Gu Qi didn’t question too closely. He simply held the bowl of medicine in his hands, and cautiously sat at the headboard of the bed: “Have a safe journey.”
Gu Zuo waved his hand, turned around, and left the room.
Outside the room, Gongyi Tianheng just happened to open his eyes and stand up: “Ah Zuo, ready to go?”
Gu Zuo smiled and said: “Let’s add a little color to the Zhao Family’s face!”
Those seven organizations had already deployed all kinds of methods to target the Zhao Family. During this brief period, several trivial problems appeared among the Zhao Family’s businesses. However, if these problems weren’t addressed in time, it would lead to the collapse of some large businesses. What Gu Zuo and Tianheng wanted to do right now was to cripple the martial strength of at least two members of the Zhao Family.
Gu Zuo and Tianheng’s figures were like ghosts and demons. Within a few breaths of time, they arrived inside one of the Zhao Family’s villas. In this place was a secret cultivation space for a Zhao Family elder. His age exceeded one hundred years. Like the old Zhao Family Head, he had long stopped involving himself in the Zhao Family’s other affairs.
On this day, he was originally in the middle of practicing a branch of martial discipline. Although his body was withered, his every movement still held incredible might.
All of a sudden, a streak of surging force rushed over. The elder’s heart trembled, and his body turned over to get out of the way! However, for some reason, this force arrived so rapidly and violently. Although he dodged, this forced seemed to recognize only him, and ruthlessly smashed an area slightly below his navel!
In the blink of an eye, the elder’s dantian was like a leaking balloon. Countless strands of inner power flowed out of that rupture.
— In the modern era, for martial artists at Transformed Energy and above, the dantian became the largest place where inner power was stored. Nevertheless, it was a weak point. Once the dantian was damaged, the inner power within the meridians would also subsequently leak out.
The elder only had enough time to let out a miserable cry. His entire body was already completely powerless like a genuine old man. Then, he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
If someone looked carefully, they would discover that huge changes were occurring to the elder — In the past, although his body was withered, his skin was still flat, smooth, and had a glossy sheen. But now, even his skin became wrinkled and creased with advanced age. The whole person appeared to dry up and atrophy. All the energy throughout his body dissipated.
And the most lamentable thing was that, from start to finish, this elder never figured out who really attacked him.
He also never discovered the tiniest traces of the person who came…
A similar event happened in another villa.
It wasn’t until the morning of the next day, when the Zhao Family’s servants delivered food to these two elders, that that the two decrepit old men were discovered. The elders had slowly crawled to their own sofas with barely a breath of life in them. They were as skinny and shriveled as human skeletons wrapped in a layer of skin.
This kind of discovery created a stir throughout the entire Zhao Family!
Zhao Hongying slapped the breakfast table and stood up: “C-check everywhere! Look through all of the monitors! We have to get to the bottom of this!”
When Zhao Ji disappeared, no traces or clues were found. Yet, not long after Zhao Ji went missing, the Zhao Family’s two elders were met with disaster.
Who was the hidden hand behind the scenes?
Could it really have something to do with Zhao Ji? That couldn’t be right. In the beginning, when they brought back Zhao Ji, they had already done an investigation. Apart from his same-sex lover who similarly didn’t have any background, there was only a mewling five-year-old adopted son. There were basically no other helpers!
As such, was it someone who found the Zhao Family displeasing to the eyes?
Zhao Hongying thought about the unfavorable business situation lately, and a deeply-felt sense of crisis suddenly appeared in his heart… Their Zhao Family was tightly guarded, but someone still strolled through it unobstructed like it was their back garden. This was simply an enormous disgrace. No matter what price they had to pay, they had to thoroughly investigate this matter!
On the other side of things, Gu Zuo accompanied his family’s big brother to the Zhao Family to shatter the two elders’ dantians and cripple their martial disciplines. His heart felt much more comfortable — After those two old men were crippled, they looked pitiful, but once he remembered how many people they harmed, he didn’t have an ounce of sympathy.
Their karmic retribution had arrived.
Once the two returned to their residence, Zhao Ji had just finished drinking a bowl of medicine.
Gu Zuo came over to take Zhao Ji’s pulse. He smiled and said: “Dad, after a little while, we can take father to the next step.”
Gu Qi was happy: “Then, what do I need to do?”
Gu Zuo said: “Dad, you can go find a bath barrel…” He recalled that this world didn’t use bath barrels, and switched terms, “I mean, find a bathtub. Afterwards, I’ll refine a portion of medicinal decoction, and put it into the bathtub. After that, dad will take off father’s clothes, and put him inside the bathtub to soak.”
Since he spoke so clearly, it was only natural that Gu Qi quickly understood. Hence, he nodded his head: “I’ll go right now.”
Gu Zuo waved a hand. He brought out the medicinal cauldron once again, and started refining a decoction that he had long conceptualized. This type of decoction was inspired from when he was researching some Heaven and Earth Physiques. Although his father’s body didn’t have any signs of a special constitution, once Zhao Ji recovered, he was going to return with them to the other world. It would be better to take advantage of this opportunity to stimulate his father’s potential as much as possible. Nourishing from the outside, and supplementing deficiencies from the inside. With this two-pronged approach, as his father’s health improved, he could also become even stronger than ordinary people. Gu Zuo could build a stable foundation for him.
While thinking this, Gu Zuo’s hand seals turned even more abstruse and mysterious. Not long after, the cauldron of medicinal decoction was successfully refined.
He took out lots of untainted water, and poured everything into the large bathtub that his dad dragged out. Shortly thereafter, the decoction blended with the untainted water. Only a short while later, the water within that bathtub transformed into a bright and vivid red. The medicinal decoction acted like lava. The solution gurgled as it released lots of bubbles.
Gu Zuo promptly said: “Dad, put father inside!”
Gu Qi hastily emerged from the bedroom carrying Zhao Ji on his back. Then, he took off Zhao Ji’s clothes, and placed him in the tub: “This decoction won’t burn him, will it?”
Although he knew that his son was an expert, that “lava” looked too scary.
Gu Zuo smiled and said: “It’s only slightly scalding. It won’t injure father. But dad, you need to pay attention. Don’t let father flail and move around. You especially can’t let him get out.”
Gu Qi grunted noncommittally, and started observing Zhao Ji’s reactions.
The next moment, he realized why his son needed to give such a warning.
It was because, after Zhao Ji was submerged in the bathtub, his figure began twitching slightly. The skin of his body, which had been locked away for eight years, had already turned pale and fragile. At this moment, small granule-like bumps swelled across the surface. These bumps quickly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, turned into sheets of white skin. It seemed as if the outer layer of skin over the whole body was about to peel off. It looked very frightening.
Moreover, this was certainly painful…
Gu Qi was distressed, but he kept his son’s warning in mind. He tightly gripped Zhao Ji’s hands within his own. He paid attention the entire time, and didn’t let Zhao Ji jostle around.
However, beyond both people’s expectations, even though it was already that agonizing, Zhao Ji still didn’t move. It appeared that he only wanted Gu Qi to hold his hands. He was satisfied to have Gu Qi within his own line of sight, and it seemed that he was already insensitive to the pain lancing all over his body… Let alone running away, he didn’t move one bit.
Seeing Zhao Ji acting this way, Gu Zuo scratched his nose, and only said: “Dad, at intervals of thirty minutes, you can tear away a layer of white skin on father. After two hours, you can take father out.”
Gu Qi stared fixedly at Zhao Ji. His eyes prickled with heat: “Okay, I understand.”
Subsequently, Gu Zuo returned to the front of the medicinal cauldron. He recited out loud, and started to recall the following treatment plan.
He wanted to do this perfectly.
Once the two hours passed, the decoction inside the bathtub had already been completely absorbed by Zhao Ji. Gu Qi had torn off four layers of white skin for Zhao Ji. With every shedding, Gu Qi found that the color and luster of Zhao Ji’s skin became a little more glossy. After the fourth shedding was done, Zhao Ji’s body no longer looked emaciated and malnourished. Instead, the originally atrophied muscles had slowly gained some thickness. The entire person looked a lot more healthy.
At this time, when observing Zhao Ji’s appearance, a person could see the outline of his original handsome features. One could well imagine the good looks he would possess once he totally recovered.
Although he wouldn’t be as handsome as Tianheng, going through so many trials and tribulations had given him a type of indescribable temperament.
However, as the childhood companion who couldn’t have been more familiar with Zhao Ji, Gu Qi didn’t stop to admire Zhao Ji’s striking features. Rather, he hurriedly pulled him from the ice-cold bathtub, and carried him to the bed.
Zhao Ji still didn’t move around. No matter how Gu Qi treated him, Zhao Ji was extremely obedient… It was just that other people would feel their hair stand on end if they looked into those pitch-black eyes.
Afterwards, Gu Zuo refined another bowl of medicinal soup, and let Gu Qi feed Zhao Ji: “Father’s body needs to be constantly fed. Dad, this period of time will be hard on you.”
Gu Qi shook his head: “This is what I should do. Son, it’s still you who has been working hard.”
Gu Zuo just smiled: “Isn’t this what I should be doing, too?”
Gu Qi patted his head, and continued taking care of Zhao Ji.
Gu Zuo walked to Tianheng’s side, sat down, and leaned against him.
Tianheng had just finished operating his cultivation method when he sensed that familiar scent appear next to him. Slowly opening his eyes, he pulled Gu Zuo into an embrace: “Ah Zuo, what’s wrong?”
Gu Zuo nuzzled into Tianheng’s shoulder: “Father has been rescued, and the Zhao Family’s destruction is close at hand. Now, we can replenish the system’s energy so it can tell us how to use the Void-Breaking Shuttle.”
He never woke the system up again because there was always something else to do. They were very busy. Now that everything that needed handling was done, all that remained was to think of a way to go back to the other world. As such, taking advantage of the time of Zhao Ji’s convalescence, they could also make some preparations.
Tianheng faintly nodded: “Ah Zuo knows how to replenish the system’s energy.”
Gu Zuo also nodded: “It should be medicinal qi.”
In fact, the system said from the very beginning that medicinal qi maintained its functionality. In his storage space, there were lots of medicinal qi that he could withdraw at any time — Previously, he wanted to see whether the system was capable of recovering on its own, but it appeared that the speed was too slow. It was better that he replenished it.
It was just that he didn’t know how much was appropriate. In addition, did this require the system to absorb the medicinal qi on its own?
After thinking it over, Gu Zuo felt a little awkward.
Tianheng smiled and said: “Why don’t you call out to the system again?”
Gu Zuo promptly transmitted.
[Hey! System! Try taking out a hundred strands of medicinal qi by yourself?]
The next moment, the medicinal qi within the storage space decreased by one hundred strands.
The system’s message also flashed through Gu Zuo’s mind.
[Okay.]
Gu Zuo: “…”
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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