The changes did not arrive all at once.
They came in small things.
Qingyu noticed it the moment she woke up that morning.
She stood and tried walking across the room.
Her steps felt steady and almost natural.
It was not yet as strong as the body she once had in Azura, but for the first time since entering Lin Qingyu’s body, she felt normal again.
She opened the bedroom window.
Morning air flowed inside along with birdsong and the distant hum of the waking city.
Sunlight touched her face, which was no longer as pale as before.
Inside her body, qi moved steadily through meridian pathways that had mostly reopened.
Its quality was also far cleaner than before.
The qi no longer leaked uncontrollably or tangled itself within the damaged meridians that still remained.
Qingyu closed her eyes, carefully sensing the movement of that qi.
It was far from perfect, but it was a good sign.
“Fifteen percent…”
She calculated silently in her mind.
This level was nowhere near what she once possessed, yet her efforts had successfully stabilized this body.
After breakfast, she went to the greenhouse.
Inside, Qingyu stood barefoot on the freshly tended soil.
Morning dew still clung to portions of the glass walls.
Sunlight filtered through the thin mist, making the entire space feel warm and alive.
This place had changed greatly compared to when she first arrived.
It was not like an abandoned greenhouse anymore.
The workers Father sent had made the restoration much faster and more efficient.
Xiao Lan was watering the plants on the left side with steady movements.
Her previous experience working on herbal farms proved extremely useful inside the greenhouse.
Meanwhile, Auntie Yue carefully trimmed old leaves with a pair of small scissors.
The middle-aged woman’s face looked much calmer these days.
The grade-two White Body Root had begun sprouting small shoots.
The leaves of the Scarlet Saga plant looked darker than before, while the Resonance Root had grown longer.
Several other plants also showed clear and healthy growth.
Qingyu knelt down.
Her palm pressed against the cool soil.
She closed her eyes and guided a thin stream of qi downward, allowing her awareness to touch the deeper layers beneath the greenhouse.
In Azura, qi pathways felt obvious, like endless rivers flowing without limit.
Earth did not feel the same.
This world lacked the immense density of energy that Azura possessed.
Even so… That did not mean the world was truly empty.
Qingyu sensed subtle pressure beneath the soil.
Tiny fluctuations in temperature.
Small resonance moving like the distant pulse of a heartbeat.
An ordinary human would never notice it.
But today, Qingyu could sense it more clearly than before.
“There’s a current,” she murmured.
“It wasn’t large… but consistent.”
Xiao Lan turned in confusion.
“Yes, Miss?”
“Nothing.”
Qingyu opened her eyes, and said, “I was only confirming something.”
Her thoughts began moving rapidly.
If there was a flow, then there had to be a source.
And if Earth’s qi remained this thin on the surface… Then something was suppressing it.
Qingyu’s brows furrowed slightly.
That was not a natural phenomenon.
Her instincts were beginning to tell her something was wrong.
That afternoon, Lin Feng returned home earlier than usual.
He found Qingyu sitting in the living room, reading a thin book on general botany.
It was a sight he had never seen before.
Qingyu usually spent most of her time isolated in her room.
He stopped near the doorway.
For a moment, he simply observed her.
The way she sat.
The way she held the book.
The focused calmness in her eyes.
There was no trace of the exhausted expression or empty gaze he had grown far too used to seeing over the years.
And suddenly, a realization surfaced inside him, carrying an unexpected sting.
He did not truly know Qingyu, his own daughter.
“Qingyu,” he called after letting out a slow breath.
Qingyu looked up.
“Father.”
“You look… healthier,” Lin Feng said.
“I feel much better,” Qingyu answered.
Father Lin sat down across from her.
He remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
“Dr.
Ming sent me a message.
He said your recovery has already exceeded normal expectations.”
Qingyu nodded.
“He asked whether you were using additional methods.”
“I answered only what was necessary,” Qingyu replied honestly.
Lin Feng looked at her for a long moment.
His gaze no longer carried only worry like before.
There was curiosity in his eyes now.
Perhaps even regret.
“I won’t force you to explain,” he finally said.
“But I want you to know one thing.”
He paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully.
“If you truly inherited knowledge from your mother… or if you have your own way of healing yourself…”
His gaze softened.
“…then know that you’re not alone anymore.”
The room suddenly felt very quiet.
That simple sentence made Qingyu look at him a little longer.
To her, those words were more than support.
They sounded like permission.
For the first time in years, Father Lin had chosen to stand on her side without conditions.
At least now, she no longer needed to wonder whether her father would one day become her enemy.
“Thank you, Father,” she said genuinely.
Father Lin nodded.
At the far end of the room, Lady Su stood near the entrance as if she had just arrived.
She had heard enough.
A deep sense of discomfort spread through her chest.
Inside her bedroom, Lady Su opened a hidden drawer concealed behind a painting on the wall.
Inside rested a small bottle of poison alongside a phone containing only one number.
She stared at the poison bottle before picking it up.
“Impossible…”
The poison had been used for years without leaving obvious traces.
No one should have recovered this quickly.
Had her mother’s recipes truly healed Qingyu?
Or was there another method?
Her grip on the bottle tightened.
But after several seconds, her expression gradually returned to calmness.
“But that’s fine.”
Her voice became soft and elegant once again.
“If the old method no longer works… there’s always a replacement.”
She walked toward the bathroom, carrying the bottle with her.
The poison was emptied into the toilet.
After rinsing the bottle, she tossed it into the trash.
When she looked into the mirror again, her expression had already become perfect once more.
Lady Su smiled at her own reflection.
“It won’t be that easy, Qingyu,” she whispered.
That night, Qingyu sat at her study desk.
The desk lamp illuminated two objects placed separately on the wooden surface:
The wooden bracelet left behind by Qingyu’s mother.
And the Purple Dragon Stone, still kept inside its small cloth pouch.
Qingyu’s gaze lingered on both items for several moments.
She could feel the faint resonance between them.
She intended to bind them together eventually.
But not now.
This body was still not strong enough for a complete binding process.
Perhaps in a few more days, when she was truly ready.
So tonight, she chose to continue breathing exercises instead.
Qi completed one full circulation through her upper meridians without obstruction.
When she felt neither resistance nor backlash, she repeated the circulation two more times.
“Enough,” she thought.
If she forced herself too quickly, the newly healed meridians could become damaged again.
She stood and looked at herself in the mirror.
Her face had gained more color, and a faint flush had appeared on her cheeks.
This body was finally beginning to resemble that of a healthy person.
“Tomorrow I can begin light physical training,” she whispered.
She then picked up one of Qingyu’s university books from the shelf.
A book that reflected Qingyu’s former interests:
Biomedical Science and Business.
Qingyu opened the first page.
Lin Qingyu’s memories told her that the girl had been highly intelligent since childhood.
She had simply lived under pressure for too long, allowing her talents to slowly become buried.
And these fields of study…
Biomedical science to understand the human body.
Business to understand the world where modern power moved.
Somehow, the fields suited her almost too well.
Her gaze shifted toward the phone on the desk.
Ever since Xiao Lan had taught her how to search for information online, she had gradually begun learning and understanding the modern world.
This world was strange, and interesting…
Without qi, humanity here survived through two things:
Science and technology.
And without fully realising it, she had begun to like both of them.
As she continued browsing information on her phone, a small news article caught her attention.
New poisoning cases discovered in the southern district.
Victim count increases by two.
Qingyu’s gaze deepened.
Her fingers stopped above the screen.
She organized today’s discoveries inside her mind.
The disrupted resonance beneath Earth.
The thin, suppressed flow of qi.
And the poison cases that kept appearing one after another.
Everything was beginning to feel connected.
And for the first time in a very long time…
Qingyu felt that this world might be far more dangerous than she had originally imagined.