Chapter 5: Awakening

Consciousness fades.

Xu Yuan seems to have drifted into an endless void, an infinite darkness and cold enveloping him.

All five senses vanish.

No passage of time.

For how long? Loneliness, despair seep into every part of his being.

Has he died?

Xu Yuan believes he must have.

How could he possibly survive being cared for by that absurdly cold, senseless block of ice, in a state of hypothermia and fever?

No matter how terrified he had been of death in life, when death finally comes, there is only a sense of peace.

In that moment, Xu Yuan even finds the sensation of death rather pleasant.

He could feel a warm, persistent sensation flowing continuously along the edge of his lips, a little seeping even into his mouth.

It was liquid.

Slightly bitter, yet subtly sweet.

Delicious.

Like parched earth, long deprived of nourishment, finally kissed by a gentle, life-giving rain—the urge to swallow, to suck, overwhelmed every instinct.

As the bitter-sweet warmth poured into him, waves of warmth began spreading through his body, melting away the lingering cold.

Hmm?

Wait.

If he were dead—why could he still drink?

With that strange thought emerging, his lost senses began to return, one by one, until finally he heard clearly—the sound of gulping, gulping, gulping.

Gently opened his eyes, the blurred vision of his pupils still unfocused distorting the scene before him.

With the soft, rhythmic sound of swallowing, the unconscious gaze of Xu Yuan began to sharpen.

He saw those... pale eyes.

Muddled consciousness left him momentarily disoriented, so he stared at the figure for two seconds before instinctively tilting his head slightly.

The moment he moved, a cold, slender hand instantly pressed down on his head, holding him still.

Ran Qingmo.

Xu Yuan opened his mouth to speak, only to notice the spout of a water bladder inserted into his mouth, warm liquid flowing steadily into his throat.

As awareness slowly returned, Xu Yuan clenched his fists tighter, beginning to struggle—but the other person's strength was overwhelming.

The sensation of being forced to drink was unpleasant, let alone the long spout of the water bladder, the liquid pouring continuously into his throat.

Their eyes met.

Xu Yuan struggled to swallow, blinking hard with effort.

Ran Qingmo blinked once, then nodded at him.

"..." Xu Yuan.

A silence of ten seconds stretched on, his face slowly flushing red. The sound of water pouring became the only echo in the cavern.

In that moment,

Xu Yuan finally understood why the girlfriends from his past life had so fiercely slapped his thighs.

Once the liquid was fully consumed, Ran Qingmo folded away the water bag and silently rose, stepping out.

After she left, the bonds vanished.

The suffocating sensation released him, and he gasped deeply as if reborn, slowly sitting up. He reached for words of rage, but before he could speak, he paused, startled, and raised his hand to examine his own body.

As the liquid had entered him, the body that had once been bitterly cold began to warm. The heat spread rapidly, visibly radiating from his stomach outward to every limb. The lingering cold that had gathered within him slowly dissipated.

An unprecedented, revolutionary experience—faster than a hundredfold over the previous life's miracle drug.

"You... you gave me something?"

Xu Yuan's voice remained slightly hoarse, yet it no longer carried the frailty it once did. As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward Ran Qingmo's back. But suddenly, he noticed the cave had warmed considerably, and a faint mist drifted through the air.

Doubt stirred in his mind—

Just as his eyes swept across the scene, he nearly gasped, his breath caught in his throat.

Since his reincarnation, each time he awoke, it had tested the limits of both his mind and body.

The cave entrance was an ellipse with a radius of two meters—

And yet, this unremarkable cave opening was now almost completely sealed by a massive, looming head.

A giant python.

Two fangs protruded from its mouth, a pair of half-closed, serpent-like eyes fixed coldly upon the cave's interior. Its entire body shimmered with crimson scales, blazing like flames, while a single horn atop its head pulsed with a faint golden glow. Massive, fleshy wings flapped gently with each breath, fluttering at its sides.

Rain fell upon the colossal serpent—more accurately, the serpent demon—its scales instantly rising in waves of steam from the intense heat.

Mist swirled, the cave transformed into a fairyland.

What in the world—?

Xu Yuan struggled to rise, inching backward slowly.

As his eyes opened, he saw the great serpent coiled nearby, staring at him with unblinking intensity.

His former life's worldview had left him unable to accept this.

Didn't every reincarnation come with a beginner's village to adjust to?

Was this monstrous serpent—this gate's guardian—something one would encounter in a beginner's village?

As Xu Yuan's mind reeled, his peripheral vision caught a silhouette in black robes leaping onto the great serpent's massive head.

Rain and mist blurred the world, filtering through the dim light between the downpour.

Xu Yuan, following the movement of that black silhouette, caught sight of a clear, crystal-like ice spike behind the serpent’s head—a spike so pure it seemed forged from frozen starlight.

A massive ice spear, piercing through the serpent’s vital seven-inch section and anchoring it firmly to the ground!

Ran Qingmo directed the spout of her water pouch toward the sharp horn atop the snake demon’s head, tapping its hard scales with the hilt of her sword.

The great serpent, resigned, closed its eyes. Golden droplets seeped from the horn, trickling slowly into the pouch through the spout.

Once the pouch was full, the snake demon’s aura visibly weakened.

Ran Qingmo leapt down from the creature’s back and handed the pouch to Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan accepted it with a calm, expressionless face—his mind still fogged, unsteady.

After handing over the pouch, Ran Qingmo scanned the cave, blinked twice, as if remembering something, then turned silently and vanished into the rain.

Staring blankly at the direction she had gone, Xu Yuan’s stiff mind began to stir, one thought after another, slowly awakening.

Gazing at the colossal python blocking the entrance, Xu Yuan realized that it was precisely because of this massive block of ice that had been thrown into the beast, severely injuring it and dragging it back.

The rain fell softly, steadily, and the figure of the woman vanished completely into the mist.

A minute later—

Ran Qingmo returned from the rain, cradling a large bundle of damp wood in her arms. Instantly, droplets splashed onto the dry ground.

Ignoring Xu Yuan's bewildered gaze, she quietly placed the bundle of wood two meters away from him, arranging them in a circle to form a fire.

It seemed she intended to light a fire using the wet wood.

Xu Yuan watched her movements, a faint smile playing at his lips, instinctively reaching to speak in caution.

But at that moment, Ran Qingmo had already moved swiftly to the side of the giant python’s head, her eyes calm and distant. With the hilt of her sword, she gently tapped its skull.

The python, startled, shrank back, peering at her with fear. It opened its mouth and extended its long, slender tongue. In an instant, a wave of searing heat surged through the cave.

The damp wood, visibly drying within seconds, was then swiftly absorbed by the snake’s slender tongue, which flicked it gently onto the pile of fire.

A flash of fire lit the cold stone wall of the cave.

Xu Yuan opened his mouth, then silently swallowed the words he had meant to say.