"Pffft!"

Liu Lian spat out a mouthful of water and then coughed uncontrollably!

"He woke up, woke up!"

Seeing that the person had woken up, everyone around cheered. It was a relief to see that one of their classmates wouldn't die, and they were all overjoyed.

Liu Lian slowly opened his eyes. The strong sunlight pricked at him, making it difficult to open them. After a while, he adapted and realized that his chest felt very constricted, and even exhaling was heavy.

"It must have been water in his lungs," Liu Lian thought to himself. He then looked around, his eyes gradually becoming lost and bewildered.

"Where am I?"

Liu Lian looked around at the concerned gazes of the men, none of their faces showing sympathy, instead all very young, probably around twenty years old.

But that wasn't what made him bewildered. What he found most unsettling was their strange attire. Every man had his hair cut very short. As the saying goes, "One should respect the body and skin bestowed by one's parents," who would dare to harm them besides barbarians?

And some of the girls were so shocking to Liu Lian that he was dumbfounded. Their attire...was too revealing! Their necks, arms, and abdomens were mostly bare white skin, and even their plump chests were exposed halfway. Seeing such a bold scene, Liu Lian, who had just woken up, felt his nose twitch!

"Oh! What's wrong with him? Why is his nose bleeding!"

The one speaking was the boy in the tank top and shorts that Liu Lian had just seen. Seeing Liu Lian's arrival, his nose wrinkled and his eyes glazed over a bit, he quickly got to his feet.

"He just drowned, there shouldn't be any aftereffects, right?" a boy wearing glasses suddenly said.

"Did you just call for an ambulance?" The child seemed very caring, taking a tissue from another child and wiping Liu Lian's nose and face with it while he said anxiously.

"He hit, he hit! He hit as soon as they pulled him up. Who knew it would take so long!" someone immediately responded.

Liu Lian had already regained some consciousness, but at this moment, the child's hand came over and wiped his nose. In the summer heat, coupled with the scent of perspiration, a faint fragrance constantly entered Liu Lian's nostrils, causing him to feel dizzy again.

Moreover, unintentional skin contact, soft little hands occasionally landing on his face, sent shivers down his spine. He quickly closed his eyes, afraid to look again, while silently repeating in his heart: " impropriety should not be viewed… impropriety should not be viewed…"

The more the boy tried, the more sweat dripped from Liu Lian's forehead, and his body trembled slightly. Not only was this child visibly anxious, but the surrounding students also noticed something was wrong and exclaimed in surprise.

At that moment, the sound of an ambulance rang out. Not only was there an ambulance, but also school security guards who came along with it.

The students quickly dispersed to make way for them, and the doctor and nurses rushed over. Upon seeing Liu Lian, the doctor hurried forward, while the child darted aside and said:

"Doctor, he just jumped into the water to save someone, and then he drowned. Although he's awake now, he has a runny nose, a fever, and is shaking. Please take a look at him, what's wrong?"

"Okay," the doctor nodded and hurried to Liu Lian's side.

Liu Lian sensed something was amiss and opened his eyes in surprise. At a glance, he saw a figure in a white coat just squatting down, and his heart skipped a beat. He muttered, "Am I dead? Do people even come to mourn for me..."

"What are you talking about? If you die, are we all going to be ghosts?" The doctor, who had just crouched down, burst into laughter when he heard Liu Lian's words.

Liu Lian was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses. Yes, he could clearly feel his heartbeat right now, and he could even feel his own body. He had caught ghosts before, but at this moment, when he woke up, he immediately felt something was wrong.

Just as Liu Lian was lost in thought, the doctor had already begun to examine him. There wasn't much of an examination, really. Since it was just drowning, as long as he woke up, there was generally no serious problem. Besides, he had no wounds on his body, which clearly meant he hadn't been injured underwater.

As for the runny nose and fever shivering, it is nothing more than fright and weakness—one can see this from Liu Lian's frame.

Although he had just come out of the water, even in this scorching heat of summer, a person would find it hot. There was no chance of being cold.

So, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief and said to Liu Lian, "It's nothing serious, but just to be safe, you should come back with us for some further checks."

But at this moment, Liu Lian's eyes were glazed over, clearly not hearing the doctor's words. The doctor frowned slightly, thinking to himself, could it be that being submerged in water just now had scared him silly?

Thinking about this, the doctor patted Liu Lian's shoulder.

Then Liu Lian came to his senses. He glanced at the doctor and then looked around. There were no familiar faces, no relatives, not even enemies. Everyone's attire was strange and outlandish, which made Liu Lian feel a bit suffocated.

After a moment's hesitation, Liu Lian bowed slightly to the doctor and asked in a surprised tone, "Sir, I beg your pardon... I wonder... where is this place?"

The doctor was taken aback by Liu Lian's words. The surrounding students, security guards, and the nurses who had come with the doctor were all stunned, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Liu Lian saw that everyone was silent, he hesitated for a moment and said, "Here... Here is Changnan Prefecture?"

He still remembered being ambushed and severely injured by a master of spiritual cultivation, sent by Shen Liben, an official under Hu Weiyong's faction, the governor of Xijiang Province. Unwilling to accept such humiliation, he had jumped into a well, thinking he was going to die. However, when he opened his eyes, he found himself still alive.

However, if he had just been fished out, he should still be at the Changnan Prefecture, the seat of the Xijiang Provincial Circuit. That's why Liu Lian asked this question.

Upon hearing Liu Lian's words once again, everyone widened their eyes in astonishment, secretly thinking: "Could this guy have gone insane from being submerged in water?"

The doctor also frowned, tentatively raising his hand and waving it in front of Liu Lian: "You... are you alright?"

Liu Lian although felt his body was strange, seeming much weaker than before, thought it was due to the injury inflicted by that expert. Since he couldn't even look inwards at this time, he didn't know his actual condition. However, what he worried about now wasn't his own physical state, but rather where he currently was.

If one were still in Changnan Prefecture, even at their peak, they would probably not be a match for that person.

Thinking back, he couldn't help but regret that he hadn't listened to his father's dying words not to enter the civil service. This had led to Hu Weiyong's jealousy, and he hadn't been serious about cultivating the Qimen magical arts. Otherwise, with just a few cultivators at the Refining God Returning Void realm, what was there for him to fear?

"I beg of you, sir, please tell me, what exactly is this place?" Liu Lian became a little anxious.

The doctor shook his head and sighed inwardly, already convinced that Liu Lian had a problem. However, he still said, "This isn't Changnan Prefecture, Changnan is the provincial capital of our Xijiang Province. It was called Changnan Prefecture in ancient times, but now it's Changnan City. And we are in Xinyi City, hundreds of kilometers away from Changnan City."

Although the doctor's way of speaking was a little odd, Liu Lian still understood. Hearing that it wasn't Changnan Prefecture, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. As for Xinyi City, he wasn't sure what it was, but he did know Xinyi Prefecture, which was also a prefecture under the jurisdiction of Xi Jiang Province.

However, he had visited Xinyifu many times before and never seen such attire. Just then, his face suddenly changed as he recalled the other party's words—ancient times!

Liu Lian's heart pounded in his chest, an unsettling feeling making his breath come in short gasps. He took a deep breath and stared at the doctor, saying: "Right now... right now isn't... isn't it the twelfth year of Hongwu?"

"What?" The doctor was taken aback, looking at Liu Lian with a puzzled expression. Not only him, but the students, nurses, and security guards around him also stared blankly at Liu Lian, and then burst into laughter.