Crisp Rice Flower

Xiao Zongting strode straight into the Main Hall of the Back Courtyard.

Duan Rong followed, carrying the Medicine Pack as he stepped over the threshold and stopped by the doorway.

On the east and west sides of the Main Hall were Inner Rooms, each screened off by hanging curtains.

At that moment, a faint yellow glow spilled from beneath the curtain of the eastern room, casting a slanted patch of light at Duan Rong's feet.

That was Xiao Baijiao's bedchamber!

Duan Rong seemed to catch a faint, secluded fragrance.

In the darkness, Xiao Zongting felt around for a firestarter. After pulling it open and blowing on it a few times, he used its bright red flame to light a candle.

Warm yellow light immediately spread through the Main Hall!

Xiao Zongting snuffed out the firestarter, limped over, and sat in a Grand Tutor Chair. With anger in his eyes, he looked at Duan Rong and said, "Bring me the medicine!"

Xiao Zongting radiated killing intent. Though he held back his rage, he still possessed the bearing of a lion roaring and terrifying every beast.

Duan Rong froze slightly, then obediently placed the Medicine Pack on the carved redwood table beside Xiao Zongting's Grand Tutor Chair.

Xiao Zongting opened the Medicine Pack, separated the herbs within one by one, and laid them out across the table.

The more he arranged, the darker his expression became.

Finally, Xiao Zongting lifted a small packet of dark brown powder to his nose and sniffed it. He immediately flew into a rage. "What the hell are these Tiger and Wolf Medicines?!"

Xiao Zongting looked at Duan Rong, murder flashing from his eyes. "Come here!"

Duan Rong shuffled over like a frightened quail.

Xiao Zongting suddenly bent down and pressed hard against Duan Rong's lower abdomen, then raised a hand and pressed the spot between his nipples. "Do these two places hurt?"

"The Shenque Acupoint doesn't hurt. The Shanzhong Acupoint has a faint, dull pain," Duan Rong answered worriedly.

How could he not realize by now that there was likely something wrong with that medicine? He honestly told Xiao Zongting about his symptoms.

Xiao Zongting was slightly surprised. This brat actually knew the body's acupoints so well.

The Shenque Acupoint was located at the Dantian, while the Shanzhong Acupoint was where the meridians met in the chest.

Ever since Duan Rong had devoured the spirit of the silver needle Gu Suxiu had left behind, he had long since become as familiar with the body's meridians and acupoints as the back of his hand!

But Xiao Zongting's mind was not on that right now. After hearing Duan Rong's answer, his dark expression finally eased somewhat.

"Who gave you this prescription?"

"I bought some miscellaneous books on Antique Street. One of them had this prescription recorded in the back. I saw that it was meant for the Second Level of Inner Breath, so I bought the herbs to try it."

"You've got some damned nerve! I thought some wandering charlatan had given it to you. After all that, it came from some rubbish book! How could the person who wrote it possibly be reliable? What decent person even writes books?"

The more Xiao Zongting spoke, the angrier he seemed to become. He glared at Duan Rong. "Even if you wanted to use this prescription, couldn't you have brought it to me first?"

Duan Rong stared at the floor and mumbled, "Second Miss was seriously ill. How could you have had the mind to care about anything else? I don't know anyone else!"

Xiao Zongting's anger suddenly faded by more than half.

He was the Chief Instructor. He had originally expected Duan Rong to reach the First Level of Inner Breath within days, which was why he had given him the Secret Manual for the second level. But he had forgotten to give him the prescription for the second level.

For one, his mind had been in turmoil at the time. For another, he had thought that even if he gave Duan Rong the prescription, the boy would not have the money to buy the herbs.

These supplements for the Second Level of Inner Breath were not something an Apprentice Escort earning three qian of silver a month could afford.

He had actually been considering applying for a separate cultivation allowance for Duan Rong. But once Xiao Baijiao's matter arose, he truly had no mind to spare for anything else.

In the end, this was also a failure on his part as Chief Instructor.

"How many doses of this medicine have you taken?"

"Only one."

"When did you take it?"

"At the hour of the tiger, three days ago."

Xiao Zongting nodded and continued, "How long did you practice stance work each day over these past three days?"

"Nine two-hour periods."

Xiao Zongting's face remained calm, but his heart was deeply shaken!

Duan Rong's Dantian had not been damaged by such Tiger and Wolf Medicine. Naturally, that was because he had only taken one dose, but more importantly, after taking it, he had trained savagely. His relentless, ferocious cultivation had neutralized the surging medicinal force, preventing his Dantian from bearing the strain for too long!

Xiao Zongting could naturally deduce that Duan Rong had only managed to preserve his Dantian by training so intensely.

But he still had not expected Duan Rong to be this insane, practicing stance work for nine two-hour periods every day!

And that was even with the condition that he went out to paint for one two-hour period every day. He was practically a human-shaped machine!

Xiao Zongting's gaze had shifted from initial anger to shocked admiration.

Exceptional talent, obsessed with martial arts, and diligent in cultivation to the point of madness! To gain such a disciple in my old age—what greater comfort could there be in life!

At that moment, all of Xiao Zongting's doubts vanished. Pointing at the herbs on the table, he spoke to Duan Rong in a gentler tone. "This Bear Bile Powder, blood ginseng, and Solomon's seal are all precious medicinal ingredients that stimulate the Dantian's potential."

"Used individually, each is greatly beneficial to a martial artist's cultivation."

"But if these three herbs are used together, and in such large quantities, then they are not meant to stimulate the Dantian's potential. They are meant to destroy the Dantian!"

The moment Duan Rong heard the words "destroy the Dantian," his heart turned ice-cold!

He recalled that in Guan Yun's written account, Guan Yun had also said that someone had harmed him and destroyed his Dantian.

Because his own Dantian had been destroyed, he had deliberately compiled a book and racked his brains to hide within it a prescription for destroying someone else's Dantian!

He wanted others to end up just like him!

This was practically an antisocial personality!

Vicious! Maggot! Disgusting maggot!

Duan Rong cursed furiously in his heart, his dark face flushing red. "Old Xiao, has my Dantian been destroyed?"

"Fortunately, no! You only took one dose, and you also trained like mad. You just barely stayed within the limits of what your Dantian could endure. But even with your insane training, if you had taken three doses of this medicine, your Dantian would certainly have been destroyed!"

Hearing that his Dantian was unharmed, Duan Rong finally let out the breath he had been holding.

"Then why does my Shanzhong Acupoint have that faint, dull pain?" Duan Rong was truly worried now.

"The meridians are weaker than the Dantian, after all, and the Shanzhong Acupoint is where many fine meridians converge. Under the effects of such Tiger and Wolf Medicine, some of those tiny meridians were likely injured."

"Can they recover?"

"As long as you do not take this medicine again, they will slowly repair themselves. Those tiny meridians do not participate in circulation when cultivating the Inner Breath Realm at all. The medicinal force was simply too overwhelming, so it overflowed into them."

The anxious look on Duan Rong's face finally calmed.

Looks like this time, it was all fright and no harm.

I need to remember this lesson!

At that moment, Xiao Zongting picked up a dried brown flower stalk from among the herbs. "This herb is called Crisp Rice Flower. It isn't cheap, either."

"When used as medicine, this flower can invigorate the mind!"

"But when these two plants are used together, it is no longer as simple as invigorating the mind. At such a high dosage, it will make a person's heart race wildly and rob them of their ability to feel the pain in their Dantian and meridians!"

"Make the heart race wildly?" Duan Rong remembered that he had been exactly like that over the past two days.

"This medicine that destroys the Dantian is paired in a truly vicious way. Whoever takes it will feel that the medicine is powerful and their spirits are soaring, while being completely unable to feel the pain of their meridians tearing and their Dantian bearing the strain!"

No wonder this Guan Yun used an alias. What a fucking mess! You motherfucker, you nearly got your old man killed!

Duan Rong cursed without end in his heart.