Time lost its meaning amidst pain and confusion.
Lin Yu's consciousness fluctuated between clarity and confusion.
He rested and recuperated against an unnamed tombstone.
Most of the time, he was immersed in instinctive healing, relying on the "Primordial Unity Ki Technique" and that strange power to repair his broken meridians and injured internal organs little by little.
In his occasional moments of lucidity, he could hear Zhao Yan's heavy breathing.
Every now and then, Zhao Yan would take out some unknown pills from somewhere and pour them into his mouth.
It was thanks to these things that he was able to barely survive.
However, Zhao Yan's condition did not improve; even with those elixirs, his injuries did not heal.
The injury even appears to be worsening due to a lack of effective treatment and rest.
But his obsessive ruthlessness sustained him, like an inextinguishable will-o'-the-wisp in the darkness.
Despite his injuries, he had been cultivating in this abandoned mass grave.
The people from the Golden Bull Martial Arts School haven't come after us yet.
Perhaps they also disliked this place, feeling it was unlucky, and didn't follow.
Having witnessed the power of those from the Upper Realm, Jin Potian became increasingly fearless.
Faced with absolute power, even if Lin Yu and the others recovered from their injuries, Jin Potian didn't believe they could cause any trouble.
However, this desolate place doesn't seem to be very safe either.
Perhaps it's because too many people died in the past.
More than once, during his brief moments of lucidity, Lin Yu sensed many malicious eyes watching him from the vicinity.
It was as if countless unseen things were wandering in the darkness.
Zhao Yan seemed completely unconcerned about this, or rather, he no longer had the energy to care. He simply relied on instinct and a surge of ferocity to suppress those invisible threats.
I don't know if it's the umpteenth day or night.
Zhao Yan realized that he was slowly losing his ability to threaten those lurking in the shadows.
Those things seem to have gradually become less afraid of him, and they are appearing more and more frequently.
He dragged Lin Yu away from the center and into a natural cave hidden behind vines.
Here, I can temporarily escape their gazes.
The cave was small, but unusually cold and damp, with water droplets condensing on the cave walls.
Most notably, deep within the cave, near the cave wall, there is a pool of water about two or three zhang in diameter.
The water in the pool was crystal clear, and even in the dim light, the texture of the rocks several feet below the surface could be seen at a glance.
But further down, the light was swallowed by the deep darkness, and the pool seemed bottomless, exuding a chilling aura.
Zhao Yan practically rolled to the edge of the pool.
He tossed Lin Yu aside, then lay down by the pool, greedily burying his head in the water and gulping it down.
He couldn't remember the last time he had drunk clean water; his lips were cracked like parched earth, and his throat felt like it was on fire.
Whether the water is stagnant or has been used to soak corpses, who cares at a time like this?
Being alive is more important than anything else.
The cool pool water, as it entered my throat, brought a brief moment of clarity and comfort.
Zhao Yan drank to his heart's content before raising his head, wiping the water from his face, and exhaling a long breath of foul air tinged with the smell of blood.
He looked down at himself, which was already covered in blood, mud, and all sorts of filth, his wounds struggling on the verge of rotting and emitting a foul odor.
He frowned, but without hesitation, he used his still somewhat mobile arm to support himself and carefully slid into the pool.
The pool was deeper and colder than he had imagined, as if it could freeze one's very bones.
Zhao Yan shivered, but he endured it, scooped up water with his hands, and began to wash the shocking wounds on his body.
The icy water stung his wound, causing excruciating pain, but he just gritted his teeth and remained silent.
After washing for a while, he tried to stand up straight, but his foot suddenly slipped.
The pool walls were covered with moss, and there seemed to be an undercurrent flowing deeper inside.
A powerful suction force came from the depths of the pool, as if an invisible hand was pulling at his ankles, trying to drag him into the bottomless abyss.
Zhao Yan was startled. Already severely injured and weak, he was now even more unable to resist the power of this undercurrent.
He struggled to grab onto a protruding rock on the shore, barely managing to steady himself, his heart pounding wildly.
The already open wound bled slightly from the violent struggle.
It dyed the pool red.
He dared not venture deeper, nor linger any longer. He hastily scrambled back to the shore, collapsing to the ground, panting heavily, a lingering fear in his eyes.
"Damn it... this godforsaken place," he muttered under his breath, glancing back at the pool that had returned to its calm state.
The pool, which had been stained red with blood, slowly returned to its clear state.
Zhao Yan's expression turned serious; this pool of water was definitely not simple.
He turned to look at Lin Yu, who was still unconscious but whose breathing seemed slightly more stable than before, and hesitated for a moment.
He used a soaked rag to dip some water from the pool and squeezed it into Lin Yu's mouth.
Having done all this, he was almost completely exhausted. He leaned against the cave wall, closed his eyes, and began to painstakingly circulate the "Sunflower Manual."
He tried to recover a sliver of his Internal Force while remaining vigilant about the potential dangers outside the cave and in the deep pool.
The cave was deathly silent, save for Zhao Yan's faint breathing and the occasional dripping of water.
The clear yet unfathomable pool of water seemed like an eye in the cave, silently watching the two uninvited guests who had intruded.
Zhao Yan's eyelids felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, his consciousness twitching between lucidity and drowsiness, only his scarlet eyes still retaining a trace of vigilance.
After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard a faint noise beside him.
Zhao Yan opened his eyes with difficulty and, by the faint reflection of the pool, saw Lin Yu's fingers move.
The boy's eyelashes trembled, and he slowly lifted his eyelids, revealing a bright glint in his eyes that had been dull.
He looked around blankly for a moment, then felt a dryness in his throat, subconsciously licked his lips, and his gaze fell on the pool of water not far away.
"Woke up?"
Zhao Yan's voice was so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable, like two stones rubbing together. "His life is as tough as a turtle's."
Lin Yu did not respond. After several days of meditation, the "Primordial Unity Ki Technique" within his body was circulating more smoothly than before.
With the help of the cultivation technique, those broken meridians showed faint signs of healing.
He braced himself against the ground, trying to sit up, but the movement aggravated the injury in his chest, causing him to wince in pain.
Zhao Yan glanced at him, unusually refraining from mockery, and simply pointed to the pool. "That water is drinkable, I've tried it. Just be careful of the undercurrents in the deeper parts, don't go down there."
Lin Yu nodded, struggled to move to the edge of the pool, scooped up a handful of water, and drank it down.
The cool pool water slid down his throat. Lin Yu, who hadn't eaten for many days, couldn't help but drink a few more mouthfuls until his stomach felt slightly bloated before he stopped.