The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

Whether it was the special efficacy of Doctor Jia's wound medicine or Xia Huai's inherently strong constitution, it was hard to say.

Three days later, her movements had essentially returned to normal, no longer hindered in any way, and the blood she had lost had been replenished.

Therefore, early this morning, Xia Huai came to the courtyard, but unfortunately, the sword at her waist was missing, so she simply picked up a branch from the ground and began to practice a set of swordsmanship.

The branch in her hand moved sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes solid, sometimes illusory, like a gentle breeze caressing the face, or like moonlight illuminating cold jade. The osmanthus flowers on the branches were stirred by her inner force, falling one after another, creating a rain of blossoms.

And Xia Huai completed all twenty-four stances of her swordsmanship within this floral rain, then stopped and stood upright, seeing Lu Jing standing by the door.

Xia Huai's eyes lit up, "Congratulations, Young Hero Lu, it seems your inner strength has improved again."

Lu Jing smiled wryly. During the days Xia Huai was recovering, he had been battling the inner force within his body, continuously developing other means of expending it besides lifting the urn. However, the effects were mediocre, because without martial arts techniques, he was still clueless about how to get the inner force out of his body.

In the end, he had no choice but to return to the old path, using all the remaining inner force to bombard his acupoints, and unfortunately, two days ago, he broke through the Ren meridian and entered the Second Class.

After successfully advancing, Lu Jing only felt that his whole person was not well.

Lu Jing scratched his head, "Then I won't stand on ceremony with you, I really want to get the martial arts manual sooner."

"I know," Xia Huai smiled.

Lu Jing had spent a lot of time with her these past few days, and he had discovered another characteristic of Xia Huai. This girl loved to smile, and it was different from the polite smiles of the white-collar women Lu Jing had met in the workplace in his previous life.

Xia Huai always smiled because she was truly happy, not to smile for anyone else's sake, nor to deliberately hide anything, and when she smiled, her eyes would curve into a line, and she would also reveal two small dimples on her face.

Therefore, the mood of the person who saw this smile would also become as good as hers, coupled with her baby face, it was no wonder Xia Huai said that no one in the Sword Washing Pavilion could bear to refuse her request.

The two of them packed up simply and went to bid farewell to Doctor Jia. Doctor Jia had been energetic when he heard that he could get twice the money, and now he hurriedly took out an abacus, adding up the consultation fees, medicine costs, accommodation and food expenses for this period of time, and even the wages for Xixin's errands, finally quoting an astronomical price of one tael of silver.

As a result, seeing Xia Huai readily agree, Doctor Jia couldn't help but start muttering, worried that he had squeezed them too hard and they would just leave.

Lu Jing patted him on the shoulder, "If you're really afraid of not getting your money back, you can come with us."

Doctor Jia shook his head, "I have to guard my thatched cottage, in case someone comes to see a doctor. Forget it, anyway, it's unexpected wealth, so let it be."

After saying that, he turned around and went back to teach Xixin how to identify herbs.

Lu Jing and Xia Huai entered the city at Si Shi (9-11 am). Perhaps because it was her first time here, Xia Huai seemed quite curious about many things in the city, especially the various dazzling snacks and toys, such as shrimp whisker candy, Yiniang swings, Mo Hele (a kind of clay doll that can be dressed in various miniature clothes), Gu Ban (a board covered with soil, planted with flowers and plants and equipped with some miniature buildings), etc., all of which were novelties that the Sword Washing Pavilion did not have.

Unfortunately, the two of them were short of money now, and Xia Huai could only feast her eyes on them. Moreover, she was still thinking about finding martial arts for Lu Jing, so she didn't linger in front of those stalls and went straight to the largest inn in the city.

Along the way, the two of them ran into many Jianghu people, dressed in various ways and carrying different weapons. Most of them were obviously here for the manual in Lian Cheng's hands.

"My Senior Brother is good in every way," Xia Huai, seeing that there was still some time, took the initiative to introduce the person they were about to meet to Lu Jing, "Whether it's martial arts or talent, he is the most outstanding among our eighth-generation disciples. At a young age, he has made a great name for himself in the Jianghu and entered the Qingyun List, with unlimited prospects. I heard from my master that the Sword Washing Pavilion seems to be intending to cultivate him as the next Pavilion Master.

"But precisely because of this, it makes him a little… a little…" Xia Huai seemed not to know how to start.

"Arrogant?"

"I was originally going to say that he is conceited. Although he is nice to us fellow senior brothers and sisters, he occasionally puts on the airs of a senior brother, but this time when I went down the mountain to deliver the letter, I did hear many Jianghu people evaluate him like that," Xia Huai said helplessly, "Unless it is a well-known martial arts senior, or a young talent who is also on the Qingyun List, otherwise he rarely looks at people directly and doesn't care much about the other person's feelings."

"That's understandable," Lu Jing was not surprised when he heard this. Being famous at a young age, coupled with a promising future, it would be abnormal if he didn't have some arrogance. Moreover, compared to many show-offs in his previous life, this Senior Brother of the Sword Washing Pavilion had at least reached this point through his own strength, and he indeed had a reason to be arrogant.

Then he thought of something and asked with some doubt, "There should be many divine skill manuals in your Sword Washing Pavilion, why, would your Senior Brother still be interested in the martial arts on Xie Liancheng's body?"

Xia Huai sighed, "Based on my understanding of him, his purpose in coming to Wujiang City should be different from that of other people."

"He's not here for Xie Liancheng?" Lu Jing raised his eyebrows.

"He is here for Xie Liancheng, but not to snatch the manual, but because he heard about the invitation, so he came here," Xia Huai said.

Lu Jing blinked, feeling that he didn't quite understand.

"He is here to defeat Xie Liancheng, wanting to prove that the martial arts of the Sword Washing Pavilion are stronger than the martial arts recorded in this manual that everyone in the Jianghu is flocking to," Xia Huai said with some shame.

"… … … …"

"I'm starting to understand why everyone says he's arrogant," Lu Jing said, "But it doesn't matter, I won't go in then, you go help me ask him for the manual, and then take it out and give it to me."

"I was originally planning to introduce you to him, so that you could get to know each other, but when I thought about his temper, I felt that maybe this would be better," Xia Huai said with some regret.