Qianye traversed the forest cautiously, stopping to observe his surroundings from time to time.


    The person who had just fallen down from the sky was still lying immobile amidst the rocks and sand. He was hidden behind a rock at this point, so there was no telling whether he was unconscious or if he had already recovered.


    Just as he was about to walk out of the forest, Qianye sensed someone peeking at him. This gaze came out of nowhere and there was no way to confirm its existence. The presence couldn’t be considered malicious, but there was an inexplicable vulgarity in it that gave Qianye the goosebumps. Fortunately, the sensation disappeared immediately after it had appeared, relieving Qianye of the distress.


    After some thought, Qianye decided that it had to be someone trying to scry his movements. He was a bit curious, though. Which reckless bloke was actually trying to divine his movements? Qianye had a fair number of karmic ties with powerful characters like Lin Xitang, Zhao Ruoxi, Zhao Jundu, and Nighteye. He even had indirect rtionships with Princess Gaoyi, the Pointer Monarch, and the ck-Winged Monarch. The bacsh would be exceedingly strong if these connections were identally drawn upon.


    Only unfathomable people like Lin Xitang and those who understood Qianye as deeply as Song Zining might be able to trace him. Even a massive entity like the imperial military didn’t dare to scry Qianye after his murder of Li Fengshui, thus allowing him to escape to the neutralnds.


    The gaze in the darkness vanished almost immediately, clearly having suffered some pain. Qianye proceeded to ignore it but naturally became more vignt as well.


    The forest was entirely calm and there was nothing out of the ordinary on the rocky beach. Qianye retracted his aura, went around the pile of rocks, and finally reached the fallen man.


    The persony motionless on the ground. His clothes were tattered, revealing a fair bit of his fair skin. His short hair was also in disarray, almost as though a storm had cut through it.


    The man’s aura was weak and fluctuant—apparently, he was still in a state ofa.


    Qianye didn’t dare act carelessly. True expert assassins could easily feign a state of death or heavy injury in order to make the opponent careless. As someone who had used such tactics before, he knew just how to counter them. He immediately drew East Peak and ced it against the man’s neck before reaching out to turn him over.


    Qianye was shocked upon flipping the person over because it was actually Li Kuann!


    Li Kuann’s graceful hair had been clipped into a short mess. The usually well-dressed young miss was now as bedraggled as a pauper, and Cold Moon’s Embrace was also nowhere to be found. That was why Qianye couldn’t recognize her on the spot.


    Qianye scanned his surroundings before picking up Li Kuann and returning to the forest edge in due haste. For some reason, that rocky beach was giving off a sense of danger and Qianye did not wish to linger more than was required.


    At this moment, the originally calm forest started to be restless. Shocked, Qianye sped up and fled along the border of the forest. He chose to travel away from theke because his many years of exploration experience told him that the most dangerous entitiesy not in the skies but usually inrge bodies of water.


    Qianye kept increasing his speed, running along the forest like a galloping stallion. Fortunately, his muscles, skeleton, and innards had all received initial strengthening. Otherwise, such intense movements might easily injure him under the increased gravity.


    This kind of adverse environment was more suited for people with strong constitutions. Daybreak origin power wasn’t really that useful at this point.


    In the blink of an eye, Qinaye had circled around a corner of the forest. A giant rocky mountain soon appeared in front of him, well over a hundred meters tall and with a natural cave at its base.


    Qianye made straight for the cave and, as though he were stepping on water, circled the interior. The ce looked like an old beastir—there were scattered rocks everywhere, the air was suffused with a fishy odor, and the walls were decorated with w marks.


    Qianye seemed fairly satisfied with the ce. The key point was that he couldn’t feel any danger here. As for the environment, that was a trivial matter. Qianye ced Li Kuann down and swept the interior of the cave with sanguine mes. All traces and scents left behind by the wild beasts were incinerated as they came into contact with the ze. Even the extremely sturdy rock walls changed color after being scorched.


    The cave became suffused with a somewhat sweet, scorched smell. It was a fragrance that served to lift one’s spirit, the smell of Qianye’s auric me blood and a symbol of his vitality. The sweet scent surprised Qianye himself because that was a phenomenon only duke stage experts would produce.


    After cleaning the cave, Qianye began inspecting Li Kuan’s injuries. He wasn’t afraid of being disturbed because wild beasts would usually run away after catching the scent of an ancient vampire.


    Li Kuann’s aura was extremely weak, and it was in continuous decline. At this rate, she would eventually lose her life after a while.


    Qianye pped Li Kuann’s body lightly—there was no instinctive reaction nor was there any resistance. The fluctuations arising from this pat gave Qianye a general idea of what was going on inside.


    Li Kuann had suffered fractures in many parts of her body and the remaining bones were already cracking. Additionally, her innards had suffered obvious wounds and there was arge amount of blood pooling inside her body. Her surface injuries had mostly closed up, but that wasn’t a good thing. It was clear that she had used up her origin power in healing flesh wounds, leaving none to heal her bones and organs.


    Bringing everything together, Qianye could alreadye to a rough conclusion. Just like Qianye, Li Kuann had suffered from the shearing forces and chaotic energy while traversing the passage. She had spent most of her energy there to protect herself. Qianye, on the other hand, was far stronger physically and was also protected by the imperial inner armor, allowing him to escape the passage rtively unscathed. Afterward, he fell into the water and escaped the second wave of damage from the intense gravity.


    Li Kuann, on the other hand, specialized in the sword arts and didn’t possess such a strong body. She was merely average in constitutionpared to her peers. Additionally, she was only d in light armor, which was a far fry from Qianye’s own in terms of defense. Now that even Qianye’s internal armor was torn in two ces, how could her armor evenst? It had long since turned into shreds.


    Immediately after leaving the passage, the highly exhausted Li Kuann had no power to defend against the intense gravity. She thus crashed into the rocky beach and was mortally wounded. Li Kuann probably wouldn’tst another day if Qianye hadn’t run into her. There was also something abnormal about the rocky beach, and there was clearly something very dangerous hidden there. Perhaps she would’ve be food for some strange creature even before a day had passed.


    Despite having brought her to safety, Qianye felt quite distressed about Li Kuann’s injuries. Thetter waspletely exhausted of origin power, unconscious, and her innards had been gravely damaged. This also meant that she was deprived of her most important self-healing capacity in this high-gravity environment—this was extremely bad.


    Qianye was no expert in healing, and neither had he cultivated any rted secret arts. All he could do was pin his hopes on Venus Dawn, but that was no omnipotent power, either. Pure origin power usually represented power and not healing. Qianye’s daybreak origin power might even be poisonous to ordinary people as it could ignite one’s origin power.


    After a moment of silent contemtion, Qianye decided to repair Li Kuann’s entire skeleton. That would give her basic structural support to resist the gravitational pull. Fortunately, he had a fair amount of relevant medicines and that gave him some confidence.


    Qianye ced Li Kuann t on the ground and spread out her arms and legs. Then, he pressed lightly on her neck with both hands and channeled a wisp of origin power.


    The investigation showed that Li Kuann’s head and neck bones were intact. Apparently, she was awake at the critical moment, at least she was conscious enough to protect her most vital parts. However, there were numerous fractures in her arms, which proved that she had no more power to protect herself from this point onward.


    Qianye moved slowly along Li Kuann’s arms, using his origin power to shift the shattered bones and piece them together. Then he would use his energy to bind them. Fortunately, Li Kuann waspletely drained of origin power, so her own energy couldn’t offer any resistance. Otherwise, things would be moreplicated. Considering how tough Venus Dawn was, it would surelyst several days before dispersing.


    Afterpleting the initial bout of fixation, Qianye paused the treatment and, using his connection to the Venus Dawn, began sensing the situation around the fractured surfaces. To his surprise, he found that the bones surrounded by Venus Dawn had regained their vitality and were regrowing. Although the rate of regeneration was fairly slow, this was still extremely good news.


    This was because what little remained of Li Kuann’s origin power had been suppressed by Venus Dawn. This was akin to yielding a part of her body and cing it under the care of Qianye’s origin power, allowing the bones to regrow. The process was slow, but her fractures would undergo initial connection within a few days. Seeing this, Qianye knew that he had half-seeded in saving Li Kuann’s life. The other half would depend on whether her organs could recover.


    Thetter seemed to be in pain despite herck of consciousness. Her brows were knitted together, and her breathing was somewhatbored. Presently, her usual sharpness was all but gone, leaving her in an oddly charming state that would move any beholder’s heart.


    Even someone of Qianye’s resolve felt his mind waver. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before proceeding to connect the rest of her bones.


    Qianye’s fingers were gentle but also as sharp as des. He glided them cautiously over Li Kuann’s body, cutting her clothes apart as he began the treatment. Her outer armor was already fragmented, and several parts of her internal armor were already torn. Not only had the gear lost its protective function, but would instead serve topress the wounds and make them worse. Hence, Qianye started clearing away the clothes and armor as he connected her bones.


    The treatment waspleted in the blink of an eye, leaving Qianye sweating slightly from his forehead. Next up was the chest bone, the most important part.


    Li Kuann’s skin was lustrous, exquisite, and as smooth as ice. Moreover, it was so extraordinarily white that one would feel dizzy after a prolonged gaze. Qianye rested briefly before pinching her sternum with his left hand. Then, with his right fingers as a de, he sliced down along it.


    With a soft sizzle, Li Kuann’s chest was cut openyer byyer.