78: Chapter 78 Tears and Smiles

Zhao Linger watched Su Mengyao's gentle movements, watched the concern in her emerald eyes without a hint of resentment, watched her slender white fingers touching her arm as softly as a spirit flower, and watched the smile on her lips that bloomed like a hundred flowers. Suddenly, her nose tingled.

"Sister Mengyao,"

Her voice was small, just like the faint notes of a Spirit Sound Master.

"Are, are you not jealous?"

Su Mengyao's fingers paused slightly.

She raised her head, her emerald eyes meeting Zhao Linger's large, round eyes. Those eyes were shimmering with tears, seemingly like the clearest spring water on the Savage Continent glistening in the moonlight.

Su Mengyao was stunned for a moment, and then, she smiled.

That smile was as if a hundred flowers were blooming, like all the moonlight roses in the Spirit Garden blossoming at the same moment, like the warmest spring breeze on the Savage Continent.

"Silly girl,"

She gently flicked Zhao Linger's forehead. The action was as natural an intimacy as an older sister to a younger sister. Her slender white fingers tapped lightly on Zhao Linger's smooth forehead, like a spirit flower petal falling onto the surface of water.

"You are injured, what is there to be jealous of?"

Zhao Linger's nose tingled even more, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Su Mengyao lowered her head and whispered in Zhao Linger's ear.

Her voice was like the whisper of spirit flowers in the Spirit Garden, like the gentlest sigh when moonlight falls into the Lingxi River; only Zhao Linger could hear it.

"Besides, look at how the Chief carried you back; my heart is warm."

Zhao Linger's tears finally fell.

They were not tears of grievance, nor tears of being moved, but a kind of resonance, as if the softest note of a Spirit Sound Master had found the warmest resonance, as if the loneliest traveler on the Savage Continent had finally found a companion.

It was as if the girl who had sat in the third row from the back for three years, secretly listening to a heartbeat, had finally been gently accepted by this world.

She reached out her left hand and grabbed Su Mengyao's hand.

"Sister Mengyao,"

Her voice was choked with sobs, like a slightly trembling note inserted into the most moving melody of a Spirit Sound Master.

"Thank you."

Su Mengyao did not speak, but used her other hand to gently rub Zhao Linger's short hair, as if caressing a spirit flower bent by a storm in the Spirit Garden. The action was as gentle as the mildest spring breeze on the Savage Continent.

Shen Xun'er stood not far away, her moist, almond-shaped eyes watching this scene. Her lips curved slightly, like a crescent moon reflected on the water, and then she turned and walked toward Hua Jieyu, whispering a few instructions regarding the treatment plan for the shadow toxin.

After Zhao Linger was sent to Hua Jieyu's medical tent,

Hua Jieyu and Su Mengyao's joint treatment had already stabilized her injuries. The emerald spiritual power of the Hundred Herb Medical Immortal and the moonlight spiritual power of the Nature Druid were like two gentle rivers,

slowly flowing over the toxic marks on Zhao Linger's right arm. Under the washing of the dual spiritual powers, the dark purple toxin was like shadows being purified by the gods of the Savage Continent, receding bit by bit.

Hua Jieyu advised her not to use spiritual power tonight, letting her spirit meridians repair themselves under the effect of the medicine.

Zhao Linger lay on Hua Jieyu's simple cot covered with Savage Beast hide, her right arm wrapped in new white bandages, her left arm resting on her forehead, her large, round eyes staring at the dome of the tent.

The tent was filled with the fresh fragrance of herbs. The spirit medicine prepared by Hua Jieyu was slowly boiling on the spirit stone stove in the corner, and emerald spiritual energy, like fine mist, permeated the tent.

She closed her eyes.

The hearing of a Spirit Sound Master automatically extended in the quiet environment. She heard the footsteps of the clansmen walking outside the tent, the rustling sound of the Lingxi River flowing, and the murmurs of the spirit crops in the spirit fields whispering in the night wind.

Then,

the tent flap was lifted.

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun appeared at the entrance of the tent.

Her silver-white hair was like snow, glowing with a silver light that seemed to have been plated with warm colors by the gods of the Savage Continent under the warm orange light of the spirit stone lamp inside the tent. Her ice-blue pupils were as cold and indifferent as usual, like deep-sea ice.

Her figure was tall and slender, and the Frost Mage's robe outlined her stunning curves, with a waist-to-hip ratio that could be called the golden ratio. Beneath that cold, sharp outline was something like an undercurrent surging beneath the ice.

She was holding a bowl of iced spirit fruit soup in her hands. Fine ice crystals floated on the surface of the spirit fruit soup, looking like crushed silver in the warm orange light.

She walked to the bedside.

"I heard you were poisoned."

Her voice was like an underground river flowing beneath the ice—cold, calm, without a trace of superfluous emotion.

She placed the bowl on the small table by the bed, and the ice crystals of the spirit fruit soup refracted fine light in the warm orange glow, like the smallest stars on the Savage Continent.

"Iced. To cool off."

Three words, just like three ice beads bouncing off the ice surface, crisp and clean, without a trace of warmth.

Zhao Linger looked at her through teary eyes.

She had just cried in front of Su Mengyao, her large, round eyes were still red, and undried teardrops hung on her eyelashes, seemingly like morning dew on the petals of a spirit flower.

"Sister Shiyun,"

Frost Mage Lin Shiyun did not look at her; she turned and left immediately. Her silver-white hair cascaded like a silver waterfall the moment she turned, glowing with a warm luster in the tent's warm orange light.

But when she reached the entrance, she paused.

She did not look back.

Her silver-white hair glowed with warm orange light in the tent's lamplight, like a bolt of silk dyed by the gods of the Savage Continent with both moonlight and sunset. Her back was tall and slender, and the outline of her Frost Mage robe was like a cold, sharp painting personally sketched by the gods of the Savage Continent.

"You did,"

Her voice was like a warm current beneath the ice.

That voice was different from her usual indifference, different from her usual aloofness; it was like the warm current beneath the deepest ice layer on the Savage Continent that had never been discovered, silently flowing for who knows how many years beneath the seemingly eternal silence of the ice surface.

"well today."

Then, she left.

Her silver-white hair disappeared into the gap of the tent curtain, leaving only the tent curtain swaying gently in the breeze, like a spirit vine curtain plucked by the gentlest fingers of the gods of the Savage Continent.

Zhao Linger held the bowl of iced spirit fruit soup.

The coolness of the spirit fruit soup came through the bowl, like the fingers of a Frost Mage. Beneath the cold surface was the sweet warmth of the spirit fruit soup. She lowered her head and took a sip.

The cool spirit fruit juice slid down her throat, carrying the sweetness after being iced and the unique spiritual power of the spirit fruit, just like the gentlest care delivered by a Frost Mage in the coldest way.

Tears and smiles welled up together.

She held the bowl, her tears like the clearest spring water of the Lingxi River, dropping one by one into the spirit fruit soup, together with the ice crystals, looking like crushed silver in the warm orange light.

"Sister Shiyun,"

Her voice was choked with sobs, but the corners of her mouth were curved, as if a spirit flower had shed tears and bloomed at the same time after a storm.

Night fell.

The night sky of the Savage Continent was like a piece of velvet dyed by the gods of the Savage Continent with the deepest indigo. The stars were like crushed silver scattered by the gods of the Savage Continent, the sound of the Lingxi River was like a gentle accompaniment, and the moonlight poured down like mercury.

Silver-blue light covered the entire Guangming Village, and the silver-blue light on the Ancestral Spirit Altar was like the oldest lighthouse on the Savage Continent in the moonlight.

Zhao Linger's injuries had stabilized after the joint treatment of Hua Jieyu and Su Mengyao. The dark purple toxic marks had largely receded, leaving only shallow, dark pink traces like scars on the petals of a spirit flower.

Hua Jieyu advised her not to use spiritual power tonight, letting her spirit meridians repair themselves under the effect of the medicine.