When Yi Ling arrived, she retrieved her cauldron from the storage room and locked herself inside the clinic. She instructed Linyu, through telepathy, not to disturb her unless it was a life-threatening situation. She also mentioned that he should act as though he was still shopping in the Kingdom to avoid suspicion and inform Tefei that they could take turns watching her body. Linyu gladly accepted his master's orders.
Once everything was in place, she immediately went to work. She decided to make a series of easier concoctions before attempting the one for the Second Seal. She prepared the ingredients for Qi Cultivation, Soul Cultivation, Vitality, and Spiritual Beasts Cultivation. She wanted to test Linyu's leaves to see the results of using them as key ingredients. Most of her herbs came from the deal, while some were from her garden. The results might not be as impressive compared to using all spiritual herbs, but she was willing to try and hope that luck was on her side.
Five days passed with failure after failure. Finally, Yi Ling succeeded in making the Qi Cultivation, Soul Cultivation, Vitality, and Spiritual Beasts Cultivation concoctions.
Now, for the main concoction. Yi Ling prepared the cauldron and placed it in the center of the room. She lit the fire beneath it and filled it with the spiritual water that Linyu had provided. The cauldron shimmered as it absorbed the spiritual energy from the water, stabilizing its temperature.
Yi Ling took a deep breath and began adding the herbs one by one, following Mu Xin's instructions. The Green Holy Sage went in first, followed by the Bloody Ginseng, GoldenSeal, and MaidenHair Tree. As the herbs dissolved into the water, the mixture began to emit a soft, glowing light.
"Now for the leaves," Yi Ling murmured to herself. She added the green, silver, pink, red, and blue leaves from the Eternal Oak, stirring the concoction gently. The mixture bubbled and shimmered, filling the room with a faint, sweet fragrance.
Yi Ling's hands moved with precision, guided by the knowledge Mu Xin had imparted. She could feel the energy swirling within the cauldron, harmonizing with her own. Sweat trickled down her forehead as she focused intently on the task.
After what felt like hours, the mixture began to settle. The glowing light dimmed, and the bubbling ceased. Yi Ling exhaled a sigh of relief, knowing she had successfully created the concoction. She carefully ladled the mixture into a small vial, sealing it with a cork.
Holding the vial in her hand, Yi Ling felt a sense of accomplishment wash over her. She had taken another step toward breaking her Second Seal and growing stronger. She placed the vial in her storage, knowing she had to prepare herself for the next challenge.
Leaving the ring, Yi Ling gave the Spiritual Beast concoction to Tefei when she got back, telling him to use it well. He nodded and was sent back into the ring.
Returning to the Blue Rose Palace, she found Linyu tending to the newly planted herbs in the garden. He looked up and smiled as she approached.
"How did it go, Master?" Linyu asked.
"Success," Yi Ling replied, her eyes gleaming with determination. "We're one step closer."
Linyu nodded approvingly. "That's great news. What's next on our agenda?"
Yi Ling thought for a moment. "We need to find more herbs and resources. And I need to find a way to get in touch with Mu Xin. There's still so much I don't understand."
"We'll figure it out, Master," Linyu reassured her. "We're in this together."
Linyu then accompanied her to eat outside the ring. After Yi Ling had her fill, they returned to her room. Yi Ling gave the Vitality concoction to Linyu.
"I noticed that you must have suffered an injury before. I could tell you were trying to hide it from me. But you forgot that I can feel your emotions, so I pretended not to notice. I'm not sure if it'll work on you, but I wanted to give it a try. I couldn't ask Mu Xin since he locked himself inside his courtyard." Yi Ling shook her head.
Linyu was grateful. He didn't know that his master had noticed. Nobody had cared for him before. He accepted the vial and drank it, sitting down cross-legged on the floor.
After about an hour, Linyu felt much better than before. Although it didn't heal him completely, it still helped him significantly.
After sending Linyu away, Yi Ling went to sleep. She was tired even though her soul was the one awake, and her body was sleeping most of the time.
The next day, Yi Ling had Linyu watch over her body since Tefei was still cultivating inside the ring.
She went back into the ring and locked herself inside her chamber. She sat on her bed and drank the Qi Cultivation concoction first.
*BOOM!*
She finally got a breakthrough in her Qi cultivation and reached the 3rd Rank of Qi Condensation. She smiled, knowing it would have been more efficient if all the ingredients had spiritual energy.
After stabilizing her new powers, she drank the Soul Cultivation concoction. For her soul, it would only help her stabilize it. The seal wouldn't let her breakthrough unless she unlocked them. Mu Xin specifically ordered this to help her overcome the changes in her soul.
Normal cultivators have 10 Ranks of Soul Cultivation and only 1 stage. As of now, she was only at rank 1. She needed to break 7 seals to return to being a normal cultivator. But breaking these seals was much harder than trying to get a breakthrough, she thought. She would have to use a lot of spiritual herbs for this task.
After drinking it, she circulated the spiritual energy inside her, feeling her soul melding with her body in a much better way.
It was nighttime when she finally stabilized her soul. All this time, she still hadn't seen Mu Xin. She felt bad, thinking she had made a wrong move by buying the bow. She tried contacting him via telepathy but got no response. She didn't try to go to the west courtyard since Mu Xin firmly kept her out of there. She wanted to talk to him so badly but was being ignored.
She decided to deal with Mu Xin later after breaking her Second Seal. Maybe Mu Xin just wanted to be alone for now, she thought and sighed.
She took out the vial and stared at it. Last time she was asleep for 3 days after breaking her First Seal. She hoped it would be much easier this time. She thought wrong.
She drank the vial, and instantly, she felt pain all over her body. Last time, Mu Xin helped her by sending his spiritual energy to lessen the pain. This time, there was nobody to help her. Due to the extreme pain, she lay on the bed, her body curled up like a baby. She tried to hold the pain inside, and her lips started to bleed as she bit them. The pain gradually increased until she couldn't help herself anymore. She screamed!
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
It was so loud that Mu Xin heard it. He felt pain in his heart as he heard her scream.