However, despite the protection of their Spiritual Power, due to the steep and long slope, the prolonged rolling caused them both to experience body aches, chest tightness, and eventually numbness throughout their bodies.
As the bottom of the slope approached, the density of trees increased. After rolling over several small trees in succession, their momentum gradually slowed down. Just as Leo thought they had reached the end, he felt their bodies go weightless, and they tumbled down together while he held onto Coral.
Upon landing, their bodies shook, and the protective Spiritual Power dissipated.
Although they didn’t sustain any major injuries, Leo still felt soreness in his waist, back pain, and leg cramps.
Looking at Coral in his arms, she had already passed out. Her disheveled hair and a pained expression adorned her face.
It was only then that Leo noticed she was tightly gripping something in her hand-it was the gourd.
Leo hurriedly retrieved a silver needle from his person to treat her.
After a minute or two, Coral slowly regained consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Leo’s face, causing her to smile briefly. However, the pain quickly returned to her face.
“Coral, what’s wrong? Where does it hurt?” Leo asked, concerned.
Coral tried to move her body but winced in pain, pointing to her right ankle and groaning, “My foot… it hurts.”
Coral’s beautiful red high-heeled shoe on her right foot seemed to have disappeared, and her ankle was slightly swollen. It was evident that she had twisted her foot.
Leo held her foot with both hands and said, “Bear with it. Your foot bone seems to be dislocated. I’ll reset it for you.”
Without waiting for her response, Leo heard a slight “crack” sound, followed by a muffled groan from Coral.
Under the moonlight, Coral’s right foot looked like white jade-smooth, round, and with an excellent texture. Leo’s hand holding her foot momentarily forgot to retract.
Coral moved her body, snapping Leo out of his daze.
“Will that guy come after us?” Coral asked with some concern.
Leo shook his head. “He probably won’t. That guy is a bit arrogant, and he never would have imagined that he grabbed an empty box.”
Speaking up, Leo grew somewhat angry. “Why are you so foolish? You risked your life for a worthless gourd!”
Coral, however, smiled lightly. “I couldn’t let someone else take away the gift I intended to give you.”
“Why are you so good to me?” Leo looked into her eyes.
Coral lowered her head, unable to find the right words in her embarrassment. “N-nothing…” she stammered.
Leo knew it was difficult to get this proud woman to speak her mind. He looked around and reached for his phone, but it was nowhere to be found.
“I must have lost my phone when I fell down. You can use yours to call for help,” he said.
Coral nodded, then shrugged helplessly. To make matters worse, her phone was in her purse which was left in the car at the top of the steep hill.
With a sprained ankle and no high heels on, climbing up that hill while avoiding another encounter with the man in white seemed impossible. It appeared that this illusion had some truth behind it; the hill existed and probably belonged somewhere along Riville Highway.
For safety’s sake, they couldn’t climb up yet; they had no choice but to walk towards where there were lights instead.
Leo helped Coral up from the ground knowing she twisted her ankle and lost one of her shoes. He lifted her onto his back like a gentle lamb as she wrapped herself around his neck quietly.
After walking for a while carrying Coral on his back, Leo still felt like they were stranded far away from civilization despite seeing lights ahead of them that appeared closer than before.
He sensed Coral’s body trembling slightly against him so he asked quickly, “What’s wrong?”
“I-I feel cold… and uncomfortable,” came Coral’s weak voice from behind him.
Leo grew worried as he put Coral down on solid ground again after noticing sweat forming on her forehead along with an expression of pain and slight shivering all over.
He used Spiritual Power to scan through Coral’s body but found nothing unusual about it whatsoever.
Leo touched her forehead and felt that it was unexpectedly cold, as if her body temperature was gradually dropping, which was quite strange.
Leo activated his Spiritual Power in his eyes, looked around, and soon noticed a large depression not far ahead. There was a big rock on the outer edge of the pit, providing a convenient temporary resting place.
Leo picked up Coral and headed towards the depression.
The depression was quite large, more than enough to accommodate two people comfortably. The cool breeze was blocked by the large rock, and combined with the residual warmth from the ground, it made the place feel somewhat warmer.
However, Coral still trembled, her eyes tightly shut and her face contorted in pain.
This left Leo feeling helpless and surprised because he had probed her body with his Spiritual Power and found nothing unusual. The only injured area was her ankle, and there was no sign of any evil energy invading her body.
Finally, Leo’s gaze fell on the gourd in Coral’s right hand. The originally dull-looking gourd now had a layer of frost on it that made it look somewhat whitish.
It turned out that this thing was causing trouble. Leo reached out to take the gourd from Coral’s hand but felt like he was touching ice when his fingers touched it. “Coral, let go of the gourd in your hand quickly.”
Coral responded with a grunt but didn’t release the gourd from her grip. Leo knew that her right hand had become stiff due to coldness so he put both hands around hers to warm them up before slowly taking the gourd away from her.
Poor Coral’s beautiful delicate hands were now red due to being frozen solid.
Leo placed the gourd on the ground before putting Coral’s right hand into his embrace for warmth. It wasn’t until then that she stopped trembling and gradually relaxed as well.
Strangely enough, after placing the gourd on the ground again, it returned to its original appearance as if nothing happened -the frost melted away revealing its original dull color.
“Are you feeling better?” asked Leo with concern.
Coral hesitated for a moment before nodding slightly.
The two of them quietly hid in the depression. After a while, Coral seemed to have fallen asleep, and Leo half-embraced her, feeling her steady breathing and heartbeat. He looked up at the sky, where a waning moon lingered, and his thoughts drifted.
Time passed, and the night sky remained silent and dark. Leo kept listening for any sounds around, but apart from the distant chirping of crickets, there were no other notable noises.
Thinking about it, even if the man in white found out that the box in the car was empty, he probably wouldn’t come searching for them again. Moreover, Leo’s strength was not inferior to his. If it weren’t for protecting Coral, he wouldn’t have allowed such arrogance in front of him.