43 Spiritual Water

Everything happened in a span of seconds. One moment everything was fine and the very next moment, Xiang Ling found herself kissing her arch-enemy. Her wide eyes stared at the man who was staring back at her with just as much shock in his eyes as she was experiencing at the moment.

But despite all the shock, Xiang Ling couldn't help but feel just how soft his lips were. They felt so good against her lips and for a mere second, she was tempted to deepen the kiss just to taste his lips properly.

The moment this absurd thought entered her brain, Xiang Ling felt a chill running all over her body. This time, nothing went wrong as she quickly pulled away and rolled over to the other side, placing as much distance between herself and the man as possible.

The two of them moved to sitting positions at the same time but neither dared to speak. Everything felt just too awkward and the only thing that Xiang Ling wanted at that moment was to disappear.

Without a single word or a glance in her direction, Xin Cheng stood up and picked up the basket that he previously put down. He adjusted the basket on his shoulder and started walking in the direction of the village.

Xiang Ling stared at his departing back for a moment or two before she too stood up and raced behind him to catch up. The two didn't exchange even a single word all the way back to the village and as soon as they stepped inside the village, Xin Cheng suddenly placed the basket on Xiang Ling's shoulders.

Xiang Ling gasped in surprise at the sudden weight on her shoulders and struggled to balance the heavy basket. She tried to ask Xin Cheng what he was trying to do but she soon realized that the man was long gone and she was the only one there.

Finally being left alone, she used her internal energy to strengthen her weak mortal body and carried the basket easily on her back, heading toward the Chen Manor. Once inside the manor, she headed straight toward the kitchen and put down the basket on one of the wooden tables.

There were still two hours left in the sunset, yet, the sky was already turning dim as dark clouds started filling the vast canvas. Nature was way too silent, causing fear in the hearts of villagers for the upcoming storm. The weather indeed took a drastic shift within an hour as it went from sunshine to dark gloomy clouds.

Shifting her attention back to the task at hand, Xiang Ling grabbed three wooden buckets and filled them with the water of the stream from inside her space.

It was only this morning that she realized that despite losing most of the resources within her space, there were a couple of very useful things that she still had access to. The spiritual water of the stream running next to her summer cottage, the spiritual soil around the cottage, and the divine light of the sun and the moon that she still had access to.

She filled the three buckets with the spiritual water from the stream before unloading the three types of fruits in those three buckets - wild plums, firey cherries, and persimmons.

She then grabbed another basket and again filled it with stream water before unloading the spirit herbs in it that she found in the mountains. An hour of soaking in the spiritual water would not only detoxify these fruits and herbs but it would also add a little bit of spiritual energy to those that would prove fruitful for the refugees.

She was filling the last two available buckets with the stream water for drinking purposes when her heightened sense of hearing picked up the familiar footsteps of Fu Xiao who entered the kitchen a minute later.

"My Lady?" Fu Xiao was surprised to see Xiang Ling in the kitchen and her level of surprise only increased when she noticed the buckets filled with fruits, herbs, and water. "What are these?"

Xiang Ling turned to face the girl and explained, "Xin Cheng and I went to the mountains to collect these fruits for the refugees. Let them soak in the water for an hour and then we will distribute them. The water is for their drinking. Make sure to keep these safe."

The girl was left speechless after hearing her lady's words and it took her a full minute before she forced a quick nod in response.

Xiang Ling didn't stay there for long and soon headed toward the village square to see what Li Xian was doing. But as she arrived there, she found that the atmosphere there was just as gloomy and tense as the weather.

"What happened?" She asked as soon as she walked closer to Wei Guang who was standing next to Li Xian who appeared really troubled.

Both Wei Guang and Li Xian turned their attentions toward her as soon as they heard her voice and it was the former who answered her question. "The storm is almost here but we have a really big problem. Most of the refugees have been sleeping on the streets all these days because there's not enough space in the village's school for all of them. What are we going to do tonight? They can't be left out in the storm."

Xiang Ling turned her attention toward the refugees as she listened to the issue. She had heard that the gravely injured refugees were staying in the old school building in the village but it was not big enough to take in all the refugees. Unless each family in the village allowed one or two refugees to stay in their house for the night, there was no other way to solve the issue.

Xiang Ling returned her attention to her husbands and provided them with the least expected solution. "How about taking them to our manor?"