4 Calm breaths

General Song Qing still could not believe that his granddaughter Song Jia would open her eyes and would even have the strength to lift her arm just to signal them to keep silent. Even with her eyes closed at the moment, he still remembered her faint smile she showed moments before.

"Son, does this mean that the doctor earlier diagnosed her wrongly?" His voice snapped Song Huo from his shock.

He felt his niece's pulse on her wrist with his two fingers. Even if he's not a doctor, he knew at least to feel the pulse. He knew that if the flow underneath was too fast, or too slow, it meant that there was something to watch out for. However, right now, her pulse was pretty much similar to his own.

Her complexion was not as pale as before. Her lips that looked almost grey before, already had a tinge of pink. She even appeared to be sleeping right now. She didn't have the look of someone who was about to die.

Song Huo nodded, putting her hand under the blanket. He turned to face his father, the Old Patriarch of the Song Clan.

"The doctor didn't check her pulse just now."

"Then, should we call him over again?" General Song Qing was about to call a maid when Song Huo stopped him, shaking his head. "Song Huo?"

He wondered why his son stopped him.

"Father, do you remember what she did before she closed her eyes again moments ago?" When he saw his father frowning, he brought his finger to his own lips and imitated Son Jia's gesture.

General Song Qing's mouth fell open. However, he still couldn't understand her reason behind it.

"It would seem that she didn't want it to be known that she's on her way to recovery." He smiled faintly, looking back at his niece who was sleeping peacefully.

"But how would she recover quickly if we don't ask the doctor to see her?" His voice was becoming frantic.

"Father, please be calm. The doctor said just now that she's about to die soon. What's the use of calling him? She didn't want us to let anyone know. Maybe she'll wake up later."

General Song Qing thought about his son's words. He knew he was making sense. What's the use of calling on the doctor when he couldn't even determine that she has slowly recovered.

Another thing to note as well. She must have heard what they were talking about earlier. She now knows that the ambush was caused by her stepmother, Huang Dan. It was at that moment when she made it known to them that she had woken up.

"Son, I have a plan."

Song Huo nodded and leaned closer to his father, both speaking in hushed voices.

"Will this work?" Song Huo looked at him with brows furrowed.

"It's the only way to keep her safe while she's in this state." General Song Qing thought about it, of the two family members, Song Jia was the one who was about to die. Song Xia, her father, was unconscious and was slowly recovering, albeit at a very slow pace.

When they found out that Second Wife, Huang Dan, was the one who ordered the ambush, he contemplated it. What could be her motives?

If Song Xia died, what benefit would it give her?

At present, Song Xia was called the Patriarch, whose authority in the clan is second only to General Song Qing. If he's gone, his position would be given to Song Huo. That would not benefit Huang Dan at all.

However, if Song Jia died, there shouldn't be any benefits for her as well. The family would lose the Main daughter and the position would be given to the adopted daughter Song Yimu instead. It didn't make sense that Huang Dan would commit such a crime for Song Yimu since both girls were not from her own womb anyway. Both should be treated equally since she was unable to give birth to a child herself.

"Arrange it as fast as you can." General Song Qing reminded his son.

"Yes, Father. Leave it to me." He bowed before him before he left the room.

"Jia'er, how could this happen to you? You have suffered too much recently. Not only were you declared soon to die, you also were not accepted in the academy before this incident happened." The old man heaved a sigh. "If only you were still able to cultivate.."

Song Jia faintly heard his words as she was lightly sleeping.

A memory triggered inside her consciousness.

She remembered that she was able to gather spiritual energy before. Although it was slow and only a little each time, she still had that ability. Then for some reason, on the day she took the tests in the academy, she suddenly couldn't gather spiritual energy to inject in the Heaven Spirit Crystal. She stayed there for quite a while, trying to make the crystal show her spiritual root. However, it remained the same.

Although she is General Song Qing's granddaughter and naturally people have to give them a face, they waited for her long enough. She was unable to be accepted in the academy therefore she was sent home that day, who knew she would also end up ambushed on the road.

Now, when she calmed her thoughts and felt the flowing energy within her body, it was as if there was a microscopic version of her travelling along the energy inside her.

Her other self, Cynthia Dorsey, learned to cultivate qi. Although there is quite a difference here, the process was about the same.

As she recalled the way to cultivate qi, she saw that within her body, qi is creating thousands of tiny fibers which are glowing as a web made of silver. Those tiny fibers are linked to bigger ones similarly as streams create rivers. The rivers of qi are called channels or meridians. Meridians lead to pools of light which are called dantians. It is where a lot of energy can be gathered.

The three dantians are xia which is the lower dantian, zhong which is the middle dantian and shang, the upper dantian. The lower dantian is considered to be the seat of dan energy in the body. This area is not a specific one, but rather a general area that contains this elixir energy. It is what they refer to as a method of creating a divine embryo in the body.

The other two dantian are located in the centre of the chest and head. The chest is considered to be associated with breathing and the heartbeat. The head is considered to be associated mainly with the function of the brain.

There's another term that may be similar to dantian called chakra but are not the same thing. Several of the chakras may correspond to the three dantians, but they are believed to differ fundamentally in that dantians are reservoirs or fields of energy, whereas chakras are gateways.

At the moment, her microscopic version was shell-shocked as she stared at the xia.