Healing

Inside the room, Zhu Qing’s expression was grave.

Before her lay Luochen, completely unclad.

Her skin, like frozen jade and congealed fat, possessed a pristine quality.

The snowy expanse of her chest was almost dazzling.

‘Had her disciple truly matured so beautifully without her noticing?’

A flush crept onto her cheeks, prompting Zhu Qing to take a deep breath, striving for composure.

With a flick of her hand, she produced nine silver needles.

As each needle found its mark in Luochen’s acupoints, a pallor spread further across Zhu Qing’s face.

Once all nine needles were in place, her face was already slick with perspiration.

After administering several costly elixirs, she finally exhaled a long breath.

‘This should suffice, shouldn’t it?’

Reaching out to examine her disciple, Zhu Qing’s heart sank at the alarming results.

Luochen’s meridians were severely ravaged, having been overwhelmed by an immense surge of spiritual energy.

While the nine silver needles had prevented her meridians from completely rupturing, injuries of this magnitude would undoubtedly require a prolonged period of recovery.

Furthermore, in an effort to contain this torrent of spiritual energy, all of Luochen’s organs were operating at their absolute limit.

Leaning in to listen, Zhu Qing heard her heartbeat, a frantic thump-thump-thump that sounded like a death knell, nearly double its normal pace.

‘If this continues, she will die.’

She touched Luochen’s hand, finding it as cold as ever.

Zhu Qing let out a sigh of relief, thinking, ‘As long as the cold poison is still active, then…’

Suddenly, her expression shifted dramatically.

The skin beneath her touch was growing steadily warmer, and a flush began to spread across Luochen’s face.

Her heartbeat accelerated further, and Luochen’s entire body turned a frightening shade of red, scalding to the touch.

Zhu Qing realized with dread that the cold poison could no longer suppress Luochen’s overtaxed body.

In short order, her fragile meridians and overburdened organs would inevitably cease to function.

Only death awaited Luochen.

‘Unless I do something drastic.’

A look of profound conflict etched itself onto Zhu Qing’s face.

She closed her eyes, drawing a long, fortifying breath.

Six years of memories with Luochen flashed through her mind.

Every moment, every shared experience.

The mundane daily routines, the myriad small details of their life together, now converged into a vast, ocean-like expanse.

When Zhu Qing opened her eyes, only unwavering resolve remained upon her features.

‘I must save Luochen.’

Taking another deep breath, Zhu Qing’s hand went to her sash.

In the next instant, she slowly untied her robes.

The azure garments cascaded to the floor, and Zhu Qing stepped free of them.

Now, she too stood completely unadorned.

From her storage ring, she retrieved a cherished, long-hidden cultivation manual from the Joyful Union Sect.

She had acquired it while hunting down demonic cultivators.

Due to its immense value and many unique insights into the path of cultivation, Zhu Qing had been reluctant to destroy it, despite it being a demonic art.

‘To think, it would be needed today.’

Following her memory, Zhu Qing found the section she needed.

‘Dual Cultivation and Primordial Spiritual Energy.’

This chapter detailed how to absorb and refine a ‘furnace’s’ primordial spiritual energy through dual cultivation without causing energy repulsion.

However, Zhu Qing’s intention was not to gain Luochen’s energy; quite the opposite.

She needed this technique to channel all of her own primordial spiritual energy into Luochen’s body.

Her goal was to maximize the effect of her primordial energy, thereby mending Luochen’s ravaged body.

In essence, she would reverse the cultivation method, making herself the ‘furnace’ to replenish Luochen.

This was an incredibly difficult feat, especially considering Zhu Qing had only ever skimmed the text.

Yet, she was a genius.

Swiftly grasping the principles of dual cultivation, Zhu Qing removed the silver needles from Luochen, gently lifted her, and placed her onto the bed.

Zhu Qing then lay down beside her.

Her face was almost as flushed as Luochen’s beneath her, her cheeks so hot they seemed to burn.

Her head lowered slightly, bringing her lips directly above Luochen’s delicate, moist ones.

Her throat subtly bobbed as Zhu Qing heard the sound of her own swallow.

She leaned down, capturing those petal-soft lips.

Though this step wasn’t mentioned in the manual, Zhu Qing instinctively found herself kissing her.

Despite her complete lack of romantic experience, it felt like an innate talent, something she mastered effortlessly when the moment demanded it.

Her hand drifted over the full swells of her disciple’s body, exploring the quiet valley between.

Drawing Luochen closer into her embrace, Zhu Qing’s fervent breath brushed against her disciple’s graceful collarbone.

The two figures on the bed seemed to melt into one, enveloped in a vibrant aura of spring.

As their intimate connection deepened, a vast surge of spiritual energy flowed through the link and into Luochen’s body.

Luochen’s body temperature and heartbeat gradually began to subside.

Her damaged meridians were being repaired, and her barely functioning organs finally found a moment of respite.

Zhu Qing slowly withdrew, her face damp with perspiration, the flush of passion still lingering.

Having tasted the marrow, she now knew its flavor.

‘It seemed the spiritual energy injected was still insufficient.’

Gazing at the delicate beauty beneath her, Zhu Qing leaned in once more.

…

****

Luochen rubbed her somewhat hazy head.

‘I think I passed out, didn’t I? Is this… Master’s room?’

Pushing herself up, she sat on the edge of the bed.

It was then that Luochen realized her condition felt remarkably different.

She couldn’t recall the last time she had felt so utterly refreshed.

Every cell in her body thrummed with newfound vigor.

Luochen felt as though she could effortlessly fell an ox.

A quick internal examination revealed results that left Luochen agape with astonishment.

Her meridians, once severely ravaged by spiritual energy, were largely restored, and even old, hidden injuries had significantly healed.

‘But… there seems to be something strange, something extra?’

Within her dantian, a spherical mass of condensed spiritual energy now slowly rotated in sync with the flow of her internal qi.

‘This spiritual energy feels familiar… Wait, isn’t this Master’s primordial spiritual energy?’

‘But why so much? It’s even solidified into a physical form!’

“That is my primordial spiritual energy,” Zhu Qing’s voice resonated. “Almost all of it has been transferred into your body.”

Luochen turned her head to see Zhu Qing approaching her.

Luochen keenly noticed that her Master’s steps seemed a little unsteady, and her complexion was rather pale.

“But wouldn’t such a vast amount of external spiritual energy cause repulsion?”

It was common knowledge that an excessive influx of another’s spiritual energy into one’s body would invariably lead to repulsion.

“I employed a few minor tricks,” Zhu Qing explained, not meeting her gaze.

“Oh.”

Luochen knew this was far beyond mere ‘minor tricks,’ but since her Master seemed disinclined to elaborate, she wouldn’t press the matter.

“Master, how many days have I been unconscious?”

“Three days.”

‘That long?’ Luochen was surprised by the unexpected answer.

“Your condition then was probably worse than you can imagine; to have only been unconscious for three days is a miracle.”

‘Master must have sacrificed a great deal for me again, so much that she can barely walk.’

‘I always end up troubling Master so much.’

Just as Luochen opened her mouth to express her gratitude, Zhu Qing playfully tapped her head.

“Stop. I can tell exactly what you’re about to say just by looking at you.”

“There’s no need for such formalities between us; how many times must I tell you?”

“Hehe,” Luochen giggled, clutching her head. “Master is the best.”

After a brief silence, Zhu Qing spoke. “I will be entering seclusion, starting today.”