The next morning, the faint glow of dawn filtered through the window lattice and fell across Chen Yang's face.
His eyelids fluttered several times before he slowly opened his eyes.
The moment his consciousness returned, a wave of aching soreness flooded through his meridians, and he couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.
But compared to the completely uncontrollable, searing agony of the day before, it was worlds apart.
He tried moving his fingers — still weak, but capable of slight movement.
His gaze drifted and landed on Xiaochunhua, who was slumped over the edge of the bed, her head bobbing as she dozed.
"Chunhua…"
Chen Yang called out in a hoarse voice.
Xiaochunhua jolted awake. Seeing Chen Yang's eyes open, her face immediately lit up with delight:
"Senior Brother Chen! You're awake!"
She hurried over:
"How do you feel? Does it still hurt?"
Chen Yang gave a slight shake of his head and glanced around the quiet loft. Apart from Xiaochunhua, there was no one else.
A nameless sense of relief settled in his chest, though it was tinged with a complex emotion he couldn't quite name. He asked:
"Lin… Lin Yang — where is he?"
Xiaochunhua paused for a moment, then quickly figured out who Chen Yang meant. Her lips immediately puckered into a pout as she huffed:
"That annoying pest? He left at the crack of dawn! Hmph — last night he was up there plucking away at that zither of his for half the night, making such a racket no one could sleep! Senior Brother Chen, you were right next to it — weren't you disturbed?"
Chen Yang was mildly startled.
He recalled the melody from the night before — the one that had seemed to soothe his mind and guide the medicinal energy through his body — and shook his head:
"I… slept very soundly."
He tried moving again, and to his pleasant surprise, with careful effort, he managed to push himself upright and sit up in bed.
His movements were stiff and every inch of him ached, but the speed of his recovery far exceeded his expectations.
It seemed that Lin Yang's Minor Vitality Cultivation Pill and that peculiar melody had truly worked wonders.
Learning that Lin Yang had only left at dawn, the heavy stone in Chen Yang's heart finally settled.
But then the words Lin Yang had spoken last night — vague, suggestive, laden with implication — rose back to the surface of his mind, sending ripples through his thoughts.
He couldn't find peace.
Xiaochunhua noticed the shifting expressions on his face and asked with concern:
"Senior Brother Chen, are you all right? Your color still doesn't look good. What exactly happened yesterday? You scared me half to death!"
Then she remembered something and asked urgently:
"Oh right — did you find Sister Liu?"
Chen Yang steadied himself and pushed the swirling thoughts aside for now. He said:
"Yiyi is fine. I didn't see her with my own eyes, but I heard from other disciples who escaped that she was rescued by a passing Foundation Establishment Elder. She should be safe and sound."
Xiaochunhua let out a long breath of relief, patting her chest:
"Oh, thank goodness! Thank goodness!"
But her curiosity quickly won out, and she pestered Chen Yang to tell her about his experience:
"Senior Brother Chen, tell me everything! Were the back mountains terribly frightening yesterday? What did you run into?"
Chen Yang looked at Xiaochunhua's bright, sparkling eyes and smiled helplessly, then gave a simplified account of the previous day's events as though telling a story.
From receiving the summons to head to Butterfly Valley, to joining the other inner disciples in holding the defensive line, to the terrifying pursuit by the thirty-meter crocodile…
Even in its simplified form, when the ferocious demon beasts were described — especially the enormous thirty-meter crocodile, whose power rivaled that of a tenth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator — Xiaochunhua went pale with fright. She let out a startled cry and instinctively threw herself into Chen Yang's arms, clinging to him tightly.
"Ow…"
The impact jolted his injuries, and Chen Yang couldn't suppress a pained grunt.
Xiaochunhua snapped back to her senses and quickly let go, panicking:
"Senior Brother Chen! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I forgot you were hurt! Are you okay?"
Chen Yang waved a hand to signal he was fine.
Xiaochunhua looked at his pale face and the fine beads of sweat at his temple, and only then did she realize his injuries were far more serious than they appeared.
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Her heart filled with lingering fear — and aching concern.
Just then, the soft sound of footsteps drifted up from the staircase.
Xiaochunhua turned to look, and immediately cried out in delight:
"Sister Liu! You're back!"
Liu Yiyi was making her way up the stairs, one hand on the railing, moving with some difficulty.
She had changed into a clean, pale-blue dress, but her hair was slightly disheveled and her complexion a little wan. As she walked, her right foot carried a faint limp — not quite natural.
Xiaochunhua rushed over to help support her, asking with concern:
"Sister Liu, what happened to your foot? And this dress…"
Liu Yiyi leaned on her as she reached the top of the stairs, offered Chen Yang a reassuring smile from across the room, then explained:
"On the way back yesterday, I had the misfortune of running into a few Shadow Wolves. I twisted my ankle trying to escape, and my clothes were torn in several places by branches. Fortunately… that Foundation Establishment Elder arrived in time to save me. My injuries have been treated, though I'm still a little unsteady on my feet."
Xiaochunhua's eyes lit up:
"Could it be the same senior who saved us back then?"
Liu Yiyi gave a gentle nod, gratitude shining in her eyes.
Chen Yang, hearing this, felt a deep sense of reverence stir within him.
This Elder had saved both Liu Yiyi and Xiaochunhua before, and now had stepped in once again — a profound kindness indeed.
He didn't yet know which peak this Elder belonged to, but he quietly resolved that if the opportunity ever arose, he would find a way to repay the debt.
Liu Yiyi's gaze fell on Chen Yang. Seeing him slumped weakly against the headboard, her expression changed and she hurried forward, asking with worry:
"Big Brother Chen! What… what happened to you? How badly are you hurt?"
She had been at the Elder's side the day before.
Though she hadn't been on the front lines, she had felt the terrifying aura and chaos emanating from deep within the back mountains, and knew full well how dangerous it had been.
Xiaochunhua jumped in eagerly:
"Sister Liu, you don't know the half of it! Senior Brother Chen nearly… nearly didn't make it back — all because he went looking for you!"
She retold Chen Yang's account with considerable embellishment, painting a vivid picture of the thirty-meter crocodile's ferocity and Chen Yang's bravery.
As Liu Yiyi listened, her eyes quickly reddened.
She hadn't imagined that in a situation where everyone was fighting for their own survival, Chen Yang would have disregarded his own safety to venture into danger searching for her.
That kind of devotion sent a warm current flooding through her heart, along with a deep, indescribable mix of gratitude and bittersweet emotion.
She walked to the bedside, her voice catching in her throat:
"Big Brother Chen… I… I don't know how to thank you… I, Liu Yiyi, have nothing to offer in return. In this lifetime… in this lifetime, I am willing to serve you as a beast of burden…"
Xiaochunhua, moved by the scene beside her, mimicked a dramatic tone she must have picked up from some opera, clenched her little fist, and chimed in gruffly:
"Me… me too!"
Chen Yang was amused by the two of them, but laughing pulled at his wounds and he sucked in another sharp breath, then said helplessly:
"I don't farm, so what would I do with an ox? And when a cultivator goes out… who rides a horse anymore? We're not warriors."
He had said it offhandedly, just to lighten the mood.
But Xiaochunhua's eyes spun mischievously, and she delivered a line that nearly stopped hearts:
"You don't need to ride one going out — but you could ride one at night!"
"You little brat! What are you saying?!"
Liu Yiyi's face flushed scarlet all the way to her ears. Mortified and furious, she reached out to pinch Xiaochunhua's mouth.
Chen Yang choked on the remark and broke into a fit of coughing, so flustered he didn't know where to look.
Liu Yiyi managed with great effort to tamp down the heat in her face and changed the subject:
"Oh, right — when I came back, I noticed quite a few people in the courtyard. Are they…"
Xiaochunhua jumped in immediately, her tone carrying a note of disdain:
"Who else would it be? Just those laborers who fled here from Butterfly Valley! With nowhere else to hide, they came running to Senior Brother Chen for shelter."
After saying that, she grumbled inwardly:
That fat woman Yan Xi had actually had the nerve to quietly ask her yesterday whether Senior Brother Chen still needed any servants — what a toad dreaming of eating swan meat. Didn't she own a mirror?
And a few of the others had shifty eyes — clearly up to no good!
She'd have to find a way to send them all packing soon!
But aloud she asked:
"Sister Liu, is the demon beast rampage in the back mountains over? When can they leave?"
Liu Yiyi nodded:
"Before I came here, I heard that Elder mention a few things. Apparently this rampage was caused by a Jiao Demon that had cultivated for hundreds of years and successfully underwent Dragon Transformation, breaking through to Seventh Rank — the surge of its aura disturbed tens of thousands of demon beasts. But at dawn, word came that the newly transformed Demon Dragon had been slain by the Sect Master and the Elders working together. With the source eliminated, the beast tide naturally subsided."
"Seventh Rank?!"
Xiaochunhua's eyes went wide — she had no frame of reference for that level:
"Just… just how powerful is that?"
Liu Yiyi patiently explained:
"Simply put, a cultivator at the peak of the Qi Refinement Realm corresponds roughly to a third-rank demon beast. A Foundation Establishment Elder at peak stage corresponds to the sixth rank. Seventh Rank… that would be the equivalent of a Golden Core stage true cultivator among us humans!"
"A… a Golden Core true cultivator?!"
Xiaochunhua stuck out her tongue in fright. To her, a Foundation Establishment Elder was already an impossibly lofty figure — a Golden Core true cultivator was the stuff of legends, beyond even imagination.
The most powerful person she had ever encountered, aside from that mysterious Foundation Establishment Elder, was Chen Yang right in front of her.
As for Chen Yang himself — the moment he heard the words "Seventh Rank demon dragon" and "Dragon Transformation," his heart clenched without warning.
As though an invisible hand had seized it in an iron grip!
A terror from the depths of his very soul — nameless and inexplicable — erupted without any warning.
His breathing suddenly quickened, and his face drained of color in an instant.
He instinctively pressed a hand to his chest!
"Big Brother Chen!"
"Senior Brother Chen!"
Liu Yiyi and Xiaochunhua were horrified at the sight, and rushed forward to steady him.
Chen Yang gasped for breath, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
The palpitation came fast and left fast — within a few breaths, it slowly subsided.
He waved a hand, his voice somewhat faint:
"It's… it's nothing. Just a sudden palpitation — probably because my injuries haven't healed yet…"
He drew two deep breaths and tried to circulate the Yimu Immortality Art.
The gentle, warm vitality flowed through him, and at last it fully dispersed the inexplicable panic.
But that sensation of standing at the very edge of annihilation — it remained, branded into the deepest recesses of his heart.
As for the memory of where it had come from, it remained a blurred and empty blank.
Just then.
From the courtyard below came a sudden commotion, louder than usual — it sounded like an argument had broken out.
Xiaochunhua's brow furrowed with displeasure:
"What are those laborers doing now? Making a scene again? How unruly! I'll go down and chase them all out!"
With that, she turned and marched toward the stairs in a huff.
However.
She had barely reached the top of the staircase when she glanced down.
The reprimand she'd been ready to unleash died in her throat. Her face fell into an expression of shock — and a flicker of apprehension.
There in the courtyard, at some point, seven or eight people had gathered.
These people were not wearing the plain garb of laborers or outer disciples.
Instead, every single one of them was dressed in the moon-white robes of inner disciples.
Their auras were refined and their bearing haughty, forming a stark contrast with the frightened, simply-dressed Menial Disciples still huddled in the courtyard.
Their sudden arrival had transformed the already crowded courtyard into an atmosphere that was tense and suffocating.