Inside the hospital room, Gu Qing rushed to the bedside of Milton. The moment he saw the blood-soaked body lying there, it felt as though a heavy hammer had struck his heart.
He said nothing.
Instead, he sat cross-legged beside the bed and pressed both palms firmly against Milton’s chest. Spiritual power surged out of him like a breached dam, pouring into Milton’s body as he forcefully tried to stabilize the rapidly collapsing life force.
“Milton…” he murmured.
Inside his consciousness, the small Heavenly Dao spirit trembled in panic.
“How did Mimi end up like this…? Waaaah… he looks like he’s dying… his mental sea is completely shattered!”
Gu Qing closed his eyes and sent his spiritual sense deep into Milton’s body.
What he saw was devastation.
Milton’s mental sea had become a wasteland. Cracks spread through it like abyssal chasms. It was so badly broken that it seemed almost beyond repair, as if an entire ocean had been torn apart, leaving behind only chaotic fragments of light and violent currents.
“…This level of damage…” Gu Qing whispered.
Yet his expression only grew calmer and more resolute.
“…Little dumpling. Can I use my nascent soul to repair him?”
The small Heavenly Dao spirit jolted violently, practically exploding in midair.
“Are you insane?! That’s your nascent soul! That’s the core of your existence—something no one is supposed to touch!”
Gu Qing did not respond.
He simply looked quietly at Milton’s face, streaked with blood. Those once dazzling violet eyes were now closed in lifeless stillness.
The little spirit’s voice began trembling.
“A mental sea is the extension of someone’s soul. It’s the universe built from their beliefs, memories, and worldview. Repairing something like that… it’s an act against heaven itself!”
“I am a cultivator,” Gu Qing said softly. “My nascent soul is not an ordinary spirit.”
The little spirit fell silent.
After a moment, it spoke weakly.
“…Your nascent soul truly is a being born from the fusion of spirit and Dao. If anyone could touch another person’s mental sea and repair it… maybe only you could.”
Gu Qing lowered his gaze and gently brushed Milton’s cold cheek with his fingertips.
“He is the most important person in my life.”
The little spirit spun in frantic circles.
“But if something goes wrong in there, you might not die—but you could lose your mind, become weak, or even lose all your cultivation! Repairing a mental sea could severely damage your nascent soul. You might never even return to the cultivation world—”
“I understand.”
Gu Qing cut it off calmly.
The little spirit fell quiet for several seconds before asking in a small voice:
“…Do you truly have no regrets?”
Gu Qing lifted his head and looked at the man lying on the bed.
In that instant, something deep settled in his eyes—not only determination, but love so profound it seemed carved into his bones.
“I have never regretted meeting him.”
His words were not heavy.
They simply carried a quiet certainty, as though at this moment his entire life had found its answer.
Gu Qing steadied himself in meditation. His palm remained pressed to Milton’s chest.
A strand of golden light slowly rose from his forehead like dawn breaking through endless night.
It was his nascent soul.
Radiant and brilliant, yet filled with a warmth capable of soothing all things.
The golden light drifted into Milton’s forehead.
In an instant, consciousness crossed an invisible boundary.
Outside, the little Heavenly Dao spirit watched silently, its voice hoarse with tears.
“Mimi… you have to wake up… Gu Qing really… really holds you at the very center of his heart…”
Milton’s mental sea looked like shattered glass suspended in space.
Countless fragments drifted amid violent streams of chaotic energy.
The entire place resembled a collapsing galaxy.
Then suddenly—
A warm golden light appeared.
Soft and gentle, it drifted slowly forward like dawn breaking through mist, soothing the exhausted soul within.
It was Gu Qing’s nascent soul.
The golden glow extended into delicate threads of light that began carefully stitching together the fractures of the shattered mental sea.
Wherever the light passed, pain and chaos faded, leaving behind quiet peace.
Time stretched endlessly within that vast inner world.
At last, when Gu Qing followed the repaired currents to the deepest part of Milton’s mental sea—
A faint silver spark flickered weakly.
That was Milton’s core consciousness.
Without hesitation, Gu Qing’s golden light extended outward and gently wrapped around the fragile silver fragment.
“Milton,” he called softly.
“I’m here.”
The dim silver glow trembled.
As if recognizing the familiar warmth and voice, a faint thread of awareness slowly rose like the last spark of a dying firework.
The silver light surged toward the golden glow.
It was Milton’s subconscious instinct.
Gold and silver intertwined like two stars meeting in the cosmos.
From the depths of chaos and pain, Milton reached out and touched the warm sphere of light.
Within that glow he felt something overwhelming—
A tenderness that embraced every wound.
And an ocean of love.
“…Gu Qing?”
The voice was faint and fragmented, yet filled with longing and relief.
“Yes. It’s me.”
Gu Qing’s voice was soft.
“I came to bring you home.”
The golden light held the fragile silver glow tightly.
Their spiritual waves gradually intertwined like threads of silk.
Where the broken fractures met their union, tiny lights bloomed like stars appearing quietly in the night sky.
Time seemed to stop.
The universe was filled only with the ocean of gold and silver light binding them together.
Milton’s consciousness slowly stabilized.
The storms within his mental sea began to calm.
Love and trust flowed through the light, becoming the strength that rebuilt him.
Meanwhile, Gu Qing’s nascent soul dimmed slightly from exhaustion, though it still remained steady as it guarded his beloved.
“You will recover.”
“We will face it together.”
With those final words, the golden light slowly withdrew from Milton’s forehead and returned to Gu Qing’s body.
Gu Qing lowered his hands and leaned against the bedside, breathing slightly harder. Yet his gaze remained steady.
Silence lingered in the hospital room.
Only the rhythmic beeping of medical instruments filled the air.
Then—
Milton slowly opened his eyes.
His vision swayed slightly before settling on the familiar figure sitting beside him.
Gu Qing’s robes were stained with dried blood. He looked exhausted.
But the moment Milton opened his eyes, Gu Qing straightened abruptly.
“Milton…!” he called hoarsely, unable to hide the surge of emotion.
Milton swallowed.
His trembling hand slowly lifted until his fingertips brushed Gu Qing’s cheek.
The warmth.
The shape of his face.
The breath he recognized so well.
Not an illusion.
Tears filled Milton’s eyes.
“I… truly thought… I would never see you again…” he whispered weakly. “Thank you, Gu Qing…”
Gu Qing gripped his hand tightly, as though finally holding onto a life dragged back from the abyss.
“Do you know…” his voice trembled, “you had already stopped responding. Your mental sea was almost completely destroyed… I couldn’t feel you anymore…”
Milton stared at him through a mist of tears.
“I thought everything I experienced just now… was only a hallucination before death. I was afraid I would never wake up again.”
Before he could finish, Gu Qing leaned forward and pulled him into a tight embrace.
His arms trembled slightly from the force, as though afraid Milton might disappear again if he let go.
“I came.”
Gu Qing’s voice was hoarse but firm.
“I will never leave you behind. I will always bring you back.”
Milton closed his eyes slowly as tears slid down his face.
“Gu Qing… I love you.”
Gu Qing did not hesitate.
He held him tighter and whispered beside his ear:
“I love you too, Milton.”
“I love you.”
The hospital room fell into quiet stillness again, filled only with the soft rhythm of machines and their intertwined breathing.
They held each other like that, confirming each other’s existence after standing at the edge of life and death.