Healing and Harvest

Chapter 28: Healing and Harvest

Pain.

Not the heart-wrenching agony, but a deeper, more viscous kind, as if countless red-hot iron wires were slowly tightening and scalding within his bone marrow and meridians.

Taiyi curled up in the narrow fork of the path, his back against the scorching, rough rock wall. His eyes were tightly shut, his forehead covered in cold sweat, mixed with bloodstains, trickling down his brow bone. He breathed slowly, each inhale drawing in only wisps of air carrying sulfur and impurities, then holding it for a long time before exhaling extremely slowly.

He couldn't rush it. If he did, the broken ribs in his chest would pierce his lungs, and the unhealed fissures in his internal organs would bleed again.

He remained like this, like a crumbling stone statue on the verge of weathering away, motionless. Only the occasional, extremely slow movement of his eyeballs beneath his eyelids indicated that he was still alive, still thinking.

Thinking about how to survive.

His body was a mess right now.

The remaining sliver of Origin from the True Sun Fire was like a candle flame about to be extinguished in a gale, huddled in the deepest part of his Dantian, trembling. Yet, this flame was stubborn, refusing to die out completely, and would occasionally try to flare up. But every time it peeked out, it was bullied by its watchful "neighbors."

There were several neighbors: the murky, pervasive malevolent energy from the depths of the earth's veins, carrying a brute, dead weight, seeping into every crack; the residual Blood Fiend Power he had inhaled earlier, still lingering, violent and viscous like burnt asphalt clinging to the walls of his meridians; and the chilling aura left by Xuan Ming's Law of Rain, like fine ice needles pricking the flesh and bone, periodically releasing a wave of cold that stiffened his very soul.

These "deities" had turned his body into a marketplace, none willing to yield to the others, constantly fighting. The True Sun Fire wanted to burn them, the earth vein malevolent energy wanted to drown it, the Blood Fiend Power wanted to stir everything up, and the ice needles froze anything they touched.

The result was that his meridians, organs, and even bones felt like they were being repeatedly hammered by siege engines and subjected to alternating cycles of ice and fire.

During his unconsciousness, the "macro perspective" and "control intuition" accidentally imprinted by the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint had been like using a single strand of hair to guide a few rampaging bulls, barely preventing their collisions from immediately collapsing his dilapidated body.

But that was just a temporary measure, like walking a tightrope.

Now, with a bit more clarity, Taiyi knew that relying solely on that intuition to "guide" them wouldn't work. He needed to find a way to delineate territories for these bulls and set rules—at least to stop them from mutually annihilating each other within his body.

How to set the rules?

He remembered the "Creation Will" from the imprint.

The core of that will was not simple destruction, but the establishment of a new order after destruction. It was about forcibly "dictating" where chaotic, jumbled powers should go and what they should do.

What he needed to do now was similar, except on a pitifully small scale, yet the difficulty was immense.

He tried, sinking his faint, almost non-existent will into his sea of consciousness once more, carefully "touching" the axe imprint.

This time, he no longer attempted to "see" the grand scene of heaven and earth being cleaved, nor did he try to capture specific "chopping" trajectories.

He just wanted to feel the unquestionable coercion of that will as it "defined boundaries" and "allocated territories."

It was very vague. Like looking at an incredibly complex painting through a thick frosted glass, only able to see some color blocks and the direction of lines.

But it was enough.

He grasped that sliver of "coercion" and then, with all his focus, projected that feeling into his body.

First, the Dantian.

It was the last stronghold of the True Sun Fire's Origin and the epicenter of the conflict.

Taiyi "watched" the chaotic forces ramming and colliding within his Dantian. He no longer tried to "guide" or "mediate"—that required fine control, which he lacked.

He chose the most foolish, yet most direct method—imitating that "coercive" will.

Imagining himself as the axe imprint cleaving heaven and earth, facing the "mini-chaos" in his Dantian, he forcibly "delineated"!

With his will, within the limited space of his Dantian, he forcefully "circled" several areas.

The smallest circle at the core was for the flickering flame of the True Sun Fire. His will became an invisible barrier, temporarily "pushing" the other forces away, leaving the flame a small space of absolute safety, preventing it from being continuously consumed. This barrier was not strong and was constantly being impacted, but at least it gave the flame a chance to breathe, no longer being depleted.

The next circle outside the flame was the mixed zone. The earth vein malevolent energy and the Blood Fiend residual were forcibly "pressed" here. Taiyi's will acted like mixing mud, not distinguishing between them, but rather commanding them to "mix together," forming a relatively stable, though still violent, but at least less dispersed, "energy mass." In this process, the two forces clashed and annihilated each other, consuming their destructive potential and becoming a more "inert," more "heavy" existence.

The outermost layer was the isolation zone. The chilling intent left by Xuan Ming was forcibly "driven" by his will to the positions close to the Dantian wall and the entrances of several major meridians. It wasn't about eliminating it, but "fixing" it there, turning it into a layer of "ice shell." This ice shell could, to some extent, "cool" the restlessness of the central energy mass internally, and externally, it acted like a "protective layer" with a chilling aura, interfering with the continuous intrusion from the outside (primarily the earth vein malevolent energy).

This process was extremely painful and mentally exhausting.

Every time he used his will to "draw boundaries," "push," "mix," or "fix," it felt like repeatedly cutting and churning his softest, most vulnerable internal organs with a blunt knife. Taiyi trembled violently, his teeth grinding, and fine blood lines began to seep from the corners of his mouth, nostrils, and eyes again.

But he didn't stop.

Because he could feel that this clumsy, forceful "division," though crude and bringing new pain, had indeed weakened the purely destructive, aimless conflict of those forces within his body!

They had been "assigned" active ranges and forced to accept a crude form of "order." Although they still disliked each other and clashed at the boundaries, they were no longer randomly exploding in every corner of his body without restraint.

The loss of vitality had clearly slowed.

This was a good start.

Taiyi took a slight breath, ignoring the blood and sweat on his face, and immediately turned his attention to his meridians.

The condition of his meridians was even worse. They were like field ridges trampled by a herd of wild boars, damaged and blocked everywhere, with residual "pollution" from several forces.

Repairing meridians required energy and gentle nourishment. He had neither right now.

He could only continue with the "foolish method."

He guided the forcibly "mixed" and relatively inert "energy mass" in his Dantian, separating out wisps of extremely weak energy flow, heavy and viscous like soil and stone, along several of the less severely damaged main meridians, "smearing" it over extremely slowly.

It wasn't repair, but "filling" and "reinforcing."

Like using semi-dry cement to patch cracks. Regardless of how it looked, or whether it would leave hidden dangers later, he had to seal it first, preventing more "chaos" from leaking out and stopping the meridians from completely rupturing under the continuous shock of conflict.

This process was also excruciating. The mixed energy was filled with violent impurities, and forcing it through the damaged meridians was like repeatedly grinding a wound with sandpaper. Taiyi was in so much pain he almost fainted, only able to grit his teeth and forcibly push it forward with the coercive will derived from the "Creation Will."

Bit by bit, and then bit by bit more...

As the viscous energy flow struggled to "smear" over the damaged main meridian, Taiyi was drenched, as if pulled from water. Blood, sweat, and faint energy impurities seeping from his pores mixed together, emitting an unpleasant odor.

But the effect was tangible.

Though the meridian had become stiff and sluggish, far from its former smooth flexibility, and even its color had turned somewhat dull, it was at least... stable. Internal energy conflicts were confined to a smaller area, and the external erosion was largely blocked by that layer of crude "cement."

He repeated the process, using the same clumsy method to treat the other few critical meridians.

During this time, the meager, newly formed magical power within him (primarily from the tiny wisps of True Sun Fire recovering extremely slowly in a safe environment) was entirely consumed by maintaining the forced concentration and driving the viscous energy flow.

Without the System's help, without elixirs for assistance, he had to grind away bit by bit, using the most painful, most primitive method to repair this body on the verge of collapse.

Time lost all meaning here.

Perhaps a day passed, perhaps three.

When Taiyi finally managed to crudely "patch up" the "breaches" in several main meridians and maintain the fragile "three-zone division" balance in his Dantian, he no longer had the strength to lift a finger.

But he was still alive.

Moreover, the "emptiness" and "tearing sensation" within his body, which could have led to complete collapse at any moment, were replaced by a heavy, sluggish, but at least "complete" and "solidified" feeling.

His injuries had stabilized.

Though he was still light-years away from full recovery, and his body was now like a tattered sack covered in ugly patches, at least the sack wasn't leaking anymore and could barely hold anything.

He slumped against the rock face, breathing heavily, each breath carrying a burning pain, yet a smile uglier than tears spread across his face.

He had survived... survived on his own.

Not just by luck or System prompts, but by truly using his own will, his own understanding, to carve out a path to survival in the face of despair.

He looked inward.

In his Dantian, the wisp of True Sun Fire was still weak, but its glow was much more stable. Deep within the core of the golden-red flame, a faint, unmoving heaviness could be vaguely perceived—a subtle change born from prolonged confrontation with the "turbid" forces of Earth Vein Fiend Qi, Blood Fiend Power, and the forced "territorial defense." The Higanbana, which bloomed with twelve petals, had its ominous dark red edge appear slightly faded, but the petals themselves seemed more solid, possessing less ostentation and more restrained resilience.

The dark red Higanbana beside it seemed to have absorbed considerable "nourishment" from the Blood Fiend Power and Fiend Qi, its color deepening to near black, exuding a disturbing, silent aura, yet no longer emitting irregular, violent fluctuations like before.

Most peculiar was the gray-black Chaos Lotus. It seemed particularly interested in the forceful "creation" and "order demarcation" of this internal "mini-chaos" within his body. Its petals unfurled slightly, its color growing deeper, faintly resonating with the axe imprint in Taiyi's sea of consciousness.

Though the three flowers were still dim, their energies were no longer directly opposing each other. Instead, there was a... awkward, fragile sense of " coexistence."

The Five Qi Towards Origin state was even more of a mess. The five qi of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth were chaotically intertwined, mixed with messy colors like gray, black, and dark red. They barely maintained circulation, lacking purity but being exceptionally... resilient.

His cultivation remained at the peak of Grand Unity, and due to the severe injuries and mixed energies, his aura was even more obscure and chaotic. If thrown into the Great Wilderness, few people would immediately recognize him as the majestic Eastern Emperor Taiyi.

But Taiyi himself knew that certain internal aspects had changed.

His "control" over power was no longer merely at the level of "how to use True Sun Fire more efficiently" or "how to activate the Chaos Bell."

It was beginning to touch upon more fundamental aspects—how to face conflicts between different types of power, how to utilize all available "chaos" in desperate situations, how to forcefully command and demarcate order with willpower, even if that order was crude and painful.

This was a fragment learned from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, the very core of the "creation" path. Though just a fragment, it allowed him to find a way to survive in his desperate situation.

His tolerance for pain, and the exertion and application of his mental power, were also far superior to before. Now, he might not be able to unleash any world-shattering Divine Abilities, but the resilience of his will likely far surpassed that of an ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

These were tangible "gains" earned with his life.

He rested for a long time, until the heavy solidified feeling no longer brought new agony and his breathing became slightly smoother.

Then, he began to consider the next question:

How to leave this godforsaken place?

Xuan Ming outside definitely hadn't given up, and the Witch Race's pursuit would only become more intense. This side path was no place to linger. The Earth Vein Fiend Qi was dense; staying longer would be detrimental to his body, though his current body didn't seem to fear it much anymore.

He needed to find a more hidden, safer place, preferably one with some resources to aid his recovery.

His consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness, attempting to communicate with the System—not for redemption (points were precious, and he wouldn't have the strength to use them even if he redeemed them now), but simply for scanning.

"Scan... surroundings... earth vein structure... search for relatively stable... energy-moderated... hidden space..."

The commands were intermittent.

[Scanning... High concentration of chaotic energy interference, accuracy reduced...]

[Scan complete. Three possible paths found.]

[Path One: Continue downward, leading to the core of accumulated Earth Fiend Qi. Extremely dangerous, potential natural Fiend Spirits.]

[Path Two: Move upward and to the left, winding towards another more active Earth Fire branch. Extremely high temperature, with some Earth Fire Crystal residue, but the space is relatively open and easy to detect.]

[Path Three: Dig approximately fifteen zhang through a weak point in the rock layer to the rear right, reaching a small natural stone cave located between two main earth veins. Energy is relatively neutralized, space is enclosed, and concealment is optimal, but there are no resources.]

Taiyi hesitated very little.

"Path Three."

What he needed most now was concealment and safety; recovery could come slowly. Resources? With his current body, ordinary elixirs might not dare to be consumed recklessly.

With the direction decided, the next step was manual labor.

He looked at his mutated left arm, covered in dark red cracks, stiff but exceptionally sturdy. This thing didn't have many other uses now, but as a hammer for breaking rocks or a shovel for digging, it seemed... quite suitable?

Taiyi grinned, unsure if it was from amusement or pain.

Using his still-movable right hand, he pushed himself up and moved to the rock face on the right side of the fork. The rock face was rough, cooler than the surroundings, and felt brittle to the touch.

He took a deep breath, raised his strange left arm, clenched his fist (though it was more of a loose grasp), and then channeled the last bit of strength remaining in his body, along with that heavy "force" from the mixture of Earth Vein Fiend Qi and Blood Fiend Power, and slammed it forcefully at a spot on the rock face!

"Thump!"

With a dull thud, gravel rained down. His left arm felt numb from the recoil, but no bones broke this time. A shallow indentation appeared on the rock face.

There's a chance.

Taiyi's spirit lifted slightly. He didn't care about looking good or bad, using this most primitive method, punch after punch, towards the direction marked by the System, he began his "miner" career.

"Thump... thump... thump..."

The dull knocking sounds echoed faintly in the depths of the earth veins.

Sweat mixed with blood, along with bodily fluids seeping from his new wounds, dripped continuously. Every swing of his arm aggravated his injuries, bringing a continuous, stinging pain.

But his gaze was steady. Though his movements were slow, there was a kind of unwavering persistence to them.

Like that Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, once it set its sights on a direction, it would just cleave forward.

One strike, then another.

Gravel piled up at his feet, and the dark rock strata ahead were chipped away bit by bit.

The path to a temporarily safe place was slowly extending under his battered, yet exceptionally tenacious, hammering.