Chu Feng lay sprawled upon the earth, unmoving.
Yet, against all odds, he had not perished.
His brows furrowed, his teeth clenched tightly, and though his eyes remained shut, a storm of pain surged through him. What torment he was enduring could only be surmised from the paleness of his face and his drenched body.
Suddenly, his eyes quivered—and then opened.
It was daytime.
The gully, once cloaked in darkness, now bathed in the light of dawn, stripped bare of trees and brush. The destruction of the night before had rendered the area brighter than the rest of the forest.
With great difficulty, Chu Feng propped himself up, every movement laced with agony.
He could have sworn death had claimed him beneath the moon's gaze. Yet here he was—alive, breathing.
Thump! Thump!
"Hm?"
Chu Feng's hand clutched his chest, the area where his heart was located.
His heart pulsed just like before, it was beating at a normal rate. However, he felt the walls of his heart had thickened, as though the blood vessels and veins around it had been reforged.
It must be the venom, he thought grimly.
Well, since he was fine, that was all that mattered.
He turned slightly and cast his gaze over the ravaged clearing. In the morning light, he could now see clearly what had eluded him the night before.
The small features he had missed on the scale tiger and also the man beside it.
But then, when the event of the previous night flashed through his mind, Chu Feng instinctively rolled away, distancing himself from the scale tiger. The beast had been the cause of his misery. The image of its fangs on his arm still gave him dread.
It had nearly caused him his death, so he could not drop his wariness around it.
Shifting his attention to the man beside, Chu Feng's eyes narrowed.
There was practically nothing remarkable about the corpse except his clothes—until he spotted a glint of silver on the man's finger.
A spatial ring?
Chu Feng crept closer, caution guiding his steps. He reached out and plucked the ring from the cold hand, holding it up to the light.
A sigh escaped him.
"If only I possessed a cultivation base…" he muttered. "Then this treasure might serve some use."
But without spiritual energy, the ring was sealed to him. So it was basically useless.
Still, he pocketed it. Perhaps when Ling'er began her cultivation journey, he could ask her to open it for him.
The thought of Ling'er gave him pause.
She must be worried. She would not know where he had vanished in the dead of night.
He had to leave.
He rose shakily to his feet and looked around.
The game that had perished in the explosion still lay scattered across the terrain.
Just as he prepared to depart the gully, he turned back once more—his eyes falling upon the man and the beast.
If only he had the strength to carry the corpse of the tiger… surely, its carcass would fetch a high price in any city market. But it would be too heavy to carry, and besides, his wariness of it had not even dropped the least.
As for the man—Chu Feng thought briefly of burying him. But he had no tools, and his strength was insufficient to dig the earth.
He could only bow towards the man's corpse. Because he had taken his ring, he felt slightly guilty of just leaving like that.
He let out a long sigh and stepped out from the gully.
At length, he arrived at the pile of fallen beasts with intact bodies.
He stood in silence, uncertain how he might carry so many at once.
Closing his eyes, he delved into his mind, seeking out the memories of the hunter whose memory had once fused with his own.
But something was different.
A new memory surfaced—not of Ye Feng's, not of himself, nor of the hunter's.
It was alien… unfamiliar.
He was startled, but he still withdrew, leaving the enigma for another time. What he required now was the hunter's skill.
And he was not disappointed.
From it, he came across a method—crafting nets from the roots of trees. A technique born from years in the wild.
He smiled.
The explosion from the night before had also unearthed many trees in the forest, their roots exposed like veins beneath wounded earth.
For the first time he thought to himself that the world was bending to his will.
He went to work, cutting the roots, binding them together. Guided by the memory of the hunter, he wove a net sturdy enough to carry the games away.
He did not idle.
He filtered the intact corpse from the mangled ones and he packed them tightly, tied the net at the top, and slung it across his back.
Then he turned, his eyes scanning the wilds.
The day was bright now and he can try to trace back where he had come from the previous night.
There should have surely been a trail he had left when he was in pursuit of the rabbit. Marks must have been left. Something like bent branches, broken shrubs or trampled ground.
He just needed to find it.
He pressed forward, retracing his steps. Before long, he reached the spot he had stopped chasing the rabbit before the explosion.
Then he scrutinized further till he found the trail he was looking for.
Snapped branches!
The night before, he had missed it. In daylight now, it was plain as day.
There was no need to linger.
Without hesitation, Chu Feng turned toward the trails and began his descent.
—--------
Chu Ling'er sat on a stone just outside the cave, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon.
From the moment she awoke, she had been searching for Chu Feng.
Now, the morning sun had already broken through the clouds, and hours had passed.
Fear crept into her heart. Had Chu Feng truly abandoned her and gone off alone?
She shook her head, unwilling to accept the thought.
"No," she whispered to herself. "He wouldn't do that."
But if not, then where could he have gone?
He had said the day before that he would go hunting on the mountain.
Had he truly gone without waking her?
Why had he not spoken to her before leaving?
Now, he had left her in worry and doubt.
In truth, she could not even be certain he had spent the night in the cave.
When they returned from the lake, he had told her to rest while he remained outside.
Had he kept watch… or had he left then?
She rose suddenly and began to pace.
If he had left at dawn, it was already too late—he was gone far too long.
Her heart itched with the urge to go search for him.
But if she took a different path and he returned in her absence, they would miss each other.
Her thoughts clashed like swords in her mind.
"Fine," she muttered. "If he's not on the mountain, then I'll just gather berries like I always do."
She entered the cave to fetch her pouch—but it was gone.
Her eyes narrowed.
Her pouch had been right there the night before. It wouldn't vanish on its own.
Now she was certain—Chu Feng must have taken it. He had gone up the mountain.
Should she follow him?
"Aaaargh!" she cried, torn in indecision.
If she climbed the wrong trail, she might never find him. But staying put gnawed at her heart.
Just as she stood frozen in thought, footsteps approached the cave.
Her eyes widened. A smile blossomed on her face.
She rushed out—and truly, it was Chu Feng.
"Big Brother!" she called, throwing herself into his arms.
"I'm fine," Chu Feng said gently, patting her back. "There's no need to worry."
He removed the net from his back and set it down, revealing his catch through the mesh.
Chu Ling'er gasped and covered her mouth.
"Th-this…"
Chu Feng nodded with a chuckle.
"Yes. All meat. I was lucky today. The mountain was generous."
"Didn't I say I'd take care of you?"
Joy burst through Chu Ling'er's chest, too much for her to contain.
"But there's so much! We can't finish it all. It'll spoil."
Chu Feng waved a hand.
"No need to worry. I'll sun-dry the excess. That way it'll last for days, maybe weeks. I might even sell some in the city."
"Sell it?" Ling'er tilted her head.
"Yes," he said. "If I earn enough, I could get you a cultivation technique. It's time you began your path."
Ling'er stamped her foot.
"You're still chasing this idea of me cultivating?"
Chu Feng looked at her seriously.
"Of course. You have the potential. I won't let it go to waste."
Then he pointed to the meat.
"Can you prepare one for our breakfast?"
Ling'er nodded.
"Leave it to me. I'm good at cooking."
Chu Feng smiled.
"Good. I'll head to the lake to wash up. Don't miss me too much."
Before she could reply, he had already darted off.
When Chu Feng reached the lake, the morning sun had fully risen, casting glow over the water.
He stepped in and let the cool water wrap around his body.
It felt just as refreshing as the day before.
He scrubbed himself, washing away the mud from his skin.
Then he looked at his arms—covered in rashes that marred his body.
He sighed and scrubbed harder, as if willing the blemishes to vanish with the dirt.
"I don't feel like a leper," he muttered. "I have strength, and no numbness… Yet this skin…"
If he were to try and go into the city, he would have to keep himself covered—head to toe.
He could not afford attention.
He lay back by the edge of the lake, arms resting on the bank.
A long breath escaped his lips.
Since waking up in this world, not even a day yet, he had fallen prey to one disaster and the other, pain and pain.
The first moment he had opened his eyes here, pain had greeted him.
The memory merge with Ye Feng had nearly torn his mind apart.
Then came the hunter's that were even more magnified, less to talk of the serpent bite that nearly killed him.
"Just how far does my misfortune go?" he wondered.
He turned his face to the sky and closed his eyes.
For the first time in days, he felt truly at peace.
Then, images formed in his mind—vague, flickering memories.
His eyes opened sharply.
"These memories…"
He remembered catching glimpses of them back on the mountain, but he hadn't had time to examine them.
Now, floating calmly in the water, he turned his mind inward.
He noticed that the suspended orbs that had once been in his mind were all gone.
He gasped.
"Could it have been the consequence of the serpent's venom?"
He sighed.
The things that had been happening to him recently are things he could not make sense of.