Recommendation Tickets
Dusk fell like gauze, slanting softly through the carved lattice windows and scattering a hazy wash of light and shadow.
On the bluestone desk, a Glazed Tile Soul Lamp drifted gently up and down, its glow flickering as if whispering some unknown secret.
Amid the bitter scent of medicine filling the air, Lian Shouzhong slowly opened his eyes. In that instant, a dull ache throbbed through his skull, as though thousands of silver needles were stabbing at once, making him frown despite himself.
He looked up and saw grandfather's dry, withered hand, like a dead bamboo branch, hovering three inches above his head. Golden threads formed from Soul Power, fine as little snakes, were slowly being drawn out from his Heavenly Spirit.
"You're awake?" Lian Changzhi's voice was still as warm and gentle as before, but the Canghui cloud patterns embroidered darkly on his cuffs trembled faintly with his breathing.
Lian Shouzhong forced himself up, trying to sit. His five fingers dug shallow dents into the edge of the sandalwood bed, showing just how deeply he was enduring the pain.
"I made grandfather exhaust himself..." His voice was weak, tinged with guilt.
The withered palm suddenly covered the pulse point at his wrist. Lian Changzhi examined him carefully and sensed that the soul flow through his meridians was sluggish, like a silted pond.
"Are your internal organs still stable?"
Before the words had even fallen, the young man choked up a mouthful of clotted blood. It splattered across his plain white inner robe like red plum blossoms falling on snow, a shocking sight.
Only after taking half a cup of tea's worth of time to regulate his breathing did Lian Shouzhong speak in a hoarse voice. "The old injuries to my physical body are fine, only..."
His