Chu Lanqiu was startled by the woman's deathly pale face. It took her a moment to come to her senses.
The woman's face and body were covered in ashes. Although Chu Lanqiu didn't know which spirit beast's ashes they were, the lingering scent didn't lie.
She held her dagger against the woman's neck and demanded sharply, "Who are you?"
She had never seen anyone smear spirit - beast ashes on themselves so thickly.
The woman's lips moved a few times, but she couldn't utter a word about her origin.
Huan Qianyu finally managed to crawl out of a small opening with her father. Before she could even enjoy the relief for long, Huan Zhong fainted.
The area around the exit was filled with ruins, and there were some high - level spirit beasts lurking around.
Fortunately, the ashes on them were still lingering. Once the spirit beasts caught a whiff of the scent from afar, they kept their distance.
However, the ashes wouldn't last long. The bag they carried the ashes in was almost empty. That's why Huan Qianyu had moved Huan Zhong to the lakeside.
There were no spirit beasts around the lake, and the tall reeds could hide them.
Seeing her father's weakening breaths, Huan Qianyu was desperate and didn't know what to do. Just then, she heard someone entering the reed marsh.
Without hesitation, she rushed to seek help from this person.
"My father is dying. I beg you to save him first. I'll confess everything later. Please, okay?"
Seeing the genuine worry and panic on Huan Qianyu's face, Chu Lanqiu followed her reluctantly, still holding the dagger tightly.
When they reached deeper into the reeds, Chu Lanqiu saw whose blood was on the reeds.
The man in front of her was disheveled. His hands and feet were covered in hideous wounds, as if his tendons had been deliberately severed.
Like the woman, he was covered in the grayish - white spirit - beast ashes. Blood and ashes were mixed on his face and body.
"How could he be so badly injured..."
As someone who knew how to dissect spirit beasts, Chu Lanqiu knew exactly how those wounds were inflicted. They looked more like punishments.
"Where did you two escape from? The closest sect to the Beast Forest is our Beast Taming Sect. Even if a cultivator gets injured in the forest, the wounds wouldn't be like this."
Since the origins of the father - daughter pair were unknown, Chu Lanqiu still refused to treat the man.
She could tell that the man had been injured for a long time. Some of the wounds were festering. His meridians must have been severely damaged; otherwise, he could have used spiritual energy to heal himself.
Judging from the state of the wound's recovery, it had been almost half a month. If he hadn't been holding on, he would have died from blood loss.
Seeing that Chu Lanqiu still refused to help, Huan Qianyu in desperation pressed her neck against the dagger.
"Fellow Daoist, if you don't trust me, just kill me. As long as you save my father, I'm willing to trade my life for his!!"
The intense grief in Huan Qianyu's eyes finally softened Chu Lanqiu's heart. She took out some wound medicine from her storage bag and started treating Huan Zhong.
"Don't be so quick to talk about death. I don't know where you two crawled out from, but I can see that your father has been holding on for you. If you die, he might not be able to hold on either."
Huan Qianyu nodded through her sobs, tears streaming down her face.
"Thank you..."
Treating these wounds was an easy task for Chu Lanqiu.
In a few minutes, she had bandaged Huan Zhong up like a mummy. But she was helpless when it came to the wounds on his hands and feet.
"The wounds on your father's hands and feet are very serious. I'm not a medical cultivator, so I don't know how to treat them. If you can get out of the Beast Forest, take this jade token and go to the Beast Taming Sect for help."
Chu Lanqiu gave her jade token to Huan Qianyu. She wasn't going back to the sect anytime soon.
"No no no, Fellow Daoist, no, Benefactor! Please let me follow you. You're looking for something, right? I can help you search."
Huan Qianyu was new to the Nine Desolate Continent and wasn't familiar with the sects here. As a demon from the Demon Realm, if the sect members discovered her identity, both she and her father would be in danger. So she refused the jade token.
Chu Lanqiu looked at her in confusion. Usually, people would be overjoyed if they could get connected to a sect, but this woman seemed to be avoiding it.
"What's your name?"
"My name is... Qianyu."
Huan Qianyu was cautious and didn't dare to reveal her family name, just in case the surname was well - known on the Nine Desolate Continent.
"Qianyu..."
She didn't say her surname.
Chu Lanqiu immediately realized that the father - daughter pair must come from a prominent family, where just the surname could give away their identities.
Such caution meant there must be a big secret hidden behind them.
But seeing their miserable state, Chu Lanqiu felt pity for them.
She had nothing to lose. The man's wounds were real, and even if they fought, she was confident she could handle it.
Moreover, it would be great to have someone help her search for herbs. So she agreed.
Chu Lanqiu told Huan Qianyu some features of the Drunken Dragon Grass. To her surprise, Huan Qianyu's expression changed.
Huan Qianyu stepped forward and moved Huan Zhong aside. Only then did Chu Lanqiu notice that Huan Qianyu had collected all the nearby Drunken Dragon Grass and placed it under the reed mat where Huan Zhong was lying.
"You're being so wasteful! Do you know how precious this grass is?!"
Facing Chu Lanqiu's angry face, Huan Qianyu was a bit flustered.
After bringing Huan Zhong here, he had shown a strange interest in the small grass hidden in the reeds and pointed at them, muttering something.
Huan Qianyu thought the grass would be beneficial for his injuries, so she collected all the nearby ones.
But it turned out the grass was of no help to his wounds. So she had just placed them under his body.
"Benefactor, don't be angry. I didn't know it was so precious. Can these still be used?"
Huan Qianyu flatteringly brought the Drunken Dragon Grass over and carefully handed it to Chu Lanqiu.
Although Chu Lanqiu was angry, she also knew that only those who lived in the forest for a long time could recognize these herbs. So her anger faded quickly.
She selected the relatively intact Drunken Dragon Grass with leaves still attached to the stems and put them into her storage bag. The rest, which were already crushed and had lost their medicinal properties, had to be abandoned.
Seeing that she hadn't caused trouble for Chu Lanqiu, Huan Qianyu finally let out a sigh of relief.