Three streams of fire twisted and deformed in her palm, once again scorching Li Nanzhu's hand. Suisui's skeletal claws clicked in anxiety, desperately tugging at her sleeve to signal her to rest, but she gently brushed the little skeleton aside.
"I said—again."
Xiao Yan's fan snapped shut. He stared at the disciple before him, her hands covered in wounds yet her back straight as a spear. He was suddenly reminded of the green pine he had seen years ago on a cliffside—its roots were exposed to the elements, yet it grew straight and tall against the howling gales.
"Your spiritual energy cycle is already in chaos."
"I can still train."
"Your mental power is no longer enough to sustain this."
"I won't die."
Xiao Yan's pupils contracted slightly. He had seen many geniuses, but this was the first time he had met a madman who cultivated as if her life were balanced on a sword's edge. How had he not noticed before that this disciple of his was so stubborn?
Ultimately, he sighed. A celadon tea cup flew from his sleeve, the tea inside perfectly warm. "Drink."
Li Nanzhu finally looked up, heavy dark circles hanging under her eyes. Only then did Xiao Yan notice her exhaustion. Over the past two days, she must have been taking pills to disguise her appearance; otherwise, he wouldn't have just noticed her state now. She had clearly been pushing herself for more than just a day or two.
She took the cup and downed it in one go, but a trace of blood suddenly leaked from the corner of her mouth.
"Nonsense!" Xiao Yan's fan clattered to the ground.
He grabbed Li Nanzhu's wrist. The moment his spiritual energy probed her, his expression changed drastically—her meridians were filled with tiny fissures, like cracks on parched earth after a long drought.
"Master, I'm fine," Li Nanzhu tried to pull her hand back. "The vitality of my wood spiritual root will help me heal..."
Before she could finish, Xiao Yan swept her up in his arms. She was so startled that the flames vanished. "Master?!"
"Be quiet." Xiao Yan strode toward the spiritual spring in the backyard, his voice tense. "Move again, and I'll confiscate your 'Theory of Fire Interdependence'."
Suisui followed behind, clutching a medicine basket. Various bottles and jars rattled and clinked all the way.
The spiritual spring was shrouded in mist. Li Nanzhu was still struggling when she was pressed into the water. "I'll soon be able to..."
"Soon be able to cripple yourself?" Xiao Yan tossed a handful of blue-gold pills into the spring's eye. The water instantly turned emerald. Seeing this, he finally turned away quickly. "Do you know how long an ordinary cultivator has to train to master three-flame separate control?"
Li Nanzhu shook her head, water droplets falling from the tips of her hair.
"The Golden Core stage at the earliest." Xiao Yan held up three fingers, though he knew she couldn't see them with his back turned. "And thirty years of foundation at the minimum." His voice suddenly grew solemn. "And you've only been practicing for three months!"
Suisui was so startled that she dropped a medicine bottle into the spring, which let out a string of bubbles with a gurgle.
As the medicinal power in the spring began to take effect, Xiao Yan's robes lingered at the corner for three breaths, but in the end, he did not look back.
In the water, Li Nanzhu felt her meridians as if they were being gnawed by a thousand ants. her fingertips trembled slightly, but she simply clenched her fists without making a sound.
This didn't even compare to a tenth of the pain she had endured when taking the jade marrow pill.
The emerald color of the spring gradually deepened. Li Nanzhu could feel every inch of her skin absorbing the medicinal power. Those tiny cracks in her meridians were being gently repaired, even faster than the rate her own vitality could mend them.
Suisui crouched by the spring, her skeletal claws occasionally stirring the water. The soul fire in her eyes flickered along with her emotions.
"Clack-clack?" The little skeleton touched her wrist, the soul fire in her sockets revealing worry.
"Don't worry, Suisui. This spring water is good for me."
Seeing Suisui calm down again, she took a deep breath and submerged herself completely.
The medicinal liquid stung her eyes but made her mind clearer. The spiritual energy in her body circulated spontaneously. Stimulated by the medicinal power, her wood spiritual root stretched its branches and leaves, faintly making the sound of new buds sprouting.
An hour later, the spring water gradually returned to clarity.
Li Nanzhu opened her eyes and found Suisui dozing with her chin resting on her skeletal claws, her soul fire dimmed.
She climbed out of the spring quietly and used her spiritual energy to dry her clothes.
At that moment, a long-lost throb suddenly came from her dantian—the bottleneck of the Qi Condensation Great Perfection had finally loosened!
Li Nanzhu froze. She could clearly sense that as long as she circulated her cosmic orbit now, she could immediately charge for Foundation Establishment.
The urge to break through made her heart pound. She knew—if she wanted to, if she just re-entered a meditative state, the spiritual energy in her body would immediately complete the foundation.
'I really want to break through...'
This thought grew like wild weeds. Her fingertips unconsciously dug into her palms.
Suisui suddenly bumped her knee with a clack.
Li Nanzhu snapped back to reality and found the little skeleton had woken up at some point. She was pointing at Li Nanzhu's bleeding palm, her soul fire jumping violently.
"I'm fine." Li Nanzhu rubbed Suisui's skull. "I just need to wait a little longer."
She relaxed her palms. The surface of the spiritual spring reflected her current appearance—her eyes sparkled with longing, but a restrained smile hung on her lips.
She knew very well that the path of cultivation forbade reckless advancement. One must hide their edge when necessary and endure when needed.
When facing enemies, concealing one's brilliance was essential. Now was not the best time for Foundation Establishment.
Cang Dongqing's cold, snake-like eyes seemed to flicker before her again. If she broke through to Foundation Establishment now, she would surely provoke even deeper wariness from her opponent once she went outside.
She was two years younger than her rival. If she reached Foundation Establishment at this age, it would only push her into the spotlight, which would be detrimental to her future actions. But...
Ripples suddenly appeared on the water's surface. Suisui dipped her skull into the spring and then yanked it out, the splashing water interrupting her thoughts. The soul fire in the little skeleton's sockets curved into crescents; she was clearly mimicking the tricks Li Nanzhu usually used to tease others.
Li Nanzhu chuckled. "You've learned bad habits from Master, haven't you?" As the words left her mouth, she paused—this tactic truly was exactly Xiao Yan's style. Whenever she got stuck in a dead end, her master would always pull her out in various strange ways.
The water returned to stillness. This time, she saw the unwillingness in her own eyes. The heat from her dantian climbed up her spine, and she had to bite the tip of her tongue to suppress the instinct to circulate her technique.
A momentary impulse would bring her no benefits. She wanted to save people, she wanted to live, so she had to remain in the shadows.
The enemy is in the light while I am in the dark—that was the best choice.
She suddenly realized that those restraints and calculations had been carved into her instincts through the day-to-day experiences of her past life.
Once she understood this, a smile returned to her face.
Suisui tilted her head, watching the change in her expression. She suddenly pulled a small cloth bundle from her ribs and clumsily untied the knot with her skeletal claws, revealing a few candied haws—Li Nanzhu's favorite.
As the sweetness dissolved on her tongue, the remaining agitation in her heart was slowly suppressed. She suddenly realized that what this secret realm had given her was far more important than reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Suisui's skeletal claw pointed toward the second floor of the bamboo building—there was a half-open window where the glint of a celadon hairpin flashed for a moment.
Master had clearly noticed her abnormality but chose to give her space to struggle on her own.
He was waiting for my own choice.
At the same time, the clear sound of a zither drifted from the bamboo building—it was the melody of 'Calming the Waves'.
Li Nanzhu's eyes suddenly grew red. It turned out that while she was struggling, someone had already prepared the soothing zither and sweets for her.
Rate on N.U.
