Lu Chen lay in the tent for another day.
His wounds had already healed. The five holes in his waist had become five pale golden scars, and the four holes in his right arm had likewise become four scars.
He remained lying down because the weakened state had yet to end, and waves of soreness and weakness kept surging up from his bones.
He sank his consciousness into his dantian.
A layer of pale golden true essence had already accumulated at the bottom of his dantian, roughly thirty percent.
Dragon Thunder true essence was heavier than ordinary true essence. It lay at the bottom of his dantian like mercury, and every circuit took twice the effort it normally would.
[Weakened State Remaining Time: Four Hours. True Essence Recovery Progress: 31%.]
Yun Qingyue came in once at noon.
She brought a bowl of meat porridge, set it down, and left.
She did not touch his forehead, pry open his eyelids, or check his pupils.
Zhou Tieshan waited outside the tent. He said there had been another discovery in the west—scouts had picked up three rune-covered bones at the edge of the Black Sandlands, and the runes were fading faster than yesterday.
"How much have they faded?"
"Most of the dark red has faded, with only a little left in the cracks of the bones. Miss Yun said that at this rate, all the runes will fade completely by the day after tomorrow."
The day after tomorrow. One day sooner than he had expected.
Lu Chen finished the porridge and handed the bowl to Zhou Tieshan.
Zhou Tieshan's hand trembled as he took it—not from fear, but exhaustion. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and the cloth around his face was soaked through with sweat, plastered against his cheekbones.