The quiet sanctuary of the Saintess's bedchamber was drowned in the stillness of deep night.
Faint, sweet coils of white-tea incense drifted lazily from the bronze censer, weaving through the carved sandalwood lattice screens and dissolving into the shadows.
The pale moonlight filtering through the high balcony pooled across the smooth silk sheets, painting the spacious room in serene shades of silver and lavender.
At thus moment, Su Xishi was cultivating on the bed.
She sat cross-legged upon the plush velvet mattress, her slender porcelain ankles tucked beneath the billowing folds of her robes.
Her hands rested lightly upon her knees, palms turned upward, fingers poised in the serene meditative seal.
Around her lithe torso, subtle, translucent ribbons of pristine spiritual energy circulated in a gentle, rhythmic orbit, cooling the air around her skin to the brink of frost while preserving the unbreached, sacred fire of her primal yin within her lower dantian.
