22: Chapter 22 Unconcealable Feelings

Wang Sheng released her hand and grasped her shoulders instead.

"Frost Mage Lin Shiyun, look at me."

She raised her head, seeing his face through tear-blurred eyes; his complexion was pale, but his gaze was steady.

The wound on his left flank was still oozing blood, yet he stood as straight as a pine.

The hands gripping her shoulders, though frozen blue, were steady and strong.

"I am fine." He repeated, his voice low but as firm as a rock.

"The wound looks frightening, but it didn't hit any vital organs. With Shen Xun'er's Moonlight Blessing and Hua Jieyu's medicinal herbs, it will heal in three days."

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun bit her lower lip, but her tears still wouldn't stop.

She reached out to touch the wound on his left flank, but her fingertips trembled and stopped an inch away from the fabric.

She didn't dare to touch it, as if one touch would make the wound worsen under her gaze.

"It's all my fault..." She lowered her head, her voice muffled.

"If I had attacked and frozen it from the beginning... you wouldn't have had to take the hit head-on... if only..."

"Frost Mage Lin Shiyun." Wang Sheng interrupted her.

His voice was very soft, but Frost Mage Lin Shiyun looked up abruptly as if struck by something, her ice-blue pupils meeting his gaze.

There was no reproach or perfunctoriness in those eyes, only a sincere and warm gaze that she had never seen from anyone else.

"Thank you for rushing over to save me."

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun was stunned.

"But," she opened her mouth reflexively, her habitual cold words reaching her lips.

But the moment she saw the wound on his left flank, they were all choked back.

Those words like "Who wants to save you" or "Who cares if you live or die" could not be spoken at this moment.

Wang Sheng looked at her; her silver-white hair was covered in frost like a snow crown, and the aftermath of tears and fear still lingered in her ice-blue pupils.

Her tall, slender figure under her mage robes trembled slightly after the spiritual power surge, and undried tears still hung on her snow-pale face.

With skin like ice and bones like jade, she was peerlessly cold and beautiful, yet at this moment, she was as fragile as an ice lotus crushed by a blizzard, heartbreakingly beautiful.

"Your spiritual power surged just now because you were afraid something would happen to me."

His voice was calm but firm. "Every time I get injured, you rush over. During the Beast Tide, you froze three Iron-Backed Wolves to buy me time.

Last time we explored the Savage Beast Forest, you were constantly using Frost Spell to clear the path and protect me. You like me, did you think I couldn't tell?"

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's body stiffened for a moment.

Although her mouth said, "Who likes you, who wants to marry you," her body was very honest as she leaned forward toward Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng curled his lips slightly, his tone carrying a gentleness she had never heard before.

"Frost Mage Lin Shiyun, you can fool everyone, but you cannot fool yourself."

Her ice-blue pupils trembled violently.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun stepped back, as if scalded by his words.

Her silver-white hair fluttered behind her, and the hem of her mage robe dragged across the ice, making a rustling sound.

Her lips parted twice; she wanted to say something but couldn't say anything at all.

The icy shell she had carefully maintained for four years cracked at this moment.

What seeped out from that crack was not cold, but a burning temperature that had been suppressed for too long.

"I..."

Her voice got stuck in her throat.

Then Shen Xun'er rushed over.

"Wang Sheng! Why are you still standing when you're injured like this!" The High Priestess's aura was fully unleashed.

Her almond eyes were full of heartache and annoyance, and her moon-white ceremonial robes fluttered in the morning breeze. "Sit down! Hua Jieyu! Medicinal herbs!"

Hua Jieyu came running with the medicine box, followed closely by Warm Sun Warlock Wen Qingxue, whose golden light spread over Wang Sheng's wound like a warm blanket.

Shen Xun'er's Moonlight Blessing followed, enveloping the wound in silver-blue moonlight, stopping the bleeding.

However, the flesh was healing slowly; the damage caused by a Rank 4 Barbarian Warrior's claw strike could not be healed in a moment.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun stood a few steps away, her ice-blue pupils watching him sit on the ice to receive treatment, her lips pressed into a thin line.

She bent down to pick up her staff and turned to leave. Her pace was fast, her silver-white hair fluttering behind her like snow, and her long legs under her mage robe moved with quick, large strides.

"Frost Mage Lin Shiyun." Wang Sheng's voice came from behind.

She did not stop.

But her fingers gripping the staff trembled slightly, and the ice-blue spiritual power bloomed and extinguished silently at the tip of the staff, like an indecisive heart.

After the Iron-Armored Bear was frozen, Murong Xue delivered the fatal strike with her spear.

Shen Xun'er and Hua Jieyu joined forces to treat Wang Sheng's injuries; the bone powder from the shattered Savage Beast target was prepared by Hua Jieyu into a bone-setting paste.

Combined with the effects of the Moonlight Blessing, the wound had already started to scab within three hours.

The freezing damage to the spiritual fields and medicinal gardens was not small, but Su Mengyao used the Power of Nature to stimulate the growth of each plant, and most of the spiritual plants were saved.

The frozen section of the Lingxi River thawed naturally under the afternoon sun.

Pei Yanzhi inspected the frozen tents and sighed, shaking her head; the spiritual fabric of the six tents had all become brittle and ruined, requiring them to be re-woven.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun stood alone on the cliff above the upper reaches of the Lingxi River.

The setting sun dyed the river golden-red, her silver-white hair fluttered gently in the evening breeze, and her ice-blue pupils reflected the shimmering, gold-dust ripples on the water.

Her mage robe rustled in the wind, and her tall, slender figure in the sunset silhouette was like an unsheathed sword of ice—cold, sharp, and solitary.

But her eyes were still red.

"It was I who caused him to be injured." She said in a low voice, her words scattered by the evening breeze.

"If I had used my full power from the start, the Iron-Armored Bear would never have been able to reach him. But I hesitated... I hesitated for a fraction of a second because I was afraid that consuming too much spiritual power would affect the subsequent battle, and because I thought he could block it..."

"If I had attacked a little earlier, he wouldn't have been injured."

Zhao Linger appeared behind her at some point. Her doll-like face was uncharacteristically devoid of playfulness, and her large eyes were full of seriousness:

"Sister Frost Mage Lin Shiyun, do you know what the Chieftain did when your spiritual power was surging out of control?"

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun did not speak.

"He stood up, walked across the ice field you froze, walked to you step by step, and took your hand."

Zhao Linger said softly, "His left flank was still bleeding, his fingers were frozen blue, but he didn't have any hesitation. He only had one thought: to make you stop so you wouldn't hurt yourself."

"That idiot, he was so badly injured himself, yet he still ran over to comfort me..."

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's voice grew softer and softer, finally turning into a sigh that was almost inaudible.

Zhao Linger walked to her side and looked up at her; the sunset reflected in Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's ice-blue pupils like gold dust sinking into cold ice.

On that peerlessly cold and beautiful face, there was an imperceptible tear track.

The doll-faced Spirit Sound Master suddenly smiled, her voice very light and warm:

"Sister Frost Mage Lin Shiyun, you are not an iceberg. Icebergs don't cry, don't get afraid, and don't have spiritual power surges. You've just been pretending not to care all this time."

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun was silent for a long time.

The setting sun turned from golden-red to dark purple, and the last trace of shimmering light on the Lingxi River disappeared into the twilight.

She finally spoke, her voice very soft, as if speaking to herself: "I know I care. I have always known. But..."

"But what?"

"Shen Xun'er is already his wife." Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's voice was as calm as water, but there were undercurrents surging beneath that surface.

"She is the squad leader, the High Priestess, the primary wife. What am I? A Frost Mage who keeps a cold face and opposes him all day?"

Zhao Linger tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said: "Sister Shen Xuner is never petty, you should know that. Besides, the Chieftain is not the type of person who only looks at status."

"I am not talking about the issue of status."

"Then what are you talking about?"

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun did not answer. She turned around, her silver-white hair sweeping across like a streak of moonlight in the twilight.

Her ice-blue pupils looked toward the direction of the silver-blue light dome of the camp in the distance; under the light dome, Wang Sheng's figure moved between the tents.

His left flank was wrapped in spiritual cloth bandages, and his pace was much slower than usual, but he was still inspecting the damage to the camp.

Her gaze followed his figure, lingering for a long, long time.

Until he walked into the Chief's Tent and the tent curtain fell.

Only then did Frost Mage Lin Shiyun withdraw her gaze and turn to walk into the depths of the night.

Her silver-white hair was like a streak of walking moonlight in the darkness, cold and lonely.

But her hand, the hand holding the staff, was no longer cold at her fingertips, because that person's warmth still lingered on the back of her hand like an invisible brand.

The iceberg had cracked open.

The light seeping through the crack was warmer than moonlight and softer than holy light.

It would not make the iceberg melt in a single day, but the crack had already appeared.

From now on, every eye contact, every brush past each other, and every instinctive reaction of her rushing forward when he was injured would make that crack wider and deeper.

Until one day, the iceberg would completely collapse, revealing the burning heart beneath.

At night, inside the Chief's Tent.

Shen Xun'er sat by the fire pit, changing the dressing for Wang Sheng; the silver-blue light of the Moonlight Blessing enveloped the wound on his left flank.

The new flesh healed at a visible speed under the nourishment of the moonlight.

Her touch was gentle, but when she changed it to the edge of the wound, she couldn't help but press down hard; it was intentional.

"Hiss, be gentle."

"You deserve it." Shen Xun'er glared at him with her almond eyes, but the tenderness in the depths of her eyes could not be hidden.

"You took a Rank 4 Barbarian Warrior's attack head-on? You are a Holy Light Warrior, not an iron-armored warrior; is your defense strong enough to withstand a Rank 4 Barbarian Warrior's claw strike?"

"When the Iron-Armored Bear charged at the altar, if I didn't block it, who would?"

"You could have dodged and then counterattacked! Murong Xue was nearby, Frost Mage Lin Shiyun was on the cliff; you had ten thousand choices!"

"There was no time." Wang Sheng looked at her almond eyes, which were full of heartache amidst the annoyance.

This contradictory expression only appeared on Shen Xun'er's face when he was injured.

"But I'm fine, look, it started scabbing in half a day."

Shen Xun'er bit her lower lip, re-wrapped the spiritual cloth bandage, and tied a knot.

Then she looked up, a hint of complex emotion flashing in her almond eyes: "Frost Mage Lin Shiyun's spiritual power surge today was because you were injured."

"I know."

"You know how she feels about you..."

"I know." Wang Sheng's voice was calm but firm, "I know everything."

Shen Xun'er was silent for a moment.

Then she said something in a low voice; it was very soft, but there were only two of them in the tent, and every word was as clear as an engraving:

"She is a good girl. I can tell; she was truly afraid that something would happen to you."

Wang Sheng took Shen Xun'er's hand.

"First, get your wound healed."

Shen Xun'er looked up at him, her almond eyes curving, and her tone recovered the composure and generosity of the primary wife, "As for the rest, we will talk about it later."

Outside the tent, the Lingxi River flowed with a gurgling sound. The silver-blue light dome flowed like a galaxy in the night, and the moonlight shone into the tent through the skylight, falling on their clasped hands like a layer of silver gauze.

And at the other end of the camp, Frost Mage Lin Shiyun stood alone on the cliff, her silver-white hair fluttering like snow in the night wind, her ice-blue pupils looking at the stars filling the sky.

Her staff was held in her hand, and the warmth of the day still lingered on her fingertips.

She reached out and covered the back of her hand, the hand he had held.

Beneath her cold fingertips, there was a faint hint of warmth that did not belong to frost.

The crack in the iceberg was silently widening in the night.