Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 41 - To Share Weal and Woe
Chapter 41: To Share Weal and Woe
It seems Qin Su's strange ability still shouldn't be used carelessly.
After a few exchanges, Qin Zheng could tell that Qin Su had clearly gone from being on the offensive to purely defending—he was starting to struggle.
However, that demon clansman didn’t look like he was having an easy time either.
During their confrontation, the demon took a quick glance at Qin Zheng on the side and seemed surprised to see him completely unharmed.
Just now, when the demon’s sword had flown toward the man, he had seen with his own eyes that the man had suddenly disappeared for a moment before reappearing, standing there perfectly fine.
That man didn’t have a spiritual root—he shouldn’t be capable of such an unusual spell.
The demon turned back toward Qin Su, his face cold, and asked with certainty in his tone, “Spirit of Time?”
But Qin Su continued to look at him blankly, his face revealing nothing.
The demon then turned to look at Qin Zheng, who also appeared confused and unaware of what was going on.
Qin Zheng had no idea why the demon was bringing up the Spirit of Time.
Bang!
Startled by the sudden sound right next to him, Qin Zheng snapped out of his confusion.
That demon had used the momentary distraction during the fight to send his sword hurtling toward Qin Zheng in an attack.
Luckily, Qin Su noticed just in time and quickly redirected his own sword to intercept the sneak attack.
The demon clearly didn’t intend to let Qin Zheng go—he kept directing his sword at him again and again.
And yet each time, Qin Su managed to block it.
Qin Zheng stared at the two clashing swords right in front of him, still not understanding why the demon was targeting him, or what he was supposed to do.
Running wasn’t an option anyway.
Qin Su realized this stalemate couldn't continue. He quickly gathered his energy, preparing a powerful blow to try and drive the demon away once and for all.
The demon seemed to sense what Qin Su was doing and temporarily called back his sword, turning his full attention to Qin Su.
He too focused his energy, ready to defend against Qin Su’s strike.
Qin Zheng stood off to the side, nervously watching the two.
Both Qin Su and the demon released their attacks at the same time.
Qin Zheng saw Qin Su’s strike absorb the demon's attack like a bottomless pit.
At the same moment, the demon suddenly vanished right before their eyes.
Immediately after his disappearance, a shockwave burst outward from the spot where he vanished.
Qin Zheng was thrown to the ground, while Qin Su was violently blasted away.
With the sky still dim and the earlier chaos clouding his awareness, Qin Zheng only now realized they were on a mountaintop—and the direction Qin Su had flown off in led straight toward a cliff.
Qin Zheng scrambled to his feet and rushed toward where Qin Su had fallen.
When he saw a hand clinging to the edge of the cliff, his eyes suddenly stung with emotion.
Qin Zheng quickly dropped to the ground and grabbed hold of Qin Su’s hand.
Qin Su looked even weaker now. Qin Zheng figured the demon’s disappearance must have been caused by Qin Su’s particularly exhausting spell.
Since pulling him up while lying flat wasn’t very effective, Qin Zheng slowly got to his feet.
Qin Su was a grown man and fairly heavy—pulling him up was no easy feat.
Qin Zheng managed to get him halfway up when the rocks beneath his feet suddenly gave way, unable to bear the weight of both of them.
And just like that, Qin Zheng was dragged over the edge along with Qin Su.
Surrounded by darkness, unable to see even his fingers, Qin Zheng dared not let go of Qin Su’s hand.
In the black void, Qin Su could only feel himself plummeting rapidly.
Qin Su was clearly no longer dependable in this state, but Qin Zheng refused to do nothing.
He gave a powerful tug and held Qin Su tightly in his arms.
Even though he had no spiritual root, he was still a second-tier cultivator.
Qin Zheng tried to muster the faint spiritual energy within him, hoping it would slow their fall.
He didn’t even know if a cultivator could die from falling.
He closed his eyes, channeling his energy with all his might, praying that the cliff would be tall enough to delay their landing a bit longer.
Eventually, he began to feel the effects—his descent was noticeably slowing.
Suddenly, a loud crash rang out. A chill swept over him—he realized, with relief, that they had landed in water.
Luckily, while he couldn't cast spells, Qin Zheng could swim.
After the initial impact, he dragged the unconscious Qin Su with great effort toward the shore.
Under the faint moonlight, Qin Zheng discovered that there was actually a lake at the base of the cliff.
After pulling Qin Su onto land, he quickly checked his breathing—still alive. He let out a long sigh of relief.
It was the middle of the night, and a cold mountain wind made Qin Zheng sneeze.
He looked down at his soaked clothes—without spiritual energy, there was no way to dry them quickly.
Glancing over at the barely-alive Qin Su lying nearby, Qin Zheng knew he had to rely on himself.
He moved Qin Su to a more concealed spot and then rushed into the forest.
Not long after, he returned with a bundle of firewood in his arms and several long branches slung over his shoulder.
First, he checked on Qin Su, who was still unconscious.
Then Qin Zheng sat on the ground and used the long branches to build a simple clothes-drying rack. To stabilize it, he ran to the riverside and pulled up a bunch of water grass, intending to use it as rope.
But the grass was too fragile—it snapped easily and couldn't hold anything up.
Even if he managed to prop something up, the rack would collapse if it tipped while holding clothes—and he couldn’t afford to lose his only set of clothes.
Annoyed, Qin Zheng tossed the grass away and started feeling around the ground for stones or anything stronger.
His eyes wandered across Qin Su’s head—and suddenly, inspiration struck.
That hair ribbon—wasn’t it perfect as a rope?
And the best part? He had one too. Two ribbons were just right.
Qin Zheng quickly walked over and untied Qin Su’s ribbon, then removed his own.
Hair ribbons worked much better. In no time, he had a sturdy clothes rack.
He lit a small fire using the firewood and a fire spell he could still barely manage—
It helped a lot to light the thicker logs.
Once everything was set, Qin Zheng quickly stripped off his wet clothes and hung them one by one, placing the more intimate layers closer to the fire.
Afterward, he looked at Qin Su, lying far from the warmth of the fire, and moved him closer.
As he touched Qin Su’s wet clothing, he suddenly remembered that Qin Su had fallen into the water too.
He looked at the drying rack—there was room for one more garment.
Time to do another good deed.
Qin Zheng efficiently stripped all of Qin Su’s wet clothes. When he turned around with the damp garments, he accidentally caught a glimpse of a certain area—and couldn’t help but think: Sigh, why is the world so unfair?
Thankfully, the sect’s uniforms dried fairly quickly. After a short while, Qin Zheng’s undergarments were already nearly dry.
He was shivering badly without clothes, so once his were ready, he put them back on immediately.
Carrying Qin Su’s now-dry clothes, he walked over to his side. Just as he approached, the long-unconscious man suddenly opened his eyes—filled with killing intent.
Qin Zheng jumped in fright, hands trembling.
But the moment Qin Su saw Qin Zheng beside him, the murderous look in his eyes vanished without a trace.
He looked at the clothes in Qin Zheng’s hands, then down at himself.
Qin Zheng hurriedly explained, “Uh—your clothes got soaked when we fell in the water! I just dried them for you!”
Qin Su looked at him calmly.
Then suddenly, he looked up at the sky and said, “We have to go. The demon has followed us here!”
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