Upon seeing A Shui like this, Wen Chaoshen was truly taken aback. At first gnce, when he saw the blood on A Shui's chest, he thought it must belong to someone else. But even though he didn't understand cultivation, he could tell from A Shui's breathing and other details that this woman, whose skills were unfathomable, was indeed injured, and quite seriously at that.

  After hesitating for a moment, Wen Chaoshen still leaned forward, slowly reaching out towards A Shui's chest, intending to lift her clothing to check the wound.

  This action was certainly both alluring and dangerous for Wen Chaoshen, but he did it anyway. However, just as his hand was about to reach A Shui's full chest, another cold hand grabbed his wrist at the same moment. Immediately, Wen Chaoshen saw a pair of extremely cold eyes.

  Under the gaze of these eyes, whether it was the fmes burning in the abandoned temple or the cold wind blowing through the cracks in the walls, everything seemed to be tinged with a yer of blood red.

  This kind of gaze was not unfamiliar to Wen Chaoshen.

  Because a few days ago, when he first came to the abandoned temple to check on A Shui's life and death, she had shown this kind of gaze.

  The two of them stared at each other. After a brief silence, the murderous intent in A Shui's eyes gradually faded. She asked Wen Chaoshen in a hoarse voice:

  "Can you see?"

  Wen Chaoshen naturally understood what A Shui was asking and replied:

  "Can you survive?"

  "If I can survive, there's no need to look."

  A Shui released her hand and coughed twice.

  "I can survive, I won't die."

  Hearing this, Wen Chaoshen withdrew his hand, pced the now-cold buns beside her, and went to fetch a pot to boil some snow water for her. As the water in the pot began to boil, Wen Chaoshen filled a bowl, pced it outside in the wind and snow, and only when the water cooled to a drinkable temperature did he bring the hot water to A Shui.

  "Drink some hot water."

  A Shui took the water Wen Chaoshen handed her and drank it all in one go.

  Hot water certainly couldn't heal her wounds, but drinking it did make her feel a bit more comfortable.

  "Thanks."

  A Shui returned the bowl to Wen Chaoshen, who filled another bowl for himself and pced it beside him.

  He sat cross-legged by the fire, adding wood to the fmes as he asked:

  "Did you encounter a master?"

  A Shui leaned against the base of a stone statue, her eyes half-open and half-closed, and said:

  "Not really a master."

  Wen Chaoshen looked at A Shui's weak appearance and shook his head slightly:

  "You're like this, and still so stubborn."

  "Not a master, and yet you're injured like this?"

  A Shui didn't retort, simply said:

  "Old wounds fred up, that's all."

  Wen Chaoshen paused in his wood-gathering, finally remembering that when he first found A Shui, she was covered in weapon wounds, some of which were very deep, affecting her internal organs. Even though she was a martial artist, it was impossible for her to recover so quickly.

  His gaze slowly moved up to A Shui's face, which was lowered and partially obscured by her disheveled hair.

  "Did you see Chun Qiong?"

  A Shui:

  "No, I didn't."

  "I wanted to see Liu Jinshi's body, but I encountered someone guarding it. That guy was Chun Qiong's guard, seemed to be congenitally disabled, with one arm longer than the other, and he wielded a knife with great skill."

  Wen Chaoshen was curious about the situation at the time:

  "Did he die?"

  A Shui shook her head slightly:

  "No, he didn't."

  "My knife missed, cut off one of his arms."

  After a pause, she licked her dry lips and said:

  "Wen Chaoshen, you were right, there's indeed something wrong with Liu Jinshi's death, and it's a big problem."

  "They did some simple preservation on Liu Jinshi's body, there's stitching on his stomach, probably looking for that bottle of gut-wrenching poison."

  Wen Chaoshen sneered:

  "Those guys are fools, if they wanted to kill Liu Jinshi, why not just cut him down with a single stroke?"

  "Either bury him quietly or find a scapegoat to take a stab and accompany Liu Jinshi."

  "Messing around like this, and ending up like this."

  Wen Chaoshen stared at the fmes in front of him, and as the fire flickered, the mockery on his face gradually faded, suddenly becoming serious:

  "Unless... they have a reason they can't avoid."

  Just as he finished speaking, a small twig was thrown, lightly hitting the back of his hand.

  Wen Chaoshen snapped back to reality, looking at A Shui:

  "What?"

  A Shui raised her face slightly and said:

  "Didn't you say you wouldn't get involved?"

  "Aren't you afraid of dying?"

  Wen Chaoshen and she stared at each other, both silent for a long time, not saying a word.

  Finally, Wen Chaoshen shook the wood in his hand, tossed it into the fire, sending a few sparks flying, and said:

  "Then will you listen?"

  A Shui nodded:

  "I'll listen."

  Wen Chaoshen adjusted his sitting position and began to speak to her:

  "These people aren't ordinary desperadoes. Liu Jinshi's death was clearly organized and premeditated by them. I don't know their identities, but for them to repeatedly do so many things that even an outsider like me finds foolish, it means there must be some external force pressuring them."

  "Think about it, why would they insist on poisoning Liu Jinshi when a single stroke would suffice?"

  A Shui, with her eyes closed, said softly:

  "Just say it, don't ask questions."

  "If you make me think, all I want to do is sleep."

  Wen Chaoshen shrugged and directly shared his thoughts:

  "Diverting trouble eastward."

  "Spreading some trouble and attention into the Martial World."

  kant202323