Chapter 67

Amidst the shrill screams, there was boundless joy, and the beautiful eyes, which had been filled with overwhelming sorrow, now sparkled with a dazzling light. Tears still clung to her cheeks, but she had already turned her sobs into laughter. She shook Qin Feng's head vigorously, completely disregarding the fact that he was rolling his eyes from the shaking.

"I knew it, I knew it, you wouldn't die. You're the cockroach you once said you were, how could you die so easily!" She giggled, shaking and babbling incoherently. Then, she tightly hugged Qin Feng's head to her chest and burst into tears.

This was the great joy after great sorrow, tears of happiness.

The fat shopkeeper watched this scene with some shock. If the princess had been devastated by the heroic sacrifice of someone who had fought to protect her subordinates, disregarding the hierarchy and gender, then now, it was something quite unusual, surpassing the normal relationship between superiors and subordinates, and between men and women.

Blinking a few times, he turned away again, silently watching the smoke rise from the town of Luoying. Should he write this into his report?

Qin Feng had to endure the fragrant and suffocating embrace once more. This time, the softness and the fragrance were even more distinct. He struggled a few times, finally managing to get his face back into the sunlight. "Your Highness, let go. If you keep this up, I won't be killed by Shuhui, but I'll be suffocated to death by you."

The crying stopped abruptly. Min Ruoxi suddenly realized that she was still an unmarried young woman, and the other party was a vigorous man. Moreover, this was no longer the world where they were alone and fleeing; there were rows of outsiders standing nearby.

"Outsiders," this was the most appropriate term that came to Min Ruoxi's mind at that moment.

The fat shopkeeper stood with his back to them, but at that moment, County Magistrate Ma Wei stood there awkwardly, occasionally looking at the sky and the surrounding forest, unsure where to look. Apart from these two, the others all stared with wide eyes, not blinking, at the two of them.

Her face turned red, and her hands slowly slid down. Two fingers pinched the soft flesh under Qin Feng's ribs and suddenly twisted hard. Qin Feng gasped, opening his mouth wide but unable to cry out, as Min Ruoxi's other hand had just come down to cover his mouth, blocking his scream back into his throat.

"Ouch, it hurts!" he could only mutter in his mind.

A simple stretcher carried Qin Feng down the mountain towards the town of Luoying. Min Ruoxi did not ride a horse but followed the stretcher like a young wife, one hand always supporting one side of the stretcher.

Moonlight streamed in through the gaps in the window, and lying on the soft bed, Qin Feng tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The aftereffects of the arduous escape over the past few days were not so easily dispelled. The slightest disturbance could wake him from his sleep. The county office was never quiet, so Qin Feng got out of bed, moved to the window, and quietly admired the full moon hanging high in the night sky.

Everything seemed unreal.

Shuhui had not killed him, which was understandable; he wanted Qin Feng to slowly die in agony to vent his hatred. But the problem was that before he fainted, the hidden illness in his body had already fully erupted. He knew his body well, and the chronic illness that had plagued him for years was clear to him. He had been suppressing it with Shu Chang's medicine, but this escape and each battle had pushed him to his limits, finally triggering the final threshold.

Yet, he was still alive. Not only alive, but the rampant and violent internal energy now flowed calmly through his meridians, gradually returning to the dantian and then flowing to his limbs and organs. If there was a problem, it was that he could no longer use any of it, as if it no longer belonged to him.

Unable to understand, Qin Feng closed his eyes slightly, gathered his mind, and immersed his thoughts into his body, determined to thoroughly investigate what was wrong inside him.

If this hidden illness remained dormant, it might not be a bad choice. He thought to himself that this time, when he returned to the capital, he could rely on his friendship with Princess Zhaohua Min Ruoxi to secure a leisurely position and live a carefree life.

After a while, Qin Feng took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Outside his violent internal energy, there was another force that did not belong to him. This external force, like vines, wrapped around his internal energy, locking it tightly and preventing it from leaking out.

This discovery shocked Qin Feng. What was going on? This skill was something even the former General Zuo Lixing could not achieve. Zuo Lixing's internal energy was also yang-just, and using this method would only add fuel to the fire for him. However, the external force now wrapping around his internal energy was moderate and harmonious, and more importantly, this was not something that could be achieved with high cultivation alone.

He frowned, realizing that someone must have found and saved him before Min Ruoxi, while he was unconscious. Who was this person, and why did they save him?

He couldn't figure it out, really couldn't figure it out.

After a while, he suddenly slapped his head hard. Who cares? If this could let him live a few more years, he would have more opportunities. Although this external force could not completely eliminate his hidden illness, it would ensure that he was not in immediate danger. Qin Feng could clearly feel that his internal energy was constantly attacking the external force that wrapped around it. Over time, it would break free and once again threaten his life. But at least, he could gain a few more years of life.

Perhaps, in these few years, he could find other ways? At least, this mysterious savior had provided him with a new method. When he returned to the capital, if all else failed, he could still seek help from Min Ruoxi. Although there were few grandmasters in the Great Chu, there were still a few. At that time, he could try this method again, which might give him a few more years of life.

Years of illness and hardship had already turned Qin Feng into an optimist, always looking at the bright side of things. It couldn't get much worse.

"Go to sleep!" He stood up, stretched, and climbed back into bed.

His wounds had been carefully bandaged, all thanks to Min Ruoxi. In Qin Feng's eyes, a long-time patient, Min Ruoxi's skills were not very good. Even though he had given her several emergency training sessions on the way, her improvement was limited. The bandages were sometimes loose and sometimes tight, and at the end, she even tied a showy and practically ineffective bow. But when Qin Feng saw this eye-catching bow, he felt a strange sense of sweetness.

It looked quite pretty, after all!

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