Wu Yun feels a startling pain in his chest, and gets up with a groan. He clutches his middle and is relieved to find that everything is on the inside, where it's supposed to.
He opens his eyes and realizes that he's no longer in the cave in Mount Gou. He's in a bed, plain and padded with straw, in a house with a low, thatched ceiling. The room he's in is sparsely furnished, but it's clearly meant for more than one person. There's a chest of robes pushed against a wall, a low table in the center of the floor, and brazier burning at the foot of the bed.
His last coherent memory is of being hit in the chest with the light from that snake demon's hand. How come he's here now?
He tries to look out of the frosted window, but can only see a vague expanse of white. He's either back in Xinzhou, or somewhere very near to it.
The door to his room opens suddenly, and Lan Tian walks in carrying some heavy winter robes in his arms.
