"As you wish, Master." Xiaoxiao’s voice had regained its earlier warmth. "Though I must say, the coral truly does suit you."
Li Yan did not dignify that with a response, but he did not change out of the coral either.
The inn Li Yan found sat at the quieter end of the street, its sign faded but its windows lit warm against the coming evening. He pushed open the door to a room thick with the smell of stewed cabbage and old wood smoke.
She did not so much greet him as inspect him, the way a buyer checks a horse’s teeth before handing over a coin.
"Room or no room?"
"A room, if you have one to spare."
"I have, but it’s going to cost you. You do not look like you got much." She planted both hands on the counter. "One silver a night. Another silver if you want to eat, and you will want to eat."
Li Yan reached into his sleeve, drew out two of his four remaining silver taels, and set them on the counter without argument.
Her brows rose slightly, as though she had expected haggling and found herself almost disappointed not to get any. She swept the coins away regardless and jerked her chin toward the stairs.
"Come on, then. Follow me, and mind the third step; it creaks loud enough to wake the dead, and I will not be held responsible if you break your neck tripping over your own robes."
Li Yan followed her up the narrow staircase, footsteps light on the creaking wood.
Two silver taels gone, leaving only one in his sleeve.
Not nothing, but not enough to last more than a handful of days in a city this size. He would need coins soon, work of some kind, or else he would have to open the space and see what might fetch a price.
A hundred silver taels would keep him comfortably afloat while he decided what came next, and the space held treasures worth far more than that if he chose to part with them carefully.
She stopped before a door near the end of the hall and fitted a heavy iron key into the lock.
"Dinner is served at the Hour of the Rooster, not a moment before, not a moment after, so do not come knocking on the kitchen door if you sleep through it." She pushed the door open. "No women in the room past dark unless you are married to them, no fires lit without asking first, and if you break anything, you pay for it before you pay for your next meal. Understood?"
"Understood." Li Yan accepted the key.
"Good." She set the key in his palm and turned back toward the stairs without another word.
Back in the small room, Li Yan set the extra robe over a chair and sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the creak of the inn settling around him.
"Xiaoxiao." He kept his voice barely above a breath. "What is the most valuable thing you hold?"
"Pills, Master." The answer came without hesitation, almost proud. "Most of the masters who came before you were apothecaries and pill-refiners by trade. The space reflects that inheritance. You will find cultivation scrolls within it, along with a handful of dharma-grade weapons, but the bulk of what I hold is pills, alchemical formulas, pill-formation manuals, and every tool required to use them. Furnaces, cauldrons, spirit fire seeds, rare herbs beyond counting."
Li Yan turned that over. Pills. Of course it would be pills.
"Then let us begin properly." He folded his hands in his lap. "What must I take first?"
"A dantian-opening pill, Master. Before anything else. Your meridians remain sealed, as they have been your entire life. Without an open dantian, you cannot draw in qi, cannot cultivate, cannot so much as sense the energy that surrounds you. I have several formulas suited to the task, though their strength varies. I would recommend beginning with a milder pill suited to a body that has never once touched cultivation. Anything stronger risks damage to meridians unaccustomed to bearing such force."
"How long before I feel a difference?"
"That depends on the pill, and on you, Master. Some open the dantian within hours. Others require the body to adjust across several days before the gate fully unlocks. Given your circumstances," a faint note of dry amusement crept into the voice, "I suspect you would prefer the faster option."
Li Yan almost smiled at that. "You suspect correctly."
"Then allow me a moment to select something appropriate." A pause settled over his awareness, thoughtful rather than hesitant. "I would suggest against anything from the higher tiers for now. A body untouched by qi its entire life needs to be eased into the process, not shocked into it. We have time enough to build toward the stronger formulas once your foundation is stable."
"Time." Li Yan glanced toward the shuttered window, where the last of the daylight had gone the color of old rust. "That is one thing I intend to make good use of, now that I have it."
He drew his sleeve back and let a soft glow surface at his wrist, the space unfurling just enough to place a single pill into his open palm. Pale gold, no larger than a mung bean, faint threads of light moving beneath its surface.
"The Qi Returning Pill, Master. Mildly built for a body that has never known qi. Swallow it whole. Do not chew."
Li Yan studied the pill a moment longer, then placed it on his tongue and swallowed it.
Warmth spread through his chest almost immediately, gentle at first, then sharpening into something that pressed against his ribs from the inside.
He gritted his teeth and sat very still, waiting.
"Breathe naturally, Master. Fighting it will only slow the process. Let the warmth settle where it wishes to go."
Li Yan forced his shoulders to loosen, forced air into his lungs at an even pace, he felt the heat curl lower, gathering somewhere beneath his navel like a small ember finding kindling at last.