At the bottom of the volcanic hollow.
The glow of the restrictions flowed slowly like water, separating inside from outside into two worlds.
Morning light slipped through cracks in the rock, turning into slanting shafts that cast mottled patterns through the air.
You Ji slowly opened her eyes.
At first, her pale gray eyes were blank, reflecting the rough texture of the rock overhead.
Then memories surged back like a tide—the explosion of the Earthfire Furnace, Du Yu's roar, the deaths of Fire Rock and Mu Tu, her own desperate flight, and the pursuit of that Nascent Soul Middle Stage barbarian cultivator.
Pain.
Agony coursed through every limb and bone. Her meridians felt as though they had been torn apart, her Dantian was hollow, and her Nascent Soul had withered until she could barely sense it.
Most frightening was the weakness deep within her Divine Soul, like a candle guttering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
But then a gentle, enduring force came from behind her. It flowed into her meridians like spring water, nourishing the damaged places, steadying her crumbling Dantian, and nurturing her Nascent Soul on the verge of collapse.
The force was unfamiliar, yet instinctively, it made her feel safe.
You Ji turned her neck with difficulty, her vision gradually coming into focus.
A black robe, with dark-gold cloud patterns embroidered on its wide cuffs.
Higher up was a young, handsome face touched with a certain hardness.
Swordlike brows swept toward his temples. His nose was straight, his thin lips pressed together, and the line of his jaw was sharp as if carved by a blade.
It was him!
Xu Beimu—the man who had single-handedly slain elders Mu Tu and Fire Rock in the Earthfire Furnace, gravely wounded Du Yu, seized the Five-Element