Published at 29th of July 2022 1:12 am

Chapter 24 - New Mission

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The way Gongyi Tianheng handled his affairs was always decisive. Gu Zuo was a person with a one-track mind, who was determined to succeed. Two people took some time to briefly discuss their main objectives. Naturally, they wouldn't be staying in this Cangyun City for a long time.

The following day or two, besides Tianheng taking his medicinal food to nourish his body, he spent the rest of the time with his parents' household and watched over his siblings. Afterwards, he bid farewell to his numerous relatives.

The family head had a deep understanding of Gongyi Tianheng's personality. He didn't have much reservations in keeping them there, so on a bright and sunny morning, Gu Zuo and Tianheng both retuned to their courtyard.

…Here, it was still desolate and empty, but all at once, Gu Zuo became relaxed.

Because Gu Zuo promised his patron before, he didn't rest after returning. There were the sounds of rustling in the study room as he wrote several lists; each list was densely packed with medicinal ingredients — This time around, there weren't any that were for Gu Zuo's pill refining. Rather, they were all for his patron's health.

Gongyi Tianheng was also unambiguous. He placed his full support behind Gu Zuo's efforts. After his eyes swept through the lists, he ordered the Tianlong Guard intermediaries to go arrange matters. All expenditures were paid for by his own personal storehouse, as to not tip off his Clansmen.

The Tianlong Guard were also very capable. It wasn't long before all the medicinal ingredients were hauled back without a hitch.

After Gu Zuo got everything, he naturally displayed his skills.

Currently, he wanted to refine a medicinal decoction known as the > [1].

As the name implied, it required forty nine phantom tortoise eggs and shells, as well as over one hundred distinct medicinal ingredients as accompaniment. After sautéing, he used the minor art > to neutralize the medicinal properties and refine the medicinal decoction in a large cauldron. It was used to consolidate one's meridians.

The effect of this medicinal decoction was to raise the strength of the meridians so that when the time came, the impact of the medicinal pills and cuisine wouldn't rupture the meridians.

Of course, it was only now that Gu Zuo dared use this kind of medicinal decoction. Another reason was because his patron's initial treatment was already more than halfway done.

As early as before participating in the Clan War, Gongyi Tianheng was already starting the next step of his treatment. Every day he had to endure violent pain and the sensations of his meridians on fire. He didn't miss a single session during the past few days of the Clan War.

Thus, there was already a tiny, imperceptible flow of qi within his meridians. And some meridians had qi slowly moving through them… Although the blockages hadn't been removed, the meridians were capable of allowing some subtle medicinal properties to pass through.

This was a good start.

And Gu Zuo's way of doing things meant directly stimulating the meridians.

His strategy was safeguarded by the Baby Tortoise Hardened Meridian Decoction.

However, the medicinal decoction's refinement was still very difficult.

In particular, this kind of decoction was one of the most difficult ones among the human-level prescriptions. Although Gu Zuo could already refine seven cauldrons of medicinal pills a day, the large amounts of energy consumed had never matched today's requirements. After successfully refining, there was a feeling of total exhaustion from his soul force from head to toe.

Gu Zuo didn't entertain too many thoughts and only wiped away his sweat. With his pale complexion, he quickly instructed Dragon Two to prepare purified water and a bath tub [2]. Then, Gu Zuo blended the decoction and water together using Winter Plum Flowering Viewing to evenly distribute the recuperative medicinal properties.

Afterwards, with a weight lifted from his shoulders, he opened his mouth: “Young master Tianheng, go take off your clothes and get in. Remember to sit halfway in so that the medicinal decoction soaks you up to your collarbone, but don't slip.”

Gongyi Tianheng was standing on the side watching the whole time. After he heard this, he waved his hand and ordered the Tianlong Guard to leave.

Dragon One and Dragon Two were completely loyal. They obeyed his order and left.

Immediately, Tianheng took off his clothes.

Based on a medical professional's mindset, Gu Zuo didn't feel there were any taboos to be avoided between two men. This also was why he wasn't burdened by such things. When he saw Gongyi Tianheng's body, he was only alarmed.

— His outward appearance was completely unlike a Mr. Perfect. His bone structure wasn't lacking, but his skin was pale. He looked like he'd lost weight.

This actually wasn't unexpected. He couldn't help thinking: If his patron's family wasn't rich, and they didn't try to think of every possible method day after day to make Tianheng eat good things, he was afraid that the consequences of his blocked meridians wouldn't merely be just losing weight.

Despite thinking this, Gu Zuo's face didn't reveal his surprise. He only felt increasing pity for his patron in his heart, but Gu Zuo didn't deliberately sympathize with him.

His patron was the type of person who hated sympathy the most…

Sure enough, without the slightest hesitation, after Gongyi Tianheng freely took off his inner and outer robes, he climbed into the bath tub to sit down.

The medicinal decoction instantly soaked his body, and directly reached his neck line just to his collarbone. He stopped to adjust his position and smoothly sat upright. Meanwhile, a mellow and rich medicinal power immediately penetrated his pores and perfused throughout his whole body.

It seemed like that boundless medicinal power already adhered to Tianheng's meridians in an instant. With unceasing stimulation, it made one feel the suffering of countless stabbing pins and needles rapidly engulf the body from top to bottom!

Gongyi Tianheng's complexion was deathly pale. Huge beads of sweat formed runnels on his cheeks and dripped off.

Gu Zuo didn't dare neglect anything. He fetched a hand towel long ago in preparation, and wiped his dear patron clean.

Tianheng's fingers clenched into fists beneath the decoction, but his whole body nevertheless slightly leaned against the wall of the tub without a hint of any peculiar movement. While his expression was tranquil, due to the dense steam, his pitch-black eyes made one feel like they were even darker and more profound than usual.

However, there wasn't any doubt that the depths of those pitch-black eyes were pulsing with a kind of ecstasy.

Tianheng could sense his meridians strengthening. The warmth that flowed through his body became burning hot!

As for the pain…

The margin of Gongyi Tianheng's lips slowly exposed the hint of a smile.

It was extremely disturbing.

The greater the pain, the more delighted he became!

Gu Zuo wiped away the first wave of sweat from Tianheng's face, whose eyes became bright — It looked like there was a strange power brewing within his body. Continuous streams of qi flowed above the medicinal decoction. It seemed like there were countless bolts of richly colored cloth fluttering in the air.

Very good. The medicinal properties were still stable… In that case, he would go to work on the second item.

He quietly said: “Young master Tianheng, I'm going to give you a dish of medicinal cuisine. You must endure this by all means.”

Gongyi Tianheng's eyes moved imperceptibly and fell on Gu Zuo. He opened his mouth very slowly: “Okay.”

Gu Zuo couldn't help smiling, and psyched himself up [3]. He quickly returned to the secret room.

He'd been refining “meals of organic harmony” for a long time and could be considered skillful. After he came back to carefully deliberate, he increased the medicinal properties to the limits of his patron's endurance — That's right. For whatever reason, ever since he started refining medicine, he always had a kind of intuition of how medical properties affected people. Just as he used to be in modern times, he seemed to be able to sense something from medicinal ingredients, but now, this perception was even more obvious.

It was very odd, but also very useful for him.

Not long after, Gu Zuo arrived at the side of the bath tub, carrying a bowl of medicinal cuisine. He held the handle of a spoon, and quickly called out: “Young master Tianheng, take your medicine.”

Gongyi Tianheng heard about Gu Zuo raising the subject of this process long ago. At this time, he bore this pain and opened his eyes: “…That's inconvenient.”

His voice was somewhat rough, but it carried an undertone of sex appeal. Compared to his normally gentle words, it could attract people even more.

However, Gu Zuo currently didn't pay attention to that sort of thing. He was very nervous and took this seriously. With a steady hand, he ladled out a spoonful of medicinal cuisine and delivered it to Tianheng's lips.

Right now, Gongyi Tianheng…only had the strength to open his mouth.

Fortunately, the cuisine entered his mouth and didn't make him spill too much.

At this time, the heat flowing through his belly suddenly became fierce.

For each meridian, from the outside it was like being turned into a pincushion, and from the inside it was like a fire was burning. It caused Tianheng extreme pain.

After Gu Zuo fed him, even though Gongyi Tianheng had an astonishing fortitude, he couldn't help but crease his eyebrows.

However, he merely frowned. Nothing more.

Gu Zuo felt admiration in his heart.

He didn't know how painful it was…but he had a rough idea of how bad it was based on Tianheng's reaction. Moreover, he'd be seeing this kind of situation every day in the future.

Right when he was accompanying his patron to endure, several lines of text suddenly appeared in his mind.

[Long term mission: Thirty strands of medicinal qi every month to maintain system function.]

[Mission prop: >.] [4]

[Completion mode: Daily.]

[Completion time: No limit.]

[Failure penalty: Obliteration.]

Unexpectedly, the system that hadn't responded for quite a long time, once again showed its sense of existence?

Gu Zuo couldn't help but stare blankly.

Speaking of which…ever since he removed the threat to his life, he quickly forgot that the system even existed.

Last time, after he completed his mission, he didn't know how to ask whether the “medicinal qi” could be accumulated. Then, he subconsciously felt that gathering medicinal qi was unlikely to be the only requirement for a month. Only, he didn't expect the system to release a long term mission.

In addition, what was a >? It didn't sound like it was necessary for medicine refining. On the contrary, it seemed a little like…a martial skill. But, did pharmacists have martial skills?

Subsequently, Gu Zuo recalled a certain matter.

He remembered that on the second day of his arrival, Gu Zuo intended to tell his patron about the existence of the system. Besides wanting smart people to help in its analysis, it was also for the sake of paving the way for future missions later on… However, he was preoccupied with finding a treatment method for his patron and completely forgot to confess.

Up until now, his patron probably still only believed that he obtained the three prop books through a fated meeting…

Gu Zuo was very embarrassed.

Otherwise, wouldn't taking the chance to tell his patron while he was soaking in the medical decoction just scatter his attention?

Thinking about this matter in particular, he took a look at the > from his storage space. After discovering that the thing inside was completely incomprehensible [5], he was even more resolute.

Some things had their specialized field of study!

Medicine refinement was his specialty, and using his brain…was his patron's specialty.

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>>

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[1] 龟胎固脉汤 - Gui tai gu mai tang, direct translation.

[2] This isn't a modern bath tub that has low walls and a wide basin. Rather, it looks like a drum barrel, with high walls and a small circumference just enough for one person. Although, I can't tell if there's a built in seat for Tianheng, or if he's sitting directly on the base.

[3] 鼓了鼓劲 - Gu le gu jing, to bestir oneself or pull oneself together.

[4] 锥神刺 - zhui (cone, awl) shen (deity, spirit) ci (thorn, sting, prick, pierce). An awl is a needle-like tool used in leather working.

[5] 神神叨叨 - Shen shen dao dao, derived from 神秘兮兮 (exaggerated mystery) and 絮絮叨叨 (to talk endlessly without getting to the point).

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T/N: Haha. Our gong really is a masochist, isn't he?

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