"Junior Brother Wan, you're awake…"
Instantly, Zhou Ruoxi sat up quickly, squatting beside Wan Yunting. Seeing his pained expression, his sword-like brows furrowed. Then, he slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Zhou Ruoxi's fresh, natural, and fair-as-jade moving face, and her flowing hair like a waterfall…
The golden sunlight from above the valley scattered down, casting onto Zhou Ruoxi. From Wan Yunting's current angle, she seemed to be enveloped in a golden halo, like a fairy from heaven…
"Am I… am I in heaven?"
With vacant eyes and blurred vision, perhaps due to his coma-induced neurasthenia, Wan Yunting looked at Zhou Ruoxi before him, feeling as if he had seen a fairy in heaven.
This remark made Zhou Ruoxi's expression falter. She raised her hand and waved it in front of Wan Yunting's dazed eyes, softly calling out, "Junior Brother Wan, wake up, are you alright?"
Zhou Ruoxi's gentle voice slowly pulled Wan Yunting back to his senses. His eyes jolted, and his vision instantly became clear. Looking at Zhou Ruoxi, whose face was filled with unconcealed joy, Wan Yunting's gaze was astonished. His voice, very weak, said, "Senior Sister Zhou, how can you…"
Seeing that he seemed to have recovered, Zhou Ruoxi was happy and smiled gently, "Junior Brother Wan, we fell into a hot spring pool after jumping off the mountain valley, so we didn't die. However, your injuries are very serious…"
Upon mentioning his injuries, Wan Yunting immediately felt the pain from multiple wounds all over his body, as well as a stuffy sensation in his chest, like a bursting, immense pain. This made his sword-like brows furrow, and his expression turn painful. He struggled to sit up, but this movement aggravated his internal chest injury, causing him to cough repeatedly…
"Junior Brother Wan, drink some water first…"
Zhou Ruoxi quickly used a large leaf, filled it with some hot spring water, and fed it to Wan Yunting. She comforted him, "You're so badly injured, don't get up. Just lie down and rest."
Wan Yunting sighed with relief. He also felt that his entire body lacked strength and could not sit up. He could only obediently lie down as instructed. He turned his head to look at the surroundings and then asked Zhou Ruoxi, "Senior Sister Zhou, did we land at the bottom of the mountain valley?"
"Yes, we did."
Zhou Ruoxi sat down cross-legged and pulled at the corner of her torn skirt. Only then did Wan Yunting notice that the cloth strips used to bandage his arm and chest were made of white light gauze, all torn from the hem of Zhou Ruoxi's skirt.
Zhou Ruoxi tilted her head back, her beautiful eyes gazing at the daylight in the middle of the mountain valley. She said helplessly, "I've walked around just now and haven't found a way to leave the valley. Moreover, the valley is very deep, and we are both injured, making it difficult to move. If we want to leave this valley, we will have to wait for some time." wΑp.kanshu伍.net
Wan Yunting lay there, his gaze fixed on the circular sky above the mountain valley. He never expected that he would be forced into a desperate situation last night and leap off the cliff into the valley. He had tried to grab the branches on the cliff face, but he still couldn't hold on to save himself. Yet, he never imagined that a miracle would happen, and he and Zhou Ruoxi would survive by falling into a hot spring pool, only to be trapped at the bottom of the valley now.
It had to be said that fate played tricks on people.
"My phone, is my phone still usable?" Wan Yunting asked, remembering his phone.
Zhou Ruoxi shook her head slightly and said, "My phone is in my bag, I don't have it on me. Your phone is here, but I checked it just now, and it wouldn't turn on."
Zhou Ruoxi handed him the phone that was placed aside. Wan Yunting's left hand, which received the phone, was trembling slightly. He fumbled with it for a moment, and indeed, it wouldn't turn on.
He guessed that it had been soaked in the hot spring pool for too long and was ruined.
"It's okay, Senior Sister Zhou."
Wan Yunting looked at Zhou Ruoxi's worried expression and forced a smile to comfort her, "At worst, we'll stay at the bottom of this valley. Once our injuries heal a bit, we'll figure out a way to get up."
Zhou Ruoxi turned her head to look at him, smiled gently, and nodded. Then, her willow-like brows furrowed, and she said, "However, Junior Brother Wan, we have a problem now!"
"Yes, what problem?"
Wan Yunting looked at her quizzically. Zhou Ruoxi said a little shyly, "There's no food here. I went to look for those wild fruits earlier, but they're all inedible."
"We can catch wild rabbits."
Wan Yunting gestured towards the grass patch to his left, where he had just seen a gray wild rabbit burrowing around. However, Zhou Ruoxi looked troubled and said, "I don't know how to kill rabbits, and there's no fire here. How can we eat them?"
Wan Yunting immediately said, "I have a lighter in my pocket. See if you can find it and if it still works."
Zhou Ruoxi nodded and reached into Wan Yunting's pants that were placed aside. She indeed pulled out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. She held the lighter and pressed the button, but it didn't ignite with a "pat." Wan Yunting immediately said, "Shake it a couple of times. There might still be water inside…"
Zhou Ruoxi, with a slightly dazed and cute expression, did as he said, shaking the lighter, "Is it like this?"
"Yes, try it again…" Wan Yunting said, nodding.
Zhou Ruoxi tried pressing the lighter a couple more times, and indeed, it produced a flame. Her pretty face lit up with excitement, "It's working…!"
Wan Yunting smiled slightly and said, "Then go catch a wild rabbit."
Zhou Ruoxi's expression faltered, and she immediately looked troubled and embarrassed. "But, I don't know how to kill rabbits."
"It's alright, you catch the rabbit first, and I'll teach you how to prepare it later," Wan Yunting said.
"Okay."
Zhou Ruoxi nodded and excitedly looked around. She spotted a very fat white rabbit in the grass ahead, so she went over and quickly caught the fat rabbit.
The rabbits here had never seen humans, so they weren't afraid and were foolish. Zhou Ruoxi went over and grabbed one, then brought it back, saying excitedly yet reluctantly, "Junior Brother Wan, this rabbit is so cute, do we really have to kill it?"
Wan Yunting looked at Zhou Ruoxi's reluctant expression. She was like an innocent and lively little girl. He estimated that she had never done anything like killing a living creature during her time at the Emei Sect, so she couldn't bear to kill the rabbit and certainly didn't know how to prepare it.
"Are you hungry then?" Wan Yunting asked with a smile.
"Hungry…"
Zhou Ruoxi said a little sheepishly.
"Then listen to me, kill it."
Wan Yunting said, "If we don't eat it, then we will die."
Zhou Ruoxi's beautiful eyes widened slightly. She looked at Wan Yunting, then at the rabbit in her hand. Her heart struggled and wrestled for a long time, but she finally understood. She had to sacrifice this rabbit to save Junior Brother Wan.
"But, Junior Brother Wan, what should I do now? There's no knife here either."
Having made up her mind, Zhou Ruoxi became troubled again because they had not brought any knives with them.
"What about our swords?" Wan Yunting asked.
Zhou Ruoxi pointed to the hot spring pool beside them. "They all fell into the bottom of the pool."
"Can they be retrieved?" Wan Yunting asked.
Zhou Ruoxi looked at the pool and nodded. "They should be able to."
"Retrieve them. We still need weapons for self-defense," Wan Yunting said.
Zhou Ruoxi nodded, then placed the rabbit on the ground. However, its legs were already tied with grass vines, so it couldn't run away.
Zhou Ruoxi, dressed in a snow-white light gauze ancient-style long skirt, was about to step into the pool. Wan Yunting quickly called out, "Senior Sister Zhou, are you going in like this? Your clothes will get wet, and it will be cold at night."
Zhou Ruoxi paused and looked back at Wan Yunting, who was lying on the ground. Her pretty face instantly flushed.
Wan Yunting understood, of course. He smiled and said, "Senior Sister Zhou, you can go over there."
Zhou Ruoxi also understood his meaning and nodded slightly without speaking. She then walked to the other side of the hot spring pool, away from Wan Yunting's line of sight, as he was injured and couldn't get up. "Senior Sister Zhou, be careful…"
"Mm…"
Zhou Ruoxi responded and then began to take off her light gauze skirt. However, she didn't take it off completely. Her beautiful eyes glanced at Wan Yunting, who was lying there. Her pretty face flushed with embarrassment, and she quickly got into the hot spring pool. The comfortable temperature made her feel very pleasant, but at the same time, her pretty face was in pain because the water stimulated her wounds. This made Zhou Ruoxi's delicate body tremble slightly. She could only endure it and swim to the middle of the pool…
Because the hot spring pool water was very clear, even at a depth of five meters, one could faintly see the bottom. Therefore, Zhou Ruoxi quickly spotted their long swords lying at the bottom. She took a deep breath and plunged into the water…
The hot spring pool was oval-shaped, about sixty to seventy meters long and thirty meters wide. The source of the hot spring was on the west side, where the water could be seen steaming. The water below gushed out continuously, as if it were boiling water.
Therefore, the temperature of the hot spring pool created a comfortable temperature at the bottom of the valley…