Volume Two - The Map of Nine Provinces Appears, Entering the Spirit Ruins Chapter 52: Surviving Catastrophe

Chen Yu and his two companions leapt from the high cliff, and before long, a violent hurricane swept toward them.

"Careful..." Already terrified, the three were thrown into even greater panic.

With nothing to hold onto, they were scattered by the raging wind in an instant.

They shouted desperately to one another, but could do nothing more.

"Survive, and we’ll meet again in the Nine Provinces!" Chen Yu cried out fiercely. Yet even through the trembling of his voice, his fear was unmistakable. The same was true for Jing Zhe and Xue Han.

Chen Yu was not simply falling straight down the cliff; gusts would occasionally rise from below, sweeping him sideways. The abyss seemed to stretch far beyond ten thousand feet.

Facing death, Chen Yu could not help but panic. After all, not only him—even those who had mastered cultivation—who could truly claim to be fearless in the face of death?

But now, besides leaving his fate to chance, what else could Chen Yu do?

He tried to spread his limbs wide, hoping to use the winds below to slow his descent. Even though he was unsure if it would work, he had no other options left.

The time spent falling was not long, but neither was it brief.

Soon, Chen Yu could see the landscape at the base of the cliff—a boundless wilderness, an endless forest rising high like a sea of green. Occasionally, the roars of beasts echoed from afar.

Now, Chen Yu was plummeting at a terrifying speed. Without intervention, the impact would almost certainly smash him into a bloody pulp.

"What do I do? What do I do?" In his panic, Chen Yu instinctively activated the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption technique—perhaps his last resort.

In that fleeting moment, though his mind was chaotic with fear, he keenly sensed a change—not just in his technique, but in the very world around him.

Through the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption, Chen Yu could clearly perceive the presence of spiritual energy in the air, thick and abundant—far beyond what could be found in the Lawless Lands, or even the Severed Mountains.

"This..." Chen Yu gasped, but quickly calmed himself. He kept his body spread wide, using the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption to seek a breakthrough.

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The spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged into him, forming a vortex around his body.

Though not obvious, his descent slowed noticeably.

Suddenly, Chen Yu startled himself and thought, "No... Now is not the time to break through. Why not try to manipulate the spiritual energy, and fashion myself a pair of wings to glide?"

It sounded like a wild fantasy, and he had never tried it before, but now it was his only hope.

He summoned the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption, attempting to control the gathering spiritual energy. As he had imagined, though his technique was rough, in the face of life and death, he quickly grasped the skill.

"It works!" Chen Yu rejoiced, throwing himself into the effort with all his heart.

He could now distinctly feel the resistance as he fell; his speed was rapidly decreasing.

"I can live... I can live..." Chen Yu shouted ecstatically. As the ground drew ever closer, his confidence grew. Perhaps he would be badly injured, but at least he would not end up as a mangled corpse.

Boom... After just a few dozen breaths, Chen Yu finally crashed into the forest below. He smashed through thick branches, and his already battered body threatened to lose consciousness. Yet he held on, for he could not afford to die.

Splash... At last, Chen Yu hit the ground, landing by chance in a deep lake.

Cough... The tremendous pressure forced him to cough up blood. With the last of his willpower, he struggled to swim to the shore and then lost consciousness.

Fortunately, there were no fierce beasts lurking where he fell, or he would surely have become their next meal.

Two days and nights passed. The blood on Chen Yu’s body had long since dried into crusted patches. An icy evening breeze swept through, causing him to frown and instinctively curl up. Before long, Chen Yu, who had been unconscious all this time, slowly opened his eyes.

Any slight movement sent waves of pain through his body, forcing him to suck in a breath.

Weak as he was, he managed to sit up, gazing blankly at the surrounding landscape.

"The Nine Provinces? Is this the Nine Provinces?" he murmured softly. Soon, his worry shifted to Jing Zhe and Xue Han. "I wonder how my brothers are faring?"

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"Don’t worry. If I could survive, they’ll be fine." Chen Yu said with conviction, though he was really reassuring himself. Even if he had reached the territory of the Nine Provinces, joy eluded him, for he knew that now his greatest challenge was to survive.

Though he had escaped disaster, Chen Yu’s condition was dire. Injuries upon injuries, several ribs fractured, his organs feeling torn. Had he not practiced the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption, endured many tribulations, and survived a lightning ordeal, his body would not be so resilient—he would already be a corpse.

He also knew this was no Lawless Land like the Chen Kingdom; should a beast like those found in the Severed Mountains appear, he would be nothing more than their meal.

Though his weakness was profound, it could not dampen Chen Yu’s excitement. The spiritual energy of this world, unseen before, was like a stimulant, awakening every cell in his body, making him feel intoxicated and ethereal.

Now he finally understood why his homeland was called the Lawless Land.

Chen Yu took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

The most urgent matter was to heal his wounds, which meant he needed to fill his stomach first.

In the forest, trees were the most abundant, and naturally, there would be wild fruits aplenty. Soon, Chen Yu gathered a small bundle from the area.

Though these fruits could not be called spiritual fruits, growing in such an environment made them tastier and more nutritious than anything he’d eaten in the Chen Kingdom.

He sighed in satisfaction as a sense of fullness washed over him.

Wasting no time, Chen Yu focused on regulating the energy in his dantian and chest with the Nine-Breath Qi Absorption technique. Spiritual energy gathered around him as he absorbed it.

As time passed, under the nourishment of the spiritual energy, Chen Yu’s wounds gradually began to heal. Even the broken ribs slowly knit back together.

His own energy grew steadily, and by nightfall, his body rang with a thunderous sound—a breakthrough. He now possessed the power of five breaths in his dantian.

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