Chapter 6: Taking Action

Su Heng concealed her presence and quietly followed behind Tan Ye.

After so many years, it was rare to encounter something interesting, so of course she couldn’t let it go.

Besides, it wasn’t easy for her to find the person. She had never seen gods or immortals before, and didn’t know if these two species were a bit dull. Anyway, that thing only sought her out, never showed itself, and similarly never made things clear. Its words were all over the place, especially when it came to finding someone, it never explained things clearly.

It would have been fine if it had just told her the location, gender, name, and appearance of the person. But that thing never said any of that from beginning to end. When she pressed it urgently, that voice said it had no way to tell her directly.

Oh, so this was considered cheating in secret, and couldn’t be said outright.

Afraid that speaking directly would be discovered by the Heavenly Dao or something and get struck by lightning?

She figured it out and didn’t confront it verbally anymore, feeling that although she had never seen that fellow, it was also pitiful, sneaking around and cheating like that.

Since it couldn’t be said directly, searching for the person all this way had truly been arduous. After working so hard to finally find the person, how could she easily let them run off like this? No way.

Let alone the matter of transcending tribulation, she had put in so much effort, how could she easily let it go without getting a return on her investment?

Su Heng attached a red thread to Tan Ye’s body. The red threads were all nourished by her flesh, blood and soul, so they naturally formed a contract with her. Tan Ye was currently unable to use spiritual power, so naturally he also wouldn’t detect the red thread she left on his body.

This red thread would remain on his body until he recovered his spiritual power. Once he returned to Chaoyun Sect, she would have the red thread transfer to other disciples. Even if she couldn’t keep an eye on him day and night, someone else would handle matters for her.

She completely concealed her aura and quietly tailed him from behind.

All the items on Tan Ye’s body that could be used to contact his sect, anything she could find, had been discarded. At this moment, relying entirely on himself to contact Chaoyun Sect was not an easy matter.

He wasn’t in a hurry though, walking at a leisurely pace using just his two legs.

The weather in spring changed faster than a child’s face. One moment it was sunny, the next it started raining. And the rain was quite heavy. Cultivators didn’t fear rain, they just had to put up a barrier when it rained. But mortals could only hurriedly find a place to take shelter from the rain.

She played a little trick, making the rainwater above Tan Ye’s head a bit more than others’. That downpour directly drenched Tan Ye.

He went to the nearest inn to avoid the rain. Other people only had their hair and outer robes lightly dampened, but Tan Ye was in a much more bedraggled state. The water had soaked his long hair, and rainwater flowed down from his temples. The outer layer of his robes was also drenched through.

Seeing the contrast between himself and others, he seemed lost in thought for a moment. The next instant, as he stood there, he seemed to sense something and raised his head to look towards the roof beams.

Su Heng was sitting on the roof beam. She had been preparing to watch Tan Ye’s misfortune, but unexpectedly, Tan Ye suddenly turned his head and precisely looked in her direction. Su Heng was slightly surprised, but quickly composed herself. She lowered her head to meet his gaze directly, a hint of provocation and excitement flashing in her eyes.

The two legs under her skirt swung even higher due to her sudden good mood.

However, he only glanced at the roof beam, then had the waiter bring a cup of hot tea.

Su Heng leaped down from the roof beam, landing directly behind him.

She had thought he recognized her just now, but now it seemed he still hadn’t discovered her.

At this moment, he could be considered quite bedraggled. Other people only had a light layer of mist on their hair and robes, but for him, he was completely soaked through.

Water traced down from his temples, flowing past sharp and sword-like angles. His long hair was drenched by the rain, sticking to his back. Compared to the others who came in to avoid the rain with him, he appeared especially unfortunate.

Tan Ye ordered a few small dishes as thanks for taking shelter from the rain at this shop.

The dishes were all small plates. He sat on the long bench and took a sip of the ginger soup the waiter brought over. The ginger soup was hastily prepared, just a few slices of ginger casually added to boiling water. Besides a slight ginger flavor, there wasn’t much else to it. Naturally, it also couldn’t provide much medicinal effect.

From the roof beam, Su Heng smelled the extremely faint ginger scent from the tea cup in his hand. She glanced at the few dishes in front of Tan Ye, unsure if the shop was originally like this or felt that a few small dishes weren’t very profitable. Not only were the portions small, but besides the vegetable dishes, the vast majority contained scallions, ginger and garlic – the perfunctory effort was evident at a glance.

Su Heng propped her chin on her hand, half sympathetic and half delighting in his misfortune. “Weren’t you in a hurry to leave? Now look, these people treat you even worse than I do.”

When she treated Tan Ye’s injuries, she had taken good care of his food and drink. These things weren’t even as good as one of her pine nuts.

She gloated. The Tan Ye sitting below raised his head again to look at the roof beam where she was.

Su Heng lazily sprawled there and directly reached out to wave at Tan Ye, as a greeting. He looked at the roof beam for a little while, but it was completely empty with nothing there.

Tan Ye lowered his head and had just picked up his chopsticks when he saw a few children watching him at the door. Those children didn’t dare come in, only daring to stand at the doorway as the curtain of rain fell upon them. Seeing Tan Ye look over, they hastily averted their eyes.

Tan Ye put down his bowl and chopsticks and beckoned the children to come over. “You all eat.”

On the roof beam, Su Heng watched Tan Ye let the children come to his table and sighed twice. “He really is a good person.”

Then her face sank. “Since that’s the case, I’ll work even harder to torment him.”

“After all, if I don’t put in effort, how will he understand the cruelty of the world?”

Having said that, she laughed again.

Her feet in midair swung with even more vigor.

Tan Ye watched as the children wiped the table clean of the food. At first, the children still had some reservations, but seeing that Tan Ye really let them eat, those reservations all vanished in the end. These children ate one meal without knowing when the next would be. In a whirlwind, the bowls and chopsticks were all left spotless, with nothing left for him.

The weather in early spring was even more changeable than summer. This rainstorm came suddenly and the rainfall was unceasing. That torrential rain had somewhat weakened by dusk when the sky darkened. This kind of weather was obviously not conducive for traveling. Tan Ye simply decided to stay the night at this inn.

From the roof beam, Su Heng watched as he washed up at night, then before long, he developed a high fever.

She hadn’t been human for many years, vivaciously living for centuries. She had long forgotten what illness was. So by the time she noticed something was off with Tan Ye from the roof beam, his condition had already become quite severe.

Demons had innately keen senses. Su Heng could detect the changes in Tan Ye, but she judged him based on herself. It took a good while of hearing his abnormal breathing before she came over to take a look.

Su Heng came down from the roof beam, landing beside his bed.

She stretched out her head to look. This time, Tan Ye was a bit different from when he was poisoned last time. His complexion was flushed red and he lay motionless. Only his intermittent, sometimes heavy breathing indicated his current abnormal state.

Su Heng reached out a finger and poked his forehead, feeling his temperature that was quite different from ordinary people.

“Is this a fever?”

Su Heng poked again. “Serves you right!”

“If you had obediently stayed by my side and not been in such a hurry to leave early, I might have even sent you back if I was in the mood. Since you want to walk on your own, then you can properly suffer.”

With his spiritual power completely sealed, and his body previously damaged by demonic poison, the two factors combined naturally resulted in his current state.

As she spoke, she used a bit more force with her fingertip, poking the Baihui acupoint on his head. The person lying on the bed immediately turned over and vomited.

Su Heng looked at the person bent over the edge of the bed, retching in a complete mess. She stared at her finger in disbelief. She really hadn’t used much strength just now, just a little bit, it shouldn’t be like this, right?!

She saw Tan Ye dry heave a few times. He basically hadn’t eaten anything all day, so at this point there was nothing to throw up.

The feeling of dry heaving was extremely uncomfortable. Tan Ye’s fingers tightly gripped the edge of the bed, his knuckles turning white.

Su Heng looked around. To be honest, this inn really wasn’t great. There was a layer of dust on the table, and the bed emanated a musty odor from dampness. Outside, the sound of rain still pattered. This place could only be said to be slightly better than standing in the rain outside.

Su Heng saw him curl up into a ball and was greatly startled.

Did her action really have such a big effect? Or was he so weak that he couldn’t withstand even that little bit from her?

“Hey?” Su Heng leaned close to his ear and softly called out to him.

Tan Ye had no reaction. Only then did she remember that she had completely concealed her aura and form. In his current state, he simply couldn’t sense anything from her.

She placed a fingertip on his brow. That heat wasn’t much to her, but for an ordinary person, it was already very dangerous.

“Should I take action?” Su Heng asked in her heart.

She waited for a bit, but there was no response.

That thing sometimes suddenly popped up, while other times there wouldn’t be a sound for several days. Its appearances were very random and nonchalant.

Su Heng directly brought her face up close to his. His complexion was extremely unsightly, and his lips were chapped. He looked even worse than when she saved him. “I heard that when mortals have a fever, if it burns for too long, they either die or become idiots. If he really dies or becomes an idiot, would that count as a tribulation?”

There was still no response this time.

Su Heng’s finger fell upon his neck. With a little force, she could feel the frantic beating of his pulse beneath the skin.

If this continued, this Lord God’s life in this world might come to an early end.

If he died like this, would it count as a failure?

The more Su Heng thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Spiritual power condensed at her fingertips, gathering and entering his brow. Following the eight extraordinary meridians, it expelled the wind pathogen invading his body.

Tan Ye felt like his entire body was being scorched by raging flames. He had experienced this feeling before, and even encountering it again, he still couldn’t escape. The fierce flames were about to burn all the blood in his body dry.

He seemed to transform into his original form, flailing about in the flames, yet still unable to escape.

He struggled and thrashed in agony. Gradually, the pain subsided and the scorching heat that nearly burned his blood dry also calmed down.

Tan Ye let out a sigh of relief. As his body slowly relaxed, he sank into darkness.

In his dazed state, he seemed to catch a whiff of tea flower fragrance.

When he woke up, the rain outside had completely ceased, but the sound of water droplets falling from the eaves into the gutter could still be heard.

He moved a little. His whole body was still weak, but much better than the previous night.

He recalled the faint tea flower fragrance he smelled in his muddled state. The tea flower fragrance, together with the coolness that soothed his burning pain, alleviated all his suffering.

“Miss, is that you?”