Chapter 1782 — Making Ready

At this moment, Wei Zhao had just finished preparing the medicinal liquid according to the instructions on the body-tempering formula. After taking one dose, he climbed into a basin of pale black liquid that had been set on the ground. Instantly, a piercing chill shot across his skin, making Wei Zhao shiver uncontrollably.

"Hiss—" Wei Zhao had not expected such an effect from the liquid. There was no menthol or any other cooling herb among the ingredients, yet mixed together they produced such coldness that Wei Zhao nearly leapt out of the basin.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao knew this was a hurdle that had to be crossed before the second level of the **Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art**, so he could only grit his teeth and endure. If he were careless and spilled this basin of liquid that had been so hard to prepare, brewing another batch would be no easy feat.

Many of the herbs needed were grown only in paltry quantities in Old Man Wei's garden; after this use, the remainder could not be picked again but had to be kept as seed. So preparing another basin of the liquid would have to wait until next year—Wei Zhao naturally dared not be careless.

"Whoosh—" The dose Wei Zhao had swallowed seemed to have a chilling effect as well. Far from driving the cold from his body, it made the chill inside him grow even more intense, until Wei Zhao truly could hardly bear it and wanted to circulate the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art to resist.

Yet Wei Zhao kept his wits about him. He knew very well that during the body-tempering soak, one must never circulate inner energy to resist, or the tempering would fail and the expected results would not be achieved. So there was nothing for it but to silently endure the chill that filled his whole body.

Fortunately, the sensation of being soaked in medicinal baths as a child had been little better than this. He had gritted his teeth and held on then, and though this was more painful than before, it was still bearable—because he thought of Feng Xiaoxiao. In those "final" days, her whole body had been unbearably cold every single day, and she had endured it too. Compared with her, was he not still better off?

So Wei Zhao clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and sat silently in the basin, waiting for the appointed time. According to the formula, the tempering required a full twenty-four hours of soaking, and Wei Zhao dared not slacken for even a moment.

Fortunately, this tempering session was shorter than the initial Foundation Establishment period, when Old Man Wei had made Wei Zhao soak in the liquid almost every day—though of course the degree of pain differed between the two.

Time slipped by, second by second. In the blink of an eye, more than half a day had passed, and Wei Zhao was astonished to discover that the color of the tempering liquid in the basin had lightened considerably—and as time went on, it grew lighter and lighter.

This strange phenomenon left Wei Zhao marveling. During his Foundation Establishment days, the liquid he soaked in each day had shown no obvious change. Could it be that this time the liquid was being absorbed by his body?

In a flash, twelve hours had gone by, and what startled Wei Zhao even more was that the tempering liquid in the basin had turned transparent—in other words, the liquid had been completely absorbed by his body.

But only twelve hours had passed, not the required twenty-four. So even though the liquid was fully absorbed, Wei Zhao still sat motionless in the basin, fearful of the slightest mishap.

Yet now Wei Zhao could no longer feel the initial chill in his body. Instead there was a normal sensation, as if the water were merely ordinary bathwater with nothing special about it.

Even so, Wei Zhao did not leave the basin.

Sure enough, what happened next proved his decision correct. As time passed again, the water in the basin took on color once more—from its initial transparency to a faint yellowish brown, and then the color began to deepen.

In the end, the whole basin of water turned the color of ink, greatly astonishing Wei Zhao. By now he roughly understood the principle behind the tempering liquid, and he silently counted himself lucky that he had not climbed out of the basin at the twelve-hour mark—that would surely have meant failure.

During the first twelve hours, the tempering liquid had been absorbed into his body, which was why Wei Zhao had felt that bone-chilling cold. The twelve hours after that must have been the detoxification phase, during which the liquid drew the impurities out of his body—so not only had the chill vanished, but he felt exceedingly comfortable, as if his whole body had become much fresher.

This was probably similar to the effect produced by the second stone door in the cave. The stone door had tempered the true energy within his body, while this liquid tempered his very constitution. The two worked by different means to the same end, yet neither could be dispensed with.

At last the twenty-four hours were up, and the entire basin of water had turned the color of black ink, even giving off a foul, fishy stench—clearly the impurities expelled from his body.

The moment the time was up, Wei Zhao leapt out of the basin and quickly wiped himself down with water from the basin of clean water at his side.

When all that was done, Wei Zhao dressed and carried the basin out of his room.

As Wei Zhao had expected, Old Man Wei was indeed in the courtyard again. As always, he sat in his reclining chair, quietly keeping watch at Wei Zhao's door. Only when he saw Wei Zhao emerge safely did a faint, weary smile appear on his face. "Xiao Yi, success?"

"Success!" Wei Zhao set the basin down on the ground and said, "It's all black water..."

"Why show it to me? Pour it out! It stinks!" Old Man Wei waved his hand and rose quickly to his feet. "Well, the preliminary work is done. This old man ought to rest now. Sleep if you want to sleep, or ** if you want to **!"

With that, Old Man Wei turned and walked toward his own room without looking back.

Wei Zhao smiled wryly, poured out the basin, and returned to his room. It was the middle of the night, and Tang Yun and the others were all resting, so Wei Zhao did not disturb them.

Besides, now that the tempering was complete, Wei Zhao was all the more eager to ** the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. He had been looking forward to it for a long time—once the second level was **, he could enter the cave and open the third stone door!

After tidying up, Wei Zhao once again sat cross-legged on the bed...