“It is still early; why are you asking about this now?”
“Still early? How early is ‘early’?”
Lin Xueqing was stunned for a moment, appearing somewhat shocked. “I thought that once the meridians were repaired, His Honor would be able to walk like a normal person.”
Feng Ruyu replied, “If you mean standing or walking for a brief moment, then yes, that is possible. But to move as freely as a normal person? I’m afraid that won’t work yet.”
“Why is that?”
“…You silly boy, do you think that once those meridians are sewn together, they can be used immediately? Don’t they need time to grow back together?”
Lin Xueqing blinked his eyes, thirsting for knowledge as he looked at Feng Ruyu. “Lord Ghost Doctor, could you explain this in detail? I really don’t understand it well.”
He had been full of joy, thinking that once the twenty-one days were up and the meridian stitching was complete, Ye Mingjing would be able to successfully rid himself of the wheelchair.
But hearing Feng Ruyu’s meaning now—it still wouldn’t work? He still had to wait?
But wait for how long?
Feng Ruyu hadn’t intended to explain much to Lin Xueqing, but the journey from the back mountain back to the valley was quite boring, so they chatted as they walked:
“First of all, this matter of sewing meridians is not something that can be completed in a single go.”
“The human body has a total of fourteen meridians. Even if a Great Golden Immortal descended today, it would be impossible to sew all fourteen at once! Therefore, during the first treatment fourteen days from now, I can only sew twelve for him—that is, first sewing the Twelve Primary Meridians responsible for the circulation of Qi, blood, and spiritual energy.”
“Once the Twelve Primary Meridians are sewn, his body can become like that of an ordinary person—Qi and blood will flow smoothly, and spiritual energy will meet no obstacles. But at that time, I’m afraid he still won’t be able to stand up. Because there are still two important vessels, the Ren Vessel and the Du Vessel, which will remain severed.”
“The Ren and Du vessels—one is located on the front midline of the human body, and the other is on the back midline. For a person to move freely, to rise and walk, and for a cultivator to advance in their cultivation level, it all depends on these two vessels being unobstructed.”
“Therefore, he must soak in the medicinal bath for another twenty-one days. After those twenty-one days, I will begin sewing these two vessels.”
“If these two vessels are sewn well, he can do as I said earlier—he can stand and walk briefly like an ordinary person. But think about it: can meridians that have been stitched with so many needles be as durable as natural meridians?”
“If he had a Golden Core, it would be a different story; by relying on spiritual power and cultivation, walking would naturally be no problem. But his Golden Core is also shattered, so it still won’t work. He must take medicine—lots of medicine—and then slowly wait for the silk threads of the Ten-Star Silkworms to fuse as one with his own meridians. Only then will he be able to walk normally.”
After listening, Lin Xueqing fell silent for a while.
He did not complain about why it would take so long, nor did he ask Feng Ruyu: Hasn’t Ye Mingjing waited for a hundred years? Is that not enough? Why must he wait longer?
He knew there was no point in asking those things.
So, he only softly asked another question:
“In other words, if the Golden Core is also repaired, he will be able to recover like a normal person, right?”
Feng Ruyu was startled. “To put it that way is not wrong. But why do you want him to stand up so badly?”
Lin Xueqing curled his lips, and only then did a smile reappear on his face. He laughed and said, “Then that’s good.”
However, he did not answer Feng Ruyu’s question.
Feng Ruyu felt a bit suspicious in his heart.
But on second thought, forget it—this silly boy had always been this foolish.
The silly boy was putting his heart and soul into Ye Mingjing’s affairs; it was only natural for him to hope Ye Mingjing would recover sooner.
It was just that… if Ye Mingjing truly recovered, the cultivation world would likely fall into great chaos.
But thinking of this, Feng Ruyu did not feel panicked; instead, he felt a faint sense of anticipation.
How chaotic would it become?
He would wait and see.
Seven days later.
It was another round of changing the medicine.
Once this round of medicine change ended, only the final round of medicinal baths would remain before the Meridian Stitching Technique could be performed.
However, the Meridian Stitching Technique was truly an act against heaven; the requirements for the practitioner’s cultivation and experience were unprecedentedly high.
Therefore, after this round of medicine change ended, Feng Ruyu chose to go into secluded cultivation.
“I must go into seclusion for seven days to properly conserve my energy and build up my strength. See you in seven days.”
Lin Xueqing naturally nodded and agreed. “Alright, Lord Ghost Doctor. Is there anything I need to prepare in advance?”
Feng Ruyu thought for a moment and handed Lin Xueqing a book. “Follow the array formation in this book and set up a Spirit Stone Array in the cave dwelling on the back mountain, with Ye Mingjing as the center of the array.”
“A Spirit Stone Array?”
“Yes, using the kind of Spirit Stones you have in your ring,” Feng Ruyu said.
“Understood, leave it to me.”
“Then prepare some extra Spirit Stones. When I begin the stitching, if you see the Spirit Stones are nearly exhausted, hurry and replace them with new ones for me.”
Lin Xueqing asked, “Is the stitching technique very taxing on spiritual power?”
Feng Ruyu showed a look of terror. “It’s not just ‘taxing’!”
“Furthermore, while I am stitching, I cannot pause halfway. Therefore, you must ensure that during these three days, no one comes to disturb us.”
“What? Three days?!”
“At least.”
Lin Xueqing also sucked in a breath of cold air, but he quickly calmed down. “Alright, I will handle this as well. I will find people to guard the outside of the cave dwelling; even if the sky falls, it must not affect the inside of the cave in the slightest.”
“Good, very well. Then these matters are entrusted to you.”
Having said that, Feng Ruyu turned and left to enter seclusion.
As soon as Feng Ruyu left, Lin Xueqing took the Spirit Stones and the book and began to study.
After all, Lin Xueqing had never set up an array before. It was always good to study it beforehand, lest he have to start setting it up in the cave and end up making a fool of himself in front of Ye Mingjing.
But after studying for a while, Lin Xueqing felt it wasn’t working.
He couldn’t study it like this.
Because for an array formation, the most important thing was to determine the center of the array. Without a center, no matter how Lin Xueqing placed the Spirit Stones, they would just be a pile of shiny rocks.
So, he still had to go inside the cave dwelling to study it.
But going into the cave… wouldn’t he encounter Ye Mingjing?
Just thinking about this made Lin Xueqing want to retreat. After all, the embarrassment of the last time he helped Ye Mingjing into the medicine pool was still fresh in his mind.
Several days had passed since then.
Whenever Lin Xueqing dreamed, he still dreamed of that scene.
It was too awkward—so awkward that he didn’t know how to face Ye Mingjing now.
The last time they changed the medicine, Feng Ruyu was there, so it was a bit better.
Moreover, at that time, Ye Mingjing appeared to be resting, showing no signs of opening his eyes at all.
But this time, he had to go alone.
What if he went over and Ye Mingjing suddenly opened his eyes?
“Can I send someone else?”
Lin Xueqing couldn’t help but think this.
Sending ordinary servants definitely wouldn’t work; they didn’t understand how to set up arrays at all. If he were to speak of it, his two cousins, Lin Feng and Lin Hai, were the most suitable.
Both were from the Lin family, they were very tight-lipped, and they had Golden Core stage cultivation. They would surely set up the Spirit Stone Array quickly and well, far better than Lin Xueqing.
But…
“Never mind, I’ll go myself.”
He couldn’t say what kind of psychological state he was in.
It was just that Lin Xueqing felt that compared to letting others see Ye Mingjing’s body, it was better to gamble on the hope that Ye Mingjing wouldn’t wake up.
Thus, having prepared himself mentally and gathered the Spirit Stones, Lin Xueqing walked into the small cave dwelling with a trembling heart.
The interior of the small cave dwelling was still the same as before.
It was shrouded in mist.
However, from the last time he came to change the medicine, Lin Xueqing had already learned a few tricks from Feng Ruyu. After mimicking him by chanting a few incantations and lightly waving his sleeve, the mist obediently dispersed.
Once the mist cleared, Lin Xueqing naturally greeted him respectfully first.
“Your Honor, excuse the interruption. I am here to set up a Spirit Stone Array for the Ghost Doctor to use during the treatment in a few days.”
There was no response.
That was certain.
The last two times they came to change the medicine, Ye Mingjing hadn’t reacted at all.
But as a precaution, Lin Xueqing still asked first.
After a moment.
Until he confirmed that Ye Mingjing had no objections, he then looked up at Ye Mingjing and said cautiously, “Then I shall begin setting it up?”
Ye Mingjing still did not react.
His eyes were tightly shut.
His entire body from the shoulders down was submerged in the thick, black medicinal bath. At this moment, he looked like a statue carved from white jade.
However, the “statue” only had a head visible.
At first glance, it was even a bit terrifying.
Lin Xueqing talked to himself: “Alright, then I’ll begin.”
Saying so, he started to move. One hand held the book for reference, while the other held a Spirit Stone as he began searching for the positions.
“Qian is South, Kan is West… the next one is, hmm, is Zhen Northeast?”
“Where was Zhen Northeast again?”
Lin Xueqing scratched his head and flipped to the first page of the book for the hundred and fifty-first time to reconfirm the directions.
This process repeated an unknown number of times.
Lin Xueqing himself didn’t find it troublesome.
Since he had started cultivating, his patience had improved significantly. After all, when a cultivator meditated to circulate spiritual Qi, they might sit for three or four days, repeating a single movement thousands of times.
Now, setting up an array—it was only a few hundred repetitions.
It was still quite early.
However, during the two hundred and thirty-second time, the person in the medicine pool could no longer bear it and secretly opened a pair of narrow phoenix eyes.
“An array is not set up like that,” Ye Mingjing reminded him on the two hundred and thirty-third attempt.
Lin Xueqing didn’t realize it was Ye Mingjing speaking at first, thinking he was hallucinating: “Don’t rush, wait, let me look again.”
Ye Mingjing: “Put the book down, and put the Spirit Stones down as well.”
Lin Xueqing: “Ah?”
Only then did he realize something was wrong. Turning around, he came face to face with a pair of eyes so black they seemed bottomless.
Lin Xueqing: “…..”
The scene he feared most had finally appeared!
Was this what they called Murphy’s Law?
He hadn’t heard that Murphy’s Law was also effective in the cultivation world!
But there was no way out; the man was already awake, and it was highly likely he had been “woken up” by Lin Xueqing’s lack of skill. Lin Xueqing acted submissively and approached Ye Mingjing.
“Your Honor, I am too stupid.”
His tone was not without gloom.
After all, when Lin Xueqing had initially accepted this task, he thought it would be very simple. He figured that with a book to follow, even if he were stupid, he could at least place things according to the diagrams, right?
But he hadn’t expected that after over two hundred times, he still wouldn’t know how.
Ye Mingjing spoke concisely: “It is not that you are stupid; it is that the method is incorrect.”
Lin Xueqing asked curiously: “Then what should I do?”
Ye Mingjing said: “Sit cross-legged and sit upright. Recite the incantations with me and circulate your spiritual power.”
Lin Xueqing followed each instruction, and then he discovered something amazing! After the incantations ended, the Spirit Stones stored in his storage bag flew out one by one obediently. Not only that, but they flew to their correct positions without Lin Xueqing needing to place them by hand at all.
Was this a Spirit Stone Array?
It turned out that once set up, the various top-grade Spirit Stones would form a mutual resonance, their light reflecting off each other and illuminating the entire cave dwelling brighter than daylight.
Moreover, once the Spirit Stone Array was set, one could physically sense that the spiritual energy inside the cave dwelling was more than ten times more abundant!
Even a little “rookie” like him could feel it.
One could see how heaven-defying the effect was.
“So it was actually this simple; I indeed used the wrong method.” While Lin Xueqing marveled, his heart was naturally and sincerely grateful to Ye Mingjing.
“Your Honor, thanks to your guidance, you are so amazing!”
Ye Mingjing gave him a cold, sidelong glance and did not wish to react much.
After all, this Spirit Stone Array was the most basic of the basic arrays. Even if a Golden Core cultivator were here right now, they could have taught Lin Xueqing.
But the other party’s reaction was remarkably enthusiastic.
Praising him once wasn’t enough; he had to praise him a second time, and a third.
Seeing that Lin Xueqing had already moved from praising the array to praising his physique, and was even about to praise his skin, Ye Mingjing could no longer bear it and interrupted him:
“You talk so much—is your throat not dry?”
Lin Xueqing blinked: “No. Your Honor, are you… concerned about me?”
Ye Mingjing wore a stiff face, expressionless: “Since your throat is not dry, recite the Sacred Yuan Breath-Taking Formula.”
Lin Xueqing: “???”
Was the Great Demon Lord… teaching him to memorize a book?
God dammit.
Why, after being out of school for so many years, was he still being asked to memorize things!
Ye Mingjing, however, did not think there was anything wrong with his actions at all. He said coldly, “Whenever you cultivate, you always need to flip through a book. Do you not find it exhausting? No cultivator practices the way you do.”
Lin Xueqing thought about it, and it was true.
But the question was—how did Ye Mingjing know?
Could it be… he was eavesdropping on him?!
Upon realizing the fact that Ye Mingjing might be eavesdropping on him.
Lin Xueqing felt as if the sky had collapsed.
Heavens, if Ye Mingjing could hear even the sound of him flipping pages, then wouldn’t he be able to hear everything he said or did in the neighboring cave?
Then those things he had been mumbling to himself—could they have been heard as well?
The thought of it made Lin Xueqing feel quite unwell.
With a whoosh, his entire face instantly turned bright red, and even the roots of his ears and his neck followed suit.
“I… I…”
He might as well dig a hole and bury himself!
How could a person lose so much face while still alive?
Naturally, this scene was perceived differently in Ye Mingjing’s eyes.
He glanced sideways at Lin Xueqing, watching the other’s face turn crimson and his shy appearance as he couldn’t even speak. He raised an eyebrow and said indifferently, “Are you very surprised?”
“…No.”
“Can you not also hear my movements? Many times, you specifically leaned over to listen.”
Lin Xueqing was so distressed he didn’t know what to say anymore. He hadn’t expected his small, unconscious actions to be so glaringly obvious.
He had been too careless.