Chapter 462: The Awakening After Reunion

Lin Xuan tried to move his body, only to find his limbs as heavy as if they were filled with lead; every minute movement required immense willpower. This reunited body was as fragile as a newborn infant's, still adapting to everything in the material world.

Just as he struggled to sit up, the recovery pod's lid opened automatically, and Xu Feng hurried into the room.

"Lin Xuan! You're finally awake!" Xu Feng's face was overflowing with irrepressible joy as he carefully helped Lin Xuan sit up.

"How long was I unconscious?" Lin Xuan's voice was somewhat hoarse, as if he hadn't used his vocal cords in a long time.

"Three days." Xu Feng poured a glass of water and handed it to him. "After the ritual, although your and Xiao Yuan's Spirit Bodies successfully reunited, your bodily functions need to re-adapt. The medical team says this is normal; your physical condition is like that of a newborn infant, and it needs time to adapt to the material world."

Lin Xuan took the glass, feeling the sensation of the water flowing into his throat; such a simple feeling was something he cherished immensely. "Xiao Yuan, she..."

"Rest assured, Xiao Yuan is fine, she might just wake up a little later than you." Xu Feng comforted him, "All examinations show that her recovery is progressing smoothly."

Lin Xuan nodded, his gaze sweeping around the room before landing on Xu Feng again: "These past years, you have all worked hard."

Tears welled up in Xu Feng's eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly: "The first year after you left was the hardest. Void Pollution spread rapidly, and 'Void Zones' appeared all over the world, affecting countless people. But it was precisely this crisis that made the global Practitioner community unprecedentedly united."

Xu Feng detailed the changes in the world after the two had sacrificed themselves, the development of cultivation science, the global joint efforts to resist the Void, and how they discovered and confirmed the traces of Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan's Spirit Bodies, eventually realizing the reunion ritual after years of preparation.

"The most moving part is the contribution of the global 'Lin Xuan Xiao Yuan Watchers'," Xu Feng's voice choked up, "Hundreds of millions of ordinary people provided you with consciousness support through the 'Collective Dream Network'. They had never even met you, yet they were willing to give so much..."

Hearing this, Lin Xuan's eyes grew moist. Once, they were just two ordinary people pursuing the true meaning of cultivation, yet unknowingly, they had become the hope and faith of all humanity. This heavy burden was both an honor and a weight.

"Their dreams and faith were the key to our return." Lin Xuan said softly, "While drifting in the void, it was those faint but firm consciousness connections that kept Xiao Yuan and me from losing ourselves."

Over the next two days, Lin Xuan's physical condition improved rapidly. He was already able to get out of bed and walk for short periods, but his cultivation level had indeed, as he had perceived before, completely returned to its initial state.

On the morning of the third day, an alarm sounded from Xiao Yuan's recovery pod, and the data on the monitoring screen indicated she was about to wake up. Lin Xuan immediately went to her pod, watching her face.

Xiao Yuan's eyelashes trembled gently, and then she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze first swept around in confusion, but the moment she saw Lin Xuan, tears immediately welled up in her eyes.

"Lin Xuan... is it really you..." Her voice was weak but filled with joy.

"It's me, we've both returned." Lin Xuan held her outstretched hand, and the two smiled at each other, tears flowing uncontrollably. At that moment, all words seemed superfluous; only each other's presence was the truest solace.

Xiao Yuan's recovery speed was faster than Lin Xuan's, perhaps because Lin Xuan had woken up first and paved the way for her. By that afternoon, she was already able to walk slowly with Lin Xuan's support.

In the evening, Xu Feng came to the recovery room. Seeing that both were in good condition, he suggested: "If you feel up to it, I would like to take you to visit the headquarters and let everyone see that you have returned safely. People all over the world are looking forward to news of you."

Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

They walked out of the recovery area and proceeded slowly along the main corridor of the headquarters. Every staff member they encountered would stop, casting looks of respect and smiles. Soon, they arrived at a massive central hall, where hundreds of Practitioners and researchers had been waiting.

When Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan appeared at the entrance of the hall, the entire room erupted in warm applause and cheers. The Holographic Projection System in the center of the hall activated, displaying real-time images from cultivation centers and headquarters branches around the world. Countless people witnessed this historic moment through this technology, and equally enthusiastic cheers and blessings came from all over.

Under the gaze of the crowd, a group of ordinary people dressed in uniform attire walked forward quietly. They wore a special emblem on their chests—a symbol representing "Dream".

"These are representatives of the 'Lin Xuan Xiao Yuan Watchers' from all over the world." Xu Feng introduced.

An elderly lady stepped forward and bowed deeply: "Master Lin Xuan, Fairy Xiao Yuan, it is the honor of all us Watchers to see you in person. In our dreams, we have met you countless times; those warm and firm guidances allowed us to maintain hope even in the darkest of times."

"It was you who helped us find the way home." Lin Xuan replied sincerely, "We are not beings worthy of worship; we simply followed the Heavenly Dao and did what had to be done. And now, our cultivation is completely lost, and we must start our training from the beginning."

"But your return itself is the greatest blow to the Void." The lady said firmly.

After a brief exchange, considering their physical condition, Xu Feng announced that they should rest first. On the way back to the rest area, both Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan were silent, deeply moved by what they had seen and heard today.

After nightfall, Lin Xuan went to the headquarters' rooftop alone, looking up at the starry sky. This world had undergone earth-shaking changes, yet they felt as if time had stood still, crossing a long span of years in an instant.

Standing on the rooftop, Lin Xuan began to try and perceive the state of his body. As expected, his once-powerful cultivation was gone, but strangely, his Spirit Root seemed to have undergone some unprecedented mutation. He could simultaneously perceive Nature energy and Void energy; the two forces that should have been opposing seemed to have found some kind of balance within him.

"Is this the result of drifting in the void?" Lin Xuan muttered to himself, continuing to explore this peculiar change in depth.

He suddenly realized that this might be a brand-new direction for cultivation. If he could master this dual-perception ability, perhaps he could pioneer a completely new method to resist the Void.

What worried Lin Xuan even more was that during the reunion process, he had vaguely sensed a more powerful crisis brewing in the depths of the universe. It was not just the residual will of Yage, but some more ancient, more terrifying existence, slowly casting its gaze toward this world.