64: Chapter 64 Helping Others Unload
Zhen Lu tucked away the dagger and the two yellowed secret manuals, crawled out from the crevice, and brushed the moss debris off his body.
Zhao Qian was still sitting cross-legged in front of the stone wall covered with carved characters, staring intently at the little stick figures, not even hearing the sound of his footsteps as he approached.
"Brother." Zhen Lu called out.
Zhao Qian turned his head, saw the extra items in Zhen Lu's hands, and was momentarily stunned.
"I found these in the crevice over there just now." Zhen Lu handed over the two secret manuals and the dagger.
"Two cultivation methods, see if you can use them. Also, this dagger, I don't have any use for it either, so here, take it."
Zhao Qian took the manuals, flipped open the first page and scanned it briefly, then opened the other, his eyes widening more and more.
He closed the two books, stood up abruptly, grabbed Zhen Lu's hands with both of his, and shook them vigorously.
"Brother! You really are my lucky star! These two perfectly complement the set I'm currently practicing; one is for bone forging and the other for qi refining, I was missing a piece without either. You didn't just heal my leg; you've directly paved the way for my future path!"
He shook them several times before letting go, then felt around on his body.
"I don't have anything else, so I'll add another 50,000 credit points as a thank-you fee. Don't decline, this money is well spent."
Zhen Lu didn't decline. "Alright, thank you, boss."
Zhao Qian reached into his embrace again and fished around, pulling out a scroll. The label on the seal was a bit old, but it was well preserved.
He flipped the scroll over to look at it for a moment, then shoved it into Zhen Lu's hand.
"A friend gave this to me, said it's a rare item. Basic Recovery, temporary scroll. The effect is to speed up recovery, whether it's physical strength, stamina, or Mental Power, it adds to all of them. The downside is that the bonus percentage isn't high, but the benefit is that it covers everything, no weak points. I'm walking the pure martial arts path, relying on internal strength as a base, so this doesn't really matter to me; it's more suitable for you."
Zhen Lu took the scroll; it was labeled: Basic Recovery (Temporary).
Acceleration of all attribute recovery: physical strength, stamina, Mental Power.
He had never seen this type of scroll at the auction plaza; it really was a rare item. It wasn't a matter of money; even with money, you might not be able to buy it.
He suppressed his emotions and tucked the scroll away, but he still couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.
"Since your leg hasn't fully recovered yet, let me give you another one."
Zhen Lu raised his right hand, his palm hovering over the leg Zhao Qian had just had set.
The white light of Holy Light shone again. This time it wasn't to treat an injury; the hairline fracture had already healed.
It was purely for maintenance, to promote blood circulation, dispel stasis, and relax the tendons and activate collaterals, making the flow of qi and blood around the newly healed bone smoother.
After the white light dissipated, Zhao Qian jumped in place twice. When his feet landed, his knee joints had plenty of elasticity.
"That hand of yours is truly amazing. Let's add each other as friends; Healing types are too rare. With you, it'll be convenient to find you if anything comes up in the future."
Zhen Lu raised his communicator and scanned his friend code. With a beep, Zhao Qian's name appeared in his friend list.
The two chatted for a few more minutes. Zhao Qian sat back down in front of the stone wall to contemplate the martial arts, and Zhen Lu leaned against the cave wall, closing his eyes to rest.
He waited until Zhao Qian wasn't paying attention to slap the temporary scroll onto his body.
Not long after, the countdown hit zero, and the familiar sensation of weightlessness surged from deep within his body.
A white light flashed. Main Star Plaza. Little Light floated out from behind his shoulder. Before it could speak, Zhen Lu opened his personal panel first; Basic Recovery was already lying quietly in his skill bar.
"A task related to the temporary skill you are following is being posted."
"Open."
The panel unfolded before his eyes; it was a newly spawned Temporary Summoning.
[Temporary Summoning] World: Seven Heroes · Requirement: Mastery-level Blade Technique · Number of People: 0/1 · Reward: 2000 credit points · Duration: 1 hour · Attached Skill: Holy Light · Note: Must be male, ruthless and black-hearted.
The pay wasn't much, and the time was short, but the requester provided Holy Light. For this alone, Zhen Lu didn't hesitate and clicked accept directly.
The white light flashed again.
He opened his eyes and was standing in a main hall.
Wooden beams and blue bricks, the furnishings were exquisite, and a bronze incense burner sat on the table with swirling blue smoke.
A young man sat behind the table with a yellowed old book spread out in front of him, his brows knitted into a tight knot.
The moment he saw Zhen Lu, that knitted look of distress visibly relaxed by half.
"You finally arrived." He pushed the book forward and pointed his finger at the open page.
"I really had no other choice, which is why I posted the task to find someone to help."
Zhen Lu lowered his head and scanned it. The four large characters at the top of the page read: To practice this technique, one must first castrate themselves.
The man was named He Jin, considered a prominent figure in this city. In this world, he had taken wives and concubines, and his life had been going smoothly.
A few days ago, he had snatched this secret manual from an NPC. That NPC had extremely high martial arts skills, and he had gathered a large group of people to take it down.
After getting the manual, he opened it and read it several times, becoming more conflicted the more he read: to practice it, he had to cut it off; not practicing it meant all that effort to snatch it back was wasted.
He couldn't bring himself to do it, and he didn't dare ask those around him for fear of the news leaking.
If his wives and concubines found out about this, the whole backyard would be turned upside down.
"That's why I posted the task to find someone. You need to be fast, and after you cut it, use Holy Light to help me heal; at least it will reduce some of the pain." He Jin looked at Zhen Lu.
"The money isn't much, and the time is short; it's just an hour's worth of work."
Zhen Lu fell silent for a moment after hearing this.
A man, looking for him to be an executioner, and he even had to handle the aftermath after cutting. It was absurd, but whoever pays is the boss.
"Fine."
He raised his right hand and felt the Holy Light. The label for Holy Light had changed, officially jumping from Enhanced Version to Mastery Level.
His Mental Power had increased by another three points, and the precision control training of Holy Light Link had, in turn, raised the stability of Basic Holy Light by a notch; now his Healing effect was a tier stronger than before.
The two went around to a side room in the backyard and closed the door from the inside.
He Jin lay on a bench that had been temporarily covered with a layer of coarse cloth, gripping the edges of the bench with both hands until his knuckles turned white.
"Come on, cut it."
His voice was trembling.
In an instant.
Zhen Lu placed the knife on the table, aimed his right palm at the wound, and activated Holy Light.
The Mastery-level Healing effect was more than twice as fast as before. The moment the white light penetrated, it began to reconnect and heal; the wound contracted, the skin closed up, and the entire process took less than ten seconds.
He Jin was shivering from the pain. Holy Light had suppressed the pain to the minimum, but with this kind of injury, whether it hurt or not was no longer important.
He rolled off the bench, clutching himself and rolling on the ground, letting out muffled wails.
"Uh, do you not have any anesthesia?"
"I... I do."
"Then why didn't you use it? Is cutting directly better for practicing the technique?"
"Ah... ah? I... I forgot!!"
...
Zhen Lu didn't pay any more attention to him, walked over to the table, picked up the secret manual, and flipped through two pages.
It really did say "To practice this technique, one must first castrate themselves," the ink was old, and the handwriting was neat.
He flipped further back, and when he reached the end, his fingers paused.
On the back of the last page, there was another line of text.