74 To Cultivate, One Should... 8 (1/2)

Her eyes remained wide awake, not daring to close after having received such a great scare. Even after several breaths had passed, she could still vividly remember the scene without having to exert much effort.

Instead of a grainy darkness one commonly observed, she saw a detailed diagram of her body.

Every layer of skin, muscle, meridian, the inner composition of her body was displayed directly before the girl. What made the image more unnerving and unbearable to watch was a thin golden stream worming its way through her Heart Meridian as well as the major blood vessels in her body.

The thread of gold slowly entered through the Heart Meridian at the Jiquan acupuncture point, before extending down the length of the girl's arm. Her eyes closed shut, An Fei soon became aware that each incremental movement of the golden thread was accompanied by a wave of numbness and the odd sensation of warmth and discomfort.

She didn't know what it meant for the thread of gold to worm throughout her meridians or bloodstream, and could only watch with apprehension. Time seemed to have crawled to a standstill, and An Fei could only observe her meridians and bloodstream gradually release a pale golden light.

The light seemed similar to the radiance emitted objects containing spiritual essence, which gradually allayed the girl's trepidation after several hours of quiet introspection. However, she was unnerved by the fact that the ownership of her body still had not returned after so long.

The deafening pounding of her heart had quieted to a gentle pulse tickling the base of her ear.

Much to her dismay, the unusual sensation did not lessen by the slightest, continuing to torment her body by the passing minute.

If An Fei could open her eyes, she would have noticed that accompanying each movement of the golden thread, was the dispelling of a silver mist. The dense mist appeared rather tangible, and the shimmering particles of silver light struggled to return to the girl's body like an agitated wraith.

The golden radiance emitted from the crystalline floor forced the silver mist to remain separated from An Fei's body, the Sanctum beginning to vibrate as a terrifying accumulation of spiritual essence began to awake. The cloud of silver light reared back in fear in an agitated frenzy, forsaking the fleshly host as it attempted to flee.

The instant the silver mist left the confines of the bed, a formless energy completely eradicated the dense cloud of light, not leaving a single trace behind. Moreover, with each wisp of silver light exuded from the girl's body, the mass of spiritual essence surged to eliminate.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the girl watched the golden thread dissipate within her bloodstream, releasing a relieved sigh as she realized that the torturous numbness had stopped. As she sunk into darkness, the last An Fei saw was that her Heart Meridian and major blood vessels were now pulsing with a pale golden light, albeit quite fragile and delicate in appearance…

-

The girl crawled out of the bed, nearly falling onto the ground from the fatigue gnawing at her body.

With dark rings circling her eyes and her countenance haggard and dim, An Fei stumbled towards the bathroom located on the adjacent wall.

Pushing open the door and climbing into the cozy bathtub without even bothering to strip the green dress hanging onto her body, the girl slid down the wall of the large tub until her body underneath the chin was submerged. Leaning her head back in comfort as the hot water eased the knots in her muscles, An Fei released a long, heartfelt sigh.

Contrary to expectation, she had experienced a miserable night.

The aftereffects of the golden thread traversing through her body and the erratic, unnatural pulsing of searing heat within had displayed themselves in the middle of her sleep, forcing the girl awake each time the symptoms manifested. Not only that, her muscles had started to twitch uncontrollably from the sudden, unexpected unbalancing of vitality stored within the body, triggering a nightmare that seemed to have lasted for eons.

Tossing and turning and waking at inopportune intervals, the girl had been unable to obtain a wink of sleep. Her fatigue was evident, that she didn't even realize that she had dozed off until her head splashed into the water.

Shaking herself awake and hastily washing herself, the girl randomly picked a white, cotton nightgown before heading towards the medicine garden. As she left the boudoir, An Fei didn't forget to pick up a small object.