A piece of Japanese incense

Zhi Yihe was enveloped and pushed by the boundless sea. Her body lost all sensation: no cold, no heat, no pain, only a sense of emptiness. She didn't even know if she was breathing.

After an unknown amount of time, a rough, gritty touch replaced the all-pervasive feeling of liquid enveloping her. Her body seemed to be stranded on a hard surface, and the thrust of the waves became intermittent.

She tried to open her eyes.

There is no light.

There was only a thick, impenetrable, absolute darkness. Not the darkness of night, but... nothingness. It was as if the eyeballs themselves had ceased to function.

She tried to turn her head to listen to the sound of the waves and the wind.

No sound.

The sound of waves crashing on the shore, the whistling of the sea breeze, even her own heartbeat and breathing, disappeared.

She tried moving her fingers.

no feeling.

Am I dead...

"He Baoer! My He Baoer"

"Grandma! Grandma!" Zhi Yihe's body stumbled in the thick smoke and heat, and rushed into the depths of the hall desperately.

Lin Zhensu's gray hair was disheveled, her face was covered with soot, her lips were cracked and purple, and her eyes were closed.

"Grandma! Wake up! Yihe is here! Yihe is here to save you!" Zhi Yihe cried.

"Yi...Yihe...my Hebaoer" Lin Zhensu opened his eyes very slowly.

"Don't cry..." Lin Zhensu was barely breathing, and raised his skinny hands, trembling, covered in soot and blood, "Help...Help me..."

Zhiyi and his heart were torn.

"He Baoer... don't be afraid..." Lin Zhensu's fingers groped into her hair and took out a gold hairpin.

"Come... bow your head... we... and Baoer... have reached the age of marriage..."

Zhi Yihe's tears welled up as she lowered her head in obedience. She could "feel" her grandmother's cold fingers running through her fire-scorched hair, gathering it up and using all her strength to pin the hairpin into her hair.

"Alright..." Lin Zhensu let out a long sigh, revealing a tired but extremely satisfied smile, "We... Yihe... have grown up... and have reached the age of marriage..."

Her voice was intermittent, full of pity and deep regret:

"Grandmother... and your mother... have been preparing for you... for many years... wanting to hold... a grand coming-of-age ceremony... to let... let the whole capital know... that my Xiaoyi... has grown up... I didn't expect... cough cough..." He coughed violently, and dark red blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. "I didn't expect... it would happen... here... so... hastily... I'm sorry to have wronged you..."

"Don't be wronged! Grandma, I'll go find a doctor! I'm sure he can cure you!"

"No need..." Grandma's skinny hand suddenly burst out with amazing strength, tightly grasping her wrist, her eyes unusually clear, "Don't... waste your energy..."

"Grandmother has been poisoned... and is already deeply poisoned... just to... wait for you to come back... and put this hairpin on you... and watch my... Bao'er... grow up..."

"He Bao'er...listen carefully..." Grandmother held her hand tightly, "Don't hate anyone..."

Zhi Yihe shook his head violently, filled with grief and indignation: "No! He'er will avenge you and my grandfather!"

"The hatred... is too heavy..." Grandma's voice became softer and softer. "Grandma... doesn't want you... to live like that... You have to... live well... live freely! Live the life you... want!

"If you don't want to...get married and have children...let's not get married! If you don't want to...stay in this...small capital...let's go travel! Go...anywhere you want! Don't worry about what others...say! Don't be bound by...any rules! You and Bao'er...should just...be happy!"

"Grandma..."

"Good girl..." Grandma wiped her tears, but the more she wiped, the more tears came. "Grandma... left... something... for you..."

She gasped, her eyes starting to blur, but she still held onto Zhi Yihe's hand tightly: "Promise me... live well... grow freely..."

"I promise! I promise you, Grandma!"

"Good...good boy..."

Lin Zhensu used her last bit of strength to grope for the necklace around her neck. The pendant was a small, sealed metal cylinder. She pried open one end of the cylinder with her fingernail and poured out a pill... the size of her pinky fingernail, perfectly round...

"Open your mouth..."

The pill melted in his mouth! A powerful airflow rushed down his throat, quickly spreading to every part of his body!

"This is... the Nine Revolutions Pill... your grandfather... spent his entire life... refining for you... From now on... you will be... immune to all poisons... you will no longer have to... live in fear... even for food and clothing..."

Zhi Yihe, who was in a coma, twitched unconsciously in the cold sand.

After waking up, she still had lost all her senses. She tried to slowly "move" in the direction of the rock outline to the side and back, leaving the exposed coast and finding a crevice in the reef to hide.

"Whoosh-!"

A tearing sensation came from her left chest! A huge impact force hit her heart hard!

"Ugh!" Zhi Yihe groaned, staggered backward by the force, and fell to the ground!

"Wow!" A mouthful of blood spurted out of her mouth.

Then, a series of crisp and pleasant sounds, like jade beads falling on a plate, echoed densely on the gravel beneath her! Something... shattered and scattered?

It's a pearl shirt!

The soft armor she wore next to her skin, woven with exotic pearls and golden silk, was a protective item given to her by her grandmother. It had blocked a fatal arrow for her!

"Woo-woo-woo-" the sound of the whistling wind clearly filled my ears!

"Hua-la-hua-la-" The sound of waves hitting the rocks! It's so close!

"Cough... cough..." She suppressed her painful cough!

and also--

"Swoosh!" "Grab!" Another arrow flew through the air and pierced deeply into the sand and gravel beside her with a dull sound!

Hearing! Restored!

"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Two arrows shot into the sand and gravel close to her body, splashing up gravel!

She can hear! She can tell the direction!

"Ding..." With a crisp sound, the pearl shirt was shaken off.

Her hands groped aimlessly in the gravel beneath her, searching in vain for the pearls scattered on the ground.

"What is she doing?" A young voice floated into Zhi Yihe's ears. The voice seemed to be more than ten steps away from her.

Then, a rapid but orderly sound of footsteps stopped not far away. A respectful, panting voice sounded, clearly reporting to the "young voice":

"Young Master! The target fell to the ground after being shot by an arrow, but it seems... not fatally injured! I saw that she was wearing some kind of soft armor close to her body, which shattered the arrowhead! She is now acting like a madman, as if... searching for those scattered beads? And her eyes are dull, and she has no reaction to the arrows. It's like... blind and deaf?"

Little Lord? !

The young man called "Young Master" seemed to take a few steps closer and sneered, "Haha..." with a hint of amusement and disdain.

"How could you be in such a miserable state, crawling on the ground like a beggar for a few beads!

That's good! It saved us a lot of effort! Apparently, she's been in the sea for so long and poisoned, and now she's blind and deaf. Oh, there are flowers, grass, insects, dead fish and rotten shrimp here. Any of these insignificant things could kill this 'golden branch and jade leaf'. She loves to pick up those pearls, so let her pick them up as much as she wants! I want to see how many hours she can last in this 'blessed land'? Let her... enjoy it slowly."

"Yes! Young Master!" A respectful reply sounded, and the footsteps gradually faded away, as if most people had left.

Zhi Yihe knelt on the gravel, his hands still "blindly" groping for the pearls.

There are flowers, insects, dead fish and rotten shrimps...

How could he know this? And know it so clearly?!

She buried her head deeper into the gravel, muffled sobs and coughs coming from her throat, scratching and slapping frantically!

She even deliberately scratched her neck and arms with her fingers! Her nails scratched her skin, leaving red marks and even bleeding!

"Tsk, it's started."

"Young Master is very good at predicting things. Judging from her condition, she won't last more than half an hour." Another voice echoed, as if talking about the weather.