I am a Furnace

Chapter 16: A liberated furnace

Days later, I opened my eyes.

A high fever had left me parched, sweaty, and weak. A cup of boiled water reached my lips. It was shizun's hands feeding it to me. After I drank, he stroked my head and lulled me back to sleep.

The next time I woke, I felt refreshed, with more energy than I'd felt in my body since I was a child.

Shizun was still at my bedside. I carefully sipped the water he handed me to wet my throat. Otherwise, if I croaked out my words in front of him, I'd die of embarrassment right here and make a waste of everyone's efforts.

After gulping, I set the cup down with a hurried thunk. "Shizun! Shizun, did it work? Am I..."

Shizun tapped my head. "Settle. We must wait for the doctor to conduct his diagnosis."

I buzzed with excitement. Shizun's relaxed demeanor suggested I was almost certainly in good health.

The sect doctor, a rather relaxed woman who greeted shizun and I amiably, gave me a thorough checkup.

A few tense minutes passed, and then she deemed me to be in full health—or at least, as close to full health as was possible for me. Delighted, I pulled shizun's sleeve and declared, "Shizun, then—then!"

Shizun's smile grew, his warm eyes reflecting the same joy in mine.

"I can cultivate now!"

I hugged him. With a small laugh, shizun returned my hug and allowed me to snuggle against him comfortably. Watching us, the doctor clapped. "Hey, congratulations!"

Of course, just because I had a clean scroll of health didn't mean I could just jump around as I pleased. Shizun told me to rest for another day in bed, and tomorrow, he'd assign me a task for my first step into cultivation!

I couldn't believe it.

Finally, me! A proper cultivating disciple!

Buzzing with anticipation, I tried my best to lay down. Yet I couldn't focus on the idle bed rest. After tossing and turning, I fished out my communication talisman to call up shixiong, figuring we could chat to pass the time. As expected, shixiong was happy to hear of my flawless health—and from there, I got him to share what had happened while I was under procedure.

According to shixiong, an overabundance of yin energy threw my body into shock. The severe backlash caused my organs to fail and my body to freeze.

To fix this, Qianbei intervened. Despite the frostbite that climbed over his arm, he flushed my meridians with yang energy and helped my body restore balance. From there, he lifted the arrays and aided me in surviving the onslaught of energies in my dantian—the core of the body.

If it weren't for him, I would either be an ice block, or a pile of meat.

To think I'd really almost died...

After we hung up, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming mix of emotions.

Thanks to Qianbei, everything turned out alright.

With that thought in my head, I simmered down to slumber. The next morning, I jumped out of bed, ready to start my new life.

"Shizun, Qianbei! Good morning!"

"Good morning, disciple."

"Glad to see you're awake."

Shizun and Qianbei sat at the corner table. Its rickety surface was empty and forlorn once more, all of the scrolls and papers neatly packed away in the shelves.