Chapter 357

"My body aches today, I'm not in the mood. If you're so eager to work, wait a couple of days. If you really can't wait, I'll go find Second Aunt and Fifth Aunt to come over," the woman said.

Wei Yuan hurriedly said there was no need.

In the evening, the bonfire was blazing; the woman took off her clothes to mend them by the firelight, as Wei Yuan couldn't see anyway.

She took the opportunity to sew together the wolf skin that had been air-drying for a day to make a new leather garment for Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan, meanwhile, was in the room fumbling to process the snow leopard. He manifested several small knives, skinned and butchered it, then extracted the leopard tendons, treated them with Dao power, and carved some wood to make a hand crossbow, which he then threw to the woman and taught her how to use.

Wei Yuan now felt increasingly close to the woman, so he stopped hiding things, thinking only of recovering as quickly as possible to leave this place sooner.

However, the room was warm and cozy, peaceful and quiet; it seemed that living like this forever wouldn't be so bad.

Wei Yuan suddenly asked: "What is in the forest?"

"A temple."

"Shall we go take a look tomorrow?"

"Okay." The woman agreed quite readily this time, likely because she had gained confidence in Wei Yuan.

According to the woman, it would take less than half an hour of walking through the forest to reach the temple. But they had to leave the woods before noon, otherwise, they would encounter undead monsters.

The next day, just as noon arrived, the two entered the forest. Wei Yuan had recovered some more today, and his speed could now fully keep up with the woman's. The woman held Wei Yuan's left hand and led the way, passing through the forest.

The wolf pack and the snow leopard in the forest had already been hunted, so this time it was exceptionally smooth, and they encountered no obstacles. However, this was not a good thing for Wei Yuan; his eyes were blind, and his spiritual sense could not reach far, so he could only rely on beasts throwing themselves into his trap—he couldn't catch things like deer at all.

The two quickly passed through the forest and arrived at the temple.

The so-called temple was actually a natural rock cave, with a gatehouse built by the villagers at the entrance using stones and wood. When he entered the forest two days ago, Wei Yuan had vaguely felt something calling to him here. Now that he was at the entrance of the temple, that feeling was even clearer.

Before entering the temple, the woman lit a torch and asked: "You can't see, so what do you want to see by coming here?"

Wei Yuan was stunned. That's right, he couldn't see anything, so why was he in such a rush to come? But naturally, he wouldn't show weakness so easily, so he calmly said: "I can touch."

The woman was silent, then said: "Consider yourself lucky, the murals here are carved."

Not long after entering the temple, the space became spacious. Murals were carved on the rock walls on both sides. Wei Yuan touched them carefully; the stone carving was very primitive and childish, lacking any technique, much like the ancient murals Wei Yuan had seen in history books.

The first mural depicted a giant monster that had just died, its body broken into many pieces, falling from the sky.

On the second mural, fire meteors descended from the sky, and upon landing on the ground, they transformed into various creatures—some humanoid, some beast-like, and even some bizarre, alien forms.

The third mural showed these lives born from the fire meteors beginning to fight; the defeated were devoured, and the victors became even more powerful.

On the fourth mural, one life born from the fire meteors was exceptionally weak; it hid in the mountains and forests, in the valleys, and among the herds of beasts.

Hiding all the way, it survived the initial stage of the chaotic battle. But soon, the ultimate victor found it; no matter how it ran or hid, the hunter was always getting closer.

When Wei Yuan touched the stone carving, he actually felt the despair, helplessness, and regret of that weak creature. If it had participated in the battle from the beginning, the hunter would not have become so powerful.

Wei Yuan was stunned, his heart touched, and only then did he grope toward the next mural.

This time, he touched a hand—a slender, thin hand with large, powerful knuckles.

Wei Yuan had studied the Six Arts of a Gentleman and knew a little about zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting; once he touched this, he couldn't pull his hand away.

He stroked it carefully, praising in his heart that the ancients indeed had masters; this transition from mural to relief had no traces of a chisel, and the carving skill was simply supernatural. Every detail could withstand the most meticulous inspection, and the dry, rough texture on the skin was almost exactly like the real thing...

The woman exclaimed: "Stop touching! That's an undead monster!"

Wei Yuan's scalp went numb instantly; the delayed sense of danger exploded at this moment, and he realized in an instant that his life was in jeopardy!

The woman grabbed his hand and ran outward, but the heavy footsteps behind them were getting closer and closer. The woman suddenly said: "Hold me! I'll point the way!"

Wei Yuan immediately scooped her up.

"Ten zhang forward... don't run, jump!"

Wei Yuan immediately switched to hopping on one foot, two zhang per jump, and sure enough, his speed increased greatly.

"Left five, forward thirteen, right four..." The woman kept calling out directions and distances, and with Wei Yuan's spiritual sense also able to scan the surrounding contours, the two finally escaped from the cave.

A sharp, painful howl sounded behind Wei Yuan; the undead monster was hit by the midday sunlight, white smoke hissed from its entire body, and it retreated back inside.

The two escaped death, their hearts still pounding, and Wei Yuan said: "Didn't you say undead monsters couldn't come out at noon?"

"How would I know? Usually, they hide deep in the temple; I don't know why one suddenly came out today. Originally it wasn't moving, but you kept pulling it to touch..."

Wei Yuan thought for a moment and said: "Let's go back today, make some preparations, and come back tomorrow."

"Why must you go into the temple?"

"Those murals are not simple; I want to see what's behind them. Perhaps it has something to do with how I came here. Perhaps if I solve this secret, I can leave this place."

The woman said angrily: "You really want to run!"

Wei Yuan hurriedly said: "Before I leave, I will definitely give the village a satisfactory explanation."

"Really?" "Really!"

"If you lie, may you be struck by lightning!"

Wei Yuan: "..."

Returning to the stone house, Wei Yuan waved his hands, and the ground was covered in crushed stones. His primordial spirit was weak, and entering the Myriad Miles of Heshan was a bit strenuous, so he simply brought the stones outside to process them.

He picked up a piece of crushed stone and casually squeezed it into a foot-long flying sword. However, Wei Yuan touched it and felt it wasn't big enough, so he added a piece of stone, and it became a foot and a half.

Then Wei Yuan operated continuously, squeezing out identical flying swords one after another. These flying swords only had a hint of metal, and apart from that, they had no special features, being one step further than the Great Radiance Subduing Demon Sword.

The woman moved a stool over at some point and just watched Wei Yuan hand-crafting the flying swords.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan had squeezed out twenty flying swords, all identical, with dimensions accurate to the smallest fraction. Then Wei Yuan took another stone, infused it with the true intent of a tripod, and turned it into a rectangular, two-eared, four-legged tripod.

Then Wei Yuan pressed the flying swords into the tripod one by one, until the twentieth one was pressed in, filling it perfectly.

Subsequently, Wei Yuan squeezed another forty flying swords and two square tripods, then filled the two tripod boxes. He pondered for a moment, then took out all the flying swords and re-attached a small, finger-thick round piece to the tail of each sword.

"What are you doing?" the woman finally asked.

!.

"A very interesting little trick." Wei Yuan squeezed another round piece, but it was only as thin as a piece of paper, and then he activated it; suddenly, a fireball the size of a peck appeared in his hand.

The woman seemed startled, then watched as Wei Yuan continued to add round pieces to the tails of the swords.

When the sixty flying swords were pressed back into the tripod boxes, Wei Yuan manifested a large stone and slowly squeezed it into a round tube in his hands, the material also taking on a dark silver metallic luster.

This round tube had an opening at the bottom; Wei Yuan picked up a tripod box and inserted it upward—with a click, the tripod box filled with flying swords locked into the round tube, the two tripod ears catching perfectly on the internal latch of the tube.

Wei Yuan carefully adjusted the dimensions of the round tube until it fit the tripod box perfectly.

He held this strange object up to aim, then remembered he couldn't see.

"What is this?"

"Something to deal with the undead monsters tomorrow."

"Can I try it?"

"You can't use it." Wei Yuan said this, but still handed the newly assembled weapon to the woman.

The woman's hands went limp, and she dropped it on the ground. This piece of equipment weighed over a hundred catties after being manifested; even with her strong muscles, the woman couldn't hold it up.

"Sleep, there's still a battle tomorrow."

The two slept in each other's arms, and Wei Yuan suddenly asked: "What is your name?"

It was a while before the woman said: "I don't have a name."

Wei Yuan didn't ask again, but naturally hugged her, buried his nose in her long hair, and fell into a deep sleep.

At dawn, Wei Yuan woke up, feeling his state had recovered a bit more, and there was a tingling sensation on his left chest. He reached out and touched it; a layer of skin had grown over the previously empty chest, and the flesh underneath was growing rapidly.

Wei Yuan got up, pushed open the door, and walked outside, taking a deep breath against the cold morning wind.

The Myriad Miles of Heshan vibrated slightly, and pale fire curtains erupted from the cracks in the earth, burning fiercely for a moment before falling back into the deep valley.

Before Wei Yuan's eyes, he seemed to see those countless threads of karma again, seeing the pale flames spreading along the threads, refining one living, familiar person after another into ashes of tribulation.

Being burned by the pale fire turned one into ashes of tribulation. That was what remained after karma was burned away, eventually turning into nothingness, not entering reincarnation, with no afterlife. Even Wei Yuan's Reincarnation of Myriad Realms could not save them.

At this moment, Wei Yuan didn't even dare to think: if he returned to the Azure Void, how many acquaintances would be left?

Over these past few days, on one hand, he was severely injured and groggy. On the other hand, Wei Yuan really didn't dare to face reality. He was like an ostrich, wanting to bury his head in the sand for a while so that the dissatisfactions of the world would cease to exist.

But now, with the recovery of his body, Wei Yuan prepared to face the pain and face reality.

"Still too weak, too weak!..." Wei Yuan thought. He subconsciously gritted his teeth, and suddenly, with a crack, a tooth actually shattered!

The sharp pain pulled Wei Yuan back to reality, but the pain hidden deep in his heart did not diminish at all. That helplessness in the face of absolute power, that moth-to-a-flame final struggle—perhaps in the eyes of those in power, it was so ridiculous.

The woman asked: "What's wrong with you?"

Wei Yuan took a deep breath, calmed down, and said: "Thought of some friends, don't know how they are doing now."

"You are in great pain."

"That was just now, and it's also in the past; from now on, I won't be in pain anymore. Let's go!" Wei Yuan revealed a brilliant smile, extended his left hand, the woman took it, and the two ran toward the temple again.

Since he hadn't died, and since heaven had given him another glimmer of hope, Wei Yuan intended to face everything in the world from now on. From this point forward, he would no longer harbor any illusions about his enemies, no longer have the slightest expectation for those in power; he would encounter problems, solve problems, and flatten all obstacles in his path. Even if the end arrived and he couldn't escape the tribulation, Wei Yuan would die by his own hand, falling in his own decision.

ps: The content of this chapter has been changed, but the title cannot be modified.

(End of chapter)