Just as the man left, Astrid felt it—the consequence of being transported to the city, even with the Ki surrounding her. Her body couldn’t take it. She began vomiting, violently expelling everything from her stomach, even blood. She felt weak, but the retching wouldn’t stop. It seemed endless, far more than she thought her body could hold, yet it kept coming. It was as if all her strength was being drained with each heave. Lys nodded approvingly and remarked, "Well, that worked."
Astrid was furious. She thought Lys's Ki would have protected her completely, but apparently not. Anger and irritation surged inside her, and she wanted to scream at Lys. But she had no words, no energy—just a deep unwillingness as her body gave out. She collapsed, utterly drained.
A tiny flame appeared in Lys’s hand as she burned away the mess, though her expression was slightly sour. It was clear she didn’t enjoy cleaning up but felt obligated. Lys muttered under her breath, “I didn’t think she’d hold out this long.” She had deliberately left a small portion of the pressure from their descent to hit Astrid, thinking the girl’s body could handle it. The blood in her vomit confirmed one of Lys’s suspicions: Astrid’s innate strength had developed under harsh conditions, or else she wouldn't have bled from such a minor impact.
Now Lys had to take her to a doctor. She knew the girl was on the brink of death, but healing her at this moment would have the best results. She coated Astrid in Ki delicately, carrying her to a large medical pavilion. The pavilion, near the city's edge, was set against a mountain covered in lush greenery, with buildings near its peak.
Though there was a line outside, Lys simply flashed her badge, and the guards immediately let her through. Even without the badge, they wouldn’t have dared stop her, given the overwhelming power radiating from her. The guards were mere Meridian Opening Realm cultivators, hired to handle low-level cultivators and mortals, but against Lys, they had no chance.
Passing through the pavilion, Lys ascended the mountain path in a rare display of restraint, forgoing her usual habit of doing whatever she wanted. She soon arrived at a medium-sized building. The scent of medicinal herbs and alchemical pills wafted from the nearby structures—this was where the top-tier doctors and alchemists treated high-level cultivators. Lys was here for a particular doctor, someone skilled in body cultivation and healing. A Foundation Forging Realm cultivator named James Bohn, known for his talent in healing and deep understanding of the human body, had aided Lys before, often with pills and treatments for her disciples. Of course, she paid him handsomely for his work.
She knocked on the door, and a spirit sense reached out to scan her. Lys allowed the sense to perceive her aura and identity before a gruff voice called from inside, “Come on in, Lady Lys!”
Inside, Doctor Bohn was a large, muscular man with a rough exterior, the opposite of what one might expect from a doctor. He wore white robes that seemed out of place on him. "Who's the little one?" he asked, sending his spirit sense over Astrid as Lys withdrew her Ki.
Bohn's face darkened. "Dumbass, get her on the bed. Give me a minute. I'll grab some energy pills. What in the world did you do to this child?" he growled, frustration clear in his voice. Lys gently laid Astrid on the bed while Bohn returned with a white pill, placing it in the girl’s mouth. Almost immediately, Astrid's body seemed to regain some vitality.
"Now, tell me what you did. Her muscles are ruptured, and she's severely malnourished. That pill’s only going to give her enough energy to function for a few hours," Bohn demanded.
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Lys, rather than explaining, transferred her memories of the day directly into Bohn’s mind using her spirit sense. As a Core Formation energy cultivator, his thinking speed was far from what a mortal could manage and thus he easily sifted through them and understood her reasoning.
"You could’ve handled this better, you brute. She could’ve died," Bohn scolded, though Lys simply smiled.
"You're always unreasonable, aren't you? I'll do my best. It won’t cost much to treat her—I’d even do it for free, given her condition. But... there’s something I’d like to try," Bohn said, his tone shifting slightly.
Lys raised an eyebrow. "I hope it is not experimental. Any possible side effects?"
Bohn shot her a disapproving look. "What kind of doctor do you think I am, Lys? You know me better than that. Of course, I wouldn't try something with side effects, especially without the patient's input, which you so graciously took away from her!"
Lys chuckled softly. "Alright, so what’s your plan?"
"She’s perfectly suited for body cultivation. If she puts in the effort, she might even reach the Integration Realm. She doesn’t need a specific elemental affinity or a special manual—just one of the tougher ones that provide strong returns. But first, I need to drain the disordered spirit energy from her body and optimize her meridians. Without that, her meridians won’t be able to handle or channel enough prana properly for body cultivation. So, I’ll rebuild them. They’ll be fragile at first and will need a partial seal for about a year to ensure full recovery. Her energy talent will improve from mediocre to slightly above by your standards, but it won't be an important change. It also means no cultivating until she’s fully healed. Martial arts should be fine, as long as they don’t rely on Prana. That’s what I want to try. It's going to be an easy task for me, but it's not something I have done for a mortal before. So, should I do it?" Bohn explained.
Lys thought it over for a moment—though to an Energy Sea cultivator like her, a second of thought was equivalent to hours of contemplation. She nodded. "Do it."
Bohn immediately began working. He turned Astrid over onto her stomach, carefully removing her clothing to access her back. He started inserting acupuncture needles into key points along her body, drawing out small amounts of disordered, bestial spirit energy. As the spirit energy flowed out, Bohn infused her body with his own wood-element Ki to stabilize her condition.
"Make sure no one disturbs me," he instructed Lys as he began the crucial procedure: channeling his Ki to repair her torn muscles and cleanse her body from within. He worked to realign and rebuild her meridians, thickening and reinforcing their walls, then expanding them. He repeated the process until they were thick, dense, and capable of handling more Prana than they would naturally. The procedure took nearly two days, during which Bohn continuously fed Astrid energy pills.
By the time he was finished, Astrid's innate divine strength, which had been severely damaged by Lys’s actions on purpose and what Bohn had suppressed from recovering, had started to regenerate under the influence of energy pills. Bohn, noticing this, said aloud, "Even in this malnourished state, her body is recovering faster than expected for a mortal. Never mind that—the meridians are rebuilt. Time to seal them."
He began placing partial seals on her meridians—seals designed to gradually fade as her meridians healed. The seals would also help convert ambient spirit energy into the five-element Ki to aid in her recovery. Then he purged Astrid's body of impurities using his Ki, burning the impurities with fire Ki as they exited her body.
“Now, all she needs is a steady diet of food rich in spirit energy for a while, so her innate divine strength can fully redevelop,” Bohn said, his tone a blend of disapproval and amusement. “But Lys, you’re far too impulsive sometimes. Not that I’m complaining—I’ve just made a connection with a future peak mortal realm body cultivator. You’ve found yourself quite the talented genius, and I got to help her. The poor kid may have started from a rough spot, but I’m certain she’ll manage. She seems resilient enough to handle it.”
“I was just lucky, that’s all,” Lys replied with a smirk, glancing at Astrid, who was now sleeping soundly. Her body was in better condition, but she still needed time to recover from the long-term effects of malnutrition, as she would need to retrain her muscles and rebuild her strength.