127: critically ill

Star Dou Great Forest, night.

At the edge of the cliff, the icy night wind, like an invisible whip, lashed down with bone-chilling coldness and the unique wild stench of the deep forest.

Mo Yuhan leaned against the cold rock, each breath pulling at the tearing pain throughout his body.

His consciousness was like sinking to the bottom of a cold, murky sea, enveloped and torn by boundless darkness and biting cold.

Yue Mei's terrifying claw shadow that seemed to tear everything apart, the extreme pain brought by the earth vein magma explosion, the chilling spatial turbulence cutting his soul… countless fragmented and ferocious images rolled and roared in the darkness.

“...Yu Han...Yu Han...wake up...”

A distant and anxious voice, like a faint light piercing through ten thousand feet of ice, stubbornly called out.

The voice was choked with sobs, with a trembling he had never heard before, almost on the verge of collapse.

Who was it?

Was it Auntie Bibi Dong?

Or Little Fairy Doctor.

He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, but they felt as if they were welded shut.

His body felt too heavy to be his own, and a terrifying, heart-stopping hollowness came from the position of his right half-body.

“Hold on...Teacher will take you home...We’re home...”

Warm liquid, with a salty taste, dripped, drop by drop, onto his cold, stiff cheek, bringing a faint warmth.

Home?

The word was like a key, suddenly prying open a corner of his chaotic consciousness.

Auntie Bibi Dong’s gentle smile, Little Fairy Doctor’s worried eyes, Canaan Academy’s elegant small building, and...

This face before him, blurred by tears yet still beautiful and gentle—Instructor Ruo Lin!

A strong will to live surged out like magma from the ashes of near death!

He couldn't die!

He had promised Auntie Bibi Dong he would return!

He had promised Teacher he would become a strong practitioner!

He couldn't let Instructor Ruo Lin...be buried with him in this wilderness of another world.

“Uh...”

A faint, almost inaudible groan escaped his cracked lips.

He used all his remaining strength to slightly move the fingers of his only movable left hand.

“Yu Han!”

Ruo Lin’s gasp was filled with unbelievable ecstasy, and tears streamed out even more profusely.

She tightly grasped his cold fingers, and that touch slightly calmed her almost collapsing mind.

“Hold on! Teacher is here! We’re safe! Look, Reincarnation Grass! The Reincarnation Grass is still here!”

She tremblingly held up the Reincarnation Grass, which Mo Yuhan had clutched tightly in his left hand, and which flowed with a faint silver glow, bringing it before his eyes.

The silver light, like a faint star in the absolute darkness, carried a strange and warm aura of life, slowly seeping into Mo Yuhan’s parched meridians and broken body.

In the days that followed, time became blurred and viscous amidst the wind of the cliff and Ruo Lin’s soft murmurs.

Mo Yuhan was like a pottery doll, broken and then roughly glued back together, sinking into an endless cycle of pain and darkness.

Each time he briefly struggled awake from a coma, his consciousness felt as if it were being slowly cut by a blunt knife, and every inch of his body screamed with intense pain.

The complete disappearance of his right arm along with half of his chest brought not only a great physical disability but also an unspeakable fear and despair psychologically.

Every time he tried to move his body, the empty void made him break out in cold sweat, his soul feeling as if a piece had been forcibly gouged out.

What kept him from completely collapsing was the Reincarnation Grass, which always lay by his pillow, emitting a warm silver glow.

Its light was like a lighthouse in the darkness, faint yet steadfast.

And...Instructor Ruo Lin.

She had almost become a tireless phantom.

During the day, she cautiously left the concave cave in the cliff where they took shelter, searching for anything usable at the perilous edge of the forest.

Clean stream water, common herbs that could reduce inflammation and stop bleeding, tough vines, and even inconspicuous moss.

Her sky-blue instructor's robe was already tattered, covered in mud and dark red bloodstains, her once smooth long hair had lost its luster, casually tied up, with a few stray strands sticking to her pale cheeks with sweat.

Those eyes, which always held a gentle smile, were now bloodshot, deep fatigue etched like lines, but in the depths of her gaze burned an almost obsessive, undeniable light of determination.

Night was the beginning of purgatory, and Ruo Lin's most difficult time.

Mo Yuhan's injuries were too severe.

Yue Mei's lingering Dou Qi, like maggots clinging to bone, raged through his broken meridians and flesh with a chilling corrosiveness, constantly triggering high fevers and violent convulsions.

Each convulsion was accompanied by his unconscious groans of pain and uncontrolled violent spasms of his body, causing the wounds, barely secured with vines and cloth strips, to instantly rupture, and fresh blood once again soaked the makeshift bandages.

“Ah—!”

Again, Mo Yuhan suddenly arched his back in a coma, his remaining left hand gripping the rock beneath him tightly, his nails scratching the hard stone surface with a harsh sound, leaving bloody marks.

His teeth were clenched, veins bulging on his forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaked his thin inner garment—which Ruo Lin had torn from her outer robe and repurposed.

At the wound on his half-empty shoulder and chest, wisps of strange purple energy wriggled like living things, making the surrounding flesh appear an ominous blackish-purple.

“Yu Han! Bear with it! Look at me!”

Ruo Lin’s voice was choked with sobs, yet exceptionally firm. She knelt beside him, pressing down with all her strength on his wildly twisting shoulders and waist, preventing him from hurting himself.

Her strength seemed so minuscule against the Dou Qi erosion of a Dou King practitioner, each suppression made her arms ache as if they would break, sweat constantly dripped from her temples, mixing with tears and splattering on Mo Yuhan’s scorching skin.

She quickly picked up a simple water cup made from rolled broad leaves, which contained a paste made from crushed herbs and stream water.

Carefully scooping up the medicinal paste with her fingers, she tremblingly applied it to the edges of his ruptured wounds, attempting to neutralize the chilling purple energy.

As the medicinal paste touched the wound, it made a faint “hissing” sound, Mo Yuhan’s body stiffened abruptly, and he let out an even more painful groan, his consciousness seemingly clear for a moment, his scattered gaze painfully focusing on Ruo Lin’s face, covered in sweat and tear stains.

“Teacher...it hurts...”

The young man’s voice was hoarse and dry, with a heavy nasal tone and undisguised vulnerability, like a wounded young beast.

This single word, “hurts,” was like a poisoned dagger, plunging fiercely into Ruo Lin’s heart, almost suffocating her.

She suppressed her heartbreak, her voice becoming even softer, carrying an almost hypnotic soothing power: “I know...I know...bear with it, Yu Han, it will be better soon...Teacher is here, Teacher is here...”

While quickly applying the medicinal paste, she continuously released gentle water-attribute Dou Qi with her other hand, like a cool stream, carefully probing into his burning meridians.

She clumsily guided the gentle silver energy emitted by the Reincarnation Grass to counter and dissolve the stubborn purple Dou Qi.

This was an extremely mentally taxing process.

Her Dou Qi attribute was gentle, skilled in nurturing and healing, but not proficient in combat or expellingXenomorph energies.

Each guidance was like walking on a narrow path full of thorns; a slight misstep could not only fail to dispel Yue Mei's Dou Qi but also potentially stimulate it to retaliate even more violently against Mo Yuhan's fragile meridians.

Her Mental Energy was highly concentrated, her face pale as paper, her body trembling slightly from continuous exhaustion and tension.

Sweat soaked her inner garment, outlining her mature yet fatigued curves.

Sometimes, Mo Yuhan would fall into an even deeper, more dangerous coma, his whole body scorching like burning charcoal, his breath so faint it was almost gone.

Ruo Lin would not hesitate to inject her gentle water-attribute Dou Qi, which also made her even weaker.

“Live...Yu Han...please...you must live...”

She leaned into his ear, whispering over and over, her voice choked, filled with endless pleading and helplessness.

Hot tears streamed down, dripping onto his closed eyelids, and were quickly evaporated by the high temperature.