A Heng

His consciousness was like a thing sunk in a bottomless pool, drifting up at times and sinking down at others.

In the midst of that chaos, Xiao Yan seemed to see many scenes: the familiar courtyard of the Xiao Clan in Wutan City, the maple-leaf-strewn mountain forest at Jia Nan Academy, the Battle of the Two Emperors in the Central Plains that had torn heaven and earth apart, and, in that pitch-black passage, two delicate hands being pulled bit by bit from his grasp...

"Xun'er... Cai Lin..."

He murmured their names and tried to reach out and catch them, but the scene vanished in an instant, like smoke scattered by the wind.

He did not know how much time had passed before the bitter smell of medicine entered his nose.

The smell was unpleasant, even somewhat pungent, but that familiar scent made Xiao Yan's drifting consciousness suddenly stir. As though drawn by a silken thread, it slowly rose from the depths of the pool.

His eyelids trembled slightly, and then he struggled to open them a crack.

A low roof met his eyes. It was woven from some kind of dark yellow straw and had holes in places. A few rays of the setting sun slanted through them, casting bright patches of light inside the room, where fine dust drifted slowly through the air.

Xiao Yan's eyes shifted slightly as he looked around.

It was an extremely crude little hut. Apart from the wooden plank bed beneath him, it contained only a table with a missing leg propped up by a stone and some dried herbs piled in a corner. The bitter medicinal smell came from a clay pot set over a small earthen stove, now bubbling and steaming.

"Where... is this?"

Xiao Yan instinctively tried to sit up, but the moment he moved, a heart-rending agony surged through all his limbs and bones at once. His vision went black, and he nearly fainted again.

He clenched his teeth and gripped the edge of the bed with all ten fingers, cold sweat instantly covering his forehead. Only after a long while did he manage to force the agony down.

What a miserable state...

Xiao Yan gave a bitter laugh inwardly. It had been many years since he had allowed himself to be injured this badly. The last time he had been in such a sorry state was probably during his life-and-death battle with Hun Tiandi.

He tried to look within himself, and his heart sank sharply.

His meridians were a complete mess.

The meridians that had once been as broad and resilient as great rivers were now covered in fine cracks. Within them, two utterly different kinds of energy were still entwined, tearing at each other. One was the Dou Qi he had cultivated for decades; the other was the unfamiliar energy that had forcibly surged into his body as he fell.

That unfamiliar energy was pure and dense. It was now eating away at his Dou Qi bit by bit, like a silkworm devouring a mulberry leaf, slowly but steadily.

His Dou Qi resisted instinctively. Each act of resistance caused a small clash within his meridians, bringing a wave of unbearable pain.

This can't go on...

Xiao Yan frowned deeply. He could feel his strength slipping away bit by bit with each clash. As he was now, he probably did not possess even a tenth of the strength he had at his peak on the Dou Qi Continent.

He also tried calling out to Xiao Yi within his body, but the wisp of pink flame curled up deep within his heart meridian merely flickered faintly before falling still again. She was clearly still in a deep sleep.

Xiao Yan sighed inwardly. Then he suddenly remembered something and hastily clenched his hand.

The four cool jade tokens were still held tightly in his palm. Even while unconscious, he had not loosened his grip in the slightest.

He sent a faint thread of soul power into them. The four marks were still flickering faintly.

Only then did Xiao Yan's anxious heart settle once more.

"You're awake?"

Just then, a clear voice, tinged with a little timidity, suddenly came from the doorway.

Xiao Yan turned his head to see a young girl in coarse clothes standing beside the low wooden door. She looked about fourteen or fifteen. Her skin was somewhat dark from spending years roaming the mountains and wilds, but her features were delicate, especially her eyes, which were dark and bright, as clear as spring water in a mountain stream.

She still carried a bamboo basket full of herbs on her back and held a small herb hoe in her hand as she looked at him somewhat nervously.

Looking at the girl, Xiao Yan vaguely recalled the last scene before he lost consciousness: the figure poking him with a branch...

"Did you save me?" His voice was terribly hoarse, like two pieces of sandstone scraping together.

The girl nodded, then quickly shook her head. At a loss, she said, "I-I found you on the mountain, but Grandpa carried you back... Y-you fell from the sky and made a huge crater in the mountain behind the village. I thought you were dead..."

As she spoke, she seemed to remember something. She hurriedly put down the bamboo basket, ran to the earthen stove, and carefully poured the medicinal liquid from the clay pot into a coarse porcelain bowl. Then she carried it to the bedside and said, "Grandpa brewed this medicine. He said it could stop bleeding. You... why don't you drink some?"

Xiao Yan looked at the bowl of blackish medicine and sniffed lightly, identifying several of the herbs in it.

They were very ordinary herbs for stopping bleeding, with crude medicinal properties, and their combination was even somewhat haphazard. On the Dou Qi Continent, this medicine would not have come close to a tier-one pill, much less have any effect on his current injuries.

But Xiao Yan still reached out with a slightly trembling hand, took the bowl, and drank it in one gulp.

The bitter medicine slid down his throat, and a warmth welled up in his heart.

Throughout his life, he had received kindness from countless people and seen the cold stares of countless others. But no matter what circumstances he found himself in, he had always remembered one principle: a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.

"Thank you." Xiao Yan handed the empty bowl back to the girl and said softly, "May I ask your name?"

"My name is A Heng." The girl took the bowl, a little embarrassed by his solemn thanks. She scratched her head and said, "What about you? Where are you from? Why did you fall from the sky?"

"My name is Xiao Yan." Xiao Yan fell silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "As for where I'm from... you might not believe me if I told you. I came from a very, very faraway place."

"How far away?" A Heng tilted her head. "Farther than Luo Shen City?"

"Luo Shen City?" Xiao Yan's heart stirred slightly. That should be the enormous city built along a river that he had seen before losing consciousness.

"Yes, that big city over there." A Heng pointed out the window, longing in her eyes. "That's the Luo God Clan's city. It's really big. Grandpa says it takes a whole ten days to walk from the east side to the west. This is Bluestone Village, outside Luo Shen City. The Luo God Clan is the strongest in our Western Heaven Continent."

The Western Heaven Continent, the Luo God Clan, Luo Shen City...

Xiao Yan committed each of these unfamiliar names to memory. It took a full ten days to walk from one side of the city to the other. A city of such scale was practically unheard of on the Dou Qi Continent. Even Sacred Pill City in the Pill Region, the most prosperous part of the Central Plains, was probably much smaller by comparison.

Then he looked at A Heng and asked, "What is this world called?"

A Heng was taken aback by his question, apparently finding it a little strange. She thought for a long while before saying uncertainly, "The world... is just the world. Grandpa says the place we live in is called the Great Thousand World."

"The Great Thousand World..."

Xiao Yan murmured the words, and the boundless, expansive world he had seen from high in the sky appeared in his mind once more.

The Great Thousand World. What a grand name.

But given the vastness of that world, it did seem worthy of the name.

As Xiao Yan was marveling inwardly, footsteps sounded outside the door. An old man with graying hair and a slightly hunched back walked in, carrying a freshly slaughtered wild rabbit. When he saw that Xiao Yan was awake, a simple smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

"You're awake, young man? Good, good." The old man put the rabbit on the table and wiped his hands on the front of his clothes. "You were out for three whole days. A Heng kept watch over you every day. I was worried you wouldn't wake up."

Three days...

Xiao Yan's heart tightened. He had already wasted three whole days.

But he also knew that in his current condition, even if he rushed out now, he could not possibly find Xun'er and the others. In this vast, unfamiliar world, even protecting himself would be a problem.

"I will remember the kindness you showed in saving my life, sir." Xiao Yan struggled to get up and pay his respects, but the old man quickly held him down.

"None of that, none of that. You're badly hurt, so lie down." The old man waved a hand and smiled good-naturedly. "We mountain folk couldn't just leave you there when we found you. Besides, a big fellow like you fell from the sky and didn't die. That means you've got a tough life; even the heavens won't take you."

Xiao Yan could not help smiling at that. The old man's words were simple and plain, but they eased the heart that had been taut with separation and serious injury.

Yet no sooner had his smile appeared than the two entwined kinds of energy in his meridians clashed fiercely again. A burst of agony shot straight to his head, turning his face pale, and he could not stop himself from spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"Brother Xiao!" A Heng cried out in alarm.

Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and waved a hand to show he was all right, but his heart was heavy.

He knew that if he did not find a way to resolve the problem in his body soon, there would be no need for anyone else to lift a hand. Those two kinds of energy would probably wear him to death.