56 Another Affliction Arises

Elizabeth's eyes snapped open as she took on expressions of pity. She covered Jane's exposed torso before moving to get her needles. As she moved across the room, Elizabeth asked, "Say Jane… how long have you been practicing?"

"Oh?" The question came out left field, so Jane didn't answer immediately. Additionally, it appeared that recalling her past brought about a tirade of negative emotions as a familiar coldness now pervaded Elizabeth's room. Jane, said "Around two and a half years ago. Why do you ask?"

Elizabeth who had been on her way back to Jane's side stopped as ghastly cringe infected her eyes. "O-over two years?!" Elizabeth half yelled. She had previously though herself to be pretty robust for coming out of a torturous 159 days. Yet, the girl before her had championed almost six times the length of what had to be a similarly terrible experience.

With a terribly serious and somber atmosphere clouding her, Elizabeth returned to Jane's side and said, "Look… Don't take this the wrong way but you've been cultivating incorrectly all this time."

"Huh? What did you say?!" Jane felt terribly insulted, even more so considering Elizabeth was just a newbie Mortal Rank punk. Who was she to tell her, a Martial Soldier who stood at the very peak of that Stage, that her cultivation was incorrect?

Elizabeth could tell that she had hit a sore spot with the hostility directed at her. But at the moment, in a rare moment of respect, she dismissed what would have otherwise disqualified Jane from receiving her help, as she instead chose to explain herself. Elizabeth began poking at various points in Jane's body as she said, "Tell me, isn't it unbearable the kind of pain you periodically go through?" As she poked at Jane's body, a gentle warmth cleared away some of the frozen chunks that plagued Jane's various acupoints and meridians.

Jane, who had initially turned hateful, now donned an expression that can only be described as "priceless." She had originally intended to fight back and distance herself from Elizabeth, but after tasting just one of Elizabeth's mysterious pokes, her conscious and subconscious mind entered a war.

Jane's face blossomed into an ambiguous blush as she started to sweat and even moan. She desperately wished to rid herself of Elizabeth's demonic finger pokes, so as to stop uncontrollably making such shameless and suggestive sounds. But, her body craved for more, as this treatment not only felt better than world-class massages, each subsequent poke further improved her body's function, therein causing her subconscious to viciously ward off her conscious efforts to escape.

Elizabeth stopped after about 20 pokes, but by then Jane looked less like a proud Martial Soldier and more like a feral bitch in heat. Elizabeth cursed herself for overdoing it as she only wanted to show Jane how she could restore balance to her body, but in doing so overestimated the degree of "backlash" Jane would face.

Elizabeth waited for Jane to calm back down to a level where she could think straight and even then, she stood quiet until Jane spoke up her mind. She trusted that her preliminary pokes did more than enough to convince Jane that she wasn't all talk; her actions spoke volumes more than anything she could say with her current strength anyway.

"You… Alright, I listen to what you have to say..." Jane said, helplessly defeated by that "touch of the devil."

"Ok, so… First of all, I want to get it out there that I'm not at all an expert in cultivation much less Ice cultivation, so you are well within your right to doubt my words." Elizabeth paused for a second as she watched Jane nod her head in understanding, before continuing to say "However, I know a thing or two about Acupoint techniques and Medicine, and it's clear to me that you've either chosen a terribly ill-suited martial art to practice or you're inherently choosing to cultivate incorrectly, as the channels by which energy is supposed to pass through your body are all but frozen severely. In my honest opinion, it's a miracle that you're still even alive, considering how you're prone to energy implosion at any time with all those passages in your body frozen solid."

"Wha..." For the second time today, Elizabeth cut Jane off as she continued speaking. She said "That pain that I mentioned before, I want you to answer honestly. How much time passes between each subsequent breakout?"

"...It varies, but usually every other day or so..." Jane quieted down as she grew serious after Elizabeth mentioned her mortality.

"Well, I wouldn't know which of the two cases I mentioned is the one afflicting you without reading through your cultivation skill and I don't plan on asking you for your personal and private methods. I can only help remedy the problems your cultivation has caused and warn you that continuing as you are now will only hasten your death…."

Jane thought for a second before biting her lip in resolution. She said, "I… I don't mind if you look at my technique. It's not like I'm obligated to keep it a secret or anything..."

"Ho?" There was actually someone out there willing to give away their personal methods? The way this situation was playing out was drastically different from what Elizabeth envisioned.

Jane got up and started to button up her shirt again to leave and bring her cultivation method back to Elizabeth. But as she started going up to the door, Elizabeth's voice caused her face to redden in shame. Elizabeth said, "Oh, and don't forget to bring a spare set of clothes too. When I'm done with you, you'll definitely need it..."

Jane quickly finished dressing herself up, rushing to leave to spare herself of any further humiliation. She practically kicked Elizabeth's door open and to her shock both Atid and Sun were staring at her from about a foot away. From the expression on their faces, it was almost entirely confirmed that they could hear her when she was at her most vulnerable, so the red hue on her face only further deepened.

Jane speed-walked her away out of everyone's sight as Elizabeth also left her room to talk to Atid while in waiting. The people of the dojo were starting to become more and more interesting to her, and against all normalcy, Elizabeth actively sought information. First Sun appeared with a totally crippled Dantian and now Jane appeared, arguably carrying an even worst state…

Elizabeth stood just before exiting her room's entrance. There she could see Atid and Sun, so she asked, "Is there anything you want to tell me?" Her completely neutral expression made it hard for either Sun or Atid to understand what she was currently thinking of, but Atid did indeed wish to talk as they waited for Jane to return.

Atid sighed before saying, "You saw for yourself right? Her Dantian's almost at the point of collapse..."

"Yeah… but you do understand that her problem lies in the frozen acupoints and meridians across her body, right? If not for that, her Dantian would be performing normally..." Elizabeth's eyes flashed with understanding as she watched Atid's expression change. It seemed like he didn't understand the true root of the problem. But, since it was probable that he had no medical knowledge, his misunderstanding made sense.

To those without knowledge of cultivator anatomy, Jane's affliction was nigh-impossible to correctly diagnose. That naturally cold aura she carried around could easily be mistaken for residual Qi, and even Elizabeth thought as much until she properly checked Jane's constitution. Alas, the truth was far more complex and to Elizabeth, there even some subtle clues that made her think that Jane was being prepped for something sinister.

Atid didn't even try to conceal his astonishment as this matter escalated to urgent levels if it involved Jane's meridians and acupoints. As a Martial Practitioner who'd practiced for decades and had tread the path of cultivation to grandmaster levels of accomplishment, Atid knew how delicate the matter of protecting one's acupoints and meridians is. He himself was fast approaching the end of the Mortal Realm and was in the midst of preparing the cultivation of his own meridians and acupoints. Thus, in a sense, he had an inkling of understanding of how grave Jane's situation was turning out to be.

However, again… how Elizabeth could tell that there was something wrong with Jane's meridians and acupoints boggled Atid's mind, as even he couldn't pick up on anything being wrong aside from her Dantian cracking and crumbling under implosive pressure. This mysterious little girl had come out of nowhere as a total novice when it came to practicing martial arts, yet her medical knowledge, especially when it came down to cultivation, seemed uncontested.

From the very beginning, Atid found it hard to believe that someone of such high natural talent came of common origin, what with her initial Inner Strength levels revealing that of beginners of the Martial Path. Her lack of battle experience did make his curiosity in her die down a bit, but then she revealed that godly Martial Acupuncture technique. She treated not just him, but Sun as well and to the point where his Dantian could work again. Elizabeth then came to realize Sun developed Space affinity before even he had, and he was the one who was testing Sun's affinity!

If before, Atid only treated Elizabeth as a diamond in the rough, which he could shape into a serious martial talent, he now thought more carefully about her circumstances and wished to know a bit more about her background. Surely, she must come from some major power. If she didn't run away from her faction, then she must have been sent to start her own martial cultivation without her faction's help as a test to her potential.

Atid's face couldn't help but darken in postulation of what would descend upon his "little" dojo should Elizabeth's case turn out to be the former as opposed to the latter. But, considering that she openly showed off her skill and didn't bother hiding her advanced knowledge of both medicine and cultivation, a majority of Atid's worries were cleared away.