Chapter 2596 — Highly Effective

Old Master Zhao naturally understood what the Medicine King was thinking too. Seeing that he had no way to identify what this potion actually was, for a moment he too was at a loss. But after a good while, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned to look at Zhu the Leader!

"Zhu the Leader, you asked for this potion so that your younger brother's injuries could be healed, isn't that right?" Old Master Zhao asked.

"Yes," Zhu the Leader answered honestly.

"Good. In that case, let him take it!" Old Master Zhao said, his expression unchanged. "Ordinarily, a potion this important ought to be handed over to the clan—one portion for Old Bi to use, and one portion put aside for safekeeping. But since it was you who found it, I can't let you men beneath me lose heart, so I'll give you back one portion. Let him take it as soon as may be!"

"This..." Zhu the Leader's face changed, flushing crimson! Though he had long anticipated this turn, and the whole course of events was unfolding exactly as Shen Yushu had designed it, hearing Old Master Zhao say such shameless things still filled Zhu the Leader with fury!

For years these two brothers had worked for the Hidden Zhao clan—if not with merit, then at least with toil. Yet Old Master Zhao had not only made Zhu the Second test the potion, but now had the gall to declare that both portions belonged to the clan, and then, as though bestowing charity, "returned" one portion to Zhu the Leader!

Could it be that if the potion turned out to have no side effects, Old Master Zhao would not have been willing to give him even one portion? At the thought, a wave of sorrow washed through Zhu the Leader's heart. It seemed throwing in his lot with Wei Zhao had been a stroke of brilliance—serving these people of the Zhao clan would never come to any good end! Even a dog ought to keep its dignity!

"What is it, Zhu the Leader? You're unwilling? If you refuse, I'll simply find some Zhao disciple at random and have him take it—but then there'll be no portion for Zhu the Second!" Seeing Zhu the Leader's reluctance, Old Master Zhao threatened him.

It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to simply pick a disciple to try it, but there were only two portions. After one was used for the trial, who would get the remaining one? Zhu the Second or Old Bi? By rights it should go to Zhu the Second—after all, he was the one who had obtained the potion, and he hadn't secretly kept it, but had reported it to the clan at the first opportunity. Yet for the clan's interests, it was far more beneficial for Old Bi to recover and break through in strength.

So Old Master Zhao had no choice but to make Zhu the Second the test subject. One might say Shen Yushu had already designed their every psychology—everything was proceeding exactly as imagined.

"I... am willing!" Zhu the Leader drew a deep breath and nodded. "This potion was always meant for my second brother, to restore his meridians. He's already in this state—rather than drag on like this, better that he hold the mindset of succeed or die, and let him try it!"

"Mm, it's best that you can see it that way." Old Master Zhao nodded in satisfaction, then said, "Zhu the Leader, then why not bring your brother here at once?"

"Yes, I'll go fetch him right away!" Zhu the Leader nodded and said hurriedly.

"Old Mian, you bring Old Bi here as well!" Old Master Zhao turned and instructed Old Mian.

"Yes, Old Master!" Old Mian nodded hurriedly in assent, yet a certain sourness rose in his heart. These days, because Old Bi had been injured, he had taken Old Bi's place in the clan and become one of those closest to Old Master Zhao. If Old Bi came back, what would become of him? A position won so hard—he did not want to lose it!

But he could not defy Old Master Zhao's wishes either; he could only go and invite Old Bi. Yet no sooner had he stepped out the door than he understood. Yes—Old Bi would recover, but with it he would break through his armlet and set foot in the Heaven rank. When that time came, could a Heaven-rank expert still wait upon Old Master Zhao left and right as before?

Obviously not. Having reached the Heaven rank, he would surely want to continue devoting himself to cultivation; even Old Master Zhao could no longer make him do such menial serving tasks. And when that time came, those tasks would fall to Old Mian once more!

At these thoughts, Old Mian brightened again.

Very soon, Zhu the Second and Old Bi had both arrived. Both came in wheelchairs. Though Zhu the Second could already walk about on his own, he was unwilling to, and everyone understood—to fall from a cultivator to a wreck of a man would leave anyone utterly dispirited.

Old Bi was even more so. Though he had awakened by now, his eye sockets were sunken like a man who had gone many days without proper rest; his face was sallow and thin, and there was no vitality in him at all.

Only when he heard that there was a potion that could restore him did an unusual light of joy flicker in his eyes!

Zhu the Second too showed some joy, but since he "knew" himself to be the test subject, anxiety and worry still flashed from time to time in his eyes. These subtle signs did not escape Old Master Zhao's notice. Though he had no suspicions, seeing them only set him further at ease.

"Zhu the Second, the potion is right here. This is the potion your elder brother sought at such great pains—I hope you won't waste it!" As Old Master Zhao spoke, he had Old Mian hand one of the bowls of potion to Zhu the Second.

Zhu the Second drew a deep breath, took the bowl containing the potion, a trace of "resolve" flashing in his eyes, then raised the bowl and drained the potion within at a single gulp...

"Urgh—urgh—urgh—urgh... hoo—hoo—hoo—hoo..." Zhu the Second's hand suddenly convulsed, and the bowl fell to the ground and shattered. His face flushed scarlet in an instant! Though he had long been mentally prepared, knowing that what he drank would surely do him no harm, the agony in his body still made him gasp in cold air...

Zhu the Second's expression of pain fell under the eyes of everyone present, and their faces were each different. Zhu the Leader wore a look of boundless "worry," while Old Master Zhao, the Medicine King, Old Mian, and Old Bi showed something closer to anticipation!

Painful as it was for Zhu the Second, they all knew that repairing meridians was bound to hurt terribly, and breaking through a barrier was bound to be grueling—these were all normal signs. So long as he did not die and could hold on, that was half the battle won.

Very soon, wisps of white vapor rose from Zhu the Second's head, his features contorted, and he gasped in great gulps, "hoo—hoo—hoo—hoo," without end—as agonized as agonized could be.

After struggling for perhaps an hour or more, Zhu the Second suddenly rose to his feet with a wild cry of "Aah!" Then his face gradually turned ruddy and normal again, and his whole person seemed in an instant to have regained much of his vigor!