Li Chen's eyes fluttered open.
His body ached.
Every part of him screamed in pain.
Blood covered his torn robes, and he could feel the sting of countless wounds across his skin.
He looked around lazily, his gaze unfocused.
Where... was he?
And where was that monster?
Did it just leave him here? He glanced down at his thin, malnourished frame. Probably thought he wasn't worth the effort. Not much meat on these bones anyway.
It must have chased after those guys instead. They looked far more appetizing compared to him.
"Dammit."
The curse left his lips weakly.
Even in death, he was still so pitiful.
He had really thought... he had really believed he could finally make something of himself. They had promised him a Body Building Pill. With that, he could have finally entered the Body Refining Realm. He could have been accepted as an outer disciple.
Tears rolled down his dirt-caked cheeks.
He should have known.
Why would a group of inner disciples want a servant like him? A nobody with no cultivation whatsoever. They had been planning to use him as bait the whole time.
"Dammit!"
He hoped that monster tore them all apart.
With great effort, he managed to roll onto his back. His eyes found the sky above.
It was... beautiful.
The sun was setting, painting everything in shades of orange and gold.
His expression turned serious.
Why did it have to be him? Those bastards. He wanted to see them pay. He at least deserved that much.
Gritting his teeth, Li Chen rolled onto his stomach and began dragging himself across the ground. His fingers clawed at the dirt, pulling his broken body forward inch by inch.
It hurt like hell.
But he was going to die anyway. What did it matter if he was in pain?
A thought crossed his mind, and despite everything, a grin spread across his face.
It seemed they had underestimated the monster too. He remembered their panicked faces when things went wrong. They were probably in deep trouble right now.
His grin twisted into something almost crazed.
Ah, I wish I could see their faces as they're all torn apart.
Serves them right.
…
A while later.
His eyes fluttered open.
He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling in labored gasps.
What was happening? Where was he?
Li Chen looked around. How long had it been? The sky was already growing dark.
Then, without warning, his vision began to glitch.
Things flickered in and out of sight - shapes, colors, images that shouldn't be there.
His eyes widened.
What was happening to him?
One second, he was staring at the dark forest around him. The next, he was looking at a bright garden filled with flowers and light.
He dragged himself forward, confusion flooding his mind.
Was he hallucinating?
He extended his hand. Right as his vision shifted to the garden, his fingers brushed against something soft - a flower petal.
His vision snapped back to reality.
He was touching nothing but air.
But he had felt it. The sensation had been real.
Was he truly losing his mind?
His vision shifted again, and this time, he noticed something ahead.
A tree.
No - not just a tree.
It was massive. So impossibly huge that he couldn't see where it ended. The trunk stretched upward forever, disappearing into an endless expanse above.
Something called to him.
He didn't understand it, but he felt it deep in his chest - a pull, drawing him forward.
Li Chen dragged himself toward the tree. His vision kept flickering, shifting between the dark forest and that mysterious garden, but he didn't stop. He kept moving, clawing his way across the ground until, finally, he reached it.
He couldn't help but admire it.
Up close, the tree was even more magnificent. A sweet scent drifted from its bark, filling his lungs and making his tense body relax.
Without thinking, he extended his hand toward the tree.
His palm touched the bark…
And everything went dark.
…
Darkness.
Li Chen floated in an endless void of nothing. He couldn't feel his body. He couldn't feel anything at all.
Then, a light appeared.
It was small at first - just a tiny dot in the distance. But it began to grow. It expanded rapidly, pushing back the darkness, swallowing it whole until there was nothing left.
Li Chen found himself bathing in an endless sea of light.
Drip.
A sound echoed through the light. Like water hitting stone.
Drip.
There it was again.
Drip.
And again.
His eyes snapped open.
Li Chen stared at a rocky ceiling above him, his mind racing.
Where was he? What was that strange sensation just now?
Drip.
He turned his head toward the sound.
A cave. He was inside a cave.
Water dripped from a stalactite above, falling onto a small rock below.
Li Chen pushed himself up - and froze.
He wasn't in pain anymore.
He looked down at his body, inspecting himself. His torn robes were still stained with blood, but underneath... nothing. No wounds. No injuries. His skin was completely unmarked.
His mind flashed back to that massive tree.
Could it be...
He got to his feet and walked toward the cave entrance. Stepping outside, he looked around.
Nothing.
Just an empty forest.
His eyes traced the ground until he spotted it - a trail of blood smeared across the dirt and leaves. His blood. From when he had dragged himself through the forest.
Was it all a dream?
But that didn't explain how he was suddenly healed.
And more than that...
He clenched his fist.
He felt surprisingly energetic. More than he had ever felt in his entire life.
Li Chen furrowed his brow, trying to think of a logical explanation.
He held his chin in thought.
Could it be... had he broken through to the Body Refining Realm?
It was said that when someone entered the Body Refining Realm, their entire body was reconstructed from the inside out. That could explain why his injuries were gone - his body had been rebuilt.