Lin Lei's Ordeal, Part 2

"If your heart had been pierced, you could forget about continuing this Monster Forest training expedition!"

Beibei, who had been chittering anxiously nearby, finally relaxed upon hearing this. He stared eagerly at Fengyun, waiting for him to save Lin Lei.

Lin Lei smiled bitterly. "I never expected that Nina, such a pure and delicate girl, would actually..."

Hiss—ah!

Before the somewhat melancholy Lin Lei could finish speaking, Fengyun began casting a Healing Spell while slowly pulling the dagger from his chest, and the pain cut him off.

It hurt so much he could not speak!

White light continuously flowed from Fengyun's hand into Lin Lei's wound, restoring his injuries as Fengyun kept talking. "Bear with it. Although this wound didn't pierce your heart, it damaged the muscle wall around it."

"I need to be especially careful, healing you while pulling out the blade, to ensure the wound closes properly and keep you from losing too much blood."

After Fengyun repeated the process three times, he finally repaired the damage to Lin Lei's heart wall. Then, he sprinkled medicinal powder where the blade met the wound and said, "Good thing my mage level reached Level 3 Mage after that life-and-death crisis when I broke through Lifting the Light as if Heavy."

"Otherwise, three consecutive Level 2 Healing Spells might not have worked on the physique of a Level 4 Warrior like you!"

Though his face had turned deathly pale, Lin Lei's injuries had stabilized. Still, he asked worriedly, "Brother Yun, why are you applying medicine without pulling out the dagger?"

"I've suffered this kind of injury before, from the blade of an assassin dressed in black. With your secret healing medicine, Brother Yun, I'd be mostly recovered after one night!"

"But with the dagger still stuck in me, won't the wound be unable to heal?"

Fengyun looked at Lin Lei speechlessly, then took out a Magic Crystal and began rapidly restoring his magical power. "What secret healing medicine? Lie there obediently and wait for my magical power to recover. Then I'll cast a few more Healing Spells on you!"

This time had truly been dangerous. Fengyun remembered that in the original story, Nina had viciously stabbed Lin Lei in the abdomen, seriously injuring him.

Even if an abdominal stab wound was severe, a few Healing Spells would have been enough for him to basically control the injury.

But now, she had struck at his heart. Beibei had just been placed beside the campfire by Lin Lei to rest and could not come to his aid in time. If Fengyun had not remained cautious all along and been fast enough, then Lin Lei...

Would still have been in no danger!

The protagonist really was the protagonist. Even though Fengyun had been prepared, he had not been much faster than Beibei, who reacted afterward. If he had not immediately used a Battle Qi Slash for a ranged attack, he might not have been able to kill Nina at the exact same moment as Beibei!

Even the injury had been just right. If Nina's dagger had gone any deeper and completely pierced Lin Lei's heart, Fengyun's three Healing Spells definitely would not have been enough to contain the injury.

In that situation, Lin Lei truly would have been in mortal danger. As things stood, with Fengyun's treatment, it was merely a matter of losing a little more blood.

Once Fengyun recovered his magical power and cast a few more Healing Spells, Lin Lei would be seventy or eighty percent healed!

At the same time, Beibei used Soul Voice Transmission to tell Lin Lei, "Boss, it was actually Brother Yun who healed you when you were injured last time. That so-called secret healing medicine was just Brother Yun fooling you."

"Brother Yun has always been protecting you in secret, Boss. He never separated from us."

"But this time was just too dangerous! That woman actually launched a sneak attack after you put me by the campfire. I couldn't even bite her to death right away. She's absolutely detestable!"

"Luckily, Brother Yun had been watching in secret and came to the rescue in time. Otherwise, Boss, you really might have been in danger!"

Lin Lei said nothing after hearing this. Instead, he inexplicably glanced at Grandpa Delin's soul, his gaze filled with both emotion and guilt.

He was emotional because Grandpa Delin had not told him that Fengyun had been protecting him in secret, hiding it from him for so long.

He believed that Beibei and Fengyun's scheme could not possibly have escaped Grandpa Delin's notice. But he also knew that Grandpa Delin had kept silent for his sake. Only this way could Lin Lei receive the best possible training!

As for his guilt, Grandpa Delin had specifically warned him to be careful around Nina, especially not to let her get too close to him.

Yet in the end, he had not listened to the warning. He had given Nina an opportunity to strike and brushed past death itself!

Turning back to Fengyun, countless words eventually became a single sentence.

"Thanks, Brother Yun!"

Fengyun, who was restoring his magical power by absorbing the energy within the Magic Crystal, smiled. "What's there to thank me for? The purpose of coming into the mountains this time was to temper you!"

"So, Lin Lei, what have you learned from this crisis?"

Pale-faced and hoarse-voiced, Lin Lei smiled bitterly. "I've learned a lot. In the end, I still failed to remember the lesson Brother Yun taught me the moment we entered the mountains."

"In the Monster Mountain Range, the most dangerous things aren't magical beasts, but humans!"

Fengyun patted his shoulder. "It's fine. With this stab, I'm sure you'll remember that lesson completely from now on!"

"And now isn't the time for you to wallow in sorrow. I'm only a Level 3 Mage, after all, and my healing ability is limited. With your constitution, I estimate I'll need to cast another seven or eight Healing Spells later before you fully recover."

"To spare you the pain and keep you from aggravating the wound when you move around, get some proper sleep!"

"When you wake up, you'll be fine!"

Then, with a chop to the back of the neck, he knocked Lin Lei unconscious!

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. No longer needing to hide in the shadows, Fengyun's skin was crimson red and his entire body trembled. This was the outward manifestation of the violent collisions and spasms between the battle qi, muscles, bones, and flesh within his body.

"Strong stuff. Was this Body Strengthening Potion originally developed as some kind of torture?"

Compared to before, Lin Lei had adapted to life in the Monster Forest after experiencing two consecutive life-and-death crises.

With Beibei no longer needing to pretend to sleep, and Fengyun mostly only watching from the side without taking action, Fengyun decided to take Body Strengthening Potions to temper his physique.

He had already given this stuff a proper try before coming to the Monster Mountain Range. It was truly agonizing.

Using this thing to temper one's body was genuinely asking for suffering. Even his realm of Lifting the Light as if Heavy, Control Over Self, could not alleviate that pain.

Although the realm of Control Over Self could not make him immune to the potion's pain, his powerful control over his own body allowed him to maintain his composure while tempering himself.

It kept him from writhing on the ground like a maggot, twisting and squirming into all sorts of poses in an attempt to ease the pain.

It also ensured that even without anyone nearby to watch over him, he would not need to worry about the collisions between his battle qi, bones, muscles, and flesh causing cramps or muscle strains that would affect his mobility and combat strength.

"Hiss—though it only lasts for a quarter of an hour, this pain, from the inside out, from flesh to soul, really is unforgettable!"