Chapter 210: Attempting Treatment

In a spacious, bright room, Li Luo once again saw the little boy he had previously encountered at the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall.

Only this time, although the latter was dressed in simple casual clothes and his face was still childish, he seemed to exude an inexplicable air of authority.

As the nominal ruler of the Great Xia Kingdom's Wang Ting, his cultivation in nurturing Qi was ultimately somewhat different from the ordinary.

"Your Majesty."

Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge bowed slightly toward the little Emperor in greeting.

The little Emperor's small face turned solemn, and he nodded, though his gaze flickered toward Li Luo a few times—clearly, he had quite a vivid memory of the person who had tricked him once before at the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall.

The little Emperor sat properly on the bed, and beside him stood an elderly man in grey robes with a soft, effeminate face. The old man kept his head lowered, his eyes seemingly closed yet not quite, giving off a very faint sense of presence.

But Li Luo keenly detected a vague, oppressive aura emanating from him, which was likely the doing of a top-tier expert within the royal palace.

Clearly, the Eldest Princess had made ample preparations—and precautions—for having him come to treat the little Emperor this time.

If he made any suspicious moves during the treatment, that grey-robed elder would likely notice and intervene to stop him.

The Eldest Princess stepped forward gracefully, took one of the little Emperor's hands, and without any unnecessary words, looked directly at Li Luo: "Can we begin?"

The Eldest Princess's breathtakingly beautiful face bore a flawless, gentle smile, but Li Luo could sense a helpless casualness about it—clearly, she had held not even the slightest expectation for this treatment from the very start.

In fact, Li Luo thought, if the Eldest Princess hadn't been so reluctant to appear too obvious in her attempt to win over Jiang Jiang Qinge, she would probably have skipped this step entirely.

But Li Luo didn't say anything more. He understood he was merely a tool—getting closer to the Eldest Princess would also benefit Lu Lan Mansion, so he didn't mind going through the motions.

"Junior Li Luo, everything you see and hear today, please keep it confidential. Do not let it leak."

The Eldest Princess reminded Li Luo, then had the little Emperor turn his back to them and slowly remove his upper garments.

The little Emperor's body was rather thin and frail, though his skin was extremely fair and delicate. But neither Li Luo nor Jiang Jiang Qinge paid much attention to that, because the moment the little Emperor removed his shirt, their expressions shifted slightly as they saw, on his back, a series of meridians bulging beneath the skin. These meridians were a faint blue-green, intertwining with one another, looking as though a blue-green lotus had been etched into the skin.

However, half of this "blue-green lotus" formed by the meridians now displayed a pitch-black color.

That pitch-black hue gave off an eerie, chilling sensation. Whether or not it was an illusion, Li Luo felt those blackened meridians seemed almost alive, slowly writhing.

The unsettling blackness was gradually eroding the "blue-green lotus" formed by the meridians on the little Emperor's back.

As if intending to completely transform it into a "black lotus."

Both Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge's eyes showed a flash of shock—clearly, the eerie sight on the little Emperor's back had struck them with considerable impact.

"This..." Li Luo hesitated.

"This is His Majesty's condition... From the moment he was born, the meridians on his back formed this 'blue-green lotus.' Legend has it that this is a rare constitution called the 'Yin-Yang Blue-Green Lotus,' which should actually be considered a good thing."

"But at some unknown point, this blue-green lotus underwent a mutation—what you see as the 'black erosion.' From the information we've gathered, once the blue-green lotus is completely transformed into a black lotus, His Majesty's flesh and blood will be devoured by it, and at that point, his chances of survival will be slim."

The Eldest Princess's willow brows knit tightly. Her slender jade fingers traced the alternating blue-green and black lotus pattern on the little Emperor's back, a pang of heartache flashing through her beautiful eyes, and her voice grew considerably hoarse.

"Over the years, we've sought out many powerful experts possessing healing abilities—those with water phase, wood phase, or light phase affinities—among them no shortage of Marquis-level strong ones. But even they were helpless against His Majesty's congenital defect, and could only barely rely on carefully refined medicines to help alleviate the 'black erosion.'"

"However, Marquis-level experts are scarce in Great Xia to begin with, and those possessing healing abilities in two phases are even rarer. So Junior Li Luo's water and wood dual phases do give me some hope—especially if one day you can reach the Marquis level, there might truly be a chance to treat His Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Li Luo sighed inwardly. This kind of rare congenital defect couldn't even be handled by Marquis-level experts skilled in healing—what good would he be?

Still, even though it was just going through the motions, one had to do it earnestly; otherwise, being too perfunctory would inevitably be a bit awkward.

So he stepped forward, sat down beside the bed, and smiled at the little Emperor: "Your Majesty, we meet again."

The little Emperor turned his head to glance at him and muttered, "Trickster."

Li Luo felt a bit awkward. That day at the Golden Dragon Treasure Hall's auction, he had indeed incited the little Emperor to compete with Du Ze Duze Beixuan. At the time, he truly hadn't expected that this rich kid would turn out to be the little Emperor of Wang Ting...

But looking at it now, it seemed the little Emperor had seen through all his tricks clearly—the boy had merely been amusing himself by playing along.

Li Luo sighed inwardly. Indeed, anyone who could sit in that position—even a child—could not be underestimated.

Li Luo cleared his throat lightly and said, "Your Majesty, I'll begin trying now."

The little Emperor gave a lazy response, clearly sharing Li Luo's lack of interest and expectation in the treatment.

Li Luo paid no mind to his attitude. His expression grew somewhat solemn, and then the dual phases within his body began to tremble at this moment. The power of the dual phases flowed, finally condensing in his palm.

Although everyone understood this was just letting him go through the motions, Li Luo still gave it his all. One could see phase power suffused with rich healing energy emerge in his palm, emanating an extremely warm and gentle sensation.

The Eldest Princess was quite interested in Li Luo's dual phases as well, her eyes glancing over. Even the grey-robed elder beside her, who had remained silent all this while, cast his gaze from beneath his narrowed eye slits, then gave a slight nod—this fluctuation was indeed the power of dual phases.

However, perhaps it was an illusion, but the water and wood dual-phase power somehow seemed especially radiant and dazzling.

Of course it would be dazzling, because there was also a fair amount of light phase power mixed in—only, compared to the water and wood phase power, that light phase power was extremely faint.

Two streams of phase power, azure blue and emerald green, condensed in Li Luo's palm, gradually forming a single droplet of energy liquid. That droplet emanated rich healing power, and he let it fall onto the "lotus pattern" on the little Emperor's back.

Hum!

As if rain had fallen on dry soil, that droplet of energy liquid was immediately absorbed completely by the lotus pattern on the little Emperor's back.

At this moment, although no one had held any expectations to begin with, they still reflexively stared at the little Emperor's back, wanting to see if any change would occur.

And Li Luo also watched intently, awaiting the final result.