Chapter 186

They say appearance follows the heart; a kind heart is beautiful.

Regardless of whether the saying is true, when the gate slowly opened and the dim light fell on Granny Sun's face, Mu Nianci saw only kindness, not ugliness or beauty.

"Young Hero Niu, this is……"

Seeing the visitors outside, Granny Sun's face unconsciously broke into a warm smile; when her gaze fell on Mu Nianci, a hint of surprise also appeared.

She recalled that, after previously retreating from the secret passage, she had glimpsed that red figure in passing, leaving a faint impression.

"Please, come inside quickly, everyone!"

After reacting, Granny Sun hastily flung open the gate and warmly ushered the few inside, smiling as she said:

"I was just worrying about how bored I'd be living alone in this courtyard, but before long, such a lovely girl has shown up."

"Perfect—tomorrow I'll have someone to chat with."

As she spoke, Granny Sun's eyes glistened with a gentle smile, making one feel like basking in a spring breeze.

Obviously, in that instant the gate opened, she already knew Niu Kui's purpose.

And, kind-hearted as she was, she subtly narrowed the distance between herself and Mu Nianci without a trace.

Hearing this, Mu Nianci's cheeks flushed slightly; feeling embarrassed, she hastily bowed.

"Sorry to disturb you so late, please forgive me, Granny Sun." Niu Kui said apologetically, clasping his fists toward her.

Then he gestured toward Mu Nianci and Yang Tiexin, saying, "This is Miss Mu and her father."

"The sect leader said Granny Sun is no outsider; he specifically asked me to arrange for them to stay in the little courtyard, so they can look after each other."

Having said that, Niu Kui paused, glanced back at the dazed, vacant-eyed Yang Tiexin, and continued:

"It's just that Miss Mu's father suffers from hysteria; his consciousness is not entirely clear, so I hope you'll bear with him a little more."

After speaking, Niu Kui clasped his fists again toward Granny Sun and led the group across the threshold into the courtyard.

Hearing this, Granny Sun's lips curled with a satisfied smile; evidently, those words had made her extremely happy.

Seeing that Mu Nianci was only about fourteen or fifteen, with youthful features still unrefined, and that Yang Tiexin beside her wore tattered clothes, his eyes vacant and his movements needing support, a pang of sympathy welled up in Granny Sun's eyes.

She then led the way while gently telling Mu Nianci, "Good child, if you need any help, just say so; Young Master Niu said you're no outsider, so don't stand on ceremony with me."

Soon after, as if recalling something, Granny Sun slowed her steps, drew alongside Mu Nianci, and whispered:

"Child, first help your father follow Young Hero Niu to get settled in the rooms."

"The weather is stuffy, and you've been running about half the night outside; I'll heat some water for you to wash up properly later."

Having said that, without waiting for Mu Nianci's response, Granny Sun gave Niu Kui and the others an apologetic smile and hurried away.

Mu Nianci, touched, was about to speak her thanks and decline, but Granny Sun's hurried figure had already vanished into the hazy night.

Half a quarter-hour later,

Granny Sun, still heating the water, had not yet returned, while Niu Kui, having settled the rooms, had already led the others away.

As someone had instructed, the three rooms in this courtyard are now tightly adjacent to one another.

The night gradually passed.

At some point, the pitch-black night sky began to shed crystalline rain threads, fine as fluff, washing away the mountain's stuffy heat.

The sky, too, was soon to brighten.

The Hall of the Dipper Mother, lights blazing.

After seeing off several waves of visitors, Niu Dingtian and the newly arrived Yan Fangyu sat opposite each other.

Neither spoke; they simply listened quietly to the gurgling of the small clay stove on the table, the water about to boil.

"Good tea!"

Boiling water poured from the kettle, and soon the small teacup was seven-tenths full; inhaling the fragrant steam, Yan Fangyu's fatigue vanished, and he couldn't help narrowing his eyes in praise.

Niu Dingtian laughed as he heard the praise, then set down his hand and gently offered a cup, smiling: "I only learned from Younger Sister Huai xi that Uncle loves tea most."

"Putting such refined things here is truly a waste; I'll have them packed and sent back to Uncle later."

He reached out to take the teacup, Yan Fangyu delicately smelled the aroma, took a light sip, but did not respond.

After slowly setting down the teacup, he untied a porcelain bottle from his waist and placed it on the table; his aged face showed a hint of sorrow.

He shook his head and sighed softly: "They say living to seventy is rare; I am already over sixty, with not many years left."

"Back then, your punch actually left no grudge in my heart; if you truly intend for Huai xi, I don't care about formalities—you should have taken her into your home long ago."

Hearing this, Niu Dingtian's hand holding the cup paused slightly; recalling the punch from three years ago and glancing at the porcelain bottle on the table, his face inevitably showed some embarrassment.

Yan Fangyu added: "If you could have an heir early, I would die content after seeing Huai xi bear offspring."

"I only ask that from now on we never again endure nights like tonight, filled with anxiety and danger."

Hearing that, Niu Dingtian picked up the porcelain bottle on the table and remained silent.

Just after leaving the secret chamber tonight, he went to Yan Fangyu for some qi-tonifying elixirs; he never expected that, after being rebuffed, the other would stay up all night to concoct them for him.

After all, if it weren't for his reliance on a secret technique to surprise and repel the Kui Flower Old Ancestor, everyone on the mountain would have spent the rest of their lives fleeing.

In the world, cause and effect are entwined; as he sees it, whether it's the recent Chen Jin'er, Han Xiao Ying and the others, or the distant Yideng Huang Lao Xie and company, none can be said to be innocent of karma.

But only Yan Fangyu and Yan Huai xi are the truly innocent people he forcibly dragged into this affair.

Niu Dingtian considers himself neither purely good nor purely evil; for some matters he can act without restraint, ignoring those who hate him for his wickedness, yet he finds it hard to disregard those who repay hatred with kindness and come again to aid him.

After a long silence in the hall,

Under Yan Fangyu's astonished gaze, Niu Dingtian slowly opened the porcelain bottle, pouring the red-bean-sized pills into a large purple-clay bowl.

He then used the purple-clay bowl in place of a teapot, setting it on the small brazier where the charcoal fire burned fiercely; seeing this, Yan Fangyu couldn't help furrowing his brows, a surge of anger rising within.

Having spent his life cherishing medicine as dearly as life itself, he could not bear to see others waste pills and herbs—especially when these were his own painstakingly concocted after a sleepless night.

Just as Yan Fangyu was about to speak out against such barbaric conduct, Niu Dingtian produced another porcelain bottle from his bosom; as soon as its mouth opened, a strange, fragrant aroma filled the hall.

The scent entered his nose; upon a careful sniff, Yan Fangyu, out of professional instinct, involuntarily closed his eyes to savor it.

After a few breaths, when he opened his eyes again, he stared fixedly at the bottle, his face full of disbelief.

Niu Dingtian saw this and was not surprised.

Compared to Yan Huai xi's medical skill, which leans toward ingenuity, Yan Fangyu has a deep foundation and is proficient in the properties and effects of medicines; over the decades, he has personally tasted and smelled countless medicinal herbs.

Regarding the strange flavor emitted by the spirit spring water, he could to some extent discern its efficacy.

"This is……"

After regaining his composure, Yan Fangyu could no longer attend to the small medicine pills in the bowl; he hastily rose and asked Niu Dingtian.

Seeing this, Niu Dingtian poured the spirit water into the purple-sand bowl unhurriedly and carefully, stopping only when the liquid had submerged half of the medicine pills.

He then picked up a teaspoon, stirring the pills to ensure each was soaked in the spirit water, and explained:

"Uncle, you can regard it as an excellent medicine guide; above it can assist a hundred medicines, below it can dispel a hundred poisons, and today there is only this one bottle in the world."

"It is precisely because the quantity is scarce that I employ this clumsy method to make it serve more purposes, lest in urgent times I waste this marvel by chewing on peonies like an ox."

While speaking, the over a hundred medicine pills in the bowl were fully soaked, and after the spirit water was mostly absorbed, Niu Dingtian lifted the tea bowl.

Soon after, the originally damp pills were dried by the residual heat, and their surfaces began to emit a mysterious greenish glow.

Looking at the crude masterpiece before him, Yan Fangyu stood there stunned, his face filled only with anguish.

Seeing this, Niu Dingtian smiled.

He then picked out two pills, placed them in an empty bowl, pushed them toward Yan Fangyu, and handed over about one-third of the remaining spirit spring water from the bottle, speaking softly:

"Since Uncle treats me, Niu Dingtian, as no outsider, I will certainly not be stingy. You will know the specific efficacy of the medicine water when you try it yourself later; as for this remaining half sip, consider it my support for your alchemy."

"Whether your alchemy succeeds or fails, is good or bad, I will not care nor demand anything. If one day I meet with an accident and am gone, just regard this as a keepsake I leave for you and Younger Sister Huai xi."

Having said that, without waiting for Yan Fangyu's reaction, Niu Dingtian began returning the pills in the bowl one by one into the porcelain bottle.

Although he said he didn't care whether it succeeded or failed, anyone who tasted the pill would know that even if a pig were to refine it, it would certainly not be inferior to what he holds.

And once Yan Huai xi becomes his woman, he will naturally not let her miss out on a sip.

In short, this half bottle counts as a complete gift to Yan Fangyu; such treatment far surpasses that given to Huang Lao Xie and Yideng.

Upon hearing Niu Dingtian's words, Yan Fangyu's eyes inevitably grew somewhat complex.

He let out a light sigh, then slowly took a small medicine pill and swallowed it.

A healer's original intention.

To discern the properties and principles of this strange object before him is what he most urgently needs to do now.

But after the pill entered his mouth, the hall remained silent for a long while, causing Niu Dingtian, who was lowering his head to hold a pill, to feel surprised as well.

He slowly raised his head,

Niu Dingtian froze in an instant.

Before his eyes, the originally all-gray-white hair now had half turned jet-black, and even the wrinkles on his face had visibly faded by more than half.

Is this still that over-sixty-year-old elder, Yan Fangyu? How could he feel suddenly ten years younger? Likewise, though he had not yet seen his own face, after swallowing the pill Yan Fangyu could clearly sense his inner blood and qi gradually becoming abundant, a feeling he had not experienced in ten years.

According to medical theory, blood is the mother of qi, qi is the commander of blood; qi governs warming, blood governs moistening; both arise from the essence of food and water and the kidney's essence, forming the source of life.

As a veteran divine doctor who has practiced for decades, Yan Fangyu naturally knows what this change in his body signifies! At the same time, staring fixedly at Yan Fangyu for a long while, Niu Dingtian's eyes flickered and he suddenly broke into a grin.

When those few people initially consumed the spirit spring water, the oldest among them was under thirty; aside from doubled strength and fair, tender skin, there was naturally no noticeable change.

But looking at it now, this thing is far more precious than he could have imagined!

"You…… regretted it?"

After regaining his composure, he glanced at Niu Dingtian, then stole a look at the porcelain bottle on the table, and Yan Fangyu could not help but ask softly, his eyes also holding a hint of reluctance.

He had already noticed Niu Dingtian's surprised expression; in this world, probably no one could resist such temptation and relinquish such a divine object.

Having grown accustomed to the dangers within the palace walls, even if Niu Dingtian were to kill him right now to silence him, it would not be surprising.

"Regret?"

Niu Dingtian's face showed incomprehension, then he suddenly understood, shook his head, and chuckled:

"I simply never expected it to have such a divine effect; since I have already promised to give it to Uncle and Younger Sister Huai xi, there is no reason to take it back."

"However, this half bottle of medicine water is known only to you and me; remember not to let others know. Otherwise, if it were discovered by someone with ulterior motives, I could not possibly keep guarding it at all times."

Having said that, Niu Dingtian lifted his gaze toward the outside of the hall, where the sky already showed a fish-belly white.

He then put away the porcelain bottle in his hand, rose with a smile, and said: "Having gone without sleep all night, upon waking there will surely be a surprise; Uncle, you should also go back and catch up on some rest."

"I will also take this time to visit Younger Sister Huai xi; let us meet again at the noon ceremony."

Having said that, Niu Dingtian bowed his hands toward the dazed Yan Fangyu, did not linger further, and led the way out of the great hall.

After he left, Yan Fangyu let out a light sigh, could not help but rub the porcelain bottle in his hand, and began to murmur softly:

"I had originally planned to give up completely, but this kid is surprisingly generous……"

(End of chapter)