Hu Xiaotian chuckled, his gaze meeting Li Yuncong's. A meaningful smile touched Li Yuncong's lips. Though they had never been enemies, they could hardly be called friends; theirs was merely a relationship of mutual exploitation. His offer to take Hu Xiaotian's pulse was partly to investigate the true state of his body, and partly to test his nerve.
Hu Xiaotian hesitated slightly. Wouldn't putting my wrist in his hands be the same as handing him my life? What if this old eunuch tries something underhanded? But on second thought, Li Yuncong was unlikely to be so brazen. He turned his left wrist upward and rested it on the tea table, smiling. "Please go ahead, Eunuch Li."
Li Yuncong secretly admired Hu Xiaotian's courage. The lad must have been certain he would not harm him. Rolling up his sleeve, Li Yuncong gently laid his right middle finger on Hu Xiaotian's pulse. Unlike others, he did not use internal power to probe the condition of Hu Xiaotian's meridians. No one understood the terror of the Void Art better than Li Yuncong; one careless move could cost him all the power he had cultivated over decades. Judging by Hu Xiaotian's pulse alone, the lad's condition seemed even more complicated than before. Li Yuncong frowned, his grizzled eyebrows twitching.
Hu Xiaotian said, "An eminent monk at the Heavenly Dragon Temple told me I had no more than six months to live."
Li Yuncong slowly lifted his finger from Hu Xiaotian's wrist and asked quietly, "What else did he say?"
Hu Xiaotian said, "He said the more mutant true qi I have inside me, the greater the risk of qi deviation. Unless I practice the Formless Divine Skill, there probably isn't anything in this world that can save me."
Li Yuncong said, "He only understands