With the blind prophet and sect master away to attend to cultivator business, Anji was left to Doctor He’s care along with Lizi and Gu Ying. It has been several days since Anji took her first step into the cultivation realm. However, she had not opened her eyes since the day her father brought her down from the mountain.
Nothing was wrong with the child physically. The physician checked her vitals very closely every hour on the second day when she had not woken up. Apart from the occasional rumbling of her stomach, Anji was not in mortal danger. However, nothing they did could wake her up. Lizi fed Anji with gruel and took care of her baths in those few days. On the other hand, Gu Ying had been doubly busy running errands for the sect and training outside the dical hut whenever she was on guard.
After one long week, Anji finally opened her eyes.
"The sleeping princess is awake," Doctor He announced after Anji groaned.
Imdiately, Lizi rushed to tend to Anji, bringing water and helping her to sit up in bed.
Anji drank gratefully, feeling parched. She was still groggy, and her eyes had yet to adjust to the sunlight. However, part of the child knew that sothing was different.
After waking up to the sa broken hut for almost two months, Anji had now grown used to the familiar sight of the ceiling there. The new environnt felt both familiar and unfamiliar. Doctor He had sohow grown thinner than she rembered him to be.
As Anji slowly ca back to reality from a very long nap, she realised where she was.
"Where’s shifu? What about father?" she asked, scanning Gu Ying’s expression. Sothing about the Manchurian bodyguard seed different too.
The Initial Core stage might be the lowest form of cultivation and hardly any different from living as a mortal. However, Anji noticed an increase in energy, vitality and strength almost imdiately when she woke up. Her body no longer hurt, and her lungs felt lighter when she breathed. Every fibre of her muscle felt renewed with life, sothing she had never known before. All Anji wanted to do now was run in the sun until she could not go any further. However, her heart was anxious when her family was nowhere to be found. Waking up in Doctor He’s dical hut only ant she had sohow collapsed and needed intensive dical care.
"They’re fine," Gu Ying reported steadily despite Lizi’s uncertain glances. "Sect Leader Yan is borrowing the deep cultivation chambers to recuperate. Your father spent too long assisting her in stabilising your energy. He’s unable to take any leave from the elders demanding his attention. However, he said that you will be training under his tutelage when you wake up because of the unique spiritual base you’ve cultivated."
Unique spiritual base? Anji did not follow. What was Gu Ying saying? All she did was follow the instructions of Grandpa Jin throughout. Although she rembered persisting in the cruel crucible cultivation thod to open the gates, she lost her mory at the last part because Grandpa Jin’s golden scale took over to complete the rest of her spiritual circuits.
Speaking of Grandpa Jin, Anji was now very certain the golden dragon she t in her dream was real. Although she could not see him in the material world because he existed in a different dinsion that only immortals could access, she could feel his golden scale resonating in her golden core. Presently, he could only materialise in her mind when she was ditating with full focus or asleep.
Pursing her lips together, Anji had to think of a thod to check on her teacher and father. In her long conversation with Grandpa Jin, he inford her about the price they paid to stabilise her core. Thanks to them, Anji could now smoothly progress as a cultivator to catch up with the other disciples in the sect who had several years of head start. However, she wanted to first return the favour and help them recover their cultivation bases quickly.
"Lizi, do you rember where we planted the persimmon seeds?" Anji asked. "I want to check on them."
Instead of asking to check on her family mbers or return to her room, Anji requested to check on a new sprout. The servants in the main courtyard have been diligently taking care of them because it was a gift from Sect Leader Chen. They were in good hands.
"Why do you want to check on them so soon?" Lizi could not understand. "The seeds would take about three to five years before they can grow new persimmons. If you want to eat so dried persimmons, we can get soone on a mission to buy so back from the city."
Anji shook her head. She knew that growing a tree would take a long ti. She was not looking at the fruits, although if she tended to the plant daily, it might bear fruits in a year using the training thod Grandpa Jin suggested. Right now, it was more important for Anji to check on the leaves instead. If the shrub has enough leaves, she could kill two birds with one stone.
"I want to see if the persimmon plant has enough leaves to harvest for tea," Anji explained. "It contains many nutritional benefits that could help shifu and father. They worked very hard to help stabilise the chaotic energy and must be very tired."
Seeing how Anji slept for a long week, the adults agreed. However, Doctor He was strict about giving Anji a physical check-up before discharging her from his care.
Anji followed the standard health check protocol, overly familiar with the procedure by now. Only this ti, her results shocked everyone.
"It’s amazing," Lizi comnted. "You’ve grown a lot stronger after establishing your initial core! Young miss, you will soon catch up to your brothers at this rate of improvent."
Blushing at the praise and encouragent, Anji shook her head shyly. There was a long road ahead of her if she wanted to be on the sa level as her brothers and sister. Unlike Yihao, who was born with an extrely durable physical vessel, or her smarter brother Mingshen, who was capable of passing even the hardest imperial exams, Anji was lacking in both aspects. Not to ntion, her older sister was a cultivation genius who managed to reach the Enlightened Core stage before even her adulthood, rivalling her mother’s cultivation base. Ruiting was already receiving her successor training and helping her busy parents with sect affairs, while Anji had only recently stepped into the world of cultivation.
Hearing the humble rejection, Gu Ying said nothing. Anji truly had no idea about her worth. No wonder Zhao Mingfeng requested for her to choose her loyalties between the sect and the youngest daughter of the sect. Given Anji’s personality, she was most likely to pass off her own credits to others and fly under the radar in order to preserve harmony. It was a noble mindset, but that was not what Zhao Mingfeng wanted for his children. He wanted all of them to walk proudly on a bright path they had chosen for themselves without living in his shadow. Anji would have to learn how to embrace recognition now that she was also a cultivator.
"Let’s check on your persimmon plant, then," Gu Ying said, reaching out her hand to Anji. Doctor, He and Lizi could record your new physical test asurents together. However, we’re visiting the kitchen first. You’ve not eaten for a week while unconscious, and the chef was worried."
Learning how long she had been asleep, Anji’s jaw fell. Had her conversation with Grandpa Jin taken that long? No wonder the golden dragon was in a hurry to return to his nap!
"Yes, let’s do that. I’m actually craving for shrimp dumplings."
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