Sighing, he rummaged through his alchemy bag, crouching down next to her.
"What are you doing...?" She muttered. Her voice, usually so sharp and contemptuous, was weak from bloodloss.
"Healing your wounds," Qiu Yunru explained. He patted a few herbs gently into her shoulder. He was lucky to have found some White Root Grass earlier; there weren't too many materials in Heixi Gorge for healing purposes, as most were poisonous.
For once, Lei Ruolan didn't pull away. She winced, turning her face away, but let him work.
After bandaging her up and slinging her arm, Qiu Yunru stepped back, thinking. Though she wasn't in danger of going into shock, he shock to get her some juice to increase her blood count. He ran off and returned with a handful of sooty black berries dusted with white powder.
"What the hell are those...?" Lei Ruolan coughed. "Looks gross..."
Qiu Yunru didn't answer. Diligently, he crushed and squeezed them over a cup. Heixi Sugar Blackberries were abundant near cliffsides. In extremely large quantities, they could poison a person, but this amount should be just fine. Since they were filled with sugar, they would make a good juice for increasing blood count. Once he had a cup of juice, he wiped his hands quickly and held it up to Lei Ruolan's lips.
She glared at him, not opening her mouth. "What are you doing?"
"Ah...Aren't both of your arms injured...? It's really best if you don't move..."
Scoffing, Lei Ruolan lifted her still-moveable arm and snatched the cup away from him.
"Fuck!" She hissed in pain. However, even as sweat dripped down her brow and her hand shook, she lifted the cup to her lips and drank.
"Lei-shijie is truly...dedicated..." Qiu Yunru remarked weakly, sitting back down. "After an hour or so, you should be feeling much better. However..." He trailed off uncomfortably. "You really shouldn't keep hunting puppets. If you continue to exert yourself, you might start bleeding badly again."
Lei Ruolan tossed the cup down. She leaned her head back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes. Lying there bloodied and torn-up, she looked incredibly tired.
"Whatever," She muttered, waving her hand. "Leave me here. There's no point anymore. Even if I hunt all night, I won't be able to kill enough puppets to win."
Qiu Yunru opened his mouth, then closed it.
It wasn't as if he could really comfort her on this, could he? You're worth more than what your dad says you are! Surely she wouldn't want to hear that, considering the kind of stubborn person she was. Maybe if you try really hard, you can still kill enough puppets! That was entirely impossible. Given her state, she would hardly be able to get around at all, not to mention use her sword! Maybe your dad will still accept you anyways? That one wasn't even worth trying, unless he wanted to make things worse!
Sighing, Qiu Yunru stood. "I left some berries there." He pointed to a small pile of blackberries nearby. "You can keep the cup. If you feel weak in an hour, have some more. Just return the cup after the tournament. I, ah, don't want to have to make Shizun buy me another..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly on the last sentence, feeling embarrassed.
Because of his rampant use of alchemy on every mission he had ever been sent out on, Qiu Yunru had lost many tools from alchemy kits. One time, his entire kit had been swallowed by a Baihu while he'd been trying to save Li Chenyuan; another time, all of his vials had been crushed under the foot of a giant Bifang; yet another time, he'd dropped all his materials off a cliffside when being chased by a pack of Feng. Each time he returned, he had bowed his head in shame and asked He Yongliang for a new toolkit.
Being generous and the head of a sect with large funds, He Yongliang had of course always only laughed, patted him on the head, and sent in an order for a new toolkit to the sect accountant.
Qiao Jingguo, the accountant, however, was not pleased. He often cornered Qiu Yunru after training, berating him and swinging around his heavy abacus.
"How can you be so careless?!" He would shriek, whacking Qiu Yunru over the head with a checkbook. "Ten, fifteen, twenty alchemical kits--don't you know these are expensive, kid?! Pah!"
Thus, Qiu Yunru had gotten much more careful with his materials.
Lei Ruolan raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "I'll try to bring the cup back," She sighed begrudgingly. "But I can't promise it'll come back in one piece. If a puppet attacks me, I'm not going to spend my energy protecting it."
"All right, all right..." Qiu Yunru felt himself sweating. "As long as you try..."
Suddenly, someone shouted nearby.
"What the hell are you doing? Get off! Get off, you big oaf!"
It was Li Chenyuan's voice. He sounded both distressed, and enraged.
Moments later, Li Chenyuan broke out of the trees and into the cliffside clearing. One of his eyes was blackened and blue, and his hands and neck were marred by scattered, shallow cuts.
"Li-shidi!" Qiu Yunru called out. "What's going on? Are you all right?"
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them. If only he could pull them back in on a string and swallow them down!
Li Chenyuan looked over at him, eyes wide. His pale face cycled through a variety of colors: red, white, green, and red again. Then he averted his phoenix eyes, quickly turning away.
Qiu Yunru wanted to kick himself. He considered running to hide in some bushes, but thought better of it. How embarrassing would it be if he ran now without saying another word?!
Just as he was about to call out some excuse about helping Lei Ruolan or seeing some Shadow Demon Puppets nearby in order to run off, someone else burst out of the undergrowth behind Li Chenyuan. This person--a young man--was heaving and puffing violently.