Qiao Mu dashed the entire way out of the city and soon arrived at the foot of the snowy peaks.
Upon arriving at Xianghe Village, she was so frightened by the deathly silence that her heart started to tremble.
Deathly silence, it truly was deathly silent.
Normally at this time, this small village at the foot of the snowy peaks would long be bustling with activity—children’s laughter, mixed in with the housewives’ gossip, as well as men coming down the mountain after a day’s labor.
Spiraling kitchen smoke, the sound of happiness and laughter…
These were all gone now!
Deathly silence, it truly was as silent as death.
Qiao Mu dashed into the village but then stood still, dumbstruck.
Before her eyes, there were only crumbling fences and dilapidated walls. The ground was full of incomparably desolate remains, and there wasn’t even a complete corpse amongst the sweeping devastation.
“Senior Sister! Senior Sister!” Qiao Mu dashed to a Holy Water Sect disciple whose face was covered in blood. While hugging onto her head that had rolled beside the grass, she shook her body forcefully.
“Senior Sister!” Qiao Mu hugged this head tightly and didn’t realize at all that her chest was already soaked by a patch of blood. “Senior Sister, senior sister!”
This senior sister guarded the gate all year round along with several other people whose cultivation was around level-five and level-six.
With reddened eyes, Qiao Mu turned her head around abruptly. As if in a craze, she suddenly fished out a tiny and complete girl’s body from beneath a headless corpse.
Her fingers could sense a bit of warmth.
This child was still alive. She was still alive!
Qiao Mu immediately administered acupuncture to promote respiration and fed her the best medicinal solution she had on hand.
After a long while, the girl coughed out a mouthful of blood. She weakly opened a slit in her eyes, and they suddenly released a faint glow.
“I recognize you. You are the celestial sister that flies in the sky.” The girl’s voice was raspy and muddled, her speech disjointed.
“I’m not a celestial being. I’m only a useless person. I can’t save you, nor can I save anyone else. I’m sorry… sorry, sorry.” Qiao Mu’s tears cascaded down at once.
It was too late. She came back too late! It was still too late.
Medicine couldn’t save this girl anymore. If she had come back half a day earlier, perhaps she could have saved her. Or perhaps if the little tree were present, she could request a superb panacea from it…
But it was useless to say anything now.
“Sister. My mom said that dead people will turn into monsters.” The girl’s internal organs were severely damaged, and she was also just barely hanging on from not having eaten food nor having drunk water for so many days. Blood continued to spurt out of her mouth as she spoke.
“I-I don’t want to turn into a monster.”
As Qiao Mu hugged her, her tears dropped onto the girl’s face. She nodded resolutely and said, “Sister promises you that you will never turn into a monster, alright?”
As the little girl stretched out her hand and pointed, she said feebly, “M-my mom…”
Qiao Mu embraced her tightly and subconsciously clasped her small and frigid hand. She murmured gently, “Mhm, Sister will bury you and your mom together. You two won’t be apart. Your mom will continue to protect you in your next life.”
“Sister, don’t cry. You are a celestial being…” The girl’s voice became weaker and weaker until there was no more sound.
Qiao Mu bit her thin lips and hugged this child firmly. She lowered her small head and said gently, “I’m not a celestial being, I’m not. I can’t even save you.”
On both sides of the path from Xianghe Village to the gate, she would see several of her senior sisters’ incomplete corpses now and then.
Qiao Mu didn’t know how she hiked up there. She really didn’t know. Her entire being felt light and airy, like she was stepping on a cloud of cotton, stumbling and staggering up the mountain.