Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 109

Chapter 109: ADDITIONAL HEALING

“Li Hao first,” Li Wei decided, his tone brooking no argument as he guided their brother’s chair closer to Li Hua. Though Li Hao opened his mouth to protest, a look from his eldest brother silenced him. Despite his usual boundless energy, he settled quietly beside his sister.

Li Hua placed her right hand over his heart meridian and her left at the base of his spine. Her wood essence, gentle and cool, began to flow from her palms into her brother’s body. Like searching tendrils of spring growth, her spiritual essence traced through his meridians, seeking out damaged pathways and lingering corruption.

She could feel the places where the chains had burned through his spiritual veins, leaving scars in his essence channels. With careful precision, she guided her wood essence to these wounded areas, using its life-giving properties to knit the damaged pathways back together. Where she found traces of corrupted energy, her essence wrapped around them like fresh leaves around poison, gradually purifying and dissolving the harmful remnants.

Li Hao’s breath hitched slightly as her healing essence reached a particularly deep wound in his core. “Sorry,” she whispered, adjusting her flow to be gentler. She could feel his essence responding to her healing, like a strong sapling reaching for sunlight, eager to grow strong again.

Li Hao’s naturally bright complexion grew even healthier as she worked, a warm flush rising in his cheeks as the strain around his eyes eased with each passing moment. His meridians, which had been constricted from the torture, slowly began to expand back to their natural state, allowing spiritual essence to flow more freely through his cultivation paths.

She maintained the healing flow for another hour, carefully tending to each damaged pathway until she was satisfied with his recovery. Finally, she withdrew her essence gradually, ensuring no sudden disruption to his healing channels.

“How do you feel?” she asked, keeping one hand on his wrist to monitor his essence flow.

Li Hao flexed his shoulders experimentally, his movements already more fluid. That familiar grin of his spread across his face, though tempered with unusual thoughtfulness. “Like I could actually sleep without everything aching,” he admitted. “Thank you, sister.”

“Rest for a moment,” she instructed, helping him lean back in his chair. “Let your meridians settle before moving too much.” She turned to her eldest brother, who had been watching the procedure with focused attention. “Your turn, brother.”

Li Wei moved forward, but his eyes studied her face with careful assessment. “Are you certain you have enough essence left? Perhaps we should wait—”

“I’m fine,” she cut him off gently. “Now let me see your meridians.”

Li Wei settled beside her with scholarly dignity, though she could sense the tension in his frame—the lingering effects of the temporal distortions still causing him discomfort. Just as she had with Li Hao, she placed one hand over his heart meridian and the other at the base of his spine.

Her wood essence flowed into his channels, but immediately she could tell the temporal damage had manifested differently in each brother. Where Li Hao’s meridians bore burns, Li Wei’s spiritual pathways had become twisted into complex knots. It was like trying to untangle silk threads that had been caught in a temporal storm.

“The formations did quite a number on your meridians, brother,” she murmured, carefully working to smooth out the distortions. Her essence moved with precise control, each strand of healing power working to realign his spiritual pathways to their natural state. Some areas were so intricately knotted that she had to trace the temporal patterns backwards to properly unwind them.

Li Wei, ever the scholar, couldn’t help but analyze even while being healed. “Fascinating,” he whispered, his eyes half-closed as he tracked her essence movement through his channels. “The temporal energy seems to have created recursive loops in the—”

“Brother,” Li Hua cut in with fond exasperation, “please stop studying the damage and let me concentrate on healing it.”

From his chair, Li Hao’s quiet chuckle carried both amusement and understanding. Even injured, their eldest brother couldn’t turn off his scholarly mind.

She maintained her focus, carefully unwinding each temporal knot while reinforcing the weakened pathways. It required more precision than Li Hao’s healing—one wrong move could tangle the spiritual threads even further. Li Wei remained still, though she could sense his scholarly mind cataloging every sensation, no doubt already forming theories about temporal effects on meridian structures.

After what felt like hours but was likely only another hour, she felt the last knot dissolve under her careful ministrations. His spiritual pathways now flowed smoothly, though they would need time to fully strengthen.

“There,” she said softly, gradually withdrawing her essence. “How does it feel?”

Li Wei took a careful breath, his scholarly features relaxing as he assessed his condition. “Like untangling a thousand thoughts at once,” he admitted. “Though I believe the recursive pattern of the temporal—”

“Brother,” both Li Hua and Li Hao interrupted simultaneously, sharing a look of fond exasperation.

Li Wei’s lips twitched into a slight smile. “Thank you, sister,” he said instead, his voice carrying genuine gratitude beneath its scholarly tone.

Li Hua nodded, her fingers still monitoring the steady flow of essence in his newly healed meridians. Satisfied with her work but knowing full recovery would take time, she addressed both brothers. “Three days,” she announced, her tone leaving no room for argument. “You’ll both continue with the medicinal baths while your meridians stabilize.” She looked at each brother in turn, knowing their tendencies to push themselves too hard. “After that, you both can start light cultivation exercises, but until then, complete rest.”

Li Hao opened his mouth, no doubt to protest the waiting period, but Li Wei spoke first, his scholarly wisdom prevailing. “She’s right. The temporal damage needs time to fully heal, and rushing our recovery could compromise the foundation for our future training.”

“Both of you should rest now,” Li Hua said, rising from her chair. “I’ll make some tea.” She moved toward the kitchen, but her step wasn’t as steady as she would have liked—using her wood essence for such precise healing had taken more energy than she’d expected.

Li Wei’s eyes narrowed slightly at her uncharacteristic unsteadiness. “Sister, perhaps you should rest as well. The healing must have drained your essence considerably.”

“I’m fine,” she started to say, but this time both brothers cut her off.

“If you collapse from exhaustion, who’s going to make sure we actually rest for three days?” Li Hao asked, his usual playful tone carrying an edge of genuine concern. “Don’t worry about the tea for now.”

Li Hua looked between her brothers, seeing the same protective worry in both their faces that she usually wore for them. After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded, knowing they were right. They each needed proper rest now—her brothers to recover from their injuries, and she from the drain of healing them.

“Rest well,” she said softly as they made their way down the hallway, each supporting the other slightly despite their own fatigue. It was so typically them—even exhausted, they couldn’t help but look after each other.

The sound of doors shutting closed echoed through the quiet sanctuary, and Li Hua found herself smiling despite her weariness.

She lay on her bed and instead of resting, she entered her space in her physical form, bringing her actual body into the sanctuary rather than just her consciousness.

Although Little Firefly remained motionless, still digesting the glowing bead, her brothers’ spirit beasts brought warmth to the space. Bai Ying’s frost-touched whiskers twitched in greeting, the majestic tiger’s presence adding a crystalline beauty to the sanctuary. Feng Yi’s jade eyes brightened at her arrival, its multiple tails creating gentle breezes of welcome, while Lei Lei and Dian Dian, the thunder bunnies, bounced around her feet with their usual enthusiasm, trailing sparks of joy.

“In three days, you’ll see your master soon, okay?” Li Hua said softly, taking time to pet each of them with gentle affection.

The spirit beasts’ initial excitement at her arrival had gradually given way to something more subdued. Their movements grew quieter, more hesitant, and Li Hua understood why—though Li Wei hadn’t mentioned it, she could sense his deep concern for his companions through their spiritual bond. Her scholarly brother might maintain his composed exterior, but she knew he was worried about their safety.

She knew why Li Wei usually kept them free rather than in his contract space—they were meant to roam, to feel the wind and chase the clouds. Her scholarly brother had always believed confining such magnificent creatures would diminish their spirit. But after everything that had happened, she would have to convince him to keep them in his contract space, at least for now. If they encountered danger again, he would need their strength and protection close at hand.