The maid was small and frail, her servant's attire worn to a faded white. Most terrifying were the numerous whip marks across her body, a hint of blood seeping through the torn old clothes.
This person was Rong'er, the original owner's personal maid. She had suffered much alongside the original owner and was truly a pitiable soul.
Yan Jiaojiao moved her finger slightly, intending to use her art to make Rong'er rise and speak. However, Rong'er did not budge an inch.
A slight twitch crossed Yan Jiaojiao's lips. This useless body. She cursed the heavens again.
She had no choice but to raise her voice, "Get up and speak slowly. What happened?"
Only then did Rong'er, sobbing, manage to stand. "Madam had you sent to the front hall. She gathered many elders waiting for you, but you wouldn't wake. So she took her anger out on me."
Women are women, so relentless.
If she hadn't intimidated Chen Wenyu before, the whip might have landed on her in bed.
Knowing that Chen Wenyu had set a trap, Yan Jiaojiao was too lazy to play along. It was merely taking advantage of her current weakness.
Her good bone had just returned to her body, and without a core to circulate spiritual energy, Yan Jiaojiao's body was extremely uncomfortable.
Therefore, Yan Jiaojiao's top priority was to recover her health.
"There are spiritual medicines I refined last time in the drawer. Go and take them," Yan Jiaojiao said, pointing to a cabinet in the room, following the original owner's memories.
Although Rong'er was not very capable, she was loyal. Yan Jiaojiao was not stingy about healing her injuries.
"Young Miss, aren't you going?" Rong'er asked, tears in her eyes and a bewildered look on her face. The former Yan Jiaojiao had been obedient to Madam. Now that Madam was furious, why was Young Miss unfazed?
"Take the medicine."
Silently enduring the surging spiritual energy within her, Yan Jiaojiao did not wish to say more.
Though Rong'er was confused, she dared not ask further. She opened the drawer, took out a spiritual herb, and swallowed it.
In just a moment, Rong'er felt no more pain. Looking down, she discovered that the whip marks had completely healed!
Even though she, a maid, could not cultivate, she knew that a spiritual medicine capable of instantly healing external wounds must be at least an orange-tier, eighth-grade spiritual medicine.
"Young Miss, you are too kind to Rong'er."
Rong'er was overwhelmed with gratitude. She never expected to use such a medicine in her lifetime. A hint of sadness touched her heart as she thought of these spiritual medicines that Young Miss had gathered for Madam, who was now deceased.
Thinking of this, and then looking at Yan Jiaojiao's pale cheeks, Rong'er's resolve to take good care of Young Miss grew even stronger.
Yan Jiaojiao, who had once obtained such a spiritual herb with ease, did not pay it much mind. She continued to instruct Rong'er, "See the talismans next to you? Paste the invisibility talisman on yourself and take the projection talisman to the front hall."
This time, Rong'er asked nothing more. She understood that Young Miss wanted to monitor the situation in the front hall. She immediately did as instructed.
At this moment, Yan Jiaojiao was still quite fortunate that the original owner had been a divinely talented individual who had left behind many high-level talismans before her death, allowing her to salvage the situation with talismans when her own abilities were limited.
Once she confirmed Rong'er had left, Yan Jiaojiao immediately threw off the quilt. She merely felt a moment of confusion about the new clothes she was wearing before assuming Rong'er had changed them for her. She then sat cross-legged and began to circulate the spiritual energy within her body.
As expected of the Ten-Lives Good Bone, after only a day of integration, the damaged meridians within her body had already repaired about seventy to eighty percent. The pity was that without a spiritual core, she could not bear the immense spiritual energy brought by the good bone.
Yan Jiaojiao formed complex hand seals, attempting to re-condense her spiritual core using ancient cultivation techniques.
Drawn by the cultivation technique, the bright sunny sky outside the window began to change, becoming unpredictable and stormy in an instant.
Within moments, fine sweat beaded on Yan Jiaojiao's forehead.
As an ancient ancestor who had lived for millennia, Yan Jiaojiao's original sea of consciousness was truly like a vast, shining ocean without bounds.
However, no matter how many times Yan Jiaojiao searched now, this sea of consciousness was a dark, small area, like a tiny dark room where every path led to a dead end.
Even with the enhancement of the good bone, she could not condense this "dark room" into a new spiritual core.
Instead, because Yan Jiaojiao was too eager for success and had used ancient cultivation techniques, the already uncontrollable spiritual energy became even more restless, repeatedly impacting Yan Jiaojiao's sea of consciousness.
Yan Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and endured. She had lived for three thousand years. If she couldn't even condense a spiritual core in a mortal body, how could she claim to be a thousand-year-old ancestor?
The spiritual energy within her body grew more rampant, and Yan Jiaojiao's complexion became increasingly grim. She desperately resisted and suppressed the spiritual energy in her meridians, gradually smoothing and taming it, directing it towards her sea of consciousness.
Alas, this body was too fragile. Despite having powerful mental energy, Yan Jiaojiao still couldn't control the waves of dizziness that washed over her mind.
Yan Jiaojiao's heart hardened. "Useless, hold on for this ancestor!"
Just as Yan Jiaojiao was about to lose consciousness again, a golden light from the good bone transmitted through her consciousness. Like the rising sun, a wave of warmth instantly filled the dark sea of consciousness.
Yan Jiaojiao's spirit immediately lifted, and the pain in her body was greatly reduced.
Although this light flashed briefly, it left tiny specks of light in the re-darkened sea of consciousness, like fireflies flickering in the night.
The veins on Yan Jiaojiao's forehead twitched twice.
What the hell? She had risked half her life and only condensed these few fragments of a spiritual core!
Yan Jiaojiao truly wished she could grab the Heavenly Dao and perish together.
However, with her current cultivation, it was impossible even to speak to the Heavenly Dao.
The most dangerous moment in the sea of consciousness had passed. Sensing the fragments of the spiritual core, Yan Jiaojiao could only comfort herself that it was better than nothing. She continued to channel spiritual energy along the meridians she had just opened towards her sea of consciousness.
Meanwhile, Rong'er had already passed through numerous courtyards and reached the front hall.
Wearing the invisibility talisman that the original owner had refined, even though seven or eight elders with formidable skills were seated in the front hall, none detected Rong'er hiding in the corner.
Rong'er stood trembling for a long while. Once she was sure she hadn't been discovered, she carefully took out the projection talisman and attached it to the base of a pillar.
The next moment, a projection materialized out of thin air in Yan Jiaojiao's room.
Yan Jiaojiao knew it was from Rong'er and diverted a sliver of her divine sense to watch the projection.
She saw Chen Wenyu seated in the main seat of the front hall, wearing a black veil to conceal her injured face. Only the tightly clenched handkerchief in her fingers revealed her inner hatred.
However, the elders had been waiting for nearly two hours and were already impatient. No one cared about her emotions. Instead, they were discussing the unusual phenomena caused by Yan Jiaojiao's ancient cultivation techniques.
"The celestial phenomena have been abnormal many times lately. I fear it bodes ill," a fan-wielding elder said worriedly. "I fear the world will repeat its past suffering and misery."
Another elder frowned deeply. "To speak of what shouldn't be spoken, it seems that it was only after Yan Jiaojiao fell into the Myriad Beasts Abyss that the world began to tremble."
The two exchanged a look. That elder stopped fanning himself. "Are you worried about the one below the abyss..."
He did not finish his sentence, but the faces of everyone else instantly changed.