Servants who worked closely with the Zhao family in the Celestial Dragon Sect paid close attention to the mood within the household. Their little mistress had been gone for a week with no signs of returning to the sect from her isolated training. With each day their little ball of sunshine was gone, the gloomy cloud of worry surrounding the sect became darker.
"Lizi! You’re back! How’s our young mistress? Is she still training hard? Did she eat the extra osmanthus cakes?" the anxious maids and stewards of the princess’ mansion gathered in the courtyard.
Lizi sighed and set the basket down. She had done the cleaning and laundry as much as she could. Every day, she went up the mountain with a big basket of food. However, she would also return with half a basket of food from the day before. The more intense the training was, the less Anji ate. When they visited, Yan Ping forbade Lizi and Gu Ying from entering the main hut. They could only gather news and a glimpse of their young mistress’ training from outside.
"She ate some of the meat buns. I think it would be difficult for our lady to have a meal that cannot be eaten quickly. The training appears to be very tedious. Anji and her teacher look like they have not slept in days. I should get Doctor He to prescribe some nourishment to be added to tomorrow’s buns. She’s looking more gaunt than before."
Hearing the verdict, the maids and steward quickly scrambled to tell various people the update. Bai Dajin and Zhao Yihao eagerly waited for daily updates about Anji’s training progress the same way the master and madam of the sect did. Even Zhao Ruiting spent more time with the family at dinner to learn about Anji’s training updates so she could relay them in her daily letters to Mingsheng, who expressed his immense concern for the highly risky plan.
Doctor He was informed of Anji’s physical condition by Lizi or Gu Ying. He worked closely with the family cook to ensure Anji and her teacher were served sufficiently nutritious food. As the training progressed, the doctor half contemplated climbing the mountain personally to stay and watch over the youngest princess. Anji was known for frail health. It wasn’t wise or safe for her to participate in such intense cultivation training. Although the person who is at a higher risk of an internal injury was Yan Ping, Anji’s physical health could suffer permanently in the long run without proper care.
"Which acupoint have they reached?" Doctor He asked with urgency. "This should be the fourth day since they started working on the Governor Vessel. The Du Meridian is known to be very capricious. Even the slightest change could shift the energy within it."
Gu Ying agreed. If not for the increasing number of missions in the sect and the lack of manpower in outer disciples, she would have checked on Anji today.
"When I was training to activate the Du Meridian, I was momentarily distracted by a heart demon and almost deviated from the cultivation path. Thankfully, a senior in the same closed cultivation chamber sensed it and helped me regulate the energy flow. If not for that, I would have destroyed more than half of my existing meridian channels."
Many martial artists can easily cultivate and gain immense strength from all twelve main meridians that strengthen the body. However, to truly step into the realm of a cultivator, the true test was in the heart realm and the mind. Mastering the Governor and Conception Vessels is the first step into a higher realm. Lizi would not know because she quit the path of a cultivator long before attaining this stage. However, Gu Ying, who had only recently broken past this stage, knew how demanding it was to refine the extraordinary meridians. Even after forging the first stages of the eight extraordinary meridians, Gu Ying struggled to integrate them fully with her golden core.
In theory, the perfect mastery over all eight extraordinary meridians could accelerate and enhance the effects of all twelve meridians, creating the Ultimate Body. The legendary Yin-Yang body was something only Solid Core cultivators and above could hope to achieve. Unlike the other Ultimate Body variants that relied on becoming resistant to external factors such as poison, heat and repeated regeneration, the Yin-Yang Ultimate Body was the only final physical level attainment born from true energy mastery. It can control the body at a cellular level, adapting to various environmental changes at a rapid rate. Some call it the Immortal Ultimate Body because those with it often reach the highest cultivation realms in the shortest span.
Many elders who knew about the situation speculated how Yan Ping was trying to give Anji a basic foundation so the youngest princess could attain the Immortal Ultimate Body to help her overcome her golden core’s curse. Theoretically, Anji could overcome her misfortune by using her Immortal Ultimate Body to regulate the overly powerful golden core and disperse that pent-up energy safely until her golden core’s power could match her meridian channels’ capacity. She would constantly leak spiritual aura, but it was better than exploding from the inside.
Yet, nobody had ever done this before. Yan Ping had only recently stepped into the Supreme Core realm. Nobody knew with certainty that this method would work. Even after they saw the comet shower as a sign from the heavens, nobody knew what would happen to their youngest princess. Anji’s cultivation path was full of thorns, more than the average cultivator. From the snippets that Yan Ping shared as part of her progress report, Anji had to cultivate uniquely. Although the blind prophet claimed that Anji was making quick progress, some people felt Yan Ping was pushing the little girl too hard.
"There’s no use thinking about it now," Doctor He sighed when he saw the looks on both ladies in his medical hut. "Anji isn’t a quitter. She’s stubborn as a mule and determined to succeed. We can only believe in her abilities. This isn’t the first time she has stubbornly rebelled against all the odds stacked against her. It won’t be the last, either. However, our amazing young lady always finds a way to stand up again, no matter how many times she has been knocked to the ground. If anything, the two of you should work harder. Should our young lady truly obtain the Immortal Ultimate Body, what would that make the both of you who are meant to guard and serve her?"
Stiffening at the jab made to their present cultivation progress, Gu Ying and Lizi snapped out of their gloom.
"You’re right," Gu Ying grabbed her sword and whisked away from the doctor’s hut. "I should be training." Read full story at noveⅼfire.net
Slapping her cheeks lightly to snap out of it, Lizi also perked up.
"Please teach me more about medicines that I can use in baths. Even if the young miss is busy cultivating, a warm bath would not hurt when she is done."
Smiling, the thin doctor flicked his moustache and walked towards the medicine cabinets. This attitude was much better. If Anji knew how gloomy everyone had been while she was working hard, the overly mature girl would feel guilty for worrying them.