Chapter 178: A Divine Touch [8] (1/2)

Ju Feng awoke in the dark in ache. At first, he didn't realize how badly he was hurt. He was too surprised that a blast like that could actually injure him at this place. Even his robe should have been enough to mitigate the impact of the explosion. He was now certain this part of the underground was against his protective measures. Maybe, even against his powers as a cultivator. But he was relieved at being alive to appreciate the large, solid weight pressing down on his right arm. He tried to shift to see if he could pull himself free. A white-hot bolt of pain shot up his arm, and darkness swirled up to claim him again.

He floated between consciousness and oblivion, dreaming little half dreams that ran together in his mind. In his dreams, he crouched on the ground as a yaoguai came for him, raining blows down upon his head. The punches burned where they struck his flesh, hotter and hotter, until Ju Feng looked up and saw the creature was on fire. Its flesh melted and reshaped into Orban's bright face and red hair.

The dwarven butcher shouted at him, laughing, but Ju Feng couldn't hear what he was saying. He raised his hands imploringly, trying to tell Orban to slow down. Couldn't he see Ju Feng was hurt? Ju Feng tried to grab Orban's arm, but the butcher pulled back, and a spasm of fear twisted his face. Orban was afraid of him. He didn't want Ju Feng to touch him. Ju Feng moaned and turned away from the butcher. The scene faded, and he was in the dark again.

When he opened his eyes, he beheld a wall of moving green. His vision focused on oak tree branches stirring in the breeze. He sat up and saw that he was in a grove of the tall oaks. And he wasn't alone. Chang Chang sat with her back against one of the tree trunks. She wore the same plain linen dress he'd seen her wear in the cavern. A scroll lay open in her lap.

”It's all right. You're not broken.”

She said, speaking to him without taking her eyes off the page she was reading.

”I …”

Pain shuddered through his body. He was hurt, maybe dying? He doubted that, but he was certainly hurt. Why wouldn't she look at him?

”Help me, Chang.”

”I can't.”

She replied before turning the page.

”Why?”

He crawled to her, reaching out to lay his trembling hand over hers. Heat radiated from her body, suffusing her skin with a hellish glow. Ju Feng screamed an instant before she burst into flames. He screamed, but he couldn't look away as Chang Chang burned to death in front of his eyes. The darkness came for him again.

When he awoke from the dreams, cold sweat stood out on his face, and he was shivering. Ju Feng licked his dry, cracked lips and smiled bitterly into the darkness. The expression pulled at cuts and bruises all over his face. Learned new things. He wouldn't try to move his right arm again, but his left arm was free.

Ju Feng lifted it, flexed his fingers and twisted his wrist. He reached into his spatial sac—seeking the small medicinal plant that he kept there, the healing plant he saved for the worst, most debilitating wounds in case he ran out of the pills. This one certainly qualified. His fingers closed around the herbs and dumped the plant in his mouth. The energy stirred up stone grit in his mouth. He swallowed it all, wincing. Dust burned in his eyes, so he kept them closed while he waited for the herbal plant to take effect. There was nothing to see anyway. Darkness lay over the cavern like a shroud.

The pain in his arm slowly ebbed, and the dark cloud around his thoughts receded. At least, medicine were still working. With clarity came purpose. Lying quietly and listening, Ju Feng began to make out other signs of life around him. Whimpers, coughing, cursing, and the scrape of boots on stone told him he wasn't alone. As far as he knew, he was still in the Cavern of Forgotten Souls—what was left of it. Thinking back, Ju Feng remembered the explosions, the falling stone as the cavern collapsed around him. The yaomo had planned it all, sacrificing their own warriors and slaves to decimate the dwarf forces.