Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 1.2: Chen Xinyi

This carried on for almost a week. Xinyi was behaving like a nocturnal animal. Awake and studying at night, then sleeping through the day. She repeatedly pretended to only be able to stomach a little before falling back asleep, then spit out the 'tonic' into a bowl she kept hidden behind her bed after her mother leaves the room. 

She has read numerous books in less than a week. She found out that her poison was merely common food which would turn into toxins when poorly prepared and cooked like some mushrooms and herbs. The buildup of toxins in her body would weaken her immune system considerably. If this continued for a few more years, the toxins in her body would become impossible to purge. Her body would truly become "naturally weak".

After finding out about the amount of toxin buildup in her body, she began to plan meals that would help her purge the toxins out. It was a good thing that there was an abundance of ingredients in the kitchen. Her family was pretty wealthy. Whenever she ate the food, she would sweat out icky dark brown coloured liquid for the following hour or two. Afterwards, she would lethargically draw her own bath using water from a well at the back of her courtyard. Afterwards, she would return to studying in the library.

It took around another week before she began feeling healthier and more energetic. Since then, she would secretly cultivate whenever her mother left the room. All she had to do was to meditate and circulate the inner energy inside her while taking in the abundant energy in the world that was surrounding her through her pores. She was currently a mid level earth realm martial artist. An average person could cultivate all the way to high level sky realm, so there was a lot for her to catch up on. She believed that in the 2 years that she was sick, the leads have probably already left her in the dust. 

Xinyi would only sleep for 6 hours in the afternoon now. Not only was her health recovering, she managed to rise to high level Earth realm. Her complexion began improving and she had to use a little make-up powder to hide the rosiness of her cheeks. She took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were grey like it was in her original world. Her hair was much longer and sleeker now though. Her features were also a little more dainty.

During the final two months of her mother's pregnancy, her mother stopped coming to her courtyard. A new maid came in place of her mother. However, this maid secretly skipped out on duties and only came here once a day. The maid believed that it was fine because Xinyi would only eat so little each time she came anyway. With this newfound freedom, she added in martial arts practice into her daily routine. She would eat and study at night, return to cultivate in her room at dawn, 'eat' what the maid brought over at noon, then practice her martial arts in her courtyard till late afternoon, before having a bath then sleeping. 

There were a few times when BaoBao would pout and have teary eyes while she was bathing. He felt sorry that she had to bathe in cold water all the time. 

"If only the system market was available for us to use, then you could get a hot steamy bath." BaoBao lamented once. 

"System market?" Xinyi questioned.

BaoBao looked shocked and covered his mouth with both hands. Xinyi could tell that it was something she should not have known, at least not yet. So she easily looked away and pretended that she never heard anything. 

"The cold is tolerable." Xinyi would reassure him all the time. However, BaoBao would remain unconvinced upon seeing her constantly shivering body. 

Xinyi took this chance to get rid of the heavy sandalwood incense and change the deep yellow curtain drapes to light gray ones that looked close to silver. She added in pink freesia flowers into some of the empty vases as well. This gave the room a fresher and light sweet smell. Most importantly, she opened up the windows to air out the room. It was now the middle of spring. The weather was nice and cooling. The maid who never cared much nor paid much attention to Xinyi never noticed these changes, nor would she have bothered.