Healing and Gains

Pain.

Not the kind of heart-rending agony, but something deeper, thicker—like countless red-hot wires slowly tightening and burning through his marrow and meridians.

Taiyi curled up in a narrow side passage, his back against the scorching, rough rock wall. His eyes were tightly shut, his forehead covered in cold sweat mixed with blood, trickling down past his brow bones. He breathed slowly. With every inhale, he drew in only a thread of air tainted with sulfur and murky fumes, held it for a long time, then exhaled with extreme slowness.

He could not breathe quickly. If he did, the broken ribs in his chest would pierce his lungs, and the wounds in his internal organs that had yet to fully heal would begin bleeding again.

He remained like that, motionless as a stone statue on the verge of weathering apart. Only the occasional, incredibly slow movement of his eyes beneath his lids showed that he was still alive, still thinking.

Thinking about how to survive.

His body was a complete mess now.

The last trace of True Sun Fire source within him was like a candle flame that could be snuffed out at any moment in a gale, huddled deep within his dantian and trembling. Yet the flame was stubborn. It refused to die completely, occasionally trying to flare outward, only to be bullied the moment it emerged by the hostile "neighbors" surrounding it.

There were several such neighbors: the pervasive murky baleful energy seeping up from the depths of the earth veins, carrying a domineering, deathly heaviness and forcing its way through every gap; the remnants of Blood Fiend Power he had absorbed earlier, violent and viscous like burnt asphalt, clinging stubbornly to the walls of his meridians; and the icy chill left behind by Xuan Ming's Law of Rain, like dense needles of ice embedded in the gaps between his flesh and bones, releasing bursts of cold from time to time that froze even his soul stiff.

These forces had turned his body into a marketplace. None would submit to the others, and they fought every day. The True Sun Fire wanted to burn them away, the earth-vein baleful energy wanted to drown it, the blood fiend power wanted to stir everything into chaos, and the ice needles froze whatever they encountered.

The result was that his meridians, organs, and even bones felt as though they were being hammered over and over by siege rams, tormented in turns by ice and fire.

While unconscious earlier, he had accidentally used the sliver of "macroscopic perspective" and "instinctive control" granted by the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint. It was like trying to restrain several mad bulls with a single strand of hair, barely keeping their collisions from immediately destroying the dilapidated house that was his body.

But that had merely been a stopgap measure, a tightrope walk.

Now that he was somewhat lucid, Taiyi knew that merely "prodding" them with instinct would not suffice. He had to find a way to divide territory for those bulls and establish rules—at the very least, keep them from perishing together inside his own body.

How were those rules to be set?

He recalled the Creation Will within the imprint.

The core of that will was not mere destruction. It was establishing a new order after destruction. It was forcibly "assigning" chaotic, utterly disordered power where it should go and what it should do.

What he needed to do now was more or less the same, though the scale was pitifully small and the difficulty was no less daunting.

He tried to sink his nearly nonexistent consciousness into his sea of consciousness once more, carefully "touching" the axe-imprint mark.

This time, he did not try to "see" the grand scene of creation, nor did he attempt to capture any specific trajectory of the axe's swings.

He only wanted to feel the unquestionable forcefulness of that will when it "drew boundaries" and "assigned territories."

It was extremely vague. Like looking through thick frosted glass at an incomparably complex painting, he could only make out patches of color and the direction of a few lines.

But it was enough.

He seized that tiny sensation of "forcefulness," then poured every ounce of his focus into projecting it within his body.

First came the dantian.

It was the final fortress of the True Sun Fire's source, and also the center of the fiercest conflict.

Taiyi "watched" the chaotic powers charging wildly through his dantian. He no longer tried to "guide" or "reconcile" them—that required delicate control, and he did not possess it.

He chose the stupidest and most direct method—imitating that forceful will.

He imagined himself as that Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint, facing the "little chaos" within his dantian and forcibly "drawing boundaries"!

With his thoughts, he forcibly "circled off" several regions within the limited space of his dantian.

The smallest central circle was reserved for the flickering flame of True Sun Fire. His thoughts became invisible barriers, temporarily "pushing" the other powers aside and leaving the flame a small space of absolute safety. The barriers were fragile and constantly battered, but they at least gave the flame a chance to catch its breath rather than being continually drained.

The ring outside the flame became a mixed zone. The earth-vein baleful energy and the blood fiend remnants were forcibly "pressed" into it. Taiyi's consciousness was like mud plaster, making no effort to distinguish them. Instead, he forcefully commanded them to "mix together," forming a relatively stable "mass of energy"—still violent, but at least no longer so dispersed. In the process, the two forces clashed and annihilated each other, consuming much of their destructive nature and becoming something more inert, more heavy.

The outermost layer was an isolation zone. The icy intent left behind by Xuan Ming was forcibly "driven" to the areas near the dantian wall and the entrances of several major meridians. He was not destroying it, but "fixing" it there and turning it into a layer of "ice shell." Inwardly, this shell could cool the agitation of the central mixed energy mass to a certain extent. Outwardly, it served as a frigid layer of protection, disrupting the continual intrusion of external forces, primarily the earth-vein baleful energy.

The process was excruciating and consumed an enormous amount of mental strength.

Every time he used his thoughts to "claim territory," "push," "mix," or "fix" something, it felt as though he were repeatedly slicing and stirring his softest, most vulnerable organs with a dull blade. Taiyi's entire body shook violently. His teeth ground audibly, while thin streams of blood began seeping from the corners of his mouth, nostrils, and eyes again.

But he did not stop.

Because he could feel that this clumsy, forceful "division," though crude and newly painful, had indeed weakened the purely destructive and aimless conflict between the forces in his body.

Their range of movement had been "defined," forcing them to accept some rough form of "order." They still disliked one another and still rubbed and clashed at the borders, but at least they were no longer exploding recklessly in every corner of his body.

The loss of his vitality had clearly slowed.

This was a good start.

Taiyi caught his breath slightly. Without bothering to wipe the blood and sweat from his face, he immediately shifted 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, riddled with damage and blockages, as well as the lingering "contamination" of several powers.

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

He could only continue using the "stupid method."

He guided a thread of extremely weak energy from the relatively inert "energy mass" forcibly mixed within his dantian. Carrying the heaviness and viscosity of earth and stone, it slowly "smeared" itself along several major meridians that were comparatively less damaged.

This was not repair. It was "filling" and "reinforcement."

Like using half-dried cement to plaster cracks. It did not matter whether it looked good or would leave hidden problems later. First, he had to seal the gaps, stop more "chaos" from leaking through them, and prevent the meridians from snapping completely under the continued tremors of conflict.

The process was equally unbearable. That mixed energy was full of violent impurities, and forcing it through damaged meridians was like repeatedly grinding sandpaper over wounds. Taiyi hurt so badly he nearly fainted. He could only grit his teeth and use the forceful consciousness brought by the Creation Will to drive it onward.

A little, then a little more, then another little bit...

By the time the viscous current had laboriously "smeared" over the damaged areas of one major meridian, Taiyi looked as though he had just been dragged from water. He was soaked through, blood and sweat mixed with minute energy impurities seeping from his pores, giving off an unpleasant stench.

But the effect was real.

That meridian had become stiff and sluggish, far less smooth and flexible than before. Its color had even darkened somewhat. But at least... it had stabilized. The internal energy conflict was confined to a smaller area, while most external corrosion was blocked by that rough layer of "cement."

He repeated the process, using the same crude method on the other key meridians.

During this time, the pitiful trace of newly regenerated mana within him—mainly the tiny amount slowly recovered by the True Sun Fire flame in its safe environment—was all used to sustain that forceful consciousness and move the viscous energy flow.

There was no system assistance, no medicinal pills to support him. He could only grind away at it bit by bit, using the most painful and primitive method to patch up this body on the brink of collapse.

Time lost all meaning here.

Perhaps a day passed. Perhaps three.

By the time Taiyi had finally managed to crudely "plaster over" the breaches in several major meridians and maintain the fragile balance of the "three-zone division" in his dantian, he no longer had the strength to lift even a finger.

But he was still alive.

And the "hollowness" and "tearing sensation" within his body, which had threatened to collapse completely at any moment, had been replaced by a heavy, sluggish, yet at least "solid" sense of wholeness.

His injuries had stabilized.

He was still a hundred thousand miles from recovery, and his body now resembled a torn sack covered in ugly patches, but at least the sack was no longer leaking. It could barely hold something again.

He slumped against the rock wall, gasping violently. Every breath came with burning pain, yet an ugly smile even worse than a grimace appeared on his face.

He had survived... survived by relying on himself.

Not merely through luck or system prompts, but by truly using his own will and understanding to carve out a bloody path through a hopeless situation.

He examined himself internally.

Within his dantian, the flame of True Sun Fire remained weak, but its glow had become far steadier. Deep inside the core of its golden-red flames was a faint, almost imperceptible heaviness as immovable as a mountain—an extremely subtle change born from prolonged resistance against "turbid" powers such as earth-vein baleful energy and blood fiend power, as well as from being forced to "claim territory" for self-preservation. The ominous dark-red ring around the petals of the twelve-petaled Golden Red Lotus seemed to have faded somewhat, while the petals themselves appeared more solid, losing some of their flamboyance and gaining a quiet resilience.

The dark-red Higanbana beside it seemed to have absorbed considerable "nourishment" from the blood fiend power and baleful energy. Its color had deepened until it was nearly black, emitting an unsettlingly still aura, but it no longer released violent fluctuations as erratically as before.

The strangest was still the gray-black Chaos Lotus. It seemed especially interested in this forced "creation" and "ordering" of the little chaos inside his body. Its petals had slightly unfurled, its hue becoming even deeper, and it faintly resonated with the axe-imprint mark in Taiyi's sea of consciousness.

Though the three flowers remained dim, their auras were no longer quite so sharply opposed. Instead, there was a kind of... awkward, fragile sense of coexistence between them.

The state of Five Qi Towards Origin was an even greater mess. The five qi of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth were chaotically intertwined, mixed with a jumble of gray, black, dark red, and other colors. They barely maintained a cycle. They could not be called pure, but they were extraordinarily... durable.

His cultivation was still at the peak of Grand Unity, but due to his severe injuries and the mixed nature of his power, his aura had become even more obscure and chaotic. If he were thrown into the Great Wilderness, few would be able to recognize at a glance that he was the once-mighty Eastern Emperor Taiyi.

But Taiyi himself knew that something within him had changed.

His "control" over power was no longer limited to "how to use True Sun Fire more efficiently" or "how to wield the Chaos Bell."

He had begun touching upon something more fundamental—how to face conflicts between powers of different natures, how to make use of every scrap of "chaos" available in desperate circumstances, and how to forcibly rule with his will and establish order, even if that order was crude and painful.

This was a fragment of the core of the path of "creation" that he had comprehended from the Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint. Though it was only a fragment, it had allowed him to find a way to survive in a desperate situation.

His tolerance for pain, as well as his ability to squeeze and wield his mental strength, had also improved by far more than a single level. He might not be able to unleash any heaven-shaking divine abilities now, but the toughness of his will likely surpassed that of ordinary Grand Unity Golden Immortals.

These were all tangible "gains" bought with his life.

He rested for a long time, until that heavy solidity no longer brought fresh agony and his breathing became a little smoother.

Only then did he begin considering the next question:

How was he going to leave this damned place?

Xuan Ming certainly had not given up outside, and the Witch Race's pursuit would only become more thorough. This side passage was not a place to remain for long. The earth-vein baleful energy was dense, and staying here too long would do his body no good—though his current body did not seem particularly afraid of it anymore.

He needed to find somewhere more concealed, more secure, preferably with some resources that could help him recover.

His consciousness sank into his sea of consciousness as he tried to communicate with the system—not to exchange anything, since points were precious and he would not have the strength to use anything he exchanged anyway, but only to scan.

"Scan... the surroundings... earth-vein structure... find a relatively stable... concealed space... with gentler energy..."

The command came in broken fragments.

[Scanning... High-density chaotic energy interference detected. Accuracy reduced...]

[Scan complete. Three possible paths discovered.]

[Path One: Continue downward toward the accumulated earth-fiend core. Danger level extremely high. Natural fiend spirits may be present.]

[Path Two: Head toward the upper left and circle around to another more active Earth Fire branch vein. Temperature extremely high. Some Earth Fire crystal remnants may be present, but the space is relatively open and easily detected.]

[Path Three: At the weak rock layer behind and to the right, excavate approximately fifteen zhang to reach a small natural stone chamber. Located in the gap between two major earth veins, its energy is relatively neutralized. The space is enclosed and offers the best concealment, but contains no resources.]

Taiyi barely hesitated.

"Path Three."

What he needed most right now was concealment and safety. Recovery could come slowly. Resources? With his current condition, he truly did not dare consume ordinary spiritual pills carelessly.

Having determined the direction, the next task was physical labor.

He looked at his mutated left arm, covered in dark-red cracks, stiff yet exceptionally sturdy. It was not much use for anything else now, but as a hammer for breaking stone or a shovel for digging dirt, it seemed... rather suitable?

Taiyi bared his teeth, unable to tell whether he was smiling or in pain.

Using his still-functional right hand to prop himself up, he dragged himself before the rock wall on the right side of the passage. The wall was rough and slightly cooler than its surroundings. It felt brittle to the touch.

He took a deep breath, raised that strange left arm, clenched his fist—though it was more like barely curling his fingers together—then poured the last scraps of strength in his entire body, along with that heavy force born from the mixture of earth-vein baleful energy and blood fiend power, into a fierce blow at a spot on the rock wall!

Boom!

Amid the muffled impact, shattered stone rained down. A numbing ache ran through his left arm from the recoil, but the bones did not break again. A shallow dent appeared in the rock wall.

This could work.

Taiyi's spirits lifted slightly. Not caring whether he looked pathetic or not, he used the most primitive method possible, throwing punch after punch toward the direction marked by the system and beginning his life as a "miner."

Thud... thud... thud...

The dull strikes echoed faintly through the depths of the earth veins.

Sweat mixed with blood and fluid seeping from fresh wounds dripped continuously. Every swing of his arm tugged at the injuries all over his body, bringing waves of piercing pain.

But his gaze remained steady. Though his movements were slow, they carried an unwavering determination.

Just like that Heaven-Opening Axe Imprint—once it had chosen a direction, it simply kept chopping forward.

One strike, then another.

Broken stones piled beneath his feet, while the dark rock layer ahead was gradually chiseled open.

The path toward temporary safety slowly extended beneath his battered yet unyielding blows.