A Second Growth

When Li Boyang opened his eyes again, it was nearly dusk.

The first thing he saw was Chen Yun, crouching in front of him with a worried look on her face.

"Son, you're awake?"

Seeing the sleep still in Li Boyang's eyes, Chen Yun reached out and felt his head, the worry on her face giving way to a smile.

"?"

Li Boyang could tell at a glance that Chen Yun was forcing her smile. He blinked in confusion.

Wait... something doesn't seem right...

As the thought flashed through his mind, Li Boyang quickly realized what was wrong.

It was already dusk, and the room had grown completely dark, yet he could see the expression on Chen Yun's face clearly.

Where's this firelight coming from...?

Li Boyang instinctively raised his head, and the firelight illuminating the room flickered with the movement.

Seeing this, Li Boyang immediately realized what was happening-his hair seemed to be burning again.

Li Boyang could sense a force utterly different from Life Primordial Qi pouring into his body in an endless stream.

This force was so violent and savage.

It made the flames burning in Li Boyang's hair blaze even more fiercely than before.

Not only that, Li Boyang could clearly feel this force corroding and damaging his flesh.

His body was continuously giving off heat, and even his forehead had grown scorching hot...

Do I have a fever?

Looking at Chen Yun opposite him, Li Boyang seemed to understand where the worry on her face had come from.

Gently closing his eyes, Li Boyang tried once more to circulate the Qi through a full cycle, directing the Qi of Earth Sha through his Ren and Du meridians into his Dantian.

Whoosh!

After mixing with Li Boyang's Life Primordial Qi, the Qi of Earth Sha seemed to become less violent.

Especially when it flowed into his Dantian.

The Sword Pill in his Dantian immediately absorbed it, transforming it into part of its own power.

The problem was that this was just a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.

The Qi of Earth Sha from outside continued to pour into Li Boyang's body without pause.

Even if he refined the Sha Qi around the clock, he still couldn't completely digest and absorb the Qi of Earth Sha mixed with Life Primordial Qi.

Is a single Sword Pill not enough?

Seeing this, Li Boyang chose to split the flow of Sha Qi.

Under Li Boyang's control, some of the Sha Qi entering his body flowed into the Dantian in his lower abdomen, while the rest surged into the sea of consciousness between his brows.

Whoosh!

Just like the Sword Pill in his Dantian, his Heavenly Eye soon absorbed the Sha Qi that poured into his sea of consciousness.

The Heavenly Eye, which had stopped developing when he was born, now seemed to be showing signs of a second growth.

If someone could light up the meridians throughout Li Boyang's body right now, they would discover that the Yuan Qi within him was circulating and roaring like a vast ocean.

Whoosh!

The Ren and Du meridians formed the center, with his limbs and bones as branches.

Whenever the Yuan Qi passed between his brows and through his lower abdomen, its quantity dropped sharply.

Even so, the remaining Yuan Qi mixed with Sha Qi still exceeded what an infant could bear, leaving his body feverish and burning hot.

With no other choice, Li Boyang had to find a third outlet for the Yuan Qi-the crown of his head.

Whoosh!

Before an infant reached one year of age, the brain was still developing, and the crown of the head had not yet fully closed.

Thus, when the Yuan Qi was expelled through the gap in the crown of his head, Li Boyang's body temperature naturally dropped.

But the price of forcibly expelling the Sha Qi was that the fine hair on Li Boyang's head gave off an even more dazzling firelight.

The nearly tangible firelight was no longer warm, but hot enough to burn at the touch.

Night fell in the Li family courtyard.

When Li Yu returned home carrying the day's catch, he found Chen Yun looking deeply worried.

"Yun, what's wrong?"

Li Yu hung the catch on a bamboo pole to one side and went over to Chen Yun.

"It's our son, our son..."

Chen Yun nestled gently against Li Yu and couldn't help sighing.

"I went to town today to ask for a protective talisman for our son..."

"But as soon as I came back, I saw his hair was on fire and his body was burning hot. He had a high fever."

"I brewed him some medicine to bring the fever down. The fever went away, but the fire in his hair burned even more fiercely."

Hearing this, Li Yu immediately looked toward their bedroom and saw that firelight was indeed faintly visible inside.

"Do you think the mountain gods have really taken a liking to our son?"

"Should I go worship at the nearby mountain gods' temples again and ask them to stop pestering him?"

Gently stroking Chen Yun's hair, Li Yu asked in a low voice.

"Besides you, who else has noticed anything unusual about our son?"

Li Yu thought differently from the emotional Chen Yun.

As his father, Li Yu was more concerned about whether anyone else had noticed anything unusual about their child.

"When I went to town today, I asked Big Girl from next door to look after him for me."

Hearing Li Yu's question, Chen Yun also realized what he meant and answered with a hint of worry.

"Big Girl?"

After a moment's thought, Li Yu immediately realized whom Chen Yun was talking about.

"The heartless scholar's daughter?"

In Li Household Village, which had only a dozen or so households, there was just one scholar who had married into a family from outside the village.

To support the scholar's studies, his wife worked from dawn to dusk, managing to provide for the whole family with her tiny patch of land.

Unfortunately, ever since the scholar said he was going out to make something of himself, he had never returned.

He had left behind only his wife and their daughter, who was less than a year old, and they had held on until now.

Whenever Li Yu entered or left the village, he could see that woman, so fierce in front of outsiders, sitting by the window and washing her face with tears.

To be honest, if not for the help of their fellow villagers, the widow and her fatherless child would never have survived until today.

"Take two jin of meat next door tomorrow and see them."

"That cousin aunt of mine may seem fierce, but she's only trying to survive."

"Have a talk with her and ask her not to spread gossip outside. It shouldn't be much of a problem."

Li Yu wasn't worried about the villagers finding out about their son's condition.

Or rather, even if the villagers didn't know exactly what was going on with Li Boyang, they had more or less guessed something.

After all, the village was only so big, and everyone was related one way or another. Keeping it hidden forever simply wasn't realistic.

What Li Yu worried about was that if word of their son's condition got out, it would bring unnecessary trouble.

"Mm, I understand."

Chen Yun had barely agreed when Li Yu seemed to remember something and added, "Right, while you're there, talk to my cousin aunt and tell her she can let Big Girl come over to help us look after our son."

"We'll give Big Girl one meal a day. That should help ease her burden."

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