After sitting in the large bathtub for a few minutes, Yu Rou suddenly noticed something different about Yuan's body, and she decided to ask, "Is it just me or… did you get fatter, brother?"
"What? Have you been feeding me more soup than usual?" Yuan responded in a puzzled voice.
"No, I measure everything I cook, and I don't recall increasing the size of your meals. However, your body is clearly fatter than before, and it's not as boney!" Yu Rou said as she looked at his bare body with a wondering look.
"Are you sure you aren't imagining things? I cannot imagine why I would suddenly grow fatter… It's not as if I had been eating more—" Yuan suddenly stopped talking midway through his sentence, as he realized something.
Although he hasn't been fed more by Yu Rou, his meals have indeed increased recently— and by a fair amount!
'Impossible… Could it be caused by my food consumption in the game…?' Yuan thought to himself, and his suspicions grew stronger.
"Well, as long as you don't grow to the point where I can no longer carry you, it should be fine, but I'll still ask the doctor about it later," Yu Rou said.
Ten minutes later, a servant knocked on the bathroom door and said from the outside, "Young Lady, Doctor Wang is here."
"Okay, let's get out now, brother." Yu Rou tightly embraced his body from behind before standing up, pulling him with her.
A few moments later, she placed him on a specially made table that was located right beside the bathtub before pressing a few buttons on the table.
Soon, warm wind began blowing from the sides of the table, quickly drying Yuan's body. In the meantime, Yu Rou dried her own body with a towel and wore a clean set of pajamas.
Once she was fully clothed, she helped Yuan with his clothes next.
After placing Yuan back on the wheelchair, Yu Rou led him outside and into another room, where an old man with greyish hair and a long beard was waiting.
"Thank you for coming here despite it being so late, Doctor Wang." Yu Rou bowed to him.
"Don't even mention it. Even if it was past midnight and I am already asleep, I would immediately come here if summoned." Doctor Wang laughed as he stood up and walked to them.
"So? What happened? You sounded pretty frantic on the phone, so I thought something must've happened to the Young Master. But he seems perfectly fine." Doctor Wang said after looking at Yuan's condition with his bare eyes. "In fact, he looks even healthier than my last visit!"
"Well, you see…" Yu Rou proceeded to explain the situation, telling Doctor Wang about the black gunks that smelled like rotten eggs and Yuan getting fatter somehow when he has only been getting lighter throughout the years.
"Black gunks that smell like rotten eggs? Interesting…" Doctor Wang closed his eyes to ponder.
After a moment of silence, he spoke, "I have only heard of such situations in ancient medicine books but have never seen it personally. Do you have a sample of the black gunks that I can look at?"
"Yes! I will be right back!" Yu Rou said as she rushed back to Yuan's room for the sample.
Once Yu Rou left the room, Doctor Wang looked at Yuan with a pitiful gaze. Out of the tens of thousands of patients he'd treated before, Yuan's condition was one-of-a-kind. While he has seen patients with similar conditions, they were mostly caused by accidents or due to natural-born illnesses. Yuan, however, is neither sick nor injured— at least not a single doctor from around the world was able to find anything wrong with his body after many years of effort. Even Doctor Wang himself, who is recognized as one of the best doctors in the world, cannot find the source of Yuan's problems and was baffled by this phenomenon.
"Young Master, have you felt any pain or uncomfortable feeling within your body lately?" Doctor Wang asked Yuan sometime later.
"No," Yuan said, not telling Doctor Wang about the pain he'd felt when he tried to cultivate.
"What about other feelings besides pain or discomfort?"
"Well, this might sound weird but I have been feeling more energetic as of lately. If I could, I would be jumping around right now," Yuan said with a bittersweet smile.
"Full of energy…?" Doctor Wang looked at Yuan with wide eyes. This is his first time hearing such words coming from Yuan's mouth.
"What about your diet? Have your meals changed lately?" Doctor Wang then asked.
"No, I am still eating nothing but soup," Yuan said in a sighing voice.
"What about the amount? Did the Young Lady increase your portions?"
"No, she told me that herself not long ago."
"I am going to feel your pulse now." Doctor Wang then turned his hand and began examining his pulses.
A few moments later, Doctor Wang retrieved a stethoscope from his bag and began listening to Yuan's heartbeats.
"Hmm… how strange…" Doctor Wang suddenly mumbled in a puzzled voice.
"Is there something wrong?" Yuan asked him with a worried frown.
"Hm? Oh, no! In fact, it's the opposite of that!" Doctor Wang responded in a surprised voice, and he continued, "My eyes were not wrong— Your condition has indeed improved since our last checkup!"
"Really?" Yuan exclaimed in an excited voice. Even though his improved condition doesn't have any meaning overall and he's still crippled, it still made him happy to know that he was getting healthier, and it will also make Yu Rou happy once she hears about it.
"I wouldn't lie to my patients even if it's the last thing I do," Doctor Wang chuckled.
A few minutes later, Yu Rou returned to the room with a small plastic container that contained a little of the impurities that were discharged by Yuan.
"Hoh? This is the blank gunk that came from the Young Master's body? Fascinating…" Doctor Wang looked at the impurities with great interest, and he continued, "It resembles dirty engine oil at glance, but I have never seen anything like this before."
"Can I open it?" He looked at Yu Rou, who immediately looked hesitant.
Yu Rou then walked to the door with Yuan before opening the door a little.
"Okay, you can open it now!" Yu Rou said to him afterward.
"..."
Doctor Wang stared at her with wide eyes. Surely, the smell isn't as bad as they make it out to be, right?
After swallowing his nervousness, Doctor Wang opened the contain slightly and took a quick sniff of the black gunk inside.
*Urg!*
Doctor Wang gagged after smelling the stench and immediately sealed the container again.
"What in lord's name was that foul smell?! I had many unpleasant experiences with foul smells as a doctor but this experience was almost unbearable!" Doctor Wang exclaimed with trembling hands before placing it on the floor, as he didn't even dare to touch the container anymore.
After a moment of silence, Doctor Wang continued, "I will have no idea what that black gunk is without examining it more closely with proper equipment, so I'll bring it back to my lab first thing tomorrow to examine it."
"Thank you, Doctor Wang." Yu Rou said to him from the door, still not daring to approach him.
"Anyway, I have examined the Young Master's body and wasn't able to find anything wrong or different about him except the fact that his body is slightly healthier than before." Doctor Wang gave Yu Rou a brief explanation of the results.
"Nothing wrong with him? His health even improved? Are you sure about that, Doctor Wang?" Yu Rou looked at him with a pleasantly surprised look.
"Yes, so you shouldn't worry about this incident too much. However, without identifying that black gunk, I do not dare to give you a clearer answer."
"That's okay! I am already more than satisfied with the results!" Yu Rou said with a bright smile on her face.
"Did you hear that, brother? You're getting healthier!"
"Yes… I heard…" Yuan said with a slight smile on his face.
"Anyway, since there's nothing else we can do before I examine the black gunk, I will take my leave now. Though you should continue keeping an eye on the Young Master just in case anything else happens, and if that happens, make sure to call me and I will drop everything and run here."
"I will! Thank you again, Doctor Wang!" Yu Rou bowed to him as he left.
"Hahaha… I am envious of you, Young Master. If only I had such a caring sister to take care of me every day!" Doctor Wang laughed loudly as he disappeared from their sight.
Once Doctor Wang left, Yu Rou said to Yuan, "Brother, let's sleep together tonight. The maids are still cleaning your room, and like Doctor Wang just said— I need to keep an eye on you."
"Okay, I'll be in your care tonight," Yuan said.
A few minutes later, once Yu Rou returned to her own room with Yuan, she suddenly said, "Oh, right. You still haven't eaten because of this incident. I will be right back, brother."
After carrying Yuan onto her bed, Yu Rou disappeared into the kitchen to prepare dinner for him.
'Now that I am alone, let's try cultivating again. Even though it hurts like hell, the pain gradually lessens the more I try to cultivate.' Yuan said inwardly as he prepared himself mentally for the pain.
Sometime later, Yuan took a deep breath and began reciting the cultivation technique in his head.