Although Ding Yun was gritting her teeth and enduring the pain from her bones to her muscles all over her body, trying not to cry out, and there was no mirror in front of her, it did not mean she could not see the changes.
She could clearly see her hands.
Under the candlelight, they had turned a bright green.
The greenness sent a chill down her spine.
Even if she couldn't see other parts of her body at this moment, she could guess that if her hands had turned green, other parts of her body would surely have changed as well.
Thinking of this, she felt a sense of despair.
Looking like this, how could she go out, how could she face her two daughters? Forget about taking care of them, if she wasn't mistaken for a monster and burned to death, she would consider herself lucky. This golden finger wasn't here to help at all.
It was clearly here to screw her over.
If she had known this would happen, she might as well have chosen the demonic path earlier.
At most, she would only eat animals and not people.
While Ding Yun was agonizing, sulking, and regretting, in a place she couldn't see, her hair underwent new changes. Earlier, it had been mentioned that her hair had turned from black to light green, but as time passed, her light green hair continued to change, becoming dark green, then emerald green.
Finally, the color became so deep that it was almost indistinguishable from black. If you didn't look closely, you couldn't see the green.
At first glance, it still looked black.
As the color transformation of her hair was completed, other parts of Ding Yun's body began to undergo gradual changes. The greenness receded, and the redness of her red blood cells and muscles reappeared. In the end, only the cell walls retained a faint trace of green, but this trace was so subtle that it did not affect Ding Yun's appearance.
Therefore, the greenness on her skin soon began to disappear. Even upon close inspection, it was at most like applying a layer of green foundation, and it no longer looked strange.
It even gave her a sense of renewal, of being reborn, and the texture of her skin improved significantly.
Besides that, the roots of the Myriad Wood Spirit Seed had thoroughly anchored themselves within all of Ding Yun's meridians. Although it didn't hurt, it felt quite strange. There were plant roots everywhere inside her body. How could it not feel strange? At first glance, it didn't look like cultivation, but rather like being parasitized by a seed.
However, perhaps due to the frightening experience of turning green earlier, Ding Yun accepted the current situation rather well. No matter how many roots were inside her, at least others couldn't see them, which was much better than turning into the Hulk.
After that, of course, it was time to cultivate according to the technique.
However, because it was night, the sunlight reflected by the moon was too thin, and there were also obstructions from the house.
Therefore, the cultivation speed was extremely slow.
Only very faint wisps of moonlight were absorbed into her body through her hair, turning into a trickle that entered the Myriad Wood Spirit Seed in her lower dantian. Subsequently, it was transformed by the Myriad Wood Spirit Seed into more minute energy that the human body could absorb, nourishing her entire body through the roots.
But the efficiency was too low. After running the technique for dozens of cycles, Ding Yun didn't feel any change in herself, so she couldn't be bothered to continue. Instead, she simply lay down to sleep, planning to try again when the sun came out tomorrow morning. Absorbing sunlight should be vastly different from absorbing thin moonlight.
The next day, as soon as the sun rose.
Sunlight quietly streamed into the inner chamber through the window.
Before Ding Yun had even woken up.
Her hair, without her needing to run the technique, began to absorb sunlight autonomously and convert it into energy, continuing the internal energy circulation from the previous night.
A moment later, Ding Yun could clearly feel warmth all over her body, as if every cell had been activated. Suddenly, she felt full of vigor and energy. The slight hunger in her abdomen disappeared completely as a result.
With such obvious and clear changes occurring in her body.
Ding Yun could no longer continue sleeping.
So, she quickly woke up and understood her current physical condition. In her current state, even without circulating the technique during the day, her body could autonomously absorb sunlight. However, when circulating the technique, the absorption speed and frequency were faster.
At night, due to the thin moonlight.
She had to run the technique to reluctantly absorb some moonlight. If her cultivation level improved in the future, perhaps her hair could autonomously absorb moonlight at night, but there was no hope for now. And judging by the current efficiency, the energy converted from a night of diligently running the technique to absorb moonlight was less than what she gained from basking in the sun for half an hour during the day, let alone absorbing sunlight while running the technique.
So, there was no need to waste time at night.
She might as well sleep a little longer or work a little harder during the day by running the technique for an hour or two.
After understanding the situation and making her decision.
Ding Yun immediately got up and quickly instructed the palace maids to dress up her two daughters a bit, tidy them up, and then had her personal maid, Furong, take her elder and second daughters to Ci'an Palace to pay their respects to Empress Dowager Zhang.
A while ago, Yong Qing had been ill.
The original owner had specifically sent people to Ci'an Palace to report it, stating her concern about spreading the illness, so she hadn't visited for several days. Now that the illness was cured, it was naturally time for the two of them to resume their regular visits.
This was not only a custom but also the original owner's wish for her two daughters to get closer to the Empress Dowager. This way, with the Empress Dowager watching over them, the Empress would likely not dare to find them excessively unsuitable consorts, thus affecting their future lives.
As for Ding Yun herself, she did not need to pay respects.
Consorts were eligible to pay respects, but her current status, to put it bluntly, was no different from being divorced. Therefore, she naturally was not qualified to pay respects at Ci'an Palace every day.
Only when the Empress Dowager thought of her and sent someone to summon her could she go.
However, Ding Yun didn't mind this. Was it more uncomfortable to wake up early in the morning and go to pay respects, or to sleep in and have a lie-in? Why bother waking up early every day to pay respects first?
Not having to pay respects saved her trouble and made her feel more comfortable.
Therefore, after sending off her two daughters to Ci'an Palace, Ding Yun sent someone to fetch a lounge chair.
She found a spot with the best sunlight.
She lay down, basking in the sun and enjoying a second sleep.
Indeed, it felt incredibly comfortable. The sensation of sunlight continuously entering her body through her hair, transforming into a warm flow of energy nourishing her body, was even more comfortable than a massage. It was the kind of comfort that made her not want to move at all.
After a short while, Ding Yun closed her eyes.
She wasn't sleeping deeply, but she was indeed dozing off.
Unfortunately, she had only been sunbathing for a little over an hour when the Empress Dowager sent someone to summon her.
There was no helping it. Empress Dowager Zhang was now her only reliance and backing in the palace. When the backing spoke, how could she not go? Therefore, Ding Yun naturally had to quickly get up, tidy herself up, put on her Taoist robe, and follow the嬷嬷 sent by the Empress Dowager alone to Ci'an Palace.
She had no idea what the Empress Dowager wanted to talk about.