5 Absorbing Internal Energy

Tianyu had initially thought she had persuaded Li Xunhuan.

However, as the weather grew colder day by day, she realized that while Li Xunhuan had agreed to her request to wait patiently, his actual behavior was one of complete self-abandonment. He would begin drinking the moment he opened his eyes, continuing throughout the entire day. Sometimes, when the mood struck him, he would forgo food entirely, drinking only. He held his liquor remarkably well; no matter how much he drank, he never lost his composure. Yet, such heavy drinking was undoubtedly doing more harm than good. Within half a month, he had become gaunt and frail. When Tianyu first met him, she felt his handsome features and ethereal temperament were almost supernatural, but looking at his sunken cheeks now, that impression had vanished completely.

"Didn't you say this wine didn't taste good?" she asked, truly unable to understand this drunkard. "Why are you drinking even more of it?"

Li Xunhuan replied while drinking, "Bitter wine has its own unique flavor."

Tianyu retorted, "But if you keep drinking like this, your health will be completely ruined!"

Li Xunhuan merely smiled without answering. She understood the meaning of that smile; it was nothing more than, "This body was never going to get better anyway."

Tianyu was speechless. From his perspective, it was indeed a near-fatal situation, but there was no need to accelerate his own demise, was there? Having once struggled in the entertainment industry, desperate to seize every opportunity to climb higher, Tianyu simply could not identify with Li Xunhuan’s behavior. But they had talked so many times, and everything that needed to be said had already been said. If Li Xunhuan refused to listen, more words would be useless. It was time for some practical action.

Starting that day, she stopped giving him wine freely. Did he want to drink? Fine, he could work in their shop to earn it. The blacksmith shop required the furnace to remain lit, which meant a constant supply of firewood. With winter setting in, the entire back courtyard needed heating, increasing the demand for wood even further. Tianyu had Tianyong focus on chopping wood and making charcoal, leaving the blacksmithing work to her and Li Xunhuan.

Li Xunhuan was silent. As a man of dignity, he was acutely aware of his status as a guest and, faced with such a request, could only nod. He had achieved fame in his youth, easily passing the imperial examinations to become a third-place scholar, and later, traveling the martial arts world, he had effortlessly become a formidable master. To many, himself included, he was expected to be capable of anything. But he truly could not smith. To avoid causing her trouble, he thought for a moment and, after agreeing, proactively confessed his lack of skill.

Tianyu was not surprised. She simply said, "No matter. I can teach you."

Li Xunhuan replied, "Very well."

He could not use his internal energy now, so hammering iron relied entirely on his own physical strength. Being a scholar, his strength was mediocre without using his inner power—at least, not compared to Tianyu, who had been helping in the shop since she was a child. The first day they worked together, he was drenched in sweat and dizzy after less than an hour. He ate three extra steamed buns at lunch. Tianyu thought: Fine, eating fast-digesting carbs after a workout—that’s how everyone built muscle back in the entertainment industry.

It turned out that, whether in ancient or modern times, the habits of the human species remained the same. Once their physical energy was completely exhausted, they had no time to let their minds wander. Since beginning his blacksmithing, Li Xunhuan’s craving for alcohol had lessened significantly; at most, he would have a sip before bed. Conversely, his appetite grew. Previously, he would barely touch his chopsticks, eating three bites at most; now, to keep hammering, he had to eat properly, and he ate more and more. Within ten days, his food intake had increased from a fifth of Tianyu’s to double her portion. Tianyu’s assessment of this was: "Finally looks like a grown man."

Although this grown man was inevitably still weakening due to the deadly poison in his system, the regular physical labor did indeed slow the rate of his decline. Tianyu initially found it miraculous, but upon reflection, she realized the secret poison of the Heaven Sect was not the type to kill instantly upon contact. Its principle was likely to slowly erode bodily functions until life could no longer be sustained. If that was the case, forcing him to exercise through blacksmithing was indeed helping him die a little slower.

Realizing this, she silently increased his workload. The justification was easy to find: he had only done a little before because he was unskilled, but now that he was getting the hang of it, it was only natural for him to produce more pieces each day. Progress, after all, should be gradual. What could Li Xunhuan say? He could only agree.

As they continued in this manner, winter fully descended upon Guandong. The master of the shop, who had promised to return in a month, failed to appear at the appointed time. Tianyu was taken aback. In her impression, although the master was a somewhat roguish man, he had always kept his word, which was why she trusted him so implicitly. Yet, in such a critical situation, he had broken his promise, which truly caught her off guard. She also felt a bit embarrassed to face Li Xunhuan.

But no matter how awkward she felt, she had to explain. "Our master is not the type to make empty promises," she told Li Xunhuan, asking him to wait a while longer. "Perhaps he encountered some trouble on the road that delayed his return."

Li Xunhuan understood her meaning and nodded with a smile, "Do not worry. I will wait."

This wait lasted another ten days. During this time, Li Xunhuan continued to smith. While his complexion worsened day by day due to the poison, his strength had grown significantly compared to when he started, and his shoulders had even broadened. On the day the master finally returned through the heavy snow with his companions, Li Xunhuan, sensing his end was near, remarked to Tianyu while drinking, "I never expected that before I died, I would learn how to smith."

He said it with a smile, looking quite pleased. But hearing this, Tianyu felt a deep ache in her heart. Unable to find the right words, she poured herself a cup of wine to drink with him. It was her first time drinking. The sour, bitter taste burned her throat, leaving her unable to swallow or spit it out.

"I am sorry," she said softly. "I didn't expect the master to break his word."

"Didn't you say he wasn't the type to make empty promises? There must have been an accident on the road," he said in a calm tone. "Besides, my poisoning has nothing to do with you. You have no need to apologize."

Just then, a loud "thump-thump-thump" sounded at the front door. Tianyu immediately rose and rushed out of the back courtyard.

"Master!" She opened the door as quickly as she could and ushered them into the shop. "You finally returned!"

Amidst the howling wind and the swirling snow, she thought she heard someone utter a sound of annoyance, but she didn't dwell on it. When the master brought his companions into the back courtyard, she noticed that the man following him was carrying a third person on his back. The light in the courtyard was dim; she couldn't see their faces clearly, only that the person being carried was in a very peculiar position. Their shadow cast on the snow looked hauntingly strange.

Tianyu felt a pang of unease. Just as she was about to look away, the person in the strange position suddenly raised their head, and a pair of clear, piercing eyes looked toward her. The moment they entered the house, the light grew bright, and she saw the person’s face clearly. It was a handsome young man with features like jade.

Tianyu blinked. *Why is there another one who looks like a male fox spirit?*

As she muttered this to herself, she heard the master speak. Upon seeing Li Xunhuan sitting in the room, the master was very surprised and said, "You have been poisoned for many days, yet you haven't lost any weight?"

Li Xunhuan was silent. Tianyu thought: *Cough, fat people lose weight when they work the forge every day, but thin people get stronger.*

"Are you the master of Tianyu and Tianyong?" After a brief moment of shock, Li Xunhuan stood up and bowed to the master. "I am Li Xunhuan, greetings, Senior."

Hearing his name, the master showed no reaction, but the middle-aged man carrying the handsome youth opened his eyes wide. "Li Xunhuan? Are you the Little Li Tanhua?"

Li Xunhuan replied, "I am."

"I never imagined that with your martial arts, you would be caught by a sneak attack," the middle-aged man sighed. "Although the Heaven Sect's secret poison is impossible to guard against, poison is, after all, something that must be ingested to take effect. You must have trusted the wrong person, been tricked into consuming it, and ended up in this state."

The middle-aged man seemed to have much more to lament, but Tianyu, being impatient, had little desire to listen. She urged, "Please, Senior, save him first."

The middle-aged man glanced at her, then stepped forward to check Li Xunhuan's pulse. It was only then that Tianyu realized the youth being carried had such a peculiar posture because his legs were paralyzed, unable to exert force, and simply hung there limply. She froze instantly. The handsome, paralyzed youth saw her reaction and smiled at her. His posture was strange and his body distorted, yet when he smiled like that, there was a spirit of vitality that few ordinary people could match. She was stunned.

Before long, the middle-aged man checking Li Xunhuan’s pulse withdrew his hand and looked toward Tianyu and the master. Their eyes met, and the two, who had lived together for ten years, spoke in unison: "Well? Can it be cured?"

The middle-aged man nodded. "It can. But the poison has settled in his meridians for too long. To cure it, we must break it down and rebuild."

Tianyu asked, "Break it down and rebuild?"

The master, being more knowledgeable than her, reacted immediately. "Do you mean his internal energy must be废 (destroyed) first to cure the poison?"

The middle-aged man sighed, "That is the cruelty of this poison."

Tianyu couldn't help but look at Li Xunhuan. The brilliant light made his pale face look translucent. *This is too cruel,* she thought. *Destroying internal energy is not the same as neutralizing it; the former will damage his meridians.* In other words, if Li Xunhuan wanted to be cured, he would be left with a healthy body, but one that could never again reach his current level of martial arts. Not to mention Li Xunhuan, even she found it hard to accept!

She couldn't help but confirm with the middle-aged man, "Is there no other way?"

The middle-aged man remained silent.

Then, Li Xunhuan smiled. He was smiling at her, saying, "You seem to be more reluctant to part with my internal energy than I am."

Tianyu replied, "I just feel it shouldn't be this way. A person like you shouldn't have such an ending." *You are the protagonist of a martial arts novel, the ultimate 'Jack Sue'—how can you have damaged meridians while still so young? This plot makes no sense!*

Li Xunhuan continued to smile. "But if you hadn't forced me to smith every day, I probably wouldn't have lived until today."

Tianyu thought: *I only did that because I believed you could be saved.*

Just as she was feeling utterly depressed and confused, the middle-aged man, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly looked up and said, "There is actually one other method, but it is extremely dangerous. The danger lies not with him, but with the person helping him. Are you willing to try?"

Tianyu immediately asked, "What is it?!"

"I just said his poison has settled in his meridians for too long and must be broken down. But this poison is insidious; as long as his internal energy circulates, it consumes his life. He cannot neutralize his own power, so he must rely on external help." He stared intently at Tianyu and said slowly, "To rely on external help, besides destroying his power directly, one could find another person to draw out all his internal energy."

Tianyu stammered, "D-draw it out?" *Is this some kind of 'Draining Star Art'? Where did I see that in a TV show?*

"Yes, draw it out," the middle-aged man paused, his eyes gleaming. "I possess a technique. Once you reach the introductory level, you can absorb the internal energy of others. If you want to help him, you might try to learn it."

It sounded like a perfect solution, but Tianyu had not forgotten that he had said this method was extremely dangerous. "Is this technique hard to learn?" she asked.

The middle-aged man nodded, "It is very hard. You must completely abandon the internal energy you have practiced before. Otherwise, you will be unable to control the energy within, leading to madness, vomiting blood, the collapse of all meridians, and the permanent inability to practice martial arts."

Tianyu asked, "So I have to neutralize my own power first?"

"Not just that," he shook his head. "You must completely forget the internal energy you practiced before. If your subconscious starts practicing the old way, you are finished."

Tianyu understood. This was indeed dangerous; after all, the hardest thing to control is one's own subconscious. So, was she willing to try this to save Li Xunhuan?