I am alive

Roar!

The river turned hostile and water currents smacked them one after another.

The sky thundered as a sudden burst of torrential rain came down from the heavens. The wind took on a sudden burst as it turned ferocious. Feng Ye Isey stretched towards Qin Ru to tell her to stay up for safety, but she failed and they both toppled under the force of water. Feng Ye Isey without any hesitation, held her body tightly before she could drown underwater. He swam with powerful strokes and made his way to the shore. He had to use all this considerable strength to pull her to the surface despite being buoyed by the water.

He positioned himself behind her and wrapped one arm around her chest as he used his other arm to swim towards the bank. Qin Ru's weight made it very exhausting work, but he was still able to pull her. As they reached the shore, Feng Ye Isey laid unconscious Qin Ru on the ground. He started pressing her chest in a quick rhythmic motion, but nothing happened. His anxiousness kicked in. Without any delay, he covered her lips with his own and breathed hard into her mouth. He repeated the same procedure all over again. After several rounds of giving in oxygen, Qin Ru suddenly coughed up a considerable amount of water and woke up with a start. At first, she was disoriented but she quickly regained her wits and turned abruptly towards Feng Ye Isey.

"I am alive" She whispered.

A surprised Feng Ye Isey supported Qin Ru back as he said gently "you need to relax". Agreeing with him, she again went unconscious. It was still raining so Feng Ye Isey carried her on his back. Firstly, he needs to do something about their wet clothes, or they will catch a fever. Feng Ye Isey surveyed the area. Without any delay, he brought out his tiny dagger and cut various plants with big leaves to build a make-shift umbrella for them.

He picked up unconscious Qin Ru and bolted towards their home. He took a shortcut which was a forest path. Due to trees, the rain did not hit them directly. He gave a hard kick to the horse and continued their journey back home.

This time it took only 20 minutes. He climbed down with Qin Ru clung on his back.

Knock knock.

"Coming" voice of an old lady reverberated from inside.

Ye Shi was shocked to see Feng Ye Isey drenched thoroughly while holding a lady in his arms who had been also drenched from head to toe.

"What happened?" she anxiously asked.

Feng Ye Isey did not have the time for an explanation as Qin Ru was burning with temperature.

"Mother, please prepare a hot bath and some clothes for her." He put her down on the couch and noticed Ye Shi hovering over unconscious Qin Ru. Worry was written on her face.

He stopped mid-way.

"Mother, forget it. I will prepare hot water and clothes in the meantime you please help her with bath and changing clothes."

"Okay" Ye Shi nodded without any hesitation.

Feng Ye Isey went to the guestroom. His house was not big but was well equipped with necessities. The guest room had a bathroom attached to it, but it was small. When he saw the small water tub, he changed his mind. He went back to his bedroom and filled the water tub. His room was the spacious one in the entire house with a large bathroom.

The cold water flowed through the pipe and the tub got filled to its brim. He turned around and dashed to its shelf. Rummaging inside it, a smile came on his lips when he found three heat stones there.

Heat stones were rare. Only people with a considerable amount of wealth were able to afford it but Feng Ye Isey was in rags. His financial condition was good if compared to any ordinary household, but he was dirt poor when compared to other officials. There was no way he could have afforded it.

Heat stones were an expensive resource that was painstakingly excavated from the dangerous volcanic plane. One of the reasons it was expensive was due to the risk factor. Another was because of the spiritual energy present inside it. Under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, spiritual energy was plentiful there. Volcanoes are in fact a source for spiritual powers. Hence, the rocks present there for millennia have been absorbing the spiritual energy thus had transformed into spiritual rocks, called as heat rocks. Capable of producing immense heat.

Nevertheless, those rocks are located deep inside the mouth of the volcano, thus traders used to only excavate stones from the surface and used tricks to convert those rocks into heat rocks. Though they were low-grade rocks, yet by some minor mending, they still perform a realistic alternative.

However, not everyone got the skill or knowledge to generate heat stones. There were several factors for choosing and fusing them. The particular single most significant feature of a rock that must keep heat is the way of measuring its specific heat capacity. The particular second most significant feature of a rock used for ingesting heat is density. For two stone materials with the same specific heat, the denser rock will be smaller and keep the same temperature energy. This provides a number that shows how well a rock can store heat if every rock is the same size. The particular stone with the best energy density will have the finest ability to soak up heat, for a given thickness or size. For common natural materials, the stones with the best energy density are gypsum, soapstone, basalt, marble, limestone, sandstone, and granite.