"Try the Chant," Lin Hao said.
Lin Meng closed her eyes. She sat cross-legged on the cold metal workbench, her hands resting on her knees. She took a deep breath, seeking the rhythm of the Clear Water Chant that had nearly killed her just twenty-four hours ago.
She visualized the water. She reached out with her mind.
Before, it had felt like trying to pull a heavy rope through a needle's eye.
Now, the rope was gone. The needle was gone.
WHOOSH.
The ambient Reiki in the underground bunker didn't just trickle in; it flooded her. Her new, widened meridians drank it in like a starving man gulping water. The energy surged from her Dantian, racing through the "Common Root" pathways Lin Hao had just purchased.
It was euphoric for exactly one second.
And then, it hit the physical sludge of her mortal body.
The energy was pure. Her body was not. Her cells, her blood, her marrow, they were filled with the toxins of processed food, city smog, and nineteen years of mundane living.
The new, high-pressure Qi slammed into those toxins and decided, violently, to evict them.
"Ngh... AHH!"
Lin Meng's eyes snapped open. Her back arched, her spine popping audibly.
"It burns!" she screamed, clutching her stomach. "Brother, it burns worse than before!"
"It's not the Qi!" Lin Hao shouted over her scream, grabbing her shoulders to keep her from falling off the bench. "It's the filth! Let it out, Meng! Don't hold it in!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
She let out a blood-curdling shriek that echoed off the concrete walls of the vault.
And then, it started.
A foul, acrid smell filled the small space, like rotting eggs mixed with burning rubber.
From the pores of her arms, her neck, and her face, a thick, sticky, black substance began to ooze. It looked like crude oil. It bubbled up from deep within her skin, pushed out by the relentless pressure of the Qi scouring her insides.
She was sweating tar.
"What is happening to me?!" she cried, looking at her hands, which were quickly being coated in the gray-black slime.
"Cleansing," Lin Hao said, his voice calm but intense. He ignored the smell. He ignored the horrifying visual. He held her steady as she convulsed. "Your body is shedding its mortality. It's making room for the power."
DING.
The heavy freight elevator doors at the far end of the vault slid open with a jarring metallic clang.
Fatty Zhang burst out, his face pale, a tire iron in his hand. He had heard the screams all the way from the ventilation shafts in the kitchen.
"Boss?!" Fatty yelled, sprinting across the concrete floor, his Italian loafers skidding. "What's happ..."
He slid to a halt ten feet away, gagging as the smell hit him.
He saw Lin Meng, covered in black sludge, screaming in pain. He saw Lin Hao holding her down.
"Holy shit!" Fatty dropped the tire iron. "Boss! She's... she's melting! Is it radiation?! What did you do?!"
"Stay back, Zhang!" Lin Hao barked, not looking up.
"We need a hospital!" Fatty panicked, pulling out his phone. "I'm calling the private ambulance! The one we bribed!"
"Put the phone away!" Lin Hao commanded. The authority in his voice, the [Level 8] pressure, slammed into Fatty, freezing him in place.
Lin Meng let out one final, shuddering gasp, and then collapsed forward into Lin Hao's arms, limp. The screaming stopped.
The silence that followed was heavy and wet.
"She's... she's dead," Fatty whispered, his eyes wide with horror. "You killed her."
"She's not dead," Lin Hao said.
He gently laid his sister back on the workbench. She was unconscious, breathing deeply and rhythmically. The black grime covered every inch of her skin, matting her hair, ruining her clothes.
But beneath the filth, her chest rose and fell with a strength she had never possessed before.
Lin Hao wiped a smear of the black tar from her forehead, revealing skin that was raw, pink, and terrifyingly pristine.
"She's not dead, Fatty," Lin Hao said, turning to look at his terrified front man. He held up his hand, showing the black sludge.
"This is the cost of entry."
He looked back at his sister.
"She's being reborn."