A wooden door suddenly opened, and a golden shadow suddenly rushed in. Placing her fingertips at the girl’s slender neck, Li Zhan said cooly, “Let the spiritual essence flow like water in a spring. Do not keep it within you and bring destruction.”
Anna, though in a meditation state, heard the command. She let the mana within her body to jump out and spread throughout her veins, travelling along her body, it became spread too thinly, and stopped burning.
The rest of the mana travelled from her heart region to her neck, where Li Zhan’s finger is.
A dull noise was heard from the book chamber. Even Ovid, who had lost his perception, could sense the vibration from across the house.
Li Zhan felt her finger’s being deflected off Anna’s body, yet was completely prepared. Sending her mana to counteract the violent force, Anna could feel a dull, burning sensation at her nape, causing her to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Having her meditation interrupted, Anna wiped away the blood on her lips and looked at the stains on her hand with a strange expression that was hard to interpret.
Li Zhan looked at Anna’s miserable state and said, “Cultivation is a dangerous process, a word from me or Irene would have spared you the pain.”
She took out a pill from her spacial ring, inserting it within Anna’s mouth, she reminded, “You are not even eighteen, there is no need to rush. Cai Hua told me that you are enthusiastic and curious to all things, but haven’t you heard that ‘curiosity killed the cat’?”
Anna glanced awkwardly at Li Zhan while wiping away the blood scattered on the floor.
Li Zhan furrowed her brows in thought before she spoke, “The body is like a funnel is cannot take in too much spiritual essence at once. The rate at which you absorb spiritual essence from the environment is too great, if this continues, there is a chance that the mana inside you will explode and kill you.”
Anna nodded obediently, pulling out a chair for Li Zhan to sit on. The regal woman quickly sat on the wooden chair like an emperor sitting on a dragon throne, spreading her legs as a man would. “The cultivation method suits you well, and I read it’s copy a few times in father’s library.”
“It is divided into four parts, one for each stage until saint. The way the mana flows is incredibly aggressive and burns the heart to increase the circulation of mana, accelerating self-assessment and consequently, the rate at which you cultivate. The entire thing is quite ingenious, and I suspect was developed long before the current era. As for the other issues you may encounter, it should be solved with enough practice.”
Li Zhan lowered her head and mumbled to herself, “I doubt the southerners have the courage to send an imperfect copy to father.”
Stretching her arm to pat Anna on the shoulder, Li Zhan gave a smile. “Regardless, congratulations on becoming a spirit refiner. This speed is even faster than fathers... however, you mustn’t grow proud.”
With that, Li Zhan stood up and left the room.
Anna rubbed her sore eyes, her pale complexion from spitting out blood gradually regaining colour. Despite being able to move the chair for Li Zhan, she found that her body was a little stiff.
She walked up to a mirror and inspected herself.
She found nothing abnormal, but she was certain something had changed.
Being a naturally curious individual, she was particullarly attentive to the workings of her body. Checking her hand, which should have a scar from one of her adventures in the kitchen, she found that the faded mark had disappeared, and her hands were as smooth as can be.
Looking a little further, she noticed that her skin had become a lot smoother, though not as perfect as Irene’s skin that was like a freshly peeled egg, she was at least to the level of porcelain, even possessing a pallor quality.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Could this be a beneficial side effect of becoming a deacon? The flow of mana causing the body to undergo some changes to become closer to the world?
Anna didn’t care about these matters that much. Furthermore, she was now seriously contemplating.
Anna had contemplated many times, especially when dissecting animals or studying the workings of plants. So, the state came very naturally to her - her mind recalling the events at the lake within her body. She pondered a long time infront of the mirror, before returning to the bedside and once again begin self-assessment.
Her cheeks were rosy with excitement as if she had completely forgotten that horrifying world-ending blaze that had occurred the last time.
Of course, the elves residing in her minor realm would probably be more fearful than Anna.
Mana once again entered her body, though she was now able to direct it like a general to their soldiers rather than let it roam spontaneously. Soon, she arrived before the vast lake that stretched on endlessly.
Her ankles submerged in the crimson coloured water, she noticed that the lake’s shoreline had rescinded, the evaporated liquid had formed white clouds that occupy the originally empty sky.
There were also small shrubs growing between the rocks on the cliff face of the desolate mountain range. Although the shrubs were ugly and short, they were the only life that existed under the vast land that is within Anna. Although they were not enough to form an ecosystem, it was on the path of becoming an independent world.
The difference from a saint to any other stage was the presence of a fully independent ecosystem - an isolated world within the body. This was how saints were able to amass mana while others could only let it go after some time. However, it was too early for someone like Anna to worry about that, even the greatest genius of the continent, Alexander, had reached sainthood only after one hundred years, albeit his way was somewhat deviant.
From her bed, Anna opened her eyes and looked out at the elves, feeling rather guilty at the sudden pain she had caused them, she decided it would be best to cook them a replenishing meal as repayment.
She left the bed and walked towards the kitchen. Halfway through the hallway, she realised the news should be given to Ovid, and maneuvered to his room.
---
“Congratulations.”
Ovid placed away the paper and pen laid on his lap before saying earnestly.
Anna sighed in relief.
Were Ovid someone like Zoe, he would probably become envious and scornful. After all, he had just been informed that after the experience with Glafx, his perception, and consequently, his chance of manipulating mana, had been completely destroyed.
Ovid realised what Anna was thinking, he smiled and said, “Do you think I am that sort of person?”
The sort of person who would become envious of other people’s achievements and begin to doubt oneself by comparison. Ovid however, was someone confident in his own abilities, and will not collapse due to external pressure, he would not jump off the top of a building or assassinate Anna out of envy because her luck and talent had been better than his.
Anna quickly shook her head and apologised, “I’m sorry for doubting you. You already told me you aren’t this way a while ago.”
Ovid climbed onto his wheelchair and said, “Under Julia’s guidance, you would probably advance to sainthood in no time.”
Anna nodded in agreement.
Ovid was high in IQ but low in EQ, he was aware of his and Anna’s position relative to the bigshots. The two of them, at least, Anna was far more ambitious than Julia who wants to simply live comfortably on a mountain of precious goods. Of course, the bigshots were all quite bold in the past, Julia had conquered an entire empire after all.
Perhaps it was through of this way of thinking that the two became more accepting of the idea of Anna returning under Julia. The woman was already preparing for her ‘retirement’. Was it not better to make use of Julia’s vast experience to improve and groom Anna for the future?
Anna jokingly said, “The feeling of having so many bigshots behind us is really good.”
“I don’t feel anything,” said Ovid.
“That’s since your brain works differently than most,” replied Anna.”
Ovid thought for some time before conceding, “Perhaps so.”
Ovid continued, “But we should be humble. After all, we are all born from a womb.”
He did not realise this logic was the same as the Sage Glafx. Perhaps he had subconsciously appropriated it after finding it was quite agreeable?
Anna replied as a-matter-of-factly, “Of course.”
---
If Ovid still had his preception and practised mediation, he would find that he does not have a lake at all. Instead, at the centre of the dried riverbed, was the silvery pearl Julia had placed into his body.
The heart region was represented by the lake, and Julia had once said that Ovid’s heart was unique. This confusing circumstance would make anyone with some sense choose to avoid it, after all, all humans are fearful of the unknown.
Ovid himself was not aware of this condition, perhaps the only two in the world who were would be Cai Hua and Julia. It was due to this reason, that Cai Hua encouraged Ovid to progress through a path trodden only by him.
The path was naturally the path of the sword, which avoided self-assessment. Yet unlike the well-explored path of meditation, this process was still in its infantile development and would take far longer to gain any results.
However, Ovid was not aware of this - yet he chose to persist, a terrifying testament to his willpower.
Now, with the advancement of Anna, Ovid had to grow increasingly diligent.
His legs were still in bad condition, and not ready for any conflict at the moment. However, he was exceptionally talented in the field of calculation. While he cannot know who his future opponent is, he could predict the most likely way a person will attack with a sword, spear, a projectile weapon and so on.
Beside him was the collection of manuals Cai Hua had given to him before leaving, though forbidden from practising any of them, knowledge is power after all.
He laid the pen and paper once more on his laps and began to write with his slender hand which bore a callus on the middle finger for holding a pen for too long.