Newly Born Spiritual Meridian

Having stayed at Yunlai Inn for half a month, taking one Rejuvenation Pill each day, her body showed no signs of improvement.

The Rejuvenation Pill was merely the lowest-grade healing pill with limited effectiveness. But currently, having neither a spiritual furnace nor spiritual plants, and completely devoid of spiritual energy, she had no way to refine anything else even if she wanted to.

Besides... her past experience in refining pills had been in a game. She didn't even know if her experience and insights would still be useful after transmigrating.

She would test that out once conditions permitted in the future.

She rarely went out, spending most of her time holed up in her room practicing the 《Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Record》. Unfortunately, without her spiritual meridian, she remained completely unable to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, making no progress even after half a month of cultivation.

Seeing that running her technique today still failed to absorb any spiritual energy, Shi Yu gave up trying. Instead, she sank her divine sense into her Purple Mansion to check if there were any changes in the two spiritual springs as usual.

The aura of the two spiritual springs was night and day: one overflowed with vibrant vitality that refreshed the spirit, while the other was cold and murderous, inspiring instinctual dread.

She simply named the white spiritual spring the Life Spring and the black spiritual spring the Slaughter Spring. Although the two words “life” and “slaughter” couldn't fully encompass the nature of these two spiritual springs, they were fitting enough.

Over the past half month, the spiritual springs had remained unchanged, but today they seemed to have accumulated a bit more.

With a thought, Shi Yu indeed managed to draw out a single drop of spring water from the Life Spring.

Leaving the Slaughter Spring aside for now, as soon as the thought of retrieving it crossed Shi Yu's mind, the drop of Life Spring water appeared in her hand. Perfectly round like a dewdrop on a lotus leaf, it condensed without scattering.

From the look of it, both the Life Spring and the Slaughter Spring took half a month to produce a single drop for her.

As a rich life force radiated from it, Shi Yu did not consume it directly. Instead, she brought over a teapot filled with water from the table, diluted the drop of Life Spring water in it, poured out a small cup, and took a small sip.

After waiting a moment without feeling any discomfort, Shi Yu took another sip.

This time, the sensation was far clearer. In an instant, a moist, gentle vitality like spring rain dispersed into her flesh, blood, and meridians. She drank several mouthfuls in succession until she felt her entire body brimming with vitality, unable to take in any more, before stopping.

This water was hard-earned and could not be wasted.

Shi Yu asked Chen Er to buy a few gourds. Chen Er handled it quickly and brought the gourds to her.

She filled the gourds with the remaining water from the teapot. Whenever the vibrant vitality inside her body digested a bit, she would take another sip.

Ten days passed like this, and she finished all the diluted Life Spring water in the gourds.

Shi Yu felt her body had undergone a subtle change. The pain remained and her frailty hadn't lessened, but inside her body, at the spot where her spiritual meridian had once been completely empty, a hazy, faint red halo seemed to have emerged.

That red halo was extremely faint and weak, utterly incomparable to her original spiritual meridian that had shone bright as a blazing sun. It was almost impossible to even confirm if it truly existed.

But...

Shi Yu closed her eyes and felt that she could vaguely sense the presence of spiritual energy now.

Though faint and inconspicuous, it was genuinely a newly born spiritual meridian.

Having a spiritual meridian meant she could continue down the path of cultivation, making revenge no longer a hopeless dream.

The benefits of the Life Spring water needed no elaboration. It was just a pity that it only produced one drop every half month. Having used it up now, she would have to wait five more days for the next drop.

Pausing briefly, Shi Yu stood up and went down to the inn's main hall to eat.

She went down to the main hall every noon to gather information from the patrons' chatter. Over this period, she had gained a thorough understanding of her surroundings.

This place was called Guangle Village, a small village on the edge of Yishan Prefecture in the Zhao Kingdom, over a thousand li away from the capital. Had it not been for the Immortal Destiny Gathering, it would truly be an obscure, poor, and isolated mountain village. But now, not only was this small village thriving, but the surrounding areas were also flourishing, allowing the locals to live quite well.

Shi Yu had considered whether to return to the imperial capital of the Zhao Kingdom.

She was the youngest Ninth Princess of the Zhao Kingdom, and her imperial father, imperial mother, and several royal brothers and sisters had all treated her with utmost affection. Having merged with the original owner's memories, those emotions had settled deep into her very bones, making it impossible for Shi Yu to suppress her longing for them.

However, her appearance had changed now, and there was no telling if her Eldest Senior Sister, Yan Xiao, would come to the Zhao Kingdom to investigate. If Yan Xiao discovered her return, she might move against her or even drag the royal family into it.

The cultivation family Yan Xiao belonged to possessed a formidable reputation in the Origin Realm; destroying a mortal nation was as effortless as lifting a finger for them.

At this thought, she temporarily suppressed the urge to return.

Lowering her eyelashes, Shi Yu picked up her chopsticks and casually picked at the food Chen Er had brought over.

As the Immortal Destiny Gathering drew near, the main hall grew increasingly crowded. As far as the eye could see, most patrons were young gentlemen from wealthy families dressed in fine silks and satins, looking entirely out of place in the inn's plainly decorated hall.

The topics of discussion among the crowd were closely tied to the Immortal Destiny Gathering.

“I traveled for three months just to catch a glimpse of the immortals' demeanor. Though I know my hopes are slim, I couldn't help but cherish the hope of embarking on the grand path of immortal cultivation.”

“I wonder who will be lucky enough to be chosen by an immortal master.”

“According to the date, isn't the gathering tomorrow?”

Their words were filled with anticipation and anxiety; before even knowing if they stood a chance, they were already feeling tossed between hope and fear.

Suddenly, someone remarked, “Speaking of which, the Ninth Princess in the imperial palace is truly a role model for our generation.”

“I heard an immortal specifically descended upon the imperial palace for the Ninth Princess to take her into cultivation. Who knows how extraordinary her talent must be for an immortal to value her so highly!” someone immediately chimed in, tone laced with envy.

“I heard that at the moment the Ninth Princess was born, a fiery red divine bird seemed to circle among the clouds. She truly displayed her extraordinary nature from birth.”

Shi Yu's chopsticks paused. Hearing the conversation shift to herself, a trace of mockery flashed in her eyes.

They likely had no idea that the sickly invalid sitting right beside them was the very Ninth Princess of matchless talent they were talking about.

Back when Xuanqing Immortal Venerable recognized her talent and took her away from the imperial palace, her imperial father, imperial mother, and all her royal brothers and sisters had gathered to see her off, their faces full of reluctance.

Xuanqing Immortal Venerable had said: “Rest assured, everyone. Since I have taken Ah Yu as my disciple, I will naturally protect her completely.”

Yet who was the one who didn't trust me, didn't protect me, and personally extracted my spiritual meridian to give to his head disciple?

Thinking of Xuanqing Immortal Venerable brought waves of pain to her chest.

Those subtle, unspoken feelings affected the present Shi Yu as well.

She knitted her brows and began to cough. Hearing her repeated gasps, people at nearby tables stopped talking and looked over with varied expressions.

Curiously, while this young master sitting alone at a table could be described as delicate and fair, most of the youths who had gathered here were from prominent families of nearby prefectures, among whom handsome and refined gentlemen were by no means rare.

Judging by looks alone, he wasn't particularly striking among them. Yet for some reason, people couldn't help but glance at him, finding it harder and harder to turn their eyes away the longer they looked.

Especially in this sickly state, with his brows knitted in a gentle cough, he exuded an unintentionally captivating elegance.

Because Shi Yu tipped generously, Chen Er had taken care of her attentively during this period. Seeing her cough again, he quickly ran over and handed her a handkerchief.

Shi Yu took it and wiped the corners of her mouth.

When Chen Er saw blood staining the handkerchief, his face turned pale with shock. “Young Master Shi...”

Shi Yu folded the handkerchief unhurriedly. With a shift of her thoughts, she threw those lingering feelings toward Xuanqing to the back of her mind.

With a faint curl of her lips, she tossed the handkerchief into Chen Er's hand and glanced sideways at him. “What's the panic?”

Chen Er sighed repeatedly as he caught the folded blood-stained handkerchief.

Although he had initially cared for Shi Yu so attentively over the past twenty days for the sake of monetary rewards, seeing her earlier with such heavy gloom between her brows, coughing incessantly, Chen Er's heart genuinely tightened in worry.