If you die, you'll rot here, won't you?

Lin Yuan could not see Gu Yi's expression. He only felt that even after what he had said, Gu Yi did not appreciate it, and irritation welled up inside him.

Gu Yi reached out and patted his head. "Thanks, little immortal!"

Lin Yuan slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me! Letting you sleep inside didn't mean you could touch me whenever you wanted!"

Gu Yi kept smiling. "Just what I'd expect of Young Master Lin. What a temper!"

Gu Yi stood up. A blind man and an injured man made their way back, each supporting himself against the "wall" on his side.

The sight was rather funny.

Just then, Lin Yuan tilted his head slightly. "You know me?"

Gu Yi hurt all over. Every step felt like being sliced by a thousand blades. "Uh... Sect Master Lin of the Qingling Sword Sect's youngest grandson. Qi Refining at thirteen, Foundation Establishment at seventeen, exceptionally gifted. Who in the Cultivation Realm hasn't heard your name? I'm only an unaffiliated cultivator, but even I've heard plenty about you!"

Lin Yuan's expression did not change, but a trace of bitterness entered his voice. "I've been trapped in this damned place for three years. I didn't think anyone would still remember me..."

Gu Yi returned to his earlier spot and slowly sat down, watching Lin Yuan carefully feel his way along the "wall" and settle back into his own place.

Trapped alone in this cave for three years, and blind, too-how lonely must that have been?

He himself had spent three years alone, watching over the vast Illusory Demon Sect and doing missions. Without the system to support him, he probably would have broken down, yet this boy before him had managed to hold on alone until now.

"Lin Yuan, you..." Gu Yi wanted to ask who had harmed him, and why he had lost his sight.

"I don't need your sympathy. There may not be enough spiritual energy here, and cultivation may be slow, but I'll get out sooner or later. Once I do, I'll make everyone who harmed me pay!" As Lin Yuan spoke of revenge, his delicate face grew more animated.

Watching him, Gu Yi found his heart pounding wildly. As expected of a villain boss-to have such a mind at such a young age.

"It's not sympathy." Gu Yi considered his wording. "I wanted to ask who hurt you, and why."

Lin Yuan leaned back slightly, his tone icy. "Three years ago, someone ambushed me, blinded me, and pushed me off Heaven-Reaching Peak. Somehow, I didn't die. But I can't get through this barrier with my current cultivation. Unfortunately, the spiritual energy here isn't abundant. Even after cultivating for three years, I still haven't reached the Golden Core Stage."

Lin Yuan's voice grew calm, as though he were not the one who had been betrayed.

"If I weren't injured like this, I could help you. Unfortunately, I'm useless now." For some reason, Gu Yi actually felt a little regret over detonating himself.

"Who asked for your help? I can get out just fine without you!" Lin Yuan snorted.

Faced with this prickly little immortal, Gu Yi could only soften his voice as though coaxing a child. "Yes, yes. With your abilities, little immortal, you'll definitely break through this barrier and get out on your own."

Unexpectedly, Lin Yuan seemed even more displeased at that. "Nobody will think you're mute if you keep your mouth shut!"

It's the lack of spiritual energy here, not that I cultivate slowly!

Had Lin Yuan not been blind, he probably would have glared a hole through Gu Yi by now.

Gu Yi simply found the little immortal's temperament amusing.

The night wind was indeed rather cold. Although Gu Yi was dying, he still wanted to die comfortably. Freezing to death would be too painful, so he took a fox-fur cloak from his Qiankun Ring and draped it over himself, then looked up at the boy in his thin clothes.

After a moment's thought, he put the fox-fur cloak over Lin Yuan instead. "Here, take this."

Lin Yuan seemed startled by the sudden warmth. He seized Gu Yi's wrist, then shoved him hard to the ground. The fox-fur cloak slipped to the ground as well.

"I don't want it! Don't touch me!"

Gu Yi had not expected such a strong reaction. He was already weak. Although the pills had healed his external injuries, he still could not withstand that shove from Lin Yuan.

He lay on the ground catching his breath for quite a while before slowly getting up. "I'm a dying man. I can't take my things with me when I die. Once I'm dead, they'll all be yours."

"Who wants your things?" Despite his words, Lin Yuan's voice was no longer as cold as before.

But Gu Yi did not want to take them out right away. He wanted to wait until he was about to die.

Gu Yi belonged to a demonic sect, while Lin Yuan belonged to the righteous path. Having met someone who could accompany him on his final journey before he died, he did not want things to become so strained between them.

"Stay away from me..." Lin Yuan seemed unaccustomed to anyone treating him kindly, as though being alone was best.

Silence returned, neither of them speaking first.

Gu Yi did not insist, but neither did he retrieve the fox-fur cloak beside Lin Yuan's feet. Instead, he took another set of bedding from his Qiankun Ring and wrapped himself up like a silkworm pupa. He had no spiritual power to ward off the cold. Even under the quilt, his hands and feet were icy, and his lips turned pale.

They spent three days together in silence like this. Fortunately, both had already attained Bigu and needed neither food nor trips to the toilet, so staying like this was not too awkward.

During the day, Gu Yi went out to bask in the sun. At night, he returned and wrapped himself in the quilt to sleep.

On the fourth night, while regulating his breathing, Lin Yuan suddenly frowned.

He sensed that Gu Yi seemed to be in poor condition.

He had originally thought Gu Yi could live for at least another half month, but there was too little spiritual energy within this barrier, and it was cold and damp. Gu Yi's body would never last that long.

His presence was now extremely faint. Even his breathing had almost ceased.

Frowning, Lin Yuan felt his way over to Gu Yi and reached out to touch his forehead.

It was cold.

He felt down along his face to his neck and chest.

They were cold, too.

He's going to die...

When Lin Yuan realized this, for some reason, he felt a moment of fear.

Perhaps it was because he had spent too long alone within this barrier.

In three years, Gu Yi was the only "living thing" to have fallen in here.

Lin Yuan had been so lonely that he had almost forgotten how to speak. After Gu Yi arrived, he was like a pet Lin Yuan kept.

He could talk, move, make sounds, find his own spot to bask in the sun, and return to Lin Yuan's side to sleep.

On the surface, Lin Yuan appeared unruffled, but in truth, he had been sensing Gu Yi with his spiritual power all along, following his every movement: the sound of him chewing pills, his breathing as he slept, even when he took fresh clothes from his Qiankun Ring to change.

Perhaps because Gu Yi thought he could not see, he made no effort to avoid him.

At those moments, the corners of Lin Yuan's lips would always lift in secret.

Even though this pet had less than half a month to live, he still felt that heaven had prepared this person for him out of fear that he would be lonely.

But now, his pet was about to die.

Although he had long prepared himself for it, he inexplicably began to feel afraid.

"Gu Yi... don't sleep!"

Lin Yuan reached out and pressed his hand over Gu Yi's heart. The meridians there had long since dried up. How could there be even a trace of spiritual power left?

Unable to see, he could only lie against Gu Yi's chest and listen to his faint heartbeat.

Pale purple spiritual power flowed from his fingers into Gu Yi's body. "Gu Yi... wake up!"

Lin Yuan sensed that after receiving the spiritual power, Gu Yi's heartbeat had become much steadier. It was no longer so weak that it seemed it might stop at any moment.

He patted Gu Yi's cheek. "Gu Yi, Gu Yi?"

Lin Yuan's fingers brushed over his brows and eyes. His eyes were tightly closed, and he looked so peaceful that it seemed he might never wake again.

"Hey! Don't die! If you die, you'll rot here, won't you? What am I supposed to do then?" Lin Yuan gritted his teeth and pressed his forehead against Gu Yi's.

It was Lin Yuan's first time entering someone else's Sea of Consciousness.

Gu Yi's Sea of Consciousness was a vast expanse of white. His indistinct spiritual consciousness was curled up in a corner, hugging his legs and muttering something.