The Eternal Sanctum

The spiritual essence altered by the Yang attribute within the Tianzong acupuncture point and the Yin attribute within the Bingfeng acupuncture slowly began to traverse towards the vast channel of her Governing Vessel.

Conforming to the young girl’s worries, the thread of spiritual essence began to flicker and fluctuate rapidly the instant it left the safe confides of the acupuncture points.

By the time the thread had travelled half of the distancerequired to enter the Governing Vessel, the threads of spiritual essenceunexpectedly dissolved into nothing.

“Ah…”

Her consciousness f.o.r.c.i.b.l.y jolted from the sea of perception, An Fei gazed towards the ceiling with a blank stare.

For several minutes, a fine blank resounded within the girl’s mind, only to recover after her head drooped onto her shoulders.

“Just like I thought, I don’t have enough spiritualessence…” the girl g.r.o.a.n.e.d, her cheeks puffing with air as her bottom lipcurled outward into a pout.

“I was too impatient… I should have waited a little long –woah!?”

An Fei’s pupils constricted in surprise, the words trailing off in her surprise.

The girl clutched at her heart with her fingers, her c.h.e.s.t heaving from the sudden shock.

Just as she began bem.o.a.ning regarding her insufficient reserves of spiritual essence and her impatience, the Sanctum reacted.

The crystalline walls and floor released a brilliant golden light, dying the originally cozy and sleepy atmosphere to be overwhelmed by a torrent of golden rain.

Tiny, miniscule threads disengaged from the golden radiance,streamlining towards An Fei. As the streams of light contacted the girl’s body,they burrowed straight towards the heart, filling up the vacated region withina matter of seconds.

An Fei doubled up as the unexpected surge of heat washed throughout her entire body.

Losing control over her muscles, the young girl nearly entered into a harsh embrace with the crystalline floor, spared only by the wooden drawing table.

Not that a polished wooden surface was any more comfortableto collide with than the sky-blue crystal floor of the Sanctum.

The girl closed her eyes shut, her body quivering as it quickly began to adjust itself to the uninvited, but comfortable surge of heat.

The thread of spiritual essence was the same thickness, nomore than a hair’s width. However, its length had doubled to that of twocentimeters, perplexing the girl and dampening her mood.

She could clearly perceive the sea of golden light hovering near her body, and could easily guess its purpose and objective with a single glance.

Perhaps, when she fully expended the reserves of spiritual essence once more, the golden light would torrent into her body to replace the expenditure.

…but was it that necessary for the Sanctum to thoroughly stamp on her uplifting mood before offering help?

–

“Hah~… Ah…”

A massive yawn exploded from within the bedcurtains, a pairof delicate and slender hands reaching out to grasp the curtains. Within amatter of moments, a young girl’s face jutted out from the gap, glancing at theinterior of the study, or more perhaps, the two other occupants.

One was a cold, handsome youth, the aura of rejectionradiating from his body without regard for conscience or companionship.

The other was a dignified man in his thirties, dressed in an official’s gown and cap.

The youth’s glacial stare of indifference caused An Fei tohide behind the bedcurtains; the minister’s calm and bemused gaze forced her torecede completely from the study, her hands closing the bedcurtains.

“The both of you had a good time’s nap whilst your Fatherwas suffering in court, ah?” Wei Xuan growled, his countenance dim and haggard.

“And you! You’ve slept since morning, how much longer areyou going to sleep, ah!? Father won’t complain if you sleep longer than Yue’eror Yan’er, but twenty hours a day is a little too much, don’t you think?”

The minister furrowed his brow in disapproval, his eyes radiating the determination to withhold any leniency.

Marching towards the bed, Wei Xuan grasped the bedcurtains with his powerful hands, rendering any form of struggle from the young girl’s weak body completely useless.

“Come! Eat your fill,” the minister grasped An Fei by one hand and Wei Chang Feng by the other, dragging them towards a nearby table.

“And don’t sleep anymore!”

Dragged across the interior of the study, the young girl’s nose caught onto a fragrant aroma, her brows arching into a joyous and expectant arc.

Unfortunately, a resounding growl emanated from her stomach, dying An Fei’s countenance a deep scarlet.

However, when she caught sight of Wei Xuan’s chastising glare, the young girl decided to lower her head and keep her mouth shut.

And for good reason, might she add. The minister’s countenance was nothing pleasing to gaze at for the moment.

The wooden table was covered by a sea of dishes to theextent that the original wooden surface was not visible. Plate after plate offood were placed neatly on the table, forming a dense array of irresistiblefragrance.

Chow mein, braised pork, sweet and sour chicken, stir-fried vegetable and seafood assortment, pork baozi…

To the utterly famished Fourth Young Miss and Eldest Young Master, the food before their eyes was a true godsend from the heavens.

Without even waiting for Wei Xuan to pick up his chopsticks, the two youths were already devouring everything before their eyes.

“Eat slower, don’t make yourself regret!” Wei Xuan scowledwith a discontent tone, though his chopsticks never failed to stack food ontothe young girl’s plate.

An Fei nodded, rapidly slowing down her pace as to avoid choking on her food.

However, the young girl gradually realized that both Wei Xuan and Wei Chang Feng had taken advantage of her slower pace to eradicate the plate of twice-fried, sour chicken, causing her to puff her cheeks in discontent.

Back away!

“Chang Feng, ah, why didn’t you go outside and buy food during the day?” the minister agilely parried a young girl’s chopsticks, snatching a scrumptious piece of braised pork.

Combining the meat with rice and wrapping them with a tantalizing strip of sweet and sour bamboo sprout, the Wei Xuan closed his eyes in bliss as he chewed.

“You definitely don’t have the mental character to lookafter your siblings’ wellbeing if you can help it, but you didn’t even go outto buy food for yourself?”

“The streets were filled by members of the Taiyi Sect,” the Eldest Young Master replied after swallowing a mouthful of rice and clearing his throat.

“Chang Feng did not wish to cause further trouble for Father and the family by encountering one of their members…”

“Oh…” Wei Xuan mouthed, his lips dripping mock contempt over his words the minister drawled.

“So… by the reasonable excuse of avoiding your secondary family members the Taiyi Sect… you took a nap that lasted over eight hours?”

Wei Chang Feng replied with a dutiful, deadpan nod, whilst spearing a delicious piece of meat from underneath the minister’s nose.

“Fei’er, what did you do during the day?”

“Me…?” An Fei paused, her countenance displaying a blankstare at the sudden question. Before the minister’s eyebrows could descend intoa frown, the young girl tapped her chin with a slender index finger.

“I… I worked on father’s calligraphy assignment… and triedto cultivate again.”

“Then that’s good, you shouldn’t be sleeping all day even ifyour recovering from an illness,” Wei Xuan nodded with agreement, gentlypatting the girl’s head with his free hand.

“Taking a breath of fresh air would do wonders for yourhealth, especially for your condition… hold on. What did you say? Calligraphyassignment?”

The minister froze, his eyes staring at An Fei in utter bewilderment.

A moment later, the Eldest Young Master witnessed the same confusion mirrored within the young girl’s scarlet irises as she stared at the thirty-odd year-old man, her lips parting to speak.

“Father, didn’t you give me a calligraphy assignment to dofor the day? The Treatise on the Healthy Mindfulness and Spirit by the greatscholar Tie, wasn’t that what it was called?”