to Jiang Huai. Should they go back to save him, or should they retreat?
If the order was to retreat, she wouldn’t do it.
Even if Jiang Huai and her Honored Master were dead, she would go back to retrieve their bodies, even if she had to die there.
She couldn’t bear the thought of Jiang Huai and her Honored Master being left without a proper burial.
Her proud nature allowed her to face death, but it would not allow her to commit such a shameful act.
White Dew suddenly snapped her eyes open.
She stood up abruptly and gazed into the distance.
In an instant, she transformed into a streak of white light and vanished, moving so fast that only an afterimage remained.
Chihuang opened her mouth, but before she could regain her senses, she saw White Dew returning with a heavy expression.
In her left hand, White Dew carried a sickly Little Red Dragon that was only a few inches long. This was her Honored Master, Chi Hong.
In her right hand, she held what looked like a dried corpse. It was as if the muscles and blood had completely vanished, leaving only a layer of skin wrapped around bones. It resembled a body that had been withered by the wind.
Chihuang couldn’t recognize who it was at first, but she knew that this was Jiang Zhun.
White Dew placed Chi Hong into Chihuang’s arms, then shakily lowered Jiang Huai to the ground and knelt beside him.
Her face was filled with sorrow, and her lips trembled uncontrollably.
Looking at Jiang Huai’s withered face, she reached out with her left hand to gently touch his cheek, while her right hand attempted to funnel Lingli into his body.
But his Meridians were blocked, and even his blood and muscle had nearly vanished. How could he receive any Lingli?
“Wuuu…” White Dew watched her lover dying before her eyes. Seeing his inhuman, tragic state, she let out a low whimper.
The sound grew louder over time until it turned into a heart-piercing howl. Tears fell like rain.
White Dew, who usually remained expressionless, seemed to suffer a total breakdown.
She hunched over, her hands repeatedly striking the ground as cries of agony escaped her.
“It’s not supposed to be like this! It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Husband Lord!”
“Didn’t you tell me to listen to you? Husband Lord, wake up…”
She wailed and called out to Jiang Huai, as if trying to wake the man before her, wanting him to open his eyes and look at her.
“Husband Lord, my Husband Lord…” She choked on her sobs, throwing her head back in a painful howl, her face washed with tears.
She would rather it had been her or Chi Hong who died — anyone but him. She didn’t want to see Jiang Huai die here.
How was she supposed to face Jiang Huai’s other women? How was she supposed to explain this to her daughter?
Her cries shook the heavens. Nearby, the sickly Chi Hong, who had escaped the dark clouds of the demons, lifted her head to look at the man lying there.
This was the fated one who had rescued her.
When he had swung his sword to part the clouds earlier, he clearly still looked like Jiang Huai. Now, it was hard to tell if he was even alive.
She vaguely remembered that after saving her from the clouds, Jiang Huai had fought another fierce battle with the Outworld Heavenly Demons before finally managing to get her out.
Chi Hong didn’t know how to describe her current feelings; she simply stared silently at Jiang Huai.
Lying on the ground like a dried corpse, Jiang Huai’s mouth moved slightly, emitting an extremely faint sound.
Though it was very quiet and almost indistinguishable, like the wind brushing against grass, the ears of a cultivator could still pick it up.
“So cold… I’m so cold…” Jiang Huai’s lips quivered.
“Qingyue…”
He felt so cold. There wasn’t a single spot on his body that provided warmth; it was as if he were soaking in rootless ice water, chilled to the bone.
Jiang Huai had always preferred warm places and cozy dwellings.
At this moment, he was so cold that he only wanted to go home, back to Longyin Hall in the Nine Heavens Palace.
He wanted to return to Qin Qingyue’s embrace.
She would often hold him close and use her massive Dragon Tail to cover him, making him feel as though he were lying in boundless, soft warmth.
White Dew stopped her wailing, overcome with wild joy.
She quickly pressed her ear against Jiang Huai’s heart and placed her right hand on his wrist to check his pulse.
His heart began to beat faintly, but it was incredibly weak, like a flickering candle in the wind or a lamp in the rain that could go out at any moment.
This proved he was still alive. As long as he was alive, that was all that mattered.
“Go home. We’re going home right now. We’re going back.”
With a flash of light from White Dew’s hand, a small Xianzhou appeared before them.
The Xianzhou wasn’t large, only about the size of a few rooms.
Although it wasn’t as grand or tall as the one Qin Qingyue had given to Jiang Huai, it was enough for the group.
She carefully picked up Jiang Huai and rushed into the innermost room of the vessel, which was the most spacious area.
“Bring the other dragons aboard,” White Dew instructed Chihuang without looking back.
A moment later, inside the room.
Jiang Huai lay on the bed at the far end, surrounded by several clusters of warm flames.
White Dew was steering the Xianzhou as fast as she could toward the White Dragon Secret Realm.
Currently, the only ones in the room were Chi Hong, who was curled up to the side, and Chihuang, who was manipulating the flames.
“Cold… cold…”
“I’m so cold, Qin Qingyue,” Jiang Huai murmured unconsciously, repeatedly crying out about the chill.
Even though Chihuang was using her Lingli to ignite the flames, Jiang Huai still felt cold and was clearly in great pain.
Chihuang increased her Lingli, and the clusters of flames suddenly flared up, turning into fireballs that moved closer to Jiang Huai, though she didn’t dare let them get too near.
Unfortunately, the effect was still poor. Jiang Huai continued to feel an incredible cold.
“Honored Master, what should I do? He’s cold.” Chihuang turned anxiously to look at her master, who was currently nursing her injuries.
Chi Hong’s eyelids lifted slightly as she grumbled, “You should just hold him.”
Chihuang froze, biting her lip as a strange look flickered in her eyes.
Then, without hesitation, she began to undress. Her movements were steady and lacked any sense of shyness; there was even a small hint of hidden joy.
She knew her own heart better than anyone.
“Will Clan Leader White Dew blame me?” Chihuang asked Chi Hong cautiously as she set her clothes aside.
This time, Chi Hong didn’t even want to open her eyes. She answered irritably, “Then put your clothes back on.”
Chihuang gave a dry laugh, her face turning red.
She turned around and slipped into the blankets, quietly embracing Jiang Huai’s withered body.
She pressed herself tightly against him, continuously channeling the innate, scorching Dragon Essence of the Red Dragon Clan into him to nourish his body.