Heart Protection

HEART PROTECTION: CHAPTER 86

 Qing Qiu's doctor was very shocked when he came and examined Yan Hui's wound. He only said one sentence: "The wound almost completely healed itself." He just prescribed two types of calming medicine for Yan Hui before leaving.

Yan Hui's heart was only influenced by Tian Yao's scales and his magic. No wonder why Su Ying wanted his armored scales for Liu Mu Sheng to wear. It was able to heal a wounded heart so fast. For an ordinary person, this indeed would be like a miraculous life-saver.

After the doctor left, Tian Yao quietly stayed by Yan Hui's side and didn't leave. Yan Hui didn't go back to sleep either. She kept her eyes on Tian Yao and silently watched him. The room's atmosphere was somewhat stiff. Yan Hui thought a little and asked: "That Liu Mu Sheng........what are you going to do with him?"

Tian Yao lightly looked at Yan Hui: "That's for the nine-tailed fox demon clan to decide."

Yan Hui couldn't help being surprised by what she heard. She inspected Tian Yao's expression for awhile before saying: "You don't feel any hatred towards him?"

"Although the enmity between Su Ying and I are because of him, in the end it has nothing to do with him. Hatred toward that person is out of the question. However, I don't want to see him. That's all."

"But looking at Liu Mu Sheng, it seems like he harbors a strong hatred towards Su Ying. He actually wanted to come to Qing Qiu even if that meant being a chess piece." Yan Hui was silent for a moment. "Su Ying murdered so many demons, killed so many people. She had scheme after scheme, but she still couldn't live the life she wanted to have........."

"When you say it like that......." said Tian Yao. "It sounds pretty happy." 

Yan Hui gave him a look but didn't add to what she said.

When night came, Yan Hui dizzily fell into a dream. All around her was swirling blackness, but she faintly see that there was a swaying gray light up ahead. She walked towards it. As Yan Hui continued to stare at the light, she could finally see the person clearly.

Black hair. Grasping a jian. Still wearing Chen Xing Mountain's clothes. He looked like how he always did. He stood there with a ramrod-straight back.

"Head Senior Disciple." Yan Hui stopped in place when she clearly saw his face. She just stood with that distance between him and looked. She no longer flusteredly chased after him. Yan Hui quietly looked at him for a while then actually quirked her mouth into a smile. She was relaxed: "Head Senior Disciple, look, I revenged you. I killed Ling Fei. You can move on in peace."

Zi Chen just stood there and looked at Yan Hui. His expression was sorrowful.

Yan Hui's smile became a little stiff when she saw that: "You're not happy?" She asked, "Why? I avenged your injustice. I settled the hatred and unwillingness from that day at Chen Xing Mountain. I broke off my 10-year ties with Chen Xing Mountain and left the xian cultivation pathway. I even listened to your words and came to Qing Qiu. I started to live with the demon clans........." As Yan Hui talked, she smiled. "I rarely used to listen to you." 

However under Zi Chen's still distressed frown, the smile Yan Hui forced out faded away again.

"But why aren't you happy? Are you not happy for yourself or for me?"

Zi Chen didn't reply. His figure became fainter and fainter in the swirling darkness until Yan Hui woke up. It seemed like she could hear an almost unheard sigh in her mind, but when she opened her eyes, she was still in her room. Nothing had changed.

The reality of her surroundings made her dream seem even more fake. But even though she knew it was fake, Yan Hui couldn't go back to sleep.

The moonlight outside her window was just right. Yan Hui's thoughts were in turmoil. She might as well no longer stay inside. Draping on her outer clothing, she headed towards the spring.

When Yan Hui was almost at the spring, she sensed a dragon aura settled in that area, but she didn't try to avoid it. She just calmly continued towards the spring. She could sense Tian Yao, so that meant he would've sensed her long ago. Since Tian Yao didn't try to avoid her, she had even less reason to avoid him.

Yan Hui reached the spring but didn't see hide nor hair of Tian Yao. She called out: "Tian Yao." The spring's water rippled, and a dragon spine broke the water's surface. It was covered in blue-green scales. Some of the scales were still twisted and torn, which looked sinister. However, those wounds were now covered up by the scales and out of sight.

The long dragon body moved in the water. The back sank under water again before Tian Yao's head raised up out of the water.

The night of the Autumn Moon Festival was too chaotic. All Yan Hui remembered was mud and blood. Even though she had fed her blood to Tian Yao to drink, she didn't take a good look at Tian Yao's dragon head.

Eyes like a finishing touch. Whiskers fluttering in the wind. Horns straight and tall. He really looked as formidable as the legends say.

"Why are you here?" The dragon didn't open his mouth, but his voice was heard in Yan Hui's mind.

"Couldn't sleep, so I took a stroll." Yan Hui cocked her head and looked at him for a long time. Her fingertips moved, and she curiously asked: "I suddenly want to feel you."

When Tian Yao heard those words, his mighty head rigidly reared towards the sky for a moment. It seemed like an inner struggle. Following which, he dipped his head back down and stretched to Yan Hui. He closed his eyes.

Sure enough, Yan Hui didn't hesitate. She raised her hand and placed it right on the dragon's head. Soft fingertips started from the horns and slide down to the nose, drawing a playful circle at the end. Yan Hui smiled in amusement at her own actions. She laughed out loud, and Tian Yao opened his eyes.

Yan Hui touched his horns again: "Last time I touched these, I was too rushed. I didn't really feel them, but this time I do. Your head is really hard." Saying that, she moved her fingers to his whiskers again. She grabbed it and rubbed it. Then she ran her hand from the base to the tip, "How come your whiskers disappear when you turn into human form? It feels pretty good touching it." 

 Tian Yao's whiskers moved and avoided her hand: "Go soak in the spring. I'll leave."

He was about to get up when Yan Hui hurriedly waved her hand: "Stay. You just got your scales back. You probably need a good soak in the waters. I just came here to sit, not to undress. Why are you so shy." Yan Hui patted his head. "Relax, I won't take advantage of you."

Tian Yao: "........"

 Thus, his dragon body sank back underwater. Only his head was visible, which he rested on the shore. Yan Hui sat by his side. She removed her shoes and socks and soaked her feet in the spring's waters.

It was autumn, so the chirp and cries of insects were much less than a summer night. It was especially quiet at night. Yan Hui playfully splashed her feet in the water, filling the night with the sound of water. She looked at the night sky and sighed: "Thinking back, we seemed to have journeyed quite a bit. But sitting peacefully together like this, it seems like we haven't journeyed that much."

No one would refute that. The two of them on their journey gambled with their lives at all times. The tacit understanding between them two was far beyond any other person. However, this understanding wasn't because they chatted with each other a lot. It seemed to be because they had a natural understanding of each other.

Tian Yao didn't reply. Unknown to him, his tail was automatically swaying back and forth in the water at the same rhythm Yan Hui was swaying her legs in the water. It was a leisurely and happy rhythm.

"Tian Yao, have you thought of what you would do after you got revenge and killed Su Ying?"

The swaying dragon tail slowed down and then stopped. Tian Yao stayed silent for a long time. Then his voice appeared in Yan Hui's mind: "I haven't thought about it."

Yan Hui let out a long sigh towards the sky again: "I had another dream about Head Senior Disciple today. He just stood in the black swirls and looked at me from afar. No movement, no smile. I told him I killed Ling Fei, but he didn't have an especially happy expression."

Tian Yao consoled Yan Hui: "It was just a dream."

Yan Hui was silent and touched her heart: "Tian You, do you still remember that it was your heart protection scale that pulled me from the gates of hell? That's why I can see ghosts." She said, "I have never dreamt a meaningless dream. Even if the first time was, then the second time wouldn't be. The third time even more wouldn't be." Yan Hui looked down, ".........Head Senior Disciple didn't leave peacefully at all. He probably really doesn't approve of me killing Ling Fei, entering the demon pathway, and abandoning those 10 years of learning the xian cultivation methods."

"So do you regret killing Ling Fei now?"

Yan Hui was silent for a moment: "You know, when I was facing off with Ling Fei, there was an opening where I could've used my knife to behead her. But I actually hesitated for a moment." Yan Hui mockingly laughed at herself. "I realized when I saw Chen Xing Mountain's clothes on her that I couldn't completely remove myself from those 10 years. Even though I've come to where I am now, I didn't want to part with it. I guess that feeling is like what those ordinary people say is homesickness. Even though the meaning is far from it, but that's the most suitable word."

"And in that moment, a hole was punched in my heart. In that kind of situation where only one could live, the hatred was really deep. I killed Ling Fei without the slightest bit of regret." She said, "Su Ying is well-known in the cultivation world. No matter what wrongs Ling Fei did, as long as she is Su Ying's little sister, Su Ying will protect her. No one in the cultivation world can punish Ling Fei and make her pay a life for a life. That's why in that situation, I had to do it. In that moment when my knife plunged into her chest, I knew how freeing those two words, 'releasing hate', felt like."

"I guess getting revenge on such a big grudge feels like that. I got my revenge, and my hate was all released. My grudge against Ling Fei ended like that. The world has one less person I hate, but up till then, it also had one less person I loved. No matter what I do, I can't save and get him back.........." Yan Hui raised her head and sighed. Her voice was bitter, "Head Senior Disciple became a scar on my heart. I can't cure him."

Tian Yao stayed silent for a long time after hearing Yan Hui's words: "Yan Hui." He called out with focus. Yan Hui snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him.

"I will heal your scar."

Those resounding and powerful five words shocked Yan Hui. For a moment, the quietness of the forest was alarming.

"If you say that the real revenge is not killing another but is to heal yourself, then I will help you heal your wounds."

Yan Hui blankly gazed at Tian Yao for a long time. Then she patted Tian Yao's head and smiled: "You understood wrong. I meant the real revenge is killing your enemy and then healing yourself."

Because those who made a mistake would have to be punished. If there was no one to mete out the punishment, then Yan Hui would do it herself.

"However, I'm looking forward to you wanting to heal he scar on my heart." Yan Hui thought a bit, "But since I said that I wouldn't take advantage of you, then I'll take care of your wounds in the future." Yan Hui rubbed Tian Yao's head. "Don't worry. I'll work hard to heal you."

She said that last part like a joke, but under her gentle caress, Tian Yao lightly closed his eyes.

Actually, she didn't have to work hard.

Doing as she wanted and going through the motions a few times was enough.

Because she long ago already healed so many of his wounds..........