She took out the dragon pearl and swallowed it in one gulp. How strange fate was—just half a day ago, she found it disgusting when Yun Ya swallowed a dragon pearl, yet now she was doing the same. Fortunately, this thing was soft and smooth in her mouth, with a faint sweetness, surprisingly not unpleasant to eat.

The Ao Yu saw that she wasn’t pretending and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Next was to wait for this girl to die, which would mean that detestable Yun Ya wouldn’t survive either. His heart swelled with satisfaction, and he was about to laugh when he suddenly heard her ask: “When did I fall into the abyss?”

“…” The laughter instantly caught in his throat. “Half a day before Yun Ya arrived.”

When she fell, the weather had been clear, and he had seen it. At that time, he thought this piece of meat was too small to bother swallowing—a decision that seemed very wise now! Later, the wind and rain obscured everything, and Yun Ya was busy killing monsters, so he hadn’t noticed her presence.

She responded with a simple “Oh.”

After this interruption, Ao Yu’s soul grew even fainter. He said viciously: “Die quickly!”

She couldn’t help but laugh heartily, feeling elated: “Once I leave this place, I’ll find Yun Ya. Our lives are connected, so he should protect me and keep me safe.”

The Ao Yu glanced at her askance, as if hearing the greatest joke: “Hehe, if he finds you, dying won’t be easy for you. Just look at me…” He suddenly burst into loud laughter, “I’m afraid by then you’ll wish for death! If you don’t believe me, just go ahead and try!”

Before his laughter ended, his figure slowly dissipated until it disappeared completely.

It seemed his soul had finally scattered.

After swallowing the pearl, it transformed into a warm current that permeated her five organs and six viscera. Her internal and external injuries had mostly healed, her limbs no longer ached, and she felt a vigorous power emerging from deep within her body as if each step could propel her forward.

If not for her mental exhaustion, she could truly be described as being in perfect condition.

The large fish that had carried her here, no longer under anyone’s control, swam away quickly. This place was a sun-filled valley, without wind or waves, and the water surface soon returned to calmness.

The stream flowed slowly. She bent down close to it and, using her reflection in the water, could make out her current appearance.

Her eyes were round and large, with deep black pupils like two black crystals nestled in white porcelain spoons. Her nose and lips were small and upturned, her cheeks so pink they looked as if water would come out if pinched. She was unmistakably a budding beauty who would, in eight or nine cases out of ten, grow up to be stunningly beautiful.

Before her serious illness, her face had been merely ordinary. Heaven had been kind to her, giving her a good appearance this time.

She looked carefully for a few more moments, memorizing her facial features and physical characteristics, then raised her head to determine her direction. A gust of wind blew by, and she wrapped her clothes tightly around herself but received little warmth. Her clothes had been soaked through during her underwater journey, and after experiencing numerous frights over the past half day, with only a few bites of raw fish meat, the morning wind’s chill easily invaded her body. If she hadn’t just swallowed Ao Yu’s dragon pearl, she would have fallen ill again.

After all, she was still human—a human child. For now, she needed to quickly find a sheltered place to dry her clothes and get some hot food, otherwise, she wouldn’t last long.

She checked the sky and casually walked eastward, in the same direction as the water flow, but deliberately avoiding the stream bank. The places where Ao Yu lived were all spiritual mountains and great marshes—in other words, far from human habitation, all wild mountains and ancient forests. It was early morning when beasts preferred to ambush animals coming to drink at the stream, and she didn’t want to escape one peril only to be hunted down.

Following a river often led to safety. With the strength provided by Ao Yu’s dragon pearl, she could walk as briskly as if she weren’t a child at all. Fortunately, she encountered no dangers along the way. After running several li, she came across a south-facing cave. She sniffed cautiously at the entrance for quite some time, detecting no stench characteristic of a carnivorous animal’s den, so she boldly walked in.

She carried a small pouch with her that contained a fire striker, but it was useless now that it was soaked. While rummaging through her belongings, something fell out and struck the ground with a ding, creating two sparks.

It was one of Ao Yu’s broken teeth, as large as her palm, with fine serrations along the edge. The tooth of an ancient monster was harder than a diamond. It had been knocked loose during Ao Yu’s fierce battle before death, and she had casually picked it up as a sharp tool, which now proved to be an unexpected blessing.

The forest had just experienced rain, making the firewood wet and difficult to ignite. And expecting an eleven-year-old girl to make fire by rubbing sticks would be too demanding. But she remembered that not far from the cave entrance, two kapok trees had dropped their fruit to the ground, and she couldn’t help but smile.

The soft fluff inside the kapok fruit was the best tinder. She held Ao Yu’s broken tooth and struck it against a hard stone dozens of times. Sure enough, several sparks jumped out again, fortunately igniting the cotton fluff.

She didn’t know that although the Ao Yu lived in water, it also belonged to the dragon family and possessed the ability to breathe fire. It could create sparks by grinding its upper and lower teeth together, with dragon breath rising from the bottom of its throat and transforming into a pillar of fire when expelled from its mouth.

Starting a fire was merely a minor skill.

But an ordinary little girl’s strength and endurance would certainly not match hers, otherwise the fire wouldn’t have been lit so quickly.

The fire finally blazed, dispelling the damp cold around her. She took off her clothes to dry them, then pulled out the fish meat she had brought from the cold pool and roasted it on tree branches. Swallowing the dragon pearl had dramatically increased her hunger—perhaps due to her accelerated blood circulation? At this moment, she needed meat for strength, but how could she catch prey in the wild on her own? So she had taken several large pieces of fish meat from the pool; if she encountered fierce beasts, this bait might buy her some time to escape.

While roasting the fish, she took a small wooden carving from her pouch and examined it carefully. It was carved in the shape of some kind of hawk or falcon, with excellent craftsmanship and lifelike detail, though she couldn’t see anything magical about it. However, having inherited the original owner’s memories, she now went outside the cave, held the carving to her lips, and repeatedly recited a name three times before throwing it upward with a sweep of her arm!

Something strange happened: as the wooden carving was tossed into the air, it suddenly began to flap its wings, and then its form expanded, actually transforming into a real hawk!

Its wingspan reached over four feet, complete with a hooked beak and sharp talons.

It circled once in the sky, let out two clear cries, and then flew eastward, its silhouette vanishing into the high sky after a dozen breaths.

The wonders of this world were truly endless. She was amazed, and then returned to the cave to eat her fish.

Without seasonings, the fish had no salty or sweet flavor. But as the meat with its smoky aroma filled her stomach, the sense of fullness and contentment was so blissful it almost made her want to cry out loud!

While gathering firewood, she had noticed various small mushrooms growing on tree stumps in the forest, which looked delicious. Unfortunately, she had little wilderness survival experience and dared not pick them rashly, lest she end up as a woman who didn’t survive past the fifth episode.

The chance to live again was too precious, and she cherished it immensely.