Luckily enough, the detoxification process, however long it took, happened while he was unconscious. Otherwise, if he were conscious by even a nerve alone, it would be really uncomfortable for him.
…
In a couple of hours time, the sun was up, giving its cheerful day-to-day radiance. Chen Zhiyu awoke to the streams of sunlight rays deflected on his face.
He was awake for a few minutes and before he realized it, he felt something off. A cold chill rushed throughout his whole body, startling him for a second.
"Huhn!" He exclaimed fiercely, being in utter amazement at what had transpired.
"When did this happen?" His brows curled with a sense of curiosity as he observed the thin needles used to cast the acupuncture laying numb all over his skin.
It was only now that he was actually a bit conscious that it began striking a strange chord within him.
How did he get himself here? Where was this place and who actually pinned countless needles all over his skin?
He was completely flowing with listlessness at the outcome he awoke to.
Luckily enough, he could already tell that the acupuncture needles were no longer hurting. Although he couldn't reflexively scan inwardly like normal cultivators, he could instinctively tell and perceive that his health was at a peak it had never been in years.
All of the poison residue had been discharged considerably, hence, giving him a new glow and appearance like never before. His enchanting skin, though scarred, glistened in the light of the sun.
And so did his white hair, as an heritage of the Chen clan which he possessed. It was now a more milky color compared to the dullness from the years of malnutrition and poison ingestion alike.
It wouldn't be wrong to call him a newborn at this point. He could tell within himself that his meridians that had been broken apart and clogged all this while were actually opening up narrowly. It was less than a percent opened which meant no difference to its actual state.
However even if it were half a percent, for someone like Chen Zhiyu who had completely given up on the concept of cultivation after losing the core foundation — the meridians — it was a notable achievement.
"I really need to thank this benefactor in person…" Chen Zhiyu mused inwardly with a smile.
HUHN!
Chen Zhiyu's body froze in shock right when he looked back. To his amazement, the figure that was right behind him was an old man. The old man happened to be dressed in all gray, with gray hair and the latter was smiling at him creepily.
"You…you…Who are you?" Chen Zhiyu stuttered away with his brows arched in confusion as to why the elderly man was smiling at him like that.
"What? You haven't seen an old man in your little life before. Hmph! You'd better not move recklessly with those needles still stuck on you" the old man scoffed right after, his smile vanishing as he spoke.
He seemed unhappy about Chen Zhiyu's shocked reaction, leaving the latter in a state of even more confusion. After all, though he was suspecting the old man was the reason behind how he got himself into the room in the first place, he had to be sure of it himself.
"I'm sorry Old Man. Thank you for saving me, I'm forever indebted to you for your kindness" Chen Zhiyu said in a meeker tone.
The old man cast a brooding look at Chen Zhiyu then scoffed with his face in the opposite direction. While doing so, he actually made whimpers that could be inferred as hushed giggles.
"It's fine. I can tell from your rosy look that you're in good fitting, so I'll help you rid off the needles" the old man said before swinging into action.
WHOOSH!
He gently flung his sleeves in the direction of Chen Zhiyu which caused the latter's eyes to open in shock.
What left him in shock?
The old man's seemingly casual sleeve flinging generated a suction force that immediately caught all of the acupuncture needles on Chen Zhiyu's body. Irrespective of the depth that they had sunk in Chen Zhiyu's body, they were all sucked out at about the same time.
In roughly a minute's time, they had already quickly left his body and departed into God-knows-where in the old man's sleeve.
"What was I thinking just now by calling this fellow an old man? He's clearly not very old and is probably living under the cover of being old. Which normal old man, alchemist or doctor alike, would have such grace and talent to pull out acupuncture needles in a short period of time" Chen Zhiyu's heart questioned.
"Little Friend, I got all the needles out, now you can move" the old man assured Chen Zhiyu shortly after before retiring to a futon opposite the latter.
Chen Zhiyu did not give an immediate reply rather he continuously scanned the room. The room here was quite warm and it fit the aesthetic of truly elderly people. Even the weird scent of incense here was probably from the old man's praying candles that were lit in the day.
But something felt off to Chen Zhiyu irregardless, and he could not help but question inwardly.
"I don't get it, what will an old man be doing detached in a cave like this all by himself. Didn't the disaster that killed the other people out there kill him too? Or, is he a ghost himself? Or, he…he could actually be the one behind their death" Chen Zhiyu's expression continuously changed as he inwardly asked himself these series of questions.
Unknowingly to him, his actions and expressions were all observed by the old man who felt quite amused by them.
It felt really entertaining to watch Chen Zhiyu's brows furrow from time to time, he would then proceed to nod only to give a disapproving nod after that, then a confused look again. It went on to a loop before it eventually stopped at a shocked frown.
"Little Friend? What are you thinking about exactly that's got you worked up" the old man's voice seemed to callback Chen Zhiyu's wandering thoughts back to him, returning his consciousness to the present.