Rarely Confused

When Qin Ran reached the ground, he had already vomited and had slowly regained his senses as his IQ reclaimed its high ground.

He had flown after Li Shiyin for so long and under these environmental circumstances...they had probably truly arrived deep within the Hengduan Mountains.

"Damn!" Qin Ran couldn't help but curse in his heart.

He had lingered at the Dao Sword Sect for twenty years. The Dao Sword Sect was situated within the Hengduan Mountains. He had never taken a single step deeper into the Hengduan Mountains. As a modern man at the beginning stage of scientific civilization, he held immense reverence towards the immortal cultivation world. He had never thought of probing the dangers of this world.

Yet unexpectedly...

He had arrived deep within the Hengduan Mountains in this manner.

"Master..." Just as he was filled with shock and alarm, Li Shiyin called out to him from the bushes. He looked over to see his silly disciple's face as pale as a sheet, leaning against the branches and leaves, weakly saying to him, "Master, my hand hurts."

Just now, to save him, Li Shiyin had urgently and directly used her hand to catch him. That impact had probably fractured her bones.

Qin Ran took a deep breath, reminding himself that he was the master and suppressed the turmoil and fear in his heart. Then he walked towards Li Shiyin, comforting her, "It's fine, it just dislocated...Master is here."

The dried branches and withered leaves that he stepped on had accumulated for who knows how many years, layer upon layer, of unknown depth. Stepping down, his knees disappeared from sight.

On a rainy day like this, water had gathered in this pile of dried branches and rotting leaves, becoming like a swamp.

"Huff...huff..." Qin Ran constantly adjusted his breathing, reminding himself that he was still a cultivator, circulating his magic power, forcefully pulling his foot out, then hurriedly summoning water to wash away the filth on his feet. The decaying leaves had been buried for endless years so no one knew what was inside.

Gathering water under his feet to form a protective layer, he stepped on the surface of the leaves, walking to Li Shiyin's side with a water-gliding technique.

It was hard to say that the silly disciple was leaning against the bushes. It was more like she had crashed down and ended up in this position. She could no longer move at all. Her entire body was drenched now. Her usually flyaway bangs were now plastered wetly against her forehead. Her face was devoid of color, extremely frail.

Qin Ran first took out a Great Returning Pellet from his Universe Bag and fed her one, saying, "For healing external injuries."

With great difficulty, Li Shiyin swallowed the medicinal pill.

They had fallen from the sky. Although Qin Ran's body was already quite strong, he still ached all over now and didn't know if he had any internal injuries. Li Shiyin's physique was even weaker than his. Aside from her arm, he didn't know the extent of her other injuries. Worried that her bones and meridians were displaced, Qin Ran didn't dare move Li Shiyin randomly.

Brushing aside Li Shiyin's bangs, Qin Ran tested her forehead temperature. It was very high. Looks like it wasn't just external injuries, she had also contracted an illness from the wind and rain. Drenched in the rain, frightened, and injured, it was normal that the silly disciple couldn't withstand it.

"Does it hurt?" he asked gently.

Li Shiyin nodded.

So he fed her a Warming Pellet, saying, "For pain relief."

Then formless and invisible magic power emerged from his palm, gathering up the water on their clothes and hair into a large water sphere. The water sphere opened up again, enclosing them like a bubble to prevent continued drenching from the rain.

"Can you circulate your magic power?" Qin Ran asked Li Shiyin again.

Li Shiyin shook her head. "I don't have any magic power left."

Then he fed her a top grade Returning Yuan Pellet.

The Returning Yuan Pellet entering her body brought extremely refined magic power. The pellet's medicinal efficacy automatically circulated, guiding the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to enter her body. Li Shiyin's depleted dantian slowly regained magic power.

"How about now?"

Li Shiyin tried circulating it but her entire body hurt as soon as she moved her magic power so she hurriedly stopped.

"It hurts everywhere on my body," she said.

Although the Great Returning Pellet Qin Ran had fed Li Shiyin was top notch, Li Shiyin's physique was not an ordinary one. Her physical constitution had long surpassed that of mortals. It was precisely because of this that after being injured, her recovery speed was very slow.

Qin Ran furrowed his brows, raising his head to look at the sky. It would be dark soon. Due to the gloomy rainy day, the light was fading extremely quickly.

"We can't keep staying here, it's too dangerous," he said. At night, ordinary forests belonged to the beasts while the forests of the Hengduan Mountains were a paradise for demonic beasts. They had to hurry and find a place to hide. He asked again, "Can you walk?"

Li Shiyin tried moving but couldn't get up at all.

Qin Ran deeply inhaled, turned around, and squatted down in front of Li Shiyin, saying, "Let me set your bones first. It'll hurt a lot."

"Mm," Li Shiyin wasn't an ordinary girl and wasn't afraid of pain either.

Qin Ran closed his eyes, his divine sense drilling out from between his brows, entering Li Shiyin's arm to observe the state of her muscles and bones in preparation to set them.

Although it was his first time setting bones, his divine sense assisted him after all so there were no issues. With a "pop", he neatly set the bone back in place.

Opening his eyes, he saw Li Shiyin frowning and asked, "Done?"

Li Shiyin moved her hand a little and nodded.

"Alright...let's find a place to hide first and talk tomorrow," Qin Ran said.

"I...I still can't move," Li Shiyin said.

Qin Ran deeply inhaled again, turned around, and squatted down in front of Li Shiyin, saying, "Come, I'll carry you."

Li Shiyin's face that had gradually regained color clearly turned red. She appeared shy. Then she got up and draped herself over Qin Ran's back.

Qin Ran reached back to grasp Li Shiyin's legs, lightly and easily carrying the silly disciple on his back... Very unexpectedly, the already tall silly disciple with a increasingly full figure was actually very light.

It reminded him of a joke: A 100 jin (60 kg) brick might be too heavy to lift but a 100 jin maiden can be carried while running; 100 jin of gold can be lifted and flown away...

Sheltered by the bubble, Qin Ran carried the Falling Star Sword and Li Shiyin as he tread on the surface of the leaves, travelling between the tall trees.

He felt something was off.

For example, the silly disciple had clearly suffered heavy injuries and couldn't move or walk, so how could she have climbed onto his back so quickly; for example, the silly disciple should have been entirely weak, so how could she prop herself up on his back, mindful of a maiden's modesty?

But he didn't want to think too deeply about it. Since coming to this dangerous and cruel immortal cultivation world, he had understood many things. So for some matters, it was better to not think too thoroughly.

In life, ignorance can be bliss. What's wrong with playing dumb?

Actually, the paths in the primitive forest weren't that hard to traverse, if one could tread on the surface of the fallen leaves. To compete for sunlight, the massive trees grew very thick and tall, branches flourishing and leaves abundant, the layers of leaves completely covering the area under the trees, only occasionally missing a bit of light here and there...

Thus, between the thick trees, there would only occasionally be a clump of bushes or wild grass. Most of the way was surprisingly clean.

After walking for quite a while, the sky had already darkened but Qin Ran still hadn't found any caves or landforms that could provide shelter from wind and rain.

After walking a bit more, he suddenly realized, looking towards a thick nearby tree trunk.

The trees in the primordial forest grew extremely tall, several tens of meters, even a hundred meters tall, and also extremely thick, with diameters of several meters or over ten meters. If it was possible to...

Qin Ran carefully set Li Shiyin down, picked up the Falling Star Sword, and chopped at the tree trunk in front of him that was like a wall.

"Ding!"

It was as if this sword strike hit an iron rock.

Qin Ran deeply inhaled, circulating his magic power, and struck again...

"Puff!"

Finally it moved.

He quickly combined his sword techniques and magic arts, carving out a hole around two meters wide before the sky completely darkened.

It was a tight squeeze for two adults but the sky had already darkened and there was no time left...

"Hurry!"

As night descended, bringing horror with it, continuous blood-curdling beast roars rang out. Qin Ran hurriedly embraced Li Shiyin and jumped into the hole in the tree, then raised his hand to gather the water droplets in the forest, forming a water membrane to seal the hollow.