Chapter 94: Chapter 94: The Pills

“Oh! Coughing up blood, are we?”

Bai Qing’s usually expressionless face showed a subtle smile.

From the first time he met 沉戎, he’d thought this male was deep and calculating. After spending some time together, his suspicions were confirmed—沉戎 was anything but simple.

Hearing Bai Qing’s voice, 沉戎 looked up at him.

This little poker face wasn’t a wolf cub—more likely a tiger cub. He looked cold and aloof, but was actually the proudest of all. Though Bai Qing usually hid behind silence, 沉戎 had seen enough to tell truth from pretense.

“Coughing up blood actually feels better.”

“Oh, and soon I’ll be able to take Chang Xia hunting and foraging again.”

“Shamans are only supposed to live in the Shaman Hall on Kana Sacred Mountain, right?”

Shen Rong was coughing up blood as he muttered to himself, acting as if he hadn’t noticed Bai Qing’s face growing colder and more ashen by the second.

“I heard that insect venom can harm male fertility. You’ve been poisoned pretty badly—it might affect you… Oh! That’s right, Chang Xia loves beast cubs the most. If she found out about this, do you think she’d be heartbroken?” Bai Qing said, wearing an innocent expression while uttering the most terrifying words.

Shen Rong’s face darkened as he locked eyes with Bai Qing.

A long silence.

Then, both of them turned away.

This round, neither had won nor lost.

A draw.

Next—

“Cough, cough!”

Shen Rong soaked in a medicinal bath, still coughing up blood.

Bai Qing stood silently at the doorway, watching him expressionlessly.

Luckily, no one else saw this scene—otherwise, it could have inspired pages of melodramatic tales of love and hate.

Outside, the rain drizzled down.

At this moment, the Twilight Forest had become a world of rain, the entire land shrouded in a watery curtain.

With the arrival of the rainy season, the Twilight Forest was coming fully back to life. After a whole cold season of silence, the forest was awakening; tonight, countless plants and animals would greet the first rain with wild celebration.

Chang Xia was inside her cave dwelling, gazing out through the ironwood window into the pitch-black night. Raindrops hung like a beaded curtain—she felt as if she could simply reach out and lift it aside.

This was the first time since arriving in this world that Chang Xia truly felt the special nature of the first rain in the Twilight Forest. The sensation was indescribably wonderful.

“Chang Xia, this is for you.” Su Ye entered the cave, draped in a cloak.

She handed over a beast-hide pouch.

It was sewn from the same kind of hide as before, so it was obvious that it probably contained more medicinal pills.

Instantly, Chang Xia’s face twisted.

“Grandma Su Ye, can I not take it?” Chang Xia pleaded. “You already gave me a gift earlier—let’s just skip this pouch, okay?”

As she spoke, Chang Xia carefully edged backward.

When it came to pills, Chang Xia truly couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.

After more than ten years of taking medicine, she was sick of it. Now that she’d finally recovered and didn’t need to take any more, seeing Su Ye hand her another pouch made her want to cry.

“What do you think?” Su Ye replied gently.

Chang Xia stubbornly refused, “Grandma Su Ye, I’m already healthy. Besides, you know my bloodline has awakened—I really don’t need any more medicine.”

“These are tonic pills. They’re sweet,” Su Ye said.

“Medicine? Sweet? I don’t buy it,” Chang Xia pouted, still refusing.

“They really are. When have I ever lied to you?” Su Ye said, half amused, half exasperated. Chang Xia was getting more childish as she grew—she used to be such a steady little thing.

At that, Chang Xia thought for a moment and realized it was true.

So, with trembling hands, she took the beast-hide pouch from Su Ye.

“Take one in the morning and one at night. There’s enough here for a month,” Su Ye instructed. “When you finish them, I’ll check your health again and adjust the formula if needed.”

Chang Xia fell silent.

She knew Su Ye was right.

But her rational mind was screaming to refuse.

She was really, truly sick of medicine.

“Cough, cough!” Chang Xia put the pouch away in a rattan basket with her clothes—there was no wardrobe yet, so she had nowhere else to put them. “Grandma Su Ye, do you think Shen Rong will be okay with all that coughing?”

“He’ll be fine… he’s not going to die,” Su Ye said calmly.

Coughing up blood was the least of it.

The medicinal bath was meant to invigorate the blood and clear the meridians, which meant the insect venom in Shen Rong’s body would also be reawakened. The itching and pain would soon follow.

For an ordinary person, the pain would be unbearable.

But with Shen Rong’s toughness, he should be able to handle it.

Hearing this, Chang Xia couldn’t help but shiver.

She remembered the last time Su Ye had said “he won’t die.”

It was when a tribesman had broken his leg.

They’d gone to the Kanar Sacred Mountain to ask Su Ye to come to the Heluo Tribe.

After examining the injury, Su Ye had said lightly, “Don’t worry, he won’t die.”

And indeed, the tribesman hadn’t died.

But he’d wished he had.

For days, his agonized wails echoed through the tribe, day and night.

If even the thick-skinned beastfolk couldn’t help but cry out in pain, it showed just how terrifying Su Ye’s casual “he won’t die” could be.

“N-no way, right?” Chang Xia licked her dry lips, her face paling. Should she go check on him in the storeroom?

“Would I lie and mess with him?” Su Ye said sternly, looking at Chang Xia. Did this silly girl not realize how much effort she’d put in for the Heluo Tribe?

Chang Xia sensed Su Ye’s tone had changed.

She quickly switched tactics.

“Grandma Su Ye, you’re the tribe’s shaman—you’d never play tricks on anyone. It was wrong of me to doubt you. Please don’t be upset!” Chang Xia grabbed Su Ye’s arm, shaking it and acting cute.

Su Ye glared at her, exasperated.

Every time she wanted to scold her, Chang Xia would act all sweet, making it impossible to stay angry.

Cough, cough—

Just then, Shen Rong’s coughing fit started up again.

Chang Xia instinctively tightened her grip on Su Ye’s arm.

He’d been coughing for so long—was he really okay?

“If you’re so worried, just go check on him—” Su Ye hadn’t finished speaking before Chang Xia darted out of the cave and ran straight to the storeroom.

“Grandma Su Ye, I’m going to take a look,” Chang Xia called as she ran, pushing open the storeroom door. “Bai Qing, how’s Shen Rong doing?”

“He’s not going to die,” Bai Qing replied coldly.

She said something—exactly the same words as Su Ye.

Chang Xia rolled her eyes in silence. No wonder, she thought, this kid was raised by Granny Su Ye.

Just look at that—

Whether it was the words themselves or the way they were spoken, it was as if they’d been stamped out of the same mold.

“Chang Xia, I’m fine,” Shen Rong replied to Chang Xia, coughing as he spoke.

Chang Xia looked over and saw a ring of black blood coughed up around the edge of the bathtub. A foul, fishy stench filled the air.

Suddenly, Chang Xia noticed there seemed to be something in the black blood.

She stepped forward, intending to take a closer look at what was hidden in the blood.

“Chang Xia, you can’t get close,” Bai Qing said. “There are parasite worms in the blood he coughed up. If you get too close, you might get infected.”

As he spoke, he pointed to a circle of white powder scattered around the tub.

Clearly, Bai Qing had spread the powder himself.

Its purpose was probably to prevent the parasite worms in the blood from spreading.