4: Chapter 4 The Rejuvenating Elixir: A Deathly Illness Causes Him to Sit Up in a Startling Moment

"System, I can't move, everything is just empty talk! If I fail the novice mission, I die. You have to give me some startup capital, right?"

Gu Yan's consciousness roared in his mind; this was his only bargaining chip to gamble with this unreliable System.

"Tsk, Host, you're quite knowledgeable."

The System's voice remained lazy.

"Fine, fine, seeing as you're so motivated, I'll advance you the novice gift pack. Open your mouth."

Before the voice had even faded, Gu Yan felt a round pill appear out of thin air in his mouth.

The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth. Instead of the medicinal taste he had imagined, it was an indescribably gentle, warm current that slid down his parched throat into his deathly silent stomach.

The next instant, a torrent erupted!

A massive, boundless surge of life energy, centered in his abdomen, rushed frantically through this exhausted, withered body.

The warm current was like the first flood of spring thaw, rushing into a riverbed that had been cracked for countless winters. The withered Meridians were nourished once again, and under the infiltration of this power, his atrophied organs began to regain their vitality.

He could "hear" his own heart, which had long been weak and unbearable, beating timidly and tentatively after a long silence.

Thump.

Following that, a second beat, then a third.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The heartbeat grew stronger and more powerful, eventually sounding like the beating of war drums; with every throb, it pumped surging vitality to every corner of his body.

The Death Qi under his skin was dispelled, and the wrinkles that had been so loose they could be easily lifted began to tighten once more. The few withered white hairs on his head actually began to show a hint of grayish-black luster at the roots.

Strength was returning.

Control over his body was being returned to him, bit by bit.

He tried, using all his willpower, to command his right index finger.

That long-stiff and numb knuckle twitched slightly after a moment's pause.

It worked!

Gu Yan was overjoyed!

He did not hesitate, greedily guiding the warm current within his body, washing over every inch of flesh and blood, awakening every sleeping cell.

Wrapped in the warm current, his bones emitted faint "click-clack" sounds, as if they were being recalibrated and returned to their proper places.

He felt his body, which was on the verge of decay, being forcibly reversed by a mysterious power, regressing from the exhaustion of an eighty-year-old towards a younger, more vibrant state.

Creak—

The soft sound of the door being pushed open interrupted Gu Yan's introspection.

Shen Qingxue walked in carrying a basin of freshly changed warm water. She kept her head down, her expression sorrowful; she was clearly still immersed in the grief of being about to be separated from her father-in-law forever by death.

When she raised her head and habitually looked toward the sickbed, her whole body froze instantly.

What did she see?

The gray, pallid color of death on the face of the father-in-law lying on the bed had actually faded by more than half, replaced by an unnatural flush. His sunken eye sockets seemed to have filled out a bit, and the whole person... seemed to have become several years younger?

This eerie change made Shen Qingxue's heart tighten violently.

She remembered a saying that the old people in town often spoke of—the "rebound before death."

Before a person dies, they suddenly become spirited; that is the sign of the soul burning its final Origin of life before leaving the body.

"Father... are you leaving...?"

Immense sorrow gripped her heart, and tears welled up uncontrollably.

However, what happened the next moment completely shattered all her reason.

Under her gaze, the father-in-law who had been bedridden for over a year and needed help even to turn over, actually... moved.

Gu Yan's arms pressed against the bed frame, and the muscles on his arms bulged slightly at a speed visible to the naked eye. Gritting his teeth, accompanied by a series of fine, crisp bone sounds, he sat up... slowly, in a posture that was extremely slow but full of power!

Clang!

The copper basin in Shen Qingxue's hands slipped and fell, slamming heavily onto the bluestone floor with a harsh, loud noise.

Water splashed everywhere, soaking the hem of her skirt, but she was completely unaware.

Her eyes were wide open, staring in shock, her pupils filled with horror and despair.

This was not a miracle.

This was the signal of a final farewell!

"Father!"

Shen Qingxue let out a shrill cry of sorrow, threw herself to the bedside, grabbed Gu Yan's arm tightly, and tears flowed like a broken dam.

"Father, don't scare me! Lie down, please lie down!"

"Are you... are you leaving? Don't go... if you leave, what will happen to Qingxue and Yaya..."

She wept until her heart felt torn to pieces, her voice filled with bone-chilling fear and despair. She thought this was her father-in-law exhausting his last bit of life, wanting to sit up to take one last look at the mother and daughter.

Gu Yan felt the soft touch and scalding tears on his arm, then looked at his own hands—still old, but now able to move freely—and for a moment, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He wanted to open his mouth to explain, but his vocal cords, which hadn't been used for a long time, were still stiff, and he could only make a hoarse "Hah... hah..." sound.

To Shen Qingxue, this sound seemed more like the struggle of a life about to end.

"Father! Don't speak! I beg you, save your strength..."

She held onto Gu Yan's arm tightly, as if doing so could pull him back from the gates of hell.

Gu Yan felt helpless.

He could clearly feel that his bodily functions had recovered from the near-death state of an eighty-year-old to that of someone in their early sixties. Although still an old man, at least he could move without hindrance and his body was sturdy.

But this change, in his daughter-in-law's eyes, had become a death-hastening curse.

In his mind, the blood-red countdown was still ticking away ruthlessly.

"Four..."

"Three..."

Gu Yan took a deep breath and ignored Shen Qingxue's crying and shouting. He had to race against time; he had to display enough "authority" and "clarity" in front of her to push forward his crazy plan.

He raised his other hand and, with an unquestionable force, patted Shen Qingxue's back gently but firmly.

Then, he mobilized all his strength, using all his might, and squeezed a clear, complete word out of his hoarse throat.

"Water."