Bai Ye left me to meditate in the cave chamber undisturbed. I followed the full cycle of illustrations a few times, pausing and slowing down occasionally to allow my body to adapt, and when I finished, the strange feeling of coldness was gone. Power started pulsing in me, but in an utterly unfamiliar way.
I raised a hand and summoned my spiritual power forward. The glow on my fingertips looked the same as always, pale and purple, yet it felt different, as if it was a different force of its own that didn't want to succumb to my command. The flicker of light seemed to hiss at me, swaying unsteadily, and I had to fight it hard to keep it under control.
Trust Bai Ye, I told myself. It always takes time for one's body to get accustomed to new cultivation routines. But in the back of my mind, I couldn't push away the thought that there was something creepy, something wrong about this technique.
