Chapter 1072: The Great Destruction Realm, Three Great Natural Disasters

What met his eyes was a beautiful, refined face without a trace of makeup, its surprise unable to hide a deep, underlying fatigue.

Ever since the other party had returned, Luo Chen had feigned sleep, observing her movements in secret.

Being this cautious wasn't because Luo Chen was paranoid; it was simply that his current state allowed for no carelessness.

Fortunately, her behavior was normal, and her movements in caring for his eating and drinking were quite practiced. Luo Chen could naturally sense this obvious goodwill, which was why he chose to wake up.

"Luo Chen?"

The woman in the coarse hemp dress murmured the name, then, as if remembering something, instinctively clutched at her slightly exposed neckline.

"You were already awake before?"

Lying on the bed, Luo Chen paused, his nasal tone responding: "Mm."

"Doesn't that mean when I was bathing and changing earlier..." As she spoke, the woman's cheeks flushed, looking exceptionally vibrant in the firelight.

But she looked closely at Luo Chen's state; his body hadn't moved at all from start to finish, so he shouldn't have seen what happened earlier. She naturally understood she was overthinking it.

"My name is Jing Lan. 'Jing' as in thorns, 'Lan' as in orchid."

"Mm."

Another simple response, as if to say he understood.

Jing Lan carefully studied the man's chiseled, handsome face and asked cautiously: "Are you a native of the Great Destruction Realm, or did you come from outside?"

The Great Destruction Realm?

Luo Chen's expression remained unchanged, but he was quite surprised inwardly.

Although Jing Lan didn't receive a response, it was as if her inner suspicions had been confirmed.

"You just woke up and lack energy. Eat your meal and rest early! I have work tomorrow; we can talk when you're in better condition."

As Jing Lan spoke, she handed over the spoon containing the rice porridge.

Luo Chen glanced at her and opened his mouth.

The warm porridge flowed down his throat into his stomach, bringing a touch of warmth to this bleak, cold night.

Because of Luo Chen's active cooperation, the feeding went much more smoothly than before. Jing Lan fed him while wiping his mouth with a handkerchief, finishing shortly after.

Jing Lan tucked the quilt around Luo Chen, then went to wash the bowls and chopsticks by herself.

After finishing all this, Jing Lan said "Sleep early," and then the room fell silent, with only the crackling of burning firewood remaining.

Perhaps because his stomach was full, Luo Chen's body had managed to regain a bit of strength.

He struggled to turn his face to the right, using his peripheral vision to scan the areas he hadn't seen before.

In the small room, an iron chain hung down, tied to a pot, and below it was a place resembling a fire pit.

In the fire pit, firewood and several white stones were burning slowly together.

In the corner opposite the fire pit, the woman slept in her clothes, quickly falling into a deep slumber.

However, even in deep sleep, Jing Lan's brows remained furrowed, as if she were troubled by something.

Luo Chen withdrew his gaze, and a wave of fatigue surged up.

"This body of mine now..."

Amidst his sighs, Luo Chen also fell into a deep sleep.

Footsteps sounded by his ear, followed by a clinking noise.

Luo Chen could feel the quilt covering him being lifted slightly. He opened his eyes, meeting those clear, limpid pupils directly.

"You're awake?"

"Mm."

"It rained Ghost Rain all night last night. I need to check the fields, or this year's harvest will be in trouble. In the afternoon, I have to work at the smoke workshop in town and won't be back. It's hot during the day, so don't cover yourself too tightly with the quilt. I'll be back at night..."

Jing Lan chattered on for a few sentences. Before leaving, she hesitated slightly and placed a rice ball where Luo Chen could reach it by turning his head.

"If you're hungry, just make do with this!"

After saying this, the woman put on a straw hat, took her tools, and hurried out the door.

The last thing that remained in Luo Chen's ears was the sound of her locking the door.

Luo Chen stared blankly at the rice ball, his thoughts somewhat complex.

He could roughly tell that this rice ball was likely her lunch. If he hadn't woken up, she probably wouldn't have left it, but now she had left it for him.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Luo Chen silently repeated the two words Jing Lan had said before leaving.

"Ghost Rain?"

Was that bone-chilling night rain from last night called Ghost Rain by the people here?

And that thunder that could shake the spiritual sense was also completely different from anything he had felt in the Mountain Sea World.

Moreover, according to Jing Lan, this place was called the "Great Destruction Realm." What kind of place was this?

"Where exactly have I ended up?"

Too many questions surfaced in his mind.

But in the end, they were all suppressed by Luo Chen one by one.

Now was not the time to consider these questions; recovering his state was the top priority.

As long as he could recover to a certain state, he would have enough self-preservation power, and exploring the situation here would be much easier then.

But while it sounded simple, Luo Chen could only smile bitterly in his heart regarding the actual operation.

At this moment, his vast spiritual sense seemed to be sealed, completely unable to be mobilized.

And the robust magic power he had been most proud of before was completely gone.

Most importantly, his Primordial Spirit had already collapsed!

The Primordial Spirit was an existence composed of the Nascent Soul and the soul. Logically, if the Primordial Spirit collapsed, even a Soul Transformation expert would perish.

But that Yuanjun Qixia had used a special technique at the time to separate his Nascent Soul and soul. Then, she sealed his soul and refined the Nascent Soul composed of magic power, swallowing it all.

"What a ruthless method, what a poisonous heart!"

Hatred flashed in Luo Chen's eyes, but there was no longer the despair he had felt before.

Even if his cultivation base had fallen to that of a mortal and he couldn't even mobilize his spiritual sense, his physical body still existed.

And he could feel that his Purple Mansion hadn't actually collapsed; heavy treasures like the Hunyuan Cauldron, the Yuantu Sword, and the Bone Burial Umbrella were still hidden within.

Although he couldn't mobilize them at all, it was enough that they were still there.

"Before ascending, I consumed the first mature Demon-Heart Fruit, allowing this physical body to reach the fifth stage of the Primordial Era and condensing the True Spirit Source Blood."

"In the battle with Yuanjun Qixia, the True Spirit Source Blood was burned away, but a small amount of ordinary Source Blood still remains."

"Right now, my meridians are shattered, and my physical body is severely injured. But as long as I can mobilize a small amount of Source Blood, I can perform preliminary sorting and treatment."

"This isn't difficult for me!"

Luo Chen closed his eyes, silently sensing his body's condition, searching for a method of recovery.

But while it sounded simple, it was actually quite complex.

In a situation where spiritual sense couldn't be used, driving the Source Blood to sort the body became exceptionally difficult.

In this situation, one could only find another way, using a powerful will to drive the Source Blood.

Luo Chen was very unfamiliar with this method.

Because that was the method of an orthodox body cultivator!

Body cultivators didn't practice immortal arts or raise spiritual sense; their strength was condensed as one, relying entirely on a powerful will to drive it.

This point had been taught to him when Wang Yuan first introduced him to the path of body cultivation.

It was just that later on, Luo Chen's body cultivation took another path relying on resource accumulation, and he had the convenience of spiritual sense, so he rarely used the most instinctive methods.

At this moment, he could only clumsily use his will to drive his body, letting the Source Blood hidden throughout his body scour his flesh and meridians.

Sss...

Under the quilt, blood blossomed; that was caused by wounds bursting open where the Source Blood passed.

Luo Chen felt nothing, ignoring the pain, and continued to persist.

Occasionally, beyond the pain, he could feel a sense of dryness and heat.

Jing Lan's words before leaving echoed in Luo Chen's mind; it really was quite hot during the day.

"How could this happen? It's bleeding again. Didn't it already heal?"

A worried, delicate cry sounded, followed by the action of lifting the quilt.

Luo Chen woke from his daze, just in time to see the dirt-covered Jing Lan cleaning his body.

Luo Chen grinned with difficulty but said nothing.

The first time he forcibly repaired his body, he hadn't controlled his strength well, leading to large-scale bleeding all over his body, and those hideous, burst-open wounds indeed looked quite terrifying to an ordinary person.

Jing Lan's cleaning movements were very gentle, but her speed was very nimble.

First cleaning, then wrapping with clean linen cloth, but when it came to changing his clothes, a look of embarrassment clearly appeared on the woman's face.

Luo Chen shook his head slightly to signal, and only then did Jing Lan breathe a sigh of relief, covering him with the quilt.

He wouldn't wear them for now.

"Wait for me a moment, I'll cook immediately."

After Jing Lan finished dealing with the blood-stained gauze, she went to wash up by herself.

But this time, she set up a curtain opposite the fire pit, blocking Luo Chen's line of sight.

When the smoke and fire mixed with the fragrance of rice permeated, the bloody smell in the small room seemed to be covered up, becoming warm again.

Jing Lan ate a few mouthfuls ravenously before picking up the bowl and coming to Luo Chen's side.

It was still the same feeding action as before, as if the other party had done it many times, extremely familiar.

Facing Luo Chen's gaze, she was no longer as shy as yesterday, but instead much more generous.

While feeding him porridge, she chatted casually about what she had seen during the day.

"The sun-facing rice in the fields is growing very well and hasn't been affected by the Ghost Rain. This year's harvest should be very good."

"The smoke workshop has changed its manager; I heard it was sent from the direction of the Immortal Relic City."

"That person has a somewhat irritable temperament. Old Man Pu was just old and slow in his movements, and when he was seen by the manager during his patrol, he was beaten until he fell unconscious. We were the ones who brought him back in the evening."

"If Manager Gu were still here, it would be fine. Although Manager Gu was strict, he was actually soft-hearted. He treated us quite well before, and the production of the Immortal Smoke was also very stable. But now that Manager Yan has taken over, I'm afraid life won't be easy from now on."

"Fortunately, the work at the smoke workshop usually only lasts until the end of October. By then, the sky winds will blow, and it won't be suitable for drying smoke."

Jing Lan talked, and Luo Chen listened until the bowl of porridge was finished.

"Sleep early."

"Mm."

Tonight, the fire pit didn't maintain the burning of firewood.

It should be related to the fact that it didn't rain Ghost Rain.

After dawn, Jing Lan got up early.

Before leaving, she wanted to leave the rice ball for Luo Chen like yesterday, but this time she was refused by Luo Chen.

Jing Lan didn't force it either. If one didn't eat enough and lacked energy, it was easy to make mistakes when working. If the new Manager Yan saw it, it would be troublesome.

After she left, Luo Chen, just like before, began his movements again.

His physical body was too tyrannical, and his meridians were exceptionally wide.

In normal times, this was naturally a great benefit.

But in this state of severe injury, sorting out the broken and blocked meridians would be even more troublesome.

"Take it slow!"

Luo Chen sighed and said so.

Time passed day by day. Even though Luo Chen didn't step out of the house, he gained some partial understanding of the situation in the Great Destruction Realm from Jing Lan's words.

This was a place rich in resources but where danger was everywhere.

The ruler was a powerful existence named the Wuyou Realm Master.

The place where Luo Chen was located was just a remote mountain village in the Great Destruction Realm called Qingshan Town.

Remote didn't mean safe; on the contrary, it was full of dangers.

There were three great natural disasters that appeared from time to time, endangering lives.

Sky Wind, Ghost Rain, and the Mist of Destruction.

According to Jing Lan, she was the one who picked Luo Chen up from the fields after a Sky Wind blew through.

These three great natural disasters were completely different.

Where the Sky Wind passed, not a blade of grass grew.

When the Ghost Rain fell, one would sleep and never wake up.

When the Mist of Destruction permeated, everything would die and perish in silence.

Among them, the Sky Wind was the most common, the Ghost Rain was the most bizarre, and the Mist of Destruction was the most domineering and dangerous.

Fortunately, that legendary Mist of Destruction hadn't appeared for many years.

Jing Lan and the others only needed to follow the instructions of the adults in Qingshan Town and respond appropriately when natural disasters appeared, and they could always save their lives.

On weekdays, they made a living by planting crops.

In their spare time, they would go to some shops in town to take on odd jobs to earn some resources.

The work Jing Lan was currently doing was processing something called Immortal Smoke at the Qingshan Smoke Workshop. The pay wasn't generous, but it included some scraps of Dream Stone, which was a mineral material used to resist the erosion of Ghost Rain. If one wanted to buy it on weekdays, it would cost a lot of money. Even if the Qingshan Smoke Workshop only brought out some scraps, many people flocked to this job.

The above was all the information Luo Chen had obtained about the Great Destruction Realm.

After all, Jing Lan was just a mortal who had never left the scope of Qingshan Town in her life, and she had only heard of the Immortal Relic City.

Limited information, but it couldn't stop Luo Chen from inferring more intelligence.

For example, that Dream Stone; after Luo Chen was able to move his hands and feet, he asked for one from Jing Lan to observe.

In fact, Luo Chen had seen this Dream Stone before; it was the white stone that burned with firewood in the fire pit under the night Ghost Rain.

After Luo Chen's observation, he discovered that once this stone burned, it would emit a special smell.

After living beings absorbed it, they would sleep quite soundly, not even dreaming.

It seemed to have the effect of calming the mind and soothing the spirit!

This made Luo Chen somewhat curious: how could a mere effect of calming the mind and soothing the spirit resist the Ghost Rain, which was known as one of the three great natural disasters?

Or was it that what it resisted wasn't just the erosion of the Ghost Rain, but some kind of existence brought by the Ghost Rain?

Of course, these were just studies Luo Chen did in his spare time.

His main energy was still focused on recovering from his injuries.

A month later.

That tightly closed wooden door was slowly pushed open.

A figure walked out from inside.

Soft light spilled outside, and just this one glance left the owner of the gaze stunned.

The green mountains were lush, and the paddy fields were winding.

Three setting suns gradually faded, and a thick yellow halo spilled onto his cheeks.

"No wonder it's so hot during the day."

The man murmured a sentence and sat down on the threshold.

On the winding mountain dirt road, a group of figures walked up from the foot of the mountain, laughing and playing. Among them was a quiet, tranquil figure who didn't join in the others' chatting. But under the pointing of a middle-aged aunt, that figure couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise and then hurried up.

"You're up!"

Jing Lan panted rapidly, looking at the man sitting on the threshold with great surprise.

"Yes, finally up."

Luo Chen nodded slightly, and a rare, relaxed, and comfortable smile appeared on his face.

He didn't know how many years had passed since he lay down like this. ===== CHAPTER 1075 =====