Wen Chaosheng was truly stunned when he saw A Shui like this; he even thought the blood on A Shui's chest must belong to someone else when he first saw it. But even if he didn't understand cultivation, he could tell from A Shui's breathing and other details that this woman, whose cultivation was unfathomably deep, was truly injured, and not lightly.
After a moment of hesitation, Wen Chaosheng still leaned closer and slowly reached out towards A Shui's chest, wanting to lift her clothes to see the wound.
This action was both alluring and dangerous for Wen Chaosheng, but he did it anyway. However, just as his hand was about to reach A Shui's full chest, another cold hand instantly grabbed Wen Chaosheng's wrist. Immediately after, Wen Chaosheng saw a pair of incredibly cold eyes.
Under the gaze of these eyes, whether it was the flames burning in the dilapidated temple or the cold wind blowing through the cracks in the wall, everything seemed to be tinged with a faint blood-red hue.
Wen Chaosheng was not unfamiliar with this kind of gaze.
Because a few days earlier, when he first came to the dilapidated temple to check on A Shui's life or death, she had revealed this very gaze.
The two looked at each other. After a brief silence, the Killing Intent in A Shui's eyes gradually faded. She asked Wen Chaosheng in a hoarse voice:
"Can you look?"
Wen Chaosheng, of course, knew what A Shui was asking and replied:
"Can you live?"
"If you can live, there's no need to look."
A Shui released her hand and coughed twice.
"I can live. I won't die."
Upon hearing this, Wen Chaosheng withdrew his hand, placed the already cold steamed buns beside her, and went to get a pot to boil some snow water for her. As the water in the pot began to boil, Wen Chaosheng scooped out a bowl, placed it in the wind and snow outside, and only brought the hot water to A Shui when it had cooled enough to drink.
"Drink hot water."
A Shui took the water Wen Chaosheng offered, tilted her head back, and drank it all in one gulp.
Hot water, of course, couldn't heal the wound, but drinking it did make her feel a bit more comfortable.
"Thanks."
A Shui returned the bowl to Wen Chaosheng, who then filled another bowl for himself and placed it nearby.
He sat cross-legged by the fire, adding firewood to the flames while asking:
"Did you encounter a master?"
A Shui leaned against the base of the stone statue, her eyes half-open, and said:
"Not really a master."
Wen Chaosheng looked at A Shui's weak appearance and shook his head slightly:
"You're like this, and your mouth is still so stubborn."
"Not a master, yet he injured you like this?"
A Shui didn't retort him, only said faintly:
"It was just an old injury flaring up."
Wen Chaosheng, who was picking up firewood, paused. He then remembered that when he had picked up A Shui earlier, her entire body was covered in blade wounds, some of them very deep, affecting her internal organs. Even if she was a Martial Artist who cultivated, it was impossible for her to recover so quickly.
His gaze slowly moved upward, to A Shui's lowered face, half-hidden by her messy hair.
"Did you see Chun Qiong?"
A Shui:
"I didn't see him."
"I wanted to see Liu Jinshi's corpse, but I encountered a person guarding the corpse. That guy was Chun Qiong's bodyguard, seemingly Innate disabled, with one arm longer than the other, and he was very skilled with a saber."
Wen Chaosheng was curious about the situation at the time:
"Is he dead?"
A Shui shook her head slightly:
"He's not dead."
"My saber went astray and cut off one of his arms."
After a pause, she pursed her dry lips and said:
"Wen Chaosheng, you were right. There's indeed a problem with Liu Jinshi's death, and it's a big problem."
"They performed simple embalming on Liu Jinshi's corpse, and there are stitches on his stomach. They were probably looking for that bottle of gut-piercing poison."
Wen Chaosheng scoffed:
"Those guys are also stupid. Since they wanted to kill Liu Jinshi, why didn't they just finish him with one stab?"
"Either bury him silently, or directly choose a scapegoat to take a stab and accompany Liu Jinshi."
"They messed around, and it ended up like this."
Wen Chaosheng stared at the flames in front of him. As the flames flickered, the mockery on his face gradually receded, and he suddenly became serious:
"Unless... they had a reason they had to do it this way."
As soon as he finished speaking, a small twig was thrown out, gently hitting the back of his hand.
Wen Chaosheng came back to his senses and looked at A Shui:
"What's wrong?"
A Shui slightly raised her face and said:
"Didn't you say you wouldn't get involved?"
"Aren't you afraid of dying?"
Wen Chaosheng met her gaze, and both remained silent for a long time, not saying a word.
Finally, Wen Chaosheng shook the firewood in his hand, threw it into the fire, scattering a few sparks, and said:
"Then will you listen?"
A Shui nodded:
"I'll listen."
Wen Chaosheng changed his cross-legged posture and slowly explained to her:
"These people are not ordinary desperadoes. Liu Jinshi's death was clearly organized and premeditated by them. I don't know their identities, but for them to repeatedly do so many stupid things that even an outsider like me can see are stupid, it means there must be some external force compelling them."
"Think about it, why did they have to poison Liu Jinshi when a single stab would have sufficed?"
A Shui closed her eyes and said softly:
"Just tell me directly, don't ask questions."
"If you make me think, I'll only want to sleep."
Wen Chaosheng shrugged and directly stated his thoughts:
"Diverting trouble."
"To spread some trouble and attention into the Jianghu."