Chapter 3 Men and women should not touch each other. Don't worry, you can lie in bed peacefully...

The fox wasn't dead yet, but it was on the verge of death. Judging from its shrunken belly, it had obviously been starving for a long time because it had lost a leg and couldn't catch its prey.

Shen Zhengyuan glanced at it, but his heart remained unmoved.

He had seen too many dead people: those who starved to death, those who died of thirst, those who died from severe injuries, those who died of illness, and so on...

He had seen too many ways to die, and had long since become indifferent to them. After all, life is so fragile, like a piece of porcelain that looks sturdy and beautiful, but in reality, it will break with the slightest touch.

This red fox, like the other dying people he had seen, would breathe its last tonight or tomorrow morning, and then rot and disappear as if it had never existed.

But after taking a few steps, he didn't hear any footsteps behind him. When he turned around, he saw Li Chenjin squatting in front of the red fox, holding the leftover biscuit in his hand, and offering the torn pieces of biscuit to the red fox's mouth.

She was still wearing a white dress made of coarse linen. Normally a very clean person, she didn't care that her skirt was dragging on the ground. Instead, when she saw the red fox open its mouth and bite the crumbs of bread she offered, she gave it a very gentle smile.

They were walking along a mountain path, with intertwined branches overhead. Sparse sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and fell on her, as if gilding her with a layer of golden light. Her demeanor seemed to possess a touch of the compassion of a Buddha statue in the Zen world, as if she were not the one who had uttered those shocking words earlier.

She wasn't worried at all that he would run away, as if he were nothing more than a red fox by the roadside in her eyes.

He stood there, quietly gazing in her direction. Seeing that she was still feeding the red fox cakes, he couldn't help but say, "Its leg is broken. Even if you save it now, what good will it do? It will still die if it can't find food later. You're just prolonging its suffering."

Li Chen replied, "Of course I know. But I'm a doctor. I can even heal your injury, so healing a broken leg would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?"

After saying that, she touched the red fox's head, then grasped its severed leg. As a few wisps of white light leaked through her fingers, the red fox stood up in a short while.

After it stood up, Li Chen handed over the remaining half of the pancake.

The red fox glanced at the person in front of it, then unceremoniously snatched the cake in its mouth and ran into the depths of the dense forest without looking back, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Shen Zhengyuan glanced at the direction where the red fox had disappeared before returning his gaze to Li Chenjin. At this moment, Li Chenjin's smile had faded somewhat, but he still looked very happy.

But whether it was his imagination or not, Li Chenjin's face seemed paler than before, and even the color in his lips had faded a little, making him look somewhat weak.

Shen Zhengyuan paused for a moment and said, "There are so many living beings in the world. Even if you save one, you can't save them all."

She slowly stood up and smiled, "Yes, there are so many living beings in the world, I naturally can't save them all. But within my own capabilities, isn't it enough to save those I can? Don't refrain from doing good deeds just because they are small, Cultivator Shen. If everyone stopped doing good deeds, wouldn't this world become a chaotic mess, a living hell?"

Shen Zhengyuan didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed, but instead asked, "You can heal injuries with spiritual power, are you really from the alchemy world?"

"Is it really such an important question which realm I belong to?" Li Chen sighed. "Cultivator Shen is asking this to find out my background. It seems I still can't gain his trust. Alas..."

Li Chenjin used this kind of dithering tactic so often that Shen Zhengyuan knew she was trying to change the subject as soon as she said it.

In the past, he would have definitely pressed for answers, but after spending time together, he had gotten to know Li Chenjin's personality pretty well. If she didn't want to talk about something, no matter how much he pressed, it wouldn't make a difference.

She was a master of witty banter and a skilled fabricator, effortlessly spouting all sorts of bizarre and outlandish statements, leaving people unsure whether she was telling the truth or not.

He looked at Li Chenjin, remained silent for a while, and then said, "If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it."

Li Chen smiled, glanced at Shen Zhengyuan, and continued, "Then let's hurry on our way. The sooner we get to our destination, the sooner Shen Xiushi can get rid of me, right?"

Shen Zhengyuan: "..."

He didn't say anything more, but continued walking forward with Li Chenjin. Perhaps it was because of their "heart-to-heart talk" a while ago that he felt much more at ease with Li Chenjin, because he hadn't made any plans to run away during this time, which made her very gratified.

She had already planned what to do in the next place, and even prepared to get a good night's sleep as soon as she arrived. However, she never expected that when she actually arrived, there was nowhere to sleep, let alone stay.

The two stood before a ruin, surrounded by rubble. The only remaining structure that resembled an inn was a house whose walls were only half intact, the roof was nowhere to be seen, and only the door remained standing.

Before Li Chenjin could figure out what to do next, she suddenly heard a thunderclap in the sky, followed by a muffled rumble of thunder. In the blink of an eye, a torrential downpour began, soaking her to the bone, leaving her no time to hide.

It's truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly, and a delayed boat encountering a headwind. (Note 1)

She looked up at the sky above her head, lost in thought for a long time, seemingly pondering something.

After she finally came to her senses, she shook her head, looking rather helpless.

Just as they were about to take their people to find a place to shelter from the rain, they saw Shen Zhengyuan take out a small house, about the size of a palm, from his open Qiankun bag. It looked like a toy for a child.

But the moment he threw the house out and it hit the ground, the tiny house, no bigger than a palm, suddenly transformed into a real house.

It was a two-story building, but it was unclear how long it had been built. It looked incredibly old and dilapidated, as if it were drafty and prone to leaking rain.

She followed Shen Zhengyuan into the small building. Just as she had expected, the building looked like it hadn't been lived in for a long time. It was very old inside and out, and there was a wooden table in the middle of the room that looked so dilapidated that it seemed like it would fall apart if you pushed it.

Thinking this, she actually reached out and tentatively pushed it. In the end, unexpectedly yet predictably, a loud noise rang out. It was the sound of the table falling apart, along with the tea set on the table, crashing to the ground.

Li Chenjin: "..."

Shen Zhengyuan: "..."

The two men stared at the mess on the ground, both taken aback. In the end, Li Chen felt embarrassed and spoke first, trying to change the subject, saying, "Well... if you have such a rare treasure, why didn't you take it out sooner?"

“There was no need to use it before, and since this house has no other use besides living in it, it has been stored in a corner for too long, and I had forgotten about it before.” Shen Zhengyuan said slowly, “It is indeed a rare magic weapon. Although it is not very useful, it is still better not to dismantle it.”

Li Chen touched his nose, coughed awkwardly, and said, "This... I didn't mean to. Don't worry, I'm quite skilled at fixing things, I'll fix it."

Although the house is drafty on the first floor and leaks rain on the second floor, it's still much better than having nowhere to live. Besides, she has some experience in repairing roofs and building houses, so she can naturally fix the house after the rain stops.

It seemed the rain wasn't going to stop today. By the time Li Chen finished repairing the table, it was already dark. Luckily, they still had some of the dry food they had bought, otherwise they would have been starving.

After a quick and simple dinner, it was soon time to rest. However, the second floor was uninhabitable, and there was only one bed on the first floor. They could only stand by the bed, staring at each other.

After a short while, Shen Zhengyuan spoke first: "I'll sleep on the floor."

"You're going to sleep on the floor? How can you sleep on the floor in your current condition? If you get sick, won't I have to take care of you day and night?" Li Chen sighed. "Fine, go to bed."

"So you're sleeping on the floor?" Shen Zhengyuan asked.

“That won’t work either. My health isn’t much better than yours, it might even be worse,” Li Chen said. “If you sleep in the bed, I’ll sleep in the bed too.”

"You, you...you're really sick!" Shen Zhengyuan glared and said, "Men and women shouldn't touch each other, how could you...how could you say such a thing?!"

“Special times call for special measures. Why are you so old-fashioned? I don’t mind, so why are you?” Li Chen said. “Don’t worry, just lie in bed. I promise I won’t do anything improper to you or tarnish your reputation.”

Shen Zhengyuan naturally disagreed, but there was nothing he could do about it. After he insisted on sleeping on the ground, Li Chenjin seized the opportunity to knock him unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself lying in bed with Li Chenjin lying next to him.

He sat up abruptly, about to get out of bed, when he heard the person beside him, who still had their eyes closed, say softly, "If you don't sleep soon, I'll have to be a bit rough. You don't want to stay unconscious in this place for a whole day and night, do you?"

Shen Zhengyuan: "..."

madman……

What a madman...

He was filled with resentment, but he had no choice but to close his eyes and lie down properly next to Li Chenjin like a stiff puppet.

Li Chenjin was sleepy at the moment, and she didn't care what the people around her were thinking or whether they were asleep or not. Anyway, she was going to sleep. She just murmured "Go to sleep quickly" and her breathing immediately became steady, as if she had already entered a dream.

Her behavior seemed to suggest that she truly had no other thoughts or intentions towards him, but now that he was awake, he couldn't fall back asleep. He could only lie there with his eyes open, listening to the rain and thunder outside, constantly guessing about Li Chenjin's origins.

As he kept guessing, he unknowingly fell asleep.

Then, whether it was because he saw this ruin that some long-buried memories were stirred up, or because the sound of rain and thunder sounded so similar to what he had heard before, those long-blurred memories resurfaced before his eyes in the form of a dream.

In his dream, he returned to when he was about five years old, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the sky in his dream.

The sky was a hazy gray, just like his father's face, pale and devoid of any warmth.

He watched helplessly as his father died from a fatal illness, while he was picked up by his weeping mother and joined the flow of refugees, continuing onward.

His father's remains were still in the same place, unburied, lying in the open on the gravel road, while he could only watch helplessly as he grew further and further away from his father, until he became completely indistinct.

In fact, he had long forgotten what his parents looked like. From the time he could remember, he was taken away to flee from place to place. All he could remember were the panicked and fearful faces of various people. In his daily life of fearing the coming of tomorrow, he also forgot the appearance of many people.

Or perhaps it was because his parents died too early. His father passed away when he was five, and his mother died when he was seven. She missed her father so much and was often hungry, which caused her health to deteriorate, and she eventually died in despair.

After his parents passed away, he lived a muddled life. During this time, he met many kind people and made one or two friends. He sincerely wanted to protect the people around him and thought about restoring peace to the Three Realms. However, when the world was in chaos, the power of an individual was too insignificant.

He witnessed firsthand how some people took advantage of the chaos to either plunder others' gold and silver treasures or to humiliate younger women and unmarried girls.

At first, he would presumptuously try to stop them, but at that time he was just an ordinary mortal, a child, with no spiritual power or strength. In the end, not only did he fail to help those people, but he also had his legs broken, his head stomped on and pressed into the mud, and was mocked to make him see his own worth.

After that, his friends either got separated on the road and never saw each other again, or died on the road they had traveled together, and their memories became increasingly blurred.

In times of great chaos, herbs become exceptionally precious. Furthermore, when he was born, the alchemy world was already on the verge of extinction due to heavy casualties and had no choice but to retreat from the world. Therefore, people who fell ill at that time could not buy good medicine unless they could spend a fortune, and they might not even be able to buy a single dreg of medicine.

Therefore, during his time on the run, he witnessed too many people around him leave. Some were sick and couldn't buy good medicine, some were weak and never had enough to eat, and some were too slow to run and were caught, killed, or eaten by something, etc.

It was during that time that he suddenly realized that there are so many ways for a person to die, and that dying peacefully in one's sleep without illness is an extremely rare and precious wish for many people.

Following his previous experience, he dug a hole nearby and buried his deceased friend in the ground.

He would deliberately dig deeper, because based on past experience, if he dug too shallow, the carcass might be dug up by starving wild dogs or other animals and gnawed to pieces.

Those things often start by ripping out the corpse's stomach, which causes the various organs to scatter all over the ground, making it extremely unsightly and unrecognizable from its appearance in life.

He appeared calm in the face of the successive departures, as if they wouldn't cause him any ripples. But only he knew how much hatred he harbored, how much he hated them constantly.

He hated the wealthy and powerful who lived in luxury yet refused to give alms; he hated those who had large families but treated others with indifference; he hated doctors who were only interested in money and had no heart to save lives; he hated that there is life and death in this world; and he hated even more his own powerlessness to save lives and his inaction.

But hatred can become numb, and slowly, he stopped knowing how to hate and forgot what he wanted to hate.

He was only twelve years old at the time, and finding a bite to eat each day had already exhausted all his energy. He simply didn't have the strength to hate anymore.

After that, he entered the world of magic cultivation. In fact, he didn't know he was going to the world of magic cultivation at first. He only heard people say that he could eat his fill there, so he went. Unexpectedly, he was kept as an inner disciple after he went up the mountain. Not only could he eat his fill, but he could also learn various spells and formations.

During the seven years he lived in the Dharma practice community, his master, uncles, and fellow disciples gradually helped him forget the pain he had experienced.

Until one day, a huge magic array suddenly appeared between heaven and earth. The magic cultivation world was the array's core, and the people inside became its sacrifices. Only then did he remember what loss felt like, and what hatred felt like...

Li Chen was sound asleep when she suddenly felt the bed shaking and making creaking noises, as if it were about to collapse like the table before her. This startled her awake.

She suddenly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was darkness.

The rain outside hadn't stopped, and the thunder was still rumbling. However, because the thunder was far away, it didn't affect her much. But soon, she noticed that among the rain and thunder, there was also the sound of the bed shaking and someone's murmuring. And the bed was indeed shaking.

She sat up abruptly and looked at the person next to her. She found that the person was curled up against the wall, trembling and with their eyelashes fluttering. They looked like they wanted to wake up but couldn't. They were clearly being haunted by a nightmare.

She leaned down slightly and heard him muttering repeatedly: "What...nothing...Father...Mother...I...I have nothing...Master...nothing...Senior Brother...nothing...Senior Sister...Master..."

A note from the author:

(Note 1) From Feng Menglong's "Stories to Awaken the World"

Haha, my reading for the client was even more accurate than before, I really want to praise myself [dog head with rose in hand]