Chapter 14 Strange Tales (Part 1)

[March, Misty Forest]

[After recovering from your injuries, you left Ningzhou.]

[You were no longer content with the death matches in the underground boxing ring and began to venture into the wider world.]

[Your footprints began to spread across the map of Jiangnan Province.]

[In mid-March, you spent a fortune at a black market intelligence dealer to acquire a clue: in the depths of the Misty Forest, west of Wuyue City, colorful radiant light had recently been seen shooting into the sky, suspected to be a rare treasure emerging.]

[You rushed to Wuyue City overnight.]

[This place has many ancient ruins and continuous mountain ranges.]

[However, reality taught you a lesson.]

[You staked out the forest, filled with poisonous insects and miasma, for a whole week.]

[Your clothes were torn by thorns, and your body had more than a dozen red, swollen bites from poisonous insects.]

[When you finally pushed aside the bushes and saw the so-called “colorful radiant light,” you felt no surprise, but rather were almost amused to anger.]

[It wasn't a dimensional ripple at all, but a group of mutated insects, “Phantasmal Glow Butterflies,” emitting light during courtship.]

[Thousands of butterflies gathered together, and the bioluminescence they produced was indeed dreamlike, but in your eyes, it was worthless.]

["Is this the uncertainty of intelligence..."]

[You were a little disappointed, but quickly adjusted your mindset.]

[Since you came, consider it a wilderness survival training.]

[On your way back, relying on your keen perception of Spiritual Qi fluctuations,]

[on a cliff face, you unexpectedly discovered a crimson blood ginseng growing in a rock crevice.]

[To harvest this herb, you fought with a second-order mutated beast, an Iron Beak Eagle, that was guarding it for half an hour, finally luring and killing it using the terrain.]

[Although crimson blood ginseng is not as divine as the mystic ice twin lotus, it is still a precious medicinal treasure.]

[Heavenly Dao rewards diligence; the ancients truly did not deceive me.]

...

[April, Taihu Lake]

[In April, the uninhabited area of Taihu Lake had unpredictable weather.]

[It was bright and sunny in the afternoon, but by evening, a rare hailstorm unexpectedly struck this wilderness without warning.]

[Strong winds carried hail the size of fingernails, snapping dry branches with a crackle, and the temperature plummeted in just half an hour.]

[You found an abandoned ranger's cabin.]

[A fire was lit inside, dry firewood crackled, and the orange-yellow flames barely dispelled the chill in the room.]

[Just as you were about to dry your cloak, there was a sudden, urgent, and weak knocking sound from outside the door, mixed with the howling wind and rain, sounding particularly desolate.]

["Help... Is anyone there... Help!"]

[You frowned slightly, picked up the battle saber beside you, and abruptly pulled open the rickety wooden door.]

[Wind and rain instantly poured in.]

[Four people, two men and two women, stumbled in through the doorway.]

[They were carrying expensive professional mountaineering backpacks; they appeared to be a group of college student hikers.]

[One of the girls, wearing a red jacket, was already being supported by her companions, her eyes tightly shut, her face a terrifying ashen white, her body stiff as a board, not even shivering.]

[This was hypothermia, a sign that her thermoregulatory center was about to shut down.]

[You stepped aside to let them in, then closed the door behind you.]

["Quick! Put her down! Warm her by the fire!"] One of the tall boys frantically tried to drag the unconscious girl towards the fire.]

["Don't touch her!"]

[The bespectacled boy next to him, though shivering with cold, pushed the tall boy away and shouted in horror, "Tang Xuan, are you crazy! The books say that if you rapidly heat the limbs of someone with severe hypothermia, the cold blood returning to the heart will cause rewarming shock, and you'll kill her!"]

[The tall boy froze, standing there helplessly, "Then... then what do we do? We can't just watch Xiao Yu freeze to death, can we?"]

[The two argued, sweating profusely with anxiety.]

["Move aside."]

[A cold voice interrupted their quarrel.]

[You stepped forward, and the Evil Qi in your eyes made the two boys instinctively shut up.]

[You squatted down and reached out to touch the collar of the girl's jacket; it was full of icy moisture.]

["The jacket is windproof, but it can't prevent sweat and rainwater from getting inside."] You looked at the other shivering short-haired girl, speaking quickly and decisively: ["If you don't want her to die, immediately take off all her soaked cotton clothes and underwear. Wearing wet clothes, the heat conduction speed is twenty-five times that of dry clothes; she wouldn't be this cold even in a refrigerator."]

["Don't you even know such basic common sense?"]

["Ah? Here?"] The short-haired girl was stunned.]

["Hurry up! Do I have to teach you?"] You barked coldly, then turned your back to them, casually tossing over the dry wool blanket you carried. ["Wrap her tightly with this after you're done."]

[Behind you, there was the rustling sound of clothes being removed and the short-haired girl's sobbing.]

[A moment later.]

["Okay... okay."]

[You turned around. The unconscious girl was now wrapped up like a zongzi, but her condition was still not optimistic; her breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible.]

["Her core body temperature is too low; her own heat production mechanism has shut down. A blanket alone won't bring it back."]

[You sat cross-legged and motioned for the short-haired girl to help the unconscious girl sit up with her back to you.]

["What are you going to do?"] The bespectacled boy asked warily.]

["Save her life."]

[You spoke concisely. You extended both palms, pressing them against the girl's Mingmen acupoint on her back and her spine, respectively.]

[Boom—]

[The Qi and blood within your body rumbled deeply.]

[You transformed the originally violent power of Qi and blood, through layers of conversion, into gentle streams of warmth, like the warm sun of spring, slowly transferring them into the girl's body through your palms.]

[This was not simple heating, but rather using external Qi and blood to forcefully restart her nearly congealed blood circulation, protect her heart, and dispel the cold from the inside out.]

["This... this is? Are you a Martial Artist?"] Chen Zixuan's eyes widened.]

[You did not answer, concentrating fully on controlling your Qi and blood.]

[You transformed the originally violent power, through layers of conversion, into gentle streams of warmth, like the warm sun of spring, slowly transferring them into the girl's body through your palms. This was not simple heating, but rather using external Qi and blood to forcefully restart her nearly congealed blood circulation and protect her heart.]

[The room was silent, save for the sound of burning wood and the hurried breathing of a few people.]

[Ten minutes later.]

["Cough cough... cough..."]

[The unconscious girl suddenly coughed out a mouthful of cold air, and a trace of color finally appeared on her pale face, her body beginning to tremble violently—a good sign that her body's heat production mechanism was recovering.]

["She's... alive?!"] The short-haired girl exclaimed in surprise.]

[Chen Zixuan collapsed onto the ground, his gaze shifting from wariness to utter reverence: "Emitting Qi and blood externally, and controlling it with such precision... only a Martial Artist of at least the high-stage Qi and blood Realm can do that, right?"]

[With the crisis averted, the atmosphere in the room finally relaxed.]

[That night, the heavy rain did not stop.]

[Five people gathered around the fire, sharing a pot of hot mutated beast meat soup that you had stewed with dried mutated beast meat.]

["Big brother, this meat... it's so chewy, and after eating it, my whole body feels warm."] The tall boy asked cautiously while wolfing down the food, ["What kind of meat is this?"]

["Third-order Blackwater Profound Serpent."] You replied indifferently.]

[“Pfft—” The boy almost spat out a mouthful of soup, and everyone's faces instantly changed.]

["Are you... are you a professional hunter?"] The short-haired girl looked at you admiringly, stars twinkling in her eyes, ["Like in the movies, a professional hunter who specializes in hunting mutated beasts in the wilderness?"]

[You did not answer, merely adding another log to the fire in silence.]

[Chen Zixuan pushed up his glasses, his tone becoming extremely respectful: "I never expected to meet an expert like you in this place.]

[We are students from Jinling University, and we secretly snuck out for an adventure this time..."]

[They began to tell you about the outside world. From the latest popular virtual idols to new functions updated on the Intelligence Network, and then to the prosperity of Jinling City.]

[You listened quietly, watching the clear foolishness in their eyes and their post-disaster love for life. A strange feeling suddenly welled up in your heart.]

[Your Martial Dao Realm could not only help you kill enemies but also help you protect a flickering flame of life in a storm.]

[The next day after the rain stopped, you escorted them to the safe main road.]

[At parting, Chen Zixuan took out an exquisitely made business card from his Huai and handed it to you with both hands, bowing solemnly: "Big brother, your life-saving kindness will never be forgotten! My name is Chen Zixuan, the third young master of the Jinling Chen family. Since you are a Martial Artist, if you ever come to Jinling City in the future, whether it's for buying medicine, repairing equipment, or anything else, just mention my name, and the Chen family will surely welcome you warmly!"]

["That's right, big brother, you must come and visit us!"] The short-haired girl also waved.]

[You accepted the business card, said nothing more, turned, picked up your saber, and disappeared into the morning mist of the wilderness.]

[Their exclamations came from behind: "So cool... Is this what a true Martial Artist is like?"]

["I should have chosen to join the Martial Dao class in high school."]

["You? Could you endure that hardship?"]

...

[Time came to one month before the College Entrance Examination.]

[On this day, you arrived at Wind and Sand Town, a small town on the border between Jiangnan Province and Tiannan Province.]