259: Chapter 259 Between Breaths

Darkness, thick and warm, like the softest cocoon, wrapped around Ling Ye's battered consciousness.

There was no pain, no fear, only a deep, near-death exhaustion, slowly drifting in the boundless Void Realm.

He felt as if he were floating in a warm ocean current, hearing no sounds, feeling no passage of time, only the near-instinctive, faint rhythm of the "Star Visualization", like a distant heartbeat, maintaining the last spark of life deep within his Soul, keeping it from extinguishing.

This near-eternal peace lasted for who knows how long.

"Drip."

A cold drop of water fell from a crack in the cave ceiling, landing precisely on Ling Ye's forehead.

That cold sensation, like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pool, instantly stirred ripples in his Chaos-filled consciousness.

Agonizing pain, like a waking viper, surged from his limbs and the depths of his brain, biting frantically!

The sensation of his body falling apart, weak and sore, the piercing pain as if his skull were splitting open, the burning thirst in his throat, and the extreme weakness and sensitivity of his spirit after being hollowed out and severely wounded, instantly dragged him, violently, from that near-comfortable slumber back into the cold reality.

"Urgh..." A painful, suppressed groan escaped uncontrollably from his cracked lips.

Ling Ye opened his eyes abruptly. At first, there was only a blur of double images, but then, the familiar, oppressive outline of the cave in the dim light gradually became clear.

The campfire had gone out, leaving only a small pile of cold ashes.

The interior of the cave was dim, with only a faint, bleak light filtering in from the entrance, barely dispelling some of the darkness.

He turned his stiff neck with difficulty and looked beside him.

The "Neighbor" was still lying there, curled up, motionless.

But the faint rise and fall of its chest seemed, perhaps... a little more obvious and steady than before?

Its complexion remained ashen, and the gray-green patches and black patterns on its right hand were still present, though the spread seemed to have truly stalled near the wrist, not continuing upward.

Still alive. At least, both of them were still alive.

Ling Ye struggled to sit up, but the mere action of lifting his upper body made stars dance before his eyes, and a wave of intense dizziness and nausea washed over him, almost causing him to faint again.

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to keep himself conscious, and with his hands supporting him on the ground, bit by bit, extremely slowly, he moved himself to the side of the cave wall, leaning his back against the cold rock, panting heavily.

Every breath pulled at the sharp pain in his chest and ribs, as well as the uncalmed, aftershock-like throbbing deep in his brain.

He felt like a hollowed-out, barely patched-up ragdoll, with not a single part of his body intact.

Water... he desperately needed water.

His gaze swept with difficulty across the interior of the cave. The water bottle was not far away, tipped over on the ground, and there seemed to be the sound of liquid sloshing inside.

He used his hands and feet, like a paralyzed patient, inching his way over, grabbed the water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and greedily gulped down several mouthfuls.

The cold water slid down his dry, burning throat, bringing a sliver of relief like rain after a long drought, but it also caused his empty stomach to spasm.

Hunger, like a waking beast, roared within his weak body.

Food... there was almost none. The last bit of dried meat had been exhausted in the previous life-or-death struggle, and there were few plant leaves left.

And in his current state, let alone going out to hunt, even standing up was a struggle.

He glanced at the unconscious "Neighbor". It also needed water and food, and its situation was likely even worse than his.

The desperate situation did not seem to have truly gone away; it had just changed form.

Ling Ye leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes. He stopped trying to recover his mobility immediately; that would only accelerate his consumption.

He began to consciously guide the "Star Visualization". This time, it was not for combat or healing, but for the most basic, minimal operation to sustain life, and... to repair the shocking trauma to his spirit.

The rhythm of the "Ancient Ring" mark, after experiencing the intense confrontation before, seemed to have also quieted down, becoming extremely faint, but it still existed constantly, like an ancient oil lamp flickering in a gale, yet never extinguishing, providing him with the most fundamental support.

He entered a state of recovery that was extremely slow, extremely deep, and focused on "internal guarding".

Guiding the thread-like, weak warm current, bit by bit, to smooth out the fine cracks in his mind caused by the pollution impact and excessive consumption, nourishing his nearly exhausted meridians, and slowly recovering a little bit of physical strength.

Time, in this near-stagnant, slow recovery, ticked away bit by bit.

The sky outside the cave seemed to have alternated between light and dark several times, but Ling Ye spent most of his time immersed in "internal guarding", having only the vaguest perception of the outside world.

He did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps half a day, perhaps a day, or even longer.

When he "woke up" from the deep "internal guarding" again, the severe pain in his body had lessened a lot. Although he was still weak and powerless, at least he no longer had that feeling that he would fall apart at any moment.

The throbbing in his brain had basically subsided, leaving only a deep sense of exhaustion.

Most importantly, the emptiness and sensitivity of his spirit had been replaced by a more solid, albeit small in total amount, but "cleaner" Mental Energy.

It was as if he had gone through the baptism of a destructive storm; although the ruins were still there, the Foundation had unexpectedly been polished to be a bit more resilient.

He slowly opened his eyes and felt that his vision was much clearer. The cave was still dim, but he could see more details.

His gaze fell on the "Neighbor" again.

It was still maintaining that curled-up posture, but... it seemed something was different.

Ling Ye focused intently. Its breathing, although still faint, had become steadier and longer, no longer having that intermittent, as if it would stop at any moment, feeling.

Its ashen complexion also seemed to have faded a little of its Death Qi; although it was still ugly, it had added a sliver of extremely faint Life Qi that belonged to a living person.

Most obviously, the area of gray-green patches and black patterns on its contaminated right hand seemed... to have extremely minute signs of shrinking inward?!

Although the change was extremely small and almost imperceptible, Ling Ye had confidence in his observation skills!

The spread of contamination had been curbed, or even... was receding extremely slowly?!

Was it because the "Neighbor"'s own resistance was recovering? Or was it because of his previous suicidal "neutralization" attempt and the indirect influence of the "Ancient Ring" rhythm, which had truly worked?

A sliver of faint hope, like a spark in the darkness, lit up in Ling Ye's heart.

Just at this moment—

"Hmm..."

An extremely faint but clearly audible groan was emitted from the "Neighbor"'s mouth.

Ling Ye instantly tensed his nerves (although his body reacted slowly) and cast a sharp gaze toward the other person.

The "Neighbor"'s brows were tightly furrowed, a pained expression appeared on its face, and its eyeballs under its eyelids were moving rapidly, as if it were having a terrifying nightmare.

Its lips trembled, emitting a few blurred syllables:

"...Seal... the... gap... cannot... spread..."

It was about "sealing" and the "gap" again!

Immediately after, its body shuddered violently, and its eyes opened abruptly!

This time, its gaze was no longer unfocused, nor was it the near-manic clarity from before.

Instead, it was a turbid and vigilant gaze that carried deep exhaustion and pain, but had recovered some sanity.

It seemed to take a few seconds to adapt to the dimness of the cave, its gaze slowly turning, and finally, it landed on Ling Ye, who was leaning against the cave wall and staring fixedly at it.

Their eyes met.

The air seemed to have frozen.

In the "Neighbor"'s eyes, a trace of confusion flashed first, and then, memories flooded back like a tide. In those turbid eyes, there was instantly an incredible shock, lingering fear, deeper guilt, and... a kind of extremely complex mixture of gratitude, vigilance, and some indescribable heaviness.

Its lips moved, as if it wanted to say something, but its cracked throat only emitted a hoarse, breathy sound.

Ling Ye did not speak, just quietly looking at it, his gaze calm, but the cluster of cold flames deep within was quietly burning, waiting for the other's explanation, or rather... a showdown.

The "Neighbor" also seemed to read the meaning in Ling Ye's gaze. It struggled to sit up, but its body was weak to the extreme; it only moved a little before falling back helplessly, letting out a painful grunt.

Ling Ye still did not move, just watched coldly.

The "Neighbor" gave up the attempt to get up, lay there, panting for a moment, moved its gaze away from Ling Ye, and looked at the cave ceiling. Its voice was hoarse and dry, but every word carried a kind of near-desperate heaviness as it slowly rang out:

"...You... shouldn't have saved me."

"I am a 'Grave Digger' of the 'abyssal eye'."