Interstellar Farming: I Make Potions and Climb to the Top
Chapter 290: Golden Needle Healing
The soldiers returned one by one, their spirits and morale soaring. They had just finished clearing the battlefield. The spoils this time were incredibly rich; they had not only harvested plenty of Exotic Beast Materials but also obtained a vast number of Energy Crystals.
Of course, some were still injured, and Dean Wen was busy once again.
Surrounded by a few of his trusted generals, Ying Yaoshi returned to the command cabin. His face was pale and his brow was slightly furrowed. Although the crisis had been successfully averted, he had paid a hefty price for it.
To maintain the army’s morale, he had been putting up a strong front outside and hadn’t let his condition show. The moment he returned to the command cabin, he spat out a mouthful of crimson blood. His Spiritual Sea was in utter chaos, and the meridians in his body were severely damaged.
"Marshal, Marshal, how are you feeling? Are you sure you shouldn’t go to the medical bay? I’ll go get Dean Wen right now," Lü Tianci said, looking at Ying Yaoshi with alarm.
"Don’t get Dean Wen. Go to the medical bay and find Ning Xuan... No, on second thought, don’t. Establishing the Spirit Connection with me earlier took a huge toll on her. Don’t disturb her or make her worry. I’ll be fine after some rest." Ying Yaoshi wasn’t unaware of Ning Xuan’s condition; it was just that the situation had been too critical, and he had to prioritize taking command outside.
From Ying Yaoshi’s perspective, Ning Xuan’s body had to be in a severely depleted state. He desperately wanted to be by her side, but he knew that if she saw him like this, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from treating him. That would inevitably tax her mind and spirit, which would be incredibly detrimental to her own recovery.
"Marshal, when you and Miss Ning formed the Spirit Connection, it didn’t just instantly restore your power to its peak—it elevated it to a whole new level. You and Miss Ning are truly a match made in heaven. I’d always heard there were benefits to forming a Spirit Connection with the right person, but I had never seen it before. Now I have," Leng Yue said enviously.
"Ning Xuan is my Contractor. From now on, when any of you see her, you will treat her as you would me. In fact, you will be even more respectful. If any of you are foolish enough to provoke her, I will not be lenient," Ying Yaoshi warned his subordinates.
’Most of these men under his command were unwilling to be paired with a Contractor. A few had been paired before, only to suffer for it and pay a heavy price to finally break the contract. Every one of them was proud and arrogant, looking down on others, and they harbored a veiled hostility toward female Spirit Controllers.’
’Ying Yaoshi feared one of them might offend Ning Xuan, so he had to lay down the law beforehand.’
"General Ying, you’re overthinking it. Are we the kind of people who forget their debts? Setting aside the fact that she restored your strength and allowed you to unleash your divine might, just look at what she’s done since joining the medical team. Miss Ning single-handedly saved so many of our brothers. Her reputation is already on the verge of surpassing Dean Wen’s," Lü Tianci hastily assured him.
"Good. Notify the operations team to prepare for our return voyage," Ying Yaoshi ordered.
"Acknowledged." Lü Tianci received his orders and went to carry them out.
After giving the order, Ying Yaoshi dismissed everyone and stood alone, gazing out the window at the inky blackness of space.
A knock sounded on the cabin door. Assuming it was Lü Tianci or one of the others, Ying Yaoshi said, "Come in."
Someone entered.
The moment the person entered, Ying Yaoshi sensed an energy that felt intimately familiar. He turned, pleasantly surprised. "Xuanyuan, you’re here."
"You just had a breakthrough and your foundation is still unstable, yet you dared to use your new Talent Skill? Aren’t you afraid of sustaining irreversible hidden injuries? And another thing—you’re hurt. Don’t you know you need treatment? Hiding away here all by yourself without a sound... Have you learned nothing in all your years?" Every word from Ning Xuan struck a nerve with Ying Yaoshi.
Ying Yaoshi’s deathly pale face instantly flushed red. He wasn’t surprised that she could discern the injuries within him. It was just that their age difference was a secret pain in his heart, and having her point it out so candidly made him feel a pang of embarrassment.
"How did you get in? Aren’t there guards outside?" Unsure how to respond to her, Ying Yaoshi deflected by asking a question of his own.
"There are plenty of guards, but none of them stopped me. Why? Am I not welcome here?" Ning Xuan frowned.
"Of course you’re welcome, Xuanyuan. I was just surprised, that’s all. Forming the Spirit Connection with me was already hard on you; I just wanted to let you get some proper rest." Ying Yaoshi moved closer, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"I’m well aware of my own injuries. As long as I take the time to recover, they’ll heal. Don’t worry." Ying Yaoshi chose to interpret the scolding tone of her words as a sign of her concern for him.
"Do you have time for a slow recovery? If you did, then where did all those old hidden injuries in your body come from?" Ning Xuan shot him a sidelong glance.
"Xuanyuan, I know you’re just saying this because your heart aches for me. You care about me. You’re the best." Ying Yaoshi buried his head against her chest, nuzzling her. As he inhaled her faint, sweet scent, the pain in his Spiritual Sea actually seemed to subside a little.
"Are you trying to be coy, Marshal? Do you think this is appropriate?" Ning Xuan pressed a hand to his head, trying to push him away.
She couldn’t budge him.
"Xuanyuan, you smell so good. Don’t push me away. Just let me stay here with you. What am I going to do? I don’t want you to ever leave me. I want to lock you up so you can only ever see me." Ying Yaoshi’s eyes opened, a trace of crimson staining his golden, slitted pupils. The arms wrapped around Ning Xuan’s waist began to tighten.
Ning Xuan swiftly inserted the Golden Needle she already held in her hand into the Baihui Acupoint at the crown of Ying Yaoshi’s head. Her fingertips gave the end of the needle a gentle twist, and the three-inch-long needle began to emit a subtle, humming vibration.
Ying Yaoshi’s eyes flew wide open, a strange silver light glinting within his dark pupils—the Baihui Acupoint, the nexus of all yang meridians, was now channeling a ceaseless flow of yang energy from his Du Meridian into his marrow sea under the Golden Needle’s guidance.
"Ben Shen Acupoint, angled insertion," she muttered to herself as a second Golden Needle disappeared into the Ben Shen Acupoint on the upper edge of his forehead with a unique technique. A third needle followed, piercing the Shendao acupoint.
’Ning Xuan noticed fine beads of sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. Ben Shen raises the pure and expels the turbid, calms the inner winds and alleviates pain. Shendao is the path to divine clarity; needling it can guide the Divine Soul back to its rightful place.’
Sweat soaked the hair at Ning Xuan’s temples. She suddenly tapped the Jade Pillow Acupoint, just below Ying Yaoshi’s occipital bone, seven times in quick succession. In that instant, a pale golden chart of meridians materialized behind his head. The Twelve Main Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians wove together in the air, forming a glowing network. The most brilliant beam of light shot straight from the Baihui Acupoint to his forehead, as golden motes of light, like dust, converged into it from all directions.
"Focus your mind on your source. Do you see those golden points of light in your mind?" Ning Xuan’s voice trembled, her breathing unsteady. "Each of those points is awakened origin-restoring energy. Circulate your Cultivation Technique and complete your body’s foundational repair."
With a unique rhythm, Ning Xuan began to rapidly flick and slowly twist the Golden Needles in his Baihui, Ben Shen, and other acupoints. The golden points of light immediately converged into a swirling vortex, accelerating as they surged into Ying Yaoshi’s mind.