Chapter 43: The Problem with the Medicine

Duan Rong guessed correctly; this Secret Manual was indeed copied by Xiao Baijiao's own hand.

A few months ago, after Zhao Mu's Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber achieved the Entry Level Internal Breath First Layer realm, he came to find Xiao Zongting to collect the Secret Manual for the second layer.

According to the rules of the Yuanshun Escort Agency, whether one is an Apprentice or an Intern Escort, one must master one layer before the Secret Manual for the next layer can be taught.

Only on the day one becomes an Official Escort will the full set of the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber Secret Manual be taught.

When Zhao Mu came to collect it at that time, the second-layer Secret Manuals copied in previous years had unexpectedly run out.

Xiao Zongting then had Xiao Baijiao copy another batch.

The one in Duan Rong's hand was precisely one from this batch.

Duan Rong sniffed the fragrance on the Secret Manual with a somewhat intoxicated look; Xiao Baijiao's fair, tender face flashed before him from time to time, and a wave of heat rose again in Duan Rong's lower abdomen.

However, just at this moment, Duan Rong suddenly remembered something.

He flipped the Secret Manual in his hand to the third page and, sure enough, fished out a Silver Needle from the fold of the book.

"Spirit Reader!"

As Duan Rong's thoughts stirred, a set of data immediately appeared before his eyes.

Artifact: White Hair Silver Needle

Spirit Artifact Tier: First Tier

Devouring Requirement: Host Mental Power Level 1 (Met)

Devouring Effect: Plum Blossom Needle Technique Proficiency.

"It really is this Silver Needle!"

Duan Rong had intended to devour it the moment he tucked this Silver Needle away, but later, one thing after another happened, and he had forgotten about it.

At this moment, it was just right to use the aftereffects of devouring the Silver Needle's Artifact Spirit to dull his brain, so as to avoid letting his thoughts run wild again.

"Devouring Artifact Spirit!"

Duan Rong called out inwardly, and a sensation of a foreign object immediately arose in his mind.

His previously drifting thoughts then became like a jammed gear, unable to turn...

Duan Rong lay on the bed and quickly entered a dream. Just before falling asleep, Duan Rong smiled and muttered to himself: "This Devouring Artifact Spirit ability can actually help one sleep. This thing is... much... better than sleeping pills..."

Before Duan Rong could finish his sentence, he was already fast asleep.

In his dream, Duan Rong saw a young man holding a cloth doll.

The doll had no eyes and no mouth, but its body was covered in red dots. The young man pinched a Silver Needle and pricked the red dots on the doll one by one.

Time flowed by like water, gurgling as it passed.

The young man's hands grew from small to large; his fingers were slender and long—they were clearly a pair of nimble hands.

In these hands, a Silver Needle was still pinched, only the doll was gone...

The young man was facing a wooden dummy, and the dummy's entire body was covered in red circles the size of a pinky nail.

The young man used the Silver Needle to tap the red circles on the wooden dummy, murmuring to himself: "Huagai, Zigong, Yutang, Shanzhong..."

Calluses gradually grew on the young man's hands, and the Silver Needle in his hand also began to prick one person after another...

Those figures being pricked flashed past the young man's eyes like flowers seen from a galloping horse...

Gradually, Duan Rong could no longer see clearly...

Duan Rong's attention gradually shifted away from the ever-changing figures before the young man and focused on the Silver Needle in the young man's hand...

The Silver Needle pricked the changing figures again and again; as the figures moved faster and faster, the hand and the Silver Needle also became faster and faster...

It became so fast that there were afterimages, and Duan Rong gradually realized that those afterimages actually formed a plum blossom...

"Plum Blossom Needle Technique!"

According to previous experience, once the Artifact Spirit was fully digested and absorbed, Duan Rong would wake up...

Because while digesting the Artifact Spirit, Duan Rong was in a state of deep sleep...

And in deep sleep, the body's fatigue could be quickly dissipated...

Therefore, Duan Rong basically only slept for two hours a day.

However, this time, after he finished digesting and absorbing the Artifact Spirit, he did not wake up.

The dream continued, and it became increasingly erotic...

The geishas he had painted, one after another, twisted their waists before him...

And those bodies and faces were constantly changing...

Gradually, even Xiao Baijiao, Zhu Xiaoqi, and Hu Huanhuan appeared...

They smiled at Duan Rong in a bold and seductive manner...

Duan Rong...

A night of spring dreams, leaving no trace!

The sound of roosters crowing rang out from near and far; the Yuanshun Escort Agency was already filled with noise, but Duan Rong was still lying on the bed...

It was not until the first ray of sunlight shot in through the carved window covered with thin cloth and shone on Duan Rong's face that Duan Rong was stung by the light and opened his eyes.

As soon as Duan Rong opened his eyes, he felt a splitting headache, and the sensation of pain only slowly faded after a few breaths.

Duan Rong then felt something sticky under his buttocks. He reached out to touch it and ended up with a handful of cold, viscous substance.

Duan Rong lifted the blanket to look; there was a large wet map beneath him, as if he had wet the bed...

Duan Rong's face flushed hot. He struggled to get up, removed the bedsheet in a daze, put on his clothes, picked up the wooden basin from the corner, and opened the door to head to the well.

Living next door to Duan Rong was an Apprentice from the Accounting Office of the Inner Courtyard, in his twenties, thin and tall, and quite sharp.

Duan Rong was scrubbing the bedsheet by the well when that person happened to walk out of the dormitory, preparing to go to the Inner Courtyard Accounting Office to check in.

"Morning, Brother Rong, washing the bedsheet?"

The man just said it casually and walked past Duan Rong.

"Ah..." Duan Rong responded vaguely, lowered his head, and his face instantly turned as red as a monkey's backside...

Duan Rong hung the washed bedsheets on a hemp rope strung between two cypress trees in the courtyard.

Watching the bedsheets sway gently in the breeze under the sunlight, his gaze sharpened, and he muttered to himself, "Could it be that the medicine... has a problem?"

Regardless of whether there was a problem with the medicine, he had already taken it, so thinking about it now was useless.

Feeling his head heavy and his stomach hungry, Duan Rong left the Escort Agency, ate breakfast by the street, and specifically ate a few extra eggs.

Only then did he return to the Martial Arts Arena and begin Standing Stake.

As he practiced Standing Stake, heat steamed off him, and his mind actually became clearer.

Duan Rong stood like this until nearly the Shen hour.

During this time, he only went to the cafeteria for a meal at noon, spending the rest of the time at the Martial Arts Arena doing Standing Stake.

Duan Rong dispersed his cultivation, and the white mist exhaled from his mouth shot out diagonally in front of him like an Arrow for nearly a zhang before fading and dissipating.

It had already been two days, yet the medicinal power within his body remained strong; even after standing until now, he did not feel a shred of depletion.

Furthermore, that feeling of his heart racing wildly yesterday seemed to have vanished as well.

"Perhaps it wasn't a problem with the medicine?"

Hesitation flowed through Duan Rong's gaze.

A youth of fifteen or sixteen, right in the midst of puberty, inevitably felt restless when dealing with those geishas for long periods.

"Maybe it was just a normal physiological reaction..."

Seeing that it was almost the Shen hour, Duan Rong dared not delay any longer; he returned to his dormitory, washed off the foul sweat from his body, and transformed into a walking shelf of goods, heading toward Huaying Pavilion.

Duan Rong walked to the Old Locust Tree diagonally across from Huaying Pavilion and was slightly taken aback to see a line of people already waiting there, and there were exactly ten of them.

It seemed they also knew that he could only paint ten pictures per hour, so lining up more was useless.

In that line, there were not only geishas from Huaying Pavilion, but also some who were clearly patrons, and there were even two dressed as Personal Attendants, standing at the end of the line.

Duan Rong was slightly stunned, his gaze sweeping over those two Personal Attendants...

Normally, these Personal Attendants were not in his client demographic; after all, his paintings cost ten taels of silver each.

(End of chapter)