Chapter 1782 — Making Ready
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
In the end, the whole basin of water turned the color of ink, greatly astonishing Wei Zhao. By now he roughly understood the principle behind the tempering liquid, and he silently counted himself lucky that he had not climbed out of the basin at the twelve-hour mark—that would surely have meant failure.
During the first twelve hours, the tempering liquid had been absorbed into his body, which was why Wei Zhao had felt that bone-chilling cold. The twelve hours after that must have been the detoxification phase, during which the liquid drew the impurities out of his body—so not only had the chill vanished, but he felt exceedingly comfortable, as if his whole body had become much fresher.
This was probably similar to the effect produced by the second stone door in the cave. The stone door had tempered the true energy within his body, while this liquid tempered his very constitution. The two worked by different means to the same end, yet neither could be dispensed with.
At last the twenty-four hours were up, and the entire basin of water had turned the color of black ink, even giving off a foul, fishy stench—clearly the impurities expelled from his body.
The moment the time was up, Wei Zhao leapt out of the basin and quickly wiped himself down with water from the basin of clean water at his side.
When all that was done, Wei Zhao dressed and carried the basin out of his room.
As Wei Zhao had expected, Old Man Wei was indeed in the courtyard again. As always, he sat in his reclining chair, quietly keeping watch at Wei Zhao's door. Only when he saw Wei Zhao emerge safely did a faint, weary smile appear on his face. "Xiao Yi, success?"
"Success!" Wei Zhao set the basin down on the ground and said, "It's all black water..."
"Why show it to me? Pour it out! It stinks!" Old Man Wei waved his hand and rose quickly to his feet. "Well, the preliminary work is done. This old man ought to rest now. Sleep if you want to sleep, or ** if you want to **!"
With that, Old Man Wei turned and walked toward his own room without looking back.
Wei Zhao smiled wryly, poured out the basin, and returned to his room. It was the middle of the night, and Tang Zhi and the others were all resting, so Wei Zhao did not disturb them.
Besides, now that the tempering was complete, Wei Zhao was all the more eager to ** the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. He had been looking forward to it for a long time—once the second level was **, he could enter the cave and open the third stone door!
After tidying up, Wei Zhao once again sat cross-legged on the bed...