27: Utilizing the power of the source

Consciousness, as if sinking into the seabed of ten thousand years of profound ice, was cold, dark, and solidified.

After an unknown period, a faint sensation of light, like a needle-tip, pierced through the boundless darkness.

Li Ao laboriously pried open his heavy eyelids; his vision was blurry, and his entire body felt as if it had been crushed by countless boulders. Every inch of bone and every strand of muscle groaned under the unbearable weight. His throat was filled with a thick, bloody taste, and his internal organs felt displaced. He tried to move his fingers, but only piercing pain and extreme weakness responded.

He was still alive.

This realization sobered his muddled consciousness a little. He rolled his eyeballs, barely managing to survey his surroundings.

It was still that pale, desolate alternate dimension, but it seemed no longer near the collapsed oasis. Around him were several familiar, cold, massive pale stone pillars, forming a relatively secluded corner. The light was still uniform and indifferent, and the inert energy permeating the air had not diminished in the slightest.

Then, he saw her.

Medusa sat not far from him, with her back turned. Her purple brocade robe was somewhat tattered and covered in pale dust. She sat cross-legged, her snake tail coiled beside her. Her once dazzling, multicolored long hair now appeared somewhat dim. Her aura was extremely faint, even weaker than when the energy conflict had first erupted. The majestic pressure of a newly advanced Dou Zong had vanished without a trace, replaced by a sense of desolation, almost like a lamp running out of oil.

What… happened to her?

Li Ao's heart sank abruptly. He remembered that in the final moment, he had forcibly attacked the core of that space, triggering a terrifying burst of silver light. That destructive spatial power was enough to tear everything apart… Did she do something?

He struggled to sit up, but this small movement tugged at all his injuries, making him let out a suppressed groan.

This muffled groan startled the person in front.

Medusa's delicate body trembled slightly, and she slowly, with extreme difficulty, turned around.

When Li Ao saw her face clearly, his pupils suddenly constricted!

That face, originally enchantingly beautiful and capable of toppling kingdoms, was now deathly pale, devoid of any color, like the finest white porcelain, so fragile it seemed it would shatter at a touch. Her delicate features were slightly distorted by immense pain, and her smooth forehead was covered in fine cold sweat, soaking a few strands of hair clinging to it. What shocked his heart the most were her eyes—those eyes that originally shimmered with multicolored light and surveyed the world with disdain. Now, most of the multicolored brilliance had faded, leaving only a grayish, deeply weary look, and… a hint of almost weak bewilderment that he had never seen in her eyes before.

Her lips were chapped and trembling slightly; she seemed to want to say something, but even uttering a single syllable was incredibly difficult.

“You…!” Li Ao's voice was hoarse like a broken bellows. He looked at Medusa in this state, and an unbelievable thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap, “You used… your Source Power?”

On the Fighting Qi Continent, whether human or magical beast, Source Power was the most core and precious source of life and strength. Once excessively depleted, it could lead to the complete loss of cultivation at best, or even the scattering of one's soul at worst! She actually… Medusa looked at the undisguised shock in his eyes, and a faint, indescribable emotion flickered in her grayish eyes—it seemed like helplessness, like determination, and also like a trace of… relief that even she herself couldn't understand. She nodded very slightly, her movement so small it was almost imperceptible.

To protect them both in that destructive spatial storm, she had not hesitated to use her newly stabilized Dou Zong Source Power, which had not yet fully integrated with her, as well as a portion of the Green Lotus Core Flame's Source Power! Only then did she barely manage to preserve a sliver of their lives from the tearing silver light, falling into this relatively stable area.

The price was her current state, which was close to collapse.

Li Ao's heart felt as if it had been fiercely clutched by an invisible hand, making him suffocatingly uncomfortable. He had never imagined that this cold, arrogant Snake-People Clan queen, who viewed humans as ants, would go to such lengths to save him.

For the Heavenly Flame? No, in such a desperate situation, if she had only sought self-preservation, she might have had a chance of survival. Taking him, this “burden,” was almost certain death.

Then what was it for?

He looked at those eyes that had lost their multicolored brilliance, now only filled with exhaustion and weakness. For the first time, in the eyes of this decisive woman, he saw such clear, unguarded vulnerability.

An unprecedented emotion, a mix of shock, guilt, and some indescribable heartache, surged and burned in his chest like magma.

He no longer tried to sit up; he just laboriously raised his intact right hand and slightly extended it towards her.

This simple action seemed to have exhausted all his current strength.

Medusa looked at his outstretched hand, which was covered in blood and wounds but carried a stubborn meaning. Her grayish eyes stared blankly for a moment, and then, she also very slowly and tremblingly raised her own cold and soft hand, gently placing it in his palm.

The moment their fingertips touched, both their bodies trembled slightly.

No words were exchanged, and none were needed.

In this isolated, perilous, pale wasteland, in this moment of weakness bordering on death, all calculations, all struggles, all identity barriers seemed to become unimportant.

He tightly grasped that cold hand, as if holding a wisp of a fading ghost, or as if holding the only reality at this moment.

Her hand was very cold, and her fingertips were still trembling slightly, but enveloped by his scorching palm, the trembling seemed to gradually subside a little.

Time flowed slowly in this silent reliance.

Both of them were fighting against their severe injuries and weakness, both greedily savoring this fleeting, fragile peace.

Li Ao could feel Medusa's life force slowly draining away; her aura was like a candle in the wind, threatening to extinguish at any moment. He had to do something!

He endured the intense pain, trying to mobilize the almost depleted power within him. The Black Iron Hegemon Body struggled to operate, attempting to extract a tiny bit of energy from this desolate space, but with minimal effect. He thought of the system, communicating with it mentally, only to find that the system interface was also grayed out, seemingly severely damaged by the rules of this place. It could only maintain the most basic functions and could not provide any effective help.

Despair, once again like a cold venomous snake, coiled around his heart.

Could it be that after barely surviving the spatial storm, he had to watch her deplete her Source Power and die?

No!

A hint of savage madness flashed in his eyes. He still had the Black Iron Hegemon Body, and that mysterious power originating from the system, which he hadn't fully understood yet! Even if he squeezed out his last bit of potential, he absolutely could not let her die here!

He gritted his teeth abruptly, disregarding the tearing pain throughout his body, and forcibly activated his remaining power, transforming it into a pure, scorching life force imbued with his life's essence. He then channeled it through their clasped hands into Medusa's body!

“You…!” Medusa's grayish eyes suddenly widened. Feeling that scorching but incredibly gentle life force surge into her almost dry meridians, she wanted to break free, wanted to scold him for his self-destructive actions, but her hand was held tightly by Li Ao, unable to move.

That life force was like a trickling stream, nourishing her withered meridians and temporarily sustaining her fading life fire. She could clearly feel that Li Ao's aura, because of this action, instantly weakened by a large margin, even worse than hers!

This madman!

She looked at his tightly furrowed brow from pain, at the fresh blood constantly oozing from the corners of his mouth, and at the undeniable determination in his eyes. In her grayish eyes, the frozen outer shell finally completely shattered, transforming into a surging, bitter tide.

Why… go to such lengths?

For the Heavenly Flame?

But if she died and the Heavenly Flame went out of control, he would also be unable to escape death.

Then what was it for?

She didn't understand.

No one had ever done this for her.

Never.

She no longer struggled, nor did she try to push him away. She simply allowed that scorching life force to flow into her cold body, and allowed that large hand to tightly envelop her cold hand. She slowly closed her eyes, and two lines of clear tears, finally uncontrollable, slid down her pale cheeks, dripping onto their clasped hands, scalding hot.

Li Ao felt the cold dampness on the back of his hand, and his movements paused slightly. He looked at her, with her eyes closed and silently weeping, her fragile posture like easily shattered glass, and his heart ached fiercely.

His action of channeling life force became gentler and more resolute.

After who knows how long, perhaps only a moment, or perhaps a long time.

Li Ao finally ran out of strength, his vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness. In the moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, the only thing he could do was to grip that cold hand even tighter.

After he collapsed, Medusa slowly opened her eyes.

She looked at the unconscious man beside her, whose aura was extremely weak, and at how he still tightly held her hand even in his coma. Her multicolored gaze (a faint trace of color had returned) was extremely complex.

She reached out her other slightly trembling hand and gently wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, her movements softer than ever before.

“Fool…”

A barely audible whisper, tinged with a sob, dissipated into the desolate, pale air.

She carefully moved him, letting him lean against her side. Then, she also closed her eyes again, fully guiding the scorching life force he had channeled into her body, repairing her own collapsing Source Power.

In this forgotten wasteland, the two huddled together, like young animals warming each other in winter, stubbornly fighting against death with the tiny spark they gave each other.

Paleness, still boundless paleness.

But within this paleness, something seemed to be quietly budding.