Feng Xianyue paused, trying to understand why her grandmother had suddenly said that.
Placing her spoon on the plate, she gathered her thoughts before she said, “Grandmother, why do you suddenly want us to go back after all these years?”
“You need to live your life, Xian’er.
Not just exist.
Not just wait to die.
You deserve to laugh, to learn, to grow…
just like your brothers and sisters in the capital.
They all attend schools and are healthy.
I even heard your first brother got accepted into a prestigious sect in the capital.
You also deserve that as one of the Feng family’s granddaughters.”
Old Madam Feng said, ranting all her rage towards the main family for abandoning Feng Xianyue.
“All these years, none of them have once visited us.
Even your father has not sent for you, despite informing him about your health condition.”
“Grandmother, don’t worry about me.
And don’t think about the Feng family.
Let’s just live our life here together.”
“For how long, Xian’er?
I know you want to see the world.
I know you want to get better.
Seeing you on the rooftop each morning, watching the sky, breaks my heart.
Your grandmother is not blind to your longing.”
Feng Xianyue became quiet and silently cried.
She really was scared of dying again.
She wanted to see the world too.
In her previous life, she had only bulldozed through life without truly living it.
At least she wanted this second life to be different.
Though she was happy she had finally gotten a treasure, it couldn’t extend her life.
Feng Xianyue was sure if she cultivated, she would be able to extend her dwindling life, but she had no resources in this forgotten village.
It was very poor, and only the elderly lived here.
“My child, listen to me.
Let’s go to the capital.
There must be a way to save you there.”
Nodding with a smile, Feng Xianyue said, “Let’s go tomorrow morning.
I will start packing now.”
That night, Feng Xianyue gathered a few spare clothes for both her and Old Madam Feng, some dried meat, a water flask, a money pouch, and their travel tokens to identify them.
After tying the two bundles of clothes, Feng Xianyue sighed, lying on the sleeping mat to rest.
Her body ached terribly from all the activities of the day.
Before she fell asleep, she decided to check her newly acquired space.
The first thing Feng Xianyue did was to take a cup of spiritual water.
She noticed that it really made her feel better.
Heading to the hut, she went straight to the library, hoping she could find a basic cultivation book.
However, what Feng Xianyue discovered was how truly weak she was.
Her body was not tempered, let alone being able to contain qi.
She had been surprised at the power she exhibited when she was fighting off those men, but she now knew why it had been so painful to produce that ice.
Her body was not strong enough to contain that amount of qi.
If she had used more, her heart and body would have exploded.
She shuddered at the thought.
In one of the books in the library, it said that she had to temper her body and break free from her mortal blood and bones to be able to contain spiritual qi.
The method is called body tempering.
Feng Xianyue had to do this to move to the next step, called qi condensation.
Feng Xianyue sighed heavily, lamenting her lack of luck.
If she had grown up in the main family with abundant resources, she would have just received a body tempering pill, and then tempering her body to prepare for qi condensation would have been much easier.
Nevertheless, maybe this was for the best.
If she hadn’t been raised by Old Madam Feng, Feng Xianyue was sure she wouldn’t have ever been able to experience what a true family felt like and the feeling of being loved unconditionally.
She didn’t regret these ten years.
Though she had the inkling that she would be looked down upon because of her mediocre talent, she was sure all the siblings of the original owner were probably at qi condensation but not yet foundation establishment.
From what she read, cultivation was not easy, and it takes years to advance to another realm.
Only the gifted ones had little difficulty cultivating.
She really hoped the Feng clan didn’t have such geniuses…..that would really be unfair.
Body Tempering was the first step on the path of cultivation.
By refining flesh, blood, and bone, one could build a vessel capable of containing spiritual qi.
Feng Xianyue read the words twice, her heart sinking.
She had no resources, no pills, no master to guide her.
There were three ways to achieve it: physical training, absorbing qi from the air, or medicinal baths.
Physical training was out….her body could barely handle a walk.
Beast blood was too dangerous.
But the third option…
she could try.
For the medicinal baths, it needed two essential ingredients: beast bone and herbs.
And the best bone to use were dragon bones.
“Ah!” Feng Xianyue exclaimed, remembering the dragon bones she had.
But wouldn’t that be disrespecting the dead dragon?
Feng Xianyue bit her lip.
The dragon had trusted her with its child.
Using its bones for her own benefit felt…
wrong.
Like betrayal.
But she had to get stronger.
If she died, who would protect the cub?
Feng Xianyue made up her mind.
She could only beg for forgiveness from the dragon’s spirit.
She should understand….after all, she had to get stronger to protect and raise her little cub well.
After deciding this, Feng Xianyue didn’t even hesitate and headed to the spiritual spring to fill her water flask with spiritual water.
She had a feeling that she would need it.
She then brought out the dragon egg and placed it in a round bowl before filling it with spiritual water.
Placing a straw mat on the floor close to the little dragon, Feng Xianyue decided to try absorbing the qi in the air.
She wanted to see if she could awaken her wood spirit body and produce a small fire….she needed it for her medicinal bath.
Though her body had not been tempered, she believed a wood spirit body should be full of surprises.
Feng Xianyue sat cross-legged, taking in a deep breath.
Wisps of pale spiritual energy gathered from the air, closing in on her glowing body.
Her meridians warmed, and with each slow breath, strands of spiritual energy entered her body, slowly strengthening her weak frame.
The qi entered her body like tiny needles at first….uncomfortable, prickling.
Then, slowly, it warmed her, flowing through her meridians like gentle streams.
Her muscles relaxed.
Her breathing deepened.
Five hours passed before she knew it.
Feng Xianyue couldn’t take it anymore.
After all, she was originally sickly and knew that strengthening this weak body would take time.
What Feng Xianyue didn’t know was that a space belonging to an ancient dragon was immensely dense with rich qi.
Cultivators at body tempering couldn’t absorb the dense qi for five hours straight for the first time without collapsing or having a ruptured meridian.
She smiled in satisfaction, noticing the differences in her body.
She felt like she could run ten laps without getting tired….which was impossible for her before…..and her heart no longer ached.
Standing up, Feng Xianyue felt very energetic, as if she could even start refining the medicinal bath.
However, she had to learn how first, and second, she had not awakened her physique yet.
Since she was full of energy, Feng Xianyue decided to utilise the night well.
From all her experiences with cultivation stories, time flowed ten times faster inside the space as it was a separate dimension.
Feng Xianyue’s eyes widened.
If time flowed faster here, she could train for hours while only minutes passed outside.
This changed everything.
Five hours of cultivation was probably half an hour outside.
Though this needed further investigation, Feng Xianyue kept it at the back of her mind and headed to the library.