Darkness, nothingness, endless falling and tearing.
Han Li's consciousness sank into the shattered gaps between space and time. Only a faint warmth from the Profound Yin Token clenched in his palm protected the last spark of life in his heart meridians. He did not know how long had passed-perhaps an instant, perhaps an eternity-before the violent spatial turbulence finally began to subside.
Splash!
Bone-chilling seawater swallowed him in an instant, its salty tang flooding his nose. The violent impact jolted him awake in agony, and he broke the surface, coughing and choking. Before him lay an unfamiliar stretch of sea. Lead-gray clouds hung low overhead, fine rain drifted down, and visibility was poor. Enduring the searing pain of meridians that felt ready to burst and the exhaustion of his spiritual sense, he forced himself to look around. Across the boundless sea, no land was in sight. Only a few jagged black reefs appeared and vanished amid the waves.
"Where... am I?" Han Li's heart sank. The Profound Yin Token's teleportation had brought him out of the Profound Water True Hall, but it had also carried him completely beyond the southwestern waters of the Chaotic Star Sea that he knew. He tried to get his bearings, only to find the magnetic field here in chaos. Even the positions of the stars were difficult to discern.
His injuries were frighteningly severe. Although he had expelled most of Lei Wanhe's sword qi, his meridians were badly damaged. The golden core in his dantian was dull and covered in fine cracks, and less than a tenth of his magical power remained. Worse still, forcibly activating the teleportation array had nearly exhausted his divine soul's strength. His head now felt ready to split, and his vision blurred.
*I have to treat my injuries and find