The stone forest was backed by the towering, cloud-piercing peak of Zhishi Mountain, with lush bamboo groves surrounding it on three sides. Between the stone forest and the bamboo groves lay a ring of scorched earth several feet wide, a stark, unmistakable boundary.
Mei Lin crouched down, closely examining the ground for a while before picking up a pinch of ash-like soil and holding it out to Murong Jing He.
"Look, this has been burned... but why does nothing grow here?" she wondered aloud. After years, the ashes left by a fire should have given way to abundant growth. The realization hit her like a sudden, terrifying discovery, and she quickly threw the soil to the ground, wiping her hands on her clothes. A sideways glance confirmed that Murong Jing He was watching her with thinly veiled amusement.
She pursed her lips and unceremoniously dropped him onto the ground covered in bamboo leaves and husks. Hearing his suppressed groan of pain as she turned away, a small smile tugged at her lips. She tore a strip of cloth from her sleeve, biting it to tighten a tourniquet around the arm that had touched the soil, then hurried toward a nearby stream.
The stream flowed from the peak of Zhishi Mountain, untouched by the scorched earth. The water was clear, and the banks were lush with vegetation, with small animal tracks visible here and there.
Mei Lin plunged one hand into the water, scrubbing it with rough leaves. When she lifted it out, her entire palm was black as ink, just like the charred stones. Sighing, she drew her dagger and cut a cross-shaped wound in her palm, then squeezed her arm from top to bottom through her sleeve, watching as black blood dripped into the stream. In no time, a few small fish floated belly-up to the surface.
"Heartless," she muttered, though her tone carried no real complaint. She knew all too well how ruthless that man could be. If he ever regained his power, she would surely meet a grim end. Besides, she had only saved him out of necessity, so she had no illusions about expecting any gratitude.
As the blood flowing from the wound gradually turned from slow drops to a steady stream, the numbness in her palm slowly faded, first becoming an itching sensation like ants biting, then turning into pain. Finally, the blood regained its bright red color.
After waiting a little longer, Mei Lin untied the cloth strip from her arm. She remained calm as blood gushed from the wound in her palm. She dug through the herbs at her waist, found one to stop the bleeding, chewed it, and spat the paste onto the wound before wrapping it tightly with the cloth strip. Only then did she rise to her feet.
A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she swayed, forcing her to squat down again. She bent over and drank a few gulps of the now-clear stream water, feeling slightly better.
She wasn’t particularly afraid of being poisoned, as her body had been implanted with a slow-acting, periodic poison when she entered the dark workshop, granting her some resistance to other toxins. However, the amount of blood she could afford to lose was limited. A few more instances of blood loss like this, and she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
After cleaning the dagger in the stream, she cut a section of bamboo, filled it with water, and returned to the edge of the bamboo forest. Murong Jing He lay on the ground, his face turned to the side, pressed against the thick layer of dead leaves. It was clear he had fallen face-first and hadn’t moved since. His eyes, though open, showed no anger or resentment, only an unfathomable depth. When he saw her return, he actually smiled and spoke in an unusually gentle tone, "If you’re smart, you’d kill me now. Otherwise, the humiliation of today will be repaid a hundredfold in the future."
Even though Mei Lin had anticipated this, hearing him say it in such a tone still sent a chill through her heart.
"You don’t need to worry about what I’ll do, Your Highness," she said, her expression unchanged. She knelt beside him, rolled him onto his back, and propped him up slightly to begin feeding him the water she had brought back.
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