"What is this... am I still alive?"
Deep within the woods, a wooden house stood amidst a sea of flowers. The exterior of the wooden house looked somewhat aged, and moss had already overgrown the sides of the staircase. Yet the steps themselves were impeccably clean, showing signs of being carefully swept every day.
On the bed inside the wooden house, a youth slowly sat up. He looked at his own hands, then gazed around at this unfamiliar and crude environment.
A piercing, bone-deep pain throughout his entire body broke him out in a cold sweat.
He wanted to get out of bed and go outside to see where he was, but the moment he moved, his entire body went completely limp on the bed like water.At that moment, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a young maiden entered. Though she possessed fairy-like beauty, her attire was extremely plain. Her long gown was pure white without a single ornament, yet it looked exceptionally smooth and neat, without the slightest hint of wear.
Seeing the youth collapsed limply across the bed, the maiden placed the wooden basin she was holding onto the nearby wooden table, hurried over, and helped him up, saying:"Your injuries haven't healed yet. You have three broken ribs, countless external wounds, and three claw marks on your back that are almost deep enough to expose the bone, not to mention severe internal injuries. You must not get out of bed and move around for at least a week!"
The young man raised his head to look at the girl before him. Just at that moment, she looked back at him, and for a split second, he was utterly transfixed.
The girl exuded a faint, refreshing fragrance of herbs. Her skin was smooth and fair, and her hair was dark and lustrous.
"Th-thank you!"
"It's nothing. Just be careful."
The girl then sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, "Who are you? How did you end up with such severe injuries?"
The young man replied, "My name is Ling Yu, and I am the eldest son of the current head of the Ling Family. My father is the frontier governor guarding the borders of the Tianri Empire. Today, while patrolling the border with my father, we were suddenly attacked by Demon Beasts. For some reason, these Demon Beasts were exceptionally powerful. We only had a few dozen people with us on the patrol, and my father told me to go call for reinforcements while the others stayed behind to cover my escape.""Who could have known that this Demon Beast had developed intelligence? Seeing me try to escape, it chased after me and struck me with a palm. I endured the excruciating pain and fled into a forest, where I eventually lost consciousness due to the severity of my injuries."
With that, Ling Yu's gaze gradually dimmed, clearly worried about his father's safety.
Seeing Ling Yu like this, the young woman slowly spoke, "My name is Mu Qingxue. You have been unconscious for three days and two nights. I happened to be out gathering herbs when I found you. Seeing how badly injured you were, I had no choice but to bring you back to my wooden house to treat you. But at the time, you were all alone, with no one else by your side."
Ling Yu looked over his scarred and battered body, circulated his spiritual energy to inspect his meridians, and let out a sigh.
"Most of the meridians in my body are shattered. There is no hope for me in this lifetime!"
Fortunately, his Dantian had not suffered severe damage; he could still absorb spiritual energy to maintain the connection of his remaining few meridians.
He was only sixteen years old, having just stepped into the Second-Tier Swordsman realm, and his dream was to become a powerhouse of the Sword Venerable level. Yet, because of a Demon Beast...
Realms are divided into Swordsman, Sword Master, Sword Disciple, Sword Ancestor, Sword Saint, Sword Venerable, and Sword Immortal, with each realm further divided into the first, second, and third tiers.
Thinking of this, he tried to clench his fists, but his injuries were simply too severe; he lacked even the strength to make a fist.
Seeing him like this, Mu Qingxue lowered her head slowly, as if deep in thought.
Ling Yu tried to summon his Sword Soul, but failed.
The Sword Soul is unique to those who wield swords; in combat, one can summon the Sword Soul to fight alongside them.
Mages can release elemental source spirit bodies. Boxing Masters can manifest their own beast souls. Demon Beasts after transformation can manifest the spirit bodies they had before transformation—demon spirits.
Collectively referred to as: spirit bodies.
Mu Qingxue, who had been lost in thought, saw Ling Yu releasing his spiritual energy and hurried to stop him. "Hey! Are you an idiot?"
Ling Yu was somewhat puzzled as to why this young woman, who appeared to be about his age, was berating him for no apparent reason.
"Miss Mu, is there something wrong with releasing my spiritual energy?"Mu Qingxue said, "You are gravely injured, and your spiritual power is already very low. Furthermore, some of your meridians were severely damaged and nearly shattered. Your internal spiritual power began circulating on its own to protect them. If you release your spiritual power now, you will disperse the very energy protecting your remaining meridians, and you will die from the total rupture of your meridians throughout your body!"
"It is also strange that your spiritual power would circulate automatically to protect your meridians."
Upon hearing this, Ling Yu couldn't help shivering. Fortunately, Mu Qingxue had stopped him in time, otherwise he wouldn't even have had the possibility of getting revenge.
"Thank you, Miss Mu, for the reminder. But... I would like to know where this is."
"The Forest of Ten Thousand Demons."
Mu Qingxue replied very calmly.
Hearing these four short words, however, Ling Yu could no longer remain calm.
The Forest of Ten Thousand Demons was located at the southernmost tip of the Tianri Empire. Crossing this forest led straight to the neighboring states.
True to its name, "Ten Thousand Demons" did not refer to the number of monsters inside the forest, but rather to their varieties.
Their numbers were so vast that no one knew the true count to this day.
Yet, upon second thought, the truly terrifying thing right now was not this Forest of Ten Thousand Demons, but the young woman beside him. Though she appeared to be around his age, she dared to live here all alone, which filled him with fear toward Mu Qingxue.
Noticing the change in Ling Yu's expression, Mu Qingxue panicked and blurted out in fluster, "I am not a Demon Beast! I am also from the Tianri Empire. It's just that my father committed some unknown crime, and the ruler ordered the execution of everyone connected to him. My parents died covering my escape, and I had no choice but to flee to this place. This is only the outermost edge of the Forest of Ten Thousand Demons!"
Ling Yu had not expected Mu Qingxue's reaction to be so intense, but after considering the current ruler's actions, he gradually believed what she said.
"Miss Mu, please don't misunderstand. That's not what I meant. I was just wondering if you don't feel afraid living all alone in such a dangerous place. Judging by your appearance and mine, we should be around the same age." Ling Yu said awkwardly.
"No, living here at least means I don't have to fear being hunted down, and life is somewhat peaceful."
Though Mu Qingxue looked calm, her heart was in utter turmoil. She was terrified that if Ling Yu discovered her true identity, he would distance himself from her and lead the Tianri Empire's army to hunt her down.
She had lived alone in this Forest of Ten Thousand Demons for thirteen full years, and her own cultivation had already reached the Fa-Yao Realm. If she spoke the truth, it would probably frighten this human Swordsman youth standing before her to death.
Now that she had finally managed to lay eyes on a fresh "plaything," how could she possibly let him run away?
Ling Yu circulated his cultivation technique, slowly recovering his dwindling spiritual power. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he spoke, "Miss Mu."
His words startled Mu Qingxue, who had just managed to calm her nerves. Thinking he had discovered something else, she hurriedly blurted out, "It really is the border! I am a second-grade, third-tier wood-element magic user! My parents were both killed by the current emperor, and I am seventeen this year!"
Magic users were divided into seven grades, and each grade was further divided into three tiers.
"No, Miss Mu, I just wanted to ask if I could stay here and recuperate for a few more days. My injuries are too severe; without half a year or even a year, it will be hard for me to recover to the point of walking."
"But don't worry, I'll leave the moment I'm able to get out of bed and walk."
As Ling Yu spoke, he wondered why she was so flustered. He hadn't even said anything, yet she had rattled off a whole string of things.
Seeing that Ling Yu had not discovered anything unusual, Mu Qingxue finally let out a sigh of relief.
She was more than eager for Ling Yu to stay here indefinitely, so she immediately agreed briskly, "No problem! You can stay as long as you like!"
"All right, then thank you, Miss Mu, for taking me in!"
Silence fell afterward. Mu Qingxue walked over to the stove, bent her slender waist, and directly channeled her spiritual power to ignite cyan flames.
When Ling Yu finished meditating and looked to his left at Mu Qingxue, he happened to catch this scene and felt somewhat bewildered. He thought to himself, "Isn't she a wood-element magic user? Why can she manipulate fire?"
After a long while, Mu Qingxue finished cooking and stood up to ladle a bowl of wild herb soup from the pot.
Ever since she reached the Fa-Yao Realm, Mu Qingxue rarely needed food to replenish her energy, only occasionally hunting and eating when a craving struck. Thus, she had no idea what to prepare, and she was afraid that hunting a Demon Beast would arouse Ling Yu's suspicion, so she had simply picked some spiritual herbs and plants from the surroundings and brewed a pot of soup based on intuition.
When she turned around carrying the bowl of wild vegetable soup, her gaze happened to lock with Ling Yu's dark and bright eyes...