Resting upon a silk-covered wicker lounger was undeniably pleasant, but for a forty-inch ball of Primordial Chaos jelly who had just ingested a continent-sized cosmic kraken, dry fabric could only offer half the comforts of home.
Lin Xiao lay nestled in the velvet down. Then, a gentle mountain breeze drifted across the private courtyard of Mount Cangxuan. The breeze carried with it an aroma that no true connoisseur of domestic relaxation could ever ignore: the rich, fragrant steam of aged mountain cedar, underground stone salts, and fresh lotus petals rising from the outdoor hot spring pool behind the bamboo grove.
The spring was fed directly by the living Earth-Core Leyline. It Lin Xiao had uncorked and purified four seasons ago. Now, newly enriched by the gentle downpour of the Primordial Genesis Rain. The water was practically glowed with calm, healing medicine qi. It steamed at a steady, spotless heat of forty-one point two degrees of soothing warmth. The universal gold standard for soaking tired muscles, softening tight jelly, and dissolving the final traces of cosmic fatigue.
Lin Xiao’s curved white eye-markings fluttered open by a mere hairsbreadth.
He gave a sleepy, jelly-like shudder. With an easy, rolling motion, he slid off the edge of the violet cushion, tumbled across the polished cedar decking. Then he bounced along the smooth, mossy river-stone path leading toward the pavilion.
