The growls slowly died down as I drew closer. I wasn't worried though—Bai Ye was more than capable of dealing with those yazis, however many there were. My feet felt light, and I ran so fast that in no time, I was close enough to hear the swoosh of his swords without having to enhance my hearing with spiritual power.
"Bai Ye!" I called again as I turned another corner of the tunnels and saw the back of his white robe come into view, along with a handful of beast bodies spread over the ground. His blade swept a bright arc in the air, and the last yazi in front of him fell. He turned around towards me.
I gave him an apologetic smile. "I know you told me to stay—"
"Behind you!" The urgency in his voice and the terror in his eyes caught me off guard. Behind me? I swirled, realizing belatedly that there were still two yazis alive in this chamber. Both were fully grown, almost twice the size of the one I fought earlier, leaping at me simultaneously from left and right.
My excitement turned into remorse.. Just how many more times would I get myself into trouble like this for not listening to him?
I fumbled for my swords, though I knew it was no use. I wouldn't be able to land a deadly enough cut to stop them. Bai Ye couldn't help me either, since the beasts were too close to me on both sides, and he wouldn't have enough time to aim for two of them with me stuck in the middle.
I watched their salivating jaws open wide in the air. There was no question that they would snap over me any moment, and I braced myself for the worst. But the next second, a warm embrace closed around me from behind, and the world spun in front of my eyes. I heard the yazis bite down behind me, but it wasn't my flesh that their sharp fangs sank into.
It was Bai Ye. He had shielded me with his body, turning me around in his arms and blocking the beasts with his back. Keeping me in his hold, he brought the tip of his sword over in a back-handed cut, and I heard two bodies thump onto the ground.
"Bai Ye!" I jostled out of his arms. My voice trembled—I barely had enough time to fear for myself a moment ago, and the belated terror only added to my new shock and worry. "Where did they get you?" I asked hastily, though before the last word left my mouth, I already saw the blood soaking through his robe over his shoulders.
It was all my fault.
He glanced around and only smiled at me after making sure that no more beasts were lurking nearby. "Nowhere important," he said and started to force the venom out through his fingertip. "It helps to be tall sometimes. They could've bitten into your skull or broken your neck easily, whereas for me, they can only reach my shoulders."
I knew he was trying to talk lightheartedly to ease my mind, but a yazi was no typical mountain beast, and the growing bloodstain on his robe told me his injury wasn't trivial at all. "I'll put some medicine on for you," I said and reached into my supplies.
He stopped me. "It's too dangerous to linger here for long. The spiritual power in this part of the cave … feels strange. Let's get the venom and leave. Other things can wait."
I instinctively wanted to protest, but he already pulled out a few vials from his sack. "Yazi's venom is in its teeth. Press the fang into the bottle carefully, don't touch it with your hands. I'll treat these wounds quickly while you gather what we need."
The last sentence eased me a tiny bit, and I nodded albeit reluctantly. I got to work, going over each dead beast as fast as I could and following his instructions until I filled all the vials with dark, crimson fluid. When I returned to his side, he had already wrapped a simple bandage around his shoulders and back and redonned his clothes.
My heart clenched at the sight. His white robe had turned almost all scarlet behind his back now, with a set of gaping holes on each shoulder and a long claw mark torn all the way across. I tried not to think how deep those cuts might be—they must be worse than I imagined if he had to send me away to gather venom so that I wouldn't see them while he bandaged himself.
How did he not even wince the slightest bit?
"Are you sure you're alright to move?" I ask in almost a whisper. Physical injury aside, the venom must still have lingering effects on his body as well. I remembered with a shiver how I had felt after Chu Xi's spiritual pet bit me. Although I didn't know which of these two venoms was stronger, I was pretty sure that if he hadn't blocked these bites for me, I would've been completely immobilized at the very least, if not killed immediately. He had saved my life, again.
"I'm not that fragile, Qing-er." He winked at my question and stood up, though I didn't miss the slight stumble that he quickly tried to hide. He uttered a cleansing spell on his drenched robe, as if the lack of bloodstain could ease my worries. "Let's not walk in more puddles on our way out." He smiled and took my hand as we started moving again.
At least his paces were steady now, I observed and forced myself to take my eyes off his back. Keeping my attention on his injuries would do no good except distract us at the moment, and I should learn by now to trust his decisions. "Did you fall through that hole in the ground—that seal—earlier as well?" I asked instead.
He shook his head. "The seal was gone once you went through it. But I could still sense your spiritual power and find my way to you, so whatever this portal was, it didn't send you very far." His brow knitted. "I wonder what its purpose was … The fact that the yazis found us here might not be a coincidence."
The chill in the cave suddenly became more obvious, and I shivered a little. This place was getting more and more mysterious. With his injuries, things would turn out even worse for us if we ran into more surprises. "You said the spiritual power here felt strange," I said. "Is it related to the yazis? Or could there be … something else?"
"I can't put it into words. It feels … dark. Somewhat demonic, and somewhat … familiar. I think I might've encountered this type of power before, but I can't remember when or where."
We passed through more tunnels, all of them bearing the same look, no different from what we had seen before. I paid extra attention to my footing this time, though when we ducked under a low column and emerged into a new chamber, my eyes took a while to adjust to the dimness before the night pearl followed through, and I stumbled over something under my feet.
Bai Ye steadied me. When the light trailed behind us through the opening, I saw that whatever lay at my feet wasn't a piece of stone like everything else in the cave. It was white, curved like a sheet of tree bark, rough and cracked on the edges.
"What is it?" I asked.
The look in his eyes grew dark. "Remember what I told you about those cultivators that never returned after visiting these mountains?" he said. "I think we've found them."
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