Xuanxia

Chapter 157: Fell to the side

Fu Qingzhou felt like a tree ravaged by a violent storm, swaying in the storm, its branches and leaves blown into disarray by the wind, its trunk beaten so hard by the heavy rain that it was in unbearable pain, as if it might collapse at any time.

He didn't know how long he had been rolling, how many rocks he had bumped into, or where he had fallen. The loud noise and blast of the explosion made his eardrums hurt, and this fall almost cost him his life.

Of course he tried to keep himself steady, but for some reason, it seemed as if all the strength in his body had been drained away. The best he could do was curl himself up into a ball and hold his head to prevent himself from being knocked into an idiot.

He couldn't even shout. Before he could even utter a groan of pain, it was pushed back into his throat by the new collision.

As for Qiu Chan...

I can't control it anymore, just wish you the best...

After an unknown amount of time, he finally fell heavily to the ground.

"Ouch! It hurts!"

Fu Qingzhou was finally able to shout out completely.

He coughed violently and reached out to touch the most painful parts of his body to determine if any bones were broken.

It would have been fine if he hadn't checked, but once he did, he was immediately disappointed.

Three ribs were broken and the left calf was probably also fractured. The most serious part was his right hand, because he had to protect the jade pendant from breaking and had to take multiple hits from sharp stones. His right hand was now a bloody mess and his fingers were twisted into knots.

As for other parts of his body, there were more or less scars, but fortunately the impact was not serious and his internal organs were not damaged. What made him most relieved was that his head was not injured and his five senses were still intact.

Fu Qingzhou took a deep breath and raised his head.

But he couldn't see anything. It was pitch dark and there was no light at all.

Helplessly, he stretched out his intact left hand, smeared some of his own blood on it, and wrote a talisman on the ground.

As the last stroke of the talisman was completed, it began to flicker, then dispersed into little bits of glowing light and floated into the air.

This is the most basic fluorescent talisman, which can be used by those at the spiritual level. It consumes little energy, but the lighting effect is limited.

Fortunately, Fu Qingzhou practiced martial arts and had very strong eyesight. With this little glow, he could see his surroundings clearly.

This is not an underground river at all, but an extremely deep underground cave.

Looking up, there is a dark patch with no view to the top, and countless tall stalagmites around. They are like ancient giants, standing in the depths of the cave for thousands of years.

He looked around, but didn't see Qiu Chan. However, his longbow was still there, a few steps away, and the iron arrows were scattered on the ground.

"Hey, old man."

Fu Qingzhou called out weakly, "Didn't you say this was an underground river? Why is it a cave?"

"It fell sideways..."

The Smoker's voice also sounded extremely weak: "At the last moment of casting the spell, the explosion affected me. I had no choice but to save your lives."

"Qiu Chan is missing." Fu Qingzhou frowned and asked, "Do you know where she is?"

"Only ghosts know... Oh no, I'm a ghost too, so even ghosts don't know."

The Smoker said hoarsely, "I guess we fell in different directions from you, but probably not too far."

Fu Qingzhou sighed.

"Then what's going on with me?"

He asked, "Why is my internal energy completely empty?"

"Nonsense!" The Smoker cursed, "I relied on a jade pendant to carry the two of you through a land that was more than ten feet thick. How could I have done it without draining away the internal energy in your bodies?"

"Anyway..."

Its voice weakened: "I am out of strength now, don't count on me, just survive on your own." Fu Qingzhou: "..."

At this point, there is nothing more to say. At least my life is saved.

He was lucky enough not to be killed by the explosion, nor to be trapped in the mud and rocks and suffocated to death while burrowing underground. He just fell and broke bones.

But now, dragging this broken body to find Qiu Chan and escaping from this inexplicable cave is a nightmare-level purgatory difficulty level.

After half-paralyzed on the ground and resting for a while, Fu Qingzhou finally recovered a little.

He crawled a few steps, picked up the longbow, used the longbow as a crutch, and managed to stand up.

Iron arrows scattered all over the ground... After hesitating for a moment, he began to pick them up.

No one knows how big this cave is or how difficult it is to get out of it, so it’s always good to have more things around you.

Picking up the arrows took up a lot of his energy. After picking up all the arrows scattered on the ground, Fu Qingzhou felt so much pain in his broken ribs that it became difficult for him to breathe. He had to find a stalagmite to sit down and rest.

It would have been fine if he hadn't sat down. As soon as he sat down, all the broken bones that didn't hurt so much just now started to hurt, especially his right hand. The five fingers were in excruciating pain, and he was in so much pain that cold sweat covered his head and body.

After taking a few deep breaths to recover, Fu Qingzhou turned his gaze to the pile of iron arrows he had just picked up.

"Ugh……"

He sighed, pulled out the iron arrow and stepped on it, then pulled out the wave-cutting knife with his left hand, chopped off the arrowhead with one knife, and chopped off the arrow feathers with another knife, then took out another arrow and did the same thing.

After doing this, he got several iron splints.

The next thing was to tear off the clothes with great difficulty, tear them into strips, and tie the iron rods to the broken bones.

Naturally, the process also required the correction of crooked bones. Fu Qingzhou could only bend them by force. The pain nearly made him faint several times, but he still gritted his teeth and continued.

After struggling with himself for a long time, he finally fixed all the splints, especially the twisted fingers on his right hand. It almost cost him his life every time he straightened them.

But if it is not treated, this hand will probably become useless over time.

After doing all this, new problems arise.

After experiencing such terrible physical exertion, Fu Qingzhou was hungry.

Not only hungry, but also thirsty.

But he had nothing to eat now...

Under normal circumstances, he would just starve, but Fu Qingzhou knew very well that he was covered in wounds and had lost a lot of blood. The spiritual energy here was extremely thin and the cave was very cold. If he did not eat to replenish calories, he would most likely die of hypothermia soon.

"Earlier, that old man, the Smoker, said that he fell off the track and didn't land in the underground river... This at least means there is an underground river nearby."

He thought secretly: "As long as there is an underground river, there will at least be water. Moist places will probably grow some mushrooms, so there will be food... If we are lucky, there may be fish and shrimp in the underground river."

Thinking of this, even though Fu Qingzhou was tired, in pain, and almost fainted, he still forced himself to stand up with the longbow.

Step by step, step by step...

The cave was so huge that he felt as if he was in an endless underground world with no idea where it ended.

The fluorescent talisman gradually lost its effect, so he continued to use blood to draw talismans on his body to summon the fluorescent light again.

As he went deeper, the terrain of the cave became more and more complex. Sometimes he needed to bypass the huge stone curtain, and sometimes he needed to crawl through the narrow stone crevices. Countless stalactites hung on the top of the cave like icicles, flickering faintly under the illumination of fireflies.

Just when his strength was about to be completely exhausted, a soft knocking sound suddenly reached his ears.

Boom, boom, boom...

It sounded like the sound of stones hitting each other.

(End of this chapter)