Chen Wuya lay on the low couch, his fingertips still resting against the icy bamboo slip. The medicine pot in the fire pit had long since stopped bubbling. Only Bai Zhi's shallow breathing remained in the room, along with the occasional faint sound of Old Wu Tou smoking his dry tobacco by the door. His eyes were closed, yet sleep would not come. His ribs felt as though a dull blade were sawing back and forth through them; every breath stirred the turbulent current deep in his meridians, like countless fine needles swimming through his flesh and blood.
He tried to circulate his force, slowly guiding the Misaligned Force toward the Gate of Life acupoint. This was the only path open to him—when the proper meridians would not flow, he had to run the side channels in reverse. The blue cloth band around his waist grew faintly warm with the movement of true qi, while the system silently fed back within his sea of consciousness: [Path distortion: 89%. Meets "misaligned practice" criteria.] But the instant his true qi touched the Gate of Life, a blast of bone-chilling cold surged up from underground, striking his chest until it clenched tight and filling his throat with the taste of blood once more.
"Something's wrong..." He opened his eyes and stared at the boards beneath him. That coldness was not an external attack. It was more like something sleeping underground had been disturbed by the fluctuations of his Misaligned Force.
He made no sound, merely tapped the floor three times with the pads of his fingers. The vibrations were faint, but the burn mark on his palm suddenly twitched, as if it had sensed something. A system prompt appeared: [Abnormal energy source detected. Direction: three feet southeast. Depth: approximately two feet. Suspected hidden