Chapter 75: The Immortal System and Affection in the Cave

This attack blasted a massive, bloody hole through Chu Han’s chest, blood streaming onto the ground. Ye Tingyu collapsed beside him, sobbing uncontrollably. He hadn’t expected that, at the most critical moment, Chu Han would sacrifice himself to shield her.

“Hurry and get up! Don’t die here! What will I do if you die? Why did you save me?” Ye Tingyu cried out, her voice hoarse with desperation. But Chu Han lay motionless, eyes tightly shut, his face ashen and lips silent.

Though Chu Han had fallen into a deep coma, he still retained a thread of consciousness—he could hear Ye Tingyu’s words, yet he could not awaken. His injuries were severe; in order to save her, he’d forced out the last vestiges of his magic, causing damage even to his core.

His body felt weightless, as if he were floating. If he were an ordinary man, he would have died already. Yet Chu Han was keenly aware he was not dead; his body was slowly healing. He didn’t know how long had passed before he gradually opened his eyes, the pain in his chest twisting his features in agony. For now, he couldn’t move.

He saw Ye Tingyu curled up next to him, sleeping soundly. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. What had worried him most while unconscious was her safety. In Mangdang Mountain, someone of Ye Tingyu’s strength was almost powerless; without his protection, her survival was uncertain.

But she seemed resourceful—she’d somehow found a safe place, and was sleeping peacefully. Gazing at her small, slumbering face, a faint furrow of worry between her brows, Chu Han smiled to himself. Was it possible this woman was actually concerned for him? Unlikely; she probably wished she could tear him apart instead.

Just then, his throat tightened painfully, and he coughed violently, startling Ye Tingyu awake. Seeing him conscious, she was overjoyed, quickly supporting him and patting his back.

Chu Han’s coughing was so intense he thought his lungs might burst; only after spitting out a mouthful of blood did he feel relief, sinking back against the ground with a long exhale.

“You’re finally awake! If you hadn’t woken soon, I wouldn’t have known what to do,” Ye Tingyu said pitifully, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. In that moment, she looked so vulnerable and lovely that anyone would have felt moved to pity.

“How long was I unconscious?” Chu Han asked softly, his voice hoarse as sandpaper. Still, being able to speak at all was a good sign. He could feel the severity of the wound in his chest—a life-threatening injury by any measure.

Yet he had survived, and his body was slowly mending itself. It was the Inferno Golden Body repairing him; it didn’t require any flow of true energy to function, which was truly a blessing in this disaster.

“You’ve been unconscious for three days. It took me everything I had to drag you here that day. Luckily, this place is safe—no magical beasts came by in all this time. But if you hadn’t woken up, I don’t think I could have held out much longer,” Ye Tingyu replied, shaking her head, her tone laden with grievance. For three days, she had cared for Chu Han with unwavering devotion. Originally, she’d wanted nothing more than to kill him—after all, he had humiliated her repeatedly along the way.

Now, with him gravely injured, was the perfect moment to strike. If she waited for him to recover, she’d have no chance. Yet every time she raised her hand to act, the image of him standing before her, shielding her from harm, would rise in her mind.

That had been the tallest, most heroic figure she’d ever seen. No one had ever done so much for her. At that thought, her hand, gripping the knife, would tremble uncontrollably, unable to bring itself down.

Chu Han nodded. He’d been unconscious for three days. While his mind had been aware during that time, he’d had no sense of how much time had passed. Clearly, the injury was grave indeed.

“At first, I thought you were dead,” Ye Tingyu continued, her cheeks flushing a soft pink as she remembered. “After you took that giant bird’s attack, you stopped breathing. I was terrified—if you died, I’d never make it out of here. But after a few minutes, you started breathing again. You’re really hard to kill; even with wounds like that, you survived.”

As she recounted the events, a shy blush crept across her delicate features, as though she were recalling something embarrassing.

Chu Han was puzzled by her reaction, until he remembered, in his dazed state, a faint, soft sensation on his lips—a gentle touch that had felt rather pleasant. Connecting this memory with her current behavior, Chu Han realized what had happened. He’d be a fool not to.

An awkward silence fell between them. Chu Han coughed lightly. “Yes, my life’s always been stubborn. It’s not that easy to kill me.”

He knew full well the real reason he had not died: the system in his mind had already reached thirty percent completion. It was the Undying System that had saved him—with it, death was nearly impossible. However, each time the Undying System’s power was activated, it advanced further; when it reached one hundred percent, it would become the Inevitable Death System.

For now, though, the system had saved his life. Without it, he would have perished long ago. There was no way to resolve the system’s presence, so all he could do was take things one step at a time.

After regaining a little true energy, Chu Han controlled it to retrieve a small jade bottle from his spatial ring, though his body itself would not move. “Take a pill from the bottle,” he instructed, “and help me swallow it.”

Ye Tingyu promptly complied, but when she tried to feed him the healing pill, the pain in his throat was too much—he couldn’t swallow. He wanted to use his lightning attribute to break the pill down, but found he was unable to summon any lightning.

He opened his mouth, and the pill fell to the ground. He looked helplessly at Ye Tingyu. “I can’t swallow it.”

She, too, was at a loss. If he couldn’t swallow, there was nothing to be done but wait for his throat to heal on its own.

At that moment, Ye Tingyu did something he never expected. Her eyes flickered as she looked at his suffering, feeling his pain as her own. She picked up the pill, wiped it clean, and placed it in her mouth.

“What are you doing? Are you hurt too?” Chu Han asked, startled. The pill was an ordinary healing elixir, and she didn’t look injured at all—her complexion was rosy and glowing.

Ye Tingyu didn’t answer. Instead, she chewed the pill, her cheeks reddening. After a moment’s hesitation, she pressed her lips to Chu Han’s, transferring the chewed medicine directly into his mouth, guiding it into his body with a gentle surge of true energy.

Chu Han was stunned. He hadn’t expected her to do such a thing—though the sensation was familiar, recalling what he’d felt during his coma. The entire cave seemed to fill with an ambiguous, tender atmosphere.

Day by day, Chu Han’s body steadily recovered. From that day on, Ye Tingyu would chew his medicine and feed it to him herself; she’d grown so accustomed to it that she no longer blushed.

Chu Han was almost fully healed; at least, he could now stand. The wound in his chest had closed, though the damage to his core had not yet mended. He still couldn’t summon the power of lightning, which was doubtless due to his injured core.