"You did well, Ji’an," the General whispered into the quiet room, a fierce, protective tear finally escaping the corner of his eye. "You survived. Sleep now. Father has the watch."

Outside the estate, the storm had passed.

But as the General sat guarding his daughter, he knew that the true tempest, the princes, the demons, and the forces that had driven her to become so impossibly strong, was only just beginning. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

***

For the first time since she had transmigrated into this chaotic, heavily contrived, and highly lethal web novel universe, Lin Ji’an slept with no defense mechanisms active.

She did not set a proximity ward, nor kept her Black Iron Spatula under her pillow.

And slept without the tight, suffocating, rib-crushing linen chest binder that had served as the constant reminder of her disguise.

The mattress in General Lin Tianzong’s private sanctum was an engineering marvel of comfort.

It was stuffed with the down feathers of Cloud-Swans and draped in blankets woven from temperature-regulating Fire-Silk and Frost-Cotton.

It was a bed designed to soothe the battered, aching muscles of a man who spent nine months out of the year sleeping in muddy military trenches.

For Ji’an, it was a mini paradise.

She slept through the night till morning, all the way till early afternoon. Her body, completely exhausted by the relentless, grinding compression of the Qi, the psychological warfare with Xiao Yichen, and the subterranean dungeon raid, essentially went into a state of restorative hibernation.

When Ji’an finally, reluctantly dragged her consciousness out of the dark, velvety void, the golden light of the late-afternoon sun streamed through the carved wooden lattices of the windows.

She stretched, a long, full-body extension that sent a symphony of satisfying pops and cracks to echo down her spine.

She took a deep, unrestricted breath, reveling in the glorious, unimpeded expansion of her lungs.

’I am alive,’ Ji’an thought, rubbing her eyes and sitting up against the plush headboard. ’I didn’t get harvested by a perverted vampire, didn’t get assassinated by a crazy prince. And my ribs are no longer plotting a mutiny against my sternum.’

She looked down at her hands.

The bruises and cuts from the dungeon had completely healed, thanks to the residual healing properties of her Harmonious Five-Grain Qi.

She felt incredibly light, yet dense. The grueling combat and the stress of the journey had acted as a catalyst, forcefully integrating the chaotic Qi she had absorbed during her training.

She felt vigorous. Her meridians were humming with so much compressed kinetic energy that she felt like a shaken bottle of highly carbonated spirit-wine just waiting for the cork to pop.

Before she could contemplate getting out of bed, the heavy, iron-reinforced door of the bedchamber clicked open.

General Lin stepped into the room.

The War God of the Azure Empire was no longer wearing his terrifying, unpolished spirit-iron armor. He wore a loose, comfortable martial arts tunic of dark grey cotton.

His stark white hair was tied back in a simple, less severe tail.

Without the armor and the bloodlust, the sharp, aristocratic handsomeness he had passed down to his children was glaringly evident.

He looked like a very large, dangerous, but domestic silver fox.

And, in a sight so profoundly incongruous that Ji’an actually blinked twice to ensure she wasn’t hallucinating, the supreme commander of the imperial armies was carrying a delicate, lacquered wooden breakfast tray.

"You are awake," General Lin rumbled, his deep voice automatically softening as he closed the door behind him with his foot. He walked over to the bed, setting the tray down on the bedside table with startling gentleness. "You slept for over twenty hours. I was beginning to consider calling the imperial physicians to check your condition."

Ji’an pulled the silk quilt up to her collarbone, a warm, genuine smile breaking across her face.

"I was just catching up on a month’s worth of missed sleep, Dad," Ji’an chuckled, her voice thick with sleep. She looked at the tray. "Is that... room service?"

General Lin crossed his massive arms over his broad chest, looking incredibly intimidating and awkward. "The kitchens prepared it hours ago. I kept it warm over a small Qi-flame. You are entirely depleted of your Qi, so I guessed you need nourishment before you even think about standing up."

Ji’an leaned over to inspect the tray. It was a lavish spread.

There was a bowl of fragrant, slow-simmered abalone congee, a plate of steamed crystal shrimp dumplings, sweet pickled radishes, and a pot of high-grade spiritual green tea.

The Head Chef inside Ji’an immediately evaluated the meal.

’The congee is slightly over-simmered, the rice grains have lost their distinct structural integrity. The dumpling wrappers are a millimeter too thick, preventing the shrimp from shining through. The radishes lack the proper balance of black vinegar,’ her culinary mind critiqued mercilessly.

But as she looked up at her father, this terrifying, legendary warlord who had personally stood over a fire to keep a bowl of porridge warm for her, the critique completely evaporated.

It was the best meal she had ever had.

"Thank you," Ji’an said softly.

She reached for the bowl, but General Lin’s large, calloused hand intercepted hers.

"Stay under the covers," the General ordered gently.

He picked up the porcelain bowl and the silver spoon himself, then sat down on the edge of the mattress, the bed creaking under his immense weight.

He scooped a spoonful of the congee, blew on it with careful, measured breaths, and held it out toward her mouth.

Ji’an stared at the spoon, then she stared up at her father.

"Dad," Ji’an said, her cheeks flushing a brilliant shade of crimson. "I am already sixteen years old. I am a Third Generation Martial Uncle of the Celestial Sword Sect. I literally caved a man’s skull in yesterday. I can feed myself just fine, you don’t need to..."

"You are my child, and you look like a strong breeze could snap you in half," General Lin retorted, entirely unbothered by her martial credentials.