Mist drifted over the water’s surface, rising slowly in the dim light.
It was truly rare to find such a qi-rich place in the wasteland.
Qin Qingyue hurried over, lowered Wu Zhaohua from her back, and held her in her arms.
Wu Zhaohua’s body was ice-cold, cold enough that she didn’t seem alive.
Her face was pale as paper, her breathing faint. Only the slight rise and fall of her chest proved she was still breathing.
This battle had drained her immensely. Even a Heavenly Immortal had limits; they were not invincible.
Otherwise, those old foxes in the Immortal Realm wouldn’t have cowered and dared not follow them to this wasteland.
Qin Qingyue placed her into the hot spring.
The hot water soaked through her clothes, spreading the dried bloodstains into patches of pale red ripples.
Wu Zhaohua’s brow furrowed slightly, as if she sensed something, but she did not wake.
Qin Qingyue also stepped into the hot spring, sat behind Wu Zhaohua, lifted her up, and leaned her against her own chest.
She pressed both hands onto Wu Zhaohua’s back, palms against the soaked clothes, and slowly channeled her Dragon Essence into Wu Zhaohua’s body like a trickling stream.
Wu Zhaohua’s back was covered in injuries, crisscrossing scars that were shocking to behold. Even her Heavenly Immortal body had not healed.
Qin Qingyue looked at those scars, her fingers trembling slightly.
She remembered Wu Zhaohua standing guard alone beside her, facing the surging tide of Heavenly Demons alone, remembered how she burned herself, overdrew her life, and slaughtered every last one of those Heavenly Demons.
The steam from the hot spring enveloped them both in a hazy white mist.
Qin Qingyue looked down at Wu Zhaohua’s blood-soaked white clothes, frowned, and simply stripped them off.
The wet fabric clung to her skin, making a soft sound as it peeled away.
She placed the clothes by the pool, then removed her own battle armor and tossed it aside.
The two of them soaked in the hot spring with nothing on.
Qin Qingyue held Wu Zhaohua close, one hand pressed against her lower abdomen, continuously channeling Dragon Essence into her.
The hot spring water carried qi, seeping in through her pores, and together with the Dragon Essence, it warmed and nurtured her damaged meridians.
Day after day passed. Qin Qingyue stayed by Wu Zhaohua’s side without leaving, acting as her guardian.
Perhaps because of Wu Zhaohua’s battle, all the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Attendants in this area had disappeared. Not a single one appeared nearby.
A deathly silence surrounded them, broken only by the gentle sound of the hot spring water stirring.
But Wu Zhaohua still did not wake.
Qin Qingyue gritted her teeth and hesitated for a long time. In the end, she cut her palm, forced out her Life Essence Blood, and using a secret technique, dissolved it into her Dragon Essence before injecting it into Wu Zhaohua’s body.
The moment the Life Essence Blood left her, her face paled a shade.
Many more days passed before Wu Zhaohua slowly regained consciousness.
She opened her eyes, her vision blurry. It took a while before she could clearly see the person before her.
“Where is this?” Her voice was hoarse and weak.
“I don’t know where this is, either,” Qin Qingyue replied.
Her own face was equally haggard. They had both been soaking in the hot spring for days, sustained by the qi in the water, and her own consumption had not been small.
Wu Zhaohua was silent for a moment as her memories slowly returned.
She remembered burning her Original Source, convinced she would die, yet somehow she had survived.
The two of them looked at each other without a word.
In the past, they had been enemies who tripped each other up—you steal my opportunity, I cut you off. They had fought for centuries.
But now, unexpectedly, they had fought side by side for a long time, and were even soaking together in a hot spring, naked.
Qin Qingyue secretly compared their bodies and concluded that her own figure was better, though the physiques of the Black Dragon Clan were generally more upright.
But Wu Zhaohua carried a certain cool, reserved quality—a subtle elegance that concealed a sword. Qin Qingyue felt she herself fell slightly short in that regard.
The silence stretched on, the atmosphere growing increasingly awkward. Qin Qingyue caught sight of the old scars on Wu Zhaohua’s back, and ultimately softened. She spoke first:
“I’m sorry… about the past…”
“The past is the past. No need to bring it up,” Wu Zhaohua interrupted flatly, her tone unreadable.
Qin Qingyue opened her mouth to speak, but in the end, said nothing more.
The two fell silent again. In truth, when they weren’t fighting side by side, the atmosphere had always been this quiet. Neither wanted to bother with the other.
But at this moment, Qin Qingyue wanted to say something, while Wu Zhaohua remained silent as ever.
The hot spring water stirred gently, white mist coiled around them, and only each other’s breathing was clearly audible.
After a while, Wu Zhaohua turned her head to look at Qin Qingyue, her brow furrowing slightly.
“Why does your face look so awful?”
“It’s nothing.” Qin Qingyue turned away.
Wu Zhaohua ignored her evasion, reached out, and grabbed her wrist. Her expression changed slightly.
Qin Qingyue’s Original Source was also damaged—though not as severely—but it was clearly a recent loss.
“Was it to save me?” Wu Zhaohua asked.
Qin Qingyue was silent for a moment before saying, “Courtesy for courtesy.”
The two fell silent again.
Wu Zhaohua released her hand and lowered her gaze.
The pool water was clear, revealing their bodies beneath the surface.
Qin Qingyue was tall and slender, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, smooth lines, and pale skin that glowed softly in the water. A Black Dragon’s tail swished through the water.
Wu Zhaohua was shorter, her form more delicate, but with well-proportioned bones—flesh where it should be, slim where it should be.
Their two figures appeared and disappeared within the mist.
After a long silence, Qin Qingyue spoke again.
“What I did in the past was wrong.”
Wu Zhaohua looked up at her.
“Back then, in the Secret Realm, I shouldn’t have taken your things. You probably don’t remember—that was during the Foundation Establishment period.”
“And during the Nascent Soul stage, I shouldn’t have taken over that treasured land while you were injured.”
Wu Zhaohua’s gaze hardened. She was silent for a moment, then said:
“Back then, I shouldn’t have brought Yu Rong and Bai Lei to intimidate you. You had just been driven out of the Dragon Race. Your situation was already hard.”
Qin Qingyue was startled. She had prepared to break the ice alone in awkwardness, but hadn’t expected Wu Zhaohua to respond.
The two fell into silence again.
This silence lasted longer than before, because they both realized that the next topic they needed to discuss could not avoid that person.
Qin Qingyue simply couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Was she supposed to say, ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have taken your man’?
But back then, Jiang Huai had come to her willingly.
She didn’t say it. Wu Zhaohua didn’t say it either.
The two remained silent. Neither spoke Jiang Huai’s name, but both were thinking of him.
After a long time, Qin Qingyue suddenly asked:
“If we could return to the Five Provinces, what would you do?”
Wu Zhaohua was silent for so long that Qin Qingyue thought she wouldn’t answer.
“Nothing much.” Her voice was soft, unreadable.
“Alright.”
In the end, they stopped arguing on this issue. Neither brought it up again.
The hot spring water stirred gently, white mist coiled, shrouding their figures in a hazy veil.
“Jiang Huai, do you not understand Dragon language? I told you just a little bit was enough, so why did you…” Ao Yao covered her slightly bulging belly, speaking angrily.
What a bastard. He clearly knew she was petite, so how could he be so excessive?
Jiang Huai tilted his head and protested, “How could that happen? How can one produce only a little?”
“Don’t you understand?”
What man can release only a little and hold back the rest?
Ao Yao shot him a glare, then glanced at the Azure Dragon Mark on his leg. She took small steps to the side and gently pulled out the short sword.
“When we get out, you’re coming with me to the Azure Dragon Clan to see the Clan Leader and apologize on behalf of my Honored Master for what Qin Qingyue did to her!”