Bai Qingxue supported herself against the ice wall and stood up.
Though she appeared normal, as Bai Qingxue's fingertips left the ice, they actually left behind a few faint water traces on the smooth surface.
However, they were quickly washed away by the seawater seeping in from above.
Bai Qingxue held the Frost Moon Chant in her left hand. The frost condensed on the flute was slowly melting, turning into fine droplets of water that flowed down its body, sliding across the back of her lowered hand before silently dripping into the crevices of the coral stones at her feet.
“Let's go,” Bai Qingxue said softly.
Yet, the moment Bai Qingxue took her first step, she froze.
At that moment, she was suspended mid-stride, unable to either step down or draw her foot back.
The eerie glow of her ice armor fell upon her profile, illuminating a thin layer of sweat at her temples that shimmered faintly amidst her silver-white hair.
Standing two paces behind Bai Qingxue, Ning Qinghan naturally witnessed this.
This time, however, Ning Qinghan did not urge her forward, nor did she step up to support her.
She simply stood there in silence, watching Bai Qingxue's back. After a pause of two breaths, Bai Qingxue finally took that step.
After they surfaced, Bai Qingxue climbed ashore, stepping onto the edge of the reef.
Her damp robes clung to her slender silhouette. As the night wind blew, the fabric billowed slightly before settling, making a very faint rustling sound.
Bai Qingxue walked to the sheltered side of the rock wall and slowly slid down against it. Her long, silver-white hair draped over her shoulders, the ends still dripping water. Drop by drop, it fell onto the sand, spreading into a small, dark damp spot.
Ning Qinghan emerged from the water.
Her bare feet stepped onto the damp reef. Her toes curled slightly upon touching the rough stone before relaxing.
She walked over to Bai Qingxue and sat down less than an arm's length away. Leaning her back against the rock wall, she looked up at the moon overhead, then turned her head to watch Bai Qingxue in silence.
Bai Qingxue's breathing was even shallower than before. Each inhalation felt as though she were suppressing something. The rise and fall of her chest beneath her clothes was incredibly faint, as if she didn't want the act of breathing itself to waste any energy.
A dark red light began to seep through Bai Qingxue's skin.
The old scar on the inside of her wrist lit up once more. The light crawled up her forearm like a dark, upstream river, spreading along the path of her meridians.
Now that her ice armor had dissipated, without the layer of ice to suppress it, the dark red light shone directly through her skin. It flickered slightly in the night wind, dyeing a small patch of sand around her in a dim, warm hue, like firelight rising from deep water.
Bai Qingxue opened her eyes and looked down.
She raised her right hand to press against it, but the moment her fingers touched her forearm, she flinched from the searing heat.
Staring at her reddened fingertips, Bai Qingxue fell silent for a moment. She then placed her hand back on her lap and did not move again.
Ning Qinghan turned her head and watched her for several breaths.
Bai Qingxue kept her eyes lowered, her back pressed against the stone wall, and her chin slightly tucked. Her silver-white hair slid down the side of her ear, veiling half her face.
She did not ask for help, nor did she show any signs of pain. She simply sat there in silence, waiting for the dark red light to recede on its own, just as she had during every past flare-up.
“Bai Qingxue.”
Ning Qinghan suddenly called out her name.
Bai Qingxue's eyelashes fluttered. “Hm?”
“Do you plan on just sitting here and waiting for it to recede on its own?” Ning Qinghan asked.
Bai Qingxue did not answer.
Ning Qinghan waited for a breath, but received no response.
The corners of her lips curved upward slightly, as if she had expected this silence.
“Is it really a good idea to just endure it like this every time?” Ning Qinghan said.
“You don't say a word when it flares up. Why not let someone help you? Why must you insist on bearing it until it recedes on its own, and then act as if nothing happened?”
Ning Qinghan turned her head, truly looking at Bai Qingxue this time.
The moonlight pooled in Ning Qinghan's deep blue eyes, reflecting a few fragments of light.
“Immortal Master Bai, this is a rather bad habit of yours.”
Bai Qingxue's eyelashes finally fluttered again.
As if hearing a truth she was reluctant to admit, Bai Qingxue instinctively lowered her gaze.
Yet, she did not offer any rebuttal either.
Ning Qinghan reached out.
Her movement was slow, as if giving Bai Qingxue ample time to pull away, yet also as if she were certain she wouldn't.
Ning Qinghan's fingers landed on the outer side of Bai Qingxue's wrist, her finger pads resting against the burning skin.
Her other hand covered it, gently clasping the hot, glowing mark with both hands.
Ning Qinghan was in no hurry to channel her spiritual power. She paused quietly, feeling the heat of the skin beneath her palms and the rhythmic pulsing of the mark within the dark red light.
“Next time you need help, just say so,” Ning Qinghan said, her tone still carrying that lazy drawl.
“I won't laugh at you. At least, not to your face.”
With that, a deep blue spiritual light seeped from her fingertips, slowly pressing into the dark red mark.
The light flowed beneath Bai Qingxue's skin, running counter to the direction of the mark. It pushed back from her elbow to her wrist, and from her wrist back to the original old scar.
The heat began to subside. The dark red light receded from her shoulder, passed her elbow, withdrew further down, and finally shrank back into the quiet old scar on the inside of her wrist, ceasing its pulse.
Bai Qingxue's breathing gradually stabilized. The heavy sensation that had forced her to suppress every breath vanished, and her shoulders relaxed.
Bai Qingxue leaned her back and the back of her head against the stone wall, looking up at the night sky.
The moonlight bathed her face, illuminating her skin, which had been flushed from the high fever, as it returned to its usual translucent pale.
Ning Qinghan withdrew her hands.
She didn't pull away immediately, letting her fingers linger on the side of Bai Qingxue's wrist for a breath before slowly retrieving them to rest on her own knees.
Bai Qingxue, what on earth are you thinking...
Looking at the pale woman before her, Ning Qinghan thought to herself.
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