The Glory After Rebirth [重生之尊荣]

Chapter 337- 339

Chapter 337: A Great Victory

"You have to tough it out," said Yuwen Tong, who had checked the temperature and knew that the water was fairly scalding but not unbearable.

Enduring the heat with a grimace, Ling Zhang said, "It turns out I'm still too weak. I just hurled a saber and it drained my energy."

Yuwen Tong wet a towel and gently toweled Ling Zhang's face. Although it had been a single throw, given the long distance between the two of them at that time and the level of Ling Zhang's internal energy, he had had to hurl it with all his might to make sure the saber traveled fast enough to intercept that arrow before it could reach Yuwen Tong's back. Ling Zhang had subconsciously summoned all the internal energy he had, and this consequence was not really surprising, but although Ling Zhang was the one enduring the physical pain, Yuwen Tong's heart ached for him.

At first the heat had been the only thing Ling Zhang had to put up with, but slowly the medicine permeated through his body and a mixture of numbness and anguish filled every fibre of his being, rendering him unable to speak, droplets of sweat trickling down his forehead and cheeks continuously. Teeth clenched, he had to concentrate all his efforts on fighting the painful and numb sensation.

Yuwen Tong wiped the sweat off Ling Zhang's brow, eyes and cheeks without saying anything, stabs of distress sweeping over him as he stood beside the barrel watching Ling Zhang suffering from the aches.

'I went too easy on Dong Gao. I should've given him the slowest and most painful death,' thought Yuwen Tong, a flicker of resentment crossing his eyes.

As moments ticked away, the bathwater cooled down by degrees and the battle cries from the distance gradually lessened.

When the water had entirely gone cold, Ling Zhang's whole body relaxed completely and he limply toppled backwards. Yuwen Tong, quick of eye and deft of hand, immediately caught him. "How do you feel?"

"Much better," answered Ling Zhang in a weak voice.

In the beginning it had been itchy, agonizing and intolerably miserable, but that had been because the medicine was restoring his meridians. As his meridians had been repaired, the pain had ebbed, but it would take another medicated bath to nurse him back to health.

Yuwen Tong scooped him out of the barrel, quickly toweled him dry, clothed him in thin robes and then settled him onto a couch in the corner.

Ling Zhang had just sat onto the couch when Qiu Bing showed up in the doorway with a bowl of decoction in his hands, as though he had calculated beforehand how much time the process would take. "Young Master, Marshal, I brought the medicine here."

"Come in," said Yuwen Tong.

Qiu Bing walked inside and proffered the bowl of decoction which was quite black in color. "Young Master, the medicine is ready. It's perfectly warm."

Ling Zhang inclined his head, took the bowl and inhaled deeply before drinking the decoction in one gulp. Screwing up his face, he returned the bowl to Qiu Bing and said, "I'm very tired and could use some sleep. When am I supposed to take the next medicated bath?"

"When you wake up, Young Master," answered Qiu Bing.

On hearing this, Ling Zhang directly sank down onto the sloping couch, feeling utterly exhausted. He was so weary that the only thing he wanted to do was have a sound sleep, his eyelids drooping. Before closing his eyes, he said to Yuwen Tong, "I need to sleep. Qiu Bing will be here taking care of me. There are still a lot of things you need to attend to out there. You should go right away. The soldiers need their commander-in-chief to be with them."