Even with Sister Nuan’s trust in what I’ve already told her and what she’s seen, I can see a little worry on her face.

“I’ll be able to finish this in two to three days, actually. And I’ll be moving to the next rank as I do so, as I’ll finally be cultivating while healing.”

She nods, but speaks out in a low voice, even in the private area.

“It’s not you I’m worried about, but the people coming in. And from the word I’ve received from my contacts… some of them may know that you can heal them beyond their current status. Even I can’t suppress that many high status and well-informed people.”

That’s a good point…

I may need to keep myself separate from them, to reduce the chance they can get in contact with me.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. What would you suggest we do?”

It only takes a second for her to answer.

“You can use your cultivation techniques at a good distance, right? Would you still be able to do the expected level of healing a few rooms away?”

Just what I was thinking.

“Yes, though it would be slower from the distance and maintaining the external qi.”

Another large smile shines out, and she nods triumphantly.

“As expected from my disciple. Then, I will have the patients in the next room over and will attach these two for the qi transfer.”

Qi transfer?

Ah. That’s what she means.

Sister Nuan moves over to the door to peek out at the four healers waiting outside.

“Hey. Bring the patients to the room across from us and have them setup on the table in there. And you, go prepare the ro…”

She promptly directs the healers to perform a variety of tasks. Guiding them on the proper protocols, emphasizing the importance of patient traffic and limiting contact throughout the healing process.

With them scrambling to get things done, Sister Nuan closes the door again, but this time, a flurry of symbols shimmers between her palms. The seriousness of the action raises the tension between my shoulders.

Right after completing it, she hands me a jade slip. It’s similarity to the one I received from the Dragon in the Library, tells me all I need to know about it.

“I meant to give this to you earlier. This will let us stay in contact, over distances.

“For now, I’ll be using the closed-door cultivation syst… ah, right. This will be your first time doing that.”

I see her point at a white panel next to the door. A few seconds after, an empty checkbox appears on the panel, which has a question mark on it.

Sister Nuan replaces the checkmark in it, as if confirming something.

“This is one of the simple communication methods used to communicate with someone in closed-door cultivation. It allows the person outside to still communicate agreed upon actions, without interrupting a key moment. Here, the question mark represents whether to send the next patient into the other room. Our checkmark is to confirm that decision.

“And when we are finished healing them, we’ll draw a circle around the checkmark, leading them to move them out of the room and prepare the next patient.”

She gestures to the surrounding vents, on the walls, ceiling, and floor.

“These will be where you send out your qi from, to reach other areas. Of course, if you are able, you can send it out through the walls. However, that would be quite a bit tougher.”

That makes sense to me. I suppose the only thing left is getting started then.

I shift my body around a bit on the ground to get in a comfortable position. Since this will take a while, with Sister Nuan taking care of the other aspects, it’s best to reduce any distractions to the best of my ability.

Reaching out with my scan, I can see the first person, a much older man, who wasn’t part of the group waiting outside the hospital room. As they stripped him down to just a light medical garment, I can’t tell his situation just based on his clothes.

But that isn’t the most interesting thing in the room.

Leaning against one wall is the elder and the vice leader of this hospital, who was questioning me earlier.

Master Flowing Waters.

One healer was keeping him informed, and that he wanted to see how my distanced healing holds up.

Guess I should show him something good.

Not that it changes anything here.

Thus, beginning my foray back into actual cultivation.

Something I haven’t approached since my time back at the teleportation gate in front of the guards there.

I start with diaphragmatic breathing.

In…. Out. In… Out.

Within this, I switch over to a variety of other breathing techniques while circulating my qi within my body.

Flowing in through my twelve meridians, going between each other into the eight connecting ones, they intertwine, as it all moves as a coherent, continuous stream. Just as it should.

And this, all the while bringing in the dense qi outside of my body, into it. Methodically assimilating it into the cycle.

Like a whirlpool, I sense the ambient qi in the area being drawn to me in large quantities. With the benefit of this room becoming apparent, as it is meant to be an area that continuously collects ambient qi.

Some of the qi naturally escapes, but I still trap a significant quantity of qi within my dantians and meridians. Bringing anything left back in, in addition to another heavy dose.

While I’ve been circulating qi and using it for healing people before, I’ve purposefully not been storing it. I bet the amount of qi I’m absorbing right now is shocking, even Sister Nuan right now.

A peek at her confirms my suspicions as her eyes are locked on me.

“I’m going to start now.”

I speak out to give her a heads up.

While still circulating, I extend out a thread of my qi up towards the ceiling vent, not bothering to make it shine like normal.

Just to do this, even in the most efficient configuration, has caused me to need to strain my qi reserves. I have four units of qi and every single drop is going toward allowing me to move it in this way. All my other qi abilities, like hiding from spiritual sense or a slight qi shield, have been put to the side to support this.

Since this technique goes from the outside to the inside, unlike the healing aura’s inside to outside approach… there’s actually a travel time involved with it. The technique actually has to get to the person before reaching and affecting them. Later ones won’t have such restrictions, but at least for now, it’s a concern to keep in mind.

With careful movements, I lead the strand through the vent and toward the other room containing the patient.

As it emerges from that room’s vent, I can tell Master Flowing Waters is observing its actions. Since my perception should only be tied to the thread itself, I use this as a chance to practice the technique in a deeper way.

Forgoing my typical use of the scan to see the area, I focus my attention on the strand of qi. A whole other world opens to me, using it.

It’s not spiritual sense, so I can’t see or sense anything with it. But within it, I get a sense of where the people are that need to be healed. Giving me a very limited idea of the situation.

Utilizing this, I direct it straight toward the patient. Right as it touches the patient, I confidently direct it to cover the body entirely.

Another patient lays here. Conscious, and not in terrible condition. An easy heal. A purposeful choice by Master Flowing Waters.

As my healing technique gets to work moving throughout his body, I take some satisfaction at the ease that it moves and the shock on the observing elder’s face.

And most importantly, the absolutely insane amount of cultivation speed increase that I’m receiving, the second that I started working on the injuries.

…the train of healing begins.