Signs of Awakening

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Jiang Ci felt that her life had been a bit too comfortable lately, so comfortable that it made her feel uneasy. Aside from watching over Lu Yan, she had nothing to do every day—she didn't even have to cook. The chef at Huamanlou cooked eight times better than she did. Back when they were on the mountain, she could happily eat two bowls of the burnt porridge Lu Yan made, but now, with four dishes and a soup laid out on the table, she found herself lacking an appetite.

She didn't even have to apply his medicine herself. Hua Er had hired a specialist physician who came on time every day to meticulously apply the specially formulated ointment to Lu Yan's body. The physician's touch was gentle and skilled, far superior to her own clumsy attempts at wrapping him in coarse cloth bandages back at Black Mountain Fort. She could only stand by and watch, unable to help, feeling like a useless ornament. The physician would leave as soon as the medicine was applied, giving her no time to even say thank you.

The wounds on Lu Yan's body had fully healed. New, pink flesh had grown in, creating a stark contrast with his original skin, which had been roughened by the wind and snow of the Northern Border. Line after line, scar after scar, running horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, it looked as if someone had painted an abstract piece on his body. Looking at those patterns, Jiang Ci suddenly recalled a breed of horse that the south had once presented as tribute to the Central Continent Alliance—they had black and white stripes and ran as fast as the wind. The corners of her mouth curved up slightly, but she quickly suppressed the smile. She had suddenly remembered that the horse was later gifted to Bai Cen.

Lu Yan showed no signs of waking up. He lay there with steady breathing, a ruddy complexion, and completely motionless eyelashes. The physician said there was nothing wrong with his body anymore, but as for why he hadn't woken up, even she didn't know.

Having nothing to do each day, Jiang Ci would sit by his side and talk to him. It was said that talking to comatose people could help them recover, and though she didn't have much to say, she would chat with him about the daily happenings at Huamanlou.

Sometimes when Hua Er brought over food and saw the way Jiang Ci looked at Lu Yan, she would feel a chill run down her spine. There was no lingering tenderness of cultivation companions in that gaze, nor the sweet affection of lovers. She just stared and stared, until even Hua Er felt her back grow cold. There was only one thing in those eyes—obstinacy.

All she could do was gently pat Jiang Ci's shoulder in comfort, set down the food, and slip back out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Hong Jiu and Yao Wu's injuries healed quickly. Cultivators naturally possessed extraordinary constitutions, and the physician Hua Er hired was indeed highly capable. In less than half a month, the wounds of both individuals had scabbed over, the scabs had fallen off, and new flesh had grown. Hong Jiu's shoulder blade still throbbed with a faint ache, but she could already move it, though she couldn't lift heavy objects yet.

Yao Wu's severed arm did not regrow. The physician said that unless his cultivation broke through, he would be left with only one hand for the rest of his life. Moreover, having burned so much of his origin essence before, it would be difficult for him to achieve a breakthrough without a long period of proper recuperation.

Yao Wu was quite relaxed about it. Tucking Nannan under his single arm, he spun around in the main hall. One turn, two turns, three turns... Nannan giggled from the spinning, her laughter echoing through the tavern. Yao Wu said, “Look, Nannan, Daddy only has one hand left, but I can still hold you!” Nannan hugged his neck, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder, and mumbled, “Daddy is the strongest.” Yao Wu smiled, his eyes rimmed with red.

Once Hong Jiu's injuries healed, Hua Er immediately drove her to work as a waitress. Hong Jiu's gaze was as resentful as a mistreated young wife, but Hua Er choked back her complaints with a single sentence: “If you don't work, get lost. I don't feed freeloaders here.”

Gritting her teeth, Hong Jiu tied on an apron, picked up a tray, and began weaving through the tavern. Her injuries weren't fully healed, so her arm lacked strength when carrying the tray, nearly dumping dishes onto the customers' heads several times. She cursed under her breath, the customers cursed back, and Hua Er sat behind the counter clicking her abacus without even raising her head, the corners of her mouth curved up—though whether she was smiling at the ledger or at Hong Jiu, no one knew.

Since Yao Wu only had one hand left, Hua Er wanted to put him to work but felt it might be a bit cruel to bully a disabled person.

But clearly, she didn't treat him as disabled, nor did she treat him as a human—well, to be fair, he wasn't human to begin with. One had to wonder if she had majored in human resources management in her past life, as she fully utilized her ingenuity to assign Yao Wu to the back kitchen.

From then on, the chef's vegetables only ever had their top halves used. The bottom halves were cut off to make dishes, while Yao Wu used his spells to accelerate the growth of the top halves, making them grow back to their original state overnight. A single carrot lasted for two weeks and still looked brand new.

Watching her procurement expenses shrink by more than half, Hua Er's smile stretched from ear to ear. Her eyes darted around, and she soon locked her gaze onto Chen San. With that massive build of his, it would be a waste not to have him guard the entrance.

Without caring whether Chen San agreed or not, she directly banished him to sit by the entrance. Once Third Master sat down at the door, arms crossed with his axe resting by his feet, the scar on his face glinting coldly in the sunlight, the crime rate of the entire street dropped by three percent. The ruffians who usually came to Huamanlou to freeload or extort money would take a wide detour the moment they saw Chen San from afar. Having fired the useless gatekeeper who previously ate for free, Hua Er saved another sum on security fees, feeling absolutely delighted.

Now, in the entire Huamanlou, the only idle people who didn't work—aside from the comatose Lu Yan and the young Nannan—was Jiang Ci.

Hong Jiu had been assigned to serve dishes, Yao Wu to accelerate vegetable growth, and Chen San to guard the entrance, while Hua Er herself spent her days balancing the accounts, greeting customers, and bargaining with suppliers.

Everyone was incredibly busy. Jiang Ci had approached Hua Er several times, asking for some work to do, but Hua Er simply waved her hand. “Just take good care of Lu Yan.” Jiang Ci opened her mouth, but the words she was about to say were stuffed back down. She could only return to Lu Yan's side and stare blankly at him.

“Business at Huamanlou is really good today; the tables are packed with customers. Second Aunt had someone make chicken soup for you today, packed with lots of mind-nourishing herbs. Smell it, doesn't it smell delicious?” Jiang Ci held the bowl, waving it under Lu Yan's nose before pulling it back to take a sip herself. “I feel like it's a bit bland, but since you're comatose, you really should eat light food.” She set the bowl down and used a towel to wipe the corners of his mouth.

“Has your cultivation level increased? I haven't seen you need to use the restroom at all. Have you achieved inedia? If your cultivation level has gone up, will you be able to see once you wake up?” She put down the towel and reached out to touch the dark black silk ribbon covering his eyes. The texture of the silk felt smooth and cool against her fingertips.

She recalled their first meeting, when he, unable to see, had grabbed her leg to interrogate her. Thinking of this, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, but she quickly suppressed it.

“Can you please wake up soon? If you wake up, I can go do whatever work I can manage. I won't have to keep freeloading in someone else's shop every day.” Her voice was very soft, as if she were pleading with him, or perhaps talking to herself. “Besides, just having them bring us into the city cost two hundred spirit stones, and we've spent nearly another two hundred over this past half-month. That's four hundred spirit stones already. I don't know how long we'll have to live like this...”

Resting her chin in her hand, she stared at him, her gaze lingering on his face. She hoped to see even the slightest change in his expression—a twitch of his brow, a movement of his lips, a flutter of his eyelids. But there was nothing. He lay there quietly, like a wax figure, his breathing steady, his eyelashes motionless.

She moved her hand from the ribbon to his face, poking his cheek. His cheek was slightly sunken and soft, carrying his body heat. She gave it a poke. “If you wake up within three days, I'll pay back all the money we've owed this past half-month for you, okay?” Receiving no response, she poked him again. “Five days? Seven days? Ten days? You have to give me some sort of deadline. I can't just keep waiting like this forever.”

She withdrew her hand, clenching it into a fist and resting it on her knee. Sighing, she decided to stop talking to him altogether and simply watched him in silence. She stared and stared, watching him continuously...

“Have you seen Little Jiang?” Hua Er grabbed Yao Wu, who was as exhausted as a dog. His apron was covered in vegetable juices, chopped green onions clung to his face, and dark circles bruised the skin beneath his eyes as if he had been punched twice. Hua Er asked, “I haven't seen Little Jiang all day. Where did that girl run off to?”

Yao Wu's tone was frantic and sharp: “You're asking me? I've been working all day, big sister! You literally didn't buy a single vegetable, and you made me turn a single bean sprout into eighteen plates of Ants Climbing a Tree! I beg of you, find someone else to torture! I want to go back to my room and sleep! I haven't had a decent night's sleep in three days!” His voice echoed down the corridor, making Hua Er's ears ring.

Embarrassed, Hua Er let go of his clothes and took two steps back, saying weakly, “I'll give you tomorrow off, okay!” Without looking back, Yao Wu walked straight to his room and slammed the door shut with a loud bang. Hua Er rubbed her nose and muttered, “What a temper.”

She turned and paced along the corridor, searching room by room. “Little Jiang? Jiangjiang? Are you there?” No one answered. She had already searched more than half the tavern, from the first floor to the second, from the second to the third, from the kitchen to the warehouse, and from the warehouse to the rooftop. No one was there. An ominous thought cropped up in her mind. Surely not? She quickly walked to the door of Lu Yan's room, took a deep breath, and pushed it open, letting out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek from her throat—she was thoroughly scandalized.

“How did you two end up sleeping in the same bed!”

In truth, they weren't actually sleeping together. It was just that while Jiang Ci was watching Lu Yan, she had suddenly felt a bit drowsy and decided to rest her chin in her hand and take a quick nap. Consequently, her head had slumped forward right onto Lu Yan's chest. Since she was a deep sleeper, she didn't even notice, resulting in a highly bizarre sleeping posture.

“Lu Shiyi, you absolute scoundrel!” Eating my food, using my resources, and now you're even sleeping with the girl I have my eyes on! Ahhh! She rushed over, intending to pull Jiang Ci up.

Woken by the noise, Jiang Ci opened her bleary eyes. She instinctively tried to raise her right hand to rub her eyes, but she couldn't budge it. Looking down at her wrist, she saw a hand covered in thin calluses tightly gripping her slender wrist.

Gripping it very tightly...

A certain timeline that did not belong to this era.

Lu Yan stood by the edge of the martial arts arena, watching Jiang Ci practice her swordplay. Her figure was light and graceful, her sword edge flashing like a rainbow, and her long silver hair gleamed with a cold light under the sun like a thin veil.

With every thrust of her sword, the air trembled. Fallen leaves on the ground were swept up by the sword qi, spinning in midair for a long time without falling. Lu Yan simply watched. The corners of his lips curled up, and a smile overflowed from his eyes.

Going by the time, it should be about time to wake up, Lu Yan calculated in his mind, his gaze following Jiang Ci's figure. Having finished her sword dance, she withdrew her stance, letting the sword edge hang by her side. Panting, fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. She took a towel from a maid, wiped away her sweat, and then trotted over to throw herself into his arms.

“A-Yan, hug me.” Jiang Ci buried her head in the crook of his neck, her nose brushing against his skin as she felt his body heat. Her arms wrapped around his waist. Lu Yan smiled in response, wrapping one arm around her shoulder while his other hand stroked the crown of her head, gently smoothing her soft white hair stroke by stroke. His fingers ran through her hair, touching her warm scalp. He looked up at the blue sky, which was incredibly blue. He had rarely seen such a blue sky, and this would be the last time. I really hope it succeeds this time.

Tears slid down from the corners of his eyes, dripping onto Jiang Ci's back and blooming into a small, dark flower on her clothes. The damp sensation made Jiang Ci look up at Lu Yan. His eyes were red, teardrops hung from his eyelashes, and there were wet tear tracks on his face. She gently stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his eye, her lips brushing his damp skin, tasting the salty flavor.

“A-Yan, it will definitely succeed.”

The ground began to blur. The sky grew lower and lower, and the clouds pressed down like a massive curtain slowly falling. The nearby maids cried out in panic, but on the vast, empty martial arts arena, only this pair of lovers held each other tightly.

Lu Yan watched as golden specks of light began to drift away from Jiang Ci's body. They looked like shattered stars, like the candlelight that danced on her eyelashes when she first opened her eyes in the ruined temple. He reached out to gather them, but his fingertips only brushed against the specks as they slipped through his fingers. Soon, golden particles began to drift from his own body as well. He watched them disperse from his skin, passing through his palms, flying toward the sky, toward the sinking clouds, and toward the invisible distance.

“A-Yan, goodbye.” Jiang Ci dissipated completely. The last trace of warmth left Lu Yan's embrace entirely.

“No... there must never be a next time.” His body was nearly transparent. Starting from his feet, as he watched the sky and earth grow closer and closer until they nearly merged, he fell backward like a leaf blown down by the wind. The corners of his eyes were slightly damp, but his lips curved into a smile. Looking at the sky that was practically pressed against his face, he raised his middle finger. “Go f*ck yourself.”

Heaven and earth merged, the world returned to silence, leaving only nothingness.