Chapter 69: Recuperation

Having offloaded the force in time, there were no major injuries elsewhere on his body; at most, the flow of Qi and Blood was somewhat obstructed, with only his arms in a worse state.

Chen Mo carefully sensed the condition of his arms; due to the excessive force, the Qi and Blood were somewhat blocked, and most importantly, the bones had sustained some minor damage.

Of course, his arms were not broken, nor were they dislocated; it was just that due to the excessive force, some fine cracks had appeared in the arm bones.

This was not a major matter, at least not to Chen Mo; given the strength of his physical body, such an injury could only be considered a minor one.

It was just that for the next two or three days, he would have to recuperate properly.

In reality, every time he moved his arms now, he could feel a rather distinct pain.

But it was limited to that; as long as he could endure it, it would not affect his normal activities.

Aside from his own injuries, his weapon this time could be considered completely ruined; it seemed he would really have to find a way to ask a skilled blacksmith to forge him a Steel Spear, one that was heavy enough and sufficiently sturdy.

It was just that he hadn't heard of any good blacksmiths near Zhu Niu Ji, so he would have to think of another way.

This was not very difficult; he could think of a reason later to write a letter to his foster father and ask for his help.

After roughly surveying his own injuries, Chen Mo circulated his Qi to regulate his breathing and clear his state; the Five Elements Essence Cultivation Art corresponded to the five internal organs, and in terms of recuperating the body, it could definitely be called top-tier.

In no more than a brief moment, aside from his arms, there were no other issues with his body.

After finishing his recuperation, he first held his breath before daring to take out the parcel.

Having left the Grey Mist, this piece of Living Meat seemed to have lost its vitality, and its surface no longer continued to pulse.

Its color was also no longer as vivid and bright as before, but had turned dark red; however, it was not as tough as a Red Blood Stone, but rather quite soft.

Chen Mo gently pinched it with his hand; even in its current state, this piece of Living Meat was still quite elastic.

He cautiously released his breath and fanned the piece of Living Meat with his hand; it still smelled very fragrant, yet it did not have that previously completely irresistible attraction.

While it was certainly fragrant, it was not enough to make one want to swallow it regardless of everything.

Chen Mo pondered briefly, but in the end, he did not take a bite just yet.

He was clear that his current state was not very good; even without mentioning the injuries to his arms, his Dantian Internal Qi was almost exhausted, and the Qi and Blood in his body had also been consumed quite a bit.

He needed time to recover and adjust to his best state before attempting to draw power from this piece of Living Meat.

That would be when the effect was best and the risk was lowest.

After tidying himself up, he heard the sound of Gong and Drum from outside; the sky was already beginning to brighten, the Blood Moon had faded, and it was just the moment when the east was turning white.

Compared to the many eerie situations of the night, the daytime was undoubtedly the safest.

Chen Mo organized his situation, carefully hid the broken long spear, and prepared to destroy it later.

Only then did he rise to leave the barracks and walk toward his home; some Scholar soldiers smiled and saluted him, for after all, ever since Chen Mo arrived, their meals had been somewhat better than before.

Even if they could eat a piece of tofu every few days, or drink a bowl of beef soup with noodles and eat two slices of beef, it was considered an improvement in their diet.

Chen Mo smiled and nodded, acting just as he did on other days, only this time, after spending the night in the barracks, he did not ride out to patrol.

Although some soldiers were curious about this, they did not dare to ask, and only respectfully saw Chen Mo off.

In the early morning, Zhu Niu Ji had already become bustling; the owner of the soup stall had risen early to start boiling soup, and the hot soup, carrying heat and fragrance, almost rushed into people's nasal cavities.

Chen Mo had fought and rushed about for an entire night; although he carried some food on him, it was not enough for his consumption, and his stomach was already growling with hunger.

He quickened his pace to walk back home and gently knocked on the courtyard gate.

"Who is it?" a slightly puzzled inquiry came from the courtyard.

"It's me." Chen Mo responded with a smile.

He only heard the person inside the courtyard scrambling in a flurry to open the gate.

"Why are you back so early today?" Zhao Yu looked surprised, her hands still covered in some flour.

"I went to take care of some things last night and got hungry; is there anything to eat at home?" Chen Mo explained to her with a smile and stepped into his small courtyard.

"I was just about to knead the dough to make flatbread; go drink some tea and wait." Zhao Yu spoke and hurried back to the kitchen.

Chen Mo had never returned this early before, so she was only preparing now and hadn't finished making the food.

However, this was not a big problem; she had already kneaded the dough and could put the flatbread on the pan immediately.

Chen Mo walked into the dining room and sat down, took two celadon bowls, and poured two large bowls of tea for himself to quench his thirst.

The fragrance of eggs mixed with scallions soon drifted into his nose, and Chen Mo swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva involuntarily.

"I've made two egg pancakes for you first; eat these to tide yourself over for now." Zhao Yu brought a plate of freshly made scallion egg pancakes, placed them on the table, and hurried away again.

The hot steam was still constantly rising from the pancakes, and Chen Mo didn't care about the heat; he pinched off a large piece and started eating.

These two pancakes together must have weighed nearly two jin, but to him, it was just a base.

"I went to buy a few jin of freshly braised horse meat; eat some plain first, and use the rest to roll up in the flatbread." Zhao Yu brought over an oil-paper parcel at this time and opened it; inside was the freshly braised horse meat.

Unlike the hot shredded meat directly stuffed into a sesame seed cake, these five jin of braised horse meat were sliced into large pieces to be eaten cold; if paired with the freshly made unleavened oil pancakes, it had an even more unique flavor.

Although Chen Mo was still quite hungry, he was not in a hurry to eat; his arms could move freely now, without any restrictions.

But this did not mean that he felt nothing when he moved.

If he could avoid it, he still wanted to try not to use his arms; he would just wait for the pancakes to be ready and roll the meat in them, so he would just be hungry for a while now.

Before long, Zhao Yu brought over five more scallion-scented oil pancakes, each weighing nearly a jin.

"Eat up." She smiled quite happily, turned to leave, and brought a basin of hot and sour soup from the kitchen.

The soup contained spinach and tomatoes, and she had added quite a bit of vinegar and pepper; one mouthful was sour and spicy, both cutting the grease and whetting the appetite.

"Are you feeling a bit unwell?" Zhao Yu set down the soup basin, looked at Chen Mo carefully for a while, and then asked.

She lived day and night with Chen Mo, and both were quite familiar with each other's habits and movements.

Others could not see anything wrong with Chen Mo, but she could clearly see that Chen Mo seemed to not want to move his arms.

"Yes. I did some things yesterday and injured my arms; it's not a big problem, just need to rest for two days, it's just a bit painful when I move them."

Since he had been seen through, Chen Mo did not continue to cover it up; besides, covering it up outside was one thing, but he didn't intend to keep hiding his injuries at home.

"Then don't move around; I'll feed you." Zhao Yu couldn't stop her heart from aching, but she still didn't ask why Chen Mo was injured.

She understood that matters in the barracks were not for her to meddle in.

She took the pancake from Chen Mo's hand and carefully fed it to him, letting his arms rest steadily on the table so he would not move them around.

After eating four more pancakes rolled with horse meat and drinking two large bowls of hot and sour soup, until his whole body felt warm and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead, Chen Mo was finally full.

Zhao Yu took a clean towel and helped him wipe his hands and face, and only then did Chen Mo walk back to his own room to rest.

Just as he sat back on the bed, before he had even managed to catch his breath, the door was knocked upon.

"I have fetched some hot water for you; it will be more comfortable if you soak your feet before sleeping," Zhao Yu's voice sounded from outside the door.

(End of this chapter)