One early morning, Jianmen woke up from his session of deep meditation. He then tapped his two legs to get a feel of them - it seemed that after drinking a combination of potions, taking long meditation and visualization sessions and spending time in his own room with healing incense and his own healing bath had done him a lot of good - right now, he was finally in a condition where he could walk around without drinking the dark oil that would suppress both his power along with his injuries.
Before he got off from his cushion and was about to proceed with his day and plans, he did a quick check on the statuses of his students - Caroline seemed to still be in her room after her right arm grew back just a few days earlier, it was expected, because losing an arm and then getting it back would take some time to get used to, especially for a power wielder who just passed a tribulation recently; and Jason was finally about to wake up from his long sleep - getting stuck for a long time in a crossover limbo created by a conduit of a fallen god and fighting the spectral projection of the twisted body and soul of the conduit would be a heavy burden for anyone, especially for a young cultivator with affinity to the Power of Mind and Will like Jason.
To prepare for a new lecture for both of his students after all this time, Jianmen went into the kitchen, pulled a fresh, whole, long and ugly fish with spikes on its body from the fridge and started prepping it.
This was a fish he caught from the deeper parts of his lake near his own farm, quite toxic, but fresh if prepared in the correct way. And there was also this saying when he was in his old cultivation clan: a powerful and immensely potent potion is just barely one hair's width away from poison. What he had in mind was a special fish and seafood congee with various seafood and thinly sliced filet of this fish, topped with gently boiled fish liver, which would be a suitable dish for cultivators who just endured serious injuries and passed their tribulations.
After around one hour and twenty minutes, Jason came out from the basement, still wearing the same clothes he was wearing as the day he fell asleep on the stone bed. Following the smell of the congee, coffee and tea, he came into the diner.
"Ugh, my head… Boss, how long was I out?" Jason rubbed his eyes and asked.
"Per normal flow of time, about ten days, but per the flow of time in the basement, about a month." Jianmen answered while he was in the kitchen finishing up his stir fry: "How are you feeling?"
"Like I just woke with from a crazy hangover." Jason sat down rubbing his temples: "Which, of course, is what I heard what hangovers would feel like - I've never - "
"Yeah, your night life in college doesn't really concern me." Jianmen smiled and laid the dish on the table with the big bowl of congee: "Maybe leave it for some family time with your parents and Mack, they're having fun, but they still want to see you. But here, I just called Caroline, and let's have a meal, before your first session after you both made it to the fourth layer."
"Hey, nice to see you after all these days." Caroline came into the diner wearing her usual pants, combat boots and leather jacket, and moving and stretching her right arm : "My arm still feels weird, Jason, how about you?"
"Headache." Jason shook his head and chuckled wrily: "Have you tried punching something with your arm?"
"Good idea, sit there and don't move." Caroline raised her right arm as she sat down beside Jason.
"What do you want to drink? Tea? Coffee?" Jianmen asked his students as he came out of the kitchen wiping his hands.
"Tea." "Coffee." Caroline and Jason answered at the same time.
"Okay." Jianmen picked two tall mugs and poured each of his students their requested drink: "Try the congee first, the tea and coffee are kinda strong, it could ruin the fish and seafood congee."
"The fish is not seafood?" Caroline shrugged and asked with a smile.
"That fish is from my lake on my farm. So no." Jianmen sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee: "Just have some and be sure to savor it."
"Mmm, the fish kinda… numbed my tongue." Jason finished all the congee in his bowl with one gulp and said.
"That's because of some leftover toxins." Jianmen smiled.
"Toxins?" Caroline's hand holding a spoon froze in the air.
"A very small dosage of it, and processed. Think chocolate, coffee and spicy food." Jianmen answered: "Shouldn't cause any harm to you, since you are officially cultivators of the fourth layer now."
"Yay." Caroline smiled and continued with her congee: "Does that mean we can learn to fly now?"
"What else do you think your next session is for?" Jianmen nodded: "I'll tell you about the theories first, and some of the safety precautions as well. And when you've fully recovered, you can try them at the back."
"Mmm, can't wait." neither Caroline nor Jason realized that they were actually starving for food until they had some, and without saying much, both of them just gorged themselves on the food on the table.
"Want more?" it did not take long for the two students to finish everything on the table, while Jianmen just sat on the side and watched them enjoy: "There's more if you need."
"I'm good." Jason put down his bowl and let out a satisfied exhale.
"Yeah, me too." Caroline nodded, then looked at her right hand: "My hand is tingling… this means that I am healing right?"
"Yes." Jianmen's facial emotion became slightly more serious, as he straightened up his body: "Now, before we proceed, Jason, I would like to express my apologies to you."