Chapter 534 — Jade Face Like a Painting, Sword Like a Rainbow
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Sang Hua sat up and turned her back to him. She undid her clothing, baring a raw, blood-soaked wound beneath a neck white as jade, then took out a small jade vial, squeezed the clotted blood from the wound, and dressed it herself. "That night I said a great many things to you.
You remember none of them, I suppose.
" The tips of her ears had gone faintly pink. In truth, that night she had believed she would never escape alive, and so she had said a great deal of foolish nonsense to Shen Mu, words that would have sent even a boy red to the ears, and she had boldly spoken them all, because Shen Mu could not hear her anyway. But against all expectation she had lived.
She had thought she would never in this life lay eyes on Shen Mu again, and that night's ravings had become a strange, particular thread of feeling in her memory; and now, of all things, she had met once more the boy in the dark who had listened to all her confidences. Shen Mu lifted his head and looked at the sun in the sky, forcibly swallowing the urge to fly up and grind it smooth, then stepped around in front of her and reached out a hand to help her apply the medicine. Sang Hua hastily covered herself.
"Men and women must not touch each other's hands. . .
" "I'm an alchemist," Shen Mu said hastily. "I only meant to help you dress the wound.
A physician's heart is a parent's heart; I won't let any crooked thought cross my mind. " Sang Hua recalled that he had said earlier he was an alchemist of some small repute, and only then did she set her mind at ease. She watched, curious, as he applied the medicine for her, and his hands were indeed deft.
"Your attainments in the arts of calculation are plainly so high," she said doubtfully, "so how is it that you are also skilled in medicine? " Shen Mu studied the wound above her breast, examining it very closely. "I studied medicine for more than ten years; I studied the arts of calculation for a shorter time, only three years.
To tell the truth, I am a good deal better at medicine than at calculation.
" "How long do you mean to keep looking? " Sang Hua said in angry embarrassment, raising a hand to gather her clothing. Shen Mu hurriedly stopped her and carefully drew her clothing down to her shoulder.
"A physician's heart is a parent's heart. Mm, your skin is very white, and your shoulders are very round.
. .
don't move!
" He frowned slightly.
Sang Hua's wound had been left by a master of the demon race; it carried within it the demon's divine arts and demonic qi, eating away at flesh and vital qi. Such a wound was very hard to stanch, and very hard to draw the demonic qi out of.
The ointment he had just smeared on the wound had already turned black; plainly its medicinal power had been tainted by the demonic qi. Shen Mu squeezed out the blackened ointment from Sang Hua's wound, sniffed at it, and shook his head. This ointment was not suited to the injury.
"It stings so! This ointment draws out poison. Once it has drawn out some of the demonic poison, then the dressing must be changed. " Sang Hua cried out at the pain and took out several more vials of ointment. "A wound like this must be dressed a dozen times or more before the poison is fully drawn out. . .
Your eyes keep wandering everywhere. I had better do the dressing myself! " Shen Mu took a number of medicinal ingredients from the Taotie Pouch and refined them by his own method of elixir-making.
"Demonic poison is not truly poison," he said.