The crushing weight of unrefined emerald water slammed into Ye Chen’s spine like an iron sledgehammer, driving the breath from his bruised lungs in a violent explosion of bubbles.
He locked his arms around Lin Xi’s waist, pulling her frozen body against his chest as the violent subterranean river dragged them under.
The water of the ancient Spirit Vein was thick with centuries of discarded alchemy dregs, raw sulfur, and liquid ore, churning with enough kinetic turbulence to tear ordinary flesh from bone.
SKRRRRT-BZZZZZT.
Deep within his fading consciousness, the crimson warning lights of the System interface flashed across his blurred vision, buzzing against his eardrums.
“Emergency Stasis Triggered,” the System’s synthetic voice hummed through the ringing in his skull. “Secondary lif
