Carrying the sleeping Sara to the bed and laying her down, Li Fusheng checked her over once more to ensure there were no other issues, then simply sat cross-legged directly on the floor to absorb Spiritual Energy.
By Sara's side, there was no need to worry about Spiritual Energy being turbulent or difficult to refine.
Around noon, Li Fusheng left the room, found Saya, and explained Sara's condition to set her mind at ease.
As it turned out, he would have been better off saying nothing. The moment he spoke, Saya grew even more worried.
If Sara was missing at mealtime, she would undoubtedly have gone to look for Li Fusheng. But practicing cultivation... Just the thought of the Shinobi Village discovering that the heir of the Queen had begun cultivating filled her with dread. Would they worry that the Queen's lineage was unwilling to remain confined here in Loulan guarding the Dragon Vein?
No, they would definitely worry. And how did ninja deal with disobedient people?
They would eliminate the disobedient Sara and force Saya to bear another heir, or simply make Sara have an heir early before getting rid of her in secret.
"Don't worry, Sara is really fine. She just needs a good sleep, I promise." Unaware of what Saya was thinking, Li Fusheng assumed she was merely concerned about Sara's sudden fainting spell.
Looking at Li Fusheng, Saya could not bring herself to utter any reproaches. After all, it was her own fault for failing to inform him and Sara of the gravity of the situation beforehand.
Teaching Sara to cultivate was probably the result of Sara pleading with him.
Saya roughly understood what was on Sara's mind. Every time a ninja came to Loulan, Sara would always wear a look of envy.
Now that Li Fusheng had arrived, she had let her guard down about this matter. When it came right down to it, the responsibility was hers alone; in the past, to ensure Sara could remain happy until she reached adulthood and inherited the throne, she had never mentioned any of those ugly truths to her.
Noticing Saya's expression turning increasingly strange, Li Fusheng asked with concern, "Aunt Saya, are you all right? Don't worry, Sara will be fine after a sleep!"
Meeting the concern on Li Fusheng's face, Saya forced down her remorse, managed a smile, and said, "I'm relieved to hear that. You go back and keep Sara company first. I'm fine, just need to rest for a bit."
Seeing this, Li Fusheng did not linger, though upon stepping out of the room, he deliberately instructed the maid to keep an eye on the Queen's health and immediately notify him if anything seemed amiss.
The maid did not dare to take the instructions of the future Queen's fiancé lightly, and she nodded in rapid agreement.
It was not until dinnertime that the sleeping Sara finally blinked her eyes open in a daze. Aside from a slight dizziness in her head, she felt much better than she had in the morning.
Furthermore, she discovered that her five senses were much sharper than before, and she immediately realized she was sleeping in Li Fusheng's bed.
Her face flushed instantly crimson, and she curled up tightly around the quilt, writhing on the bed.
Her movements startled Li Fusheng, who was meditating. Seeing that she was awake—though it seemed as though another problem had cropped up—he asked with a mixture of confusion and concern, "What is it? Is anything else uncomfortable?"
"Uncomfortable? My heart feels all itchy..." But Sara certainly wasn't embarrassed to say that out loud; she only murmured in a voice no louder than a mosquito's that her head still felt a bit dizzy, and nothing else was wrong.
"Dizziness is normal. Another good night's sleep tonight and it should be about gone. You must be hungry, right? Shall I have someone bring some food over?"
"Yes, thank you for the trouble, Brother Fusheng," Sara whispered, the blush on her face still refusing to fade.
With a smile, Li Fusheng brushed a lock of stray hair clinging to her cheek behind her ear, then rose and left the room to tell the maid to prepare a meal.
After he walked out, Sara, still lying in bed, could not help thinking to herself: *Sleeping through the night—where am I supposed to sleep? Am I still staying in Brother Fusheng's room? Won't that be a bit inappropriate?*
In the end, she stayed anyway. After finishing her meal, she simply feigned drowsiness, giving Li Fusheng no opening to suggest sending her back to her own room.
Although Li Fusheng realized she was faking sleep, he was genuinely worried that some other issue might arise after she went back that he wouldn't catch in time, so he decided not to expose her.
Early the next morning, Li Fusheng, who had spent the whole night meditating and cultivating, found that his cultivation progress was exceptionally noticeable.
The crucial point was that his mental strength had also increased significantly.
Although Sara was not yet sixteen, in the Shinobi World, those who understood knew how things were—mothers could be found in other Shinobi Villages.
Moreover, a sleeping Sara felt completely secure around Li Fusheng, displaying her most authentic sleeping posture to the fullest.
She looked as though she was dying to jump through an entire set of morning calisthenics right there in the bed.
Li Fusheng had spent the entire night pulling the blanket back over her countless times, which meant he had seen just about everything he should and shouldn't have seen.
Though he practiced Taoism, he was not practicing the Path of the Heartless; being in the prime of his youth, his emotions inevitably fluctuated somewhat.
He had no choice but to chant the Calm Heart Incantation to pacify his mind, and that was precisely how his cultivation kept advancing.
The dual enhancement of mental strength and Dharma Power left Li Fusheng, who hadn't slept all night, not only free of fatigue but brimming with energy.
When Sara woke up, it was already close to noon. This time her senses were truly sharp and clear, and she felt no more dizziness.
Looking at Li Fusheng, who was still sitting cross-legged in meditation on the floor, Sara felt a twinge of guilt. If not for her, Brother Fusheng wouldn't have stayed awake the entire night.
Why on earth had she actually fallen asleep earlier? She should have let Brother Fusheng come over instead.
"You're awake? Get up and wash up. Once we've eaten, I'll start teaching you cultivation." Li Fusheng turned his head toward her and said.
In the afternoon, Li Fusheng began teaching her the chants of the Qi Condensation Formula word by word. First, she had to memorize the correct pronunciation of every single character in the text; as for their meanings, he would teach her those later.
However, unlike the Calm Heart Incantation, knowing merely the meaning of each character in the Qi Condensation Formula was not enough. One also had to understand the corresponding bodily locations and Dharma Power circulation meridian paths associated with those meanings, as well as the interconnections between them.
Unlike the Calm Heart Incantation, where even if one could not intuitively grasp every single character of the mantra, as long as the pitch and tone of the recitation were correct, it would still be effective.
Therefore, aside from teaching Sara to master this chant, he also had to explain things as plainly as possible in language she could comprehend.
Otherwise, without two or three years of effort, she probably wouldn't even be able to sense the Qi.
Fortunately, having been through school in her past, her reading comprehension skills were top-notch. Translating convoluted and obscure formulas into plain explanations was something he could barely manage.
Thus, while Sara began memorizing the pronunciations and basic meanings of these characters, Li Fusheng also started writing a thesis on the extended meanings of each character within the formula, and why this specific character was used instead of other synonyms.
Written entirely in colloquial language, even someone without any background in cultivation scriptures could understand it.
Once the general meanings and extended meanings among the various characters were understood, one could naturally comprehend the connections between them by oneself. Never underestimate human intelligence. Association was, after all, one of the manifestations of human wisdom.
With cultivation as an excuse, Sara lingered even more stubbornly in Li Fusheng's room, unwilling to return to her own.
Li Fusheng found himself suffering yet happy, his mental strength and Dharma Power changing day by day.
Only Saya, upon hearing that Sara still hadn't returned to her own room at night, wore an expression that was somewhat strange.