The bathroom was filled with mist.
Several maids carried copper basins, pouring hot water into the enormous wooden tub in an orderly fashion. Water splashed everywhere, and soon the tub was full.
"You may all leave." Qian Renxue turned around, her golden eyes sweeping over the maids as she gave the order.
"Yes, Young Master." The maids replied in unison. They bowed, then quietly left the bathroom and closed the door behind them.
The moment the door clicked shut, Qian Renxue went to the table and mixed the medicinal liquids from the jade containers in the proper proportions.
The dark liquid gave off a rich medicinal fragrance. The instant it entered the hot water, the entire tub was quickly dyed black.
She took a deep breath, removed her clothes, revealing a slender body that was already beginning to show its strength, and stepped into the tub without hesitation. She submerged herself completely in the dark medicinal liquid.
"Hiss—" The moment she entered the water, a sharp pain shot through every limb, as if countless tiny needles were piercing her skin. Qian Renxue couldn't help sucking in a breath, her brows drawing tightly together as a flicker of pain crossed her golden eyes.
As time passed, the power in the liquid gradually seeped through her skin and into her body. The pain grew stronger, accompanied by an unbearable heat, as if she had been thrown into a furnace and her internal organs were burning.
Qian Renxue's face turned pale, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead. Her body instinctively tried to pull itself out of the water.
"Circulate the cultivation method and refine the medicinal power." Chen Qingxuan's voice came at just the right moment.
"Ah... Master..." Qian Renxue wrapped her arms around herself and curled up, submerging half her head in the dark liquid. A few bubbles escaped her lips.
Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red, even her ears turning crimson. Her voice carried a mix of embarrassment and panic. "Master, you... you're not allowed to look!"
Chen Qingxuan was speechless, caught between laughter and tears. "Countless divine maidens, saintesses, and fairies pursued me back then. Their beauty and talent were all among the finest in the world."
"And you're so scrawny..."
"Master~~" Qian Renxue protested coquettishly.
"Xue'er will grow up! I definitely won't be any worse than them!"
She paused, as though she'd just thought of something, then asked curiously, "Master, does that mean I have lots of senior mistresses?"
"I've walked through a field of flowers without a single leaf sticking to me," Chen Qingxuan replied calmly.
"I roamed the Floating Life Immortal Domain for hundreds of thousands of years, devoted to the Dao, and never took a Dao companion."
Qian Renxue blinked her golden eyes. Whatever was turning over in her little head, the corners of her mouth curled up, and she didn't ask anything else.
"Don't get distracted. Hurry and circulate the cultivation method," Chen Qingxuan reminded her.
"Guide your own qi and blood, and absorb the medicinal power to strengthen your body. This liquid is both a tonic and a poison. If you don't refine it in time, the medicinal power will turn on you, poisoning and damaging your body."
Qian Renxue didn't dare delay any longer. She quickly gathered her thoughts and circulated her qi and blood according to the body-tempering method recorded in the Primordial Nirvana Sutra.
She could clearly feel the qi and blood in her body surging like a river, flowing along specific meridians. With each cycle, she drew in some of the medicinal power, which merged into her flesh and blood.
The scorching heat and stabbing pain remained intense, as if her body were being torn apart and remade.
Under the medicinal power, her muscles contracted and swelled violently. Her bones gave off faint cracking sounds, while her internal organs felt as if they were being soaked in warm water and roasted over a blazing fire at once.
Qian Renxue gritted her teeth, veins bulging on her forehead. A stubborn light shone in her golden eyes as she endured the discomfort and circulated the cultivation method over and over again.
After an unknown amount of time, the agonizing pain gradually eased, and the scorching heat became a gentle warmth flowing through her entire body.
The energy in the liquid was absorbed without pause, nourishing her flesh, bones, and meridians, filling her with a sense of fullness she had never felt before.
It was as if her body had been remade, becoming tougher and stronger.
Half an hour later, Qian Renxue slowly finished her cultivation and breathed out a long stream of turbid air, tinged with faint black mist.
She looked down at the tub. The water, originally black, had become even murkier, with a layer of black grease floating on the surface and a faint stench rising from it.
"Why has the water turned even blacker?" She wrinkled her nose and asked with distaste.
"These are impurities expelled from your body," Chen Qingxuan explained.
"Your constitution was already quite good, and you didn't have many impurities, so the water only turned murky."
"For an ordinary person, the impurities expelled during the first medicinal bath would stink. Those would be the real filth."
"No, I'm going to wash again." As she spoke, Qian Renxue started to get up.
Qian Renxue emphasized to Chen Qingxuan in her mind, her cheeks still a little flushed. "Master, you absolutely mustn't peek!"
Chen Qingxuan remained silent...
Qian Renxue got out of the tub as quickly as possible, dried herself with a towel, and changed into clean clothes.
She went to the door, opened it, and instructed the maids waiting outside, "Come in and change the water. Then prepare another tub of hot water."
"Yes, Young Master." The maids entered at her command. They quickly emptied the murky medicinal water, cleaned the tub, and refilled it with hot water. In no time, they had tidied up the bathroom and bowed their way out.
Meanwhile, in Spirit City, inside a remote orphanage.
This was a place where Spirit Hall specifically took in orphans, accepting tens of thousands of them every year.
Most had been abandoned by their parents or lost their families to war or disaster. A small number were the children of Spirit Hall officials who had died in service, and they received a little preferential treatment at the orphanage.
In a shabby room, more than twenty children between the ages of five and seven crowded together. The air carried a faint smell of mildew and sweat.
Most of the children looked lost, while only a few had a hint of liveliness in their eyes.
"Brother Feng, tomorrow's the day we awaken our martial souls." A little girl with her hair in twin buns tugged at the sleeve of the boy beside her. Her voice was soft and thin, with a hint of nervousness.
The boy called Brother Feng was a little older than her. Though thin, he stood straight. He patted the little girl's head and spoke in a steady voice. "Don't worry, Nana. Your brother Xie Yue has Innate Soul Power at level nine and such good talent. You'll definitely be just as good. You might even be better than him."
"Really?" The little girl's eyes lit up as she stared at him. She was Hu Liena.
"Really. You'll be the best." The boy nodded with conviction. His name was Ling Feng, and he spoke with a certainty beyond his years.
Not far away, a boy wearing a faded long robe, a tree branch in hand, looked up from the words he'd been scrawling in the dirt. He glanced at Ling Feng and Hu Liena, then turned to look at another quiet boy beside him.
His name was Ye Fan. Like Ling Feng and the boy named Li Taibai, he was one of the "odd ones out" in the orphanage.
Unlike the other children, who cried or cowered, they were exceptionally mature for their age.
The three exchanged glances, each seeing understanding in the others' eyes.
They had lived together in the orphanage for years and understood each other without a word. They were all doing their best to play the part of ordinary children, and none of them had exposed the strange understanding between them.
For them, tomorrow's Martial Soul Awakening might be a chance to change their fates.
Before you continue