161: Chapter 161 Return Trip and Rest, Obtaining the Fragment of the Map (2)

Lu Changyuan took the fragmented map. It felt lighter in his palm than it looked—after three years, the old animal skin had lost moisture, making the entire map nearly a third lighter.

He flipped the map over—there were no markings on the back, only a very faint, dark brown water stain. The edges of the stain were radial—it had been splashed on.

He looked at it for three breaths, then tucked the fragmented map into his sleeve.

"Are you returning to the Royal Capital?"

"Tomorrow morning—a transfer order from the Command Headquarters. The affairs of the Grain Supervision Office will be handed over to someone else."

Chu Yunfei moved his hand away from his sleeve—after moving it, a tiny, faint golden thread of blood had smudged onto the cuff.

He wiped the blood thread away with his thumb—the movement was extremely fast, but Lu Changyuan had already seen it. The backlash from his Cultivation Technique had not yet healed—the blood awakening pill could only keep the fire poison at bay for one night; it couldn't cure the root cause.

Chu Yunfei walked away from the Pier—after taking three steps, he stopped again. He did not turn back.

"Brother Lu—take care on that line at Broken Star Reef."

When he said the two words "take care," his tone was the same as when he had previously said "find me"—very light, but the sound was clearer than the noise of the sea breeze at the Pier.

At night. The Central Army's main tent.

Commander Tie Zhan sat on a large tiger-skin chair—a large patch of fur on the hind leg section of the tiger skin covering the chair had worn away, revealing the dark brown color of the leather underneath.

The Spirit Stone lamps in the four corners of the main tent were all lit—the spiritual light shining through the lamp shades illuminated the dark gold military flag inside the tent, making the threads on the surface of the flag stand out one by one.

Commander Tie Zhan placed the military register on the armrest of the chair—a three-legged copper cup pressed down on the cover of the register, its base scorching a circular dark mark onto the cover.

Lu Changyuan walked into the tent. He took out a small porcelain box sealed with an Array Pattern from his sleeve—the Array Pattern sealed on the porcelain box was ice-blue, more exquisite than most of the Array Patterns he had seen before.

He placed the porcelain box on the low table in front of Commander Tie Zhan—a star map was carved into the surface of the low table, with many shallow pits worn into it by the bottoms of teacups and inkstones.

"Snow-Melting Pill—to repair old injuries to the Dantian."

Commander Tie Zhan lowered his head to look at the porcelain box. He didn't touch it—he looked at the Array Pattern on the porcelain box first. He used his finger to point in the air at the outermost ice-blue arc of the Array Pattern—then slid his finger along the arc for half a circle towards the center.

"Ice-attribute Seal—High Grade goods from Jubao Pavilion. This kind of thing is not cheap."

"On this trip to the left flank, I sold a batch of medicine—Yao Beast Materials were discounted at the market. Plus, the deposits paid on the spot by the Quartermasters of the four battalions on the left flank."

Lu Changyuan pushed the porcelain box another half an inch towards Commander Tie Zhan. "It's just enough."

Commander Tie Zhan picked up the porcelain box. He didn't unscrew the lid—he flipped the porcelain box over to look at the bottom. A tiny stamp was embedded in the bottom of the box—the verification stamp of the Jubao Pavilion's third-tier pharmacy.

Then he unscrewed the lid—the moment the lid was unscrewed, extremely fine ice-blue spiritual threads overflowed from the mouth of the box. The spiritual threads wrapped around Commander Tie Zhan's index finger—the chill seeped through the calluses on his knuckles into his skin and flesh.

Commander Tie Zhan poured the Snow-Melting Pill into his palm—the pill body was ice-blue and translucent, with a layer of patterns naturally formed on its surface, looking like frost condensed on a window in winter.

He put the Snow-Melting Pill into his mouth. Swallowed it. Commander Tie Zhan sat cross-legged on the cushion—closed his eyes. After about three breaths, his breathing changed from shallow to deep—the air he inhaled pushed the dark gold armor plates on his chest outward by nearly half a finger's width.

The Spiritual Pressure inside the tent began to change—it wasn't rising, it was retracting. Previously, when Commander Tie Zhan sat on the tiger-skin chair, the Spiritual Pressure inside the tent had scattered—pressing the light of the Spirit Stone lamps in the four corners toward the four walls.

Now the Spiritual Pressure was retracting into Commander Tie Zhan's body—retracting into the position of his Dantian, and the Spiritual Pressure radiating from the Dantian began to converge layer by layer. The retracted Spiritual Pressure formed a very stable layer of Spiritual Pressure around the outside of the Dantian—the Spiritual Pressure layer did not diffuse outward, but only pressed evenly in a circle on the outer shell of the Dantian.

When Commander Tie Zhan was young, his Dantian's outer wall was shattered by a sea beast during a naval battle—although it had healed later, a tiny crack remained on the outer wall.

When spiritual power was transported out from the Dantian, a portion would leak out at the crack—the amount of leakage was not large, but the leakage would keep his spiritual power output half a level lower than the normal level of the False Infant Stage.

The medicinal power of the Snow-Melting Pill slowly spread along the outer wall of the Dantian—the medicinal power seeped into the crack, like ice water filling a crevice in a rock—it didn't fill the crack flat, but caused the edges on both sides of the crack to bond. After bonding, the spiritual power channel became complete.

About half an hour later, Commander Tie Zhan opened his eyes. He stood up from the cushion—the movement of standing up was different from before. Previously, when he stood up from the cushion, there was a very short pause in his knees—that was the stinging sensation caused by the old Dantian injury when spiritual power passed through, which would be triggered every time he exerted force. This time when he stood up, there was no pause in his knees.

He stood inside the tent—the armor plates of his dark gold heavy armor fit more snugly than usual, and the gaps between the armor plates had narrowed.

He took a deep breath—the flames of the Spirit Stone lamps in the four corners of the tent were simultaneously pressed down by about half an inch by the inhaled Spiritual Pressure. Then he exhaled—the flames bounced back, half an inch higher than before.

The Spiritual Pressure inside the tent was a layer heavier than before taking the pill—not a stronger pressure, but a more stable one. After the Dantian crack was repaired—spiritual power no longer leaked when transported out from the Dantian, and his cultivation at the False Infant Stage could be fully unleashed.

This was still a whole threshold away from the true Nascent Soul—the Nascent Soul prototype needed an Opportunity to fully mature—but after the old Dantian injury was repaired, his combat power returned to the level that the False Infant Stage should have.

Commander Tie Zhan slapped the low table with his palm—not the tabletop, but the back of Lu Changyuan's hand resting on the tabletop. His palm was extremely thick—the calluses on his palm pressed against the back of Lu Changyuan's hand, with enough force to make the bones slightly numb.

"You brat—this thing isn't cheap." He repeated the sentence from earlier. But this time when he said it, the corners of his mouth lifted by half an inch.

"You still owe me an old case that hasn't been investigated yet." Lu Changyuan pulled his hand out from under his palm—before pulling it out, he tapped the side of Commander Tie Zhan's palm with his knuckles. "Get your Dantian repaired first—the old case won't run away."

Commander Tie Zhan did not respond. He screwed the lid of the porcelain box back on—placed the porcelain box on the low table and pushed it to one side. Then he took a copper badge out of his sleeve—a military merit copper badge.

The front of the copper badge was engraved with the Seal of the Zhenhai Fortress Command Headquarters, and the back was engraved with the date of that day. He placed the copper badge on Lu Changyuan's palm—the copper badge was cold, but the weight of it in his palm was heavier than it looked.