Zhang Sanshan was on his twelfth attempt at refining the Soul-Returning Heart Fire.
Everything was proceeding very smoothly, and he soon reached the final step.
“As long as I fuse these two clusters of human flames together, it will be complete.”
He slowly brought the two flames closer together.
A strange, fragrant aroma drifted out from them.
Inhaling the scent, the corners of Zhang Sanshan’s mouth curved into a smile.
“Excellent. This refinement is finally going to succeed.”
However, at that very moment, bang! The room door was kicked open by Hua Yanyun.
Zhang Sanshan’s flame refinement was interrupted.
The two clusters of flame that were about to merge exploded once more.
This is bad, he thought.
Just as the glazed flames rapidly spread and threatened to engulf him, a vast surge of spiritual power enveloped the entire room.
The glazed flames were forcefully compressed into a single point.
Zhang Sanshan found himself holding the Soul-Returning Heart Fire that had somehow been successfully refined.
For a moment, he fell silent.
“There is no need to test it further. The Soul-Returning Heart Fire is useless against He Wanyi.”
A cool, indifferent voice sounded from behind him.
Zhang Sanshan hurriedly turned around and bowed to Hua Yanyun.
“This old one greets Your Majesty. Thank you for your assistance. However, may I ask why Your Majesty says so?”
Zhang Sanshan thanked Hua Yanyun for helping him suppress the glazed flames.
The Soul-Returning Heart Fire he had refined was at the Nascent Soul level.
The explosion earlier would have been equivalent to a full-powered strike from a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.
Although he would not have been injured by such an explosion, its power was more than enough to reduce dozens of miles around into ruins.
Hua Yanyun glanced at Zhang Sanshan before sweeping her gaze across the room.
“You do not need to know the answer to that. It is enough for you to understand that the Soul-Returning Heart Fire is of no use to her. Let me ask you, how is Consort He faring now?”
Her divine sense had already detected He Shu lying motionless on Mu Xinlian’s bed.
She also sensed Mu Xinlian’s restless little hands wandering over He Shu’s thighs.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, her condition remains concerning. She has not woken up yet.”
This old one has employed many methods over the past few days and has healed her physical injuries.
However, the reason she remains unconscious is not the injuries themselves, but extreme weakness.
As he spoke, Zhang Sanshan opened the door and led Hua Yanyun through the corridor to the entrance of Mu Xinlian’s room.
“As this old one mentioned at the beginning, her physical body and soul are fused as one. Treating external wounds is simple, but it does not address the root issue.”
Opening the door, the two stepped inside.
They saw He Shu lying there, still unconscious.
Hua Yanyun furrowed her elegant brows.
She reached out, pinched He Shu’s right wrist, and lifted it upward.
He Shu’s arm rose along with the motion.
When she released her grip, He Shu’s arm fell limply back down.
“She truly shows no reaction to external stimuli whatsoever. Do you have any solutions?”
Hua Yanyun turned to ask Zhang Sanshan, paying no attention to the trembling Mu Xinlian standing nearby.
“She was originally a Nascent Soul cultivator. Even with her Nascent Soul sealed, her foundation remains intact. Low-level treatments have little effect. Furthermore, due to her special physique, the best way to repair her physical body is through soul path methods that work directly on the soul.”
“Originally, seeing that medical dao techniques had no effect on her body, this old one intended to use a Nascent Soul-level Soul-Returning Heart Fire to mend her physical form.”
“But upon hearing Your Majesty state clearly that this fire is useless to her, does Your Majesty know the nature of this girl’s special constitution?”
Zhang Sanshan was a perceptive man.
From Hua Yanyun’s brief words, he had already deduced part of the truth.
“I know some details. So your suggestion is that we can only wait for her to wake up on her own?”
“Correct. We can only depend on her. However, there is one method that could accelerate her self-recovery.”
Hearing that Zhang Sanshan had a way to speed up He Shu’s healing, Hua Yanyun grew interested.
“What method?”
“Feed her something to eat.”
Hua Yanyun: “…”
Arms crossed over her chest, Hua Yanyun looked at Zhang Sanshan with a somewhat speechless expression.
“This monarch naturally knows that feeding her will help her recover faster. You are not playing tricks on me, are you?”
“Of course not. However, using time dao methods to restore her body to a previous state could also help her awaken more quickly.”
“Many renowned medical cultivators dual-cultivate the time dao. Time dao healing techniques have long been widely known. It is simply unfortunate that this old one dual-cultivates the wood dao instead.”
Hua Yanyun had considered asking whether Zhang Sanshan knew any great medical cultivators who dual-cultivated the time dao, but she ultimately abandoned the idea.
“I will take my leave now. If He Wanyi wakes up, notify this monarch immediately.”
With those words, Hua Yanyun vanished from the spot.
……
Three more days passed.
……
Moonlight streamed through the window onto the desk.
Not far from the desk, a gray-haired young woman sat on a stool, her upper body draped across the bed.
A thin blanket covered Mu Xinlian.
Her long gray hair spilled over the blanket, shimmering with silver highlights under the soft moonlight.
At that moment, the black-haired young woman who had been unconscious on the bed for a full week had her long eyelashes flutter slightly.
“Mmm…”
A soft, adorable murmur escaped her throat as He Shu opened a pair of spring-water-like green eyes.
The ceiling above her was not the familiar golden birdcage.
The black-haired young woman tilted her head in confusion.
Her body still felt extremely weak.
Propping herself up with her arms, He Shu sat up halfway and looked around the room.
This was definitely not her own room.
She lowered her gaze to the blanket covering her legs and gradually regained her clarity.
“Am I sleeping in a bed?”
Perhaps her movements had disturbed the person beside her.
The gray-haired young woman straightened up, stretched lazily, and let out a yawn.
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Mu Xinlian saw that He Shu had awakened.
“Ah! Young Miss, you’re finally awake!”
Mu Xinlian instantly became alert, her voice filled with excitement.
“Young Miss, I’ve been so worried about you these past few days.”
He Shu looked at the excited Mu Xinlian and asked in confusion, “So this is your room? Also, how long was I unconscious for?”
Mu Xinlian’s heart surged with excitement, though a trace of disappointment she herself hadn’t noticed lingered within her.
While He Shu was unconscious, she could freely take liberties with her.
Now that she was awake, such open advances would no longer be possible.
“Mm-hmm. This is my room. Young Miss, you’ve been unconscious for nearly a week now.”
He Shu was shocked.
She had been out for that long?
She spoke with Mu Xinlian for a while longer and learned about the current situation.
“Hua Yanyun instructed Zhang Sanshan to notify her once I wake up?”
Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?
Speak of the devil.
Just as He Shu was thinking about Hua Yanyun, the door to the room was suddenly pushed open.
The newcomer wore a black-and-gold dragon robe.
Her long ink-black hair was tied back.
Her willow-leaf brows were slightly furrowed, and a pair of narrow, phoenix-shaped magenta eyes stared fixedly at He Shu.
Who else could it be but Hua Yanyun?
“Hua Yanyun!”
He Shu’s heart clenched.
She instinctively raised her arm to shield herself.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.