“Are you feeling any discomfort?”  Even though he felt a little awkward, Si Fanqing couldn’t help but worry.

“I’m not uncomfortable,” Cong Yue leaned back against the bed, her eyes widening slightly as she looked at him. “Junior Uncle, I’m thirsty, I want some water.”

Hearing her hoarse voice, Si Fanqing unconsciously furrowed his brows, his expression showing a hint of distress. He offered the water cup, and Cong Yue instinctively reached out to take it, but she tore at her wound again, causing her to gasp in pain.

“Don’t move around,” Si Fanqing pushed the water cup forward, holding it to her lips, gesturing for Cong Yue to drink from his hand. Cong Yue didn’t insist on doing it herself, obediently leaning forward, her lips pressing against the rim of the cup.

She drank too quickly, and the warm tea dripped down her lips and into her clearly defined neck. Si Fanqing instinctively raised a hand to wipe it away, but perhaps sensing it was inappropriate, he silently retracted his hand, averting his gaze from her.

Her parched throat quenched, Cong Yue finally regained some energy. “Junior Uncle, what was that demonic beast?” An ancient demonic beast that shouldn’t have appeared in the hunting grounds had injured someone—this matter must be suspicious.

Si Fanqing patiently explained, “The demonic beast was subdued and burned on the spot by everyone working together; it wasn’t brought into the hunting grounds by Qingyun Sect. Master Chu has already ordered an investigation into this matter, you don’t need to worry.”

Cong Yue nodded slightly, her gaze falling on the empty space behind Si Fanqing, thoughtful. “Junior Uncle, where are Sixth Senior Sister and the others?”

Then, remembering what happened in the hunting ground, she added, “That Qingyun Sect disciple…how is he?”

He Yan had used others as human shields to try to escape; he had also pulled Cong Yue in front of him at the critical moment, which was insane, but he didn’t deserve to die, he was still a life.

“Your Third Senior Brother took them back to the sect,” Si Fanqing replied. “He Yan is alright, he lost an arm that was bitten off by the demonic beast; the others were just frightened. You should rest well, don’t worry about it.”  Saying this, Si Fanqing stood up and was about to leave.

After hearing this, Cong Yue suddenly remembered something, she sat up straight, muttering something, first carefully rubbing her face, then hastily unbuttoning her robe, opening her inner garment to look inside.

Her naked skin showed no abnormalities, and her body felt fine. Cong Yue was stunned for a moment, full of doubts.

“Junior Uncle, the demonic beast’s viscous liquid is poisonous, why isn’t there anything on my body…” Slowly tidying her clothes, Cong Yue turned to look at Si Fanqing, her voice abruptly stopping.

Si Fanqing had already been startled by her “unconstrained behavior” and had moved several meters away, turning his back to Cong Yue, not daring to look back easily.

“Junior Uncle…” Looking at the distant figure, Cong Yue didn’t understand, “Why are you so far away from me?”

Estimating that she must have tidied her clothes, Si Fanqing cautiously turned around and walked towards her slowly.

Although he felt awkward, he still pretended to be calm and explained, “I applied medicine to you. Fortunately, the treatment was timely, the venom of the demonic beast’s viscous liquid hasn’t taken effect yet, and it won’t corrode your body.”

Hearing this, Cong Yue let out a sigh of relief and finally felt relieved.

Seeing the blood seeping from the fabric on her shoulder, Si Fanqing was startled, and he took a few steps closer to her, “Does the wound hurt a lot?”

“Not much.”

It didn’t hurt that much, not as excruciating as when it was bitten by the demonic beast.

Cong Yue glanced at her shoulder; a small area of her white robe was soaked with blood, surrounded by undried bloodstains. Perhaps because of her earlier movements, the wound had ripped open.

“I’ll call someone to take a look at it for you.”  Saying this, Si Fanqing turned and left, hurrying to find someone.

Looking at his hurried figure, Cong Yue inexplicably remembered the scene of seeing him bathing in the past, her junior uncle was both shy and angry, but dared not act rashly.

She suddenly felt playful and decided to tease him, “Junior Uncle…” she softened her tone, calling him softly and coquettishly, “You can just take a look at it.”

Si Fanqing paused, his heart flustered, almost stepping on his own shoe. “Inappropriate,” he heard his somewhat hoarse voice refuse.

Cong Yue frowned, pursing her lips without replying, her dark, bright eyes fixed on Si Fanqing, her expression looking extremely wronged.

Si Fanqing instinctively resisted looking at her; since childhood, those eyes had been like a deep pool, making people inexplicably feel flustered and restless.

“Inappropriate,” he emphasized again, as if warning Cong Yue or reminding himself.

Cong Yue leaned forward, slightly squinting her eyes and smiling, “Junior Uncle, you’re the elder, what’s inappropriate? Besides…” she deliberately prolonged her tone, mischievously saying, “I’ve also seen you without clothes, we’re even.”

“What kind of talk is this?” Si Fanqing lightly scolded, a sudden sense of guilt that he couldn’t wash away arose in his heart.

Cong Yue didn’t care, leisurely examining the gradually reddening corners of her junior uncle’s eyes, her intense gaze almost burning Si Fanqing.

“Junior Uncle, the wound hurts badly, it’s probably infected. You don’t care about me, you don’t care about me anymore?”  Seizing the opportunity, she teased Si Fanqing without any scruples. Seeing him become increasingly uneasy, Cong Yue barely managed to hold back her laughter.

Si Fanqing slowly exhaled, as if resigned to his fate, he picked up the medicine box and quickly walked to Cong Yue, “Untie it yourself,” he instructed in a low voice, then looked away, cautiously avoiding suspicion.

Cong Yue no longer made trouble, she properly untied the front of her robe and gently pulled down her inner garment. The white gauze wrapping the wound loosened, revealing her torn shoulder.

Si Fanqing’s brows furrowed deeply, fearing that he would hurt Cong Yue, his movements were gentle and slow. After wiping away the blood, he reapplied the ointment to the wound, picked up the gauze, and carefully wrapped it around the wound.

The demonic beast’s fangs were sharp, the wound was deep and uneven, and it would certainly leave a scar after healing.  His heart ached; the hideous gash on Cong Yue’s shoulder seemed to have been cut on Si Fanqing’s heart, and with his erratic breathing, a fine, dense ache grew.

“Don’t move around, don’t get it wet,” Si Fanqing warned anxiously. “When the wound heals, I’ll take you back to Jingyue Sect.”

“Junior Uncle, is the wound very scary? After it heals, it will definitely leave a hideous scar, it’s very ugly. If the person I like dislikes my scars, what should I do?”

Hearing the disappointment in her tone, Si Fanqing tried his best to comfort her, “Wen Ai’s medical skills are superb, there must be a way. Don’t worry too much, the most important thing is to recover from your injury first.”

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He didn’t know when Cong Yue had a lover, or that she worried that the other person would dislike her scars.

Cong Yue suddenly widened her eyes, looking at Si Fanqing happily, her hand inadvertently resting on his wrist, “Junior Uncle, are you comforting me? You’re worried that I’ll be sad.”

“I…” Si Fanqing choked, his thoughts returning. He couldn’t inappropriately deny it and say that he wasn’t comforting Cong Yue. He was indeed worried that Cong Yue would care too much about the ugliness of the scar, which would be detrimental to her recovery.

“Put your clothes on first.” Suppressing his exposed emotions, Si Fanqing said dryly.

“Yes.” Cong Yue then realized that her junior uncle had bandaged her wound, but her inner and outer garments were still open.  Slowly putting her clothes on, she suddenly remembered something.

“Junior Uncle, was the Death Worm intentional?”

The topic changed too quickly, Si Fanqing hadn’t yet recovered from his awkwardness, and his expression was blank for a moment.

“Why do you say that?”

When it came to business, Cong Yue put away her playful expression and analyzed seriously, “The ordinary demonic beasts that He Yan and his group killed disappeared on the spot and turned into Death Worms, this matter must be suspicious.”

Si Fanqing had also noticed that the appearance of the ancient demonic beast was suspicious, and he couldn’t help but suspect something.  The disciples from various sects who came to Qingyun Sect to study might have already exposed their whereabouts or fallen into a carefully designed trap.

“Cong Yue,” he suddenly leaned forward, getting closer to Cong Yue, lowering his voice, “Don’t spread this matter until the truth is clear.”

“Junior Uncle, I understand.” Cong Yue immediately replied, then turned her head, their distance was very close, her nose almost bumped into Si Fanqing’s fair and clean side face.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, deliberately leaning forward, her delicate and straight nose lightly touching Si Fanqing’s side face. The touch was soft and warm, and her heart felt comforted and thrilled.

“Cong Yue…” Si Fanqing was as if burned by a fire, staggering back several steps, almost falling backward.

Cong Yue intentionally teased him, unable to hold back her laughter, “Junior Uncle, what are you afraid of? I won’t bully you.”

“Improper behavior.” Si Fanqing scolded in a low voice.

Whenever this happened, Si Fanqing would use his elder’s status to reprimand Cong Yue for not respecting her elders.  For many years, whenever Cong Yue teased him, bullied him…

This was the most powerful counterattack Si Fanqing could think of.

“Junior Uncle, you’re only five years older than me, why do you always have a straight face and act superior?”

Cong Yue had been racking her brains over this question for a long time, and the other junior disciples were also very curious, but they hadn’t found a suitable opportunity to ask him, so they gave up.

Junior Uncle always found fault, and the junior disciples, in order to protect themselves, avoided him, fearing that if they were slightly careless, he would catch them, and they would inevitably suffer many torturous punishments during their training.

“It’s not early, rest early.” Si Fanqing didn’t intend to satisfy her curiosity, he went straight to the window and extinguished the candle, leaving only a dim oil lamp on the bedside.

After sleeping for nearly ten hours, Cong Yue was sleepless. Her junior uncle ignored her, and she couldn’t stay still, so she found ways to bother him.

“Junior Uncle, help me put out this lamp, okay?”