First Kill

"Ahhh—!" A bloodcurdling shriek was forced back down by the rushing water submerging her, dissolving into a muffled gurgle. *Boom!* Surrounded by shock, terror, agony, and despair, the black-clad woman lashed out with her remaining strength in a desperate frenzy, crashing into Xu Yao. Having struck his blow, Xu Yao had let go at once to surface and scramble outward, only to cry out in agony as the impact hurled him through the surface of the water, coughing up blood. He managed only a single desperate shout: "Underneath!" Yet in his heart he felt relief: *She really was at the end of her rope... That hit didn't kill me...* Still, his whole body felt as if it had shattered into pieces. His internal organs were churned into a knot, his vision went black, and golden stars spun through the dizzying whirl around him. For a moment, he could not move at all. Over on the other side, Ning Wuxia had already reacted. Pushing herself up with effort, she seized the opening and mustered the last shred of her strength, hurling her longsword straight from her hand. With a dull *shhk*, it plunged into the water where bloody foam was churning up. Another scream tore out. The water in the cavern roiled like a boiling pot before a dark silhouette burst from the underground cavity. Her black face veil had vanished, revealing the gaunt, ghastly face of a young woman. A dagger was buried to the hilt in her lower back, while a longsword pierced straight through her chest, half the blade jutting out from her back as blood streamed down the steel. Deep hatred etched the woman's face. She tried desperately to steady herself, but fatally wounded, she could not keep her footing. Her body jerked violently backward, and the tip of the sword protruding from her back stabbed into the old locust tree with a sharp *thunk*. Though it steadied her, it also pinned her to the trunk. Utterly spent and mortally wounded, she could not move an inch. Her vicious gaze bored into Ning Wuxia, who was struggling to scramble to her feet. "Ning... you... No wonder you kept luring me... this way... So you had your little lover waiting here all along..." Ning Wuxia stared blankly. She wanted to explain: *I really didn't set this up. In fact, I told Big Fatty to run...* Yet on second thought, what was the point of explaining anything to an enemy? Bracing herself, she climbed to her feet and first hauled Xu Yao up before the floodwaters could wash him away. She had not an ounce of strength left; her face was pale green, and she panted, "Killing a shameless wretch like you... is skill enough!" The woman in black drew a hard breath, but air would no longer fill her lungs. Her face slowly turned the color of ashen death. "...Wretched pair! ...You dare call me shameless..." She wanted to say more, but the words would not come. Her body twitched once, and she breathed her last. The single breath that Ning Wuxia had forced herself to hold finally gave way. Unable to stand any longer, her body covered in wounds, she collapsed onto her backside in the rushing floodwater. Xu Yao clearly saw the yellow runoff flowing past her turn red. Yet she still insisted on helping Xu Yao up. Groping inside her robes, she produced a jade vial, plucked out a few medicinal pills, and stuffed them into Xu Yao's mouth. Then she rummaged for an antidote pill and shoved a whole handful into her mouth before letting out a groan: "...B-Big Fatty..." Xu Yao was entirely speechless. *Even at a time like this, you haven't forgotten my nickname? Couldn't you at least call me Xu Yao once?* He could only manage a grunt: "...Hit so hard... had the wind knocked out of me... Give me a second..." "N-N-No... no problem..." Ning Wuxia panted heavily, her normally bright, clear eyes filled with utter exhaustion. Although the opponent had been completely spent when she struck him, Xu Yao's cultivation base was too weak. His internal organs were churning, golden stars flashed across his vision, and he could not budge at all. His chest ached fiercely; he was sure a rib had broken. Leaning against Ning Wuxia, he felt only soft warmth, and amidst the torrential rain, he could even catch a faint, subtle fragrance. Ning Wuxia's voice was weak: "What... what do we do now..." With the pills in his stomach, Xu Yao felt a warm glow of heat continually rising from his dantian. He barely regained his clarity, thread after thread of strength slowly rising within him. Weakly, he said, "First... get over to the tree by the road... Lean against it to steady ourselves... Check the enemy and search her..." He finally understood what Ning Weiyu had meant when he insisted, *'My sister is impetuous. Big Fatty, with your attentiveness and calm, please help keep an eye on her...'* Looking at her now, she had clearly lost her bearings. When he spoke those words, his hands were trembling, yet his mind remained exceptionally calm. "Oh, oh, right, right." Hauling Xu Yao along, Ning Wuxia put forth all her strength to close the distance to the old locust tree through the mountain flood. "Don't lean toward that side, there's a ditch. Lean against this side by the corpse. The ground is higher here—we can get out of the water and tend to the wounds..." Xu Yao directed. "Understood." Straining with all her might, Ning Wuxia dragged them both onto the higher ground away from the rushing water. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Panting heavily for a while, she recovered a bit of strength and searched the corpse. Checking a few jade vials, she picked one out, sniffed it, poured out a pill, and swallowed it. She exhaled in relief: "Sure enough, it's Meridian-Severing Cold Poison. How sinister." Xu Yao nearly rolled his eyes. *She was your mortal enemy in a fight to the death—could she afford not to be sinister? Being sinister is par for the course, all right?* Now that Ning Wuxia had neutralized the poison, things became much simpler. She hurriedly set about tending to her wounds. For those on her back that she could not reach, she asked Xu Yao for help: "Big Fatty... on my back..." She even handed him a short dagger: "...Help me take care of it." Xu Yao had no choice but to help. By all rights, such a scene ought to have held a hint of allure, but the dense, gruesome gashes of mangled flesh prevented Xu Yao from feeling the slightest trace of intimacy. There were barely any patches of fair, tender skin left unmarred. Romantic, my foot. Yet Ning Wuxia felt self-conscious, blushing as she shrank back slightly: "D-Don't go looking where you shouldn't..." Looking at the scarred, bloodied back and shoulders before him, Xu Yao sighed. *You'd have to actually leave something pleasant to look at. What's there to gawk at here? Half a pig hanging on a butcher's hook isn't as shredded as you are...* As the son of Physician Xu, Xu Yao was experienced in treating wounds. Ning Wuxia gritted her teeth against the pain, her pretty face deathly pale. Xu Yao could not help but admire her: the girl did not utter a single whimper. Having treated the wounds, bandaging them in this pouring rain proved difficult. Xu Yao could only shield her as best he could with his own body, sprinkle some of Ning Wuxia's medicinal powder over the wounds, and pull her soaked clothes back over them. Ning Wuxia regulated her breathing, and in less than half a quarter of an hour, she had recovered somewhat. Her vitality was visibly restored: "...Big Fatty, you're actually pretty good at treating wounds, hiss, ow, ow..." Then she pulled Xu Yao's dagger from the corpse and handed it back to him. Next, she drew her own sword and channeled her power to stab it into the dagger wound once more, completely masking any trace of the dagger. Only after inspecting the wound and making sure everything matched did she relax. She looted the female corpse's belongings, her spirits reviving further, and praised him endlessly: "Big Fatty, you were really useful today." Xu Yao nodded. Only now did the lingering dread of having killed someone begin to well up within him, especially with the body of the person he had personally slain lying right before his eyes. For a moment, his head spun and his heart thumped wildly. "Scared? Your first kill?" Having successfully purged the poison and gathered spiritual energy from her dantian, Ning Wuxia had yet to recover from her injuries, but her lively nature had already returned. "Yeah, first time," Xu Yao said. "Though I wasn't the one who killed her." He had no desire to claim credit for this. Ning Wuxia misunderstood him, nodding repeatedly. "Right, right, exactly. It cannot be you who killed her." Xu Yao: "..." "Your injury is fine—the bone isn't broken, just slightly cracked," Ning Wuxia said. "I've already examined you and gave you a special pill. How are you feeling now?" "A bit itchy and numb," Xu Yao said. "And rather warm." "Hehehe..." Ning Wuxia's eyes curved into crescent smiles. "I gave you a Profound Spirit Primordial Nourishing Pill. Your cultivation base is too low, so of course you'll feel hot. You'll probably stay warm for several days." She blinked. "Just drink plenty of water and you'll be fine." Xu Yao: "..." Focusing on the warmth inside his body, he felt it suffusing every limb. The sharp pain from earlier had vanished entirely; the cracked rib in his chest no longer hurt at all, replaced by a pleasantly tingling itch. He tried to stand and asked, "Are you all right, Sir Ning?" "Hey, hey, hey..." Ning Wuxia rolled her eyes in deep dissatisfaction. "We share a bond of life and death now, and you even saved my life! I didn't even hold it against you when you wouldn't give me any peaches to eat, yet you're still calling me 'Sir Ning' like a stranger!" *You still haven't forgotten that I didn't give you any peaches!* Xu Yao's forehead lined with black marks. "...Miss Ning." "My dad calls me Erniu, my brother calls me Erya, and my mother calls me Niuniu." Ning Wuxia mulled it over and decided none of those three suited Xu Yao. After burning through a bunch of brain cells, she said, "Just call me Ah-jie."