Mechanical Alchemist-Chapter 333 - 332: Getting Thicker-skinned

Su Lun and Qian Tiao were both seriously injured. They had planned to treat their wounds in the house before leaving the city.

However, the "Messenger of Death" birds they released found that ghosts were still wandering nearby, seemingly not giving up on searching for them. This made both of them very cautious.

Although they took the "Supplication Pills" to mask their living breath, Su Lun wasn’t sure whether some monsters with unique sensing abilities could still locate them.

If discovered, it was unlikely they would be so fortunate to have someone come to their aid again.

It was not safe to stay in the city, so they quickly bandaged their wounds and left the house.

Ironically, soon after they stepped out, the commotion from the Ghost Lantern Night Market ceased.

The Ninth Fleet of the Northern Sea had been completely annihilated.

Su Lun guessed that the fleet’s commander, the seventh-tier "Gluttonous Grand General" Peion, was probably not killed but assimilated by the energy of the Netherworld.

Despite the dangerous battle, Su Lun could roughly assess the strength of the ghosts in this cursed space.

He estimated that the strongest boss in the city should probably be of the seventh-tier professional level, right?

Otherwise, if there was an eighth-tier power, the battle at Peion’s side would not have been in such a stalemate.

Of course, the Yomi Country Lord Izanami is another matter.

Previously, when Su Lun extracted the Soul Shards from those ghosts, they regarded this being as a very special existence.

...

After the battle, the chaos in the city subsided into quietness.

At the corners of streets, ghosts were still fighting over the bodies of the living, and everywhere there were gruesome scenes of blood and flesh being devoured.

Su Lun and Qian Tiao changed their clothes and blended in with the crowd of ghosts. Without their living breath, they smoothly made their way to the southern city wall and climbed out.

Much of the population of the Mountain Hermit Country was concentrated in cities and villages, with almost everything outside being "lonely wilderness." The Netherworld was even more desolate, where hardly a ghost’s shadow could be seen outside the city.

Moreover, the paths here were different from reality.

Even though Qian Tiao said she knew the location of Sensoji Temple, they still wandered on the mountain roads for a long time without finding it.

Finally, they reached a point in the pitch-black mountain where there was no longer any path, and they stopped.

Su Lun asked, "Sister Qian Tiao, could we have taken the wrong direction?"

The wilderness, with tall grasses all around, seemed like a perfect place for shooting a horror film but did not look like the path to Sensoji Temple at all.

Qian Tiao also massaged her temple with a puzzled face, "I shouldn’t have remembered it wrong. The incense at Sensoji Temple is very prosperous, and I’ve been there once. The temple covers a large area, almost half a mountain is dominated by the temple and Buddhist sculptures. It’s strange, why can’t we find it? I remember it should be on this mountain..."

"..."

Su Lun frowned upon hearing this.

No temple was in sight, not even a glimmer of light, just slopes upon slopes.

He even felt as if they had been fooled by some ghost, but the All-knowing Eye didn’t detect any anomalies.

After pondering for a moment, Qian Tiao suggested, "How about we go further in and look? This place seems different from the real world. The way to Sensoji Temple I remember was always a stone pavement leading straight to the temple gates. But here, without incense, maybe no ghosts come?"

"Yeah."

Su Lun nodded, agreeing that this was the only possibility.

Without any delay, they chose a direction and plunged into the grass, groping their way deeper into the mountains.

Finally, the Messenger of Death Bird flying in the sky saw traces of a structure in the mountains.

"Found it!"

Su Lun also sighed in relief, finally certain they had not gone in the wrong direction.

Qian Tiao muttered, "I said so, I shouldn’t have remembered the direction wrong."

Soon, they emerged from the tall grass to find a narrow trail.

Following the trail for half a mile, they finally saw a stone with the faded characters for "Sensoji Temple."

Looking up, a few dilapidated houses built against the mountain were seen, with the red walls long faded. The paper-covered doors and windows were torn, covered in cobwebs, and the tiled roof was covered in snow. There were no lights, making it look like no one had visited for a long time.

Qian Tiao pointed to Buddhist statues carved into the cliff, saying, "I’ve seen this statue in the main hall of Sensoji Temple before; it’s said to be the oldest statue in the temple..."

While talking, she also expressed her confusion, "Strange, why does this Sensoji Temple look different from what I saw?"

Su Lun wasn’t surprised, smiling slightly, "We should have realized earlier. This is the Netherworld, the world of ghosts and monsters; there shouldn’t be any temples here. Keeping these few dilapidated buildings is already fortunate."

Looking at the large Buddha sculpture, he paused and added, "Moreover, if I’m not mistaken, this is the ’Ancient Sensoji Temple.’ Sensoji Temple has been rebuilt many times, each time larger than the last. It even burned down before. It was rebuilt during the Heian period, which is when it grew to the size outside of Edo Castle."

"Oh, that’s how it is. I see..."

Upon hearing this, Qian Tiao seemed to finally understand, "How do you know so much?"

Su Lun spread his hands and said, "I’ve glanced through the books in the Godly Garment Royal Library; I just happened to pay more attention to this temple, and I have some impression."

"Not bad at all."

Qian Tiao showed a hint of appreciation in her eyes and then asked, "But why did Granny Aju suggest we come here? What’s special about this temple?"

Su Lun too was puzzled, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, "The history of Sensoji Temple predates Edo Castle. There are many mysterious legends about this temple. Apparently, it housed many high monks, some special monsters, converted bandits... It also sealed the legendary ’Yamata no Orochi.’"

Upon hearing this, Qian Tiao seemed to sense there was more to it and asked, "So, what have you found?"

Su Lun’s left eye flickered with luminosity, shaking his head, "Nothing."

No matter where he looked, there was nothing special about this decrepit temple.

He also guessed, "Perhaps it’s because ghosts and goblins instinctively avoid temples, so it feels safer?"

Qian with a frivolous frown, said, "Shall we go in and have a look?"

Su Lun nodded, "Mhm."

....

The two stopped in front of the temple gate for a moment.

Black Crow went in for a look and found nothing unusual.

Su Lun was holding an umbrella in his hand, sending out his perception, but didn’t detect any soul fluctuations either.

Only then did they walk inside.

And what they saw was chilling to the bone, dilapidated and desolate.

Hmm... No matter how you looked at it, it was just an unremarkable, broken temple.

The courtyard was filled with snowdrifts and fallen leaves, a few jujube trees were bare, and the stone steps were covered in moss.

Su Lun also felt somewhat disappointed, having thought that this place, where Fujiwara Hayato once stayed, might be key to breaking the cursed space.

But looking at the situation, it seemed like he might have thought too much?

Arriving at a "Senso-ji Temple" on an unknown timeline, many things were different.

The two pushed open the temple’s main hall door riddled with holes, only a few rays of moonlight pouring through the roof breaches provided visibility, which was very low.

Su Lun’s night vision was strong, and he immediately saw various menacing wooden statues inside.

He instantly concluded, "These Buddha carvings are new, made in the past few years, there must have been someone staying here before."

"Mhm."

Qian by his side seemed to have discovered something special about these statues.

She took out an alchemy magic lamp, and as soon as it was lit, an orange glow dispelled the darkness.

Statue after statue of exquisite Buddha figures immediately appeared, some with fierce frowns, others with malevolent expressions, and still others majestic and solemn...

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The craftsmanship was fine and the expressions were lifelike.

Were it not evident at first glance that these were wood carvings, Su Lun might even have thought they were alive.

Qian leaned in close, examined the craftsmanship carefully, and immediately said, "These carvings are by a Sword Dao expert."

After a moment of contemplation, her voice took on a note of shock, and she quickly corrected herself, "No... His swordsmanship is very high, he might be a Sword Saint!"

"Sword Saint?"

Su Lun looked again more closely.

He himself often carved Rune Vajra, and felt that even now he couldn’t produce such lifelike statues.

Hearing Qian’s words, he too thought it likely so.

Traces of Sword Intent lingered on the marks of the carvings.

But at the same time, a sense of alertness arose in him.

This was a cursed space, and ghosts did not welcome the living.

The higher the master’s skill, the more dangerous it was.

Su Lun glanced around, noting only a cushion and a campfire in front of the Buddha statues and nothing else, and spoke solemnly, "There are no footprints on the snow in the yard, and the campfire ash inside the hall has turned cold, that person must have left three or four days ago."

Qian became even more convinced, saying, "With such a serene craftsmanship, his disposition is beyond that of ordinary people. That ’Sword Saint’ definitely isn’t someone who kills indiscriminately. It’s a pity, it would’ve been great to ask him for guidance on the Sword Dao."

High-ranking swordsmen indeed can discern the temperament of others through Sword Intent.

Listening to her, Su Lun’s furrowed brow finally relaxed, and he added, "Perhaps... this is the reason Granny Aju asked us to come here."

"Mhm."

Qian nodded and asked, "Shall we rest here for the night then?"

"Okay."

Su Lun also felt they had no other choice; both their injuries were at a point where not treating them would be troublesome, and the decrepit temple, though shabby, at least had no ghosts to disturb them.

Going elsewhere, they might encounter other monsters.

....

Having decided to stay for the night, Qian hung the magic lamp on a beam, casting a light that was neither bright nor dim around the room.

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Su Lun took out a camping tent and laid out a mat.

Both of them started to tend to their own wounds independently.

Now in a relatively safe environment, Su Lun could properly address his injuries. Having sustained a cut to his abdomen, he opened the blood-soaked bandage, revealing a gory wound. If it was a regular injury, his natural healing abilities would have already closed it up, but the wound contained the crimson demonic energy of Shuten-doji, its eerie power impeding the healing and coursing through his veins.

However, Su Lun had ample experience handling such injuries and had prepared high-grade potions just for this kind of situation.

He released two "Healing Dolls" from the Eight-Arm Spear, which continually emitted a healing aura. Meanwhile, he poured an alchemical potion designed to cleanse the wound of foreign energy over the cut and began to stitch it up.

Aside from the abdomen, he had several other minor injuries on his body.

Because he possessed multiple hands and was "Expert-Level Medical Proficient," he handled his wound care with ease. Even surgeries that normally required multiple people were no challenge for his eight spider-like limbs.

Qian, on the other hand, was not having such an easy time.

It wasn’t that the higher one’s professional level, the better their healing techniques.

At least a thousand such gambling-addicted wives would be just like her.

Her healing methods were limited to topical potions, ingestible concoctions, rough bandaging... she didn’t even know the basics of suturing.

Oh... that’s not right.

After knowing a certain fact, describing her as a young wife seemed somewhat inappropriate.

Qian Tiao’s injuries were no less severe than Su Lun’s; she removed the shoulder armor of the "Iron Red Scale Coated Armor Set", then she could wipe off five scale-like red breastplates. Only then did she see the next layer of chainmail with unfastened buckles, revealing the fabric underneath. When the last layer of fabric was gone, only a bandaged chest wrap remained.

In the process of dismantling her armor, she couldn’t help but spit out another mouthful of dirty blood.

It was only then that Su Lun saw her back full of marks that looked like flame burns, signs of demonic energy contamination that were quite dangerous. There were also some fine, scale-like wounds from Sword Qi. This made her originally smooth skin look like it was covered in wounds.

Su Lun observed and his gaze slightly narrowed as he said, "You can’t deal with the wounds on your back by yourself, let me do it."

"Oh?"

Qian Tiao, with her back turned to him, glanced over her shoulder and said, "Okay."

With that, she gathered her long blue hair high up and tied it with a red string, revealing her entire beautiful back.

Because the wounds covered her entire back, she proceeded to unravel the bandages around her chest, as if it were just a normal thing to do.

But as soon as she started, pausing as if she remembered something, her hands stopped in front of her chest for a moment.

A trace of unusual color flashed across Qian Tiao’s face, but she soon continued.

She unwound the blood-stained bandages round and round until her upper half was completely exposed to the air.

The angle of the magic lamp cast her silhouette on the ground, graceful in the light and shadow, her chest rising high with proud curves.

Without any distraction, Su Lun conjured several spider lances, first using potions to clean the wounds on her back, and then began to suture them methodically.

The higher the tier of extraneous energy needing to be cleared, the more painful the process, akin to sulfuric acid being poured on skin, a deeply stinging pain.

Close combatants like Qian Tiao were even more severely contaminated.

Yet from beginning to end, she remained expressionless, even managing to tend to some of her wounds by herself.

The dense sweat on her forehead and her pale complexion confirmed that she was not at ease.

....

Professional medical care naturally yielded much better results than haphazard bandaging. Once the negative energy is cleared, with potions and healing alchemy arrays to help, except for some large wounds, minor injuries usually heal quickly.

Su Lun’s excellent medical skills and multitasking ability allowed him to handle it adeptly.

In a short while, he had almost finished dealing with the wounds on his own abdomen.

It was about time to suture Qian Tiao’s back wounds...

As if he had finished his homework and wanted to turn the page, Su Lun casually added, "All right, Sister Qian Tiao, your back is treated, turn around."

If it had been before, Qian Tiao would have turned around without hesitation, unashamed to be so exposed. After all, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t seen each other before.

But then after someone asked her a silly question earlier, she felt as though something had changed.

Feeling somewhat less confident, Qian Tiao squeaked, "I have mostly taken care of the front already..."

"With your level of wound treatment? It could take ten days or even half a month to heal."

Su Lun, with an expression of disdain, interrupted her unceremoniously and barked, "Hurry up and turn around."

"..."

For the first time, Qian Tiao felt that she had lost the upper hand in presence to Su Lun.

Nevertheless, she turned around, completely unguarded before him.

Su Lun, without glancing aside, looked at the sloppy bandaging on her abdomen and frowned, "You call this self-treatment? Is this it?"

"..."

Qian Tiao, put down by his scolding and without a retort, rolled her eyes at his pure gaze and let him take over.

Su Lun began to work on the wounds, cleaning them, dispelling the foreign energy, suturing...

....

Because Su Lun had trained in life-saving skills, the Rune Vajra left him with few superficial injuries. Aside from his abdomen, the rest were quickly dealt with.

But Qian Tiao’s injuries were much more serious; after the upper limbs were taken care of, there were also many wounds on her lower limbs.

Under Su Lun’s firm stance, Qian Tiao also undressed her lower body armor.

Knee guards, tassets, thigh armor, shin guards... the pieces of armor were taken off one by one.

In the end, not even her close-fitting underwear could remain.

Qian Tiao’s extraordinarily beautiful body was completely exposed to the air, as she stood there with a slightly helpless expression.

Emotions could be sensed.

If Su Lun’s gaze had been completely unswerving before, by the time he was nearly finished treating her, that gaze had become almost provoking.

Qian Tiao was helpless against this shamelessly thick-skinned fellow.

She thought of pretending she didn’t notice by closing her eyes, but that annoying man insisted on speaking.

"Yo, Sister Qian Tiao, upon closer inspection, you have a really nice figure," he said.

All the serious injuries had been dealt with, and this was Su Lun’s first time appreciating Qiān Tiáo’s figure from such a close distance, and on top of that, occasionally his hands could get legitimately involved.

Completely unobscured, tsk tsk... quite a feast for the eyes.

"Focus on what you’re doing and please don’t stare randomly, okay?"

"Oh."

"What does ’oh’ mean? Just ’oh-ing’ doesn’t mean you should hold back a bit? Also, for that spot on my butt, you could have just used the spider lance. Your hands make it really ticklish..."

"..."

Oh, well, if he had to look, he had to look.

This rascally behavior was something Qiān Tiáo couldn’t do anything about.

Even though his gaze and hands were a bit unruly, after all, he was truly treating her injuries.

She couldn’t really punch him for that, could she?

And in fact, Qiān Tiáo didn’t really mind; they were quite familiar with each other after all, but it did feel genuinely strange.

She had never imagined she would be in such a situation.

If it were someone else, those daring to look like that would’ve been chopped down long ago.

Fortunately, Su Lun did not make the atmosphere awkward; after treating all the wounds, he truly composed himself and started cleaning the surgical tools on the side.

Qiān Tiáo donned a loose plain white cotton robe; with clothing as a cover, that odd feeling disappeared.

....

After the earlier fierce battle, both were extremely exhausted.

Even Su Lun, mockingly called the "study demon" by Lolota, didn’t want to meditate, just wishing for a good night’s sleep.

The decrepit temple was draughty from all sides, and snowflakes fell from the tattered roof, creating a desolate and lonely atmosphere.

Su Lun spread out a soft mat inside the tent, and they lay down there.

Originally, this was nothing more than a normal way of interaction.

Countless times they had shared the same room, the same mat.

But as it turned out, relationships are peculiar that way; the more time spent together, the more intimate they became over time.

When they first met, they acted very properly. After they became familiar, they stopped minding the little things. Then, after spending more time together in the same room, they even stopped caring about changing clothes around each other, and then, even some intimate contact became routine...

It didn’t feel inappropriate, and somehow, it seemed that after becoming familiar, this was exactly how it should be.

The two of them lay back on the mat, each under their own blankets, thoughts racing.

Having walked the thin line between life and death tonight, looking back, both couldn’t help feeling emotional.

While neither had fallen asleep yet, they started to chat.

"Kid Su Lun, do you think we can make it out of here?"

"I don’t know. The potion’s effect should last a month, so we still have enough time to figure something out."

"What if we can’t get out?"

"If we can’t get out, then we can’t. But, I’ve got some ideas; there might be a chance."

"Actually, it doesn’t really matter whether this place is the Netherworld or not. Being able to meet the deceased masters of the Sword Dao is really a great fortune in life. Ah... if I can enter the ’Sword Saint Realm’ in this lifetime, I would have no regrets."

"Yeah, I feel the same. If only I could know what kind of novel Fujiwara Hayato had written. It’s getting more and more intriguing."

"..."

Both were in good spirits and didn’t let their current predicament lead to despair; they took it in stride.

But as they chatted, Qiān Tiáo suddenly felt her blanket being pulled away, and then it felt rather crowded.

Ordinarily, this would have been due to her own sprawling sleeping position. But since she was still awake, she knew she hadn’t moved.

Qiān Tiáo grumbled, "Hey, why are you squeezing over here? It’s really crowded..."

In the darkness, Su Lun’s reply came, "The cold wind blowing in is a bit chilly."

"Heh, is that so?"

Qiān Tiáo chuckled coldly, as if sensing something, "Then what’s the deal with your hand coming over?"

Su Lun: "Ah, I have a wound, and it’s more comfortable to put my hand like this..."

Upon hearing this, Qiān Tiáo pursed her lips in retort, "Oh, you’re quite presumptuous, aren’t you?"

This guy’s cheekiness was really increasing by the day.

Last time at the Tea Crying Mountain hot spring, at least he would have asked. Now, he just went ahead and laid his hand there?

But despite her words, she didn’t knock his hand away.

During this brief exchange of words, the Su Lun beside her seemed to have fallen asleep, no longer stirring. The awkward feeling that had beset her also quickly faded away.

"..."

In the dark, Qiān Tiáo wore an expression of helpless resignation, and her normally unfussy self didn’t seem to think anything was amiss. She shifted slightly to find a comfortable position for herself and closed her eyes in languid repose.

Just let it be.

Sweet dreams throughout the night.