Peaceful days

"Help me awaken my memories?" A flicker of conflict crossed Zeng Mu's face.

That subtle change did not escape Ma Linya's eyes. "What? Don't you want to know your own name?"

"Of course I do." Zeng Mu closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Although the original owner of this body was already dead, he might still have left plenty of unfinished business behind, along with many people who cared about him.

At that thought, he remembered his parents and grandfather back in his own world. It was a bond of blood unaffected by timelines or dimensions.

They must be heartbroken now, right? I wonder what sort of coffin they prepared for me. No, falling into a river from a bridge that high was no different from hitting concrete. My body must have been smashed to pieces. At most, they'd have cremated me and put my ashes in an urn.

Of course he assumed they had learned of his death. After all, several days had already passed since he arrived here.

I really did die there, but here, I'm truly alive.

Zeng Mu opened his eyes. A glimmer of resolve flashed through his previously calm gaze, as a voice deep inside him declared, Death isn't reincarnation. Life is.

Since he had come here, he would live as a new person, fully alive in flesh and blood. He would live without regrets for the sake of those who cared about him. That was what he wanted.

"All right. What do I need to do?"

Ma Linya leaned over to inspect his bandages. Quite a bit of black blood had seeped through them.

"Don't rush. Before that, let me change your bandages and apply some fresh elemental herbs." She opened her medical bag and took out some bandages and a jar of elemental herbs she had prepared earlier.

Zeng Mu looked at the old herb jar and asked in a somewhat challenging tone, "What kind of herbs are these? Why are they so colorful? They won't have any side effects, will they?"

She lowered her voice and explained, sounding a little displeased, "These are elemental herbs, made by mixing Elemental Beast blood with medicinal herbs. Not only are they extremely effective, they also supply an injured person's body with large amounts of elemental energy. It's equivalent to drinking a mixture of Elemental Beast blood. For an ordinary person to get a taste of this, they'd either have to spend a fortune in Livre buying it from Fulin Taiyou merchants, or put in tremendous effort and risk their lives hunting dozens of different Elemental Beasts, then gather suitable herbs to make it themselves. Something this precious isn't something I'd readily bring out for anyone unless I liked them."

"So that's how it works."

"Changing the dressing will hurt a little, so bear with it. Try not to move. I'll be gentle," Ma Linya warned him.

"Go ahead."

As soon as he spoke, Ma Linya reached out and untied the bandages. With turns of her hands, the bloodstained strips peeled away coil by coil like snakeskin. A dozen seconds later, the blade wound lay exposed, deep enough to reveal bone.

Fortunately, a scab had formed and stopped the bleeding, and the bone had not shattered. Lowering his gaze as far as he could, Zeng Mu barely made out numerous fine black lines on the bone. He wondered whether they were the first traces of the bone knitting together.

"Most of the elemental herbs I applied earlier were absorbed by the wound, but some residue stuck to the bone. I need to remove it. Bear with the pain."

Only then did Zeng Mu realize those were not lines in the bone, but herbal residue stuck to it.

Ma Linya took two slender animal bones out of her bag. Resin held them together at one end, making them look like a pair of bone tweezers.

The Beast Tweezers were made from an Earth Element Mole's shinbones. The material was hard and had a natural disinfecting effect.

The slightly cold bone tweezers slowly touched Zeng Mu's collarbone. Under the precise control of Ma Linya's fingers, they picked off the herbal residue bit by bit.

Throughout the process, Zeng Mu clenched both hands into tight fists. His brows drew together, and his entire face twisted, but he forced himself not to make a single sound, even though he nearly cracked his teeth from clenching them.

Several agonizing minutes finally passed. Only after Ma Linya withdrew the Beast Tweezers did Zeng Mu, drenched in sweat, release a white breath of relief. "This wound really is torture," he sighed.

"Stop making wisecracks. Waking up so quickly after an injury like this already makes you luckier than most," Ma Linya said as she began applying the herbs.

Watching her profile, Zeng Mu relaxed his brows and narrowed his eyes slightly. "True. After all, it's hard to get an experience like this twice."

"I certainly hope you won't get hurt like this again." She clearly had not grasped what he meant.

After skillfully applying the herbs and bandaging his wound, Ma Linya walked over to the stove and picked up an extinguished piece of charcoal from its opening.

"Open your mouth."

"You're not going to make me eat that, are you?" Zeng Mu stared at the charcoal in her hand and gave a tiny shake of his head.

"You talk far too much." Ma Linya flicked her hand down onto a wound on his leg. Zeng Mu instinctively opened his mouth with a low moan of pain, and she took the opportunity to stuff the charcoal into it.

"Just hold it like that. Don't actually swallow it." Ma Linya took a firelighter from her waist and reached out to ignite one end of the charcoal.

Wisps of white smoke rose. Smelling the charcoal stuffed into his mouth and feeling his lips grow hot, Zeng Mu very much wanted to refuse this memory awakening. Before he could convey that with his eyes, however, a black silk scarf was gently laid over his face. The chill it gave off tempered the charcoal's heat.

Even so, the searing heat affected Zeng Mu's breathing. Thin smoke slipped down his throat into his lungs, leaving him breathless and dizzy. Even his hearing began to blur.

In that hazy state, he seemed to hear her saying faintly, "Close your eyes completely. Relax, relax. Forget everything for now. Sleep... sleep... enter your dreams and reflect what matters to you."

His eyes squeezed shut beyond his control. That familiar darkness returned, but this time it was even deeper and quieter, so terrifying that he could not be certain he existed.

Whispers drifted in from all around, fading in and out like a gentle autumn breeze, neither cold nor hot, comfortably cool and utterly relaxing.

Under their influence, Zeng Mu gradually closed his eyes within his subconscious, as though falling asleep once more.

This time, there were no images before his eyes, no light, and no darkness. All that remained was an indescribable void, as unfathomable and inexpressible as the first stirring of primordial chaos.

He could only feel that he had slept for a very, very long time. Then an urgent shout suddenly reached him. The voice was familiar, and his eyes flew open.

The darkness was gone. Fields of young grain surrounded him, beneath a sky as clear and crystalline as sapphire. A few faint cirrus clouds hung in it, seemingly shaped like human figures.

Before he could make out those shapes, however, heaven and earth began to shake violently. The fields tore apart, the sky collapsed, and darkness surged back. Then brilliant light overwhelmed all the darkness, engulfing him completely like an enormous sun.

"Cough, cough!" Zeng Mu opened his eyes and began coughing violently, like an old man on the verge of death.

More than half the charcoal was glowing red, almost touching his lips.

Looking alarmed, Ma Linya immediately pulled out the charcoal and removed the scarf. She leaned close, almost nose to nose with Zeng Mu as she examined him, then asked softly, "Nameless One, are you all right?"

Zeng Mu shook his head weakly. Straining his vocal cords with all his strength, he managed a faint reply. "I feel like I nearly died."

"I'm sorry. It was my fault. I forgot that someone with injuries to both body and mind like yours can't undergo this kind of memory awakening just after waking up. It can easily leave your still-exhausted subconscious unable to wake." Her voice caught a little as she spoke.

Seeing the remorse in her eyes, Zeng Mu nevertheless forced a slight smile. "I wouldn't dare blame you. What if you took the chance to get back at me?"

She broke into a lovely smile. "You smart-mouthed fool."

Seemingly noticing the unexplained flush on his face, Ma Linya stepped back to put some distance between them. Turning her head toward the glowing red stove, she asked, "What did your subconscious see just now?"

"A village, like a little village nestled at the foot of a great mountain. Young grain grew everywhere, and paths crisscrossed the fields. There were birds singing, fragrant flowers, and a sapphire-blue sky. You could really call it a paradise." His eyes half closed as he spoke, sounding enchanted.

"Then do you know where it is?" Ma Linya asked expectantly.

"No."

"What about your own name?"

"I don't know."

Disappointed, she rubbed her forehead and sighed softly. "Your subconscious sank so deep, yet you couldn't even remember your name. Well, this is the first time I've encountered a case like yours. Maybe it's because your injuries haven't healed yet. It looks like we'll have to try a few more times later."

Zeng Mu immediately refused. "No, no, no. I wouldn't dare try again. That feeling was too frightening."

Hearing that, Ma Linya did not try to persuade him. "All right. Memory awakening is only an aid anyway. The key is still your own memories piecing themselves back together. Maybe one day, after a good meal or a good night's sleep, you'll remember everything."

"How are things in Sand City? The Vikings and the Seven Kingdoms Coalition haven't attacked, have they?"

"Don't worry about that. With Lord Yetos here, he and the other Knight Commanders will naturally keep things under control. What matters most now is getting your injuries healed as quickly as possible. Otherwise, people will probably nag my ears off."

"Have a little quiet time to yourself. I'll go to the camp supply depot and get you a soft grass blanket." With that, Ma Linya turned and left the room.

Deep into the quiet night, many knights slept in their beds. Yet even after a battle to the death and an overnight march, they did not seem to sleep very deeply. Hardly any snoring could be heard, as though a single warning of an enemy attack would wake them at once.

Sand City was not as peaceful as it appeared. Many knights stood watch in the guard posts atop the walls above the city gates. Their eyes shone like the flames below as they scanned their surroundings with the vigilance of soaring eagles. No slightest disturbance could escape those resolute eyes.

Two days passed in that stillness that kept everyone constantly on edge. Over those two days, Yetos was surprisingly quiet. He issued no orders beyond instructing the Knight Commanders under him to strengthen the defenses and gather intelligence on the enemy.

The knights who had returned to Sand City earlier relaxed considerably during those two peaceful days, but their drills never stopped. As soon as they recovered from their injuries, they picked up their iron swords and joined the training ranks.

Apart from the outsiders, not a single Holy Temple knight in all of Sand City could rest in either body or mind.

Zeng Mu, meanwhile, could be called the only person enjoying those uneasy, peaceful days.

For him, those two days consisted of eating, sleeping, and spending time talking with Ma Linya.

Under her attentive care, his injuries healed rapidly. The Elemental Medicine, together with the trace of wood element energy Yetos had left earlier, shortened the recovery time for his bone-deep injury nearly tenfold.

That afternoon, Ma Linya removed the bandages, revealing the slightly pale skin beneath.

"Your injuries have finally healed. Come on, let's go outside and move around a little."

"Who would've thought an injury that serious could heal so quickly?"

His tone carried surprise, along with a faint sigh, as though he resented how his healing wounds had taken that fleeting time away with them.