Night was as black as ink, completely shrouding the wilderness in the western region of the Jia Ma Empire. Inside a hidden cave deep within the wasteland, the campfire crackled, its dancing flames moving across the rock walls like sprites. They cast the shadows of three people and one beast into shifting light and darkness, while driving away the chill within the cave. Hai Bodong carefully laid Xiao Yan on a stone platform covered with soft dry grass. Seeing the savage bloodstains and cracks covering the youth's body, his brows furrowed deeply, his eyes full of concern. He took a smooth white jade bottle from his robes—one containing the Clear Spirit Pills he had treasured for years. The bottle still carried his body heat. He poured out three round, lustrous pills that gave off a faint herbal fragrance, their surfaces glowing with a gentle sheen. Hai Bodong gently pried open Xiao Yan's tightly shut mouth and carefully placed the pills inside. Then he poured a little water from a waterskin and slowly fed it to him, afraid of choking the unconscious youth.
Qing Lin knelt before the stone platform, her knees long since aching from the dry grass beneath them, yet she felt nothing. She clasped Xiao Yan's icy hand tightly in both of hers. His palm was rough, still bearing the tiny wounds left behind by battle, but it had no warmth at all now, making her heart ache as though pierced by needles. Tears fell endlessly like beads from a broken string, dripping onto the back of Xiao Yan's hand. They were scalding hot, yet unable to warm that cold skin. The Purple Gold Winged Lion King in her arms had lost all its former laziness. Its little head kept rubbing against Xiao Yan's arm, and its golden