Hao Xuan's mind focused inward, allowing him to see what was happening inside his body that felt so much weaker than before. And what he saw left him at a loss for words.
The first thing he noticed was the absence of the old network of blood capillaries and arteries that connected thousands of small meridians with the five main ones. It was identical to the blood circulatory system found within any normal human being, present parallel to it.
But that was nowhere to be found now. In its place was a considerably smaller but significantly more 'comprehensive' system of glowing white nerves that connected each of the main meridians.
Speaking of the meridians, they had changed as well in a number of ways. Previously, they looked like large snail shells made by fleshy outgrowths but now, now they resembled tiny living creatures dwelling within Hao Xuan's body.
They still had the same outer spiral pattern but now it was contaminated by a black and white glowing material that formed new cracked patterns within the central spiral design. Each of the meridians looked like they were breathing because of the periodic contraction and expansion of these interlinking cracked patterns.
From Hao Xuan's point of view it looked like the meridians were about to burst open whenever they dilated before suddenly contracting back to their original size and sometimes getting even smaller.
All together this newly formed meridian system was 'smaller' in every meaningful way. There were no other bundles of nerves forming any type of smaller meridians throughout his body. Everything was created around these new meridians, to support them in whatever way they needed.
But there were more of these glowing white nerves than ever before. A lot more. It looked like they had increased by at least three to four times, 'contaminating' every single part of his body from the organs to even the skeletal system.
And for some reason, looking at it Hao Xuan felt like he was watching something otherworldly, as if it was not his own body that housed it all.
And he couldn't understand how it would work either.
Spiritual energy and Qi needed physical vessels to contain and move them. But these glowing nerves weren't hollow so they couldn't do something like that. They could maybe transfer something like electrical impulses but not actual Qi.
And speaking of Qi, he couldn't feel any of the other ones he had cultivated until now. They were all gone.
Hao Xuan's heart started racing and a panic fell over him just thinking about it all. These changes were a lot more extensive than he had initially thought. It looked like his entire cultivation had changed drastically.
Hao Xuan opened his eyes again and returned back to the outer world. He placed his right hand over his chest, feeling the heavy thumping of both his hearts. He was sweating profusely and even started coughing, throwing up small black clots that were stuck inside his throat.
"What...the fuck...happened...?!" he mumbled through heavy breaths.
"Please slow down your heart rates. Putting any further stress on yourself before making a full recovery could prove to be detrimental in the long term," Baracus reminded him again, forcing Hao Xuan to close his eyes for a second time despite the overbearing feeling of dread that was engulfing his mind.
"Patience, breathing, focus. Patience, breathing..." Hao Xuan mumbled repeatedly trying to regain his composure.
He continued to chant this mantra until it actually distracted him enough and he once again calmed down.
Letting out a deep breath, Hao Xuan looked up towards the sky. It was nighttime in this space but it wasn't that dark.
There was a white light falling through the leaves directly on his face, coming from god knows where since there was no sun or moon here. But Hao Xuan didn't complain. He allowed himself this short moment of reprieve that was so hard to come by recently.
Hao Xuan felt the cold wind brush past his cheeks and through his short hair. His mind started wandering and soon, he was thinking about a number of different things before ultimately arriving at the same destination he had been trying so hard to avoid, Xu Qing.
"Damnit, every single time," Hao Xuan mumbled shaking his head dejectedly. Like magic, he always ended up thinking about her whenever he was free.
He reached out and grabbed a handful of dried foods from the pile in front of him before throwing them inside his mouth without much thought. He had already eaten enough to satisfy several full-grown men but it felt like a drop in the ocean for him. He didn't 'feel' full no matter how much he ate which agitated him more.
But in the hour or so Hao Xuan had been resting, he had regained a fair bit of blood energy just from eating like this. His muscles that were previously non-existent seemed to recover a tad bit, making him look more human at least.
Hao Xuan closed his eyes for the third time, this time entering his Mind Palace. He braced himself for disappointment thinking things would probably have changed in here too and he was right.
Hao Xuan appeared near the outer edge of the mind palace. Slowly opening his eyes he saw the same old scenery from before, the podium in the center and the three closed doors on the opposite end. His severs sleeping or sitting idly by in their usual spots other than the Scorpion King who was standing not too far from him.
Hao Xuan frowned seeing his unusual behavior and walked up to him with slow, measured steps.
"What's going on?"