Bones

"Once immersed in the medicinal decoction, one must utilize breathing techniques to stimulate its efficacy."

Having acclimated to the searing heat of the bath, Xu Taiping began to inhale and exhale according to the methods outlined in the Remnant Glow Sutra. Within moments, a scorching heat ignited within his lower abdomen's Dantian.

He had learned this breathing rhythm from Perfected Lord Ziyang's sutra lecture. Over the past few days, Xu Taiping had practiced it relentlessly. While he had failed to draw Spiritual Qi into his body for refinement, the actual mechanics of the technique were etched into his bones.

"Hsss..."

Just as he was beginning to wonder when the medicine would truly take effect, a piercing, drilling pain suddenly erupted in the center of his back—as if a rusted iron nail were being driven into his spine, inch by agonizing inch.

"If the pain is only like this, I can probably still... urgh!"

The boast barely crossed his lips before an identical, paralyzing agony exploded in the center of his chest, stealing the breath from his lungs and rendering him entirely mute.

To his utter horror, this was merely the prelude.

Following the initial twin strikes, a dense cluster of fiery agony detonated across every major acupoint in his body, denying him even a fraction of a second to catch his breath.

Under normal circumstances, a mortal would simply pass out from the shock. Yet, suspended in the medicinal slurry, Xu Taiping's consciousness was forcibly anchored. No matter how devastating the torment, he was denied the mercy of fainting. He could only sit there and suffer.

The torture lasted for a full hour.

Countless times, he nearly clawed his way out of the wooden tub. But whenever his resolve wavered, the memory of his grandfather's deathbed flashed before his eyes. He saw the old man staring at him, eyes wide and desperate, pleading:

"Fight for your breath, Taiping! You must fight! For yourself, and for every mortal bone in this world!"

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Chest heaving, Xu Taiping slumped against the edge of the tub, utterly spent. Only after his ragged breathing finally leveled out did the corners of his mouth twitch upward. Filled with a bloody pride, he murmured:

"Grandfather... your grandson didn't shame you, did he?"

The crushing agony had finally receded, but a lingering, phantom ache had taken its place.

His body felt as though it were covered in thousands of invisible, hairline fractures. The slightest movement threatened to split them open, sending fresh spikes of pain straight to his core.

"A seven-day cycle. I have to endure this Bone-Cleansing Marrow-Purifying Decoction six more times. Without a single day of interruption, or everything goes up in smoke."

The sheer terror of facing that abyssal pain six more times shook him to his core. Even with his ironclad will, a seed of doubt began to sprout: could he actually survive this?

...

Six days later.

"The final time."

Staring down at the boiling medicinal decoction, Xu Taiping felt as though an entire lifetime had passed.

The past six days had stretched on longer than his previous ten years of life combined.

Six consecutive sessions in the Bone-Cleansing Marrow-Purifying Decoction had pushed his physical and mental endurance past their absolute limits.

He had swallowed his screams on the first day, foolishly believing he could maintain his stoicism. He never imagined that by the subsequent sessions, he would be reduced to a weeping, screaming wreck, sobbing for his dead parents and grandfather.

Xu Taiping had never realized he could be so fragile.

It was a harrowing testament to the sheer, soul-rending torture of the decoction.

Yet despite the tears and the agonizing howls, Xu Taiping had dragged himself to this seventh day.

In between the daily torment, he had even managed to completely till his three acres of land and sow every single Nine-leaf Purple Perilla seed.

"Fight for it, Xu Taiping. You have to fight."

Standing paralyzed before the tub, he muttered the mantra over and over like a lifeline.

His complexion was deathly pale, devoid of a single drop of blood. His frame had withered down to skin and bones. In just six short days, he had lost at least ten pounds. He was teetering on the very edge of total collapse.

Splash!

Gritting his teeth, Xu Taiping threw his leg over the rim and plunged his withered body into the thick, white slurry.

"Gaaahhhh!"

He desperately tried to swallow the scream, but the sheer, blinding pain ripped it from his throat. If the Green Bamboo Residence weren't so incredibly isolated, his bloodcurdling shrieks would have undoubtedly drawn a crowd of nosy disciples.

Naturally, his agonized screams did not go entirely unheard.

Fairy Lingyue, currently manifested as a wisp of ethereal green smoke, drifted just outside his window.

"Little Taiping, this is the final day. Hold onto your mind. Whether you scale the heavens or rot away like drifting duckweed... it all depends on this singular moment of will."

Listening to the wretched groans echoing from the bedroom, she couldn't help but murmur softly.

"Listen to you, making it sound so simple. The pain of cleansing the essence and purifying the marrow stacks cumulatively. Day seven is exactly seven times worse than day one. Without complementary painkillers, who could possibly endure this?"

She smiled bitterly, mocking her own hypocrisy. A heavy guilt settled in her chest for tossing such a brutal prescription to a mere mortal child.

...

One hour later.

"He actually... survived it?"

Fairy Lingyue's ethereal eyes widened in disbelief as she watched pure, concentrated streams of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi flooding toward the small courtyard like a rising tide.

It was the undeniable signature of a successful bone-cleansing and marrow-purifying ritual.

Having cowardly averted her gaze for the past hour, she finally dared to peek through a crack in the windowpanes.

Inside, Xu Taiping was slumped against the wooden tub, completely unconscious. The jade-white medicinal slurry had long since transmuted into a sludgy, pitch-black tar—corrupted by the years of mortal filth and impurities violently purged from his body.

Invisible to mortal eyes, the surging currents of Spiritual Qi caressed his battered form like a mother's gentle hand before smoothly drilling into his pores.

Fairy Lingyue looked from the unconscious boy to the meticulously planted medicinal garden out back. A genuine smile touched the corners of her lips.

"I only took this gamble because my time was running out. But it seems... this Venerable One has a good eye after all."

With those words, her wisp-like form dissipated into the wind, leaving only a faint, echoing whisper in the courtyard:

"Little one, this Venerable One must focus on refining Spirit Crystals to buy myself a few more years of life. We shall meet again when the time is right."

...

The next morning.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the windowpanes, Xu Taiping—still submerged in the tub—finally fluttered his eyes open.

He had just experienced the deepest, most rejuvenating sleep of his entire life.

"Did I... succeed?"

Taking in the sight and horrific stench of the pitch-black sludge surrounding him, Xu Taiping didn't recoil in disgust. Instead, profound ecstasy bloomed across his face.

According to the prescription's notes, this noxious tar was the absolute proof of success. Every ounce of mortal impurity had been forcefully expelled from his flesh. He had finally forged a true foundation for cultivation.

Splash!

Driven by adrenaline, Xu Taiping vaulted out of the tub. Ignoring his stark nakedness, he bolted straight for the stone well in the backyard.

He hauled up a bucket of freezing water, dumping it over his head to violently scrub away the foul black tar. Cleansed and shivering, he immediately dropped into a cross-legged meditative posture right there in the dirt, circulating the Qi Condensation mantra of the Remnant Glow Sutra.

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