Tianxuan Continent.
Flame City, a side room in the rear courtyard of the Myriad Gold Merchant Association.
Beside a bath strewn with flower petals stood a woman in a red gown, looking exceptionally poised and elegant.
She was undoing her clothes, leaving only her bellyband on as she stepped into the waist-high bath, her swaying movements showing off her magnificent figure.
Yet just as she closed her eyes and reclined against the edge to enjoy her bath, a rift suddenly opened in the air half a meter above her head. A figure plummeted out.
"Ah!!!"
Suddenly pinned beneath someone, the beautiful woman opened her eyes and screamed, hurriedly scrambling out of the bath.
"Manager Su, are you all right?"
Hearing the commotion, the maid outside rushed in. But at the sight of the flustered, unclothed Xuan Su, she blushed faintly and marveled inwardly, Wow, Manager Su's are so big and so pale. Why don't mine look like that...?
"There's..."
Xuan Su had meant to say there was someone there, but after calming down a little, she quietly shifted her body to block a certain spot behind her and stammered out a different explanation. "There's a... a little burrowing mouse. Yes, a little burrowing mouse got in while I was bathing."
Concerned for her reputation, Xuan Su ultimately lied. Feeling somewhat guilty, she quickly dismissed the maid after finding an excuse. "I'm fine now. You may leave."
"Yes."
The maid dared not ask any more questions. She answered respectfully and turned to leave, merely murmuring under her breath, "Strange. Manager Su is an expert at the lesser perfection stage of the Dan Realm. Why would she be frightened of a little mouse that burrows into holes? Could it have burrowed into her... Oh, A Zhen, A Zhen, why are your thoughts getting dirtier and dirtier...?"
As someone at the lesser perfection stage of the Dan Realm, how could Xuan Su fail to hear her maid A Zhen's murmuring? The beauty's face instantly flushed crimson.
A gentle breeze blew past, making her feel slightly chilly. Looking down, she could not see her toes, but she realized she was stark naked, and her delicate face flushed even deeper.
She instinctively started to run back into the bath, but when she saw the motionless man inside, she hurriedly covered her breasts and groin, then scurried off, blushing, to put on her clothes.
Only after quite a while did Xuan Su return to the bath. Looking at the man who had suddenly appeared, thrown her into utter disarray, and embarrassed her in front of someone else, she could not calm her turbulent emotions.
But seeing him covered in blood and unconscious, Xuan Su breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he's unconscious. He probably didn't see anything.
At that thought, her delicate face reddened again. Then she crouched down and carefully examined the man slumped against the edge of the bath.
His hair was silver-white, his eyes were tightly shut, and his body was drenched in blood... He was none other than Ling Feng, who had escaped through the Space-Time Gate.
After using Spirit Imbuement with Kakashi Hatake, he had grown stronger and his appearance had matured. His black hair had turned silver-white, making him look even more composed and handsome. Yet the blood covering him left him looking rather bedraggled.
"Who exactly is this man? Why did he suddenly appear here?"
Questions kept welling up in Xuan Su's mind. Yet as she studied Ling Feng closely, the corners of her red lips inexplicably lifted. "He's rather handsome. Having him take advantage of me doesn't seem quite so hard to accept."
As soon as that thought occurred to her, Xuan Su's blush deepened, and she chided herself bashfully, Xuan Su, Xuan Su, what on earth are you thinking? How could you have such thoughts...?
Her feminine reserve rebuked her, reminding her to remain cool and aloof at all times. But looking at the man before her-the first man ever to have skin-to-skin contact with her-she could not stop ripples from stirring in her heart.
Perhaps women always held a special attachment to their first time.
Shaking her head, Xuan Su stopped dwelling on it and reached out, using Origin Energy to examine Ling Feng. Before long, her delicate brows knitted, relaxed, then quickly knitted again.
"How strange. Every rib in his chest is broken, and all his internal organs are damaged. If it were me, I would already be on my last breath, with little time left to live. Yet he's only unconscious. He seems to be at death's door, but his vitality is actually flourishing. How strange..."
Withdrawing the hand she had used to examine him, Xuan Su looked at Ling Feng in amazement. She had sensed a force of vitality constantly sustaining him from within. Moreover, that vitality seemed to be growing steadily, repairing his injuries.
"What a strange man!"
Xuan Su stared at Ling Feng blankly for a long while before finally summing up her feelings in that single remark.
He came out of thin air, and I can't even see through his cultivation level. His background must be extraordinary. If I can befriend him, perhaps I can forge a favorable bond...
At that thought, Xuan Su's beautiful eyes flickered, and she immediately moved Ling Feng out in secret. Then she summoned a male servant at random.
"Manager Su."
"Clean him up, change his clothes, and then take him to my rear courtyard."
"Yes."
"You must not tell anyone about this. Understood?"
"Understood."
And so, Xuan Su secretly cared for Ling Feng. However, grievously wounded as he was, he remained unconscious.
Those days continued for a full six months.
One morning, Xuan Su came to Ling Feng's room as usual and sat at his bedside, using Origin Energy to examine his injuries.
Only after a good while did she withdraw her Origin Energy. Looking at Ling Feng, who lay in bed like someone in a vegetative state, she could not help muttering, "What a freak. Every rib in your chest was broken, yet they healed without medicine. Even the damage to your internal organs repaired itself. I really have no idea where a freak like you came from."
Half a year earlier, when she first examined Ling Feng's injuries, she had only noticed a force of vitality sustaining him from within. But when she was about to give him medicine to nourish and restore his body, she examined him again and discovered that his injuries were actually repairing themselves.
That made Xuan Su reluctant to give Ling Feng medicine without due care. What she had not expected, however, was that his internal injuries would heal without medicine as time passed. It left her increasingly convinced that Ling Feng truly was a monster.
What Xuan Su did not know was that this was the work of the Taotie bloodline within Ling Feng. When someone bearing the Taotie bloodline suffered a fatal injury, it would activate a state of restorative slumber.
Taotie devoured all things. Like Shennong tasting the hundred herbs, its bloodline had acquired special antibodies.
This extraordinary potential for restorative slumber was one of them.
Of course, if outside assistance had been provided and Ling Feng had been nourished with spirit herbs, he might have awakened long ago. Unfortunately, Xuan Su did not understand his constitution and dared not administer medicine rashly, which had also left him unconscious to this day.
"But this fellow has been asleep for over half a year. His injuries have clearly healed, so why is there still no sign of him waking up? I really don't know what's going on with this freak."
After caring for him for over half a year without any results even now, Xuan Su could not help voicing a complaint.
She did not linger any longer. There were still many matters at the merchant association that required her oversight.
Straightening her red skirt, Xuan Su rose and headed for the door. Yet she did not know that as she got up to leave, Ling Feng, who had lain motionless in bed for over half a year, suddenly gave a faint twitch of his sword-like brows and eyelids...