Alone, finally. Two bodyguards at the front guarding the entrance. An all exclusive use of the hot springs. The hot spring was a bubbling murky white, like some onsens in Japan.
A strange renewing energy was within the warm waters, creating a mini massaging jacuzzi.
The physician said that half of my meridians had cleared. A quaint instinct told me how to reopen it. Ji Feng's po knew what it was doing.
Closing my eyes, the visual of Ji Feng's meridians, like golden veins, appeared like a 3D holographic figure. Half darkened - those may be the blocked ones.
Concentrate on pushing the flow against one block. A tingling feeling. Out of the blue, glowing purplish blacking veins appeared all over Ji Feng's body.
I was back in the dreamscape yet again.
Did I fall asleep? F***!
This time in close up of the Zaixing lookalike from the outside. All those veins were also there. Again, something seemed to possess Ji Feng's body.
Those veins from Zaixing's lookalike grew fine silk-like threads to connect to each of the meridian points, including the parts where it was dark.
Instead of the same feeling of energy from those veins, an ebbing flow was pushing through.
Like a freshening mint gum advertisement - 'feel the minty refreshing feeling!'.
And feeling so sickened - an instant vomit was coming on.
Wait, I can't vomit in the hot springs.
That would be really disgusting to come out covered in one's own putrid output.
Without warning, a burning feeling of that damn minty feeling was searing my insides. Like toothpaste on a raw wound.
Shit, the puke was coming, like it or not.
My head felt like a sledgehammer was hammering violently against it. Splitting. My body was agonizingly splitting. The dreamscape swirled around.
Then Zaixing's lookalike turned around with a wry smirk. His eyes were also glowing red.
'Force against the pressure,' his mouth worded silently.
Forcing with all my strength from the central meridian point. If I was going to puke a copious amount , puke through my head at that single point - concentrate. Against the imaginary sledgehammer, I yelled, but no sound could be heard.
Rocket, I was a rocket. Needed to concentrate like a NASA space shuttle taking off. Momentum from the middle, shoot all the fart from the bottom!
That didn't REALLY make sense.
"Zaixing,that walking calamity."
A grumble.
Zaixing's voice was criticising himself?
Whilst I am in total agreement with the third entity, it seemed to be part of me. The presence was extremely malevolent, exuding a horrific sense of a deep-seated grudge and centuries of seething anger.
Yet a sense of familiarity between us - that it would not harm me.
Kanghui's aura was chaotic yet unfeeling - so that eliminates Kanghui from the candidate list. There could be an infinite lot of deities angry at Zaixing.
Maybe an infinite list which rolled out to the ends of the universe.
Out of the blue, a raging inferno swallowed me up.
Burning, the searing heat.
Ji Feng's body in the dreamscape couldn't handle anymore - a burst and the body was sent soaring before being torn apart into pieces.
Did I just kill myself? Or did the third entity kill me?
Same darkness. Except no memories flashing through.
"Never ever pass through the first stage or your meridians will self destruct and kill you. Instead, this first stage is just to set the basic building blocks of xuan qi use." It just offered this information.
Who the hell was that lookalike? It is not Zaixing, yet it felt like I knew him from eons ago. Someone who could never hurt me.
Those were the parting words. What was this xuan qi? Was it the purplish blackish glow?
***
'Ling qi is re-established, but it is not without serious injuries from him forcing the meridians open. And only at the first basic level foundational stage, so barely undetectable. Luckily, the bodyguards noticed in time. Or else... we will have trouble explaining to the King.'
That was Tianxiang's fatherly, soft spoken voice.
Phew, still alive.
First basic level did not seem worthwhile for the torture I was through. It afforded an advantage - no one could detect unless they feel my pulse with just a foundational stage.
'Are you kidding? Isn't the third prince permanently disabled. How the hell...what kind of unorthodox knowledge was he using? Five years of nothing and now self repair?'
Um...who the heck is this?
It did not sound resentful, more of surprised but the words were a bit spiteful. Still, to establish the first level, no matter how low, will attract another assassination attempt. My eyes fluttered open at the two older men as I tried to speak.
"Don't...tell...them...not even ...my father. Spies...even...father...has spies watching him...someone ...will...kill me...and...father...will...be...sad."
"So young, yet matured. Poor child. Brother, nothing leaves the room, and you two, you served the King loyally but you have heard the prince. If anyone asks, just say that old poison got purged to allay any fears." Tianxiang looked at me with pity.
"I already placed Lianfeng in the pool. The glow would have attracted attention. Lianfeng has a golden dragon ling beast after he exited seclusion today, easy to cover up. My son doesn't ask. And he doesn't want to know anything unless it is about cultivation manuals," the second man sighed.
Lianfeng is Cangtian's cousin, by a year older. The second man is the room was Si Tianjin. Like father, like son, both were reclusive by nature. Quiet and unassuming.
The quiet ones were the most dangerous - yet my gut feeling was that he is reliable.
During Ji Feng's childhood stay here, Cangtian used to pick on Lianfeng to get a reaction while Ji Feng watched from memory. The smaller sized Lianfeng would just walk away. Pushed, he would get up quietly and do the same thing - walk away.
Still, a very passive, boring individual.
Aside from that, the golden dragon ling beast was the strongest ling beasts for martial arts. Same went for the raging fire phoenix. A ling beast could be summoned for life companionship at the 6th basic level and Lianfeng summoned a strong one.
Now, for Ji Feng, one would think a prodigy would summon something similar.
WRONG.
He summoned a three-legged crow - the hardest to tame since nobody knew what it did. No records ever appeared, and no mentions in the legends in Jinshi.
The only known legend of the three-legged crow legend was on Earth.
Something Ji Feng would never know. Thus, he never ever managed to tame it. Nor would I in his stead.
Stuck at square one.
Only good news, I am probably at the bean curd stage, not just a vegetable.