The vital energy within and around Yi Shuyuan had been utterly exhausted. Even Jade Startle, Chanting Dust, and his wine gourd had grown dull and gray.
But now life flourished in Yi Shuyuan once more. The wine gourd reflected the alchemical fire blazing within and without, while the storytelling block and folding fan shone brilliantly again!
"Thump. Thump, thump."
His heartbeat sounded like a drum pounding through his mind and spirit. Its pulse spread continually, carrying its rhythm along his meridians.
His meridians opened anew, blood and vital energy arose afresh, sinews and bones expanded, and his organs and flesh were nourished once more, gradually taking on the five colors of white, black, green, red, and yellow.
Finally, every major acupoint throughout his body seemed to pulse.
The fires of the inner Alchemy Furnace and outer gourd gradually steadied, while the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the radiance of sun and moon gathered toward him.
Yi Shuyuan's complexion slowly recovered from its withered state.
The ice and snow around him melted, and flowers and grasses either sprouted green shoots or broke through the soil.
It had still been deep night when the Beginning of Spring arrived, but now the morning sun was rising.
Yi Shuyuan's exhausted state had vanished completely. The five elements brimmed throughout him, yin and yang in balance. By gathering his mind, he could look within; by extending his spirit, he could illuminate the world outside.
His body felt newborn. Faintly, the light of emerald waves shimmered in his eyes, their spiritual radiance sharply defined, with squares appearing within their roundness-the image of emerald eyes and square pupils.
Only his head of white hair remained, gradually turning black again.
*A True Person, a True Person... in the ideals of the Immortal Dao, was this what