As the sun rose and set, through the bleak, frigid night by the Great River, Dan Ji, who had been unconscious all night, stirred her fingers and slowly opened her eyes.
Her ink-black eyes returned to normal, yet they had lost their former radiance and became exceptionally dim.
Dan Ji barely forced herself upright. Looking at the Plain-clothed Figure collapsed nearby, she hesitated for a moment before hoisting him onto her back and heading toward the dense forest ahead.
The secluded, icy forest became terrifying at night. Beastly roars echoed from its depths, startling countless birds into flight.
Dan Ji trudged forward step by step. The aftereffects of taking the Yellow Springs Pill gradually surfaced; her cultivation and vitality rapidly drained away, and even her five senses grew hazy.
Whether out of sympathy or some other reason, Dan Ji never abandoned the man on her back. Even though she knew he was now of no use to her, for she would never again have the chance to refine pills in this life.
After walking through the forest for over half an hour, Dan Ji no longer had the strength to continue. She stopped before a great tree and set the man down from her back.
"I never expected you to accompany me through the final stretch of my road."
Dan Ji looked at the young man before her, who had never awakened, and a trace of emotion appeared on her lovely face as she spoke.
The cold night grew ever chillier. Dan Ji lit a bonfire beneath the tree and sat there in silent contemplation.
She knew that her chances of escaping safely were nearly nonexistent. Still, she did not regret it.
She knew exactly what sort of place the Heaven Mending Pavilion was. Once she entered, she would be