PD -Chapter 172 After Awakening

Leaning against a large tree beside me, I gazed at the frozen river I had jumped into earlier. I had previously broken the ice seal with a spell, but now the river was slowly freezing over again, becoming covered by a thick layer of ice.

At that moment, it felt as though even the surrounding air had turned colder. My body couldn’t help but tremble.

Gritting my teeth, I looked over at Tang Shanshan, who was still unconscious. I took off one of my outer garments and draped it over her.

The cold was making my thoughts increasingly hazy. I could clearly feel my body’s functions gradually weakening.

Before passing out, I had exhausted the last of my strength to dig the bullet embedded in my left shoulder out of the wound. After that, I no longer had the energy to do anything else.

Liu Xiaopeng’s condition was even worse than mine. Blood had flowed from all seven of his facial orifices. After I pulled him out, it was impossible to tell whether he was alive or dead. His breathing was incredibly weak. It seemed that while resisting his ancestor’s spiritual consciousness…..he had forcibly retracted all of the overbearing spiritual power released by the Immortal-Slaying Sword back into his body, causing irreversible damage to his internal organs and meridians.

Looking at the dense and complex primeval forest before me, I felt a sense of despair.

Could it be that after surviving the Three Realms Rift incident…..we were now going to die trapped beneath this cliff in the wilderness?

But my body no longer seemed to belong to me. I couldn’t even get myself to stand up, let alone carry the other two out of here.

Fortunately, in my half-conscious state, after an unknown amount of time had passed, I heard movement coming from the sky above. It sounded like a helicopter circling overhead.

Soon, the sound of the rotors and engine grew louder. The helicopter descended and landed on the frozen surface below the cliff.

Through my blurred vision, I saw an emblem painted on the aircraft.

It was the logo of Bureau 507.

It seemed their cleanup team had arrived.

Relieved, I struggled to raise a hand and wave for help toward the people disembarking from the helicopter.

In truth, they had already spotted us.

Three people quickly jumped out and ran over, carrying the three of us back to the aircraft.

The moment the helicopter lifted off again, I could no longer hold on.

My mental strength had reached its absolute limit.

The instant a Bureau 507 staff member fitted an oxygen mask over me, everything went black, and I sank into complete unconsciousness.

I had no idea how long I remained unconscious.

This time, however, that nightmare never returned.

My mind was completely blank.

I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I last slept so peacefully.

When I finally woke up, I found myself in a hospital room.

The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant and medicine. It was obvious that this was a hospital.

Slowly sitting up in bed, I discovered that my left shoulder had already been bandaged, and my left arm was suspended in a sling around my neck.

Feeling the pain throughout my body, I attempted to circulate my spiritual energy and assess my condition.

The moment I tried, however, it felt as if a massive hammer had struck my chest.

A mouthful of blood nearly burst from my throat.

I cursed under my breath.

It seemed I had truly pushed myself too far this time.

Both my meridians and internal organs had suffered severe damage.

Furthermore, because I had chosen to burn my spiritual consciousness in Tang Shanshan’s mindscape in order to rescue her, both my spiritual power and cultivation had been drastically reduced.

I let out a sigh.

Recovering my physical health in the future would not be difficult.

But restoring my spiritual power and returning to the realm of Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness would likely be extraordinarily difficult.

Still, there was one thing that comforted me.

In the end, I had accomplished my objective.

Tang Shanshan had finally been saved.

Moreover, the Five Directions Ghost Emperor’s primordial spirit inside her seemed to have been absorbed by Shentu.

Although I still had no idea how she had managed to accomplish it.

At that moment, the ward door opened.

A fair-skinned young man walked in.

It was Di Ting.

I frowned and immediately asked about Tang Shanshan and Liu Xiaopeng’s condition.

“Don’t worry. Just like you, they’re recovering in their own hospital rooms. This is Bureau 507 territory. There won’t be any danger here,” Di Ting replied calmly.

He walked over and sat down on a chair beside my bed.

Looking at me, his expression revealed neither joy nor anger.

After a long pause, he finally spoke.

“You people really know how to cause trouble.”

“Do you have any idea who Shentu is? Yet you still dared to associate with her—and even went to the Underworld to steal Ghost Gate Pass’s Black Jade!”

Di Ting’s tone was somewhat cold as he frowned at me.

I laughed self-mockingly and said nothing.

Only after Di Ting sighed and turned his head away did I finally ask, “Was Shentu… captured?”

Di Ting shook his head.

“She’s probably hiding somewhere in the human world right now. However…”

“Since she helped us seal the rift, even though we don’t know her true motives, she’s unlikely to stir up any major trouble for the time being.”

“However…”

As he spoke, Di Ting stood up and clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze still fixed on me.

“The fact that your girlfriend’s primordial spirit was able to return to her body is largely thanks to Shentu. It seems your relationship with her is quite unusual.”

“Congratulations. You’ve become a key surveillance target of Bureau 507.”

“You know how she did it?” I ignored the second half of his statement and asked with a frown.

Di Ting nodded.

“Shentu somehow brought that Black Jade bullet of yours into the consciousness world.”

“It was that bullet that caused the Ghost Emperor to completely lose control and collapse inside the mindscape.”

“Because…”

“The Ghost Emperor’s primordial spirit had once been imprisoned inside Black Jade itself. So Black Jade is extremely harmful to her.”

“It’s like… a person being allergic to a particular substance.”

“That was the real reason Shentu was able to win in the end.”

“As for your girlfriend…”

“Of course, part of the credit goes to you as well. You rescued her consciousness.”

“Otherwise…”

“Whether Shentu might have simply erased her as well is anyone’s guess.”

Crossing his arms, Di Ting’s eyes became unreadable.

“So I’m warning you.”

“Don’t stand on the wrong side and mistake Shentu for a friend.”

I nodded, indicating that I understood.

Meanwhile, my thoughts drifted back to everything that had happened within the consciousness world.

The dark crimson cloud tide had clearly been Shentu’s primordial spirit power.

The endless black waters had been the Ghost Emperor’s.

And in the final moments, a multicolored black hole had indeed appeared upon the surface of those waters, continuously devouring their power.

Now, considering what Di Ting had just told me, the emergence of that black hole was likely connected to the Black Jade bullet that Shentu had brought inside.

“You mentioned something about the gods while we were inside the rift.”

I straightened myself up again and looked at Di Ting.

“What exactly did you mean by that?”

I had been pondering his words ever since then.

But my understanding of the Divine Realm was practically nonexistent.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t make sense of what he meant.

Di Ting frowned.

After hesitating for a moment, he sat back down in the chair.

From the look of it, he had no intention of keeping the truth from me any longer.