I don't know how much time passed. At last, amid the endless darkness, Li Su sensed a glimmer of light, and his consciousness began to stir.
Hiss!
The moment he woke, he sucked in a sharp breath. Li Su's little face turned green.
It hurt!
"Master Tianming, the little monk is awake!"
"Junior Brother! Junior Brother!"
Then came a cacophony of voices.
He barely managed to open his eyes, only to see Xuanci and the others keeping watch beside his bed.
But he'd survived.
Drawing a breath, Li Su tried to sit up. The moment he moved, the pain throughout his body grew even more intense. It felt as though steel needles were piercing every nerve. The strength he'd gathered instantly fell apart.
Damn...
Why did it hurt so much???
He still remembered the fight. He'd definitely gone a little too hard, but all he'd done was clash hands with his opponent. Why did his entire body hurt now that it was over?
"Don't move."
Tianming walked over as he spoke.
"Even if you managed to defend yourself, you were facing a genuine second-rate expert. No matter how powerful the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art is, you've only mastered its first stage. His attacks still entered your body through repeated impacts. This time was extremely dangerous. If things had gone just a little worse, he wouldn't have been the one to die—you would have."
Li Su wasn't surprised. In fact, he'd already drawn blood from the first slash. Thankfully, the man wielding the blade hadn't been very skilled; it had only broken the skin.
When he faced the second man, Li Su might have seemed to be trading blows head-on, but his attacks had all been lateral. He hadn't met the blade directly; he'd knocked it aside. Even so, his hands had still taken a terrible beating...
All at once, Li Su began to convulse. Ignoring the pain, he lurched upright and shoved Xuanci aside. The next moment, he began vomiting.
Ughhh~~~!
It was awful. He was in so much pain, but he couldn't stop himself.
He'd killed someone. Yes, he'd killed someone.
At first, he'd been so focused on staying alive, so unwilling to die, that he'd ignored everything else. But now that he'd come back to his senses, how could he possibly hold it in?
He vomited until the world seemed to spin, until the sun and moon vanished.
Even though he knew this was only a World Fragment, and the people in it weren't real—no different from NPCs in a game—the crushed skulls, the blades that had pierced through bodies, the splattering blood—all of it told him unmistakably that he'd killed people.
How did those people who crossed into another world and started killing everyone manage it?
After he'd finished vomiting, he lay there for a long while. He'd brought up little more than water; his stomach had been empty for ages, and he had nothing left to throw up. With his body in such agony, Li Su lay back and panted without pause.
Looking at Xuankong, Tianming's face showed both heartache and relief.
The heartache came from the state Xuankong was in. It was a burden no teenager should have to bear.
The relief came from the fact that, although Xuankong had killed someone, he wasn't numb to it. That was a good thing. No one with a healthy sense of right and wrong could be indifferent to killing, or to the dead.
Tianming spoke gently. "Xuankong, focus on cultivating in peace. Once your true qi recovers, the pain throughout your body will gradually fade."
After a while, Li Su calmed down. The pain was so intense that even his nausea had been overwhelmed. He couldn't help turning his gaze toward Tianming.
Pain throughout his body? What did that mean?
"Even the first stage of the Diamond Indestructible Body can withstand a direct blade strike without being damaged. There are two reasons for that. First, astral energy envelops the body. Second, the force is distributed evenly."
Tianming explained, "When an attack hits you, its force is spread across your entire body. In other words, even though it looks as if only one spot takes the blow, no matter where you're struck, the force is distributed throughout your whole body. That's why the Diamond Body Protection Divine Skill becomes so powerful once mastered. Even a second-rate expert using an ordinary weapon will have trouble cutting through it."
Well, feeling pain even along the inside of his little toes, Li Su finally understood why his whole body hurt—and why even the places that hadn't been struck by his opponent were aching.
But damn, no wonder it was called a divine art. Every blow was spread across the entire body by its qi? No wonder the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art was so outrageous.
If he advanced to the next stage, wouldn't that mean his entire body would be as tough as his fists?
And if he combined it with sixty years' worth of inner force, what would anyone be able to do against him?
Fortunately, he was the one who'd learned this technique. If he ever had to face someone with it, that really would give him a stomachache.
Tianming stood up and lifted Xuanci by the collar. "All right, you lot, get out and let Xuankong rest."
The others soon filed out.
Xuanci, still being carried by Tianming, turned at the doorway and grinned broadly. "Xuankong, next time I won't leave you to handle something like that alone."
Li Su heard him and the corners of his mouth twitched. Is that so? Then I'll be watching.
As the door closed, he slowly shut his eyes. His whole body was in agony, but he was alive, and his master looked fairly relaxed. They must have reached Weizhou, which meant they were at least out of immediate danger.
First, he'd recover his true qi. Then he'd figure out how to deal with the pain all over his body.
And that wasn't all. He had to hurry up and master the second stage of the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art.
This incident had truly made Li Su's scalp crawl and his hair stand on end.
He'd come so close. Really, just a little closer.
If Master Tianming had drunk that bowl of water, Li Su would have been done for.
In a World Fragment, getting killed meant really dying. It wasn't a joke.
Cultivate, cultivate.
Li Su soon sank into meditation, silently circulating his qi.
Get stronger. Get stronger fast.
He stopped even thinking about spending decades in some remote mountain forest to gain sixty years' worth of inner force before strolling out with ease. There was no chance of that now. Maybe in his next life...
Strength—overwhelming strength—was the greatest capital for surviving inside a World Fragment.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Hoo~!
The sound of breathing...
A faint fragrance brushed against Li Su's cheek, soothing him completely. How could he describe the scent? Like musk, it unfurled at the tip of his nose like a tiny cloud. With every breath, it cooled his mind.
Some kind of medicine? Li Su wondered.
But when he felt the steady breath falling on his face, as if someone were breathing right beside him, his expression stiffened. He slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a pair of big eyes, lively and mischievous. Joy mingled with a hint of displeasure in them. Then came a face shaped like a melon seed, unforgettable at a glance. It was still a little chubby, more cute than coquettish.
He hardly needed to ask who she was.
The Mystic Maiden of Shangqing, Ming Yulong.
Of course, that wasn't the point. The point was how close her nose was to his.
How close was she?
If Li Su turned his head, his nose would probably touch hers—not just the tips.
So close, so close, so close!
Li Su hurriedly leaned back in a tactical retreat, only to grimace as pain immediately shot through him. But he didn't dare stop. He stared at the girl before him, thoroughly rattled.
What was going on?
He could understand this happening in the Tang Dynasty, but in the Song Dynasty, shouldn't a young woman like her be more reserved?
No, that cursed Zhu Xi era hadn't arrived yet... Women in the Song Dynasty should have been much like those in the Tang Dynasty. But even so, what was with this girl? She was far too forward. Even among modern women, she'd be a rare specimen, wouldn't she?
"Jiejie!"
The girl laughed brightly and cheerfully. "Little monk, once you're better, let's go out and have some fun together!"
Li Su's eyes widened. Was she asking him out?
A monk?