Chaotic Wind's Might, Perilous Situations

The moment the shield cracked with a fine line, I immediately turned my back to the direction of the wind. Crossing my arms, I held the spirit beast tightly in my embrace. It was light, trembling slightly against my chest. I could feel its heartbeat, thudding rapidly but still beating.

The wind slammed into me from all directions.

Each impact felt like being hit with a hammer on my back. Golden light flickered, and the shield emitted a low hum. I gritted my teeth, daring not to loosen my grip. When that bolt of purplish-black lightning struck down earlier, I had already tasted blood. Now my throat felt searingly dry, and every breath felt like swallowing sand.

"Don't move," I whispered, my lips brushing its ear. The sound couldn't possibly get through, but I said it anyway. It seemed to hear me; its struggling stopped for a moment, and it burrowed its head further into my arms.

I closed my eyes, refusing to look at the flying debris and broken branches. The tremors in my sea of consciousness grew stronger. The System's notification bar displayed only one line of text, flashing intermittently: "Protective mechanism activated, energy circulation establishing."

Three breaths passed, but the shield hadn't stabilized.

I mobilized the remaining spiritual power in my Dantian, setting up buffers at several key points in my meridians. This would consume more energy, but it would hold out a little longer. The sound of the wind overhead suddenly changed pitch, like something was tearing through the air. I snapped my eyes open; a dark stream of energy was swirling in from the side, slicing towards the edge of the shield like a blade.

The golden light shook violently.

The crack widened a little more.

I turned my head, letting my shoulder take the brunt of the impact. An old injury in my right shoulder flared with sudden pain, and my entire arm went numb. Fortunately, I didn't lose strength. The shield was still holding, though dimmer, but not broken.

The spirit beast's breathing grew weaker.

I lifted it up slightly, bringing it closer to my face. White mist puffed from its nostrils, instantly dispersed by the wind. Its body temperature was lower than before, its fur already coated with a thin layer of frost. It wouldn't last like this.

I unfastened the front of my Daoist Robe and pressed it directly against my chest. The moment our skin touched, it flinched and let out a faint whimper. Ignoring the cold, I wrapped it in my clothes, leaving only its head exposed.

The chill immediately crept up my spine.

My limbs began to stiffen, my fingers no longer obeying me. I tried to move my thumb; it could still manage a slight movement. The shield's energy distribution was uneven, with the greatest pressure on my back, where the golden light had already turned a deep yellow. I focused my spiritual sense, sending a thread of spiritual power to that spot. The light membrane trembled, and its color brightened slightly.

The wind direction suddenly shifted.

The entire storm began to rotate and accelerate. We were flung into a new trajectory, our bodies tilting as we surged forward. I used this momentum to relax one arm, making my posture smoother. The head-on impacts lessened, and the pressure on the shield decreased slightly.

Southeast.

I remembered the spirit beast had moved in that direction before. There had been a red light on the horizon then. Now, nothing was visible but swirling gray-black energy. Still, I turned my head, trying to see if I could spot anything again.

The System interface materialized in my sea of consciousness.

The Q&A panel was grayed out, unusable. A small icon in the corner was flashing—it was the Calming Pill. The reward I received after correctly answering Pangu's question in the second chapter, which I hadn't used. Now it had lit up on its own.

I immediately willed it to activate.

A phantom image of the pill appeared, and a warm, gentle aura spread out. The mental pressure eased slightly, and my mind cleared. I seized this opportunity, re-locking onto the shield's weak points and reinforcing them bit by bit with my remaining spiritual power.

The temperature continued to drop.

The clothes stuck to my body, stiff as iron plates. My toes were completely numb, and below my calves felt like they didn't belong to me. I looked down at the spirit beast; its eyes were half-closed, its breathing almost imperceptible.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I channeled the last bit of warmth within me to my chest, then slowly transferred it into the spirit beast. This was the Breath Transfer Technique from the Basic Breathing Technique, originally used to help stabilize someone's Heart Meridian. Now, I could only hope it would work.

After a few seconds, the tip of its tail twitched slightly.

I sent another wisp of warmth. This time, its leg pushed off, and its head nuzzled against my neck. It was still alive; its consciousness had returned.

Just then, the entire storm gave a violent shudder.

It wasn't the wind. It was something deeper. Like the earth shaking beneath us, or some rule being triggered. The shield's golden light suddenly contracted, then expanded outwards by a circle, as if responding to something.

I stared into my sea of consciousness.

The System notification updated with two words: "Resonance."

What was resonating?

I didn't have time to think. The wind pressure intensified again, and several large rocks surged up from below, slamming into the shield. The golden light fluctuated wildly, and a sharp pain shot through my back. I let out a muffled groan, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth again.

This time, I didn't swallow it.

The blood was directly blown away by the wind, forming a red streak that vanished into the swirling energy.

The spirit beast sensed the abnormality and suddenly looked up at me. Its eyes opened, its pupils narrowing to slits. It licked the bloodstain on my chin with its tongue, then bit down hard on the corner of my clothes, as if afraid I would let go.

I knew what it was worried about.

I was scared too.

Afraid I wouldn't last until the end.

But I had promised it I wouldn't let go.

Was the stone platform in the valley still operating? I still remembered how the sunlight had shone on the moss that morning. The sound of the stream, the rustling of vines in the wind, and the feeling of it rubbing against my palm for the first time.

These things had happened.

They weren't a dream.

So I couldn't fall.

I took a deep breath, pushing all the memories deep into my heart. Those images became embers, slowly burning through my nearly frozen bones. I straightened my back again, holding the spirit beast even tighter.

The shield cracked again.

This time on my left shoulder.

I channeled my last controllable trace of spiritual power to patch it up. The light membrane flickered twice, barely holding steady. The System notification continued to flash: "Energy circulation in progress, completion 67%."

Not fast enough.

The wind grew more ferocious. We were being pushed higher and higher. My vision was filled with swirling gray-black currents, occasionally illuminated by flashes of lightning that revealed the twisted terrain in the distance. The wasteland was still below, but it was getting farther away.

The southeast direction suddenly lit up.

It wasn't red light. It was silver-white, flashing and disappearing in an instant.

The spirit beast's ears twitched. It struggled to lift its head, looking in that direction. I turned my head to look as well. In that very moment, a new current cut across horizontally, hitting the side of the shield like a wall.

I was flipped and sent tumbling.

I clung to it desperately, my back slamming heavily against a flying rock. The shield let out a piercing screech, its golden light dimming significantly. My left arm went completely numb, and I could only weakly grip its scruff with my right hand.

"Hold on," I said.

It looked at me.

Its eyes were no longer as unfocused as before. It lifted its front hoof and gently touched my wrist. Then it rested its head back, pressing against my chest.

The wind still howled.

More and more cracks appeared on the shield, its light growing weaker. The System notification finally jumped to "99%". Just a little more.

My teeth were chattering uncontrollably, my lips were cracked, and speaking was difficult. But I kept counting. Every time I withstood an impact, it counted as a step forward.

Ten times.

Twenty times.

On what I don't know how many impact, the silver light in the southeast flashed again. This time it was brighter, and it lasted a little longer. It was as if something was about to emerge.

The spirit beast's entire body tensed suddenly.

It stared in that direction, its horns glowing faintly. The rune on its forehead began to flicker, its frequency matching the fluctuations of the shield.

I froze for a moment.

Were they responding to each other?

Before I could figure it out, the center of the entire storm suddenly collapsed for an instant. All the currents converged inward, then violently exploded outward. The shield let out a final hum, and the golden light suddenly expanded, enveloping us completely.

In my sea of consciousness, the System notification jumped to "100%".

Protective mechanism complete.

I let out half a breath, just about to adjust my posture, when I realized the wind had stopped.

It hadn't weakened.

It had truly stopped.

Everything above, below, left, and right fell silent. Flying rocks hung in mid-air, broken branches froze mid-fall. Even the shield's glow had solidified.

Only the spirit beast was still moving.

It lifted its head, its horns pointing directly towards the southeast. There, a silver-white figure was rising from the horizon.