5

Ye Ziyun was waiting in the library , staring out of the window next to it till the person she was supposed to meet. Seeing him being late made her feel a bit Irritated. She didn't want to admit it, but she had been lonely for a long time. After her mother passing, her father had been distant with the house, spending most of his time as the city lord, she had friends at school, but they were mostly befriending her for benifits, Her adopted brother Ye Han and that bastard Shen Yue coveted her because she was a short path to power, she had always seen how Ye Han had looked at her secretly, and that Shen Yue didn't even bother to hide it.

She didn't even know what to feel about Xiao Ning'er. They were best friends till a few years ago, but for some reason she doesn't talk to her anymore. Ye Ziyun still considered her a friend, but she couldn't tell how she felt about her.

Then there's Nei Li. She knew that he was interested in her, the entire class knew it since he said it out loud in the middle of Shen Xue's class. But she still associated with him since he wasn't insincere like others, and he proved to be interesting. Especially with his knowledge on inscriptions, and old languages, so instead of going home alone like usual, she decided to meet him here today.

"Ziyun, sorry I'm late", the boy who she had been waiting walked in sounding a little worried." I had to deal with some business" which was true since he was currently selling purple haze grass they had previously collected to an massive price.

"Don't worry" she replied while pulling out an inscription array from her space ring before spreading it open on the table. This was one of the more expensive inscriptions her family had acquired at an auction , but no one , even her aunt Yin knew its function because it was partially damaged.

"What kind of inscription do you think this is. It's been in my family for years, but we haven't been able to find it's use."

Nei Li turned it around to take a better look, but his attention was suddenly diverted when he heard someone asking for Ziyun's location.

"Excuse ne , but do you know where miss Ye Ziyun is?"

"Yeah, she was around the fourth rack from the right"

"Thanks"

Nei Li looked at Ziyun, only to see her puzzled, so it wasn't someone she had invited. Footsteps grew louder as they both waited to see who it was with anticipation, and soon a black haired tall boy who had a sword at his hip came to view. It was Hong.

"Excuse me, do you know ... oh it's you Nei Li, Do you know where miss Ye Ziyun is?"

"I'm Ye Ziyun. " she stepped from behind Nei Li , and responded "why are you asking for me?"

After looking at Nei Li for a second, he spoke"I think it's a private matter, do you want me to talk even if he is here?, no offence Nei Li"

"Yes, I belive in him" she told him making Nei Li break into a smile." So what is it?"

Hong took a small breath before lowering his vice and delivering the news he brought.

"It's about your friend, Xiao Ning'er, " which immediately drew her attention.

"I found her collapsed in the forest yesterday night while I was out training."

Hearing this she immediately stood up and demanded, " where is she!?"

Nei Li could see that the person involved mattered to Ziyun when he noticed soul force flowing out of her uncontrollably."And why didn't you bring her back?"

Bit suppressed by the flowing soul force, Hong let the answers out with some difficulty.

"She's in the small hut I own in the forest, I couldn't bring her back because she's still unconscious, and I don't want to be targeted by the winged dragon family for misunderstandings."

Soon enough three of them found themselves navigating through the forest as hey followed Hong's lead. Ziyun wanted to leave immediately when he told her the news, and Nei Li tagged along her saying that he had some medical knowledge.

Looking behind to make sure they were following him without getting lost, Hong let out a sigh in disappointment. He had used every method he could to remove the symptoms of her disease, but the yin energy was stubborn like a blood stain on white cloth. He had used fire type qi, pure yang qi that put shaolin martial yang qi into shame , even transformed his qi into pure yin qi to coax out the cold energy that was effecting her body, but they all failed. At martial master level, moving qi in specific manner would automatically turn the qi released into the specific attribute.

But when the released qi contacted the cold areas, they were immediately dispersed or they turned to the same energy present within Xiao Ning'er's body. This proved how helpless his martial arts were against soul power once more, which made his need to incorporate soul cultivation arts to martial arts, turn to an almost obsession.

They quickly arrived at his small tree dwelling where they saw the unconscious girl, completely covered in blue bruises. Then Nei Li, quickly identified it as the Arctic cold disease, and performed the daoyin technique on her.

"She should wake up in a day" Nei Li said after performing the daoyin technique on her for half an hour. Although the clothes on the young lady were removed except for her underwear, Nei Li showed almost no emotion and treated it as a doctor would, for much relief of Ye Ziyun. Hong had left the moment they agreed to remove her clothes for treatment.

"Do you think we should carry her back to the city?" Ziyun asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Replied Hong from outside the door before Nei Li could speak.

"If anyone of her family saw her in this state, they would immediately attack us, not to mention who knows what type of rumours would start if people saw the heiress of the winged dragon family carried while being unconscious. "

Making them understand the implications of their actions. If one were to even sense Xiao Ning'er being carried while unconscious, the image and status she has would all be destroyed and she would be shamed by the entire society, whether the rumours are true or not.

Soon Xiao Ning'er opened her eyes, and after speaking about her marriage with the sacred family's Shen Fei and why she had cultivated at night, Nei Li made adjustments to her cultivation technique so,she could cultivate without any after effects. Thankfully the bruises were mostly covered by her clothes. So they walked back to glory city without much problem.

"Do you think she will be okay?" An anxious Ye Ziyun asked Nei Li. "Don't worry, after the expedition tomorrow, I'll check out her state again and use the daoyin technique to remove the bruises" .

"Wait! You are going with Chen Lin Jian, in tomorrow's expedition?" Hong interjected their conversation. "Do you think I can come along too?"

"You can ask young master Chen tomorrow " Nei Li replied after thinking for a bit. After that Hong left back in the direction of the forest.

" so who's he?" Ye Ziyun asked after Hong disappeared out of sight " He's an aid from Lu Piao's family, and he is really strong for his age. That's why I told him to ask Master Chen. He could be quite useful."

While they were talking , at the winged dragon family Xiao Ning'er was spending her time thinking deeply about something. Contrary to Hong's belief She hadn't been unconscious through most of the time. So she was thinking whether to have him exposed or to just leave him be. Sure he had taken her to a safe place and even called her friend to take her home, but she didn't forget how he had used some sort of energy to perform experiments on her and even copy her cultivation technique.

Nei Li had been straight forward with his needs. He just wanted her to talk with Ziyun again and have the help of winged dragon family. And after mentioning a part of the story , her father had agreed to Nei Li's needs.

But, on the other hand, she didn't know whether to have him rewarded or get him arrested. But then remembering him using sword arts, she decided to do neither, but have him work for her instead. She had cultivated in the forest for a long time during night time, so it was no suprise that she had seen him killing the horned sheep. And she had been mesmerised by the sword techniques displayed by him. So it would be a good way to get a teacher in sword arts without much effort. She then let out a small smirk, after all he did owe her right?