Light and Shadow

Chapter 12 - A Strange Stone and Bonding

Sunlight filtered in through the window of the room and onto Xun Yu's face. The man slightly opened his eyes and immediately recalled everything that happened last night. He quickly sat up and looked to his left, seeing that Cao Cao was still sitting in the chair that was positioned against the wall, trying to desperately keep his eyes open. Xun Yu was stunned that the man remained awake all night to ensure that he would be safe. He got up and walked over to the man, who looked up at him with tired eyes.

"Thank you for staying with me last night. I really appreciate it, but you look exhausted. You should get some rest, too. You can use my bed, if you would like." Xun Yu stated gently.

"No need to thank me, I wanted to make sure that you were safe," Cao Cao replied as he looked into the man's hazel-colored eyes. "And I feel fine. I don't need to rest yet."

Xun Yu gave him a look of concern. The man was getting older, he needed to allow his body an adequate amount of rest for it to continue functioning properly.

"Mengde." Xun Yu said as he gave the man a stern yet pleading expression.

Cao Cao sighed and relented.

"Fine, I guess I could use a short nap. Are you sure that you don't mind?" He inquired.

Xun Yu nodded and helped the man walk from the chair that he sat in all night over to the bed. He stumbled slightly, due to a lack of sleep and how stiff his legs felt. Xun Yu then sat in the chair and patiently waited until the man fell asleep before leaving on a brief trip to the market. Once there, he stopped at a local merchant that sold medicinal supplies and purchased thick cloth to dress his wounds. He then walked over to a farmer's stall and purchased vegetables, tea leaves, and a small jug of wine. After purchasing everything that he needed, he then walked back to his house, closing the door behind him. He placed the food items on the counter space in the kitchen and walked to the bathroom area with the cloth in hand, which was the first room on the right and located to the right of the bedroom.

The bathroom had a small wash basin that stood at lower chest level and was used for washing the face and hands, a cloth that was hung on a small wall-mounted hanger next to it, a larger wash basin that was used for bathing, and a medium sized mirror that was hung above the small wash basin. He closed the door and moved away from it, towards the middle of the small room. Now let's find out what this thing is inside of me.

Xun Yu pulled down the top of his robe, revealing his chest and stomach area. He carefully removed the slightly bloodied cloth that currently covered the incision and looked at it in the mirror. He was surprised by how small the cut was, it appeared to be no more than ten centimeters, and judging from the amount of blood that was lost, the cut was also fairly shallow. However, the strange object that was inserted into his stomach appeared to be longer than the cut at approximately twelve centimeters in length. It bulged and moved uncomfortably against the stitched-up wound.

Xun Yu took a deep breath and held the palms of his hands over the wound. Concentrating deeply, he exhaled, and a faint blue light radiated from his hands. He could feel the stitches and the strange object being pulled forward, toward the palms of his hands, and he slowly moved them outward from his body. The object and stitching moved forward, as if they were following his hands, then Xun Yu heard the sound of moving flesh and the object emerged from his stomach, accompanied by a wet and slimy sound. Pain coursed through him, white-hot and intense, and he fell onto his knees, causing the object to clatter on the ground as the bloody cloth stitching fell limply beside it.

He clutched his stomach as blood gushed from the wound and he took a deep breath to steady himself. A faint purple light then appeared around his hand, and within seconds the wound healed without leaving a trace that it ever occurred. Xun Yu used the fresh cloth that he purchased earlier to wipe the blood off of his stomach and his hands, as well as the object and pick up the stitches from the floor. Upon examining the object, he realized that it was made of white jade, and it had an odd talisman of some type carved into it that he had never seen before. It's a good thing that strange man didn't know that I am capable of using magic. He adjusted his paofu to its original position and placed the cleaned carving inside the chest of the garment to momentarily store it.