With a gentle flick of Lu Zhaoling's hand, the talisman paper clamped between her fingers burst into flames.
Madam Wu and Xiao He couldn't hold back their gasps of shock.
What in the world was happening? How could Second Miss Lu make paper ignite out of thin air?
Lin Rong and Physician Fu were slightly more composed, though they clamped their mouths shut just as the exclamations were about to escape their throats.
"Second Miss Lu, be careful..."
Madam Wu still couldn't help but cry out. Watching the orange flames lick dangerously close to Lu Zhaoling's slender fingers, her heart ached with worry. Second Miss Lu was only a young girl, barely two years older than her own daughter.
"I'm fine," Lu Zhaoling replied tonelessly.
She spared the woman a brief glance before tossing the burning talisman paper into a copper basin. "It's going to stink. Open the window to let the air out."
Lin Rong hurried to throw the window wide.
The moment the flame hit the basin, the fire flared up with a sudden whoosh, instantly consuming the Life-Switching Talisman and the sachet. As the lock of hair and the fragments of nails caught fire, thick black smoke billowed upward. A nauseating stench filled the room, making those present gag.
Even Physician Fu recoiled a few steps in discomfort.
Fortunately, Lu Zhaoling was burning the items near the door. The Life-Switching Talisman had to be destroyed close to Lin Yanran for the reversal to be effective; otherwise, she wouldn't have subjected everyone to such a foul ordeal.
In a mere breath, the items were burned to nothing, leaving behind only a small pile of ash.
At that exact moment, in a small house on the edge of a town hundreds of miles away from the Capital, a young girl sitting cross-legged on the porch suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood.
Immediately following this, her hair turned white in an instant. Her once-supple face was rapidly carved with deep wrinkles, and her eyelids sagged.
Most horrifying of all were her hands the skin turned dark, shriveled, and withered, while her once-smooth, rosy nails were suddenly marked with vertical ridges.
"Ah! Who was it?! Who destroyed my talisman?!" she shrieked, her eyes turning blood-red with rage.
Back at Lin Manor.
"Are there pomegranate trees planted in the manor?" Lu Zhaoling asked.
"Yes," Madam Wu answered immediately, though she had no idea why Lu Zhaoling would ask such a thing. This was their home, after all; they had lived here for ten years before Lin Rong was posted elsewhere.
People in the Capital truly did love planting pomegranate trees.
"Just bury these ashes under a pomegranate tree," Lu Zhaoling instructed.
Lin Rong quickly ordered a servant to carry out the task.
Lu Zhaoling turned back to the bed. She saw that the aura of sickness and death on Lin Yanran's face had dissipated. The faint golden light above the girl's head was now so weak it was almost invisible.
"Second Miss Lu, is she all right now?" Madam Wu asked expectantly.
"It isn't that simple. Although the Life-Switching Talisman has been destroyed, Miss Lin has been ill for a long time. The depletion of her physical essence and vitality is very real. It will take a few days to recover."
Hearing Lu Zhaoling say this actually made Lin Rong feel more at ease. It sounded grounded in reality.
"Should she take some nourishing medicine then?" he asked.
Lu Zhaoling looked toward Physician Fu.
"Physician Fu is certainly more skilled than I am when it comes to medicinal diets. Continue with the prescriptions he has written. However, that alone isn't enough. I will draw another talisman to extract a few measures of vitality for Miss Lin."
Drawing such a talisman was mentally taxing, so she was definitely going to charge an expensive fee!
"We must trouble you then, Second Miss Lu."
Lu Zhaoling took up her brush once more and drew another talisman.
Just like before, the moment the talisman was completed, they all saw a flash of golden light ripple across the ink. Looking at that paper, they felt a strange sense of longing well up within them. It was a sensation that defied description.
As the eldest person present, Physician Fu found himself taking an involuntary step forward. For a split second, he felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and take that talisman.
Startled by his own impulse, he couldn't help but ask, "Second Miss Lu, what kind of talisman is this?"
"A Vitality-Refining Talisman," Lu Zhaoling answered, glancing at him. "This is my own unique creation; you won't find it in any Taoist temple. However, I am currently quite weak and can only draw this one. If you want another, you'll have to wait until I've recovered."
Her unique creation!
Though Physician Fu didn't know exactly what a Vitality-Refining Talisman was, based on the sensation he had just felt, he knew it had to be an incredibly precious and effective tool.
Lin Rong, on the other hand, understood the subtext clearly. Lu Zhaoling could only draw it once for now. In other words: it was expensive.
Very quickly, Lu Zhaoling showed them exactly why the talisman was worth its price.
Holding the paper between her fingers, she flicked her wrist and sent it flying toward Lin Yanran.
They watched as the talisman drifted over Lin Yanran's forehead and stood upright in mid-air. Then, with a slight movement of Lu Zhaoling's finger, the talisman vanished into the girl's forehead, leaving not a single trace behind!
Xiao He clapped her hands over her mouth again, her eyes wide. Madam Wu rubbed her eyes and looked at her husband in a daze. "Husband, did you see that? The talisman is gone... it went into Yanran's head."
She didn't finish her sentence because she saw her husband a man who usually remained unshakeable even if Mount Tai were to collapse before him standing there with his mouth wide enough to fit an egg.
Madam Wu looked back at Yanran. This time, she witnessed the transformation.
Lin Yanran's hands those withered, blackened shells of skin were slowly beginning to recover. Her sunken cheeks seemed to fill out as if they were being pumped with moisture. Even the few strands of white hair on her head were turning black, inch by inch.
Everyone stood frozen by the bed as if their pressure points had been struck, staring with wide eyes and open mouths at the changes occurring in Lin Yanran.
The room became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. Madam Wu even held her breath, fearing that a single heavy exhale might shatter this vision like a bubble.
Finally, Lin Yanran was restored to her original appearance. Her hands were once again soft, fair, and healthy. She still looked somewhat pale, of course that was to be expected after a long illness but she looked normal.
Lin Rong's eyes filled with tears.
Suddenly, Lu Zhaoling's body swayed. Qing Yin noticed immediately and moved forward to support her.
"Miss, are you alright?"
Those words snapped everyone out of their trance. Madam Wu threw herself to the bedside and gripped her daughter's hand tightly. "Yanran!"
Lin Rong wiped his tears with his sleeve and bowed deeply to Lu Zhaoling. "Thank you, Second Miss Lu. This is a great kindness."
Physician Fu recovered from his shock and looked at Lu Zhaoling with concern. "How are you feeling?"
Lin Rong also realized the situation. "Second Miss Lu, please, sit and rest. I'll have someone brew a pot of ginseng tea. Would that help you?"
It seemed Second Miss Lu really was in poor health. Yet, she had been willing to exhaust herself to save Yanran. This was a massive debt of gratitude.
Lu Zhaoling didn't stand on ceremony. "Brew it."
It would be of some use, at least.
Lin Rong hurriedly told Xiao He to go brew the tea.
Xiao He rushed over and knelt before Lu Zhaoling, knocking her head against the floor three times with heavy thuds. When she stood up, her forehead was already turning red. "This servant thanks Second Miss Lu for her great kindness!"
Lu Zhaoling: "..."
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