Pan Mo was stunned for a moment. The unease and fear on her face lessened significantly, and only then did she belatedly register the state of her own body.
The dull ache in her chest, which had plagued her for months like a maggot gnawing at her bones, had now vanished without a trace, not even the slightest hint remaining.
In its place was a gentle, warm current, flowing slowly through her limbs and torso. Wherever it passed, her meridians felt clear and her Qi Blood was full. It felt even more powerful than before she was poisoned, as if she had made a complete recovery.
She tried to circulate the Qi Blood within her. The Qi Blood that had been sluggish and blocked by the poison now surged through her meridians as smoothly as a spring stream breaking through ice—even more freely than before she was poisoned.
She pushed herself up with her arms. The silk quilt slipped off, revealing her thin nightclothes and a slightly open collar.
She hastily pulled her collar closed, a blush rising on her cheeks, but her eyes were already shimmering with tears of excitement. "The poison... The poison is gone? Is it really gone?"
"It’s mostly neutralized. With a few more conditioning sessions, you should be completely fine," Xia Wuyang said with a definitive nod.
He paused, looking at the woman crying tears of joy before him, and said slowly, "This was a blessing in disguise. The Heart-devouring Poison is fierce, but it also contains immense Essence. Now that it has been neutralized, the toxicity has transformed into Essence Qi to nourish you. Your Cultivation should have broken through."
Hearing this, Pan Mo immediately turned her focus inward with Introspection.
Sure enough, the Qi Blood that had been stagnant in the Fifth Grade Realm for many years was now surging powerfully, on the verge of breaking through its confines.
She tried to guide her Qi Blood to charge the barrier. With a light BUZZ from within her, it felt as if some shackle had been broken. Her Qi Blood instantly swelled, its circulation speed increasing by more than thirty percent, a significant improvement from before.
Fourth Grade!
She had actually broken through! From the Fifth Grade Realm, she had leaped into the Fourth Grade Realm. The next step was the Upper Three Grades.
Pan Mo raised her head, suddenly throwing off the quilt and getting off the bed barefoot. She gracefully knelt before Xia Wuyang. "Thank you for saving my life, my lord."
Xia Wuyang reached out to help her up. "Get up. Elder Qing Yin and the Crown Prince’s Mansion helped me a great deal in the past. Consider this a small repayment. There’s no need for such formality."
His palm was warm and strong, its reassuring heat passing through the thin fabric of her clothes.
Seeing that Pan Mo was fine, Xia Wuyang turned to leave. "Rest and recover. If you encounter an enemy you cannot defeat, just inject your Qi and Blood Power into the Jade Pendant."
As he spoke, he handed Pan Mo a Jade Pendant. "Until the Crown Prince passes away, I will be staying near the Imperial Palace. Consider it me seeing the Crown Prince off on his final journey. You can call me if you need anything during this time."
He stood up and walked to the window.
"My lord, who are you really?" Pan Mo couldn’t help but ask. For some reason, she felt a sense of familiarity from this mysterious, heavily disguised expert.
’Could he really be an old acquaintance from the Crown Prince’s Mansion? Have I met him before?’
Xia Wuyang turned his head and saw her kneeling on the carpet, dressed in plain clothes and white socks, her long hair draped over her shoulders. She was looking up at him, her eyes filled with gratitude and confusion.
Xia Wuyang gave her a deep look. "You’ll find out soon enough."
The next moment, his figure flickered and drifted out the window like a wisp of smoke, melting into the vast night.
Pan Mo remained kneeling on the floor. After a long moment, she slowly raised a hand to her chest.
It felt warm and strong, the earlier pain completely gone. At some point, she fell asleep again.
Outside the window, the branches and leaves of the old osmanthus tree swayed gently in the night wind, RUSTLING softly.
The white lotuses in the pond bloomed silently, their faint fragrance filling the air.
The long night was not yet over, but some people, and some things, were quietly changing.
As the first light of dawn broke, a slight chill from the night dew still lingered in Qiuwu Pavilion.
Pan Mo awoke with an unprecedented feeling of lightness, her body feeling wonderfully comfortable.
None of the familiar, excruciating pain of the Heart-devouring Poison acting up, like ten thousand ants gnawing at her heart’s meridians. None of the top-heavy dizziness from being unconscious for days. None of the blocked sensation from obstructed Qi Blood... All the suffering was gone.
She opened her eyes. Her clear, bright amber pupils reflected the fish-belly white of the sky outside, tinged with the faint light of the morning mist. It was an indescribably moving sight.
She stared blankly for a long while before slowly sitting up, still in disbelief.
Her plain white nightclothes slipped from her shoulder as she moved, revealing a stretch of smooth, flawless neck and shoulder.
She subconsciously raised a hand to her chest, where her heart beat steadily and powerfully, full of rhythm and vigor.
A warm current flowed quietly through her limbs and torso, like a stream that had soaked up the winter sun—gentle and full of life, with no trace of its previous withered state.
"Am I really... healed?" she murmured, her voice full of disbelief.
Not only was the poison gone, but she could clearly feel the Qi Blood inside her surging like a spring tide, at least twice as powerful as it was before she was poisoned.
Her meridians were wide and resilient, and her Qi Blood flowed without the slightest obstruction. She could even feel a faint trend of breaking through to the Fourth Grade Middle Stage; it shouldn’t take long before she did.
Everything that happened last night felt like a dream.
She got out of bed barefoot and stepped onto the deep cyan Persian Carpet.
The carpet was soft and cool, its pile gently tickling the soles of her feet, bringing a real and pleasant sensation that made her whole body relax in comfort.
She walked to the dressing table. The Copper Mirror reflected an elegant and otherworldly beautiful face, no longer the pale, fragile beauty of illness, but a vibrant complexion with a healthy glow and relaxed features.
The woman in the mirror had hair like a dark cloud, and the jade-carved Jasmine flower was still pinned at her temple, glowing with a gentle luster in the morning light.
She raised a hand to gently stroke the petals, a faint coolness on her fingertips reminding her again of last night’s mysterious expert, and that sense of familiarity.
"It’s all thanks to that mysterious expert. Otherwise, I would have been done for," Pan Mo muttered to herself, a complex mix of emotions in her eyes.
For a while now, her body had been slowly recovering.
Yun Liyue had examined her and said that someone was likely helping her in secret, feeding her some kind of Elixir that could weaken the Heart-devouring Poison. Otherwise, given how vicious the Heart-devouring Poison was, there was no way her condition would have improved.
The Elixir from last night was far more potent than the previous ones, obviously a much more precious antidote. She couldn’t imagine what it must have cost.
’Who is this mysterious expert who helped Sister Yun, Sister Yan, and me?’ Pan Mo couldn’t help but wonder.
For some reason, the figure of Xia Wuyang appeared in her mind. The mysterious expert had said he was an old acquaintance from the Crown Prince’s Mansion, here to see the Crown Prince on his final journey. That was why they had also benefited. In a way, this was all thanks to the Crown Prince.
At the thought of the Crown Prince, a bittersweet warmth flooded her heart.
That man, once so full of vigor, was now aging and decrepit, seen as a good-for-nothing by everyone... She had never regretted anything she had done for him, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Last night’s help from the mysterious expert was also because of the Crown Prince.

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