Inner Strength

The air was smoky, and the charred particles floating around choked Mingyao. She kept running but couldn't keep up; the orange blades of heat were faster, devouring everything they came into contact with.

The warm—no, the hot air—was becoming even hotter, making it uncomfortable for Mingyao to do anything.

She struggled to breathe, she struggled to run, she even struggled just to see where she was going.

The tall green trees, the sprawling roots, the full bushes, and nature's scent that had been there moments ago were gone, quickly devoured, leaving behind this fiery landscape.

Mingyao stood at the center of the flames that engulfed her, unsure of what to do next. She couldn't think straight through the haze. Was this death? she asked herself before refuting the thought. A strand of memory solidified her stance—this must be another dream, she thought, but she couldn't remember falling asleep.

A branch from a burning tree suddenly broke off, falling on her delicate arm. The shock shot through her body as the flames seared her flesh. She could smell the burnt flesh and feel the excruciating pain.

The pain turned her brain to mush as it reverberated through her. She groaned in agony as her legs gave out, but the flames were unforgiving, crawling closer and closer, leaving her no room for escape. Was this not a dream? she wondered.

Then, am I really going to die? The thought lingered as she analyzed her predicament. Maybe dying wasn't such a bad thing.

For a while, Mingyu wanted to follow his mother to her grave. After all, who was he doing all this for?

Life in the royal palace was nothing more than a chain, a prison—scheming, hurting, and more scheming. Blood meant nothing. There was no loyalty, no family. He envied the common people who had so little to worry about. Yes, they didn't have much, but they were free. Free to love, free to care, free to live. They didn't have to sleep with one eye open at night, fearing that one of their kin might want to kill them. He was tired of it all.

Maybe through this death, I can be free. Reborn as my mother's son once more, but instead of royalty, as one of the commoners. Yes, that wouldn't be so bad, he thought as he prepared to embrace death. In my next life, let me be reborn as a commoner with my mother.

Just as Mingyao accepted her fate, a droplet of water fell on her face. At first, she thought it was her sweat.

Suddenly, dark clouds started to form above the flaming forest. The loud rumble of thunder overpowered the crackling of the burning trees. One by one, the frequency of the droplets increased, and soon enough, rain was falling.

"Mingyao!" The soft wind whispered.

Mingyao heard the sound but dismissed it as an illusion from the heat.

"Mingyao!!" The wind whispered again, this time a little louder.

Was that Su Mei's voice? Mingyao wondered. But before she could refute the claim, the voice boomed throughout the forest, accompanied by the downpour gaining enough momentum to quell the flames. That is definitely Su Mei's voice.

Xiulan panicked when she saw the blood on the floor as she entered the room. A strong heat was emanating from Mingyao, who was seated in a meditative posture.

They had been searching for her the whole day, and yet here she was. Relief washed over their faces when they saw her, but relief quickly turned to panic when Xiulan noticed the traces of blood. Su Mei, who was behind Xiulan, immediately realized the problem.

Had something gone wrong? Xiulan wondered. Mingyao had mentioned that she was going to try and break through to inner strength to rebuild her former power, so she had expected to see this sight sooner or later—but something didn't seem right.

Su Mei quickly ran to Mingyao's canopy bed, where she was still seated in a meditative state. She placed two fingers on Mingyao's wrist.

She could feel her Qi flow, indicating that she had now reached inner strength, but the energy felt violent and chaotic.

The energy emanating from Mingyao was overflowing with heat, making her body feverish.

Su Mei was not a physician and didn't know exactly what was wrong, but she knew she needed to use her internal energy to stabilize Mingyao's.

From Mingyao's burning body, she deduced that she was overflowing with Yang energy, which needed to be calmed. She sat behind Mingyao and channeled all the Yin energy she could to pacify the violent Yang energy. It worked, and she managed to calm Mingyao down, but in doing so, she suffered internal injuries from Mingyao's overwhelming energy, causing her to spit blood.

Mingyao's body finally calmed down, but she didn't wake up. The two women decided to take care of her until she did.

Morning came, and Mingyao fluttered her eyes open to see two women lying beside her. There was long black hair and an oval face to her left and a bit shorter auburn hair with a round face to her right.

Mingyao slowly loosened the grip of the hands to her left as she moved the feet on her right. She didn't want to announce that she was awake. No lectures, please, she thought.

She woke up to see a basin of water and a bowl of medicine. So that's why my mouth tastes bitter, she thought. They must have been taking care of me.

Suddenly, her hands moved on their own, reaching for Xiulan's plump chest before squeezing the soft melons filling her palms.

Xiulan let out a soft moan.

"What in the..." Mingyao exclaimed before stopping herself.

That was not an action she had designated her body to do, but...

"Wait, is that you, ghost sister?"

"Hehehe, I told you I would be back."

Mingyao quickly shot up before the other Mingyao living within her did something else with the body. She didn't need to add more to the lecture.

"Shadow, are you there?"

There was no response. Had Xue She left? Mingyao wondered to herself.

"Shadow, are you there??" Mingyao said a little louder, almost waking up the two women beside her.

"Yes, Pavilion Master, you called?" Xue She said, her voice groggy as her form materialized.