Chapter 68 - Between Life and Death (1/2)

“Wait!”

Zhuo Fan sat up with a start. A ray of sunshine shone through the cave’s mouth and forced him to cover his eyes.

To his surprise, he found that he could actually move.

Although still weak, he was mostly recovered. Inspecting himself in detail, he found the Blood Infant laying depressed in his Dantian but its life was no longer hanging by a thread. Even its eyes were trembling, on the verge of waking up.

Being shocked was an understatement. Zhuo Fan knew the expert he met last night was someone who rose above the mortal domain. Or he wouldn’t have had the ability to heal his wounds overnight along with Blood Infant’s.

“But… why did he choose me?”

Zhuo Fan rubbed his forehead, recalling that the man had planted something there. But his weak self didn’t allow him to see clearly what it was.

He shook his head in the end, [It doesn’t matter, anyway he saved me. Whatever his reasons are, I will figure them out sooner or later.]

With his current strength, what could he do against that man?

Mocking himself, he realized that he was overthinking things sometimes. It had to do with the fact that he was in the 6th layer of Qi Condensation with the heart of an Emperor Stage expert. [What a pain!]

So, his current objective was to boost his strength. The strong had the final say in everything.

He sighed as he looked at the incoming sunshine. Despite the somber feeling exuding from the burned trees, the sun brought a ray of hope.

A groan interrupted his musing and Zhuo Fan found Xue Ningxiang’s weak figure in a pool of blood. He rushed to her and fed a Heart Protecting Pill.

A gentle Yuan Qi traveled within her body and Zhuo Fan breathed easy.

The girl’s wounds were only skin deep. She had overused her Yuan Qi in her fight against the Bloodthirsty Wolves and needed just a few days to recover.

But the pale face of Xue Ningxiang brought another wave of worry in his heart. He then started to remove the dirt from her face.

Feeling his rough hand, Xue Ningxiang cracked her eyes open and showed a sweet smile.

“Brother Zhuo, are we dead?”

“Rest easy, we are alive and well!”

“Liar, how are you able to move when you were so hurt?” Xue Ningxiang mumbled, “But… at least we died together…”

And the girl faded into unconsciousness at the last word.

Zhuo Fan watched her peaceful expression and carried her inside the cave to lay her next to the Soothing Grass. It was the best item in relieving fatigue for humans.

Now he was standing beside the unconscious Xie Tianyang, with a not so friendly face.

“Yo, get up, up I say!

Zhuo Fan kicked him lightly, twice for good measure, but he was still as a rock.

Zhuo Fan sneered and swung his leg way back before kicking with enough oomph on Xie Tianyang’s ass!

“Ah!”

A wail that shook the heavens and the forest was heard. It even frightened the spiritual beasts around.

[I say, what’s with this ghastly yell? Trying to wake the heavens? The Allbeast Mountain Range doesn’t lack dreadful monsters you know…]

Xie Tianyang shivered as he reined in his tears, “What is this place? What did I ever do to deserve such cruelty even in death?”

“Is kicking once cruel? You, a Sword Marquise Abode young master have seen nothing yet!” Zhuo Fan smiled at Xie Tianyang’s shocked face.

Xie Tianyang was startled seeing Zhuo Fan, “Did you kick me? Why the hell… we clearly died together, so why can you hit me?”

Zhuo Fan grinned, “If we’re dead, all of us would be equals. Too bad, we are alive and kicking. And since you weren’t moving…”

“What, we’re alive?”

Xie Tianyang stopped listening after that and laughed, “Ha-ha-ha, it’s the same cave. We are alive!”

But then his mood soured, eying Zhuo Fan up and down before yelling, “Why are you able to move while I can’t? You had it far worse than me and your cultivation is weaker too…”

Zhuo Fan shrugged and perked an eyebrow, exasperating the self-entitled genius disciple.

Xie Tianyang’s lip quivered as he wailed in frustration, “Freak!”

Not for the life of him could he comprehend how Zhuo Fan was jumping around after having his life hanging by a thread just two days ago! Even he, a Bone Tempering expert, would need two months of recovery to be able to stand.

He was vexed enough knowing that Zhuo Fan was stronger than him, despite their realm difference, and better skilled than him, despite their differences in background. Now though, this damn punk showed a miracle, jumping back on his feet in no time at all.

[How can one even bloody compare? It’s like being left light-years behind…]

“Zhuo Fan, tell me the truth. Who the heck are you?” Xie Tianyang spat.

Zhuo Fan lost his smile and patted Xie Tianyang’s shoulder, “Human of course, though just slightly above-average!”

Xie Tianyang was pissed off by Zhuo Fan’s attitude. But his bad state didn’t help him vent.

And even if he could move, Zhuo Fan’s array would just splatter him into pieces.

This made bitter tears flow down his cheeks. A genius disciple’s pride was crushed completely!

Nonetheless, Zhuo Fan moving about had its upside. He could set up an array to defend them.

Xie Tianyang had nothing to say to that. It brought far more advantage with Zhuo Fan recovered than if it was him instead. His cultivation only helped protect himself in such a place, let alone others.