77: Chapter 77 Zhao Ling'er's Courage

"Linger," Wang Sheng's voice still held the lingering resonance of a smile, like a golden bell tolling across the savage sunset.

"Hmm?" Her voice was muffled, coming from his back, as if a Spirit Sound Master had hidden her most cherished musical note inside the softest cotton of the savage wild.

"After we go back, I have something to tell you."

At that moment, Zhao Linger's heartbeat, like the sweetest melody, completely lost control amidst the savage sunset.

She did not know what he was going to say, but the instinct of a Spirit Sound Master told her that the sun-like heart, when speaking those words, beat at the exact same frequency as when she had said, "Let me lean on you forever, okay?"

She buried her face deeper into his back, her petite body pressed against his spine, just like a spirit bird returning to its nest; her warm breath flowed over his skin like a spring brook.

Her left hand tightened unconsciously at the edge of his collar, her slender fingers gripping the edge of his golden armor, as if a Spirit Sound Master were clutching her most cherished instrument, never to let go again.

The setting sun sank completely into the canopy of the Savage Beast Forest, the golden-red pillars of light vanished, and the night, like the softest curtain, covered the entire forest.

But between Wang Sheng and Zhao Linger, between that pressed-together back and chest, a light warmer than the sunset was slowly rising.

Murong Xue glanced at the two figures leaning on each other in the twilight from behind, and the corners of the Holy Light Knight's mouth curved upward.

She turned to look at Liu Ruyan, and a trace of knowing amusement flashed in the Phantom Assassin's misty eyes.

Neither of them said anything, simply speeding up their pace with tacit understanding, leaving more distance for the two in front.

The silhouette of Guangming Village gradually emerged in the twilight.

The Lingxi River took a turn at the village entrance, its water shimmering with a silvery-blue light in the twilight, resembling a ribbon woven from moonlight by the gods of the wild, encircling the village.

The wooden fence of the primary defensive wall stood like a circle of silent guards in the twilight, and the spirit crops in the spirit fields rustled in the night wind, like the gentlest chorus on the Savage Beast Continent.

At the village entrance, Shen Xun'er was already waiting with people.

The Moonlight Priestess stood at the very front of the village entrance, her moon-white ceremonial robes appearing in the twilight like a banner woven from moonlight by the gods of the wild.

Her jet-black long hair cascaded like a waterfall in the evening breeze, and her moist, almond-shaped eyes shimmered with a silvery-blue light in the twilight.

Her perception detected Wang Sheng's Holy Light aura while the party was still far away; that sun-like, warm golden aura was like an eternal lighthouse in the savage twilight.

However, she also sensed something else: wrapped within Wang Sheng's Holy Light aura was another person's spiritual energy fluctuation, very weak, like a candle in the wind. It was the spiritual energy of a Spirit Sound Master—Zhao Linger's spiritual energy.

Her heart skipped a beat, not out of jealousy, but out of worry.

When she saw Wang Sheng walking from the twilight carrying Zhao Linger on his back, her breath hitched slightly.

On Wang Sheng's broad back, Zhao Linger's petite body looked like a weary little cat, her left arm wrapped around his neck, her right arm swathed in white bandages, and her small face still slightly flushed.

That was not just the weakness after being injured; there was something else, and Shen Xun'er, being a Moonlight Priestess, could tell.

Zhao Linger's small face was flushed not just with the paleness of weakness and the faint purple of the toxin, but also with a rosy glow as if soaked by the sunset, spreading from her cheeks all the way to her earlobes.

"Is she injured?" Shen Xun'er stepped forward quickly, her moist, almond-shaped eyes falling immediately on the white bandage on Zhao Linger's right arm, her voice carrying a trace of imperceptible tension. The Moonlight Priestess's perception was like a precise net.

The moment she approached Zhao Linger, she captured the fluctuation of the residual Shadow Power toxin within her body, like the most ancient curse of the Savage Beast Continent slowly writhing beneath her fair arm.

Zhao Linger poked her head out from Wang Sheng's back, her baby face still flushed like a spirit flower splashed with the pigments of the sunset by the gods of the wild. But when she saw the worry in Shen Xun'er's eyes, a trace of bashful shyness added to that rosy glow.

"Sister Xuner, I'm fine. It's just that the toxin hasn't been completely cleared, and the Chieftain insisted on carrying me."

Her voice returned to that soft, spoiled, and sweet tone, but within that softness was something she hadn't had before, resembling the gentlest lingering resonance of a Spirit Sound Master.

Shen Xun'er glanced at the bandage on her right arm; the dark purple toxin marks were faintly visible through the gaps in the bandage, like dark veins on white jade. Then she looked at Wang Sheng, and Wang Sheng nodded slightly.

That nod had no extra explanation, but Shen Xun'er understood everything. The Moonlight Priestess's perception could do more than just sense spiritual energy fluctuations.

She could sense the subtle changes in the auras between Wang Sheng and Zhao Linger, a resonance as if two strings had been tuned to the same frequency by the gods of the wild.

"Hua Jieyu." Her voice was gentle yet decisive, like moonlight falling into the Lingxi River—gentle but not lacking direction.

"Linger's injuries, I'll leave them to you."

Hundred Herb Medical Immortal Hua Jieyu had already been waiting. She walked out of the medical tent, her gentle, water-like, girl-next-door face bearing a focused expression, and her almond-shaped eyes held a gentle smile.

But in that smile was the seriousness of a healer facing a patient. Green spiritual energy condensed in her palms, like two emerald flames bestowed by the gods of the wild, exuding the fragrance of medicinal herbs.

"Leave it to me." Hundred Herb Medical Immortal Hua Jieyu's voice was like a spring breeze brushing over the Spirit Garden—gentle, steady, and inexplicably reassuring.

Her long, fair fingers gently rested on the bandage on Zhao Linger's right arm, and spiritual energy, like a verdant stream, seeped in from her fingertips.

Sensing the extent of the Shadow Power toxin's spread, she said, "The toxin has been mostly suppressed, but the residual Shadow Power needs time to be cleared. I need to use medicinal herbs to assist in the treatment; it will take about three days to completely clear it."

Nature Druid Su Mengyao had arrived as well.

Nature Druid Su Mengyao walked from the direction of the Spirit Garden, her emerald-green long hair like a banner woven from verdant green by the gods of the wild in the twilight, fluttering gently in the evening breeze, and her emerald eyes were as gentle as a spring lake.

In her hands, she held a bottle of emerald-green spiritual medicine, the bottle shimmering with the silvery-blue light of moonlight. It was the "Moonlight Healing Dew" she had specially prepared from the Spirit Garden, concocted from the pollen of moonlight rose and the spiritual fluid of frost moon orchid.

The spiritual medicine exuded a faint, refreshing fragrance interwoven with the scent of flowers and moonlight, as if the essence of all the spirit flowers in the Spirit Garden had been concentrated into a bottle of emerald nectar.

"Linger," Nature Druid Su Mengyao crouched in front of Zhao Linger, her emerald eyes as gentle as a spring lake, shimmering with a light interwoven with emerald green and silvery blue in the twilight.

"Let me see your arm."

She gently untied the bandages, unwinding them circle by circle, as if stripping layers of silver thread from white jade. The dark purple toxin marks were revealed, looking like ink splashed onto a fair canvas by the brush of Shadow Power in the twilight.

The toxin marks had faded much more than before, changing from deep dark purple to light dark purple, but they had not yet completely faded, looking like a tattoo drawn with shadows by the gods of the wild, striking and shocking on her fair, jade-like arm.

Nature Druid Su Mengyao poured the Moonlight Healing Dew into her palm; the emerald-green spiritual medicine looked like flowing jade between her slender, fair fingers. She gently applied it to the toxin marks.

The verdant Power of Nature and the moonlight spiritual energy intertwined at her fingertips, like two colors bestowed by the gods of the wild painting on Zhao Linger's fair arm, and the toxin marks faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The dark purple veins seemed to be slowly swallowed by the emerald and silvery-blue light, from deep purple to light purple, from light purple to pale pink, and from pale pink to fair skin, as if the shadows were retreating step by step before the dual power of light and nature.

Nature Druid Su Mengyao's fingers applied it gently, her movements like a Nature Druid pollinating spirit flowers in the Spirit Garden—gentle, meticulous, and carrying a warmth like a spring breeze brushing against one's face.