There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

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Chapter 496: Waaah... My heart aches for you.

"Finally back." Walking on the pristine white snow, Lu Qing looked at the hunter's hut that was gradually coming into view in the distance.

Perhaps because of the little house in her mind, Lu Qing was somewhat fond of this unique wooden building.

Staying in a small but not crowded room, standing on the edge of the window and looking at the snow scene outside, is a wonderful thing.

"Ok?"

As I was thinking this, a slightly sweet aroma wafted into my nose.

“This is…” Lu Qing frowned. An almost instinctive intuition told her that this was the smell of human blood!

In the cold snow, the smell of blood wasn't strong; she was only able to smell it because of the Black Rose Vampire's skill.

Although it is under normal circumstances, its sensitivity to blood has increased significantly.

"Why does this blood taste so familiar?"

Lu Qing felt inexplicably flustered, and she couldn't help but quicken her pace, then started running.

"Your Highness?" Knight Myron noticed that Lu Qing's expression was a bit off, so he quickly quickened his pace to catch up. The Pope, seeing this, said nothing, but also quickened his pace.

Hao Meng didn't know what had happened either, but seeing the three of them running quickly, she also sped up and followed.

"Squeak squeak squeak..."

With her feet firmly planted on the loose snowflakes, Lu Qing saw a blood-red figure lying on the ground in the distance.

Her long, gray hair was disheveled and scattered on the cold snow. Her warm blood stained the nearby snow red. As the wind blew, the blood gradually congealed, turning into dark red ice crystals.

"!!"

Lu Qing's pupils widened suddenly, and her brain stopped thinking for a moment, but she quickly came to her senses and ran to Fang Qingrou's side.

"Get lost!!" She glared fiercely at the pack of wolves that were lingering not far away, drawn by the smell of blood.

"Awooo!" The wolves howled in pain, their bodies went limp with fear, and they ran away without looking back.

Ignoring the wolves that had been scared away, Lu Qing gently picked up Fang Qingrou's soft body and quickly ran towards the hunter's hut.

"This is..." The Pope, following behind Lu Qing, was also slightly taken aback when he saw this situation.

He followed the trail of blood behind Fang Qingrou and narrowed his eyes slightly.

“She’s bleeding heavily and needs to have the bleeding stopped as soon as possible,” Knight Myron said, standing beside Lu Qing.

"Charle may be in trouble." The Pope withdrew his gaze, his expression somewhat serious.

If Charles hadn't been in trouble, Fang Qingrou wouldn't have returned with such severe injuries all by herself.

"Hmm..."

Fang Qingrou was held in Lu Qing's arms, and unconsciously groaned in pain before curling her body tightly against Lu Qing's chest.

This was due to excessive bleeding, coupled with a drop in body temperature caused by the cold weather outside. Lu Qing, who had already learned a lot about medicine, was well aware of this.

So she hugged Fang Qingrou tightly and ran with all her might to the hunter's hut.

"boom!"

Lu Qing kicked open the wooden door of the hunter's cabin and walked inside, placing Fang Qingrou beside the warm fireplace.

"Your Highness, Princess, you're back?"

Eileen, who hadn't rested all night, heard a noise downstairs and quickly went down the stairs. She then saw Fang Qingrou being held in Lu Qing's arms.

"Yes, is there anything I can do?" Eileen asked as she watched Lu Qing place Fang Qingrou beside the fireplace.

"Please boil a pot of water for me." Lu Qing took a deep breath to calm herself down.

She carefully observed Fang Qingrou's injuries, recalling the medical knowledge she had learned, and found that although Fang Qingrou had many wounds, none of them were fatal.

However, these wounds looked like they had been cut open and rolled back by some kind of dull blade; just looking at them, you could tell they must have been very painful, especially considering he had been unconscious in the snow and frozen all night...

Lu Qing stroked Fang Qingrou's pale cheek with some heartache, then found some hemostatic medicine in Charles's hut.

First, stop the bleeding. After Eileen boils the hot water, use it to clean the dirt from the wound, and finally disinfect it with herbs.

After observing for a while, the Pope realized that Lu Qing could treat this kind of wound herself, so he led Knight Myron out of the hut.

Healing magic certainly exists in this world, but neither the Pope nor Knight Myron knows how to use it.

Let's leave aside the Knight of Myron, and as for the Pope...

After receiving the blessing of the sacred tree, he unexpectedly discovered that he did not have much talent in magic.

Learning the knowledge and abilities of the [Spiritual] talent is already exhausting enough; there's no time to delve into healing magic.

Later, when he grew older and became the Pope, he had countless people around him who knew healing magic, so he became even more reluctant to learn.

He had considered learning it, but he always put it off and forgot about it.

However, healing magic isn't as effective as you might imagine. It's not a panacea; it can speed up wound healing but can't clean the dirt inside the wound.

For example, if you see dust, or some gravel, wood chips, etc., and you see someone injured, and you immediately cast a healing spell on them without thinking, it might actually cause more harm than good.

As for the reason why he and Knight Myron came out...

Although he and Knight Myron were both quite old, they were still men, and it was best to avoid them in this situation.

"Did you feel it?" Knight Myron asked the Pope as he stepped out of the room.

“Of course,” the Pope nodded after hearing Sir Myron’s words.

“There is a lot of void power remaining on her body,” Knight Myron said.

“Not only that.” The Pope shook his head and said, “There is also a flavor unique to the spirit world.”

"You mean spirits?" Knight Myron frowned; as a knight, he hated dealing with spirits.

"It's most likely a vengeful spirit." The Pope was silent for a moment, as if he had thought of something.

"Char has most likely encountered a Void Worm, and the wounds on Fang Qingrou's body also look like they were caused by a Void Worm."

"You mean, after the Void Worm was killed by Char, its soul became a vengeful spirit due to the power of the Void?"

"Probably..." The Pope felt somewhat irritated; Charles's failure to return made him very worried.

When his father died at the hands of the Void Worm, he was still very weak, but now that he has great power, is he going to have to witness the death of his loved ones again?

And ultimately, it was he who sent Charles to search for the void creatures...

"Calm down. Charles is very strong. Perhaps he just can't come back for the time being for some reason." Knight Myron patted the Pope on the shoulder, comforting his old friend.

"I hope so," the Pope sighed.

He found a stone by the door and sat down, his gaze wandering as he looked at the snow scene, lost in thought.

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Chapter 497: Although my shoulders aren't that big

"It's so cold... but it's also so warm."

Fang Qingrou kept her eyes tightly closed, her consciousness hazy as she sensed her surroundings.

She was lying on a soft place, covered with a thick quilt. However, even though the temperature in the quilt was very comfortable, Fang Qingrou could feel a chill that went deep into her bones.

She couldn't help but curl up, a movement that aggravated her wounds.

"Ugh..." Fang Qingrou let out a pained groan unconsciously as images of the moments before she lost consciousness gradually surfaced in her mind.

The white snow was gradually stained with crimson blood. She had suffered a very serious injury. Although she had avoided fatal wounds, the blood kept flowing.

This caused her consciousness to gradually blur, and she even lost her sense of direction. The culprit behind this harm...

"!!"

A huge and ferocious horny blade, its entire body exuding a terrifying aura of emptiness—it was a deformed monster.

The moment Fang Qingrou saw the monster appear in her memory, she suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Xiao Rou?" A soft, sweet voice reached Fang Qingrou's ears. Looking in the direction the voice came from, she saw Lu Qing looking at her with concern.

"Phew..." Fang Qingrou breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Lu Qing.

"Does anything else feel uncomfortable?" Lu Qing asked, looking at Fang Qingrou lying on the bed.

During the time Fang Qingrou was unconscious, she treated all the visible wounds on Fang Qingrou's body, but this did not mean that Fang Qingrou was alright, since some wounds were not visible to the naked eye.

"I feel a little dizzy..." Fang Qingrou said.

"Dizziness is normal; it's a sign of excessive blood loss," Lu Qing explained as she helped Fang Qingrou up.

"Hmm." Fang Qingrou nodded, then noticed that there was another person standing in the room. She looked at the heavy armor that covered the person's entire head, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Hao Meng?"

“Hmm... It’s me.” Hao Meng took off her helmet, revealing her smooth, long golden hair. She looked at Fang Qingrou with her water-blue eyes and explained, “I’m a militia member in Luobing Town next door. I met Lu Qing yesterday.”

When she said Lu Qing's name, she seemed a little unaccustomed to it and stuttered slightly without adding any suffix. After glancing at Lu Qing discreetly and seeing that she didn't react, Hao Meng silently breathed a sigh of relief.

"Here's what happened..." Lu Qing explained to Fang Qingrou what had happened last night, including when she returned this morning and found her lying on the ground severely injured.

After explaining the situation from last night to Fang Qingrou, she asked, "So, Xiaorou, what happened on your end? Where's Charles?"

"..."

Upon hearing Lu Qing's question, Fang Qingrou's expression froze. She remained silent for a moment before saying, "Charle... no, my master... he's dead."

Fang Qingrou looked extremely distressed. Although she hadn't lived with Charles for over a decade as depicted in the background, she had only been in the dream world for less than six months.

But in Charles's eyes, she was still his familiar daughter. He taught Fang Qingrou strictly and earnestly, but would often go easy on her because of his doting love, and he always liked to show a smile just like Fang Qingrou's real-life father.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, I only remember that there was an avalanche and my master and I were resting in a cave.”

"It was during our rest that the Void Worm suddenly appeared. It emerged from the ground and blocked the path between my master and me. Immediately afterward, an explosion occurred at the entrance of the cave, and a large amount of rubble fell from above."

"I had to run outside the cave, and then I encountered the Guiji Sect. It was only then that I learned that both the avalanche and the explosion were caused by those guys."

"Besides that, there was also the Void Worm, which was deliberately released by the Guiji Sect as bait to lure Master out to investigate."

"Based on what you just said, Little Deer, they deliberately lured Master out to kill him, probably because they were afraid of the Hunter's abilities."