Chapter 42: Cultivation is Addictive

Duan Rong used the key to unlock the spring mechanism and unscrewed the furnace lid; immediately, a more intense, strange fragrance rushed toward his nose.

Duan Rong felt slightly intoxicated, experiencing a wave of numbness.

Using a towel as a pad, Duan Rong grabbed the furnace rings on both sides of the copper furnace with both hands and poured the brewed black Medicinal Agent into a ceramic basin that had been cleaned beforehand.

Duan Rong drained the liquid, then took out the bamboo core rack from the copper furnace, dumped the medicinal dregs into a basket in the corner, rinsed the copper furnace with clean water, poured the waste water outside the door, and then replaced the lid and put the copper furnace back in its original place.

Only then did Duan Rong walk to the Stone Table, look at the pitch-black medicinal soup, pinch his nose, and gulp it down.

That medicinal soup smelled of a strange fragrance, but tasted exceptionally bitter.

With a basin of medicinal soup in his belly, Duan Rong felt as if his bile was about to be vomited out from the bitterness, and his tears and snot were streaming down.

"Why is this medicine so bitter!"

Duan Rong immediately scooped up a ladle of water and gulped down half a ladle to wash away some of the bitterness in his mouth; by this time, the sky was already beginning to brighten, so Duan Rong returned the key to the old man and came to the Martial Arts Arena, walking to a secluded corner.

"Let's see if you are useful."

Duan Rong's expression was calm; his legs formed a bow, his hips sat in a void, and his hands held a void in front of his chest as he closed his eyes and began his Hunyuan Stance training.

Duan Rong stood like this for a full three hours, even missing breakfast time.

Not until a strong sense of hunger stimulated Duan Rong's stomach did he open his eyes, exhale, and disperse his cultivation.

A joyful light appeared in Duan Rong's eyes; this medicine was not only useful, but also very potent.

He had stood for three hours, yet his body felt no sense of depletion; his internal energy surged like Earth Fire, and a hot, surging sensation filled his chest and internal organs!

Duan Rong left the Martial Arts Arena, exited the Yuanshun Escort Agency, went to the street to drink a large bowl of beef offal soup, and ate three sesame seed cakes until his stomach was bulging and warm, only then wiping his mouth and leaving.

Once Duan Rong had filled his belly, he returned to the Martial Arts Arena to continue Standing Stake!

He stood until nearly the Shen hour, seeing that the time he had agreed upon with the courtesans of Huaying Pavilion was approaching.

Duan Rong had no choice but to disperse his cultivation; he couldn't stand them up, after all.

Duan Rong felt the medicinal power still surging within his body; he even felt he could keep standing, in one go, until the midnight Zi hour.

They all say cultivation is boring, but Duan Rong felt that cultivation is addictive!

This feeling of rapid, surging power constantly stimulates you with positive feedback; how could it not be addictive?

Who doesn't want to become stronger?

Duan Rong returned to his dormitory, wiped the sweat from his body with a towel, and then transformed into a walking shelf, exiting the Escort Agency under the strange gazes of the people at the Yuanshun Escort Agency, and arrived under the Old Locust Tree opposite Huaying Pavilion.

As soon as Duan Rong arrived under the Old Locust Tree, he saw that a group of courtesans had already gathered there waiting for him.

As soon as Duan Rong arrived, everyone chirped and greeted him, and they immediately broke into laughter and chatter.

"Everyone line up, one by one," Duan Rong said while putting down his things.

When he set up his easel and took a look, besides the six courtesans who served as greeters last night, there were actually seven or eight more; clearly, they had all come after hearing the news.

Duan Rong picked ten people from the line, then said to the courtesans behind them: "Today it will only go up to Sister Chun Ming; the sisters behind don't need to line up, come early tomorrow."

"Why..."

"We have been waiting for so long..."

"Artist Duan, you cannot be biased!"

The few courtesans behind were clearly not having it; they had all come out to wait together, and they had just been polite when lining up, so why wouldn't he draw for them? Wasn't this bullying honest people?

"It's not that I don't want to draw for you sisters, it's that I can only draw ten paintings in one hour. If I continue to draw, Huaying Pavilion will be opening. If business is delayed, Mother Hu will smash my stall, and wouldn't you sisters be punished together?"

Those noisy courtesans, upon hearing Duan Rong bring up Hu Huanhuan, immediately lost their fire, and could only curse and leave in disappointment!

Duan Rong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Three women make a play; ten women, that's a hornet's nest!

Not to be trifled with, not to be trifled with!

Duan Rong immediately ground the ink, prepared the dyes, and threw himself into his work.

Duan Rong hadn't felt it while Standing Stake, but sitting there painting, his heart was pounding incessantly, and his eyes couldn't help but glance at the courtesans' necks and chests.

In his lower abdomen, waves of heat surged from time to time.

"Could it be because of that Medicinal Agent?"

"Not necessarily! After all, I am at a hot-blooded age; this is normal! Normal!" Duan Rong comforted himself in his heart.

Duan Rong suppressed the fire in his heart, rushing and hurrying, and finally handed the last painting to Chun Ming just as Huaying Pavilion opened its doors; at this time, two brothel servants walked out from inside the Huaying Pavilion, yawning.

The brothel servants of Huaying Pavilion also worked in shifts.

Duan Rong looked at Chun Ming, who was happily leaving with the painting, and then touched the inner pocket of his clothes; in just this one hour, he had earned another one hundred taels of silver.

Duan Rong packed up his stall and returned to the Escort Agency in his state as a walking shelf.

He first put his things away in the dormitory, and at this time it was only the third quarter of the You hour, just in time for dinner; Duan Rong came to the Middle Courtyard canteen to eat dinner, and then came to the Martial Arts Arena.

The Martial Arts Arena in the evening was at its most crowded; as Duan Rong walked through the Martial Arts Arena, many people whispered and discussed him.

Duan Rong didn't care at all, went straight to the place he often went, and continued to stand in the Hunyuan Stance.

Duan Rong stood like this until the midnight Zi hour.

When Duan Rong opened his eyes and dispersed his cultivation, the surroundings were silent, and the lanterns under the eaves emitted a dim yellow light...

On the parasol tree not far from where Duan Rong stood, a weary crow had already tucked itself into its nest, seemingly asleep...

Duan Rong calculated secretly; he had started Standing Stake from the Mao hour in the morning, and now it was the Zi hour; except for the one hour he spent at Huaying Pavilion, he had stood for a full nine hours.

And at this moment, his body felt no sense of depletion at all.

"The prescription given by that person named Guan Yun is indeed usable!"

Moreover, Duan Rong discovered that as long as he performed the Stance Training, with his Internal Breath and medicinal power surging, his symptoms of a pounding heart disappeared.

Although he still didn't understand what this pounding heart was about, the most urgent cultivation problem was solved, and he was in a great mood.

Duan Rong returned to the dormitory courtyard, stripped off his clothes, washed himself clean by the well, and crawled into the blanket on the bed.

Duan Rong grabbed a book by the oil lamp, ready to read a few pages before sleep.

Duan Rong flipped it open casually to take a look; what he had picked up turned out to be the Secret Manual for the Internal Breath Second Stage that Xiao Zongting had given him that day.

Duan Rong had intended to swap it for another, but he suddenly noticed that the handwritten characters in the Secret Manual were delicate and graceful, and the paper and ink had a faint fragrance.

Duan Rong's eyes immediately lit up, and he thought to himself: This was likely hand-copied by Xiao Baijiao!

(End of this chapter)