Chapter 8

Rounding the corner they ran into a scattering crowd. Jiang Yu planned to veer left and pulled Shen Anzhi's arm, but she was jostled aside and nearly slammed into a wall.
She steadied herself and turned back, but Shen Anzhi's figure was gone.
"Junior Brother?" Jiang Yu panicked slightly. The three-headed bird kept chasing her relentlessly.
There was no time to look for him; she took off again.
The bird screamed and, in a careless swipe, a sharp feather grazed her arm. Pain made her flinch and stifle a cry; she almost fell, hands and knees pounding the ground.
Her palms and knees hurt so badly the corners of her eyes went red.
In the shadow of a corridor, Shen Anzhi nonchalantly wiped down his Copper Coin Sword. He saw her fall a short distance away, her knee bleeding, little dark splotches seeping into her scarlet dress like plum blossoms.
She scrambled up and, before she could run, collided into someone's arms. A flash of golden sword-light flicked past her eyes.
Four copper coins stood at the four corners, trapping the three-headed bird. It flew into a fury, its wings turning into arrow-like weapons.
Someone quickly pulled her aside.
A clean sword flourish, pale wrist bones exposed. The man bent suddenly; the red tassel from his silver earring brushed her ear. His fingertip lightly traced her bloodied sleeve. His voice was cool and chilly but trembled with a hidden excitement. "Senior Sister, how did you get yourself dirty?"
Jiang Yu looked up and saw Shen Anzhi. She let out a relieved breath. He straightened, took a step back and muttered under his breath, "You ran too slow."
Shen Anzhi suddenly smiled, but the smile chilled into something cold. "If you smear blood on yourself again next time... It'll be troublesome for Junior Brother to clean. After all, Senior Sister likes to toss her clothes onto me." He spat the last three words, his teeth barely showing.
Jiang Yu nearly forgot that this moment had been written in the book. She gave a dry laugh, lowered her eyes and blew the dust off her palm. "Don't worry, I'll wash them myself."
The three-headed bird broke out of Shen Anzhi's control and launched a fierce attack. He parried with his Copper Coin Sword. The world blurred for Jiang Yu as one of the bird's sharp talons hooked her back and it carried her off, the unlucky passenger on a wild, terrifying ride.
"Ah!"
On the ground Shen Anzhi stood with his sword as she became a tiny black dot swallowed by the sky.
"Help!"
The market's protective barrier shattered with a roar. The three-headed bird, wrapped in black mist, soared upward.
Jiang Yu was impaled through the shoulder and suspended in midair. Blood traced down her crimson sleeves. She didn't know where she was flying; pain made her dizzy and her nose twitch. Darkness crept at the edges of her vision.
If she hadn't forced herself to bite her tongue to keep conscious, she would already have blacked out.
The assaulting pressure of the attack took on a physical weight, pressing down like a mountain.
The bird's cold beak drew near, then with a fierce cry flung her toward the endless heights. Spotting its dive, Jiang Yu, despite the vertigo, slapped a talisman onto its talon.
The blazing-sun talisman's fire attack burned its flesh; it howled wildly. Taking advantage of the moment, she grabbed a clump of feathers and flipped onto its back, giving it no time to catch its breath.
"You three-headed bird really think I'm…" She stopped short.
Between the bird's neck feathers, three rotten human faces were grafted in. Their features were contorted but just formed; the twisted, fleshless faces had pale red pupils that snapped open. From their fang-filled mouths came shrill, ear-piercing screams.
Jiang Yu snapped. She threw a blazing-sun talisman square into one of the ghostly mouths.
"Do you think you're some sort of 'folding phone'? No matter how you fold, you still have faces!"
Gold light swelled, feathers scattered.
With a loud explosion, she plunged into the churning sea of clouds in a state of weightlessness.
The wind howled in her ears and cut her cheeks, drawing blood. She still clung to her torn clothes, trying to steady herself. Her eyes were slightly red, and she choked back tears as she silently spread her hands, attempting to control the wind and stop herself from flying so painfully.
But the wind flipped her every which way; nothing obeyed her.
Her vision blurred. Living in the book world had left her on edge every day, now she found a bitter sort of amusement. "Fine, let my soul scatter..."
Goodbye to this damned world. I'm never coming back.
Her last words faded in the howling wind as her dark hair tangled with talisman ash drifting down like stardust.
The agonizing pain she had expected never came. Someone gently tapped her forehead, neither hard nor soft.
The wind howled in her ears, lifting stray strands of hair.
A living person nearly dead, do not disturb.
Jiang Yu was too weary to open her eyes; even death wouldn't come quietly.
"Open your eyes." A familiar voice, the weightless drift in her dazed mind paused for a moment. She forced her eyes open, fluttering with excitement; Shen Anzhi steadied her by gripping her shoulder with one hand.
Their gazes met.
Jiang Yu hooked her hand over his shoulder to steady herself. Shen Anzhi raised an eyebrow, watching her with a half-smile. "Senior sister..." His tone lifted at the end. "I underestimated you."
Choking back tears, Jiang Yu's eyes welled. In a hoarse voice she said, "Junior brother, you're finally here. Am I saved...?"
Even if this was the Shen Anzhi she glimpsed before dying.
Shen Anzhi tugged the corner of his mouth, taking in her disheveled yet stubborn, self-rescued look of wounded grievance. It tickled him like a kitten's paw; his fingertips brushed the small cut at the edge of her cheek. Watching the bead of blood on his fingertip, he licked it with the tip of his tongue.
"Senior sister, below lies a bottomless, freezing pool, surely a fine view." He shifted his tone. "Do you really think I would save you?"
His indifferent voice pressed down; her mind was shoved back to the cliff's edge.
The howling wind nipped at her earlobes, reddening them; it chilled her to the core.
It felt like menthol slapped across her chest, stinging and cold.
Jiang Yu blinked, momentarily stunned.
Stupid, think of something, quick.
She didn't want to die.
Summoning her strength, she clutched at his chest. Jiang Yu's dark eyes glittered with stubborn resolve; with the desperation of a last gamble she lifted her gaze and fixed him with a stare. "Junior brother, I can help you brew medicines. I can find all the herbs you need. You, you can't leave me..."
"Besides, I know you're searching for the Yihui Pill ."
Shen Anzhi's brow tightened; he sneered, then said, "When my Senior Sister lies, she doesn't even blush or skip a beat..."
Angry enough to bring tears to her eyes, Jiang Yu forced a calm voice: "I, Jiang Yu, swear to heaven I once saw the prescription made of the herbs you're seeking in an ancient text. It only lacks Snow-Soul Blossoms and Yuqing Fruit..."
Jiang Yu was gambling; according to the original storyline, the herbs Shen Anzhi had spent half his life searching for before falling into madness were of immense significance to him.
She had no time to argue; the weightlessness made her ears ring and her vision blur, her mind faltering...
Before Jiang Yu could finish, Shen Anzhi's otherwise placid emotions stirred with a nearly imperceptible ripple; he slowly folded back his smile. They shifted positions, and he positioned himself beneath her.
Jiang Yu curled inward, nearly leaning her whole body against him as they plunged together into the bottomless, icy pool.
"Splash"
"Splash"
Two splashes.
Icy water rushed into her mouth and ears, invading like ice between her bones, bone-chilling. She thrashed feebly in the water like a sparrow that had slipped into a cold pool. In an instant the cold seeped into her marrow, as if falling into an ice tomb. Countless unseen hands dragged her down, and her dizzying consciousness blurred.
Vitality slipping away, was she dying...?
She gradually lost strength and sank deeper into the icy pool.
In a flash, a hand of a warmth unlike the pool seized her slim wrist, struggling to swim and clenching her arm.
Jiang Yu forced one eyelid open. In the last flicker of awareness she saw Shen Anzhi drawing near, expressionless...
She didn't know how much time had passed.
A steady stream of breath filled her mouth, and Jiang Yu unconsciously took it all.
Shen Anzhi was an expert swimmer, dragging Jiang Yu while remaining as light as a swallow.
He rose from the water with effortless skill; his dark robe clung to his muscular torso, droplets like silver snakes tracing his skin. The soaked fabric hugged his chest; the loose garment hung off him, and beneath the collarbone a faint, dark red old scar showed across his chest.
His phoenix eyes flicked to the other person surfacing.
Jiang Yu's lotus-like face flushed with an abnormal, near-death crimson; a small, animal-like whimper escaped her throat.
Her wet hair stuck to her porcelain cheek; after a perilous ordeal her clothes were in disarray, half slipped off one shoulder, revealing a delicate white collarbone. A sliver of white skin appeared and disappeared with her breath, like shattered moonlight falling onto her disheveled collar.
She gasped for air uncontrollably, then erupted into violent coughing, choking on several mouthfuls of water.
Shen Anzhi quickly averted his gaze and took a deep breath.
He quietly hauled at her waist; Jiang Yu was limp, and by his strength they bobbed a little higher above the surface.
Thoughts surged; her exhausted strength returned a little, and with hands twisting like braids she clung to the only piece of driftwood left to her.
Shen Anzhi's averted gaze caused his pupils to tremble involuntarily. The girl clinging to him carried a faint, sweet fragrance and nestled tightly against his chest.
As Shen Anzhi was about to draw his Copper Coin Sword with a stroke, his body suddenly stiffened; he suppressed an indescribable emotion, lowered his dark phoenix eyes and let a probing gaze sweep over the drenched person in his arms. His voice, edged with cold, asked, "Senior sister, do you know what the Yihui Pill does?"
They had both fallen into such a dire situation, yet he still had the heart to interrogate her.
Jiang Yu half-truthfully said, "I don't know. I'm inexperienced and unskilled; I only once happened upon a prescription in an old text and remembered it out of curiosity." Finishing weakly, she swallowed her guilt and felt uneasy meeting Shen Anzhi's stare.
"Senior sister isn't one to lie. Whether you know it or not, those who deceive me..." His cool fingertips brushed her neck as if unintentionally; his outward manner harmless, he smiled softly, "I will kill you."
She wanted to live.
Every fiber of her being screamed, but Jiang Yu forced herself not to look away. "I know," she said.
Shen Anzhi hauled her up, standing on the summoned Copper Coin Sword.
She felt unreal, her head pounding with blood; she couldn't lift a finger. Her wet hair trailed about; she brushed at the strand clinging to her lip. Her body shivered from the cold; she hugged herself, feeling gooseflesh, then looked up and blinked. "Junior brother, could you... dry my clothes?"
Shen Anzhi's fingertip traced the air; a faint glow of magic appeared, and their clothes instantly became clean and dry as new.
Shen Anzhi possessed the Sacred Yin Immortal Body; the main function of the Yihui Pill was to stop the side effects of such a body. Because this rare constitution appears once in a millennium, the original novel never even specified exactly what the side effects were.
After all, he was only the second male lead, the antagonist second lead. Unfavored by the author, overlooked, yet burdened with a life of suffering.
As Jiang Yu's thoughts drifted, a shadow fell over her head.
The vindictive three-headed bird circled the sky, channeling magic into its piercing cry as it tore through the air.