From the mont Anji embarked on her physical training journey with her elder sister, her body was a constant battleground of pain. So mornings, the agony was so intense that she couldn’t even muster the strength to sit up in bed, relying on the assistance of a servant. News of her struggles spread like wildfire within the Celestial Dragon Sect, prompting many disciples to offer her snacks or words of encouragent whenever they crossed paths. Even Zhao Wanting began preparing more tonics and soups for Anji, insisting that they were essential for her strength and growth.
Anji wasn’t against drinking herbal tonic soups. However, she had many doubts about the weirder types of supplents like the gall bladder of snakes and ox tongue. How would those weird innards help her regain vitality? It was probably created by desperate superstitious peasants who did not want to waste food.
Despite her determination to persevere, Anji couldn’t shake off the nagging doubt that her efforts might be doing more harm than good. She felt like she was depleting her body’s resources faster than she could replenish them. Unlike Yihao, who seed to thrive under Bai Dajin’s rigorous training, Anji felt herself growing weaker, her recovery rate sluggish without the aid of qi.
"Young miss, your lessons will be held in the master’s office today," the maidservant, who had been by Anji’s side since birth, smiled.
Lizi was a cheerful maid who was about sixteen years old. She wore her hair in two low braided loops every day and was an outer disciple who applied for a position to work as a family servant instead after she learned that her talent for cultivating was limited. Anji liked and trusted her a lot, even if she ca from a butcher’s family in a small town. The maidservant was attentive, observant and loyal. She never cut corners in her work and, more importantly, never coddled Anji excessively. Lizi was always polite and would only help when Anji requested it.
Looking at her maidservant, Anji winced as she lifted her arm so Lizi could help her change. Her shifu had only exited seclusion yesterday after blowing up the guest house. Anji thought she could study under Yan Ping for at least a while. However, the blind prophet was as busy as Anji thought she would be.
"Is father going to teach personally?" she asked Lizi, who prepared the hot bath.
Shaking her head apologetically, the chestnut-haired maid claid to know nothing more than the instructions she was given earlier that morning.
"Would you like to bring you breakfast while you take a soak to ease the stiff muscles?"
Nodding, Anji asked for help to be lifted into the wooden tub. It was unusual for her to take a bath in the morning. Unless there was a formal event, Anji normally only made do with a warm towel to wash her face. However, since she started running more and doing frog leaps around the smallest courtyard as part of her training, she grew to love long soaks in hot water.
After Anji was settled in the steaming tub, Lizi left to fetch her breakfast. The scent of ginger and cinnamon wafted gently, filling Anji’s bedroom with their pleasant scent. The first ti she slled it, Anji was sceptical about their effects to promote blood circulation and reduce muscle aches. However, after trying it once, Anji was fully convinced they worked and requested Lizi to prepare it twice a day for her. The family pharmacy has spent much more on her health since Anji started training. Unlike Yihao and Ruiting, who spent more money on herbs that could help them progress in cultivation, Anji was depleting their dical stock quicker than it had in the last six months. According to her mother, the family doctor had to head down the mountain to replenish his supplies.
"Young miss, I’m back. Today’s breakfast is stead buns with pork, chestnut and bamboo shoots. The master said you will not attend the physical training from today onwards. He will oversee your lessons until Sect Leader Yan is ready to assu her duties."
Accepting the steaming bun while still soaking in the tub, Anji munched and thought about what Lizi said. As the maid tidied her room, the young princess quickly polished off her stead buns and flexed her arms. They still hurt a little, but her legs felt much better.
Closing her eyes, Anji practised a trick she learned while spying on her brother’s training. Although she did not have any ans to gather qi, she believed there was a healing power in breathing.
The breathing technique she secretly learned was simple. Unlike Yihao, who had to ditate under the freezing waterfall and imnse water pressure, Anji had the luxury of comfortably steaming gently in a hot tub.
Inhaling slowly and counting to five, Anji let her chest fully expand. The scent of ginger was stronger than cinnamon, and it stung her nose. However, it was exactly what Anji wanted. The previous ti she did this for twenty breaths, she felt very alert and did not need afternoon naps even after studying for an extra hour. Moreover, the sniffling nose that she always had in the morning disappeared.
Today, Anji intended to increase the ti she spent ditating to see if there would be better effects.
Holding her breath for two counts, Anji slowly exhaled and felt her shoulders fall. She deflated all the air in her lungs before repeating the process of inhaling for five counts, holding for two and exhaling for three.
Lizi tidied the room and turned to observe what her young mistress was doing. As soone who learned cultivation before, she recognised what Anji was trying to do.
Contrary to other people’s belief about Anji’s futile efforts at cultivating, Lizi believed her smart young mistress was doing the right thing. Even if she was unable to harness qi in her core, ditation and physical training helped strengthen her health. Even among regular non-cultivators, the doctors recomnded daily exercise for better stamina and ditation for concentration. Not only that, Anji was ditating in a tub full of dicine that provided other benefits too.
After Lizi noticed that Anji was ’secretly’ practising ditation, she added so crushed peppermint after consulting the family physician. Together with the consent of the family head, Lizi and the family physician changed the dicinal bath daily according to Anji’s needs. Compared to before when Anji was a smart but sickly girl who was often carried everywhere, bundled in many layers of clothing until she looked like a dumpling, the youngest princess was starting to look like a regular toddler who was happier and stronger.
Leaving silently, Lizi closed the door and stood guard outside Anji’s bedroom as she ditating. Yesterday, Anji ditated for twenty breaths. The freckled maidservant giggled silently. Will her young mistress increase her secret ditation practice to thirty breaths today?
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