Jing Yi only regained consciousness the next morning. He groaned and rolled to the side, pressing a hand against his forehead. When he lowered it again it was actually sticky with blood.
Jing Yi looked at the red color blankly. What had happened? He needed a moment to remember how he had fallen. He sat up hurriedly and looked around. There wasn't much to see, though: He had tumbled down a slope and landed himself in a depression. On all four sides were only earthen walls, nothing else. He couldn't even see any roots.
Jing Yi froze. He had … fallen into a hole. A dirty hole. And one out of which he probably couldn't escape.
He rubbed at his forehead to get rid of the blood but finally noticed that his hands were dirty from the fall, too. Jing Yi paused and slowly stood up, his limbs already trembling. It wasn't just his hands. His hair, his face, everything on him was dirty!
His breath sped up and he tried to get as far away from the edge of the hole as possible. There wasn't much place to avoid them, though.
"Oh no, this can't be!" Jing Yi turned in a circle. There really wasn't any way out here! He … he would have to stay in here until someone came to save him!
What to do? Was there nothing he could do?
He closed his eyes and tried to calm his heart down. First of all, he had to get this disgusting dirt off of him. Jing Yi cracked his eyes open and lifted his hands. They were filthy. There was dirt on his palms and on his fingers and under his nails, too. He wanted nothing more than fresh water to wash all of it off but, of course, that was an impossible luxury in this situation.
Thankfully, he had changed the robe from the sect against the one his grandfather had given him back then. Just like he had said back then it couldn't get dirty. Everything would just slide off the fabric.
Thinking of that, Jing Yi calmed down a little. He pressed his lips together and hurriedly wiped his left hand over the fabric once. A bit of dirt showed on the sleeve before it magically vanished.
Jing Yi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It worked. It really worked. He could get all this dirt off. Hurriedly, he wiped his hands on the robe but, unfortunately, that only took care of the dirt on the surface. There was still some under his nails. And he didn't know how his face looked.
Jing Yi closed his eyes again and rubbed his sleeves over it to take care of that at least. Then, he remained standing in the middle of the depression and waited.
"Sooner or later somebody will come by and then I'll be saved." He said that with a bit of conviction, even though his voice was trembling.
He managed to stay calm for a while but finally, the panic came again. He turned in a circle once more, looking at the dirt all around him and bit his lip. No, nobody would come and save him. Qiu Ling hadn't come to get him back for a whole week. Why should he come now? And who besides Qiu Ling would come here? It had already been quite a bit of time since he passed the last village and even that had been nearly ruined because of the whirlwind.
As if the heavens wanted to remind him that he hadn't been in the worst possible situation until now, it started to rumble in the distance. Jing Yi's head jerked up and he stared at the clouds that were hurrying over the sky. Did they seem to get darker?
Once again, it grumbled in the distance but it didn't seem to be as far away anymore. There was actually a storm coming!
At first, Jing Yi was afraid. After all, he was outside and couldn't hide anywhere. Then, he stopped and slowly a smile spread across his face. A storm! That also meant that it would rain! He could finally get a little bit of water and wash all of this dirt away!
As soon as this thought was finished, Jing Yi's eyes bulged and he looked down at the earth below him. Oh no … Didn't that also mean … that the ground below his feet and the walls around him would get wet and muddy?!
Jing Yi took a trembling breath and once again bit his lower lip. Heavens! He wanted to get out of here!
"What to do? What to do? I definitely can't stay here!"
He took a step toward one of the walls and reached out but then retracted his hands just as fast. No, he couldn't touch that. It was dirty. It was dirty! He stepped back into the middle of the depression again and hugged his hands to his body. He wouldn't touch that. He wouldn't!
But the storm wouldn't go away just because he didn't want to face it. The wind started to blow more violently and the rumbling came closer and closer. Jing Yi could already see the lightning.
"Why did this have to happen today of all days? Why?!" It had been a clear sky for the last seven days. Why was the weather suddenly getting bad when he was stuck in such a place?!
Finally, the first droplet fell. It struck Jing Yi's shoulder and made him flinch. No!
"Please, please just pass by. Just pass me by", he begged but the heavens were merciless. Jing Yi's prayers weren't answered.
One after another, the raindrops fell until they pattered continuously. They soaked the ground in the depression and above and finally started to form a layer of water when the ground couldn't take all of it in. The water from above ran down the walls and added to the water already down there, soaking Jing Yi's feet.
Jing Yi hugged himself and held back a scream, biting down on his lower lip until it started to bleed. He wanted to get out of here!
"Qiu Ling …", he hoarsely called out but, of course, there was no answer. He was still alone. There was nobody that could save him. He would have to save himself if he wanted to get out.
He looked up at the sky. The wind was getting stronger just like on that day on the mountain. In his despair, Jing Yi reached out to the one thing that reminded him of Qiu Ling, to the one thing that felt familiar to him in this environment he hated.
He felt the energy of the air around him and somehow he actually called out to it. One of the currents rushed over to him and entered his body.
Jing Yi didn't stop to marvel at his achievement. He didn't even dare to think. He pushed out his hand and a strong force flew out, bursting half of the wall in front of him. Jing Yi ran out, stumbling out of the depression and then running on. He didn't stop until the storm had already long passed and he had reached the next village. He took shelter under a roof that was jutting out and hugged himself.
He had managed to get out of there. That was his first thought. Only then did he realize that he had somehow managed to take in spiritual energy for the first time. Not only that, he had even managed to use that energy on the very same day.
How come the thing he had tried to do for so long, had now been achieved accidentally? He certainly couldn't return to the capital and tell that to Qiu Ling!