White light from the basin moved across Pei Jing’s chest. The Earth-Stalactite Milk was heavy enough to take nearly four fifths of his weight off his joints. It pressed into every pore like warm wax.
His skin could draw in only so much at a time. For the change he wanted, he needed to bring the qi in from within as well. The drops had held. He took the first swallow and waited for the cold to pass before taking the other two.
The milk flowed over his tongue like cream. It tasted of limestone and cold rain on cedars. The heat in his chest stripped the water out of it, leaving a dense current of earth qi that looked like liquid jade to his inner eye.
His heart gave a heavy thud. The pressure in his chest climbed in three beats. Years of bone tempering and Blood Condensation had given his blood vessels the strength to hold against the surge. They tightened, then gave just enough to carry the qi onward. The Chaos Root drew it down into the marrow of his thighs, shins, and upper arms.
The cold came first. It reached deeper than winter frost. It set the marrow like wax and sent pain through his bones, sharp as iron needles driven down their centers. Pei Jing kept his jaw loose and his breath steady.
