"Miss, are you... are you all right?" Doctor Jiang had clearly stated just moments ago that she was fine, so why did she still feel so strange?
The young mistress usually acted the fool, but whenever they were alone, she was perfectly normal. Yet, the things she was saying now were so bizarre. She had always been so fond of the Third Prince; hearing that he was finally going to marry her, she should have been overjoyed, not calling him "sick." Xi Yun'er touched Lan Qinghuan’s forehead again, filled with worry.
"Yun'er, let's go. We must find my uncle and have him help me call off this marriage. How could I, Lan Qinghuan, possibly marry a playboy like that... Ouch, my heart."
She was meant to spend eternity as the only one in Di Lianzhe’s heart; how could she marry Feng Jingxuan? The Lan Qinghuan who had pestered him before was a different person—she was not her! Why should she be bound by their engagement? Furthermore, Feng Jingxuan should have married her when she turned sixteen. He had dragged his feet for so long that the entire continent knew the Lan Clan had an old maid who couldn't get married. Every time she stepped out, she was mocked. Why on earth would she want to marry him now?
Lan Qinghuan turned over to get out of bed in a huff, but she was suddenly struck by a pain in her chest so sharp it felt like a knife piercing her heart.
"Miss, what's wrong? Please, just lie back down. I’ll go get the Clan Head..." Seeing Lan Qinghuan’s face turn deathly pale, Xi Yun'er rushed toward the door to fetch Lan Zegu. That Doctor Jiang—what kind of physician was he? The young mistress clearly looked strange everywhere.
"Wait, Yun'er, don't go. Just wait... wait a moment, it will pass. Leave me alone for a while so I can think... I need to think."
A lingering strand of consciousness remained in this body—the resentment and obsessive love of the former Lan Qinghuan. She had felt true affection for Feng Jingxuan, but how had that high-and-mighty Third Prince treated her? Now that Feng Jingxuan intended to marry her, her lingering obsession was unresolved, and the body refused to obey her commands.
The only strategy now was to recover her strength and see what Feng Jingxuan was truly up to.
After watching a worried and helpless Xi Yun'er leave, Lan Qinghuan sat up with relief, calming her mind to examine the state of her body. Looking inward, she saw that her twelve main meridians were riddled with holes and swathed in black mist. Her divergent meridians and dantian were also covered in dense, tiny needle-prick wounds. However, instead of black mist, they were coated in a faint green luminescence—a glow that looked oddly familiar.
Yuyin Dan! She remembered being surrounded by a green light in a sea of flames with Di Lianzhe, and when she woke up, she was here. Could it be that Di Lianzhe had also arrived in this world? That would be wonderful; she had to find him.
"Haha, little one, I have finally waited for you..." A vast, ethereal voice echoed from all directions, though Lan Qinghuan quickly pinpointed the source. She had been so focused on her ravaged meridians that she had failed to notice a second, pristine green dantian hovering above her own.
A dual dantian system—if this body were intact, it would truly be a masterpiece for cultivation. It was a pity that someone had secretly poisoned it, leaving her meridians and dantian in such a shattered state. If not for the Yuyin Dan repairing the upper dantian, this body would have rotted away long ago.
Amidst the glowing green light, a vague purple figure was visible; even as a blurry silhouette, it possessed an air of extraordinary distinction.
"Who are you? Why are you inside my body?" Why was the dantian green? Lan Qinghuan could tell it was because of the Yuyin Dan, but why was there a person inside it?
"Lan Qinghuan, didn't you bring me into this trash of a body yourself? Hmph, I hate to say it, but with so many top-tier vessels available, you had to choose this half-dead one. You’ve not only forced me to dwell in this foul-smelling place, but I also have to worry about your wretched life every moment. Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to manifest? If you kick the bucket, who am I supposed to complain to?" The beautiful man in the green shadow turned around and began to grumble incessantly at her.
"Stop! Who are you? Do I even know you? You nagger, get out of my body right now!" Was this guy in her dantian? Had he been behind all this? Regardless, having a man residing inside her body—if word of this got out, it would be a disaster!
"Hmph, if I hadn't used the Spirit of the Yuyin Dan to mend your upper dantian, do you think you’d still be alive to talk to me? Little girl, I am magnanimous and won't hold this against you. How about this: if you agree to take me as your master, I will help you cultivate." His purple robes rippled and his violet hair fluttered; though his figure was hazy, one could easily imagine the look of inevitable, arrogant confidence on his handsome face.
"I will not. I, Lan Qinghuan, don't need a master. Besides, I don't even know who you are or why you're in my body..." What a joke. She was the sister of the Celestial Emperor, the invincible Martial God of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Realm. Countless people had begged to be her apprentice, and now this little man inside a pill wanted to take her as his student.
So what if she was in a useless body? Even if she couldn't cultivate, who in this tiny Fengxu Continent could hurt her? Still, being able to cultivate would be nice. This guy clearly needed something from her; maybe she could see what benefits she could squeeze out of him.
"Don't speak so soon. I am a God Descender, more than qualified to be your master. As for why I'm in your body, it’s a long story; I’ll tell you after you take me as your master. As for my identity, it’s not convenient to disclose it for now, but you may call me Ying."
With those words, Ying withdrew the Spirit of the Yuyin Dan that had been shrouding her meridians and lower dantian, appearing even more spirited.
"Ah! It hurts! What did you do to me?" As the green light receded, her meridians were immediately strangled by the black mist, and the tiny holes began to widen. Even Lan Qinghuan, with her formidable willpower, couldn't help but waver.
The pain was agonizing, piercing through her very bones. So, the original Lan Qinghuan had endured this torment every day; she must have had incredible willpower to survive this long. Whoever had poisoned her was truly vicious.
In this, however, Lan Qinghuan was mistaken. The original Lan Qinghuan had been a kind and patient person, but her willpower was not strong; it was precisely because her will was weak that she had lost her soul when she was drugged. And the damage to her meridians was not the work of a simple love potion—it was a far more sinister and insidious poison, cast by someone she had never once suspected.
"Good apprentice, you saw it yourself. I didn't do a thing," Ying said from within the Yuyin Dan, arms crossed, wearing a malicious smile of schadenfreude.
*Oh, so you did nothing, huh?* Lan Qinghuan thought. *Just wait, there will come a day when you need something from me, and then we'll see.*
She decided it was better not to suffer unnecessarily right now. If he was truly a God Descender, taking him as a master wouldn't be a total loss.
"Master, please accept my respects." She said it only for show. She just hoped that, whether he was a real God Descender or not, he could at least help her repair her meridians. That would be enough to be thankful for.