Warnings: 

Mature/NSFW for nudity and some sexual content near the end.

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Xiuqi walked through the spell formation and then frowned as a rush of wind picked up her light brown hair, swirling it around her shoulders. The long silver strands of her hair pin tinkled pleasantly next to her ear. 

That’s weird…she thought, glancing around her. Where did Master’s stupid Ten Thousand Doors dump me off this time? I brewed medicine for six hours...How am I supposed to deliver this bowl now?

For a moment, she wondered if she should go back, but the door to the courtyard and the high wall that she had passed through were no longer visible. In fact, now that she was looking properly, she appeared to have been deposited into a rather unusual valley.

Adjusting her grip on the small tray she was holding, she was relieved to find the bowl’s contents still intact. When she’d exited the formation, the fog drifting up from the lake beside the path had caused her to stumble. If she was not wrong the steam rising from the water indicated its source was a hot spring.

This really can’t be right…no spiritual space could be this big…could I be outside the sect...?

Sunshine gilding every shadow with yellow edges. High rocky peaks thrusting up to the sky. Plum trees…an abundance of flowers …twittering birds and the ‘shaaa’ sound of a waterfall…if it’s really a spiritual space then it’s owner must truly be a magnificent person…

Xiuqi was startled out of her observations when the path suddenly rippled under her feet, causing another rush of wind to flap her skirt as if to hasten her onward. Her light green eyes narrowed as she looked down.

“A Yulong path…really weird…” she muttered, tapping the jade inlay with a tentative toe. “I’ve never seen this place…Yesterday the path was purple quartz and the day before it was just white gravel. Master is getting eccentric.”

Apparently annoyed by her footsteps, the engraved dragon pattern suddenly awoke, snapping at her toe in warning. Slithering around on the jade path, the long body of the carved dragon circled her feet, twitching its long whiskers. Its golden eyes flickered with suspicion, smoke trailing from its nose. White tendrils rose up from the path, and magically intermingled with the steam from the lake.

The carved creature glared haughtily at her. 

“Hmph!” she huffed, raising a hand. “Wanna go?”

It squirmed back in surprise.

Charming. It seems the owner already knows I’m here...

The carved dragon bared its teeth one last time, but then sank back into stillness, sulking.

‘Don’t tease the formation guardian. Come here!’ said an unfamiliar male voice, impatiently breaking into her head space.

Her spine tingled as the words echoed through her mind. Only her Master had the ability to use spiritual communication with ease, but the voice did not belong to him. She hesitated.

‘Come!’ the voice commanded imperiously.

Her feet suddenly jerked forward on their own and although she fought it admirably, she found that she was being compelled down the jade path just by the force of that one word.

As she moved further along, the path became a raised wooden walkway that curved around a house that had been built into the side of the valley wall. As she had suspected there was a large waterfall at the back with sunken stone steps leading into its pool.

The voice was coming from behind the waterfall.

‘Come in!’

The impatience was obvious, but there was also an edge to the voice that hadn’t been there before. Frowning, she kicked off her shoes and slowly made her way down the stone steps, careful to avoid the mossy sections. She tightened her grip on the tray as the water came up over her thighs and then her hips. Moving forward, she held her breath, preparing to be drenched by the rushing spray of cold water from above, but she was surprised to find that the water curtain simply slid around her as if it’d been pushed aside by an invisible force.

A chuckle echoed in her head as she blinked into a semi-darkness only lit by a few lanterns. Her eyes gradually adjusted, and she realised that she was in a large cavern. The inner pool here was probably used for cultivation purposes. Indeed, the spiritual vein was quite rich within the hot spring, and she could already feel the energy seeping into her even though she was not making any effort to draw on it. 

Unmixed with the chill of the waterfall outside, the inner pool was much warmer, making the cavern cloud with curls of steam.

Tentatively feeling her way, Xiuqi suddenly bumped into something and recoiled with a gasp. For a moment she was off balance, tipping the tray sideways. The bowl clattered, and she banged her forearm on the side of the rock pool before catching herself just in time.

‘Careful!’ the voice admonished.

Wincing, she set the tray down on the edge and waded closer. As she did, there was suddenly a soft warm glow on the ledge above her and as she looked up, the golden light coalesced into a human shape.

Xiuqi tried not to stare, but then she abruptly clapped her hands over her eyes, blushing to the roots of her hair.

Standing above her was a very tall, very well built, and very naked male.

“Who are you?!” she squawked indignantly, voice breaking with embarrassment. “...And where’s my Master?”

She peaked through her fingers with one eye, trying not to look at the thing that hung between his legs. She didn’t want to be completely blind in case he meant to harm her, but...

‘I won’t hurt you,’ he snorted, reading her mind. Then he sighed: ‘You can look now, human. I’ve changed my appearance.’

Slowly, she dropped her hands and was relieved to find that the glowing, transparent being was now decently clothed in a fine set of robes. Having gotten over her initial shock, she could see that he was quite handsome with well-defined features, long flowing hair held back by a carved hair pin. Two delicate horns protruding from his forehead and a scattering of iridescent scales on his throat gave him away.

A dragon.

But given the transparency of his current form, Xiuqi felt the need to ask:

“You’re obviously a primordial spirit...are you the guardian of the spring?” 

He smiled at her, features lighting brilliantly.

‘That’s right. I’m a primordial spirit. You can call me Yu.’

“W-Where’s my Master?”

The dragon frowned, and then shrugged.

‘I’m not sure. I woke up here and summoned the closest intelligent life form I could find. I didn’t realize it would be you,’ he explained, sounding disappointed.

Given the breadth of her spiritual energy, I thought she would be something other than a human girl, but unexpectedly she’s quite attractive. Long brown hair, green eyes, a sharp little chin, and charming features. Except for the fact that she looks to be very stubborn, she’s not bad, the dragon thought to himself. 

However, a sharp stabbing pain in his chest reminded him exactly why he’d summoned her. The dragon decided it was probably best to let her assume that he was the spirit of the spring. Even though she didn’t seem like a bad person, he was on the verge of death...and for now, the less she knew, the better.

‘Anyway, I need your help,’ he said into her head. ‘Well...actually, he needs your help...’

“He?”

The primordial spirit waved a hand to part the steam and then he pointed down, looking slightly exasperated. 

Following the direction of the spirit’s finger, she discovered that the thing she’d bumped into earlier was in fact a dark-haired human male...also naked. Sprawled out on the bench seat hidden beneath the water, he had his back against the pool wall. 

Shallow breathing. Eyelids fluttering rapidly. Not good...

A moan of pain broke from his blackening lips.

Still working through her initial assessment, she splashed towards the man and grabbed his wrist. Alarm shot through her as she felt how cold he was despite the heat of the water. He was covered in black and blue spider veins, with the heaviest concentration over his heart. From the way the lines pulsed and jittered like a nest of black snakes, she guessed it was the type of poison that consumed one’s spiritual power.

Xiuqi silently groaned. She normally counted herself as a selfish person only concerned with her own survival. She could have evaded the dragon, but this person would die without her help.

Dammit!

“His situation is very bad...” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not sure I can save him...”

‘You must,’ said the dragon, eyes hardening. ‘If he dies, you’ll never leave this place.’

The look in the golden eyes above her caused her to shiver.

She clenched her jaw and glared at him. Unmoved, he zapped the water in front of her for emphasis, causing it to explode all over her. His golden eyes remained unyielding.

“I’m not a doctor! If Master were here, he might be able to save him...but I can’t guarantee anything!” she gritted over her fear. “I can only do my best...”

‘Very well,’ said the dragon, folding his arms across his broad chest. ‘Get started then.’

Xiuqi gritted her teeth and splashed towards the tray. Luckily the medicine was still warm, and it just so happened that it was a detoxifier. For a passing instant, it occurred to that her Master’s instructions to make this particular decoction might not have been an accident. She sighed irritably.

Damned wily old man! If he’s that clairvoyant, he should have warned me that I was about to be accosted by a dragon and a corpse.

Trying not to gag on the bitterness, she took some of the decoction into her mouth. Steeling her face to hide her embarrassment, she grabbed the man on the bench, and squeezed his mouth open. She ignored the abrupt exclamation she heard in her head, and carefully released a small stream of liquid into the unconscious man’s mouth. Working his throat carefully, she helped him swallow it, pulling back to wipe her mouth when it was done.

Gah...if I knew that I would be losing my first kiss to an unconscious and naked stranger, I would have cut my lips off my face.  

Angry as she was, she couldn’t prevent a flush from colouring her cheeks, much to the amusement of the dragon who was squatting on the ledge, cheek propped on his hand, looking very entertained. She pointedly ignored him and put more medicine into her mouth, feeding it slowly, until it was all gone.

Alright…the next part…

Drawing on the energy in the water, she gathered it into a ball and then she hit the pressure points on the man’s chest, allowing the energy to burst out of her finger to isolate some of the poison. Since it was already in his heart, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to save his cultivation, but there was nothing she could do about that since what came next would determine their life or death.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she formed seals with her fingers and allowed her inner force to flow into him.

‘Girl...wait! What are you doing?!’ the dragon demanded, surprise and fear suddenly shooting through his voice.

Since she wasn’t as skilled as her Master, the only method she could think of was to drive out the poison using inner force. This normally required the patient to be awake to circulate their inner force in tandem with hers. Since this could not be done, the only thing she could do was to push her inner force through his meridians and suck the poison out from his body...by reversing her inner force. It was an extremely dangerous process, but her special body constitution was one advantage. Even if she faced a backfire, at the very least her body would probably be able to absorb the poison.

‘Girl! Don’t do it... if you reverse your energy, you’ll die!’ said the dragon, sounding agitated.

Didn’t you just say you’d kill me if I didn’t save him...? she thought, rolling her eyes.

Stubbornly clamping down, she reversed the flow of her energy.

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