The Endless Promise

20. A 'Compromising' Situation

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It was late at night, and the Zhang Manor had wound down after a long day.

The large lanterns were turned off or dimmed, leaving smaller lamps lit around the living quarters.

But in one particular Courtyard, there was no difference between night and evening as the lanterns and lamps were always turned off.

This was because the servants no longer bothered to clean, clear or tidy the courtyard or living area, so naturally they were not bothered about whether it was properly lit or not.

This was Luoyin's Living Quarters, and it resembled one that had been abandoned for ghosts to live in.

The last of the two stubby candles the present 'Luoyin' and Yinying had met, burned out an hour ago, but thankfully Yinying could see in the dark, and Luoyin didn't need any light, as his eyes were shut in concentration.

He was cultivating.

Manipulating even a tiny bit of qi caused him great pain, but he bit his lip and kept at it.

'Steel won't become a weapon without being forged... Gold won't be precious without passing through fire!' He reminded himself.

He performed a few hand seals, and the Starlight Furnace appeared, spinning before him.

In addition to refining Pills, he could use the Starlight Furnace to hold more than ten different essences, and he had once used it to trap an entire dragon in its transformed state.

So now, he used it to store a part of Luoyin's essence.

He formed a five-point seal, which broke down what was left of his qi, sending it into the furnace until there was no shred of energy left within his body.

He did this, because Luoyin's core was damaged and couldn't hold any energy. It was pointless leaving it within, as it constantly seeped out, and whenever he tried to draw energy from there, it made him nearly pass out from pain.

Instead, he used the furnace as a temporary external core, since he could easily channel qi to, and from it.

He performed a few more hand seals, and with each seal, a weak ring of light spread out from him, as the furnace now orbited around him. With a few complex techniques, he directed energy to specific acu-points, and to the parts of his meridians with the most damage, using the little energy to 'patch' them to a point where his body could hold some energy.

If he skipped this step, any qi based pill would never have full effects on him, so he kept at it till he had healed his core and meridians to a point, then little by little, he slowly began transferring the energy back into his body.

In a corner of the room, Yinying monitored him, flinching whenever Luoyin coughed out blood, or whenever he bit his lip or scrunched his face up in pain.

But he did nothing to interfere, as long as he could still sense Luoyin's life force. The two were connected with a soul bond, so he would know if Luoyin was in any mortal danger.

'Hang in there, Xiaobai!' He thought, diligently watching.

After almost an hour, Luoyin had finally moved all the energy back into his body, and he finally collapsed to his bed.

"Xiaobai! How do you feel?!" Yinying hurried over, but Luoyin suddenly sat bolt upright.

"I'm not done!" He said.

All his suffering had been to enable his body to accept qi based pills, so he immediately brought out the items he had collected from Lord Xu and the herbs Yinying had found.