Senior Apprentice Rory's eyelids were twitching uncontrollably. From his tightly furrowed brows and twitching eye corners, it was evident that his mind was currently engaged in an exceptionally fierce and painful internal struggle, weighing pros and cons, and wrestling between life and death.
After a short while, his eyes, previously tightly shut in pain, slowly opened. The confusion and agony in his gaze, caused by the medicinal backlash, had subsided considerably. In its place was a peculiar look, filled with fervor and longing, as he stared intently, almost greedily, at the pink pill in Elara Stonefield's hand.
Seeing this, Elara said no more. She calmly placed the "Bone-Gnawing Pill," which emitted a strong fetid stench, into Rory's dry, cracked lips. She watched him silently as he, with the meager saliva in his mouth, arduously and with great difficulty, dry-swallowed the pill. Only after confirming that he had completely ingested the pill did Elara extend her hand and, one by one, carefully remove the special silver needles that had been inserted into his body to stabilize his vital signs.
When the last silver needle was removed from Rory's body, the potent medicinal power of the "Bone-Gnawing Pill" he had just swallowed began to rapidly take effect within him. His face, originally exceptionally pale from blood loss and pain, soon flushed with several highly unnatural, morbid streaks of red. Immediately after, his entire cheek gradually turned a blood-red, as if scorched by flames. At the same time, his body began to convulse violently again, his limbs trembling uncontrollably. From the depths of his throat, low groans, like those of a wounded beast, filled with extreme pain and suppression, emerged.
It was evident that he was desperately trying not to appear too wretched and unseemly in front of Elara, this unfamiliar junior apprentice who had just saved his life. He was already trying his utmost to suppress and restrain his groans. However, this inhuman, intense pain, like ten thousand ants gnawing at his bones and a fierce fire consuming his body, eventually made it impossible for him to remain silent any longer, and he couldn't help but let out a series of shrill and anguished roars.
Senior Apprentice Rory's roars grew louder and more piercing, and the shaking and convulsions of his entire body became correspondingly more violent and terrifying. After a long period, his roars, like those of a wounded, trapped beast, began to slowly and gradually subside, eventually disappearing completely, leaving only heavy and rapid gasps. His complexion also began to gradually return from that morbid blood-red to a semblance of a normal person's healthy color. His body, which had previously been trembling violently like chaff, finally stopped convulsing and shaking. It seemed he had, by relying on his tenacious willpower, successfully endured the most painful and difficult phase of medicinal backlash after taking the "Bone-Gnawing Pill."
Senior Apprentice Rory gasped for breath for a good while before slowly and somewhat arduously sitting up from the ground. He laboriously crossed his legs into a standard meditation posture, then closed his eyes again, and began to guide his energy and regulate his inner breath right there, unmoving, attempting to quickly recover his body, damaged by the medicinal impact, and his depleted energy. Elara, meanwhile, casually found a relatively clean and flat rock nearby and sat down unconcernedly, quietly watching him circulate his energy and recuperate, without speaking to disturb him.
About half an hour later, Senior Apprentice Rory, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, regulating his breath, suddenly snapped his eyes open. He snatched up the long saber lying on the ground beside him and leaped agilely to his feet. With a powerful swing of his arm, a sharp "swish" cut through the air. A brilliant flash of saber light, like lightning, streaked past, and the sharp blade, glinting with a menacing cold light, was already silently and steadily resting against Elara's fair, slender neck. With just a slight exertion of force, he could easily take Elara's life.
"Give me one reason not to silence you by killing you!" Senior Apprentice Rory's sharp eyes were now radiating an icy glint like that of a hungry wolf, his tone grim, filled with undisguised, intense killing intent.
"I just... saved your life. Does that reason count?" Elara's expression, in the face of this sudden threat of death, remained her usual characteristic calm and composure, showing no hint of panic or fear. However, her delicate eyebrows twitched upwards very slightly, almost imperceptibly. This subtle movement would have been impossible to notice without careful observation.
Senior Apprentice Rory's expression seemed to soften slightly after hearing Elara's words, and the killing intent in his eyes also diminished somewhat. However, he still stared at Elara fiercely and unblinkingly with those sharp, vigilant, and scrutinizing eyes, showing no intention of moving the long saber away.
"Actually, before I decided to save you, I had already roughly anticipated that you might choose to silence me by killing me afterwards to protect your great secret of taking a forbidden drug. However, I didn't expect you to act so quickly, so... impatiently." Elara finally gave a helpless, bitter smile, her face revealing an unconcealable hint of self-mockery and disappointment.
"Heh! To be honest, even if I knew that saving you was just inviting immense trouble for myself for no reason, and might even lead to my own death, since I have learned some rudimentary medical skills from my master, Physician Morus, I couldn't just stand by and watch a living life perish before my eyes for no reason, choosing not to save someone in mortal danger." Elara sighed softly, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness and resignation.
After hearing Elara's words, Senior Apprentice Rory's originally cool and resolute face couldn't help but show a clear hint of embarrassment and shame. The sharp blade of his long saber, which had been pressed tightly against Elara's neck, also subconsciously moved a tiny distance away. However, he did not immediately remove the long saber completely from Elara's neck, clearly still harboring some reservations.
Elara secretly let out a sigh of relief in her heart. She knew she should be safe for the time being. Thus, her tone of voice also became calmer and more composed.
"Senior Apprentice Rory, you actually don't need to worry at all that I will leak your secret to others. One look at me, and you should be able to tell that I am not a person who likes to gossip or stir up trouble. If you are still really worried, then I can make the most vicious magical oath in front of you to guarantee that I will absolutely not leak a single bit of today's events. Moreover, you should also be able to see that I myself do not possess any powerful martial arts or offensive magic. In the future, if you truly find that I have violated today's oath, then with your profound strength, you can easily kill me at any time; I would have absolutely no power to resist." Elara calmly analyzed the current situation and proposed a suggestion that might be acceptable to Senior Apprentice Rory.
"Alright, then make the magical oath now." Senior Apprentice Rory, after a moment of contemplation, spoke with an exceptionally crisp and direct tone, without any hesitation.
Hearing this, Elara finally let the heart that had been stuck in her throat completely settle back into her chest. Although, before she initially decided to save Senior Apprentice Rory, she had already carefully observed his facial features and eyes with her extraordinary powers of observation. She had felt at the time that although this Senior Apprentice Rory appeared cold and ruthless on the outside, in essence, he was probably not a truly ungrateful, vicious, and cruel despicable person. However, one cannot truly know what is in another's heart; such judgments based solely on appearance were, after all, not entirely reliable. If, by any chance, he truly was a shameless scoundrel who repaid kindness with enmity and was ruthless in his actions, then today, she would probably have had no choice but to use her one and only, and also most powerful, life-saving measure—that small, metallic, tube-like object—to fight him to the death.
Thinking of this, Elara's fingers, which had been quietly clenched inside her wide sleeve, tightly gripping the object, finally, unbeknownst to anyone, gently relaxed.
After Elara solemnly, word by word, made a vicious magical oath imbued with mysterious power, one that would incur terrible backlash if violated, Senior Apprentice Rory finally completely let go of all his wariness and killing intent. He slowly withdrew the long saber that had been resting against Elara's neck and, with a "shhlick," sheathed it back into the scabbard at his waist.
Elara subconsciously reached up and touched her neck. There, a shallow, slender bloody mark had been lightly drawn by the incomparably sharp blade. Touching it with her fingers, she could feel a slightly sticky, warm liquid slowly seeping from the wound. She also felt her entire back was somewhat cold, as if it had been soaked by a considerable amount of cold sweat from the extreme tension and fright earlier.
"This time was truly dangerous! It seems I still don't consider things thoroughly and prudently enough before acting. I must firmly learn my lesson from today's events. In the future, no matter what, I absolutely must not do such thankless, even self-destructive, blunderous foolish things again. Others' lives and deaths, fortunes and misfortunes, are their own business; what do they have to do with me? Why should I meddle in others' affairs and bring trouble upon myself!" Elara, recalling the incident afterwards, still felt a lingering fear, thinking to herself.
"In the future, if there isn't a sufficiently generous reward and benefit in return, and if I don't have absolute certainty of ensuring my own safety, then next time, I will definitely not easily offer to save anyone again!" She made this somewhat ruthless and cold-hearted resolution to herself in her heart.
This first experience of Elara proactively saving someone, with its adverse consequences and painful lessons, directly led to her gradually developing a modus operandi of "never acting without profit, and always weighing everything" in her long life ahead. Her originally somewhat simple and kind nature was also gradually abandoned and eroded by the cruelty of reality. Although she ultimately did not become a truly heinous villain in the conventional sense, she was indeed a far cry from the traditional definitions of "honest and kind" or "warm-hearted and righteous" virtues, worlds apart.
"Your Excellency not only saved my life but also, like sending charcoal in snowy weather, agreed to keep this great secret for me. I, Rory Stormblade, owe you a great debt of gratitude today. As long as I, Rory Stormblade, am still alive in the future, if Your Excellency has any matter requiring my assistance, feel free to come find me. As long as it is within my, Rory's, capabilities, I will definitely go through fire and water, without hesitation!" Senior Apprentice Rory had now completely recovered the heroic demeanor he had displayed during the contest below the cliff. He first picked up all the miscellaneous items that Elara had searched from his person and casually discarded on the ground, putting them back on himself. Then, he strode over to Elara, his expression extremely sincere, and enunciated his full name, word by word, making this solemn promise to Elara, a promise as heavy as a mountain.
"I'm afraid I won't have any matters that require troubling Senior Apprentice Rory in the future, right? On the contrary, Senior Apprentice Rory, you yourself probably have quite a few troubles at hand right now, don't you?" Elara merely smiled slightly upon hearing this and then asked him back with a pointed implication.
"Oh? How would you know?" Rory Stormblade was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, and then an unconcealable look of surprise appeared on his face.
"Hehe, such matters, anyone with a little bit of intelligence can probably easily guess, right?" Elara chuckled indifferently and continued, "Senior Apprentice Rory, you are merely an ordinary disciple of common origin, apprenticed to an ordinary Guardian. Yet, with your strength and performance far exceeding that of ordinary people, you have forcibly left a large group of highly born, deeply connected, favored disciples of Hall Chiefs, Elders, and even some Commanders far behind, suppressing them so they can't even lift their heads. Under such circumstances, how do you think they could possibly let you have an easy time!" Elara pointed out Senior Apprentice Rory's current predicament sharply and mercilessly.
After Rory Stormblade heard Elara's words, his originally calm face immediately darkened, and an almost imperceptible cold glint flashed in his eyes. He remained silent for a long while, clearly struck by Elara at his deepest hidden pain.
"Senior Apprentice Rory, those troubles and difficulties you face, I, a mere probationary apprentice, neither wish to interfere in, nor do I likely have the ability to do so; I simply can't manage them." Seeing this, Elara changed the subject and continued, "However, regarding the intense pain you have to endure frequently due to taking that 'Bone-Gnawing Pill,' perhaps I can help alleviate it a little, so you don't have to suffer so unbearably."
"Are you serious? Do you really have a way to alleviate that pain?" Rory Stormblade's spirits lifted abruptly upon hearing this. His originally gloomy face was instantly replaced by an irrepressible look of ecstasy; his previous gloom and depression had long since vanished. It seemed that the terrifying pain when the 'Bone-Gnawing Pill's' medicinal power flared up had indeed tormented him severely, almost making him wish for death.
"Why would I lie to you for no reason?" Elara shot Rory Stormblade an exasperated glance. Of course, she had such a special medicinal formula that could temporarily alleviate human suffering. This formula was something she had specially researched and prepared in Quietstream Valley during her leisure time, out of concern that Tyg would find it difficult to endure the pain when cultivating that "Might of the Stonehide." Although this medicine couldn't cure illnesses, it could significantly reduce the body's perception of various internal and external injuries and pains, its effect remarkably potent and effective.
"This... this is truly too good! Absolutely wonderful!" Rory Stormblade, upon hearing this, was so excited he could hardly contain himself. He rubbed his hands together excitedly, his eyes, as if seeing a savior, stared intently and expectantly at Elara, afraid she would go back on her word.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not some immortal who can conjure medicine out of thin air." Elara felt a little uncomfortable under his overly eager gaze and said with a hint of playful reproach, "I don't have that ready-made pain-relieving medicine on me right now. I must first return to Quietstream Valley to carefully prepare and refine it before the final consumable potion can be made."
Hearing Elara say this, Rory Stormblade realized he had perhaps been a bit too unseemly and impatient just now. A look of slight embarrassment appeared on his face. After all, he had once threatened her life with a drawn blade, and now, he was shamelessly begging her to prepare life-saving medicine for him; it was indeed somewhat inappropriate.
"How about this, tomorrow at noon, you wait for me at the entrance of Quietstream Valley. After I've prepared the pain-easing draught, I will personally deliver it to you." Elara, seeing his embarrassed look, pondered for a moment and then said slowly, "However, my master, Physician Morus, is not in the valley right now. So, it's not really appropriate for me to let an outsider like you casually enter our Quietstream Valley. I hope Senior Apprentice Rory can understand."
"Alright! Alright! No problem! I will definitely be at the valley entrance on time tomorrow! Then I truly thank Junior Sister Elara immensely!" Rory Stormblade, upon hearing this, immediately agreed without hesitation, as if afraid Elara would change her mind again.
"By the way, my name is Elara Stonefield, Physician Morus's inner chamber disciple. Senior Apprentice Rory, your martial skill is so profound; in the future, you can just call me Elara, or address me as Junior Sister." Elara, hearing Rory Stormblade even use such a polite and formal address as "Junior Sister Elara," quickly told him her full name and master's lineage, lest he say something even more mushy and inappropriate next, making her feel even more awkward and uncomfortable.