Volume Three: Rising Renown Chapter Twenty-Six: The Third Time

Her face ashen, Little Cui followed behind Jade-Wondrous Clarity, not daring to ask what had happened, lest she invite misfortune.

Yet when they passed by Jade-Blue Glimmer, the old woman, who had likewise paid her little heed before, behaved quite differently for once and even handed her a pill.

"A fifth-grade pill!"

Little Cui’s heart lurched. The medicine was far too precious. She was about to refuse, but it was thrust into her hands with no room for protest.

Unable to decline, she could only accept it with trembling hands.

Still, she knew she had been returned to Li Yu’s carriage, and so she finally let out a breath, dimly understanding why that pill had ended up in her possession.

Seeing Little Cui’s grateful gaze turn toward the carriage, Jade-Blue Glimmer curled her lip. Hmph. It was me who gave you the pill.

But then she thought better of it. Had it not been for Li Yu, she would never have given away such a valuable healing pill. With that in mind, she felt a little more at ease.

At the very least, Li Yu would see what she had done.

She had come here to protect Li Yu and, incidentally, to strengthen his sense of belonging to the Jade clan—not to play the villain and drive him farther away.

Seeing the old woman’s conduct, Jade-Wondrous Clarity froze, then understood at once. She set aside her gloomy expression and said to Little Cui, "The young master is afraid your injuries won’t be properly tended, so he asked you to come here. That way, he can feel more at ease."

She supported her with a hand and helped the injured Little Cui, who could barely move because of her abdominal wound, onto the carriage.

There was no trace left of the dark look she had worn when she first saw Little Cui, nor did she seem to remember the reluctance she had felt only moments ago when she had stuffed a sixth-grade pill into Little Cui’s mouth with resentful resolve.

"Young master..."

The moment she stepped inside, Little Cui saw Li Yu wrapped up like a rice dumpling, and tears welled in her eyes, spilling down in great drops.

"What are you crying for?" Li Yu hurriedly wiped away her tears, but that simple motion tugged at the wound on his back, and he immediately bared his teeth in pain.

The mask of suffering came on in an instant.

The main injury was a large wound across his back, so even the slightest larger movement would pull at it.

"Young master, don’t move!" Little Cui said, wiping at the corner of her eye as she reached to grab Li Yu’s hand, only to aggravate her own abdominal wound.

At once, the two of them stared at each other, both wearing expressions of pain.

"Neither of you move. Just lie still."

Li Yu sighed.

Fortunately, the carriage was spacious enough for both of them to have room.

The carriage fell quiet, and the two injured people each adjusted their breathing and regulated their inner energy.

Outside, Jade-Wondrous Clarity and Jade-Blue Glimmer stood side by side.

"Don’t forget the mission. The first priority is to protect Li Yu’s safety; the second is to let him feel the sincerity of the Jade clan!" Jade-Blue Glimmer said coldly and sternly.

"If you’re really so afraid he’ll run, then use some medicine!" Jade-Wondrous Clarity muttered, lips pursed in defiance.

"Ridiculous. Do you think he’s the same as you, with your fourth-grade bloodline?" Jade-Blue Glimmer snorted and lowered her voice. "Even if Li Yu were to flee, the clan could still accept that, so long as a bond of goodwill is preserved. Do you understand what that means?"

"Don’t rush to argue. Less than a year, and he has already stepped into the fifth grade. Did you not see with your own eyes how fierce he is? More importantly, his bloodline has far from reached its limit. One might even say the first grade is within reach! Do you know what that means?"

What did it mean?

With an imperial relic in hand, even a third-grade cultivator could fight a first-grade one. Conveniently, the Thunderblood line possessed a dedicated imperial relic, and at any given time there was only one bearer of that bloodline.

The significance of that was extraordinary.

What was more, Li Yu’s Thunderblood was so dense it seemed bottomless. His importance had been assessed higher and higher without pause. To put it plainly, if Li Yu and a Jade clan seed candidate were both in danger at this very moment, the Jade clan would choose Li Yu without a second thought.

Jade-Wondrous Clarity understood this as well. She fell silent, the stubbornness gone from her eyes.

...

Inside the carriage.

Little Cui opened her eyes and looked at Li Yu, who had his eyes closed and was calmly regulating his breathing.

Her gaze fell upon the bandages soaked with medicine. She looked for a long while before softly saying, "Young master, this is the second time..."

The last time, Qing Anqi had been poisoned under her care by a chained toxin. After something like that, the least she could have received was a charge of negligence. Yet Li Yu had protected her.

And this time, too. If Li Yu had not spoken up and told her to come over, she would likely have had no choice but to let the poison consume her body while she waited for death.

It was because Li Yu had specifically called for her that, however displeased Jade-Wondrous Clarity might have been, she still had to hand over that invaluable pill to save her life.

And if she stayed at his side, under Li Yu’s protection, there would be no chance for anyone to secretly hold her to account.

"Actually, this is the third time."

The male voice came.

In the narrow ravine, if Li Yu had not stepped forward, that assassin would likely have seized the chance to kill Little Cui on the spot.

Only then did Little Cui realize that Li Yu had somehow already opened his eyes.

"Your cultivation is still a little too low. You’ll need to work harder," Li Yu said.

He was not truly looking down on her cultivation; he was teasing her.

A bodyguard with sixth-grade cultivation and a protected person of fifth-grade cultivation—if outsiders saw that, no one would even know who was protecting whom.

To his surprise, Little Cui’s expression turned dim. "Young master, I only have a sixth-grade bloodline."

A sixth-grade bloodline... meant she could only reach sixth-grade divine cultivation.

That was also why Jade-Blue Glimmer had given her the pill: she had already reached her limit, with no room left to advance, so taking the medicine would not cause any trouble.

For someone like Li Yu, as long as there was still room to rise, medicine could never be used.

"..."

Li Yu scratched his head. "It’s fine. You know the saying, ‘When one man attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven’?"

Little Cui: ?

"Young master, are you saying I’m a dog or a chicken?" she asked softly.

Was that really how the saying was to be understood?

Looking at Little Cui’s earnest expression, Li Yu was stunned and quickly said, "No, I mean I can make sure you never want for food or clothing."

"Young master, I understand what you mean," Little Cui said with a laugh.

She had been with Li Yu for many days, and though she usually kept herself in the role of a maid, in truth she understood that Li Yu regarded her as an elder sister.

If it had been anyone else, when faced with an arrangement like hers—ostensibly a bodyguard, but in reality a maid meant to attend to daily life—they would have treated her as a bedchamber girl. Many had been asked to submit, and that was not something easily refused.

When Little Cui accepted the task, she knew the target was a youth several years younger than she was, and she had prepared herself for it. But what girl has no longing for love?

She had never expected Li Yu to treat her as an elder sister and give her such respect.

"Young master, but I do have to lecture you a little. If you truly mean that, then you must not act as you did today and disregard your own situation. Only if one is alive can there be hope!"

"Especially now that we’ve left Green Mountain County, the world outside is even more dangerous. You must be careful. There is nothing more important than staying alive!"

Little Cui’s mouth moved nonstop.

"For example, those two assassins in the narrow ravine—actually, you could have let the soldiers pile in and hold them down. The longer they were pinned, the safer you would have been!"

"...."

Li Yu could tell that she truly cared about him. Though he could not fully accept some of her views, he still nodded. "I understand. I won’t do that again."