Mi Lu felt nauseous.

Although he had no idea why, as an NPC in the novel, he would have such an independent and subjective feeling, the truth was that this feeling kept intermittently triggering his brain’s nerves.

Then—

He heard himself dry heaving.

“Young Master?” A familiar female voice called out in shock and joy.

Immediately after, the voice grew distant, accompanied by the sound of hurried footsteps, “Liu Li, quickly go get Master and Madam! Tell them that the Young Master is showing signs of waking!”

“On it! I’m going!”

After Liu Li ran off, the voice returned to the bedside, trembling and cautious, calling out to the Young Master again and again.

Mi Lu was drifting in endless darkness, but the repeated calls of “Young Master” seemed to form an invisible golden thread, silently guiding him forward.

The darkness receded.

His consciousness gathered.

The sobbing female voice by his ear gradually became clearer.

Mi Lu struggled to open his eyes. His vision was so blurred it seemed as if a veil covered it, and although the soft, warm yellow light wasn’t harsh, he still felt tears naturally well up and overflow from the corners of his eyes.

“Young Master! You’re awake!”

Mi Lu slightly tilted his head. The first thing he saw was the tear-streaked face of a young girl.

She was leaning by the bed, weeping uncontrollably, but her eyes were filled with joy, clearly tears of relief.

“Fei Cui…” Mi Lu wanted to speak, but his voice was hoarse. He barely managed to call out the young girl’s name before he couldn’t continue.

“Young Master.” Fei Cui hurriedly wiped away her tears and gave Mi Lu a smile. “I’m right here. Liu Li has gone to fetch Master and Madam, they’ll be here soon.”

Mi Lu nodded slightly and closed his eyes in silence.

At this moment, his thoughts were a tangled mess. It took him quite some time to fully digest what Fei Cui had said.

Even so, many doubts still lingered—

Where was the story now?

How did he suddenly regain consciousness?

Where was the protagonist Hulü Yan?

What exactly happened?

Weren’t they supposed to be entering the eleventh cycle? Or had his role already ended?

But his role wasn’t supposed to end in bed! He clearly died on a journey!

Too much information swirled around in his head like a ball of tangled thread, all stuffed into Mi Lu’s brain at once.

He couldn’t even find the ends of the threads, let alone untangle the mess.

He thought long and hard, his temples throbbing, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t figure it out.

His brain was blocked by that ball of thread.

All he felt was an overwhelming discomfort, like being submerged in water—his mind was troubled, and his body was no better.

There was a strong taste of blood in his mouth, as if he had just drunk a bowl of it—both metallic and sweet, spreading down his throat, making him want to vomit several times.

“Water.” He barely managed to make a sound.

Hearing this, Fei Cui quickly poured a cup of warm water, then dipped a clean handkerchief into it and gently dabbed it onto Mi Lu’s dry lips.

Mi Lu turned his head away from the handkerchief. “I want to drink.”

Fei Cui had no choice but to set the cup and handkerchief aside, helping him sit up against her shoulder before handing the cup to his lips.

Mi Lu drank half a cup. Although the taste of blood in his mouth remained strong, it was at least bearable now.

As soon as Fei Cui laid Mi Lu back down, Liu Li returned, leading Mi Hefeng and Gu Qiu, his parents, into the room in a hurry.

As soon as Gu Qiu saw her son’s pale face, her eyes instantly reddened, and she rushed to the bedside.

“Liu Liu, you’ve finally woken up. You scared your mother to death.” Gu Qiu wanted to reach out and touch her son, but didn’t dare, so she could only gaze at him, her autumn-like eyes brimming with tears.

Mi Hefeng followed closely behind, his expression also full of emotion. However, he was much calmer than his wife. After she finished speaking, he added, “You need to rest well for now. As for your master, I’ve already sent a message. When you recover, we’ll personally go to your sect to apologize to your master.”

Gu Qiu nodded and, unable to hold back, gently stroked Mi Lu’s face. “If you feel unwell, tell me. If I’m not around, tell Fei Cui or Liu Li, and I’ll rush back immediately.”

Gu Qiu’s hand was cold against Mi Lu’s feverish skin, a soothing coolness spreading through him.

The sensation was familiar.

Just like the scene unfolding before him was familiar. After ten cycles, certain things had already been deeply imprinted in Mi Lu’s mind.

He had just momentarily forgotten them.

Including the metallic taste of blood he hadn’t noticed earlier.

Suddenly, everything clicked.

It was as if that tangled ball of thread in his brain had suddenly unraveled. Now that he had found the ends, everything became crystal clear.

He grabbed Gu Qiu’s hand before she could pull it away and stared at her with a blank expression. “Mother, did you feed me something?”

Gu Qiu was momentarily stunned, not expecting her son’s first words upon waking to be this question. She couldn’t hide her expression, glancing nervously at Mi Hefeng.

It wasn’t until Mi Hefeng gave her a look that she regained her composure and smiled at Mi Lu. “I sought out a medicinal ingredient from the Hulü Family for you. What you drank was a medicinal decoction made from that ingredient. If it weren’t for that, you might not have survived this time, and I would never have seen you again.”

As she thought about it, Gu Qiu was filled with lingering fear.

Thankfully, the Mi Family held a prestigious position among the four great families. Otherwise, with so many people coveting the medicinal ingredient, there was no way they could have secured it so quickly through a deal with the Hulü Family.

However, Mi Lu’s expression did not relax. His face was tense to the extreme, and his breathing grew shaky as though he had realized something. “What kind of medicinal ingredient?”

Gu Qiu evaded the question. “Liu Liu, focus on recovering first. We can talk about this later.”

“Mother.” Mi Lu gasped, his face deathly pale, but the corners of his eyes were tinged with a deep red. “What exactly is this medicinal ingredient? Tell me.”

Gu Qiu was at a loss.

Just as she was hesitating about whether to tell the truth, Mi Hefeng timely intervened, changing the topic.

“An ingredient is just an ingredient. As long as it can save your life, it’s a good ingredient. There’s no need to question its origin so deeply.” Mi Hefeng’s voice was stern. “You’ve just woken up and are still weak. Your mother and I will leave you to rest. As she said, when you’re better, we’ll talk more.”

With that, Mi Hefeng called Gu Qiu to follow him and left.

Gu Qiu wanted to stay with her son, but she knew her son’s temperament. If she stayed, he would definitely press her for answers until the truth came out.

Reluctantly, she gave some instructions to Fei Cui and Liu Li before leaving with Mi Hefeng—they had much to attend to.

Over the past year, ever since that child from the Hulü Family appeared, the entire cultivation world had been in turmoil.

Especially after the division of the medicinal ingredient, many sects and families who didn’t benefit from the deal repeatedly caused trouble. As one of the beneficiaries, the Mi Family was naturally swamped with handling these issues.

If it weren’t for that, they wouldn’t have left their still-unconscious son unattended, running around all day dealing with matters.

On the other hand, Mi Lu closed his eyes once more.

He thought he had pieced everything together.

He wasn’t sure if this was a rebirth or an awakening of his consciousness, but either way, he had returned to the year when he was eighteen and seriously ill, unknowingly fed a decoction made from Hulü Yan’s heart by his mother.

But his parents would never have dreamed that the medicinal ingredient they had worked so hard to acquire not only failed to prolong his life but also brought disaster upon the entire Mi Family.

Thinking about it, Mi Lu felt he was still somewhat lucky.

If he hadn’t had that unexpected incident, he would have eventually died at Hulü Yan’s hands anyway. And by then, his death wouldn’t have been so merciful.

But he pitied his parents. He pitied the entire Mi Family.

Although Mi Lu had gone through ten cycles, at this point, he had neither died nor turned into the wandering soul that hovered around Hulü Yan. He only deduced that Hulü Yan had just been sacrificed, stripped of his eyes, ears, tongue, limbs, and heart on the sacrificial altar.

After the sacrifice, Hulü Yan had been rendered useless, stripped of his humanity, and discarded into the abyss by the Hulü Family like trash, left to fend for himself.

Mi Lu thought carefully.

It seemed to be the Han Tu Abyss.

By nightfall, Mi Lu had regained some strength. After having dinner with the help of Fei Cui and Liu Li, he asked Fei Cui to bring him a map.

The Hulü Family resided in the Immortal Valley of Echeng County. The entire valley was surrounded by waterfalls and jagged rocks, with the waterfall serving as the entrance. On the opposite side of the valley was a sheer cliff.

At the bottom of that cliff lay the Han Tu Abyss.

The Han Tu Abyss was an inhospitable environment, shrouded in icy mist all year round, with extremely low temperatures and large beasts roaming about. It was a place where disciples from major sects often went to train.

However, entering and exiting the abyss required a group of at least five people. If fewer than five or if one ventured in alone, death was highly likely.

But Hulü Yan, being the tragic yet powerful protagonist of an upgrade-based novel, couldn’t possibly die so easily in the Han Tu Abyss.

Mi Lu didn’t know how Hulü Yan managed to escape from the abyss, but by the time he heard Hulü Yan’s name again, Hulü Yan had already turned to the demonic path.

The process in between must have been grueling.

Mi Lu lowered his gaze, his long lashes concealing the complex emotions in his eyes. He folded up the map and placed it by his pillow, then instructed Fei Cui and Liu Li to prepare a bath.

After bathing, he went to bed.

Mi Lu spent five full days in bed, waiting for everything to be ready. One night, when Fei Cui and Liu Li weren’t paying attention, he quietly left the Mi Family.

As a cultivator, Mi Lu was rather talentless. He had been apprenticed to the famous Master Daoist Pu Ji at the age of twelve, training with him for six years. While his junior disciples had all reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he was still stuck in the early stages of Qi Refining and couldn’t even fly on a sword.

Fortunately, the Mi Family, being one of the four great families, was never short of money.

Mi Lu used five thousand spirit stones to buy a flying boat and hired a boatman, heading to the Han Tu Abyss behind the Immortal Valley overnight.

The boatman was a wandering cultivator who had reached the mid-stage of the Core Formation realm. Though not as powerful as the Nascent Soul masters, he was more than capable of ensuring Mi Lu’s safety in the dangerous Han Tu Abyss.

They flew through the night.

By the time the first light of dawn touched the sky, the deep blues of early morning layering like silk, they had arrived at their destination. The flying boat landed at the entrance of the Han Tu Abyss.

As soon as Mi Lu stepped off the boat, he was hit by a blast of cold air that made him shiver uncontrollably. His face was pale from illness, and despite wearing thick clothing, he was so cold that he stomped his feet to keep warm.

The boatman, a burly middle-aged man, wasn’t as badly affected, but even he wasn’t entirely comfortable. He placed several warming talismans on both himself and Mi Lu.

Before they entered, the boatman asked again, “Are you sure you want to go in?”

The talismans wouldn’t be of much use in the abyss. Mi Lu’s teeth were chattering, but he gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go.”

The Han Tu Abyss was dense with trees, their canopies blocking out the sky. Coupled with the swirling icy mist, visibility was low. The boatman couldn’t fly, so they had to walk.

They trudged on, stopping occasionally. Along the way, they encountered several beasts, but the boatman easily dealt with them.

In the icy fog, they couldn’t light any fires, not even with fire starters.

While resting, Mi Lu pulled out a pile of clothes and warming items from his Qiankun bag, but he still shivered uncontrollably.

The boatman leaned against a tree. With his cultivation, he could just barely make out Mi Lu’s appearance—like a little chick hiding in a cave, every feather trembling from the cold.

The boatman chuckled and said, “That person must be really important to you, for you to go to such lengths.”

Mi Lu, teeth chattering, said, “Very important.”

The protagonist of the novel.

The center of this world.

How could he not be important?

The boatman guessed, “A lover?”

Mi Lu reacted sharply. “No way!”

The boatman laughed. “A family member?”

Mi Lu shook his head. “No.”

The boatman thought for a moment. “Then it must be a friend?”

Mi Lu thought for a moment too. “You could say that.”

The boatman chuckled. “A friend important enough for you to value this much must be quite extraordinary.”

Mi Lu sighed inwardly, thinking to himself that the boatman was quite the prophet. In the future, Hulü Yan would be more than just extraordinary.

He asked the boatman, “How long until we arrive?”

“Not long,” the boatman replied. “Tomorrow, I’d say.”

Sure enough, the next morning, they arrived at the bottom of the cliff.

The ground was jagged and barren. Without the trees obscuring their view, they easily found Hulü Yan.

At this point, Hulü Yan was fourteen years old and bore no resemblance to the fearsome demon lord he would become. Instead, he looked like a broken rag doll, lying motionless in front of a protruding gray rock.

He didn’t move.

It was as if all life had left him.

Mi Lu stood there, staring at him from a distance, feeling a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard and strode over.

Soon, he reached the rock.

The overcast sky made his already pale face look even more ghostly. His fists clenched, his heart tightening to the point where he could hardly breathe.

He saw Hulü Yan’s mutilated body—hands missing, eyes gouged, legs severed. It was as if a whole person had been laid out on a banquet table, devoured by the guests.

After the feast, all that remained was a broken shell, barely clinging to life.

And he—

Was one of those guests.

Hulü Yan seemed to sense his presence. His empty eyes turned in Mi Lu’s direction.

Blood streamed from Hulü Yan’s eye sockets.

A child, not even fourteen, dragging a body that had been torn apart, his face blank with confusion.

“Hulü Yan.” Mi Lu knelt down and gently touched his face. “I’ve come to take you away.”