Chapter 700: Chapter 556: You... Do You Have a Crush on Me?

"Uh..." Xiao Mo trailed off, hesitating. "I’d have to touch your foot. I’m afraid that’s... not appropriate..."

"If it’s you, it’s fine." Tushan Jing Ci’s face flushed slightly, her voice barely a whisper. "Please, hurry... You can’t just stand there and watch me die from this poison. You wouldn’t refuse to save someone in need, would you?"

Seeing Tushan Jing Ci’s state, Xiao Mo sighed inwardly. "Then... please excuse my impertinence."

He slowly knelt, carefully lifting her small foot and resting it on his knee. Then, he reached out and gently slipped off her embroidered shoe.

Her fair, delicate toes were revealed, each one like a lustrous grain of rice.

The pale skin of her instep held a translucent fairness, tinged with a faint, rosy blush.

Her full heel and the fine skin of her sole curved together into a perfect, gentle arch.

Even with a thin sheen of sweat on her sole, there was no unpleasant odor. Instead, a light, elegant fragrance, like that of wildflowers, lingered about it.

’What ordinary woman’s feet would be like this? Only a Cultivator could be so pure and flawless, free of any blemish.’

He looked at Jing Ci’s feigned fragility and couldn’t help but shake his head. ’She’s really making it obvious, isn’t she?’

"Monk, stop staring..." Tushan Jing Ci prodded Xiao Mo’s stomach lightly with her toes. "Hurry up and treat the poison..."

"Please bear with it for a moment."

Xiao Mo snapped out of his daze. He pressed three acupressure points near her ankle. Then, with his fingers held together, he gripped her calf and began to slowly press downwards, forcing the poisoned blood out bit by bit.

Next, Xiao Mo took out some medicinal herbs he carried, quickly crushed them in his palm, and gently applied the poultice to the wound on her ankle.

After helping Tushan Jing Ci put her shoe back on, Xiao Mo looked up and asked, "Can you try standing up and walking a bit?"

"It hurts too much. I can’t stand up at all." Tushan Jing Ci shook her head, looking utterly wronged. "Monk, carry me back."

"..." Xiao Mo was speechless.

"What’s wrong?" Her enchanting, fox-like eyes seemed to spin into silken threads, ensnaring Xiao Mo. "You’ve already touched my foot, yet you still won’t carry me? Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time."

Xiao Mo gazed at Jing Ci’s triumphant, smiling face. He knew she wouldn’t budge unless he carried her.

And so, Xiao Mo could only kneel gently before Tushan Jing Ci.

The woman’s pain seemed to vanish in an instant. She threw herself onto Xiao Mo’s back without a shred of hesitation, even nuzzling her cheek lightly against his back.

With Tushan Jing Ci on his back, Xiao Mo started down the mountain path, one step at a time.

Tushan Jing Ci, however, acted as if nothing was wrong at all. She hummed a little tune, her bare foot dangling and glinting faintly in the summer sun.

She had plucked a stalk of silvergrass and was now using it to gently tap, tap, tap against Xiao Mo’s smooth, bald head.

"Monk..." After a long while, she called out softly, her beautiful, fox-like eyes filled with nothing but his reflection.

"Is something the matter?" Xiao Mo asked gently.

"Hmm... It’s nothing, really," Tushan Jing Ci said, her tone laced with a hint of playfulness. "I just suddenly remembered that story you told me."

"A story?" Xiao Mo asked, puzzled. "Which one might that be?"

"The one about the monk who carried a lady across the river, of course."

Tushan Jing Ci reached out to stroke Xiao Mo’s bald head as she slowly began to tell the story.

"An old monk was traveling with a young monk when they came upon a river. By the riverbank stood a woman, hesitating, unsure how to cross."

"Without a word, the old monk walked up, carried the woman across the river, set her down gently, and continued on his journey."

"The young monk was puzzled the entire way. Finally, he couldn’t hold it in any longer and asked, ’Master, you’ve broken a precept, haven’t you? Why would you carry a woman?’"

"The old monk simply smiled and answered calmly, ’I was clearly carrying a Buddha. What woman do you speak of?’"

"Oh, that story," Xiao Mo recalled. "But why do you bring it up now?"

"Because..."

Tushan Jing Ci’s eyes curved into two lovely crescent moons, her voice as gentle as the wind.

"When you told me the story, you explained it like this: The old monk had the Buddha in his heart, so he saw the Buddha in everyone. What he carried was also a Buddha, which is why he carried the woman across the river without a second thought."

"As for the young monk, he was preoccupied with the woman. He was worried that carrying her would corrupt his own Buddhist heart, so he didn’t dare."

Tushan Jing Ci gazed quietly at Xiao Mo’s profile, a faint smile playing in her eyes.

"And yet... the last time you carried me, you hesitated."

"This time, I was bitten by a snake and asked you to treat the poison, and you hesitated."

"And when I asked you to carry me just now, you hesitated yet again."

She paused, her voice growing even softer as she rested her head on Xiao Mo’s shoulder. Her long eyelashes fluttered in the breeze, like the gentle beat of a butterfly’s wings.

"Tell me, Monk..."

Tushan Jing Ci brought her soft, supple lips close to Xiao Mo’s ear. Her warm words were a gentle breeze that drifted into the lake of his heart, sending out one ripple after another.

"In your heart, can you just never see me as a Buddha?"

"Are you worried that... just by getting close to me, you’ll corrupt your Buddhist heart?"

Her voice dropped lower and lower until it was almost a breathy whisper, yet every single word burrowed its way into Xiao Mo’s ear.

"Are you..."

"...falling for me?"

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