"You make a good point, alright, let's settle it this way. After we get through the immediate crisis, I'll leave the Bai Family with you," Three Gu decided, his small eyes flickering, as he finally made up his mind.
"Haha, that's more like it. We brothers have known each other for years now, I wouldn't undertake such a matter if I weren't confident. You go take care of the 'Young Master's' body, but leave all his belongings, his clothes and talismans, intact. I will tend to this young man. If we don't save him now, I fear he might indeed breathe his last, and this will consume quite a bit of my Yuan Energy," Guan Da said with a smile, patting Three Gu's shoulder.
Three Gu nodded and strode towards the pit.
Guan Da quickly stripped the clothes from the young man's body, exposing the dreadfully pale, inverted wounds on his chest, shoulders, abdomen, and many other densely packed scars.
Even Guan Da, who had seen much in his time, couldn't help but inhale sharply at the sight. However, his hands didn't hesitate as they began to rapidly slap around the youth's wounds, starting with singular thumps and soon sounding like continuous firecrackers popping.
The youth's body quickly became flushed red, but the faint swelling that had been there began to rapidly dissipate.
Suddenly, Guan Da halted his movements and reached into his chest, pulling out a yellow wooden box.
He tapped lightly on the box, and the lid sprang open with a clack, revealing a dozen slender silver needles of various sizes.
With a swipe of two fingers into the box, he deftly picked up a silver needle.
Guan Da's expression became slightly stern, and with a flick of his arm, the needle turned into a blur of silver light, piercing repeatedly into various parts of the youth's body...
Liu Ming was not sure when he had stopped using the "Breath Holding Technique," but his head felt as though it was splitting open, and there wasn't a single spot on his body that wasn't abnormally hot. However, at some point, every spot became incredibly cool, the relief making him almost cry out in comfort. But overwhelmed by an irresistible fatigue, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.
While sleeping, a series of images flickered incessantly in the deepest recesses of his mind, including the vague figures of a middle-aged couple, along with a host of bizarre and grotesque demons' faces that all seemed to be speaking to him incessantly.
The middle-aged couple gave him an indescribably intimate feeling.
The young man tried hard to hear what they were saying, but he couldn't make out anything under the clamor of the other voices. In his urgency, he wanted to push away the ghostly faces with his hands, but found himself utterly without strength, growing increasingly frantic.
After an uncertain amount of time, Liu Ming slowly regained consciousness with a warm current rolling back and forth in his body.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he immediately saw the close face of Guan Da, a square-faced middle-aged man.
As soon as the man saw him wake, he unceremoniously barked at him,
"Don't think about anything else, quickly focus on your cultivation, otherwise, all that effort before will have been for nothing."
Upon hearing this, Liu Ming's heart tightened. Without giving it much thought, he started to recite a familiar mantra in his mind, directing the warm current in his body slowly towards a spot in his abdomen.
Only then did Guan Da let out a sigh of relief, withdrawing his palm from the young man's chest and standing up to watch Liu Ming's every move with a cold eye.
After a while, a touch of color finally returned to the young man's unusually pale face, and he opened his eyes again.
"Thank you for your life-saving grace, Elder. Without it, I might indeed have met my demise," said Liu Ming as he stood up and gave a slight bow.
Although he did not know the identity of the person before him, since he had been saved, Liu Ming felt immensely grateful in his heart.
At this moment, he also saw clearly where he was. He was in a dip not far from the river, and he was now dressed in a brand-new brocade robe. His wounds had been bandaged, and there was a cool sensation on his skin, obviously treated with a high-grade medicinal ointment.
And the aftereffects he most feared from the "Breath Holding Technique" had also been managed and suppressed by the stranger, preventing the internal injuries that should have already erupted from bursting forth.
Though the stranger's methods were extremely skilled, the current situation inside his body was too dire. It seemed only a matter of time before the injuries would flare up again.
The peculiar secret techniques he had learned from prisoners on the desolate island were indeed useful against enemies, but also incredibly aggressive, almost to the point of harming both the user and the opponent.
Had it not been for another breathing technique he learned from 'Uncle Qian' that greatly enhanced his body's recovery, he would never have dared to use such secret techniques so frequently.
He believed that the unnamed breathing technique must have played a crucial role in his not succumbing to his injuries in the river.
On seeing how calm the youth was, Guan Da was momentarily surprised, but his face broke into a smile as he replied,
"It's nothing, for Guan Da and others to rescue you was but a simple effort."
"How come, is it not just senior alone here?" Liu Ming asked somewhat surprised.
"I have a companion who has gone to take care of some other matters and will be back shortly. You, young brother, look like you haven't eaten for several days. Have something to eat before we talk about anything else," Guan Da said, his face piled with smiles.
After walking a few steps, he bent down and produced a flower cloth bundle from nowhere, and when he opened it, it was filled with all sorts of delicate pastries, which he took out and placed before the young man.
Liu Ming's stomach indeed had long been famished, and after thanking him, he took the food without hesitation and began stuffing it into his mouth as fast as he could.
In the blink of an eye, seven or eight fist-sized pastries had entered the young man's belly, at which his eating slowed somewhat.
"Young brother, there is no need to rush. If it's not enough, Guan here still has more. By the way, what's your honorable surname, young brother, and how did you come to be so badly injured and end up here?" Guan Da asked with a grin.
"This junior's surname is Yang and my given name is Yuan. I am a merchant and was originally traveling with my uncle carrying a batch of valuable goods to trade in another place, but we were attacked by a group of bandits on the way. I jumped into the river to escape, but as for my uncle, his life and death are still unknown," Liu Ming replied after a moment's contemplation, giving a false name and showing an appropriately sorrowful expression.
Back on the fierce island, Liu Ming had spent some time learning some tricks to control his emotions and facial muscles from a notorious swindler, so making such an expression was effortless for him.
He was now a wanted man by the Ministry of Justice, and giving his real name would obviously be asking for trouble.
"Turned out you encountered bandits. Condolences, young Yang. Recently the times have indeed been troubled, but for these bandits to dare to rob and murder civilians in broad daylight, they really are audaciously bold. When I return, I will have the family head send a famous card to the local authorities, making sure they spare no effort in capturing these bandits and bringing them to justice," Guan Da said, with a trace of anger in his voice, his sentiment seeming genuine.
If it hadn't been for their Young Master, who also fell victim to bandits, how could they have ended up in such a plight?
"If that could really be achieved, this junior would thank the Family Head on behalf of my uncle's spirit in heaven!" Liu Ming said with a seemingly solemn expression.
"It's a small matter, not worth mentioning. But I noticed the wounds on your body, young brother. They seem to be the result of a fierce battle, and you've also used several techniques to stimulate your potential. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so difficult for Guan to treat you," Guan Da casually ventured another question.
"My uncle and I had both practiced some martial skills and a few secretive techniques. That's why we were able to fight a fierce battle with that group of bandits. It was only outnumbered that I was forced to jump into the river to save my life," Liu Ming replied without hesitation.
"Young brother Yang, aren't you being too modest? You clearly possess spiritual meridians and have cultivated a certain amount of Yuan Energy as a Qi Cultivator. How can you claim to know only martial skills? The person who forced you into the river must not be a common bandit," Guan Da said with a half-smiling demeanor upon hearing this.
"Spiritual meridians? Qi Cultivator? I have indeed heard others mention this," Liu Ming responded, genuinely taken aback by the comment.
"Young brother, do you not know that a Qi Cultivator is a person with spiritual meridians, albeit the lowest among them? If you are not one, then how did you come to know of the cultivating practices and attain such considerable Yuan Energy?" Guan Da looked at the young man, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"I truly don't know about what 'Yuan Energy' is, but when I was a child, I obtained an unnamed breathing technique, which has the effect of strengthening the body. I have been cultivating it all these years. Perhaps that's the Yuan Energy cultivation method Uncle Guan just mentioned!" Liu Ming said, his gaze flickering before showing a look of sudden realization.
"That is possible. Methods to cultivate Yuan Energy are indeed mostly controlled by the Qi Cultivating families, but low-level cultivation incantations also leak out occasionally. Too bad, if young brother Yang knew other Qi Cultivator techniques and had a magic artifact with you, a mere group of bandits wouldn't have been able to harm a hair on you," Guan Da said with no intention of delving further into the matter, shaking his head and lamenting.
"The method senior used just now to heal me, could it possibly involve the use of Yuan Energy? That means, Uncle Guan is also a Qi Cultivator!" Liu Ming said with a seemingly calm facade, but waves of shock were surging in his heart.
Encountering a Qi Cultivator on the run was already an unexpected event. Now to stumble upon another was truly beyond his expectations.
He had heard countless rumors about Qi Cultivators from the mouths of various felons on the fierce island since he was young.
According to them, the number of Qi Cultivators in the Great Xuan Kingdom was extremely rare, and they seldom interacted with common people. Yet everyone had incredible abilities; some could tread on grass as light as a swallow, while others were able to injure people from a distance with their techniques. Some of the more powerful ones could increase their strength to an awe-inspiring extent, making them invulnerable to blades, flames, and water, capable of withstanding thousands of foes.
The only distinguishing feature, when they employed their special techniques, was that they usually held strangely styled "magic artifacts" in their hands, emitting various lights and supernatural sights upon activation.
Of course, some felons claimed that the most formidable Qi Cultivators could also wield their techniques without the need for magic artifacts.
Therefore, as soon as Liu Ming saw that the man in the blue robe possessed a magic artifact, he immediately ran for his life.
If he hadn't done so, he probably would have died under the man's bizarre attack.
And now, being told that he too had "spiritual meridians" and was a Qi Cultivator shocked him to the core.
Almost instantly, he thought of the unnamed incantation that Uncle Qian had once taught him.