The world snapped back into focus with a jolt that felt like all his bones were cracking at once.
Lin Tian stumbled forward onto cold, polished stone, the teleportation's afterglow burning behind his eyes. He caught himself on a wooden treatment table, his good hand gripping the edge until his knuckles turned white. The medical pavilion's sterile, herb-scented air filled his lungs, a stark contrast to the cave's damp mildew.
Alive. For now.
"Candidate? Are you injured?"
A disciple in pale blue robes hurried over, her expression professionally neutral. Lin Tian forced himself to stand straight, pulling his spiritual energy inward, compressing it into a tight, controlled knot in his core. The black veins on his right arm were hidden under his sleeve, but the biting cold was still there, a dull pain buried under a layer of borrowed heat.
"Dislocated shoulder, from a cave-in."
