Seeing Feng Yi finally leave, Suisui seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. It tugged at her sleeve, its bone claws pointing toward the medicine bowl on the bedside table and then toward its own empty chest cavity.
"You want me to drink the medicine?" Li Nanzhu nodded gently. She picked up the already lukewarm liquid and drank it in one go. To her surprise, she tasted a hint of sweetness this time, as if someone had added honey-refined snow lotus paste. As it blossomed on the tip of her tongue, it reminded her perfectly of what Xiao Yan often said: "Good medicine is sweet to the mouth."
While Li Nanzhu was drinking the medicine, the little skeleton curiously crawled toward the memory stone. Just as its bone claws touched the surface, it was startled by the light screen that suddenly unfolded.
The light screen clearly reflected the scene at the exit of the secret realm.
Ling Xiao's sword tip was only three inches from Duan Xianxing's throat, yet the youth in purple didn't retreat a single step, thunder crackling at the tip of his blade. Zhu Yinxi held his flute across his chest, the barrier formed by sound waves already showing cracks. Liu Qingyang was being held back by his father, his green hair messily stuck to his sweat-drenched forehead. Even Lin Xiaowan and the others had run over to stand in front of them.
Li Nanzhu's fingertips unconsciously dug into her palms.
The image shifted, and Feng Yi's figure appeared in the field. He merely stood there, and Ling Xiao's sword qi visibly stagnated. When the bronze ancient mirror illuminated the pure soul fire within Suisui, the changes in everyone's expressions were particularly obvious.
Finally, there was Liu Qingyang's line: "This is what friends should do." The green-haired youth smiled, revealing his tiger teeth.
As the light screen faded, a drop of water hit the memory stone. Suisui flurried to catch it with its bone claws, only to realize it was Li Nanzhu's tear.
"I'm fine." Seeing Suisui's anxious look, she rubbed its skull. "It's just..."
Just what? Li Nanzhu couldn't explain it herself.
It was just like when her post-traumatic stress disorder would flare up, like when she was in pain, the words that the wartime psychologist had said: "You aren't seeking death; you're looking for something worth living for."
A breeze passed through the window lattice, carrying a familiar scent.
Only then did Li Nanzhu look down again at the green jade fan in her hand.
The cold touch of the jade fan made her heart contract sharply once more. The translucent fan ribs shimmered with light under the sun, and the tassels on the handle hung down gently. Li Nanzhu seemed to see Xiao Yan again, unfolding the fan to hide his face.
She gently opened the fan and suddenly discovered a line of small characters on the back: "The sky won't fall—so says your master."
The handwriting was crooked, as if it had been hurriedly carved with a fingernail.
Li Nanzhu pressed the jade fan tightly against her heart. A sudden pain bloomed there, as if a piece of flesh had been brutally gouged out. She bit her lower lip hard, but she still couldn't control the sob that escaped her throat.
It really hurt too much. Having spent nearly a year together, her master's kindness to her was vivid in her mind, and the final image of him dissipating haunted her like a nightmare.
She curled herself into a tight ball, as if this could shut out all the sorrow.
Suisui was so anxious that its soul fire trembled. Its bone claws clawed at the air, not knowing what to do.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, it made a "clack clack" sound and pulled something out from between its ribs—it was a tightly wrapped candy ball. It was the bone-nourishing candy that Xiao Yan had specially made for it back then.
The little skeleton hurriedly peeled off the wrapper and stuffed the candy ball between Li Nanzhu's tightly gritted lips.
The sweetness mixed with the fragrance of medicine exploded on her tongue, so familiar it was heartbreaking.
Li Nanzhu remembered the first time she tasted this candy. Xiao Yan was hiding half his face behind his fan, snickering, with the stubborn lock of hair on his head swaying triumphantly.
"Wuu... Master... Master..."
She buried her face deeper into her knees, tears soaking her collar. Suisui patted her back helplessly, its joints making soft clicking sounds.
A rustling sound suddenly came from outside the window. A moment later, Duan Xianxing's voice came through the door: "...Little... Little Junior Sister? Are you awake?"
Li Nanzhu bit down hard on the candy, not daring to make a sound. She couldn't let the others worry about her any longer.
"She's definitely awake!" Duan Xianxing lowered his voice to speak to someone. "I just heard Suisui's bone... Ouch!"
A dull thud sounded as a flute hit a head.
"Be quiet." Zhu Yinxi's voice was as cold as ever, yet it carried a rare softness. "Let her rest."
The footsteps gradually faded away, but Li Nanzhu's trembling wouldn't stop. She fumbled to grab the fan, her fingertips tracing the crooked message. Suddenly, she discovered that inside the strokes of the character for 'sky' was an even smaller carving—a smiley face.
This discovery made her tears flow even more violently.
Suisui suddenly hopped off the bed and squeezed through the crack in the door with its bone claws. In a daze, Li Nanzhu heard the sound of clinking and clattering from the outer room—the sound of Duan Xianxing's cherished pill bottles being knocked over, followed by the faint tear of Zhu Yinxi's music scores being stepped on.
A moment later, the little skeleton returned carrying an exquisite bamboo-woven bird. The texture of the feathers was distinct, and the wings could even flutter slightly; it was clearly made with great care.
"Clack clack!" Suisui placed the bamboo bird in her palm like a treasure, then turned and ran out again. This time it returned holding several spirit stones.
"Little Junior Sister..." Duan Xianxing's voice came from outside the door, lacking its usual playfulness. "That... the spirit stones..."
Suisui placed the spirit stones beside Li Nanzhu. They still bore charred marks from lightning strikes.
"These, well, you take them for now..." he said stutteringly. "This time in the Forest of Demonic Beasts, we got a lot of good stuff..."
As soon as Li Nanzhu's fingertips touched the spirit stones, she felt the residual thunder spiritual energy on them. These were clearly the spirit stones Duan Xianxing kept close to him, the surfaces still bearing the lightning marks accidentally leaked during his cultivation.
"I..." Her voice was incredibly hoarse. "No need..."
"How can there be no need!" Duan Xianxing suddenly raised his volume, then hastily lowered it. "I mean... that... I haven't finished paying back what I borrowed from you last time... I got a lot during this trial, I..."
A muffled thud came from outside the door, as if someone had been elbowed in the stomach.
"Enough." Zhu Yinxi's cold voice rang out. "She needs quiet rest."
Outside the window, it was suddenly dead silent.
After a long while, Duan Xianxing's muttering voice sounded again: "Right, right, quiet rest... that... I've recently improved my swordplay... I'll show you next time..."
The sound of fabric rubbing followed, clearly Zhu Yinxi dragging his talkative junior brother away.
As the footsteps gradually faded, Suisui tilted its head to listen, then slipped out the door again. A moment later, it returned holding a small celadon bottle with the words 'Tranquilizing' carved on it—it was the medicine bottle Zhu Yinxi always carried with him.
Li Nanzhu placed the bamboo bird by her pillow, the spirit stones rolling onto the bedding with a crisp sound.
She suddenly remembered that day in the secret realm. Xiao Yan had been like this too, casually tossing newly refined pills to her, his green jade fan hiding his face as he said: "Taste it. I definitely didn't add too much honey this time."
Li Nanzhu buried her face in her palms, tears seeping through her fingers.
She had seen too much death—mangled wounded in field hospitals, mothers and children embracing tightly under ruins, even the searing heat of her own chest exploding—but she had never thought she would be heartbroken to the core for a dissipating phantom.
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