"Arghhh, what the fuck was that?" When Bai Chen finally regained control over his body, he groaned as he spoke.
He hurriedly took out a healing pill from his storage ring and popped it in his mouth.
The pill melted as soon as it touched his mouth, and a cooling sensation spread throughout his body. As he tried to make sense of what had happened, he heard a voice.
"Hehe, how do you feel about my little gift?"
Bai Chen looked up and saw Ye Ming standing there with his arm fixed up, though the mist constantly rising from the wound on his leg was half mended.
Hearing Ye Ming's words, Bai Chen suddenly realized why the three Core Formation cultivators self-destructed.
"You're one sick bastard, Ye Ming. You didn't even hesitate to place slave seals on your own people," Bai Chen said, his voice wary.
"Who cares about some fucking morals? Can you eat them? It's the results that matter," Ye Ming retorted and lunged toward Bai Chen, a dagger in each hand.
Bai Chen quickly raised his sword, getting into a defensive stance, ready to parry Ye Ming's attack.
Just as Ye Ming was about to reach Bai Chen, he suddenly vanished, throwing Bai Chen off balance.
Before Bai Chen could process what had happened, he felt a sharp pain in his back, and a bloody gash appeared there.
Realizing that Ye Ming must have used some kind of stealth technique to hide his presence, Bai Chen got even tenser, and his senses went alert to the extreme.
Yet, the next moment, another deep gash appeared on his right thigh, making him stagger. Before his mind could even register the pain from the wound, his back got sliced again.
Bai Chen poured all his efforts into finding Ye Ming's presence, but it was futile—gashes kept appearing on his body.
To an outside observer, it looked like Bai Chen was being mauled by a ghost — injuries blooming across his body with no enemy in sight.
In just a few minutes, Bai Chen's body was covered with cuts, some deep while others shallow, making him look like he had just bathed in blood.
'Why is this happening?'
'Is he too strong, or am I just weak?'
This had a deep impact on Bai Chen, making him question himself and his own capabilities, something he had not done in a long while.
'Am I going to die here? Without even meeting Fei Mei or fulfilling my vow?'
As he thought about Fei Mei, his mind drifted back to a night long past.
The night wind had been gentle that day, brushing against their skin like a lover's whisper.
Xiao Feng and Fei Mei sat side by side at the edge of a grassy cliff, legs dangling over the abyss below.
Above them, the stars burned bright—dozens of constellations scattered across the velvet sky.
Fei Mei slightly leaned on his shoulder, her jet black hair shining under the moonlight as they gently swayed with the breeze.
"Do you think there is life out there? In the stars, I mean?" Fei Mei asked, her green eyes mirrored the stars above, shimmering with quiet curiosity.
Sitting next to her, Xiao Feng raised his eyebrows slightly, "You mean like immortals and beast mentions in the folklore?"
Fei Mei shook her head slowly. **"**No... not cultivators or magical beasts. I mean, something else. Beings who live out there—in the stars. Do they feel pain like we do? Do they laugh, love... dream?"
Her answer left Xiao Feng unsure of how to answer; thus, he tried to steer the conversation away, "Why are you interested in this all of a sudden?" He asked.
Fei Mei's gaze remained on the stars as she replied, "Just curious, are you not?"
"No, not quite so," Xiao Feng replied, his gaze lingering on the beautiful visage in front of him.
Hearing his reply caused Fei Mei's head to turn, her gaze matching Xiao Feng's.
"Why would I care if someone is living in a far-off place?" Xiao Feng continued, "My world is already sitting in front of me. What more do I need?"
When Fei Mei heard the last sentence, her face turned red as a tomato, and she covered her face with her hands, though a smile was still visible on her face.
Looking at the cute sight in front of him, Xiao Feng's heart skipped a beat.
"Idiot... don't say stuff like that out of nowhere," she muttered under her breath. "I was serious about my question."
Hearing her, Xiao Feng fell into thought, trying to come up with an answer that could satisfy Fei Mei's curiosity.
After thinking for a while, Xiao Feng felt that he finally had an acceptable answer and spoke, "Judging by the size of the universe, there is a high chance that someone or something is living out there."
"As for whether it is the same as us or not, who knows? Maybe they have senses that allow them to feel their surroundings." He spoke, his gaze still on Fei Mei, who was still red from the earlier embarrassment.
"Or maybe they can feel the energies around them to navigate. Perhaps they don't have a thing called emotions; perhaps they do." Hearing his words, Fei Mei finally took her face out from her hands, her previous curiosity returning.
"Senses we can't imagine?" She questioned.
'Ah, that's it.' Suddenly, Bai Chen had an epiphany. 'I was so used to only using my five basic senses that I completely forgot that I am in a different world,' he thought, 'a world where the rules of my previous life are completely changed.'
The next moment, Bai Chen closed his eyes. Time seemed to have slowed down for him as he focused on the slight changes in the Spiritual Qi around him.
Every little change was quickly caught within his senses, giving him a vision far clearer than his eyes.
'Everything in this world is made out of Spiritual Qi. As long as I master it, I will become unstoppable.' At this moment, Bai Chen's understanding of the world went under a profound change.
He started to see the world in a completely different way than before, gaining a broader vision.
"Found you." A smirk appeared on Bai Chen's face as he opened his eyes.
He looked toward a certain direction and got into the first stance of the Azure Dragon Sword style.