Chapter 1782 — Making Ready
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At this moment, Wei Zhao had just finished preparing the medicinal liquid according to the instructions on the body-tempering formula. After taking one dose, he climbed into a basin of pale black liquid that had been set on the ground. Instantly, a piercing chill shot across his skin, making Wei Zhao shiver uncontrollably.
"Hiss—" Wei Zhao had not expected such an effect from the liquid. There was no menthol or any other cooling herb among the ingredients, yet mixed together they produced such coldness that Wei Zhao nearly leapt out of the basin.
Fortunately, Wei Zhao knew this was a hurdle that had to be crossed before the second level of the **Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art**, so he could only grit his teeth and endure. If he were careless and spilled this basin of liquid that had been so hard to prepare, brewing another batch would be no easy feat.
Many of the herbs needed were grown only in paltry quantities in Old Man Wei's garden; after this use, the remainder could not be picked again but had to be kept as seed. So preparing another basin of the liquid would have to wait until next year—Wei Zhao naturally dared not be careless.
"Whoosh—" The dose Wei Zhao had swallowed seemed to have a chilling effect as well. Far from driving the cold from his body, it made the chill inside him grow even more intense, until Wei Zhao truly could hardly bear it and wanted to circulate the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art to resist.
Yet Wei Zhao kept his wits about him. He knew very well that during the body-tempering soak, one must never circulate inner energy to resist, or the tempering would fail and the expected results would not be achieved. So there was nothing for it but to silently endure the chill that filled his whole body.
Fortunately, the sensation of being soaked in medicinal baths as a child had been little better than this. He had gritted his teeth and held on then, and though this was more painful than before, it was still bearable—because he thought of Feng Xiaoxiao. In those "final" days, her whole body had been unbearably cold every single day, and she had endured it too. Compared with her, was he not still better off?
So Wei Zhao clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and sat silently in the basin, waiting for the appointed time. According to the formula, the tempering required a full twenty-four hours of soaking, and Wei Zhao dared not slacken for even a moment.
Fortunately, this tempering session was shorter than the initial Foundation Establishment period, when Old Man Wei had made Wei Zhao soak in the liquid almost every day—though of course the degree of pain differed between the two.
Time slipped by, second by second. In the blink of an eye, more than half a day had passed, and Wei Zhao was astonished to discover that the color of the tempering liquid in the basin had lightened considerably—and as time went on, it grew lighter and lighter.
This strange phenomenon left Wei Zhao marveling. During his Foundation Establishment days, the liquid he soaked in each day had shown no obvious change. Could it be that this time the liquid was being absorbed by his body?
In a flash, twelve hours had gone by, and what startled Wei Zhao even more was that the tempering liquid in the basin had turned transparent—in other words, the liquid had been completely absorbed by his body.
But only twelve hours had passed, not the required twenty-four. So even though the liquid was fully absorbed, Wei Zhao still sat motionless in the basin, fearful of the slightest mishap.
Yet now Wei Zhao could no longer feel the initial chill in his body. Instead there was a normal sensation, as if the water were merely ordinary bathwater with nothing special about it.
Even so, Wei Zhao did not leave the basin.
Sure enough, what happened next proved his decision correct. As time passed again, the water in the basin took on color once more—from its initial transparency to a faint yellowish brown, and then the color began to deepen.