Xu Shu had just gone through a sleepless night.
Everyone else had stopped, worn out and gone to sleep, but he kept coughing up blood.
By morning, with the sun three poles high, the "Sunrise, Resurrection of All Things" from the Tai Chu Scroll had already refreshed once, adding +3 to today's opening count, he was still coughing up blood.
He had coughed from evening until morning, and from morning till noon, with no rest in between.
By the afternoon, Xu Shu's lips were trembling, and at last, he stopped.
His face was deathly pale, like a junkie who had cut off his supply on the first day, hunched over the toilet, heaving for a long time, vomiting bitter bile.
Then, he just lay there on the floor, like a fish flipped on its back, gasping for air.
Turning his head, he saw the green crystals wrapped in little green lace next to him, seven of them lying there, trembling like seven little gourds, as if beckoning Xu Shu.
