Leyn stayed in Hounxi for another two weeks but then had to go back to Crows’ Road. Both of them enjoyed this period of time, and although it was hard to part, her life waited for her back at the capital city. He asked her to give his mother a couple of presents he had bought here, as well as a letter that he had written and to tell her that he was doing fine. They had also discussed that Leyn would visit him during the next New Year’s Celebration as well.

Quin wrote about numerous things in his letter, but the most important one was that he asked his mother to visit him. Quin had organized everything, and because his mother was a housewife, he knew that she probably would not have a problem with any date, especially since it would only happen in five months. He set it up so that there would be a carriage ready for her at Crows’ Road for the entirety of the first week of May, so even if for some reason she already had fixed programs on certain days, it would not be a problem.

To be honest, he had really wanted to see his mother for a long time, but it was only now that he had the courage to invite her. Quin was scared to meet his mother while his health was bad, as he would not want to make her suffer. However, now he was entirely sure that there wouldn’t be any issues with that.

She would arrive during the last week of May, or maybe the first week of June, and thus she would be here for his birthday.

Although he was quite happy that his mother would visit him, he could not help but feel downcast during these days. During these few weeks, he quickly grew accustomed to the company of Leyn, and now that she was gone he became a bit lonely. He trained a lot and often visited Faiyi, but these activities were different, and could not avert his attention entirely.

It was a strange feeling, something he had not experienced before. Quin had often thought of her, remembering the things they had done together and how calm and relaxed he felt during those times. He missed her a lot, and sometimes he felt like his heart was aching when he thought of her. All of these things were completely new to him, and at first he wondered whether what he felt was love, but excluded it right away. He knew what love was, and these emotions and feelings were totally different to what he felt for Aline in the past: a hot, burning sensation every time he looked at or just thought about her, and was completely mesmerized by her.

Even after weeks he kept feeling downcast, nonetheless, he continued his training just like usual. He had also increased the time he spent on meditation, and especially on observing the healing  type energy from the lake.

The improvement rate of his body remained as astonishing as it had been up until May, however,  something changed soon after. It seemed like somehow his body had just stopped improving, which made him quite concerned. It was not that being able to lift up fifteen hundred kilograms was something to be unhappy about, but he only had his body and no normal cultivation. He probably would be able to fight somebody who was at the first level of Qi Culmination, but that was not his goal.

Even though he tried to increase the weight he was training with by a great amount, it did not change anything, and neither did anything else he had thought of.

A few weeks passed when the idea came to him that maybe he should try taking a bath in the lake itself. It was something rather dangerous, but it was his last idea and he thought that maybe the healing energy would be stronger there, thus allowing him to break through his bottleneck. Besides, even if he was not at the Spirit Forming stage, his body’s strength was something that probably nobody else had,  and he had a lot of trust in it.

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It was at night, in the middle of May, when he decided to try out his luck. Quin stepped into the lake and he felt a rather strong energy entering him right away, but it was not something unbearable. He gradually went deeper and deeper, and it became a lot harder to bear quite fast. It was so difficult by the time the water was up to his shoulders, that he did not even dare to go further in, as it had already taken his entire willpower not to lose his consciousness.

He was as cautious as he could be, because he was fully aware that if he would black-out now, it would mean his death. Sometime after about ten minutes had passed, he realized that he was dangerously close to his limit, and quickly walked out. Quin was so exhausted that he basically had to crawl during his last steps, after which he just passed out on the lakeshore.

When Quin came to -- probably a few hours later -- he was in a much better shape, but felt that his whole body was filled with as much energy as never before. He wanted to sit down to meditate and observe what was happening inside his body, but was afraid that his body would just simply explode during that time, so he quickly grabbed his clothing with the extra weight and began doing various exercises.

Quin was sprinting as fast as he could for at least five minutes now, but he was still feeling the same way and he became seriously worried that he had overestimated himself. I wonder what Leyn’s doing now-- He did not know how, but even in this situation his thoughts found their way back to her, and though it only took a moment, it was long enough that his concentration slipped.

There was a sound similar to when a balloon pops and then came a short yell from Quin.

“Shit! Shit! My eye!” He touched his right eye but there was only a hole in its place now. Fuck, my eye has just exploded! Damn, I can’t stop now!

Although he wanted to check a bit more thoroughly what had happened and tend to his right eye, he did not dare to risk another injury like this, so he continued sprinting. He did not know exactly how much time had passed since then, only that the sun was almost at its highest when he managed to use up all of the excess energy.

Phew, that wasn’t something I’d try to do again. Here I thought that I’d never experience a pain more unbearable than the one I had due to the wild energy previously, and yet being just a few minutes in the lake was even worse! Damn, I’m lucky that it was only just one of my eyes... It could’ve been one of my organs, maybe even my heart. This thought made him feel terrified. It’d have been quite a pathetic way to die. Quin shook his head. Well, this energy was a lot denser and a lot more efficient, which means that at least my right eye would grow back just in a few hours. He let out a tired laugh. Alright, I don’t care, I’ll just lie down here and sleep for a bit. Just a second after, he was fast asleep.

When he woke up, he felt like his body had changed somewhat, but was not sure whether he was right or not. Although during meditation if he focused on observing his body he could notice a lot of things, it was not everything.

Well, I guess I’ll just have to repeat this to see the results... But I definitely will have to be a lot more careful. Maybe for a few weeks I should go inside the lake only up to my knees and then gradually deeper? And I probably should be a lot more careful with how much time I spend there. Alright, I’ll go grab something to eat and then go back to training!

Thus Quin spent his following days by trying to get accustomed to the strong healing energy of the lake, which was clearly uncomparable to the energy that was permeating outside of it. He was spending almost his entire time on this task, and it did bore its fruit quickly. In just a week or two, he discovered that his body had truly changed and improved once again. Its intensity was not something that big, but he felt that it was a lot more than a simple change; his whole body was different, and he felt like it was just the start of something new.