A Thousand Li by Tao Wong

Author:Tao Wong [Wong, Tao]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starlit Publishing
Published: 2021-06-01T05:00:00+00:00

***

“Drink!” Tou He pushed the cup at Wu Ying.

It was a simple brew, a recipe given to Wu Ying by Senior Hou and tweaked to better suit Wu Ying’s body as per the body cultivation manual they had perused. Senior Hou had been remarkably prescient on what was needed, with only a few standout items that they had swapped out that would work better for a wind body than a wood body.

Of course, adjusting an apothecarist brew was dangerous. Wu Ying would never have tried it if not for his own knowledge of apothecary and the fact that Senior Hou’s original brew had already lost its efficacy. It was still not advisable, but he was willing to risk it. After all, when one was dying, minor risk of further injury was… minor.

Or at least, Wu Ying had told himself that when he had passed Tou He the recipe before he began cultivating. Now, sipping on the warm, blossom-scented drink, he was grateful for his risk-taking. If nothing else, this smelled and tasted much better than the original recipe.

“Yes, yes.” Wu Ying pushed aside the bowl, half-finished, as he waited for his stomach to settle. “I’m not meant to be chugging it.”

“Are you meant to be collapsing?” Tou He said caustically.

“I was just tired. It’s been a long day,” Wu Ying said, waving the matter away. When Tou He made a noise of disagreement, he continued. “Seriously, I was just tired. I might have pushed things a bit much, but I didn’t hurt myself.”

Tou He grunted, watching his friend sip at the drink a little longer before asking the question he had clearly been burning to ask. “Did it work?”

“Hmmm…” Wu Ying sent his senses into his body again, trying to judge the changes. Only five revolutions, when any substantial change required hundreds, if not thousands, meant that changes—if any—were hard to notice. At least he hadn’t had a cultivation deviation this time. “Maybe? I think I’m a little sturdier?”

“Are you supposed to get sturdier with a wind elemental body?”

“Not that way,” Wu Ying said, irritated.

“Then?”

“It’s… it’s like the wind chi is more solid within me. It feels like I’m improving, even if it is only marginally.” Wu Ying frowned, rolling up his sleeves. The stain on his arm, the blackened skin that looked so much like a bruise or liver spots one would see on the elderly, had not changed. His clothing was clean as well, other than some minor staining and the rank smell of dried sweat. “I didn’t exude anything this time.”

“Yes. Which your laundress is grateful for.” Tou He frowned. Obviously, considering all that Wu Ying had gone through, a flood of exuded corruption chi might have been better.

“I don’t know if this”—Wu Ying raised the bowl—“or the body cultivation is helping, but it doesn’t seem to be harming me at least. If I can reinforce my body, maybe it’ll slow down the poison.”

“Maybe?”

“Yes. I’ll need to try this a few more times, and the other methods.”

“Won’t what you are doing clash with other cultivation methods?” Tou He asked.

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