Hug More Tightly

Hearing his delirious murmurs, Ruyi felt as if he had stepped into a void, his heart slamming heavily against his ribs before bouncing back. "...Lord Yunzhong, don't move, lie still."

But Feng Rugu couldn't hear clearly and struggled to move, persistently pushing him away.

Ruyi grew anxious. He grabbed Feng Rugu's hands and pressed them against his own chest, his voice unusually emotional. "Lord Yunzhong... Lord Yunzhong—Feng Rugu!"

Scolded by him, Feng Rugu obediently stopped moving. Squinting, he softly responded, "Hmm?"

It was precisely because Ruyi knew how willful and worrisome Feng Rugu usually was that his current docile tone lightly squeezed Ruyi's heart.

Ruyi wrapped an arm around his shoulders, gathering his hair, which had been dried by magic, into his palm. He tied it into a bundle and laid it on Feng Rugu's right shoulder, coaxing him in an unfamiliar manner, "...Listen to me."

As soon as the coaxing words left his mouth, Ruyi himself felt half embarrassed and half annoyed, his ears turning hot.

But then Ruyi thought, he had saved his life, and he was personally taking care of him, so it was only right to do so.

Buddhism also teaches that heavy favors must be repaid, as it is the natural law.

However, when he lowered his eyes, he caught sight of Feng Rugu's lips.

Ruyi's mind buzzed, and the area around his eyes instantly heated up, as if he had been scalded by those pale lips.

When he had fallen into the cold water, half-conscious, something soft and warm had pressed against him, transferring half a breath to him.

Ruyi had excellent eyesight. At that time, even in the near-darkness of the water, he had clearly seen the beautiful line of Feng Rugu's throat and his slightly bobbing Adam's apple.

He averted his eyes, not daring to look at Feng Rugu's lips again.

For some reason, he found it a little difficult to breathe.

After finally calming down, Ruyi straddled him and unbuttoned Feng Rugu's front, then opened his own front lapel before carefully embracing him.

As he enfolded the frozen body in his arms, Ruyi's shoulders trembled slightly. He felt that the skin on Feng Rugu's waist and abdomen was cold, soft, and delicate, truly the flesh and bones of an overly pampered young master. In contrast, his own abdominal muscles were well-defined, pressing hard against that area. With slight friction, a subtle, ambiguous heat seemed to arise.

To avoid seeing Feng Rugu's face and disturbing his mind, Ruyi simply held him tighter, allowing him to absentmindedly rest his icy fingers on his back, while he recited the "Earth Treasury Ten Wheel Sutra" to quell the fire in his heart.

Warming a block of ice always takes time.

At first, Ruyi closed his eyes and chanted, but he felt that once his vision was cut off, the sensation of skin-to-skin contact became even more prominent. It was as if his whole body had grown ticklish flesh, tingling and itching with the slightest touch, making him quite uncomfortable.

He had no choice but to open his eyes again. After staring at the bronze bed hook carved with a double fish pattern for a while, he felt his eyes sting. Lowering his gaze slightly, he saw something that made him frown involuntarily—

Peeking from beneath Feng Rugu's half-off inner garment, the outline of two red lotus branches and leaves could be seen.

This seven-flower imprint was personally drawn by his adoptive father. According to Feng Rugu, it was harmless, but for some reason, when Ruyi saw this red lotus blooming in a hidden location, he felt particularly anxious and unhappy.

He reached out his hand to cover the red lotus on Feng Rugu's lower back. Once it was out of sight, he felt more at ease.

As time passed, Feng Rugu's body temperature gradually returned to normal, and his consciousness became a bit clearer.

Noticing that the person in his arms let out a muffled moan and his eyelids fluttered, Ruyi quickly separated from him, swiftly and expressionlessly buttoning up his front.

Because he moved too hastily, he misaligned the entire row of buttons.

However, fortunately he was fast enough. When Feng Rugu reopened his eyes and felt his chest, he found his clothes were still neat, while Ruyi sat on the edge of the bed, fully clothed, his right hand on Feng Rugu's wrist as if checking his pulse.

His expression was calm, not showing much concern, but his complexion looked rosy, seemingly not having suffered much in the deep water.

Feng Rugu felt relieved. He withdrew his hand, wrapped the quilt tightly around himself, and spoke in a dry, painful voice due to inhaling water and vomiting blood, with a constant bloody taste making him feel a bit nauseous, "...Master Ruyi."

Ruyi responded with a "hmm," withdrew his hand, and tucked the quilt a bit tighter. "Lord Yunzhong is awake. How do you feel?"

At this moment, apart from wanting to die, Feng Rugu had no other particular feelings.

His body had warmed up, but the cold had penetrated his bones, causing considerable damage. Moreover, he had overexerted his spiritual power. Now, the spiritual and demonic energies were entangled and clashing inside his body. With no one to help him regulate them, he could only endure in agony.

If Ruyi weren't there, he would have definitely smashed everything he could in the room.

Feng Rugu shifted his body and said with difficulty, "Master Ruyi, give me... give me a smoke..."

Unexpectedly, Ruyi coldly replied, "Endure it."

Feng Rugu was twisting the quilt corner in pain, but upon hearing this, he couldn't help but be stunned. "...What?"

"This monk is right here," Ruyi said. "If there's anything, you can ask me to help you."

Although smoking has a rapid analgesic effect, it is still a drug. Excessive use is harmful and not beneficial to the body.

Feng Rugu exhaled, curled himself into the quilt, and fell silent.

Seeing him curl up into a ball in a self-abandoning manner, a trace of anxious heartache flashed across Ruyi's face. His usually firm mind was extremely easily shattered by this single action.

Just as he was about to get up, intending to go out and get a pipe for Feng Rugu, a fluffy head emerged from the quilt.

"It's fine if I don't smoke," Feng Rugu said, his voice a bit hoarse and aggrieved. "...I want to be held."

Actually, the two of them had already embraced intimately just now, so there was nothing to be shy about.

However, hearing him say this, Ruyi easily fell into a subtle, embarrassed, and slightly annoyed mood.

Feng Rugu's tone was so natural and casual. Who knew how many times he had made such absurd requests to others?

Ruyi kept his face cold and hard. "Lord Yunzhong, please have some self-respect."

Feng Rugu was already in so much pain that he could barely endure it. His fingertips had deeply sunk into the bedding. He made this request only to make Ruyi unable to stand his frivolousness and leave early, so he wouldn't lose his composure in front of him due to the unbearable pain.

Seeing that Ruyi was indeed displeased, Feng Rugu's goal was achieved, but he couldn't help feeling a bit desolate.

...Does he despise me so much?

Thinking this, Feng Rugu smiled self-deprecatingly, turned to his side, and softly said, "...Then please trouble Master Ruyi to call Luojiu in."

Ruyi sat on the edge of the bed, not moving for a long time.

As Feng Rugu turned around with some confusion, a pair of arms unceremoniously lifted him, still tightly wrapped in a warm quilt, from the bed and held him on his lap, embracing his waist from behind.

Feng Rugu looked down at the arms encircling him, momentarily unable to react, and unconsciously raised his eyes to look at him.

As the two silently gazed at each other, Feng Rugu's heart suddenly stirred.

...That child from back then had already grown so big.

But compared to the moved Feng Rugu, Ruyi's voice was as calm as usual, without emotion: "Lord Yunzhong, does being held like this feel a bit better?"

...The calm words couldn't conceal his burning red ears.

Feng Rugu's eyes were blurred with pain, naturally not noticing this detail, only feeling overwhelmed by Ruyi's bit of icy tenderness, scooting back and shamelessly acting spoiled: "Hug more tightly."

Ruyi frowned in dissatisfaction, but his eyes had already unconsciously softened a lot, and his arms tightened around him.

He said: "Stay here at ease, we'll nurse your body back to health, then we'll go."

Feng Rugu exaggeratedly said: "To actually get a 'we' from the great master Ruyi, this is truly an honor, Feng Er can die without regrets."

Ruyi seemed unwilling to listen to his nonsense and directly covered his mouth.

The two were joined so tightly that Ruyi couldn't see, on the left side of his own chest, a faint swastika-shaped cyan light flashing, nearly synchronizing with his unusually fast heartbeat.

After leaning in Ruyi's embrace for a while, Feng Rugu fainted from pain with peace of mind.

Ruyi merely thought he was exhausted, laid his body flat, covered him with the quilt, and checked his meridians, discovering there was still not a bit of spiritual power flowing, presumably from overexertion to the point of depletion.

Seeing him be so reckless to save himself, anger rose in his heart, and his fingertips exerted force, heavily pinching half of his face.

Feng Rugu frowned in his sleep, as if the pinch hurt.

Ruyi's heart ached, and he immediately let go. Seeing the red mark on Feng Rugu's face, he couldn't look away as the back of his finger longingly caressed the faint marks, gently rubbing them as if to soothe.

After finishing this emotional series of actions in a daze, Ruyi suddenly realized his state was abnormal, abruptly standing up and taking two steps back, composing himself, waiting for his expression to return to normal before slowly walking out.

Luo Fuchun was anxiously pacing in circles outside, seeing Ruyi come out, repeatedly asking about his master's condition.

Ruyi truthfully answered that his temperature had stabilized, but his spiritual power was completely exhausted and he needed to rest and recuperate.

Other than that, there shouldn't be any major issues.

Luo Fuchun was extremely anxious, craning his neck trying to visit his master, Sang Luojiu tugged on his clothes from behind, signaling him to calm down for now, and asked Ruyi: "Master Ruyi, do we need to write a letter informing Master Chang about Master's situation?"

If it was before, Ruyi would have immediately agreed, even just seeing his adoptive father from afar would put his heart at ease, but now, his desire to see his adoptive father wasn't very strong anymore.

He simply brushed it off: "Up to you."

Afterwards, he turned to Yan Wufu who was also waiting on the side: "Lord Yunzhong is a cultivator, the expended spiritual power will naturally recover, but still needs medicinal nourishment. This humble monk knows a bit about the art of medicine, please lead the way Sect Leader Yan, to gather some elixirs."

With Lord Yunzhong's incident in Jianchuan, as the only sect leader of Jianchuan, Yan Wufu naturally had an inescapable responsibility.

He grabbed his cane and nodded: "Great Master, please follow me."

Luo Fuchun and Sang Luojiu went into the room to look after Feng Rugu. Ruyi followed Yan Wufu and left, quickly formulating several prescriptions in his heart to nourish the body and dispel cold. He planned to gather the ingredients, decoct them, and have Feng Rugu take the medicine. This would help him recover faster and spare him the trouble of acting spoiled toward his disciples upon waking.

As for Yan Wufu, he didn't take the man to heart.

These past few days, he had figured out the key points of the matters in Jianchuan. He guessed Yan Wufu might be colluding with the Tang saber swordsman, but this was an internal Dao Sect matter with intricate interests. As a Buddhist, he had no right to comment. Besides, he only had guesses, not evidence. Since the Feihua and Baisheng Sects had admitted their sins and left, the matter was settled and would be difficult to investigate further.

He didn't speak, but Yan Wufu took the initiative: "Before, I didn't know that person chose Jianchuan to sow discord for what reason. At first I thought, it was because the three sects each had their own selfish motives, making it easy for him to exploit, but after seeing today's events, I realized, that person might have been targeting Lord Yunzhong."

Ruyi originally didn't want to pay him any mind, but hearing the words "Lord Yunzhong", his spirits lifted a bit.

Indeed, Jianchuan's geographical location was extremely unique, entering and leaving Jianchuan both required crossing the ice bridge.

The Tang saber swordsman first arranged for a Xiafei Sect disciple's corpse to appear in the closed-off Jianchuan, letting it become part of the bloody "Feng" character. This forced Feng Rugu out of seclusion to investigate. Then, the swordsman schemed to kill Su Ping. His goal was likely to force Jianchuan to set up the ice bridge, allowing him to sneak in during the chaos, tamper with the bridge, and then destroy it as Feng Rugu was leaving, causing him to fall into the water.

His ultimate goal was to kill Feng Rugu?

"Perhaps what he wanted wasn't just Lord Yunzhong's life." Yan Wufu speculated, "Qingshuang, Feihua, Baisheng sword techniques, are only second-rate among Dao Sect sword techniques, yet were enough to throw Jianchuan into chaos, while Lord Yunzhong's Guixu sword technique is first-rate, and he claims to not pass it to others, if Lord Yunzhong is killed, the Guixu sword technique would be lost, the Dao Sect losing a pillar, it would also be a major loss."

Speaking of this, Yan Wufu turned to Ruyi: "It is precisely because of this, that I have a strange thought..."

Ruyi coldly raised an eyebrow, not very interested in his doubts, and added another cold-dispelling formula in his heart.

But Yan Wufu's next words greatly shocked Ruyi's mind: "I once had the fortune to witness the Guixu sword technique, and also know Lord Yunzhong's temperament, always arrogant due to his talent, looking down on everyone, not even giving his two disciples a shred of true teachings. However, I observe that Master Ruyi's Suopo sword technique actually faintly contains the essence of 'Guixu'. -- I want to ask, why would he teach you, a member of the Buddhist Sect, the key points of the Guixu sword technique?"

Author's Note:

Feng Er is such an adorable little sweet-talker when acting spoiled.