Chapter 75: Phones Aren

"No… you can't die!"

Ning Jingli did not hesitate at all, immediately performed artificial respiration and CPR on him.

She had seen the steps online, but this was her first actual application.

First she cleared the foreign object that had entered Xiao Qidi's mouth while he was drowning, then pinched his nose and gave mouth‑to‑mouth breaths.

After two breaths, she pressed his chest to perform CPR.

"Wake up, wake up!" Ning Jingli shouted while pressing.

After rhythmically pressing about thirty times, she gave two more artificial breaths, repeating this; even though she was dizzy, her arms aching and swollen, she did not stop.

After a while, Xiao Qidi still showed no response.

Ning Jingli's voice grew hoarse as she called, "Xiao Qidi… I'm begging you… wake up quickly!"

Snort—

Xiao Qidi suddenly vomited a large mouthful of water, then coughed violently.

Ning Jingli wept with joy, hurriedly helped him sit up to catch his breath.

When Xiao Qidi finally recovered enough, Ning Jingli could no longer hold back and threw herself into his arms, hugging tightly, "Wuwu… you scared me to death, I thought you…"

"Cough… cough cough…" Xiao Qidi coughed weakly, lowering his eyes, "You're so noisy… you could even wake the dead."

Ning Jingli cried with tears streaming like rain on pear blossoms, unable to speak.

Xiao Qidi gently patted her shoulder, "There, there… I'm not… dead, Miss Ning… thank you, you saved my life again."

Ning Jingli gradually calmed down, feeling Xiao Qidi's soaking‑wet, icy shoulder, "I just saw a small cave nearby, let's go in first."

"Alright…" Xiao Qidi gritted his teeth and got up.

His tall body hadn't steadied yet when he suddenly staggered.

Ning Jingli fought with all her strength to hold him, preventing him from falling.

The two supported each other, stumbling into the cave; compared with outside, this place was still quite cold but considerably drier, allowing them to shelter from wind and fog.

"Right now the urgent priority is to keep warm; you stay here, I'll think of a way."

Ning Jingli helped Xiao Qidi sit down in a corner leaning against the rock wall, then forced herself to endure the whole body's wet‑cold pain and fatigue, and shakily left the cave.

To warm up by making fire, at the very least she needed to find dry grass, twigs, or similar material.

This area was obviously unsafe; the riverbanks were almost sheer cliffs, shrouded in fog, barely discernible as daytime, and the height above was impossible to gauge.

Ning Jingli didn't dare go far, and gathered some relatively dry weeds, fallen leaves, and twigs near the small cave.

She carried these combustible items to the cave entrance, and only when she instinctively tried to light them did she realize—there were no matches or lighters.

She didn't smoke and had no habit of carrying a lighter.

She fished in her trouser pocket and only pulled out a phone.

The phone could still power on, but it couldn't have signal, so she couldn't call for help like in the modern world.

"Looks like we have to use the most primitive method," Ning Jingli plopped down on the ground, tossing the useless phone aside.

She had seen the Drill Wood Fire technique in online videos.

Its basic principle is friction‑generated heat.

She selected a thicker branch from the gathered twigs, scraped a groove with a stone, then placed it on the ground and steadied it with both feet.

She took some dry grass, twisted it into a fluffy bundle, and placed it at one end of the groove.

Finally, she chose a handy thin branch and began rubbing back and forth in the groove.

All steps and methods posed no problem.

However, in practice, Ning Jingli found the difficulty far greater than imagined.

She already had little strength, her body cold and aching, propping herself up purely by willpower; after fiddling for a while she was so exhausted her arms were nearly numb, and the wood didn't even produce smoke.

Continuing like this, she would only exhaust herself and faint, never managing to start a fire.

But without fire for warmth, she and Xiao Qidi probably wouldn't last much longer.

Ning Jingli felt she was about to collapse.

Even the bodily pain grew numb from the wet cold, and her mind became increasingly heavy.

She couldn't rely on Xiao Qidi for help; that guy was now in worse condition than she was, so she could only depend on herself.

"Think of another way… think of a way…"

Ning Jingli clasped her arms, shivering from the cold, muttering to herself.

"Besides Drill Wood Fire, what else… what else… think of a good idea…"

"Convex Lens Fire?"

"That won't work either; first there's no sunlight, second we can't find anything that can act as a convex lens to focus light…"

"Natural Flint Fire?"

"No… even if this place had it, I haven't found it… the person is already cold."

A wave of despair spread uncontrollably in her heart.

"Could it be… we really are going to be trapped and die here?"

At that moment, she glanced at the phone she had casually tossed aside when she fished in her pocket earlier.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration lit up her mind.

This phone thing can be used to start a fire!

Who said it can only be used for browsing the web, making calls, and sending messages?

Ning Jingli's spirit instantly surged; she grabbed the phone and smashed it hard onto the ground.

After a few hits, the phone was already in pieces.

She rubbed her icy hands and retrieved the phone's battery.

This is it!

Once a lithium battery short-circuits, it will catch fire.

This was originally a safety hazard needing extra attention in daily life, but now it has instead become a lifeline.

Ning Jinli placed the phone battery plate on the haystack, found a sharp stone, gripped it tightly with both hands, and smashed it down.

The lithium battery plate was punctured by the sharp stone, instantly spewing thick smoke.

Ning Jinli rolled and crawled back a bit, then heard a series of puffing sounds.

Boom!

The battery exploded.

Amid the thick smoke, a flame shot up, and the haystack was also ignited.

"There's fire…… finally there's fire!" Ning Jinli was so excited tears welled in her eyes.

She immediately gathered the remaining hay, leaves, and branches into the cave; soon a bonfire blazed in the dark cave, finally dispelling much of the chill.

"Let me help you take off your clothes; you can warm yourself by the fire and dry your clothes, otherwise you'll fall ill from the cold." Ning Jinli said while preparing to help.

But Xiao Qidi simply sat cross-legged against the cave rock wall, head lowered, motionless.

"Little brother?"

Ning Jinli moved closer and shook his shoulder.

Just a light touch, and Xiao Qidi slumped sideways, his face deathly pale, blood still trickling from his mouth.

Ning Jinli gasped in shock, "What happened to you?!"

Xiao Qidi weakly opened his eyes and said, "I've suffered some internal injuries…… it seems…… a few ribs are broken…… cough…… don't worry, I won't die for now."

Ning Jinli, based on her condition upon waking, had already inferred that both she and Xiao Qidi had fallen from a height into the river below, but she had just been focused on solving the most urgent problem and hadn't yet had a chance to learn the details from Xiao Qidi.

She gently helped Xiao Qidi lie down more comfortably, while wiping the blood from his mouth and asking, "Were you injured in a fight or from a fall? I just saw other corpses in the river—who were they?"

"A few people from the Tian Shu Sect captured us and brought us here, then something went wrong…… we fell down……" Xiao Qidi swallowed a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva, wary, and asked, "Any survivors?"

He didn't tell Ning Jinli that, while falling, he used his body to shield her.

If not for that, he probably wouldn't have suffered such severe injuries, but Ning Jinli definitely wouldn't have survived the impact; she would have been dead already.

Ning Jinli shook her head. "I don't know; I only saw one corpse."

Xiao Qidi said, "They told me this place is called Zhuiyingjian, likely the most dangerous spot within Yuqi Mountain…… I can no longer protect you; be careful."

Ning Jinli's eyes reddened, "I'll protect you! Rest assured, no matter what I will bring you safely out of here. You must hold on!"

"I'm a bit hungry…" Xiao Qidi said weakly.

Ning Jinli wiped her eyes, stoked the bonfire higher, "I'll go look for food, I'll be right back."

She didn't have time to dry her own clothes, and hurried out of the cave.

Although the bottom of Zhuiyingjian is unnaturally cold, it is after all summer; just now, while gathering dry grass and leaves, she faintly saw wild fruit nearby.

Thus, following her memory, she climbed into a grove growing beside the rocky cliffs.

Whoosh——

Suddenly a fluttering sound rang out.

Ning Jinli almost stumbled in surprise; looking up, she saw that several unidentified wild birds had flown away.

Soon after, she found a shrub bearing wild fruit.

The golden-yellow fruits were only the size of pigeon eggs, exuding a fresh fragrance and looking very tempting.

But Ning Jinli didn't recognize this wild fruit and couldn't tell if it was poisonous.

Just as she was about to pick one and taste it by licking it first, a cold, pale hand suddenly grabbed her ankle.

Ning Jinli was so frightened her soul almost flew out; she hastily covered her mouth to keep from crying out.

Looking down, she saw a man covered in blood in the shrub thicket beside her foot.

His clothing was similar to the corpse she had just found.

Ning Jinli kicked the man's hand away and warned, "Do you still have any alive companions?"

"Heh…… how would I know……" the man said while spitting blood, "I never expected…… a weak woman like you…… to still be jumping around after falling down……"

Seeing his severe injuries, Ning Jinli judged he posed no threat and asked, "How do we get out of here?"

The man gave a desperate, bleak smile, "Don't dream…… once you've fallen into Zhuiyingjian, no one can get out; there's no way out……"

Ning Jinli frowned, "Aren't you from the Tian Shu Sect? How can you not even know your own territory?"

The man weakly shook his head, "This place was never meant for humans…… even Tian Shu Sect people avoid it; otherwise, why would we risk going through the above to dodge our fellow disciples? Too bad…… too bad Xiao Qidi ruined our plans! Heh…… but then, he's getting what he deserves! Karma!"

Slap!

Ning Jinli directly slapped him, "You captured us and still badmouth him?"

The man licked the blood from his lips, sneered, "As expected of the woman Xiao Qidi cares about—even at death's door she still shields him."

Ning Jinli blinked in surprise, "He cares…… about me?"

The man said, "Not only does he care…… he even threatened his own life to keep us from touching you, heh…… just who are you to him?"

Ning Jinli's cheeks inexplicably flushed, "What I am to him is none of your business……"

"I'm just curious before I die; if you don't want to say, fine," the man said, showing a hint of resignation as he closed his eyes, "Anyway I won't survive; having the king of Xuan Guo and the woman Xiao Qidi cares about buried with me would also be worthwhile."

Ning Jinli, feeling unwilling to give up, grabbed his collar and asked, "Think carefully—is there any way to leave this place?"

The man impatiently opened his eyes, "Not long ago, the Sect Leader's weapon accidentally fell into Zhuiyingjian—a one‑of‑a‑kind Divine Weapon of the age—but no one dared to go down after it, not even the Sect Leader himself gave up. So tell me, is there really any way?"

Ning Jinli got goosebumps all over.

If that's the case, does that mean we truly can't get out?

"What kind of Divine Weapon is it?" Ning Jinli, a bit curious, couldn't help but ask.

The man replied, he also didn't know how to describe it; its shape was strange, like a hidden weapon yet not a hidden weapon, its power immense—it could take a life from a great distance in an instant.

Speaking to this point, the man paused slightly, pondering, and said: "If you had that divine weapon by your side, you might be able to pass through a place where wild beasts lurk; rumor has it… inside there is a secret passage that leads to the summit of Yuqishan Main Peak."

Ning Jinli instantly felt a spark of hope: "Where is the secret passage located?"

The man chuckled, "It's just hearsay; even our Sect Leader doesn't know… and moreover, the whereabouts of that divine weapon are unknown. Without it, you can't move an inch here, or you might as well give up—accept reality."

Seeing the man's breath grow weaker and weaker, Ning Jinli quickly plucked a wild fruit and stuffed it into his mouth.

He stared blankly for a moment, then, while eating, said: "You… still want… to save me? But my injuries are severe—every bone in my body is broken, my viscera are crushed… I can't survive…"

"How does the fruit taste?" Ning Jinli stared at his face and asked.

The man chewed a few bites, frowned, and swallowed, "A bit sour…"

Ning Jinli continued observing his reaction; it seemed that after eating the fruit, he had regained a little energy.

Besides that, there was nothing unusual.

"Since you weren't poisoned to death, at least you were of some use before you died. I'm not keeping you company any longer!" Ning Jinli said, then turned and went to pick more fruit.

Only then did the man realize that she had been using him to test whether the wild fruit was poisonous.

Seeing Ning Jinli pick some wild fruit and about to leave,

The man, knowing full well he couldn't survive, but driven by the instinct to live, struggled and shouted: "Miss… save… save me…"

Ning Jinli turned her head and glanced at him.

His appearance was terrible.

If it had been before, Ning Jinli would not have been able to bear just abandoning him.

But now, Ning Jinli's eyes showed not a trace of pity.

"I'm giving back the words you just said; this is the retribution for your own deeds."

Having said that, she swiftly departed.

"Miss… miss…" the man's cries grew ever weaker.

Not long after Ning Jinli left,

Nearby bushes rustled.

The dying man suddenly felt a chill on his back.

He turned his head with all his strength, and instantly turned pale with fright.

Before he could cry out, accompanied by the sound of flesh tearing and bones breaking, he was seized by something that bit into his body and dragged him away.

If not for the large amount of blood left in the weeds, it would seem as if no living person had ever appeared here…