Chapter 004: Rapid Recovery (Please Recommend)

Xu Xuan took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes.

As sensation returned to his body and reality reasserted itself, memories of his past life began to drift away, growing hazy, as if waking from a fleeting dream. Yet, when Xu Xuan focused his mind, a bright star emerged in his consciousness, and memories from before his sixteenth year in that other life surfaced with renewed clarity.

Once fully awake, Xu Xuan found himself lying in his own bed.

To call it a bed was generous; it was merely a wooden plank covered with a layer of straw and an old, faded sheet. In the room, aside from a battered wooden chest for clothes, there was no other proper furniture. In one corner, spiderwebs hung in several thick layers, and a thin ray of sunlight slipped through a crack in the roof tiles, falling onto the floor.

This was his room—his impoverished home.

He winced as he moved; a wave of aches swept through his body, cold sweat breaking out on his brow. Clearly, even the faint aftershock from the soul ink stone explosion at the Xu family mine had left him badly injured.

"This body is far too fragile. It seems I’ll need to temper it thoroughly," Xu Xuan muttered with a bitter smile.

At that moment, light footsteps approached.

"Brother, you’re awake!"

The voice was as clear as wind chimes. The speaker was a girl, about fourteen, with bright eyes and white teeth.

"Huilan?" Xu Xuan looked at her, surprised and delighted.

"If it hurts, just cry. You’ll feel better," said Xu Huilan, seeing the sweat on her brother’s forehead. She quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow, her movements gentle.

His sister Huilan was naturally beautiful, pure and lovely, but she looked thin and pale today, her figure more frail than before.

Seeing her, Xu Xuan’s delight turned to concern, his expression changing suddenly. "Huilan, weren’t you in town learning array weaving from Old Hu? Why are you back? And how long have I been lying here?"

"Brother, you’ve been in bed for a day and a night. The healer said you’d need at least half a month before you could get up," Xu Huilan replied, her eyes reddening.

"Half a month?" Xu Xuan frowned but didn’t dwell on it.

After some questions, Xu Xuan learned that after the explosion, his injuries had cost the family all their savings to treat, and even forced them into debt. Now, with their livelihood in jeopardy, Huilan had returned from her apprenticeship to help their mother with chores and supplement the household income. Their father worked as a laborer outside all day.

Hearing this, Xu Xuan felt a surge of guilt and self-reproach. All this was because he had insisted on working at the mine; not only had he failed to help, but he had also become a burden.

"Brother, don’t blame yourself. I can help Mother weave magic garments; we can barely get by. You just focus on getting better," Huilan said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Their voices roused their mother, who was outside weaving. She entered, needle and thread in hand, relief flooding her face when she saw her son awake.

Weaving magic garments was a delicate craft for the lower classes of the cultivation world. Using inferior "cloud spirit silk," they made magical clothes for the wealthy cultivators. It often took half a month to finish even a semi-finished lower-grade garment, which they would exchange for a small amount of spirit coins. Only after an array master infused it with arrays would it become a finished product, fit to be worn by the rich or the esteemed cultivators.

"Brother, let me feed you some porridge," Huilan said, bringing a bowl from the kitchen and feeding him herself.

Xu Xuan tried to take the bowl, insisting he could eat on his own; his injuries were not as bad as they seemed. But Huilan refused to let him.

After the porridge, she gave him medicine. The taste was terrible, but Xu Xuan took the bowl and downed it all in one swift gulp.

Huilan stared, taken aback; she felt something had changed in her brother since he woke.

When his mother and sister had gone back to their work, Xu Xuan sat cross-legged on the bed, a slight smile on his lips.

"Half a month? Are my injuries really that severe?"

He suspected that training the breathing technique in his dream had already affected his real body, speeding up his recovery during his day and night of sleep.

Closing his eyes, he let the first layer of the breathing technique fill his mind. In moments, his spirit merged with the peculiar, uneven rhythm of breath. Restlessness and stray thoughts dispersed like smoke, drifting away.

Before long, he had fully mastered the first layer. Guided by the technique, his energy and blood began to flow smoothly, his vitality surging, and his wounds healing rapidly.

He pressed on, adjusting his breath minutely and entering the second layer. The process was smooth and unimpeded.

Just as he expected—the first two layers, whose essence he had already grasped in his consciousness, were now as natural as breathing, without resistance. As the second layer worked, his energy, blood, and spirit became ever more vigorous, steadily growing stronger.

He continued practicing for half a day.

"Brother, you look so much better! The healer said you’d be bedridden for two months, but I never believed it," Huilan exclaimed that evening when she brought his porridge.

"Let me do it myself!" Xu Xuan took the bowl, finished it in a few gulps, and drank the medicine in one swig—quick and decisive.

"Is there anything else to eat?" he asked, stretching and looking ravenous. After a day of cultivation, his stomach was empty.

If he hadn’t wanted to avoid alarming his family, he’d have gotten out of bed already.

Huilan’s mouth fell open. This was nothing like a sick patient! The healer had said half a month in bed—what nonsense. She hurried to the kitchen and brought him a bowl of rice and two small dishes.

Lifting the rice bowl, Xu Xuan caught a whiff of something fragrant and felt his appetite soar.

"Is this spirit grain?" Xu Xuan was startled, his expression darkening.

He knew well that, given their family’s circumstances, they could never afford spirit grain. Spirit grain was a rare crop in the cultivation world, grown only in select spirit fields. In a wealthy family, a child raised on spirit grain would be far stronger than ordinary cultivators, even without training.

"Yes. After your injury, you needed nourishing food. I saved some spirit coins from my apprenticeship in town and bought a small bag," Huilan said quietly, lowering her head.

Xu Xuan fell silent for a moment, understanding her intentions. He didn’t refuse her kindness and quickly finished the meal.

"Are prices for spirit grain still rising?" he asked, probing the current state of the market.

"Yes. Even the lowest grade now costs five spirit coins a pound," Huilan replied as she tidied up and returned to weaving.

Xu Xuan sat on his bed, eyes glinting thoughtfully. With his memories from before age sixteen in his previous life, he possessed knowledge and skills others lacked. Surely he could earn some spirit coins.

I must ensure my family can always eat spirit grain!

With that resolve, he resumed practicing the breathing technique. After dinner, he felt full of energy, and his training was doubly effective.

The technique’s unique rhythm stimulated his body, making his essence, energy, and blood surge and circulate powerfully.

Exhaling sharply, Xu Xuan jumped straight out of bed. With his energy and blood flowing freely, most of his injuries were already healed.

"What an extraordinary technique," he mused. Not wanting to alarm his mother or sister, he quietly climbed back into bed.

That night, as he drifted into sleep, he returned to the "sea of memories."

"Can I only come here in dreams?" he wondered, standing atop the one bright star amid the sea.

"At your current stage, your spiritual power is too weak to enter here at will," replied the broken figure, clearer than before.

Xu Xuan nodded, sat on the luminous star, and tried cultivating the third layer of the breathing technique for a while, making some progress. Eventually, sleep overtook him.

The next morning, he awoke full of vigor and leapt from the bed. His sudden movement startled his mother and sister.

"No! Brother, you must rest a few more days," Huilan and their mother cried, rushing to stop him. After all, the healer had said he’d need at least half a month in bed.

Xu Xuan sighed helplessly. With the family in such hardship and his injuries nearly healed, how could he keep lying idle?

Fortunately, that afternoon, his mother invited the village healer for a visit.

The elderly healer, his face deeply wrinkled and body thin as a stick, first took Xu Xuan’s pulse, then examined his limbs. After a long while, the old man frowned.

"Is something wrong with my son?" Xu Xuan’s mother asked anxiously.

"It’s not that something’s wrong; rather, his injuries have healed much faster than expected. He’s almost completely recovered—several times quicker than I predicted," the healer admitted, looking somewhat embarrassed.

After all, it was he who had declared Xu Xuan would be bedridden for half a month.

Yet now, the boy who’d been his patient stood before him, full of life.

(The story will continue with regular updates. Please keep reading, and don’t forget to recommend!)