One o'clock in the morning.
Zhang Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed in the East Room and opened his eyes right on time. Then he gently shook Xiao Yuanjun, who lay draped over him. "Master, it's Chou Hour."
Xiao Yuanjun had said she was tired and fallen asleep on him, even covering herself with a small quilt. It covered not only her but him as well, bundling them into a ball on the bed.
Yet even asleep, Xiao Yuanjun kept both hands firmly clasped over his palm.
Xiao Yuanjun rubbed her sleepy eyes and woke up. "Mm, I know. I'll loosen my grip a little. Try refining what leaks out first. Don't refine it all at once, or the conceptual image of cinnabar yang fire qi could set your Dao domain ablaze."
Zhang Yuan nodded earnestly, then reminded her, "Master, shouldn't you put the quilt away?"
"Heh, that was such a comfortable nap. I'd have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it." Realization dawned on Xiao Yuanjun, and with a thought, she stored the quilt inside her Dao domain.
Then Xiao Yuanjun's expression turned serious. Of the slender fingers covering Zhang Yuan's palm, she carefully shifted one aside, exposing the fiercely burning cinnabar yang fire qi.
Fire qi leaked out.
Zhang Yuan's eyes flashed. He instinctively drew a deep breath and caught a faint fragrance lingering around him. Hastily shaking his head, he caught that wisp of cinnabar yang fire qi with his other hand and began refining it using the refining art of the Pre-Heaven True Law Self-Salvation Great Method.
As expected of one of the six yin-yang essences that could only be drawn into the world through a Celestial Person's seeking truth, even a mere trace of the cinnabar yang fire qi's conceptual image was exceptionally difficult to refine.