Ling Zhang was deeply shocked by Yuwen Tong. After browsing them carefully, he found that Yuwen Tong had drawn diagrams of three formations, which shocked him even further.
“I picked these three formation diagrams which are relatively suitable for them to begin with. I also offered some advice on their respective positions for your reference. You may have a try.”
Ling Zhang resumed browsing quickly and did find more detailed diagrams, on which there were not only positions of all twelve security guards but also annotations.
“You…”
“Just ask if you have any questions.”
Ling Zhang lost his tongue for quite a while in shock. He had thought that it would be amazing enough if Yuwen Tong was able to complete the formation diagram half of which was missing, and which he had only had a glimpse at, but remarkably, Yuwen Tong gave him three. He had thought that these three formation diagrams were all Yuwen Tong had managed to deduce, but Yuwen Tong said that these three were the ones he picked for him, which meant that he knew more than these. Now Yuwen Tong was fully acquainted with the security of his home, and there were even detailed positions of guards and annotations.
Was this man really only a human?
In shock, he even had a feeling that what he had known about Yuwen Tong so far was merely the tip of the iceberg.
“I… How come you know so well about the security of my home?”
“I can see everything people in the Guards’ yard do from the rooftops of the Green Bamboo Mansion.”
The expression on Ling Zhang’s face instantly turned a little unnatural. So Yuwen Tong could see distinctly what he did in the Guards’ yard if he wanted to?
Did he still have any privacy in front of Yuwen Tong?
“I heard that you’d got all required herbs ready. Start having medicated bath to unblock your meridians tonight. You’ll surely feel the difference when you practice kung fu tomorrow.”
Ling Zhang nodded faintly stiffly and said, “Okay.”
Yuwen Tong’s suggestions were more penetrating than the plan Ling Zhang had thought of by his own. The longer Ling Zhang read them, the more strongly he felt the gap between him and Yuwen Tong.
“I’ll have them try these a few days later.”
Judging by how detailed these things were, Yuwen Tong must have spent a lot of time on them. Though having known about the formations, Yuwen Tong could have kept it a secret from him, but he still chose to tell him and even offered him help. He owed Yuwen Tong yet another favor.
On that night, he was ready to unblock his meridians.
Before this day, Ling Zhang had already specially had his warm-room (A small room connected to a bigger one, where a stove is set to heat rooms.) converted into a bathroom. Since medicated bath required constant water temperature, he had some craftsmen build a bathing pool in the room, under which there was a stove chamber connected to the outside, so that servants could heat the bathing pool to ensure fixed water temperature.
Herbs were put into the bathing pool following the proportions given by Yuwen Tong. As he walked into the bathroom, he was greeted by a strong smell of medicinal materials as well as billows of warm steam.
“Should I take the medicated bath first or… ”
“I’ll use my internal energy to help unblock your meridians while you’re soaking in the water.”
Yuwen Tong followed him inside and started undressing.
Ling Zhang stood transfixed for quite a while.
“What are you waiting for? Don’t waste the medicine. Hurry,” Yuwen Tong urged him.
He didn’t seem to have any indecent thoughts at all. Ling Zhang couldn’t help feeling that he was being unduly timid, so he also took off his coat.
Yuwen Tong turned aside and flicked a glance at him. It seemed casual, but actually his eyes had already swept through Ling Zhang’s whole body, and with his extraordinarily good memory, he had quickly memorized every detail.
“Take off some more clothes. To make it more convenient for my internal energy to run through your meridians and easier for you to absorb active constituent of the medicine, you should wear only underpants. It’s best if you take off all your clothes.”
Take off all clothes? Ling Zhang’s fingers on his clothes froze. “I think I’ll keep my pants on.”
By comparison, keeping his pants on was more acceptable to him.
There was a disguised regretful look in the depths of Yuwen Tong’s eyes, but he felt it was good enough to have Ling Zhang undress until he had only underpants left.
Ling Zhang clenched his teeth, trying hard to make himself look natural. When he had only underpants left, he quickly stepped into the bathing pool and sat down cross-legged. Billowing water vapor blocked his view, so his embarrassment partially abated.
But for Yuwen Tong, the vapor was no obstacle. He could still distinctly see Ling Zhang’s lean but muscular body. Maybe because of his recent strenuous workout, 17-year-old Ling Zhang didn’t look thin at all, his shoulders broad, his hip narrow, his skin white, and there was no flab in his arms or any other parts. He affected a calmness, but what he didn’t know was that the blushes on his face had already betrayed him.
Even the look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes changed. He also undressed himself and stepped into the bathing pool, wearing only a pair of underpants.
Concentrating on relaxing and making himself look natural, Ling Zhang didn’t notice that Yuwen Tong, who didn’t need to absorb the medicine, had also undressed and was wearing only underpants.
He didn’t even turn his head back, so he missed the chance to see how good a figure Yuwen Tong had, which was quite a pity in Yuwen Tong’s view.
After sitting down in the bathing pool, Ling Zhang was right before him. Yuwen Tong had always known that he had been growing fonder and fonder of Ling Zhang all along. This scene in front of him was an intense stimulation for him.
Though having always had excellent self-control, he also had to secretly give himself a warning to keep his cool.
As Ling Zhang sat down in the bathing pool, medicine contained in the slightly hot, chest-deep water began to seep into his body from all sides giving him an inexplicably pleasant feeling.
A palm was pressed against his back and Ling Zhang’s heart lurched on this physical contact.
“Stay cool and concentrate your mind. You’ll feel a little uncomfortable later on. Just hang in there.”
After these words, Yuwen Tong became serious. He confirmed that Ling Zhang was ready, and then mobilized his internal energy and slowly sent it into Ling Zhang’s body. His Qi started circulating in Ling Zhang’s meridians bit by bit.
Ling Zhang began to feel numb, itchy and painful all over. When that mysterious stream of warmth went through some joints of meridians, the pain was so unbearable that he felt as if numerous ants were gnawing at his heart. Ling Zhang’s face blushed scarlet and he gritted his teeth against the agony.
Those positions were probably those partially blocked acupoints in his meridians network that Yuwen Tong had mentioned. Yuwen Tong was using his internal energy to slowly expand them, which was definitely not an enjoyable process.
Ling Zhang was sweating buckets. As the stream of warmth circulated inside him, the medicine contained in the water began to permeate into his body again, which made the numbness, itch and pains intensify. Blue veins stood out on his forehead.
Yuwen Tong was also sweating profusely. He knew Ling Zhang was in anguish, but he didn’t pause for a single instant.
Vapor in the bathroom was getting thicker and thicker. When it thickened to a certain degree, it suddenly began dissolving at a gentle pace. The medicine carried by the vapor was slowly absorbed by Ling Zhang worming its way into his body.
As time passed bit by bit, Ling Zhang’s mouth was filled with taste of blood due to tightly gritted teeth. Fighting against agony had cost him so much mental strength that his consciousness began to blur. The only thing he could feel was the mixture of numbness, itch and pain.
The water was gradually becoming cleaner. When it became completely clean, Yuwen Tong finally stopped.
Ling Zhang’s tense nerves abruptly relaxed and he blacked out falling backwards.
Yuwen Tong hurriedly stretched out his hand and caught him. Heedless of the fact that both of them were nearly naked, he held unconscious Ling Zhang in his arms, stood up from the bathing pool, and took a piece of soft thick cotton cloth to wrap him up before carrying him out of the warm-room.
The moment Xia Feng waiting outside saw Yuwen Tong, who was half naked and holding Ling Zhang in his arms, walk out, he immediately hurried over and asked in anxiety, “What happened to my childe?”
Yuwen Tong glanced at him and said, “The medicine was too potent for him to withstand and he passed out. Get him some clean clothes.”
Xia Feng was unwilling to leave, since he didn’t know Yuwen Tong well enough to place trust in him.
“Hurry,” Yuwen Tong looked at him with piercing eyes.
Xia Feng felt a shiver from head to toe. Eventually, he still obeyed and went to look for clean clothes for Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong carried Ling Zhang into an inner room, put him down on the bed and wiped him dry with a piece of cloth.
When Xia Feng returned, he quickly covered Ling Zhang with a quilt and said with a sullen look on his face, “Put the clothes down and get out.”
“My lord, please let me take care of my childe.”
“Get lost.”
Xia Feng had an intense feeling of pressure once again, which was even more intense than the one he had had a while before, and which nearly caused him to lose his footing. Gritting his teeth, he eventually chose to draw back step by step, but he stopped in the corridor between the inner room and the ante-room, silently standing there staring fixedly at the bed behind a curtain in the distance.
Naturally, Yuwen Tong had sensed that Xia Feng didn’t really leave the room. But there was a distance between them as well as a curtain which made it impossible for him to have a clear view of the inner room, so he said no more.
He lifted the quilt, took off Ling Zhang’s wet pants and after that he was briefly transfixed, unable to move his eyes.
After a while he took a piece of cotton cloth, wiped Ling Zhang dry, quickly clothed him in clean clothes and tucked him in.
He removed Ling Zhang’s hair stick, reached out and felt his forehead as well as his pulse. After confirming that everything was steady, he stuffed Ling Zhang’s hand back under the quilt, stood up and left the bedside.
When walking past Xia Feng, he said, “Keep a close eye on him tonight. If anything happens, come to the Green Bamboo Mansion to inform me immediately.”
“Yes,” Xia Feng slightly lowered his head and answered.
Yuwen Tong retrieved his clothes from the bathroom and left.
Xia Feng hastily walked to the bed and checked Ling Zhang. It was not until he confirmed that Ling Zhang was fine that he exhaled in relief and wiped the sweat off his brow.
Just now, the aura about that man was so horrifying that he could barely bear it. His young master would surely be angry with him the next day if he knew that he was so useless. Fortunately, he had eventually managed to withstand it.
Well aware that he couldn’t afford to let anything go awry, Xia Feng stayed on the bed in the outer room keeping watch at night himself.
After returning to the Green Bamboo Mansion, Yuwen Tong took a bath, changed his clothes, picked up a document on the desk and started reading, sparing part of his attention for the room next door.
It was fairly cold at night. Yao Yi put a thick cape on him and said, “Marshal, let me keep watch here. I promise I’ll inform you if anything happens to childe. Why don’t you go and have some sleep?”
Xia Feng had just woken up when he heard Ling Zhang’s voice. He was just about to go inside to check when a figure flashed past him and entered the room before him.
Watching Yuwen Tong who had abruptly shown up, he widened his mouth in shock.
Ling Zhang knitted his eyebrows as if in pain, and his limbs briefly twitched.
Yuwen Tong held him in his arms and started giving him a massage. The massage seemed to be very effective. Gradually, Ling Zhang’s body relaxed and his eyebrows unknitted. Against Yuwen Tong’s chest, he resumed his deep sleep.
