"Let me see," Chu Wannings lifted the other hand and asked Mo Ranhua to lift his face. His cheek and nose had wounds. "Does it hurt?"
Mo Ranhua shook his head. He stared at Chu Wannings' face, seeing that even though he was ashen-faced, he still cared.
He felt pain.
Not from the wound.
From his heart.
Finally, Mo Ranhua also learned Chu Wannings' lies. Mo Ranhua said: "No pain."
"Why are you trembling if it's not painful?"
He didn't say anything and couldn’t say anything, so Chu Wannings assumed he was still shaking because of the pain. He started to weave a pale green light around his fingers. Mo Ranhua’s pupils suddenly narrowed as he clutched Chu Wannings' hand that was about to touch his face: "Are you crazy? Using spirit energy!"
"A little bit isn't much," Chu Wannings said. "Just the smallest healing spell, for pain."
His fingertips touched his scar.
For pain.
But it felt like a thousand knives cutting him to shreds.
Mo Ranhua naturally knew that it was just a small amount of spirit energy, like a drop in the ocean. Chu Wannings had given most of his spirit energy to everyone, only reserving a little for himself.
In their past life, he resented Chu Wannings because he always gave too much to others and not enough to him.
But at that time, he didn't know.
Actually, every bit of what Chu Wannings gave was the last thing left—what remained of his own spirit energy.
"Done! Fixed fixed!"
Suddenly, a disciple from Village Master’s team rushed to the door, cheeks flushed. He shouted: "Prepare for retraction, we're closing the gate! We’re almost done!"
Defending against the zombie horde was now Mer Hanxue's responsibility. After Xue Meng withdrew with his injuries, he took care of them himself by wrapping gauze around them and tying it off. As he bit the string to secure it, he watched Mer Hanxue repel the zombies.
It was strange; Mer Hanxue, who had a water and wood spirit core, was actually using fire spells. With his broken water zither Hanyanhou in hand, his fingers struck coldly, and he used fiery barriers to push back the approaching zombies.
"Close the gate! Master Mer!"
Mer Hanxue suspended his zither while retreating step by step until he reached the door. Xue Meng suddenly noticed something amiss and turned around: "Can you make the door wider? The zither is too wide, can't—"
"Don't need to."
Mer Hanxue interrupted Xue Meng’s words with an icy tone. He swiftly stowed his zither away into its case, losing the protective spell as a result, causing a horde of zombies to rush forward. Xue Meng realized Mer Hanxue was not good at close combat and quickly drew his sword from the Dragon City to go out and help.
But before he could reach them, he saw silver light flash, and a silver sword appeared in Mer Hanxue's hand. He wielded it gracefully as it sliced through space before diving back and throwing it just as the gate began to close. Mer Hanxue raised his hand and called out loudly: "Xu Fēng, return!"
The sword transformed into a bright beam of light that sped through the crack in the door. Mer Hanxue caught it easily, arm curled with the sword, bringing it back to his side.
The Heavenly Palace gate slammed shut with a resounding thud as the zombies and dragon sinews hammered on it from outside. But it sounded like they were far away; South Palace’s sturdy gate was not easy to break through.
Everyone sighed in relief. Some of the disciples who had never seen such grandeur fell to their knees, even some crying out pitifully: "Oh my God... What's going on..."
Mer Hanxue also let out a slight sigh of relief but his expression didn’t change much as he usually did. If not for Xue Meng watching him closely, he might not have noticed Mer Hanxue had just slightly opened his lips to release this breath.
Suddenly noticing two eerie gazes, Mer Hanxue turned around: "Why are you looking at me?"
Xue Meng's throat was dry: "...Your sword..."
Mer Hanxue glanced sideways at the flowing silver light from his longsword: "Xu Fēng."
For a moment, Mo Xue’s face fluctuated between anger and confusion before he said: "When did you learn to use a sword?... No, when did you get Shenguang?"
"Always have."
Mo Xue was taken aback. "Then why didn't you use it in the spirit mountain assembly?"
"...," Mer Hanxue remained silent for a while before saying, "I didn’t want to."
Xue Meng looked perplexed and even angry: "Do you think we are unworthy? If you showed Shenguang, you might be second!"
Mer Hanxue rolled his eyes, his usually cold eyes filled with ridicule. He stared at Xue Meng, whose face was slightly flushed from anger, for a long time before saying in a light tone that barely reached his ear.
"The third place is good; first... too silly."