Healing and Trust

At this moment, Zheng Hetong lay on the bed with a bloodless face, the room filled with a pungent medicinal odor.

Blocked meridians coupled with severe bleeding had left his body extremely weak. If not for the vigorous vitality of the Innate Realm, such injuries would have been fatal.

"Senior Disciple Brother, you all go out first. I need to treat Master!"

After confirming the injuries, Zhao Ping'an pondered for a moment and then instructed his Senior Disciple Brother Ji Xiangming, who stood by, along with several pharmacists and servants.

"Alright! I'll stand guard at the door. Call me if you need anything!"

Ji Xiangming did not hesitate. He immediately called out and strode out.

As for the pharmacists, the best in South Ridge City, they didn't dare to utter a word and followed Ji Xiangming out of the room with the servants.

Zhao Ping'an's presence put too much pressure on them!

Zhao Ping'an, whose mood was extremely foul, unconsciously exuded a trace of the pressure of a Martial Venerable Realm expert, making it incredibly difficult for those whose strongest cultivation was only Houtian Martial Artist Realm.

After everyone had left and the door was closed, Zhao Ping'an, standing by the bedside, carefully lifted the quilt covering his Master.

What met his eyes was a black and red palm print indented into his chest, right in the center of his sternum, extremely conspicuous.

"You injured my Master, captured my Mistress, and killed my servants! No matter who you are, I will make you pay with blood!"

Looking at the shocking palm print, a cold glint flashed in Zhao Ping'an's icy eyes, filled with murderous intent.

"Hoo..."

Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, Zhao Ping'an placed his right hand on the palm print on his Master Zheng Hetong's chest.

As his mind willed it, a Wood True Essence, like surging ocean waves, rapidly emanated from his palm, slowly entering Zheng Hetong's body.

At this moment, the powerful malleability of True Essence was displayed to its fullest.

Zhao Ping'an first used the gentlest Water True Essence to envelop all the bones, internal organs, and flesh within his Master's body. Then, slender strands of True Essence transformed into tentacles, beginning to clear bone spurs from the internal organs and flesh, and repositioning them one by one.

This process was extremely slow. Besides needing to identify the location of the bone spurs, True Essence had to be used to promptly seal and repair the wounds in the internal organs and flesh that were created by the dislodged bone spurs.

Fortunately, Water True Essence also had a significant effect on healing injuries. Although not as good as the best Wood True Essence, it was still infinitely better than other attributes.

Time slowly passed as Zhao Ping'an treated his Master Zheng Hetong's injuries step by step.

Repairing ribs, clearing bruises, sealing wounds, unblocking meridians.

After a full hour, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

At this point, Zheng Hetong's breathing was steady, and the palm print on his chest had vanished without a trace. Although his complexion was still somewhat pale, it was merely due to excessive blood loss. He only needed to replenish with some medicinal soup to restore his vitality, and after a period of rest for his bones and internal organs to fully heal, he would recover.

Just as Zhao Ping'an was treating Zheng Hetong, a letter was delivered to City Lord Zhou Ruiming. The messenger was merely a beggar, the kind commonly seen on the streets.

According to his account, a person wearing a bamboo hat asked him to deliver this letter to the City Lord's Mansion, and the City Lord would give him one tael of silver as a reward.

One tael of silver, if spent sparingly, would be enough for him to eat and drink for several months without worry.

At this critical juncture, any disturbance was enough to attract Zhou Ruiming's attention.

Therefore, the guards at the City Lord's Mansion did not ignore the person just because he was a beggar, and immediately delivered the letter to their master.

The letter was wrapped in a large brown envelope, with no signature.

Zhou Ruiming carefully opened it and found a smaller envelope and a folded note inside. The smaller letter also had no signature.

He immediately opened the note and saw only one sentence:

"Find Zhao Ping'an as quickly as possible and hand this letter to him personally, otherwise you will bear the consequences!"

"They've arrived? Brother Ouyang, where is Grandmaster Zhao now?"

Zhou Ruiming muttered, then turned to Ouyang Yun beside him.

With such an incident happening in the city, he, who was naturally cautious, had been inseparable from Ouyang Yun during this period.

"Brother Zhou, is this letter for Grandmaster Zhao? He should be at the Zhao Residence now. A scout reported a quarter of an hour ago that he was treating Zheng Hetong's injuries."

"Yes, it's for Grandmaster Zhao. Someone, prepare the carriage!"

Hearing Ouyang Yun's question and answer, Zhou Ruiming nodded and shouted to the outside of the door.

"Yes, my lord!"

"Creak!..."

As the tightly closed door slowly opened, everyone in the courtyard looked at Zhao Ping'an emerging from inside.

"Master is fine now. He just needs to take some medicinal soup to replenish his blood and qi, and he will recover after a period of rest."

Looking at his four senior brothers and sisters gathered in the courtyard, Zhao Ping'an said softly.

The four of them rejoiced and wanted to go in to see, but Zhao Ping'an stopped them with a raised hand.

"Wait until Master wakes up before going in. Third Senior Sister, take two servants and guard here. Prepare the blood-replenishing medicinal soup in advance and give it to Master immediately. The three Senior Brothers will accompany me to the City Lord's Mansion. I want to mobilize all the forces in the city to search outside the city for me!"

After stopping those who wanted to enter the room, Zhao Ping'an continued to assign tasks to them.

"This... Alright, we'll listen to you, Junior Brother."

The four looked at each other, and the Senior Disciple Brother, Ji Xiangming, nodded in agreement.

"Report! My Lord, the City Lord requests an audience outside the manor!"

While they were speaking, a guard at the door suddenly ran in quickly, knelt on one knee, and reported loudly.

"Hmm? Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. I didn't expect him to come looking for me himself. Let him in!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

Although the guard was confused about who Cao Cao was, he quickly got up and ran out the door.

Zhao Ping'an then beckoned his senior brothers and sisters to enter the reception hall beside them to wait.

"Someone is looking for you to deliver a letter? Is this it?"

In the reception hall, Zhou Ruiming directly took out the letter and handed it to Zhao Ping'an, explaining its origin.

"That's right, Grandmaster Zhao."

Hearing Zhao Ping'an's question, Zhou Ruiming nodded.

Zhao Ping'an looked at the letter in his hand, confirmed there was no danger, and that it hadn't been opened. He tore open the wax seal and took out a folded piece of paper from inside.

"Go to Thousand Guts Valley alone? They want my cultivation technique? They're courting death!"

Looking at the contents of the letter, Zhao Ping'an coldly grunted.

The content of the letter was concise and clear, demanding that Zhao Ping'an, before nightfall, bring the cultivation technique of the Martial King expert he had fabricated to Thousand Guts Valley to exchange for his Mistress Zhao Xiuyun.

If he did not arrive before sunset, he would never see his Mistress again, and the next to disappear would be his Master, senior brother, or senior sister.