By the time all this was done, it had quietly slipped into the dead of night.
The darkness was thick and impenetrable, yet Kelin Xiaoman seemed not to feel tired at all. Sitting cross-legged, she concentrated fully on gathering and replenishing the nearly exhausted magical power within her. She had only one thought: Only by recovering enough mana as quickly as possible can I immediately cast Water Element healing magic on the gravely wounded Shiheng, ease his intense pain, and mend his wounds little by little.
And so the cycle repeated, over and over: whenever her mana recovered even slightly, she unhesitatingly turned it into a warm, gentle glow of water element energy and poured it steadily into Shiheng's wounds. As soon as one round of healing ended, she plunged straight into another long, grueling round of meditation.
Shiheng quietly watched the girl before him. She was petite and looked frail and harmless, yet her almost stubborn earnestness revealed a resilience that made his heart ache. Beneath that youthful face lay a will that would never give up, no matter how hard things became.
Unable to contain the gratitude surging in his heart any longer, he spoke softly. "Thank you, Xiaoman. I'm much better now. I really am all right. Go and get some rest. Don't wear yourself out."
Xiaoman abruptly lifted her head, fixing her star-bright eyes on him, her tone stubborn and brooking no argument. "I won't! And you're not allowed to thank me!"
She pressed her lips together slightly, her voice quiet but utterly earnest. "If you hadn't thrown yourself in front of me without a thought for anything else, I would have been the one struck by that velociraptor's deadly tail sweep. I would already be dead. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
As her words faded, that stubbornness still lingered between her brows, but days of exhaustion had already crept onto her face, and the weariness in her eyes was almost spilling over. Even so, she gritted her teeth, steadied her mind, and did everything she could to draw in the scant traces of magic in the air, replenishing her nearly depleted mana little by little.
Watching her force herself to keep going when she was clearly on the verge of collapse, Shiheng felt as though something had gently squeezed his heart, leaving it aching and warm. He opened his mouth to try persuading her again, but when he met Xiaoman's stubbornly bright eyes, he swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
In the stillness of the cave late at night, only their soft breathing and the faint, rippling murmur of flowing magic remained. Xiaoman sat cross-legged, her slender figure trembling slightly in the dimness. Every meditation, every healing spell seemed to overdraw what little strength she had left. Yet her eyes remained bright, like sparks that refused to go out in the darkness.
This sleepless cycle of healing and cultivation continued until a faint pale light appeared along the horizon as dawn approached. Xiaoman sensed that Shiheng's external wounds had improved considerably, and she also knew that the remaining damage inside his body was beyond what simple healing magic could quickly repair. With Shiheng persistently urging her, she could no longer withstand the exhaustion sweeping through her entire body. Finally reassured, she slowly closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
As for Shiheng, he had already been gravely injured after the previous two days and one night of intense fighting, then forced himself to watch over Xiaoman for another entire night. Once his mind relaxed completely, exhaustion swept through his body in an instant, and he too fell into a deep sleep.
The night remained dark, but within that narrow, dim cave lay something brighter than starlight and warmer than flame. It was the light of two people illuminating and protecting each other in the midst of desperation.
They slept especially deeply, only slowly waking once night had fully fallen the following day. The perilous battles and desperate efforts to heal over the past several days had drained all their strength, and that utter exhaustion made their sleep exceptionally peaceful.
Kelin Xiaoman woke first. In truth, given how exhausted she was, she could have slept for much longer, but the hunger churning in her stomach grew increasingly intense and forcibly dragged her out of her deep sleep. With no other choice, Xiaoman got up as quietly as she could, intending to light a campfire inside the cave and roast pieces of meat from the level-seven Swift Raptor they had killed earlier to fill her stomach.
She kept her movements extremely light, afraid of disturbing Shiheng, who was still sleeping soundly beside her. But Shiheng possessed considerable strength as a martial artist, and even as he emerged from deep sleep, his senses remained keen. Those tiny sounds ultimately did not escape his notice. Before long, Shiheng slowly opened his eyes and fully shook off his heavy sleep. He got up and walked over to Xiaoman, helping her tend the fire and prepare the raptor meat, joining her in roasting it.
It had to be said that this level-seven Swift Raptor had spent years bathed in the abundant spiritual energy of heaven and earth, its body continually nourished and tempered by that energy, giving its meat a texture beyond imagination. Its muscles were firm and springy, their fibers brimming with vitality. The meat was extraordinarily flavorful, tender, smooth, and juicy, far more delicious than ordinary meat in the mundane world, and far beyond anything ordinary livestock on Earth could compare with.
There were no seasonings of any kind in the cave, yet simply roasting the meat slowly over charcoal gradually gave it a rich, seared fragrance. The intense aroma of meat spread through the cramped cave, drifting into their nostrils in delicate strands. The smell alone was enough to make their mouths water and fill them with an irresistible appetite.
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