The two were in a blissful routine where the two enjoyed the company of each other every day. In the morning they would eat breakfast and Relic would continue where he left off in the story. After, they would do some activities they found enjoyable such as talking to the folks of the town, or going fishing in a nearby lake, or even going around picking fresh fruits. When they returned to the hut, she would take a medicinal bath before eating dinner, and then retiring to bed after.
Like this, years quickly passed. Relic became more proficient in fixing the dantian and his speed of piecing the shattered pieces increased.
The constant medicinal baths, plus the fact that she used to be a cultivator who had absorbed many cultivation resources over the years, made it so that even though her actual age was now greater than the average human, she looked to only be around 80.
By now, her dantian was now 95% complete. However, there was now a bigger problem.
Looking at her dantian, Relic could not find any more pieces to piece together. With no pieces, the dantian would never be fixed! It was possible the attack which initially shattered her dantian was powerful enough to completely destroy the pieces.
“Dammit!” He was furious. Whoever did this to his master, he would definitely take revenge! However, right now, he was not willing to leave his master even for a second. Revenge could only come later.
Relic spent the next few days coming up with ideas on what he could do in order to repair the dantian. After many days of pondering he thought to himself, “ The spiritual root is the foundation of the body and mind. It connects the dantian to the body and allows the flow of Qi within the body. Is it possible to use it as a substitute to fix master’s dantian?
Relic’s hypothesis was an extremely dangerous one. He was planning to use bits of his spiritual root to fix her dantian. If even a bit of his spiritual root is damaged, the whole system stops functioning and he would never be able to cultivate again.
He thought about it carefully but that only lasted for a few moments. He already knew what his answer was.“ What is the point of cultivating if there isn’t anyone to be there along the way? ”
He didn’t even think about using her own spiritual root to fix her dantian. If he did, she would never be able to cultivate and the whole point of fixing her dantian would all become useless.
During the following night, Relic began to try out his plan. He carefully used his feelers to remove a section of his spiritual root and added to her dantian.
His face instantly paled when a part of his spiritual root was removed and almost immediately, he felt like he wanted to throw up. The world looked like it was spinning but he quickly clamed himself. Everything he did, he did with purpose!
Upon coming into contact with the dantian, the piece seemingly melted, fusing itself to the dantian. Before long, it molded itself, making it indistinguishable to any other part of the dantian.
“Success!” He thought.
He continued take parts from his spiritual root and added to her dantian. The process of fixing her dantian was now extremely fast as he did not have to carefully place each piece accordingly.
Before long, he only had one more section left before the dantian was completely fixed. Relic himself now looked older and weak. Although taking the pieces from his spiritual root did not affect his current cultivation, it basically crippled his potential future cultivation. Damage to his body also seems to have taken effect but he did not hesitate if it meant he could heal his master.
“Master, I have never forgotten the kindness you showed me when I was younger. Although those days were short, they filled me with the happiness that have lasted me a life time. Now, even when you can’t remember me, my days are still filled with happiness.” He was whispering to the sleeping Pascal.
“I’m glad I still have the opportunity to help master in your time of need.” He stretched over and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he moved the final piece to the empty spot of the dantian.
BOOOOOM!
A booming sound echoed out upon the completion of the dantian. What was once shattered now stood in its place, a completed dantian.
Pascal did not seem to have noticed and only continued to sleep.
Relic was very tired. The years of concentration had finally bore fruit and a smile slowly crept up on his face. Cultivators, especially strong ones, did not need much sleep as they were able to get everything they need from the heavens. Yet, at this moment, his eye lids felt heavy and he couldn’t keep them up anymore. Following, he fell into a deep slumber.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
….
Relic was the first to wake up, astonishingly it was already mid-day. He glanced to his side to find Pascal still asleep.
He quickly became worried. It was reasonable for him to sleep for a long time since he was recovering but she should have woke up at the same regular time.
He used his divine sense to check her body but found nothing wrong. He concluded that the body must be readjusting her body to the newly constructed dantian and so it needed time.
He walked outside and saw a blistering sun shining down of the town.
This was his first time in years where you did not spend time with Pascal. With nothing to do he began meditate. The day passed and soon night came and Pascal still had not woken up. He again checked her body to see if everything was still fine. Amazingly, her body did not seem to deteriorating from the lack of food or water.
The next day, Relic continued to mediate, only stopping every few hours to check on things.
Finally, on the third day, while Relic was outside meditating, he heard the door creek open.
He excitedly turned to see Pascal opening the door cautiously.
Instantly, Relic knew something was wrong.
She was cautiously looking around. Her stance was like a scared little girl, unsure of what was going on . Seeing Relic, she spoke in an almost childish voice, “M-mister, do you know where this is?”
Relic’s mind instantly reeled. “Did something happen to her memory when I fixed her dantian?!”
He was shocked and confused but he chose not to show it.
“Yes, this is swallow tail town. You are Pascal Isa right?”
Pascal, who was now acting as a girl, instantly became less cautious “Yes! Does mister know me?”
Hearing her question, Relic decided to probe her. If her memories were messed up, he wanted to know how far back they went.
Instead of answering the question, he asked his own question. “How old are you?”
“I just turned 5 one week ago! Mister, why am I here? And where is my dad?”
“5….” He was flabbergasted. Her memory actually regressed to that of a young child!
He was in deep thought as the young girl continued to stare at him. Noticing she wanted an answer he quickly came up with a story.
’You see…. You were poisoned!”
“Poisoned!” She was shocked
“Yes, you were secretly poisoned by people who wanted to harm you. When your dad found you, you were untreatable and so he brought you to me.”
“Oh mister is helping me, thank you so much!” She gave a quick bow.
“No, no, your dad and I are friends you see, it is only natural.” He tried to wave it off as if it was nothing.
“What is mister’s name?”
“Relic Astor!”
“Thank you Uncle Relic.” she gave another bow
He gave an affirmative nod
“Then, is my poison cured?” she asked politely
“No,” he shook his head, “The person who poisoned you used a very strange poison. So far I’m uncertain of all the effects it causes and I also do not have a cure.”
Her face suddenly seemed to grow pale.
“HOWEVER, it is not life threatening and you shouldn’t worry about it yet!” he quickly answered.
Seeing her face gain back a little color he seemed to let out a sigh of relief.
“Pascal, are you hungry?”
Her eyes brightened to the question. “En!” she nodded
However, the next moment she looked towards her hands.
“My hands….. why are they so big and wrinkly!”
“Shiet!”
Relic disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind her before knocking her unconscious.
Pascal fell into his arms where he then proceeded to carry her to the bed.
At the moment, visible sweat was running down his face. Maybe he could have told her that her hands were like that because of the poison, but sooner or later she will see how the rest of her body looks and then he wouldn’t know what he could say.
He quickly performed various incantation gestures. Light condensed on his finger tip and he drew a magic symbol on her forehead.
Seeing the complete symbol he let out a breath of relief.
She woke up a couple hour later in a bit of a daze. She instinctively looked towards her hands which now resembled that of a young girl.
“What a weird dream….” She thought.
The magic he inscribed on her was an illusion type magic. It allowed her to perceive things through one’s own heart. If she believed a tree looked like a rock, then all trees would then look like rocks. If she thought rocks looked like trees, then all rocks would then look like trees. Thus, in her heart she was a 5 year old girl, so she would see herself as a 5 year old girl.
She suddenly noticed Relic who was sitting next to her, smiling.
“ah, uncle, did I fall asleep?”
“Yes, the poison must have made you tired; you slept for a couple of hours.” He wryly smiled. “Come, let us eat!” he proceeded to the table.
Without Relic blocking her sight, she now saw an exquisite table brimming with food. There were dishes of assorted meats and vegetables and when the smell finally hit her, drool unconsciously fell from her mouth.
“Wah, so much food! Is there someone else who is joining us?”
“Nope, just us.”
He scooped a cup of rice into a bowl and gestured for her to come eat.
“Thanks for the meal!”
Without further consideration, she wolfed down the food like she hadn’t eaten for days.
“So this is what master was like when she was young.” He smiled at the cute ‘girl’ stuffing her face. This was completely different to his previous image of her, where everything she did was refined and elegant.
Not long after, almost all the food was gone.
“Fuwaaaa, so full!”
“Haha, you are a very messy eater.” He chuckled
Her face was smeared with food bits and her clothes were greasy from where she had wiped her hands.
“Come with me, you need to take a bath.”
He led her to the bath house where he proceeded to mix in medicinal properties into the bath water.
“Wow, this bath smells very nice! It’s even better than the bath at our place!”
She was the daughter of the sect leader of the Thunder storm sect. Since a young age, she had already experienced bathing in medicinal baths for a long time. Naturally she knew this was a medicinal bath with strong properties.
“I will leave a fresh pair of clothes on the side, take as long as you need.” He then proceeded outside the bathhouse and began to meditate outside.
As she went in the bath, she caught her own reflection on the water. It was a girl, no older than 5, with dark blue hair and brown eyes. She had a bit of a round face and dimples, but it only made her look very cute.
She looked out the window where moonlight shined through and gave a worried sigh. “I hope sister and father are alright.” Even though she was the one poisoned, she didn’t know if her family was targeted as well and could only worry.