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“Li Che!” Meng Qi called out and immediately gave chase in the direction he had fled.
“Meng Qiqi…” The young man ran swiftly and shouted without turning around. “don’t come after me! Let me be… I need some time alone!” He ran quickly, so fast that the wind howled past his ears and stung his face.
“Hee hee hee…” The woman’s voice, relentless and inescapable, continued to echo in Li Che’s mind, “That’s right, that’s right. But…” She suddenly changed the subject, “…why didn’t you distance yourself from them sooner?”
“You’ve always been different from them; it has never been your place to stand side by side with them. Why not admit the truth now? You wanted to be with them because they are all prodigies, and you hoped to benefit from their presence. Look, this time you even entered the Seven Emotions Array with them.”
“No!” Li Che growled softly, “It’s not like that, I…”
“If you weren’t so vain, you would have distanced yourself earlier. Then it would have been Qiao Ran, that talented young swordsman from Duankong Sect, who entered. Or even if it had to be two medical cultivators, the one from Feng Alliance is much stronger than you. If it were him, the little girl would have a fighting chance.”
“I am not…” Li Che weakly murmured.
“Hee hee hee…” The woman stopped talking; only her laughter lingered.
“I’m not…” No longer able to think straight, Li Che kept murmuring in panic, as if to argue with the voice or perhaps trying to convince himself, “I never have that kind of intention… I… I just…”
“Hee hee hee.” The woman’s laughter grew more arrogant. “Of course, you won’t admit it. But with your own qualifications, do you think you deserve to enter the Starfallen Sea? To walk with the top geniuses of Three Thousand World? Or to enter the Seven Emotions Array with them?”
“I’m not…” Li Che shook his head, trying to block out her words. “I’m not…” His face turned paler and paler, and his voice started to lose strength, I’m not… I’m not!”
“Hee hee hee…” The laughter grew increasingly louder.
“I…”
“Li Che.” Meng Qi’s voice, louder than before, called out from behind him, “Stop!”
“Meng Qiqi,” Li Che covered his ears, “let me go. I can’t help you, I only drag you down. Please, let me go!” His voice quivered with a desperate plea, and he didn’t even dare turn back, tears brimming in his eyes.
“Li Che, watch out!” Meng Qi’s voice rang out sharply. As she shouted, she quickly clasped a profound-grade spirit stone in her right hand, “You’re stepping on a Waterless Flower!”
“Ah?!” Li Che jumped instinctively, looking down at his feet. A spirit stone dropped beside him in a swishing motion, and right after, a slender figure in a blue robe dashed over, knife in hand, quickly drawing an array on the ground.
Before Li Che could react, Meng Qi had produced several more spirit stones and embedded them into the array. He tried to rush forward, only to be stopped by a sudden wall of light. The light wall was soft yet firm, like running into a pile of soft fabric, but it held him securely.
“Why are you running?” The young woman in a blue robe stood gracefully before him, holding her medical knife horizontally. Her clear, bright eyes stared at him without blinking.
Li Che turned his head, unable to meet Meng Qi’s gaze. His eyes fell unconsciously on the ground, where he had nearly stepped on the Waterless Flower. In the Three Thousand Worlds, even a single petal of this flower would ignite fierce competition among all medical sects, but here, they bloomed peacefully, their tender petals unfurled gently amidst the soft breeze.
Li Che stared blankly, as if entranced by the scenery.
“You ran away, what am I supposed to do?” Meng Qi asked.
“Huh?” The stunned Li Che instinctively turned to Meng Qi, his expression dazed.
“If you ran away… what am I supposed to do?” Meng Qi repeated her question.
“You…” Li Che scratched his head again, unsure how to respond.
“I…” Meng Qi pointed at herself, “Early Nascent Soul stage, right?”
Li Che nodded.
“My cultivation level is a whole stage lower than yours,” Meng Qi continued, “and like you, I’m a medical cultivator.”
“But…”
“Isn’t my cultivation level lower than yours?” Meng Qi interrupted him. She rarely showed such a forceful stance, leaving Li Che completely bewildered. He could only nod again. Meng Qi’s cultivation level was indeed lower than his—by a whole stage.
“It’s just the two of us now,” Meng Qi said again, “If you run away, are you expecting me, a mere Nascent Soul medical cultivator, to face the first trial of the Seven Emotions Array in this Ten Absolutes Mountain alone?”
Li Che: “…”
As Meng Qi spoke, she kept her eyes fixed on him. Her gaze was clear, so clear that Li Che could even see his tiny reflection in her eyes.
After a long while, he looked away in distress, “But I can’t be of any help…”
“Hmph.” Meng Qi snorted softly. With a wave of her knife, the blue light surrounding Li Che faded away. “Just run, then.”
With that, she turned and continued walking along the creek.
“Hee hee hee…” The familiar laughter rang out again. She had been saying something while Meng Qi was speaking, but Li Che had been too distracted to catch a word of it. Now that it was quiet, the woman’s voice became clear again, “She’s provoking you on purpose. But does it matter?” The voice laughed joyfully, “You’re useless, just a burden to them. Even if she manages to spur you into action, what good will it do? Foolish girl.”
Li Che did not respond as he had earlier. He stood still, watching Meng Qi’s receding figure as she kept walking forward, not looking back even once. The blue-robed girl seemed taller than when they first met, her black hair tied back with a simple jade hairpin, revealing her long, white neck.
Li Che suddenly gritted his teeth and strode after Meng Qi.
“Even if you catch up, it’s useless. Can’t you see the situation? You’ll only drag them down. You lack talent and your cultivation isn’t high…”
“I’m in the early Spirit Severing stage, my cultivation is higher than hers.” For the first time, Li Che interrupted the woman.
“Only by a little…”
“Even a little help is better than her being alone,” Li Che walked faster, interrupting the woman again, “A little help is enough! Even if…” His eyes gradually regained light, “Even if I can only be a stepping stone or fetch the Netherworld Thorn in her stead…” Li Che’s tone became resolute, “A little help is enough.” He suddenly raised his hand, showing a tiny, narrow distance between his thumb and forefinger, “A little help is better than her being alone.”
“She doesn’t need a burden like you!” The woman’s voice grew shrill. Li Che ignored her. Though her voice became louder and sharper, it seemed to grow farther away, and no longer made him want to flee.
Li Che quickened his pace and soon caught up with Meng Qi. “Meng Qiqi,” he called out, scratching his head while walking alongside her, unsure of what to say next.
“In the Apricot Forest barrier,” Meng Qi suddenly said, “Senior Lin Yan gave me a collection of medical notes.”
“Huh?” Li Che was taken aback, not understanding why she suddenly brought this up.
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