After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 44

Kissing the Wound

Shijie planted a kiss on her heart’s wound

After helping Shijie change her dressing, Wen Qiwu felt a thin layer of sweat on her back. Even when she was dealing with those vengeful ghosts wandering the central zone of the Endless Tree Sea back then, it hadn’t been this exhausting.

            

“I-I’ve applied the medicine. Hurry and put your clothes on, don’t catch a chill.” Wen Qiwu kept her eyes lowered, not daring to look up. Only after the words left her mouth did she realize that Shijie—a True Immortal Realm cultivator with an Ice Spiritual Root¹—had absolutely no need to worry about catching a chill. That sentence was practically an obvious cover-up.

Her face flushed red. She hurriedly gathered the ointment, planning to find somewhere else to calm down.

Was it her imagination? Why did it feel like Shijie was doing it on purpose… No, no, no. Shijie wasn’t that kind of person. She must be overthinking it.

            

While Wen Qiwu was lost in thought, she didn’t notice her own gaze drifting aimlessly elsewhere. When she caught sight of that touch of snow-white skin revealed below Shijie’s neckline as she dressed, she felt a rush of heat climb straight to her face.

Did Shijie truly not realize how captivating she was to her like that? How could she… how could she…

No. Shijie had heart demons. She was a patient. The one who should be careful was herself—Wen Qiwu, you cannot take advantage of someone’s vulnerability! And once Shijie recovered from her illness and the heart demons dissipated along with the obsession born of guilt, who was to say she wouldn’t revert to her former self?

            

Being confined to the Cliff of Reflection once was enough.

Wen Qiwu’s face cycled from red to pale. She sighed inwardly, admonishing herself not to cross the line, and gathered the ointment to leave. Sensing the shift in her mood, Yun Heng hastily caught her shimei’s wrist.

The movement was too abrupt. The garment Yun Heng had just draped over herself, not yet properly fastened, slipped considerably from the motion. When Wen Qiwu turned around, she was greeted by a breathtaking sight.

            

Wen Qiwu couldn’t withstand this. She hastily pulled Shijie’s collar closed. A few more rounds of this and she felt she could become a paragon of untouchable virtue.

“Ah Que, where are you going?” A trace of fear flickered in Yun Heng’s expression—fear that her shimei would leave without a word, fear that everything before her eyes was nothing but a dream.

“I…” Shijie’s eyes looked too pitiful. Wen Qiwu truly couldn’t bear to say she was going back to clear her head, so she said, “I’ll just set these medicine boxes aside. I won’t go out.”

            

Shijie’s hand still hadn’t released hers. Helpless, Wen Qiwu could only set the items on the low cabinet beside them first.

“Is your wound still untreated?” Yun Heng raised her other hand and gently pressed it over Wen Qiwu’s left heart. This was a new wound; she dared not press too hard.

“I’ll tend to it myself in a bit.” Wen Qiwu glanced down at her chest. It was a minor wound, nothing worth fussing over.

            

Yun Heng pressed her lips together. Though her own injuries hadn’t fully healed, they had stopped bleeding—yet she caught an unusual scent of blood.

She gently parted Wen Qiwu’s collar and saw blood seeping through the bandages.

“The wound has reopened…” Yun Heng’s voice trembled. She hurriedly unwound the bandages wrapped around Wen Qiwu, revealing the unhealed wound that was indeed still oozing blood. Who knew when Wen Qiwu had pulled it open.

            

On her chest was a finger-length incision. The Medical Immortal’s blade-work was excellent—it hadn’t caused her too much suffering—but to preserve the medicinal efficacy of the heart blood, special instruments had been used that made the wound slow to heal.

Wen Qiwu glanced at the blood-soaked bandage. No wonder her chest had been aching—the still-unhealed wound had been aggravated.

Yun Heng’s face went pale as paper. The wound wasn’t large, but it sat right over the heart, and with the blood continuously flowing, it looked rather alarming.

            

“Sit, sit down quickly.” Yun Heng handled her with the utmost care, as though tending to a gravely injured patient. She guided her shimei to sit on the edge of her bed, first using her own immortal power to stanch the bleeding, then taking the ointment from Wen Qiwu to apply to the wound.

Yun Heng’s movements were meticulous and gentle. She soon finished applying the medicine and re-bandaged Wen Qiwu’s wound.

This was the wound her shimei had suffered from extracting heart blood for her… Yun Heng felt the metallic taste of blood she had sensed earlier gnawing at her heart repeatedly—a suffocating, aching pressure.

            

“Ah Que, tell Shijie the truth—does your wound hurt?” Yun Heng asked with concern.

Wen Qiwu shook her head reflexively. “It doesn’t hurt.”

But the wound was right there. Claiming she felt nothing at all wouldn’t be believable either.

            

“It’s just a little uncomfortable.” Wen Qiwu understated it.

How painful must extracting heart blood be? And even with the Medical Immortal overseeing the procedure, Ah Que’s body would surely suffer some depletion. The Medical Immortal didn’t even know to rein her in. Yun Heng gazed at Wen Qiwu’s wound with aching tenderness. If possible, she wished she could transfer this injury onto her own body.

Yun Heng lowered her head, mimicking the way Wen Qiwu had just blown on her wound, and gently blew across the bandages over her shimei’s wound. Her breath tended toward cold. The playful chill seeped straight through to Wen Qiwu’s heart, and Shijie’s cold fragrance wrapped around her. Wen Qiwu gave a slight shiver. She should have felt cold, but that faintly cool temperature, once it settled into her chest, transformed into an indescribable heat.

            

Held in Shijie’s arms, she let out an uncontrollable, soft gasp.

When Wen Qiwu realized what she had done, her face flushed crimson. She wanted to bolt for the door immediately—but just then, she felt a soft touch press against the spot over her wound.

Wen Qiwu’s eyes snapped wide. She stared down in a daze. Shijie had kissed the place over her wound.

            

By the time Wen Qiwu reacted, her hand had already pushed Shijie away. The gaze Shijie turned toward her was wounded and bewildered.

“Ah Que…” Shijie held onto her hand with the cautiousness of someone who had done something wrong, as though asking what she had done wrong.

And the true thought in Yun Heng’s heart was even more extreme: Why did Ah Que push her away? Did Ah Que… no longer want to accept her?

            

“Pitch-black” emotions churned within Yun Heng’s heart. Her heart demon let out a vicious laugh.

Wen Qiwu noticed the faint crimson surging beneath Shijie’s eyes—this was truly a sign of impending demonic corruption. She recalled the Medical Immortal’s warning that Shijie was plagued by heart demons, and this stage was particularly dangerous. She should accommodate her as much as possible and avoid aggravating the heart demons further.

She could only gently draw Shijie into her arms, gradually smoothing away the blood-red surging in her eyes.

            

“Shijie, I… I’ve grown up. Some things aren’t quite appropriate between martial sisters, especially intimate gestures like just now. It’s just… it’s not quite proper.” It was bad for her heart, bad for her body. Shijie had never realized her allure to her, and now that even the distance between them had vanished, she truly feared she might do something she would regret…

This had once been everything she dreamed of. But now, whenever Wen Qiwu recalled the Medical Immortal’s story about the Resentful Couple² born of heart demons, a cold pessimism washed over her. If she grew accustomed to this life now, and later Shijie wished to retreat back to the position of martial sisters, it would be impossible to scale back from luxury to austerity.

Wen Qiwu felt her chest ache again. After hearing her shimei’s words, Yun Heng opened her mouth, and after a long while, said softly, “I am unwilling to be only martial sisters with you. Ah Que, I wish to form a Dao Companion Covenant³ with you.”

            

Form… a Dao Companion Covenant?

Hearing those words, Wen Qiwu’s arms tightened slightly. Even knowing that Shijie’s words might be influenced by heart demons, she still felt dizzy and lightheaded. After a long moment, Wen Qiwu gently patted Shijie’s back and said, “Alright, alright, alright, I understand.”

“But let’s discuss this after you’ve recovered from your illness, alright?”

            

Her shimei didn’t trust her.

The realization made Yun Heng’s heart ache faintly. It was her own fault—she hadn’t given her shimei enough reason to trust her.

A slight sting rose behind her eyes. She deserved this. It was fine. They had a long time ahead of them. She would wait until her shimei set aside her reservations.

            

“Qiwu, my heart is drawn to you.” Yun Heng held her and murmured low, her voice growing more earnest with each repetition.

Sweetness and sourness intertwined in Wen Qiwu’s heart, ultimately curdling into bitterness.

If only Shijie had given her this answer a hundred years ago. But now, for Shijie to suddenly declare her heart was drawn to her—was this declaration born of genuine feeling, or was it coerced from her lips by the heart demons?

            

In the end, the Yun Heng of the past had been too resolute, leaving her no room for hope. Now that she personally fed Wen Qiwu a sweet, Wen Qiwu couldn’t help but suspect it might be filled with bitter melon at its core.

“Here, take all these medicines. After you finish, rest well. Don’t worry, I’ll stay right here until you fall asleep.” Wen Qiwu used various pills to block any further words from Yun Heng.

Most of these medicines had mind-calming and soul-settling effects. Combined with Wen Qiwu keeping her promise to stay by her side—even lying down beside Yun Heng fully clothed to coax her to sleep—Yun Heng finally drifted off.

            

At first, Yun Heng’s sleep was peaceful. But later, at some unknown point, nightmares began to plague her. She dreamed that her shimei had gone far, far away with someone else, abandoning her, declaring her dull and rigid and unsuitable as a Dao Companion. Yun Heng jolted awake in terror.

Aside from the nightmare, it had been a rare good sleep—one not born of unconsciousness. The surroundings were quiet. She instinctively searched for any trace of her shimei.

But Yun Heng soon discovered that her shimei’s presence was absent from the entire mountain—even from the entire sect! She scrambled out of bed in a panic. Fortunately, a transmission paper crane sat on the low cabinet. Yun Heng channeled her power into it, and her shimei’s voice emerged.

            

【I heard from Ah Fu that the passage to the Endless Tree Sea is unstable and may close early, so I’ve gone ahead. You must listen to the Medical Immortal and rest properly…】

Yun Heng listened to Wen Qiwu’s words over and over, slowly warming the heart that had nearly plunged into an ice cavern. Ah Que had come back. This wasn’t a dream. Don’t be afraid… It was just that her shimei had gone to the Endless Tree Sea—and it was that person called Ah Fu who had called her away.

Yun Heng crumpled the paper crane in her hand into a ball.

            

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