Awakening

His consciousness faded.

Xu Yuan seemed to arrive in an endless void, enveloped by boundless darkness and cold.

His five senses were gone.

Time did not pass.

He had no idea how long it had been when loneliness and despair filled his entire being.

Was he dead?

Xu Yuan thought he probably was.

Being cared for by that utterly clueless Big Ice Block while suffering from hypothermia and a fever—there was no way he could have survived.

No matter how afraid he had been of death in life, when it truly came, all that remained was relief.

At that moment, Xu Yuan even felt that dying wasn't so bad.

He could feel a warm sensation continuously flowing around his lips, with a little of it even entering his mouth.

It was liquid.

A little fishy, yet a little sweet.

It tasted good.

Like long-parched soil finally moistened by a welcome rain, the urge to swallow and suckle consumed every instinct.

As more of the warm, fishy-sweet liquid flowed into him, waves of warmth began spreading through his limbs, driving away the chill.

Hm?

Wait.

If he was dead, why could he still drink?

As the strange thought surfaced, his lost senses began returning to his consciousness bit by bit. At last, he clearly heard the sound of swallowing: "Gulp, gulp, gulp."

He slowly opened his eyes. His pupils had yet to focus, leaving the scene before him blurred and somewhat distorted.

Along with the "gulp, gulp" of swallowing, the image seen by Xu Yuan's unfocused eyes gradually came into clarity.

He saw those calm, clear eyes.

His hazy mind left Xu Yuan unable to make sense of the situation for a moment. He stared at her for two seconds, then instinctively turned his head slightly.

The moment he moved, a small, icy hand pressed his head down, keeping him still.

It was Ran Qingmo.

Xu Yuan parted his lips to speak, then noticed the mouth of a waterskin stuck in his mouth, warm liquid continually flowing from it and down his throat.

As his mind gradually cleared, Xu Yuan clenched his fists and began to struggle, but she was far too strong.

Being force-fed water felt awful, especially since the waterskin's spout was quite long, with liquid continuously pouring through it and into his throat.

Their eyes met.

Xu Yuan struggled to swallow, then blinked hard.

Ran Qingmo blinked too, then nodded at him.

"..." Xu Yuan.

After more than ten seconds of silence, his face gradually flushed red. The sound of water being poured down his throat became the only noise in the cave.

At that moment,

Xu Yuan finally understood why his girlfriends in his previous life had slapped his thigh so hard.

Once the liquid was gone, Ran Qingmo put away the waterskin and silently got to her feet.

After she left, the restraint vanished.

Feeling as if he'd been given a new lease on life, Xu Yuan gasped for breath several times. He slowly sat up, intending to curse her out, but before he could speak, he paused in surprise and raised a hand to examine his body.

As the liquid had gone down, his body, once icy to the bone, had begun to warm. The heat spread rapidly, moving from his stomach through his limbs at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the chill that had built up inside him gradually faded.

An entirely new experience, unprecedented in his life—hundreds of times faster than the wonder drugs of his previous world.

"What... what did you feed me?"

Xu Yuan's voice was still a little hoarse, but he was no longer as weak as before.

As he spoke, Xu Yuan looked toward Ran Qingmo's back, only to realize that the cave had grown much warmer, and a faint mist hung in the air.

Just as confusion arose in his heart,

Xu Yuan's gaze swept across the scene before him, and he nearly passed out on the spot.

Ever since he'd transmigrated, waking up had almost always pushed his physical and mental limits.

The cave entrance was an oval with a radius of two meters,

and this utterly unremarkable opening was now almost completely blocked by an enormous head.

It was a giant serpent.

Two fangs protruded from its mouth. Its half-lidded, sinister snake eyes fixed on the cave, while its scales blazed red like flames. A single horn atop its head gave off a faint golden glow, and the huge fleshy wings on either side of its head stirred gently as it breathed.

Rain poured over the giant serpent—or rather, the snake demon—and the intense heat of its scales immediately sent up clouds of steam.

Mist swirled through the cave, making it look like a fairyland.

What was this?

Xu Yuan struggled to his feet and slowly backed away.

He'd just opened his eyes, only to find a giant serpent watching him from nearby.

The worldview he'd brought from his previous life couldn't accept this.

Wasn't there supposed to be a beginner's village where you could get used to things after transmigrating?

Was a giant serpent blocking the door something you'd find in a beginner's village?

As Xu Yuan's mind reeled, the corner of his eye caught the sight of the black-clad figure inside the cave leaping onto the snake demon's enormous head.

Through the hazy rain and faint light,

Xu Yuan followed the movements of that dark silhouette and saw a clear, crystal-like ice spike behind the giant serpent's head.

A massive ice spike had pierced through the giant serpent's vulnerable spot and pinned it to the ground!

Ran Qingmo aimed the mouth of the waterskin at the sharp horn atop the snake demon's head, then tapped its hard scales with her scabbard.

The giant serpent closed its eyes as if resigned to its fate. Drops of golden liquid seeped from its horn and trickled through the waterskin's spout, slowly filling the waterskin.

Once the waterskin was full, the snake demon's aura had clearly weakened.

Ran Qingmo jumped down from the snake demon and held the waterskin out to Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan took it with a calm expression, because he hadn't quite recovered from his shock.

After handing Xu Yuan the waterskin, Ran Qingmo looked around the cave. She blinked twice, as if remembering something, then silently turned and ran out into the rain.

Staring blankly in the direction she'd gone, Xu Yuan's stiff thoughts began to turn, little by little.

Looking at the giant serpent blocking the entrance, Xu Yuan realized that, to save him, this Big Ice Block had beaten the thing half to death and dragged it back.

The rain pattered on, and the woman's figure disappeared completely into the downpour.

About a minute later,

Ran Qingmo returned from the rain with a huge bundle of soaked firewood in her arms, and water splashed across the dry ground.

Ignoring Xu Yuan's astonished gaze, Ran Qingmo went about setting the bundle down two meters from him and silently arranging it into the shape of a campfire.

It seemed she intended to start a fire with wet wood.

Watching her, Xu Yuan smiled, about to advise her against it.

But by then, Ran Qingmo had already flashed over to the giant serpent's head. Her eyes were tranquil as she tapped it with her scabbard.

The giant serpent seemed cowed by its beating. It glanced timidly at Ran Qingmo, opened its mouth, and extended its long, winding tongue. In an instant, a scorching heat filled the cave.

The bundle of soaked firewood dried at a visible speed. Then, as the serpent's long tongue lightly touched the wood,

a flicker of fire lit up the cave's cold stone walls.

Xu Yuan parted his lips, then silently swallowed the words he'd been about to say.