# 1501
Chapter 1502: The Unconscious An Qingyu
"Qingyu?!"
Lin Qiye saw the familiar figure on the hospital bed, his expression changing instantly.
An Qingyu lay on the hospital bed, his face somewhat pale, eyes tightly closed as if in deep sleep. Despite the loud noise of Lin Qiye's entrance, he wasn't startled awake in the slightest.
Jiang Er sat on the black coffin beside the bed, wearing a white long dress, her lips slightly pressed together.
Sensing that An Qingyu's vital signs were normal, Lin Qiye felt relieved, then quickly asked,
"What's wrong with Qingyu?"
"He..."
"His soul has been damaged." A voice came. Lin Qiye turned to see a Taoist priest had somehow already appeared at the doorway.
"My Lord?" Lin Qiye was stunned. "What brings you here?"
"To be honest, this matter also involves me."
Yuanshi Tianzun sighed and slowly walked into the room, recounting the entire sequence of events.
"You're saying that Qingyu went to listen to the whispers of the Cthulhu Faction gods just to find our location?" Lin Qiye was stunned for a long moment, then as if thinking of something, asked, "When you mentioned earlier that someone else saved us, you were referring to Qingyu?"
"That's correct." Yuanshi Tianzun nodded slightly. "If not for him, I wouldn't have been able to rescue you from the time-space gap... If that had happened, Great Xia would likely have been reduced to ruin."
Lin Qiye never imagined that the time-space coordinates even the Heavenly Lord couldn't find had been cracked by An Qingyu... He could already imagine the enormous price An Qingyu paid to locate them.
"Then his soul injury, even you have no way to treat it?"
"If it were an ordinary soul injury, our Heavenly Court has a few elixirs that could treat it... I've already tried them, but his soul is somewhat special. These elixirs have no effect on him."
"Special?" Lin Qiye recalled his previous conversation with Zuo Qing, where he mentioned that An Qingyu was the future world's nightmare. Could it be related to his soul being special?
"Then will he never wake up?"
"Not necessarily. External forces cannot heal his soul injury, but he might be able to do it himself... In short, whether he wakes up depends on himself. Others cannot intervene." Yuanshi Tianzun paused. "However, even if he wakes up, there may be some aftereffects from the soul damage. You should be prepared."
Lin Qiye stared at the sleeping An Qingyu, standing motionless like a sculpture.
"My personal suggestion is that you can take him away from here and find some places familiar to him." Shao Pingge spoke slowly. "Since the key to waking him lies within himself, perhaps starting from memories would be more effective. Chennan Pass just experienced war, and the atmosphere is too oppressive, not conducive to his recovery."
The reason An Qingyu had been settled here before was because Lin Qiye hadn't returned yet. Now that everyone had gathered, and most of the personnel at Chennan Pass had left for vacation, leaving was indeed the best choice.
Lin Qiye snapped back to attention and nodded quickly. "I understand. I'll prepare the plane immediately and take him away."
[Nightfall], being a special squad, had its own dedicated aircraft. Lin Qiye made a call, and soon a plane landed at Chennan Pass's military airport, waiting for them.
Lin Qiye removed the monitoring instruments connected to An Qingyu. These devices were for checking his vital signs, but Lin Qiye didn't need them—his spiritual感知 was the best vital sign detector.
"Lao Cao, find some clothes to drape over Qingyu. I'll carry him."
Lin Qiye lifted the unconscious An Qingyu onto his back. Cao Yuan brought a thick military coat from the next room to drape over his back, then picked up the black coffin beside the bed. The two moved swiftly outside.
After Lin Qiye and Cao Yuan settled An Qingyu on the plane, the pilot turned and asked:
"Captain Lin, where are we going?"
Cao Yuan and Jiang Er also looked at him simultaneously. After contemplating for a moment, Lin Qiye slowly said: "Shangjing."
...
Heavenly Court.
Wang Mian passed through the empty palace gates. A familiar Taoist figure stood before a tall alchemy furnace, with blazing flames rising from its base and wisps of medicinal fragrance wafting through the hall.
"My Lord." Wang Mian spoke respectfully.
Lingbao Tianzun turned his head and pointed to the fragrance-emitting furnace. "I am already working on refining medicine for you, but this medicine still needs forty-nine days in the furnace. If all goes well, when this pill is born, it should help extend your lifespan by a few more years."
After finishing, Lingbao Tianzun walked to his side and took a cyan-colored pill from his sleeve, placing it in his palm.
"This one is a 'Pain-Relieving Pill' I took from the medicine chamber. It can help reduce the pain of your transformation into the Dao. Without this pill, even if I extend your lifespan by a few years, it would only add to your suffering."
Wang Mian inhaled the pill's fragrance, gratitude flickering in his eyes. "Thank you, my Lord."
Lingbao Tianzun watched Wang Mian slowly bow with his hunched figure, his expression showing reluctance. He reached out to help Wang Mian up, smiling helplessly. "There's no need for such formalities with me. At your age, others might think I'm bullying the elderly..."
"Your jokes, my Lord." Wang Mian paused for a moment, then still asked, "Did you summon me here, my Lord, because there's something else?"
"Yes."
Lingbao Tianzun's expression turned serious. "I ask you— when do you plan to go rescue the [Mask] Squad?"
Wang Mian thought about it. "It's been a year since the [Mask] was destroyed... With my remaining lifespan, I should have enough to rewind to that time and save them from the fishing village law. I plan to go immediately."
"Then after you rewind time, how do you plan to save them?"
"Of course, I'll erase that time law for them..." Wang Mian stopped mid-sentence, as if realizing something, and frowned, falling into deep thought.
Back then, when [Mask] was destroyed at the fishing village, they died under that time law. Now that Wang Mian had become a god, erasing that time law was nothing difficult for him. But the problem was that doing so would cause a series of chain reactions.
Although the [Chrono Outlaw] allowed Wang Mian to ignore spacetime paradoxes, this only applied to himself. If he erased that law, he could indeed save the [Mask] Squad, but after that, [Nightfall] wouldn't go to the fishing village, and Lin Qiye wouldn't enter Takamagahara... The Japanese divine kingdom corrupted by the red moon would still exist in the world, becoming a grave threat to Great Xia.
Seeing Wang Mian's expression, Lingbao Tianzun knew he must have figured out this layer. He slowly spoke:
"The [Chrono Outlaw] can change history, but you must also bear the karmic force generated by the timeline changes. If you save [Mask] this way, it will not only create immense karmic force, greatly reducing your lifespan, but also place Great Xia in danger..."