Chapter 651: Pursued by Enemies. Flee Upon Reading!

Mute Girl appeared to be drifting along Qingyi River.

As Qin Sang passed over Thousand-Household Village, he found everything in the village perfectly normal. The villagers were going about their peaceful lives. Women were cooking, and children played and laughed. It was a scene of tranquility.

"Hmm?"

Just as he was about to fly past the village, Qin Sang suddenly descended, landing in the rear mountain behind Thousand-Household Village, right in front of the thatched hut where Mute Girl used to live.

She had left less than a year ago. No one had occupied the hut since, and little had changed.

Qin Sang fixed his gaze on a large hole in the roof. Though the hut had always been dilapidated and prone to leaks during heavy rain, Mute Girl had been diligent in patching it with thatch. Such a large breach should not have appeared.

It looked as though a stone had smashed through it, and the mark was quite recent.

Qin Sang swept his spiritual consciousness through the hut and found a bluestone within. Moss still clung to its surface, clearly freshly dredged from Qingyi River.

When he saw the stone clearly, Qin Sang's expression sharpened.

Eight characters had been carved crudely into the stone. "Pursued by enemies. Flee upon reading!"

The handwriting was rough and rushed, but it was unmistakably Mute Girl’s.

Qin Sang reached out and drew the stone into his palm. He scanned the surroundings with his spiritual consciousness but found no other anomalies. Without delay, he took off again on his sword and continued downriver along Qingyi River.

Before departing, he glanced back at Thousand-Household Village. Judging by the hole in the roof and the stone’s position, Mute Girl must have thrown it up from the river below.

Qin Sang could easily imagine the scene. She had crushed the Qingfu Coin, but received no response. Injured and drifting in the river, she likely no longer had the strength to reach the shore. All she could do was hurl the stone onto land in hopes of leaving him a message.

Perhaps she feared being tracked, and leaving the river would expose her trail.

If he couldn’t find her, he would surely come to Thousand-Household Village to check. As for whether the pursuers would discover the stone and beat him to it, Mute Girl probably had no strength left to consider such things. This was all she could do.

Who has pushed her to such desperation?

Qin Sang lowered his eyes to the bluestone.

Enemies?

Who are these enemies?

Was this disaster caused by someone pursuing me, thereby implicating Mute Girl?

Qin Sang was deeply puzzled.

Carefully recalling everything that had happened since the transmission, he had only killed twice. Once, to help Mute Girl avenge herself by destroying the Winged Serpent Village's priests. The second time was to eliminate a notorious bandit who had attacked Five-Insect Sect. Both were insignificant figures.

He was certain those bandits had no background and were solitary wolves. Even if they had friends or relatives, they would never dare oppose a Core Formation cultivator, let alone pose a threat to Mute Girl, who was under Five-Insect Sect’s protection.

In truth, only Cui Xuanzi and a cultivator surnamed Tong within Five-Insect Sect knew about the connection between him and Mute Girl.

Whether it was Five-Insect Sect, Thunderclap Village, or the Hundred Flower Palace, Qin Sang had used both pressure and incentives to deal with them. He hadn’t gone too far, and none of them had the courage or reason to retaliate.

Qin Sang couldn't make sense of it no matter how he thought. Only by finding Mute Girl could he uncover the truth.

He continued downstream along Qingyi River at blinding speed. As the distance closed, the Qingfu Coin’s sensing grew sharper. Mute Girl truly was drifting within the river.

This caused Qin Sang’s heart to sink, but he forcibly suppressed his anxiety.

Soon, the Qingfu Coin indicated that Mute Girl was directly below. She was beneath the river.

The current was massive and violently swift. Qin Sang dived into the river without hesitation and finally located Mute Girl on the riverbed.

Her eyes were tightly shut, her breath completely absent. She floated motionless with the current, her body entangled in thick river weeds, looking just like a lifeless corpse.

Qin Sang gathered his true essence, gently enveloped her, and soared back toward the surface.

Splash!

Water sprayed in all directions.

Clutching Mute Girl, Qin Sang broke through the water’s surface and landed on the riverbank. He immediately began clearing the weeds and moisture from her body.

Her face was deathly pale, as though she had just emerged from a fierce battle.

Wounds covered her body, all of them long soaked and turned ghostly white. The most serious was a gaping hole in her left shoulder, clearly caused by a piercing weapon.

The force behind it had shattered the bones in her shoulder, nearly reaching her heart.

But her current condition was even worse. Her heart had already stopped beating.

Qin Sang’s expression remained grim, but he had not yet given up hope. He sent his spiritual consciousness into Mute Girl’s body to investigate. A moment later, a glimmer of joy appeared on his face.

She still had a thread of life left in her.

Though not dead, her injuries were far too severe for ordinary pills to be of any use. Qin Sang immediately retrieved a vial of the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances from the Thousand-Jin Ring. He poured out a single drop and fed it into Mute Girl’s mouth.

As soon as the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances entered her body, a powerful surge of vitality erupted within her.

Qin Sang placed his hand over her abdomen and activated his true essence, guiding the medicinal energy to disperse and directing the liquid’s life force to begin repairing her injuries.

Before his eyes, the wounds across Mute Girl’s body began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. The shattered bones in her left shoulder swiftly reknit themselves. The pallor on her face and body slowly gave way to a healthy flush.

Even more encouraging, her heart began to beat again, however faintly.

But still, she showed no signs of waking.

Qin Sang frowned. He inspected her primordial spirit and found it so weak it was already nearing the brink of collapse. The life force of the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances could heal her physical body, but it could not restore her spirit.

If he delayed any longer, her primordial spirit would soon dissipate. Death would still be inevitable.

Qin Sang didn’t have many pills that could treat the primordial spirit, and none had the miraculous effect of the Jade Liquid of Three Radiances. He took out his best spirit-nourishing pill and fed it to her.

Once the pill entered her system, there were faint signs that her primordial spirit was beginning to recover, though the process would be painfully slow.

Qin Sang summoned the flying yaksha to keep watch. Holding Mute Girl in his arms, he sat down on a stone by the riverbank and waited for her to awaken. His expression was unreadable. At times, he stared at the surface of Qingyi River, and at others, he gazed up at the sky, his eyes deep with thought.

Only now did Qin Sang notice that Mute Girl’s hands and arms bore four etched divine patterns.

Divine patterns were intricate, varied in form, and capable of producing all sorts of wondrous effects. Though Qin Sang was not well-versed in them, he vaguely recalled that the patterns on her body seemed to have something to do with water.

He hadn’t expected that Mute Girl, while cultivating the

Dutian Devilish Sound

, would also take up the path of divine patterns.

Her cultivation level was indeed only at the third stage of the Qi Refining Realm, and she had only just broken through. This was even lower than Qin Sang had estimated, perhaps due to her divided focus on divine patterns.

Low cultivation did not mean weak strength.

Qin Sang noticed that two of the divine patterns on her hands were quite extraordinary.

She had only practiced divine patterns as a supplementary path, yet had already achieved such results in so short a time. Her talent in this area was truly astonishing.

Just then, Qin Sang felt Mute Girl stir in his arms. He looked down and saw her eyelashes tremble. Her eyes opened a sliver, their gaze faint and dazed.

"Big Brother Qin...?"

Catching a blurry glimpse of Qin Sang’s face, Mute Girl stared blankly, believing herself to be dreaming. In a low murmur, she said, "Thank you, Witch God... for letting me dream of Big Brother Qin one last time..."