In the room next door, Zhou Wan sat cross-legged on the bed.
She had not been asleep to begin with, only meditating to regulate her breathing. The injuries she had sustained during the Golden Core Division matches had not fully healed, and quietly nourishing her meridians at night was the safest way to recover for now. Spiritual energy circulated slowly through her dantian, gradually repairing her damaged meridians, while her breathing remained long and steady.
So when that familiar inner voice burst into her mind, she opened her eyes at once.
Second Senior Brother is awake.
The thought flashed through her mind, but she did not move. She simply maintained her meditative posture, breathing as steadily as before.
Second Senior Brother actually woke up this quickly? she wondered, suppressing her surprise. I thought he would be out for another three to five days...
In another room, Lin Huaixu was also roused.
He had been deeply asleep. Having lost all his cultivation, he was now no different from a mortal. That daytime "live broadcast of inner thoughts" had exhausted him, and the string of worries following Second Senior Brother's collapse had left him utterly drained, body and mind. He had practically fallen asleep the moment his head touched the pillow.
Had Shen Yuxi's incessant muttering not buzzed around his ears like a little bee, he would never have woken in the middle of the night.
Almost instinctively, Lin Huaixu made the same choice as Zhou Wan: keep pretending to sleep. He worked to make his breathing slow and steady, relaxing into the bedding without even shifting his curled-up legs. Only his ears were pricked, afraid of missing a single word.
Shen Yuxi, lying on the bed, knew nothing of this. He remained stiff, not daring to move a muscle, while the