Chapter 431: The Return Protocol

The first sign came quickly.

Jian Li’s pulse dropped.

Ester felt it immediately.

"Shit."

Jian Yue leaned over his sister.

"Li?"

"I’m..."

She tried to take a deep breath.

Couldn’t.

"...tired."

"Don’t close your eyes," Ester said.

Jian Li looked at her.

"That sounds like a very difficult order."

"It is."

Ester placed two fingers against her neck again.

Slower.

Weak.

Irregular.

Mu Qing remained motionless.

"I can rebuild them."

Damon turned immediately.

"No."

"She’s dying."

"I heard."

"I can reconstruct the formations."

"She just rejected exactly that."

"Then you want to let her die?"

Jian Yue raised his face.

His expression became dangerous.

Damon did not back down.

"No."

Mu Qing pointed at Jian Li.

"Then we need to replace the support!"

"No."

"You keep saying that like it’s a solution!"

"Because you keep trying to solve everything the same way!"

Mu Qing fell silent.

Damon pointed toward the bed.

"She spent four years being sustained by a structure that replaced parts of what her body should have been doing on its own."

"Because those parts died."

Ester answered without looking at them.

"Not all of them."

The room went quiet.

Damon turned toward her.

"What?"

Ester pressed her hand against Jian Li’s abdomen.

Then moved it to her chest.

"I said her natural circulation was destroyed."

"Yes."

"Destroyed doesn’t mean absent."

Mu Qing stepped closer.

"You can feel something?"

"A little."

"How much?"

"Almost nothing."

Damon exhaled.

"But something."

"Yes."

Xue Lian understood first.

"Her body didn’t completely forget."

Ester nodded.

"No."

Jian Li let out a small, tired laugh.

"My body is having a complicated week."

Damon looked at her.

"That’s a good sign."

"What?"

"You’re still complaining."

Jian Yue almost smiled.

Ester did not.

"We need to make her natural circulation take over before her heart starts failing."

Mu Qing answered.

"That would take months."

"If it were normal recovery."

"Then?"

Ester looked at Xue Lian.

"We need to push it."

Xue Lian became serious.

"With external energy?"

"I can’t put foreign energy directly inside her. Her body will try to use it as a replacement."

Damon understood.

"And then we’re back to the same problem."

"Exactly."

Aria, standing near the door, raised one hand.

"Question from someone who isn’t a doctor."

"That’s never stopped you before," Damon said.

"If we can’t put energy inside her, can we put energy around her?"

Ester looked at her.

Aria continued.

"Circulation doesn’t just need something circulating, right? It needs pressure, direction, and a path."

Mu Qing went still.

Xue Lian slowly turned toward Aria.

"Say that again."

"I’m not going to make it sound smarter."

"Pressure. Direction. Path."

Aria looked at Jian Li.

"If the problem is that her body can’t pull energy on its own, maybe we don’t need to put a Root or a formation inside her."

Damon looked at Jian Yue.

More specifically, at the sword.

He smiled.

Jian Yue noticed.

"No."

"I didn’t even say anything."

"I know that look now."

Xue Lian was already looking at the sword too.

"It might work."

Jian Yue closed his eyes.

"Of course."

He drew the weapon.

The white lines immediately appeared across the blade.

Ester noticed.

"The network."

"It works as recognition," Xue Lian said. "It doesn’t force. It doesn’t possess. It only creates an accepted path."

Damon approached the doorway, but did not enter farther.

His mark was still a risk.

"Then we use the sword to bring environmental energy into the room."

"Not into her," Ester corrected.

"To her."

"Yes."

Mu Qing understood.

"And we use the remaining natural meridians to pull."

Ester pointed at her.

"Do you know the old map of her body?"

Mu Qing froze.

"Before the formations?"

"Yes."

"I do."

"Then you’re going to tell me every point that still existed before you started replacing them."

The word hit.

Replacing.

Mu Qing lowered her eyes.

"Yes."

Ester looked at Jian Yue.

"Put the sword on the floor."

"Where?"

Xue Lian pointed beside the bed.

"Far from her. The network cannot recognize Jian Li as the destination."

Damon nodded.

"She has to choose to pull."

Jian Yue drove the tip of the sword into the floor.

Nothing happened.

Then the white lines appeared.

First across the blade.

Then across the stone.

Extremely thin.

They spread around the bed.

They did not touch Jian Li.

They formed a circle.

Ester watched.

"Good."

Jian Li breathed with difficulty.

"Doesn’t feel good."

"Your heart is still working."

"Your standard for ’good’ is very low."

"I learned from Damon."

Damon pointed from a distance.

"That was unfair."

"And accurate," Aria replied.

Ester went back to work.

"Mu Qing."

"The first natural meridian starts below the sternum."

"I know anatomy."

"Not hers."

"Fair."

Mu Qing knelt beside the bed.

For the first time since they arrived, she looked directly at Jian Li.

The girl looked back.

Neither spoke.

Mu Qing pointed.

"Here."

Ester inserted a needle.

Jian Li groaned.

"Then?"

"Two fingers lower."

Another.

"Then?"

"Left side."

Another.

The circulation did not respond.

Ester continued.

Four.

Five.

Six needles.

Nothing.

The pulse dropped further.

Jian Yue tightened his grip on his sister’s hand.

"Li."

"I’m awake."

"Stay that way."

"You’re getting annoying too."

"Good."

Damon watched the white lines on the floor.

They were stable.

Energy available.

But Jian Li was not pulling.

"She doesn’t know how."

Xue Lian looked at him.

"No."

"Her body was carried for too long."

"Yes."

Damon became serious.

"Then it needs to learn again."

Ester heard him.

"Jian Li."

"Yes."

"Can you feel anything in your hands?"

She took a moment.

"Cold."

"That’s the room."

"Then no."

"Your feet?"

"A little."

"Chest?"

"It hurts."

"Excellent."

Jian Li opened her eyes.

"You’re terrible."

"It means there’s still a response."

Ester placed her palm over the center of Jian Li’s chest.

"I want you to breathe with me."

"I can’t."

"You can enough."

Ester inhaled slowly.

Jian Li tried to follow.

Failed.

Tried again.

A little better.

"Again."

Inhale.

Exhale.

"Again."

Damon noticed before the others.

One of the white lines on the floor changed.

It did not advance toward Jian Li.

It curved.

Like water in front of a depression.

"She’s pulling."

Xue Lian saw it.

"A little."

"But she is."

Mu Qing went completely still.

Ester continued.

"Breathe."

Jian Li obeyed.

The white line moved closer.

Stopped centimeters from her hand.

It did not enter.

Damon smiled.

"It’s waiting."

Xue Lian understood.

"Consent."

Ester looked at Jian Li.

"Do you want help?"

She frowned.

"That’s a strange question right now."

"Answer it."

Jian Li looked at the lines.

Then at her brother.

Then at Mu Qing.

Finally, at Ester.

"Help me."

The line touched her fingertips.

Jian Li arched slightly.

Jian Yue moved.

Ester stopped him.

"Wait."

The energy did not flood inside.

A minimal amount passed.

Almost nothing.

It traveled through her fingers.

Wrist.

Forearm.

Then stopped.

Mu Qing’s eyes widened.

"That channel was dead."

"It isn’t," Ester replied.

Jian Li groaned.

"It hurts."

"Good."

"Stop saying that."

"Later."

Another line touched her other arm.

Then her feet.

The environmental energy did not replace her circulation.

It only provided external pressure.

And slowly, her natural channels began to react.

Jian Li’s pulse increased.

A little.

Then again.

Ester checked.

"Keep going."

Mu Qing was breathing as though she were the one in bed.

"Next channel."

"No."

Ester looked at her.

"Why?"

Mu Qing pointed toward the right side of Jian Li’s abdomen.

"That one was completely replaced."

"Is there another path?"

"Not a natural one."

Damon frowned.

"Then don’t use it."

Ester looked at him.

"If we don’t close the circulation, she’ll lose flow in that region."

"Then make the body find another path."

Mu Qing let out a humorless laugh.

"Bodies don’t do that in minutes."

Damon raised his marked arm.

"Adaptation would."

Silence.

Ester narrowed her eyes.

"No."

"I’m not saying we let the core do it."

Xue Lian understood.

"But the function exists for a reason."

Damon pointed at Jian Li.

"Bodies adapt naturally. They’re just slow."

Ester thought.

"You want to force physiological adaptation without using the artificial structure."

"Yes."

"How?"

Damon looked at the white lines across the floor.

"Too many paths."

Xue Lian smiled.

"We don’t give her one route."

"We give her several."

Aria finally understood.

"The network offers options and the body chooses."

"Exactly."

Xue Lian knelt in front of the ancestral sword.

She did not touch it.

"Jian Yue."

"Yes."

"Raise the sword a little."

He did.

The lines changed.

"Now turn it."

The blade rotated.

More paths appeared.

Not one.

Dozens.

Around Jian Li.

Small environmental flows.

None entering by force.

Ester watched.

"This could overload her."

"Then we go slowly," Damon replied.

Jian Li opened one eye.

"Can I participate in that decision?"

Everyone stopped.

Damon smiled.

"Yes."

"Slowly."

Jian Yue laughed quietly.

"Slowly."

Xue Lian gestured.

The sword turned only a few more degrees.

The lines spread.

Jian Li breathed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Energy touched several points.

Her body ignored most of them.

One it did not.

A new path began to form.

Not a formation.

Not a symbol.

A meridian.

Weak.

Crooked.

Improvised.

But hers.

Mu Qing brought a hand to her mouth.

"She’s diverting it."

Ester traced it with her fingers.

"Yes."

"Her body created a spiritual anastomosis."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"A what?"

"An alternate route."

"Why didn’t you just say that?"

Ester ignored him.

The new path connected two regions that had previously depended on artificial formations.

Jian Li’s pulse rose.

Stronger.

More regular.

Jian Yue closed his eyes for a moment.

He did not let go of her hand.

Mu Qing began crying silently.

Jian Li noticed.

"You’re crying?"

Mu Qing quickly wiped her face.

"No."

"Lie."

Damon smiled.

"She learned."

Mu Qing gave him a murderous look.

Jian Li breathed again.

This time with less difficulty.

Ester removed one of the needles.

Then another.

Waited.

The pulse held.

She removed the third.

Nothing dropped.

"Good."

Jian Li looked at her.

"Now you can say it?"

"Now."

Jian Yue exhaled.

"She’s going to live?"

Ester took several seconds.

"Today?"

"ESTER."

"Yes."

He almost collapsed into a seated position.

Ester continued before anyone could celebrate.

"But her circulation is terrible."

Jian Li smiled weakly.

"That sounds more like you."

"She’ll need to relearn everything. Flow. Breathing. Spiritual capacity. Maybe months."

"But without formations?"

"Without formations."

"Without a Root?"

"Without a Root."

Jian Li closed her eyes.

A tear slid down.

"Then that’s fine."

Mu Qing turned her face away.

Damon watched her.

"You wanted to rebuild them."

Mu Qing did not answer.

"Now you saw."

"I saw."

"She didn’t need another replacement."

Mu Qing clenched her hands.

"I didn’t know."

"I know."

She looked at him.

Damon was not absolving her.

Nor attacking her.

Only stating a fact.

"At the time, maybe you really didn’t have another solution."

Mu Qing went still.

"But now you did."

She nodded.

Slowly.

"Yes."

The mark on Damon’s arm pulsed.

Everyone tensed.

Ester immediately looked over.

"Now what?"

Damon pulled up his sleeve.

The false Seed was active.

But it no longer pointed toward Jian Li.

A message appeared in his mind.

SECONDARY TARGET: UNAVAILABLE.

Damon smiled.

"It gave up."

Xue Lian approached.

"No."

He looked at her.

"No?"

The second message came.

RETURNING TO PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.

The smile vanished.

Ester crossed her arms.

"You."

"Yes."

Dominion’s golden point remained still.

But Adaptation’s dark-blue lines began reorganizing.

No longer searching for Jian Li.

Returning to Damon.

He felt the false Seed close around the golden point.

Xue Lian went pale.

"Get away from the bed."

Damon immediately stepped back.

"What’s happening?"

"Adaptation just lost a compatible vessel."

"So?"

"Now the only one left is the vessel Vorn spent years preparing."

Damon looked at his arm.

The mark pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Far stronger than before.

Then a new message appeared.

RETURN PROTOCOL INITIATED.

Damon went still.

Aria opened the notebook.

"Return where?"

He felt it.

A direction.

Very clear.

West.

Arven.

Damon smiled without humor.

"Finally."

Ester pointed at him.

"No."

"I didn’t even say anything."

"Your face."

Damon pulled his sleeve down.

"Adaptation wants to go home."

Xue Lian became serious.

"And it’s using you as the path."

Damon looked toward the door.

Then at Jian Li, finally breathing on her own.

Then at the mark.

"Great."

Ester raised one hand.

"I swear—"

"I’m not saying it’s convenient."

"Then what?"

Damon started walking.

"I’m saying now we know exactly where Vorn found the core."