Arash cleared his mind and tried his best to stop reaching out to his beloved by instinct. This time, he must succeed. He could imagine the girls' hurt expressions once he returned. Honestly, he didn't notice the flow of time; to him, it was no more than a day. He was filled with remorse and heartache.

 

He gathered his spirits up and gave himself some encouraging words. He needed to succeed this time. If he didn't, then he truly needed to give up. The girls needed a loving, functional father, not an obsessed crazy nutjob who only thinks about himself.

 

How was it again?

 

Feel the spiritual energy through enlightenment?

 

Arash tried to recall Tok Silihan's meticulous explanation and synced the content to how the MCs reached out to the spiritual energy from nature. Theoretically, the first, most basic level was the realization and conscious absorption through the skin to penetrate specific limb muscles for strength enhancement. Afterward, it would be the tendons, bones, major internal organs, and blood. Once the whole cycle was covered, the MCs were supposed to expel out 'dirt' and 'grime' for better spiritual energy absorption. Subsequently, they achieved breakthrough in making a 'dantian', a nucleus at which the energy was produced, stored, and released at the users' will. Then, the typical cultivation journey will ensue.

 

Arash decided to try, although he absolutely had no idea how. He was currently in uncharted waters and had no reference to identify 'spiritual energy'.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Maybe willed for it as hard as he could?

 

He would be over the moon if there was even a grain of truth in the novels. Although he still believed those were fiction, Tok Silihan's existence spoke otherwise.

 

Arash calmed himself and tried his hardest not to consciously think about his wife this time. He focused more on trying to use his senses to feel the spiritual energy. When one's eyes were closed, nostrils were stuffed, ears were plugged, and mouth was busy sucking in air from a tube, there was only one way to 'feel' the energy.

 

It was using the sense of touch.

 

Arash concentrated on sensing something else beyond the slightly wet soil.

 

Was there even anything else to feel?

 

Time passed as Arash kept concentrating on 'feeling' the soil. When all senses were muffled, surprisingly, he became more sensitive.

 

Instead of sensing something external, he sensed everything that was internal, slowly getting louder and clearer. In fact, the cacophony of sound was so loud and becoming extremely disturbing.

 

Thump! Thump! Thump!

 

A loud rhythmic sound akin to the beating of drums was pounding his nerves, giving him a horrible headache. It was so loud as if the volume was turned to max. He felt like he was in a live band, sitting just beside a speaker with an enhanced bass effect.

 

"!!!"

 

Arash was amazed that it was just the sound of his own heart beating.

 

It was beating so vigorously.

 

The loud thump was getting faster and faster at the sudden realization of what he had heard. At this pace, he will be forcefully pulled out by Tok Silihan if he can't slow down his thumping heart. He knew he was getting somewhere. However, whatever he achieved now would be lost if he couldn't control himself and calm down!

 

"Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!"

 

Arash slowly took in the air from his mouth gently while repeating the same mantra as many times as possible. He did it at the same interval to control and calm himself. It was what he always did when he faced 'challenges' at work which could result in losing his temper. It always worked wonders, as he was seen as someone with a calm temperament with a smiling face no matter what kind of insult was hurled at him.

 

Thank goodness the loud thumping sound reduced in frequency and intensity. He could now hear something flowing. To be exact, it's like the sound of a river flowing.

 

Arash concentrated and noticed the flow, starting from the source of the thumping sound. Each thump pushed the flow further into a strong current before it faded, and another thump freshened up the dying flow.

 

It was spectacular! Magical, even! He could sense it clearly, but not really seeing it with his own eyes. It made him confused but in awe at the same time.

 

...Was that really the sound of his blood flowing? Seriously?!

 

Blood was the only liquid that circulated through the heart to flow along the bloodstream before it returned to the heart again. Arash followed the flow movement as it branched out to many canals, moving simultaneously in numerous directions. He followed one canal at random and experienced how the gushing blood moved. The flowing blood moved downwards and cycled up to return to his heart as it acted as a peristaltic pump, pushing the blood through the whole body. It felt like being on a roller coaster ride.

 

He noticed some parts built in pressure along the way with reduced flow speed. It was an anomaly that couldn't be ignored.

 

He sweated slightly as he knew what it might mean.

 

This could be cholesterol deposits inside the blood cell wall. It seemed that he had to go through a proper health check-up and start dieting on oily stuff. At the same time, he was amazed that he could 'feel' his body's internal condition so clearly like this. He didn't know that more than fifty percent of his body's state had been realigned by Tok Silihan during the last time he was nursed back to health. That was why he felt as fit as a fiddle once he got better.

 

Curious, Arash took his time to observe the numerous channels within his body. The circulation always starts from the heart and ends at the heart while passing multiple organs. He identified a few potential health problems along the way. Although Arash was an engineer by profession, he took some supplementation along the way by following the current fad. Indirectly, he learned a thing or two about basic health from Uncle Google most of the time. As he wasn't sure, he kept them in mind first. Later, he planned to get his health concern addressed by professional healthcare personnel once he returned home.

 

...

 

Something was beating again.

 

However, it was inherently different compared to his heart. Although consciously tuned down at the moment, his heart's sound was quite harsh and blaringly loud, like a bass drum.

 

This one was soft and tender. It felt more like a gentle pulse.

 

Arash looked around within him for quite some time and finally found the source of the beat. Something like a node was beating very near to his heart. It wasn't an organ per se. If he wasn't looking, he would've missed it.

 

Truthfully, he wasn't sure what it was.

 

From his senses, he could feel the mysterious node was releasing something like a pulse wave. Soundless, colorless; but it was there. He was very sure of it. Now, since he could sense it, the repeating pulse-like wave was getting clearer.

 

Arash was confused.

 

Was this the spiritual energy that he was supposed to be able to absorb? But it was the other way around. It was very clear that the node was part of him and was sending out some sort of signal, but to attract what?

 

He concentrated and dived deeper to follow the passage of the wave. To his surprise, the wave passed every single organ in his body without affecting anything. It kept on moving towards the outside world.

 

And finally, on the surface of his skin, he could sense the pulse collide with something of similar nature. It wasn't the wet soil, as it wasn't tangible. It had the same kind of feeling as his own 'pulse'.

 

The two different pulses merged with each other to emerge into a new form. This time, the brand new 'pulse' reentered the skin and slowly moved backward.

 

Curious, Arash followed this 'pulse', now moving unhindered with a high speed as compared to the previous movement of the original pulse.

 

Where was it going?

 

As it passed several organs without affecting them either positively or negatively, to Arash's surprise, it returned to the illusive 'node'. When the new pulse entered the node, the transparent node shimmered for a fraction of a second in pastel-colored rainbow lights as if being baptized!

 

Arash was in awe of this newfound occurrence that he wasn't aware of previously. This time he concentrated on this particular event to observe the actual process and realized that there were so many 'pulses' bombarding the node like trailing stars homing for a single point! It was to the point of uncountable! The node shimmered continuously in dazzling pastel-colored lights!

 

At the same time, Arash felt warmth engulfing him from within. It wasn't an actual sensory of the skin, but a kind of fuzzy feeling when he felt relaxed and comfortable. His mind trailed off unconscious to his beloved. The one that always made him relaxed like this was none other than Hana.

 

His transparent node was slowly being tinged by color.

 

Soft pastel rainbow-like color.

 

..

 

"Ah!!!"

 

Hana squeezed her left chest in pain as she gave out a soft yelp. She fell unconscious in between the water spinach herb patch.

 

Shiro, now fully recovered after a few days, quickly dashed towards the unconscious aunty from the other side of the budding rice field terrace.

 

"What happened?" He barked urgently to the pink dolphin, who was in panic.

 

"This humble one didn't know, Lord Brother Shiro! Apologies! The Mistress just fell over when she was looking at the herbs over here. This humble one did her best to cushion the Mistress' fall just now. She didn't stand up again." Saras clicked in anguish and confusion.

 

"No matter! Called Ara over to the Mistress' lair immediately!" He pushed everyone aside and pulled Mom over his back. He ran fast and laid her down over a patch of young leaves covered with Mom's personal worn-out brown sweater, feeling worried. He placed his shaggy head just beside Mom and closed his eyes.

 

He needed to enter the Soul Hall Domain to see her condition.

 

...