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! Once, he had used it as an external core, and he had once used it to trap an entire divine snake in its transformed state.
So now, he used it to store most of Luoyin's essence.
He formed a five-point seal, which broke down whatever was left of his qi, sending it into the furnace until there was no shred of qi left within his body.
It was an excruciatingly painful process, but he had to it because Luoyin's core was damaged and couldn't hold qi. It was pointless leaving it within, as it constantly seeped out, and whenever he tried to pool 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 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 the now stored up qi 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 qi.
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 qi 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 as long as he could still sense Luoyin's life force, he did nothing to interfere. 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.
"My body can't handle the Gold foundation and Light-Years cultivation pills yet, so I'll set them aside for now."
An amused Yinying watched Luoyin turn studious. A sight he hadn't seen in a good many years!
'I almost forgot he was a medicine nerd!' Yinying thought, watching as Luoyin cast a few hand seals and tossed a stem of Twilight Ganoderma into the Starlight furnace, along with a few of the herbs Yinying had found.
Luoyin created a small formation beneath the hovering furnace, which bathed the dark room in bright blue light, and created two different types of flames beneath the furnace.
By manipulating the formation, Luoyin split it into two layers, one flame on each laye, and they rotated in counter directions, speeding up the refining of what was surely a high grade pill!
Yinying sniffed. 'Smells so nice!'
After about twenty minutes had passed, Luoyin added in one of the Spatial Lilies, and two other herbs.
The entire formation turned a bright gold, and the furnace began to spin quickly. The lid on the furnace suddenly shot open, and five glowing yellow pills flew out!
Luoyin guided them to hover above his palm. "What a relief! I've not made these in years!"
"And yet they're so perfect!" Yinying was basically salivating, as he stared at the five pills.
They were called 'Superior Essence Pills', and just one should heal most of Luoyin's
ailments and clear the accumulated poison from his blood!
Yinying couldn't imagine what five of the pills could do, and as Luoyin resumed his lotus position, he couldn't help thinking.
'By dawn, Luoyin certainly won't be 'trash' anymore!'
...
..
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It was a large room.
A bedchamber decorated from floor to ceiling in reds and golds.
Auspicious gifts lay here and there, and there was a large symbol of 'Double Happiness' on the wall.
On an ornate bed, a lady sat in a lovely red wedding dress, decked in intricate jewelry and a phoenix crown.
Her face was half covered with a sheer red veil, and her lips were painted an enticing ruby red.
He reached out and picked a small gold and red weighing rod, and with it he began lifting the veil.
But then...
"Xiaobai!"
Luoyin was shaken awake by a panicked looking Yinying, and he found that the room was bathed in early sunlight
"Xiaobai! What are you doing in bed with the enemy?!" Yinying whispered furiously.
"Laoying! What are you - ?" Luoyin felt something warm, and his eyes were instantly drawn to the sleeping figure beside him, dressed in nothing but white under-robes...
He felt his breath catch.
'Xu Weiyan again?!'
A flood of memories rushed through him at that moment, but he pushed them aside, his eyes resting on Weiyan's sleeping figure.
Luoyin flushed. "Wha-?!!"
"Shhhhh!!!" Yinying shushed him.
"How did this happen?!" Luoyin whispered.
He himself had been stripped of his outer robes, and his inner robes were open to his waist, leaving his chest and shoulders bare.
"I should be asking you?!" Yinying replied. "I wanted to steal more items from the Pill Pavilion, so I left after you fell asleep!"
Luoyin tied up his face covering. "Hurry! We must get her out of here before she wa-! Ei?"
Yinying suddenly vanished, and Luoyin wondered why, till he heard:
"2nd Young Master Zhang..." Weiyan said sleepily.
But then she jerked awake.
Her eyes took in Luoyin's bare chest and shoulders and she turned completely red.
She looked away and tugged the covers up to her neck.
She stole another glance, briefly noting that all Luoyin's injuries had disappeared, leaving his skin with a smooth and beautiful lustre.
But more colour rushed to her face, and her eyes narrowed to slits.
'Ah! She's red with anger!' Luoyin quickly held up his hands.
"Young Miss, read the situation! You and I both know we wouldn't crawl into each other's beds! Calm down and we'll get-! Ahem! I'll get you out of here, before anyone s -!"
"Where is that bastard?!!!" Zhang Cheng's voice thundered from outside, a split second before he kicked the door in.
Zhang Cheng, had been away on secluded cultivation, but had returned the previous evening.
After a hearty meal with his parents, he had retired early, only for the Head Maid to awaken him and bring him here.
He turned livid as his eyes fell on Luoyin and Xu Weiyan, and Weiyan pulled the covers over her head completely.
"Tch." Luoyin dropped his hands in defeat. "How predictable... Elder brother, What foul wind blew you in so early?" He asked, and began wearing his robes.
There were other maids and servants present, including Ye Chongmin, Head Maid of the Zhang household.
"2nd Young Master!" She yelled from behind Zhang Cheng. "How could you do something like this?!"
Luoyin sighed. "Maid Ye, you seem quite surprised, but aren't you reacting too quickly? See, my older brother and the other servants are still in shock, but it's almost as if you already knew what you'd find here!"
"I- I-- I'm not--- !" Ye Chongmin sputtered.
"You bastard!" Zhang Cheng roared. "How dare you?!" And he lunged for Luoyin, but-
"Stop it!" Fortunately, Lord Zhang had also arrived, and Zhang Cheng stopped in his tracks.
Luoyin turned to Lord Zhang. "Lor-, Ah! Father! I can explain... Nothing happ-!"
But in a few strides, Lord Zhang reached him and slapped him hard across the face.
"Did you get carried away with Xu Feng's praises yesterday?! What made you do something so audacious?! How dare you do such a thing with your brother's woman?!"
Lord Zhang looked at the hidden lump under the sheets. "'A pig ate the prized Cabbage'!! With what face do I answer Xu Feng?!!"
"That won't be necessary."
Lord Xu walked into the room with a severely pissed off look, and following him was Xu Linhua.
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