Chu Feng's Mental Power was nearly depleted. He had managed to hold on earlier when contending for control, but he couldn't last long inside the teleportation tunnel before losing consciousness.
In his hazy state, all he could feel was pain — nothing else. The agony of his brain being torn apart, the piercing sensation of needles throughout his entire body, was its own form of torture.
After an unknown stretch of time, Chu Feng faintly sensed that he was being enveloped by a gentle force, and the pain across his body began to recede.
The torture subsided rapidly.
Even his consciousness slowly returned.
After a while longer, Chu Feng finally opened his eyes. He found himself inside a room equipped with a healing grand formation, and he was positioned at its center.
But this healing formation was merely supplementary. The true source of power came from a slender figure.
"Wen Xue?"
Chu Feng looked at Wen Xue inside the formation eye with surprise.
She was using her own strength, channeled through the formation eye, to heal him.
Wen Xue's already fair complexion was even paler than usual — an ashen, fragile kind of paleness born of exhaustion.
Guilt welled up inside Chu Feng. "Wen Xue, you…"
He hadn't expected her to go to such lengths and pay such a heavy cost just to heal him.
"Stop talking."
Wen Xue immediately snapped at him, her tone sharp.
But as if realizing she had been too harsh, she quickly softened. "Your body is weak. Talk less for now and listen to me."
"This is my Master's chamber. Zi Ling and my Master are just outside."
"They have matters to attend to, so they asked me to help heal you."
"Of course, I'm only helping you because Master instructed me to."
"You need to recover as quickly as possible, because you must return to that starry sky without delay."
"That despicable grandfather of yours is preparing to observe the Ancestral Martial Sect again."
Chu Feng understood now why Wen Xue was helping him heal, and he asked, "How long was I unconscious?"
"An hour," Wen Xue replied.
"An hour?" Chu Feng's brows furrowed slightly.
Based on his estimation, his earlier depletion of Mental Power was an extremely serious condition. Under normal circumstances, sleeping for several months would be expected — and that was already assuming Chu Feng's recovery ability, which far surpassed that of an ordinary person.
For anyone else, even several years, several decades, or even an entire lifetime might not be enough to fully recover. An hour was simply not enough for Chu Feng to wake up.
The only reason he had awakened now was because of Wen Xue's help. The healing power she possessed was truly unique — something no amount of rare treasures or heavenly materials could replace.
But if he had Wen Xue… what about Jie Tianran?
They had both been forced out due to the complete exhaustion of their Mental Power. Jie Tianran couldn't have escaped without any burden either.
That meant Jie Tianran also had the power and means to recover quickly.
"Of course, if you don't want to go, or can't go, you can say so," Wen Xue continued. "You can take your time recovering."
"Has Jie Tianran activated his observation treasure again?" Chu Feng asked.
"Not yet, but it looks like he intends to. He's set up a defensive grand array and a sealing grand array — both covering an enormous area."
"Master suspects that he must know you infiltrated it before."
"Or perhaps he detected that someone else had been secretly observing, which is why he suddenly deployed these measures," Wen Xue said.
"He's guarding against me."
"Earlier, both my consciousness and his entered the formation world of the Ancestral Martial Sect."
"My injuries are the result of my Mental Power being overconsumed during the confrontation with him," Chu Feng explained.
"So that's why he stopped observing at the same time as you."
"Are you still going back in?" Wen Xue asked.
"Can you hold up?" Chu Feng countered.
He could tell that healing him had cost Wen Xue dearly. Right now he had only regained consciousness — he was still far from full recovery. To reach his optimal state, Wen Xue would have to pay an even greater price.
"Junior Brother Chu Feng, I might as well be straightforward."
"The power I'm using to heal you comes from reserves I've accumulated over time."
"I have the ability to devour the bloodlines of others, and when I heal you, I'm forced to expend those bloodlines."
"I'm burning capital that I've saved up over many years, just to help you."
"Even between close friends, debts should be clearly accounted for."
"The healing I provided Zi Ling — you already repaid that by restoring her life soul."
"But this recovery of your Mental Power is a separate debt. You'll have to pay me back in the future, and this debt won't come cheap."