Three days had passed and Lian Cai Yi was still in a coma. Her condition didn’t get any worse but she also didn’t get any better. All the Imperial Doctors that the Emperor sent were at as much of a loss as Su Long, they ruled out poison or any other outside factor. The only thing they could do was to stabilize her condition and hope she could fight off whatever was making her ill on her own. 

Inside Lian Cai Yi’s consciousness the situation was even worse, a dim black spirit was huddled in the corner struggling to survive under the attacks of a white spirit. The white spirit’s situation wasn’t much better, dimming at a constant rate. The white spirit paused for a moment preparing for one final attack, then rushed at the black spirit swallowing it whole. The black spirit finally started fighting back and flashes of black could be seen within the white spirit. The white spirit just wasn’t strong enough to get rid of the black spirit and the two swirled together finally becoming one. The two spirits remained whole for just a moment before it exploded splitting into two spirits, one black except for a white spot in the middle, one white except for a black spot.

The spirits opened their eyes at the same time looking at each other in surprise. They were completely alike except for the mirrored colors. A kind look was upon the black spirit’s face, a cocky smile on the white spirit. 

[“Well isn’t this interesting?” The white spirit said.]

They were both vaguely aware of what had happened. The original black spirit had been Lian Cai Yi’s soul, the white spirit the soul of Lian Cai Yi from the future filled with rage and malice that came to the past to take over her past body and seek revenge. The white soul had not been able to completely take over the black soul and so they fought for three days finally combining into one. However they combined souls couldn’t stay together and were split back into two. The two current souls were not the original souls however, the combining and splitting process had resulted in them being reborn.

[The black soul spoke up, “We will need names I suppose,” She looked at the soul across from her and then back at herself. “I shall be Yin and you can be Yang, that will work.”]

[“Why do you get to decide our names?” Yang asked.]

[Yin raised an eyebrow, “Do you have any better ideas?”]

[“Well no...”Yang trailed off.]

[“Then it’s settled.” Yin smiled.]

[Yang huffed. “Well shall we wake up and murder that ‘half sister’ of ours?” A cold smile spread across her face.]

[Yin frowned. “You know it won’t be that simple. Although currently our social situation is much better than hers, we can not hope to match up to her strength.” ]

Yang’s face fell. Although Yin and Yang were new souls they retained the memories of the souls that caused their creation. The Lian Cai Yi from the future had lived a blessed life until, on the eve of the day she was set to become the Empress, her half sister Lian Xie Mei, that she had thrown out of the kingdom a few years prior, came back. With her insane level of strength at the Foundation Establishment Realm Fifth Stage she was able to quickly take over the capital and threw Lian Cai Yi in the dungeon after she had forced poison down her throat. She was forced to suffer for five days and nights while that poison made it feel as if her body was tearing itself apart. She had never experienced so much pain in her life, just the memory of it made Yin and Yang involuntarily shiver. As she lay there about to die, Lian Xie Mei came to the outside of her cell and explained everything.

Her real half sister had been long dead, the soul in her body now was from another world entirely, a world with no concept of cultivation. Apparently she had been an elite in that world’s military, and had even known medicine crafting, as well as a strange form of martial arts that made her incredibly powerful. Even without any Qi she could easily beat someone up to the Qi Condensation Realm Third Stage, so the current Lian Cai Yi wouldn’t even make her break a sweat. 

[“Alright then smarty pants what do you suggest?” Yang asked. ]

[“Right now... Right now there is not much we can do cultivation wise.” Yin replied. “Our body’s twelfth birthday was ten days ago, the new moon was three days ago, meaning in twenty six days will be the full moon, at that time we will get our Spiritual Roots tested with the Imperial Testing Stone. During these Twenty Six days we must solidify our social relationships and increase our backing.”]

[Seeing that Yin actually did have a plan Yang’s attitude was quite a bit nicer. “How do we do that?”]

[“Your people skills leave something to be desired, so since that is the only card in our hand, currently I will take over our body and begin putting the plan into motion.” Yin said simply.]

Yang didn’t have a rebuttal and could only sit there sulking. And so after three days and nights, on the fourth day after Lian Cai Yi got sick she woke up.

Lian Cai Yi’s eyes barely fluttered open. While Yin and Yang had been talking neither one of them was directly in control of their body, but now that Yin had taken over she could directly feel the situation in their body. The battle of the two souls had taken a huge toll, thankfully all the doctors had been doing everything they could otherwise they might have been a lot worse off.

“Daddy?” She asked weakly, her voice coming out more of a groan.

“Eldest Miss!” Yingsu immediately burst out, “You’re finally awake!”

Lian Cai Yi looked at her three servants around her bed with tears in their eyes. Yin could feel the raging fury and heartbreak coming from Yang in her consciousness. These servants had been gifted to her by the Empress Dowager and had been with her since she was young. When Lian Xie Mei had charged into the palace slaughtering all those around her they had, with not a drop of Spirit Power between them, tried to hold her off. They hoped that they could at least distract her long enough so that Lian Cai Yi could get away. Their efforts were futile however, and she had had to watch as they were killed one by one in front of her. Yin was filled with determination that she would not let that blood-stained future come to pass. 

Besides those three, her bed was also surrounded by men she had never seen before. She recognized the crest on their chest showing them to be Imperial Doctors. The oldest one, his long white beard reaching almost to his chest, reached out to take her pulse. The whole room seemed to be holding its breath, and not a sound was made as they waited for his diagnosis. 

“Her pulse has finally settled. Right now her body is only extremely weak. I will write a prescription, she should be relatively fine within five days.” The man quickly wrote something on a paper and handed it to Mudan. Then he left, with the rest of the doctors following behind him. He wrapped everything up so fast that Yingsu, Chuju, and Mudan weren’t able to get over their shock until after he was gone.

“Did you hear what he said? Our Miss will be okay!” Chuju exclaimed in joy.

“What- what happened?” Lian Cai Yi managed to croak out, her throat very dry. 

Mudan immediately got a cup of warm water, “Go and tell the South Prime Minister that the Miss is awake and relay to him what the doctor said.” Yingsu immediately skipped out of the room, her mood soaring.

“Four days ago you suddenly fell into a coma, and Doctor Su could not figure out what was wrong with you, so the South Prime Minister went to ask the Emperor for help from the Imperial Doctors. Even they could not figure out what was wrong with you. Only now, after three days and nights, you have managed to awaken,” Chuju related to her as Mudan continued to help her drink. 

After four glasses of water her throat finally felt somewhat hydrated, “Prepare a bath and a new set of clothes.” It appeared as though someone had changed her clothes at least once, but the ones she was in were still caked with sweat.

Yingsu came back shortly, with Su Long following behind her. “The South Prime Minister is very busy right now so he can’t come and see you himself, but he’s very glad you’re feeling better and the Head Steward will be over from the storehouse with some herbs specially picked out by him. Doctor Su has already gotten your prescription ready,” Yingsu said, trying to break the news to her gently.

[“Hmph! That two-headed snake is probably too busy brown-nosing to come check on us.” Yang’s voice was tinged with obvious contempt. “It’s good that he’s not here though, I’m not sure I could hold myself back from punching him in the face!”]

[“... Me neither.” Yin replied.]

Yang seemed surprised for a moment, but thinking about it, it would be more surprising if she wasn’t angry. When Lian Xie Mei took over the palace, Lian Geng Lim immediately tried to suck up to her, even going so far as to torture Lian Cai Yi, this “precious” eldest daughter of his. Looking back on how he treated her, if he really loved her he would give more than just half-hearted excuses about how busy he was. The past Lian Cai Yi really was too naive, thinking that every moment she got to spend with this worthless father was worth more than gold. Unfortunately for her enemies, that naive miss was now gone. 

“It’s okay I understand that father is very busy.” Lian Cai Yi replied, but if you looked closely you could see a slight face of disappointment. 

Su Long felt his heart fill with sadness, the poor Eldest Miss, never knowing her mother’s love and her father busy at work most of the time, she must be very lonely. “Eldest Miss I have prepared your medicine according to the prescription. I know it’s bitter but you must drink all of it.” He held out the bowl in front of her. 

Lian Cai Yi looked down at the medicine as if it was poison. With her hands shaking she took the bowl, she gave Su Long an aggrieved look, then downed the entire thing in one go. “It wasn’t so bad,” she tried to say, her voice slightly trembling. “Thank you for looking after me so well Doctor Su.” She looked up at him, eyes glistening with unfallen tears.

Su Long coughed lightly, “Well I will leave you to rest, and I will send instructions to the kitchen for how they should handle your meals. I should be back in the evening to give you your medicine again.”

“I have to take it again?” Lian Cai Yi looked at him, her eyes wide. 

“Yes, every morning and night for these five days.” He replied.

“I-I see. Thank you Doctor Su, you may leave.”

Doctor Su gave her one last pitying look before making his way out the door. 

[Yin could tell that Yang was slightly confused by the act that she was putting on. “One of the first allies that Lian Xie Mei managed to get was Su Long, I’m just getting ahead of her.” ]

[“Su Long? When did they become allies?” Yang asked]

[“Don’t you find it interesting that whenever Lian Cai Yi got sick it always took a little while for Su Long to show up? She also stayed sick for longer than you would think. He always made sure to not push it too far so no one would notice, but unless he was secretly trying to get revenge for Lian Xie Mei, why would that happen? The only question I have is whether she ordered him to do it, or he did so under his own initiative. Either way, it can never hurt to have a doctor as your ally,” Yin explained.]

With all of Yang’s doubts gone, Lian Cai Yi’s recovery passed by rather uneventfully.