“Hiss—”

Mi Lu gasped in pain, his entire face scrunched up in agony.

Now he knew why he hurt so much!

Not only had he been burned by the Red Fire Wolf’s flames and sprayed by the Eight-eyed Chicken’s water, but his body had also been bitten in many places by those beasts.

With injuries this severe, it was no wonder he was in so much pain.

But what puzzled him was why he was still alive. He had been gravely wounded, yet he survived. He couldn’t tell whether he was lucky or unlucky.

It took Mi Lu a long time to adjust to the pain in his body. He was unable to move, with only his eyes capable of shifting around.

He wanted to take a look at his surroundings, but Hulü Yan’s face was so close that it blocked his entire field of vision.

Hulü Yan’s expression was blank, his hollow eye sockets staring ahead, and Mi Lu couldn’t tell if he was sensing anything.

Mi Lu’s breath became uneven, and he managed to squeeze out two raspy words: “Move… aside.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Hulü Yan’s expression suddenly tensed, as if startled by Mi Lu’s sudden voice. Then, he extended his hand and gently touched Mi Lu’s face.

The cold fingertips brushed over his cheek, stopping when they reached the philtrum. Hulü Yan’s index finger hovered there.

Mi Lu: “…”

He knew it. Hulü Yan always had a way of infuriating him with his actions!

“Move your hand,” Mi Lu weakly grumbled. “I’m not dead yet. I’m still breathing.”

Hulü Yan remained expressionless but quickly withdrew his hand.

Seeing this, Mi Lu couldn’t resist mocking, “You really have no common sense. Have you ever seen a dead person who could speak?”

Hulü Yan tilted his head slightly, gazing at him in silence.

Mi Lu continued, “Besides, wouldn’t it be convenient for you if I died? You’ve always hated me and tried to kill me several times. If I die, you could go buy some firecrackers from town to celebrate.”

Mi Lu rambled on, his speech broken by his weakness.

Hulü Yan didn’t seem to understand the sarcasm in Mi Lu’s words. He sat quietly by his side, cross-legged, without reacting to anything Mi Lu said.

It felt like punching a pillow, and Mi Lu found the experience deeply frustrating.

Looking at Hulü Yan’s blood-smeared face, Mi Lu noted that Hulü Yan’s expression hadn’t changed at all, like a pool of stagnant water undisturbed for years. There wasn’t even a ripple.

After a moment, Mi Lu hurriedly looked away.

He regretted it—

Why had he said all those provocative things?

Did he really think his words would get a rise out of Hulü Yan?

The reality was that he’d overestimated his importance. To Hulü Yan, Mi Lu was nothing more than a human-shaped blood bag. Why would Hulü Yan care about his thoughts or feelings?

Taking a deep breath, Mi Lu forced himself to calm the strange emotions swirling in his heart.

Once he settled down, he began to take stock of his surroundings.

It seemed like he and Hulü Yan were in a cave, but the cave wasn’t very large. They were near the entrance, as the light was bright inside the cave, and the cold wind from outside blew straight onto Mi Lu’s face.

Mi Lu shivered from the cold.

He thought about asking Hulü Yan to carry him to a different spot, but knowing that Hulü Yan probably wouldn’t listen, he dismissed the idea.

He was both in pain and exhaustion, his head feeling as heavy as if it were stuffed with a ball of yarn. His thoughts were sluggish, and soon, his consciousness began to drift.

Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept, but when he awoke, the cold wind had become even more piercing, like needles stabbing into his flesh.

His body trembled uncontrollably, his limbs numb from the cold.

However, his consciousness remained heavy, and only the cold sweat on his forehead, oozing from the extreme pain, formed a thin layer.

“So… cold…” he mumbled, his voice barely coherent. “It’s so cold…”

He was about to freeze to death.

Although he had come to terms with the idea of death before, now that he hadn’t died and was facing death once more, he found himself afraid again.

He didn’t want to freeze to death.

It was too agonizing, like being cut to pieces slowly, until life was drained from him.

Where was Hulü Yan?

Had Hulü Yan left him?

The thought of this possibility sent a wave of unprecedented fear crashing through Mi Lu. The intense emotion turned into a fine thread that tightened around his heart.

He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were too heavy, no matter how hard he tried.

He had never expected Hulü Yan to treat him as a friend or companion. From the beginning, he had been prepared to be betrayed or abandoned by Hulü Yan at any moment.

But now that this moment seemed to have arrived, he regretted it.

No.

Don’t leave me!

He didn’t want to die alone in this narrow cave!

“Hu… Lü…” Mi Lu gasped, trying to make a sound. “Hulü Yan…”

Suddenly, a hand gently covered his mouth.

The skin of the hand was cold, contrasting sharply with the warm, sticky liquid that flowed from its palm into Mi Lu’s mouth.

The taste of blood filled his mouth, making Mi Lu gag, but the warmth that came with it was irresistible. He found himself greedily wanting more of that warmth.

Instinctively, he began to suck, the sound of his swallowing loud and clear in the cave.

This continued for a long time.

As his body gradually warmed, his numb hands finally regained some strength. His first reaction was to grab that hand.

The wrist was thin, easily encircled by Mi Lu’s fingers.

He clung to it desperately, like someone adrift in the ocean grasping onto a life-saving piece of driftwood.

The owner of the hand didn’t struggle, allowing Mi Lu to hold on quietly.

Mi Lu drifted back into sleep.

When he woke again, it was the next morning.

Dim light barely illuminated the cave, and in the cold of winter, not even the sound of insects could be heard. Only the constant howl of the wind filled the silence.

But oddly enough, despite the cold wind, Mi Lu felt warm, as if there was a heater inside his body.

Feeling something unusual, he looked down and realized that at some point, a blanket had been placed over him—the very same one he had taken from Wei Sheng.

He had nearly exhausted all of his defensive magical artifacts that night, but the other items were still intact, and it seemed Hulü Yan had found and used the blanket.

Still, Mi Lu had a feeling that his body’s warmth had nothing to do with the blanket.

He couldn’t help but recall the dream he’d had the night before.

The dream had been too vivid, as if he had really drunk Hulü Yan’s blood.

But he didn’t have the energy to think too deeply about it. After a night of rest, his limbs could finally move a bit. He summoned his spiritual power and set up a barrier at the cave entrance. Then he pulled out some elixirs from his storage pouch and began to regulate his breathing and heal.

His injuries were numerous and severe, and relying solely on elixirs for recovery would take a long time, so he had to combine it with cultivation.

While Mi Lu cultivated, Hulü Yan sat quietly against the cave wall, resting with his eyes closed.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Every night, Mi Lu had that same strange dream. In the dream, Hulü Yan fed him blood. Mi Lu was repulsed by the bloody taste but couldn’t resist the warmth the blood brought as it slid down his throat.

It wasn’t until his injuries began to heal at an astonishing speed that Mi Lu realized something was wrong.

One day, when Hulü Yan wasn’t paying attention, Mi Lu grabbed his hand.

Flipping it over, he saw what he feared—a palm covered in messy cuts.

Each cut was deep, the once smooth palm now a mess of gashes, with fresh blood still oozing from some of them.

Mi Lu’s breath hitched. Shocked and frightened, he stared at Hulü Yan. “What did you use to cut your hand?”

Hulü Yan remained expressionless as he pulled his hand back. He didn’t answer Mi Lu’s question and didn’t give any other reaction either.

Mi Lu followed Hulü Yan’s retreating hand with his eyes and saw that the fabric of Hulü Yan’s clothing was soaked with fresh blood, layered on top of older, dried bloodstains. It was a gruesome sight.

The smell of blood on them had been so strong these past few days that Mi Lu hadn’t noticed Hulü Yan’s actions.

So his miraculous recovery was all thanks to Hulü Yan?

Was it Hulü Yan’s blood that had saved him?

At that moment, more than the shock of learning that Hulü Yan’s blood had healing properties, Mi Lu was stunned by the fact that Hulü Yan had been willing to save him with his own blood!

Was this really something Hulü Yan would do?

It didn’t seem like the Hulü Yan he knew!

Feeling conflicted, Mi Lu couldn’t help but glance at Hulü Yan again. Wrapping the blanket tightly around himself, he sat up and rummaged through his storage pouch. Soon, he found some cloth strips and jars of ointment.

Thanks to Gu Qiu and Mi Hefeng gifting him that storage pouch for his last birthday, which could hold thousands of items, he and Hulü Yan had managed to survive in the wild for so long without turning into wild men.

Mi Lu sat down next to Hulü Yan and began bandaging his wounded hands.

Hulü Yan remained quiet, letting Mi Lu tend to him.

As Mi Lu bandaged him, the smell of blood lingered in the air, and only then did Mi Lu realize how extraordinary Hulü Yan’s blood was.

In the ten reincarnations he had gone through with Hulü Yan, never had he seen Hulü Yan use his own blood to save anyone, not even when one of the female protagonists’ lives was in danger. Hulü Yan had only stood by, coldly watching.

So, this was why the Medical Hall had been searching for Hulü Yan all this time?

Did the Medical Hall already know the secret of Hulü Yan’s blood?

A thought suddenly occurred to Mi Lu.

In the previous ten cycles, while he was still following the storyline, had the Medical Hall taken Hulü Yan after he was thrown into the Han Tu Abyss by the Hulü family?

Was that why Hulü Yan later destroyed the Medical Hall—because he had been imprisoned there?

It all made sense now.

Perhaps Hulü Yan’s reluctance to save the female protagonists stemmed from his fear of his secret being exposed and causing more trouble for himself, all because of his time in captivity at the Medical Hall.

Mi Lu wasn’t sure if his guess was correct, but he felt it necessary to explain things to Hulü Yan.

After finishing the bandaging, he put the remaining cloth strips and ointments back into his storage pouch. He also packed up the blanket and then moved closer to Hulü Yan’s good ear, speaking seriously, “I won’t reveal your secret. Whether I live or die, it’ll stay buried with me.”

Hulü Yan tilted his head slightly, showing no reaction.

Mi Lu was used to Hulü Yan treating him as invisible and didn’t expect a response. He paused for a moment before adding, “Whatever your reason, thank you for saving me.”

Not wanting to listen to Mi Lu’s chatter, Hulü Yan immediately closed his eyes, pretending to be dead.

Mi Lu: “…”

This guy was still so annoying!

They stayed in the cave for two more days before Mi Lu began to consider what to do next.

He still wanted to try his luck at the Medical Hall, though after what had happened that night, a new idea had formed in his mind.

Hulü Yan had been able to wipe out that group of beasts in seconds. If he could absorb more spiritual energy from Mi Lu, couldn’t he just go and retrieve his own voice from the Medical Hall’s master by himself?

Then Mi Lu could just sit back and watch?

The more Mi Lu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

He cautiously probed Hulü Yan’s cultivation level, but as always, he sensed nothing. As far as he could tell, Hulü Yan was just an ordinary person who had never absorbed spiritual energy.

But how could the protagonist, Hulü Yan, be an ordinary person?

Mi Lu was thoroughly confused, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure it out.

Unable to solve the mystery, he decided to stop worrying about it.

Mi Lu exited the cave before Hulü Yan. After dismantling the barrier, he noticed that snow had started falling at some point.

The sky was overcast, and the thick, swirling snowflakes covered the ground in a thin blanket of white, turning the entire world into a snowy landscape.

They continued heading northwest.

The snow kept falling, getting heavier over the next two days. The ground crunched beneath their feet with every step.

Fortunately, the thick clothes they had bought in the last town were still in good condition, stored in their storage pouches. Once they put them on, both of them were bundled up like dumplings.

Mi Lu didn’t tell Hulü Yan where he was headed, and Hulü Yan didn’t ask. He just quietly followed Mi Lu.

Time passed quickly, and just as their supplies were running low, they arrived at the next town.

This time, Mi Lu was extra cautious. He and Hulü Yan observed the town for two days before they dared to stay at a small, quiet inn on the edge of town.

They both wore masks, low-grade magical artifacts they had purchased at the previous town that slightly altered their appearances.

When they had run into Ni Wenhui and the others earlier, they had also been wearing masks, but after waking up in the cave, their masks had been burned.

Mi Lu wasn’t sure if Ni Wenhui and the others had seen their faces.

Thinking about this made Mi Lu feel anxious.

He planned to spend half a day restocking their supplies for the next three months and then leave the town with Hulü Yan as soon as possible. The more people around, the more dangers there were. The wilderness suited them better.

But on the morning of their departure, as they stepped out of the inn, they unexpectedly saw a group of well-dressed people walking down the street. The group split into two lines, searching door-to-door while eyeing the pedestrians.

The group was dressed in black, and they all looked remarkably similar—thin, gaunt, with yellowed skin, each person looking like little more than skin and bones.

Mi Lu squinted at them, feeling an odd sense of familiarity.

He quickly pulled Hulü Yan back into the inn and saw the innkeeper peeking out from the doorway. Mi Lu approached and asked, “Innkeeper, who are those people?”

The innkeeper sighed. “They’re from the Medical Hall, probably looking for someone again.”