Chapter 58
That evening.
“Doctor Ye, are you staying in the core inpatient department tonight?” Mo Yin asked as he watched Ye Yumeng packing his things.
Ye Yumeng paused, then nodded. “Mm, I am.”
He must have guessed from the clothes in his backpack, right? Ah Mo really was sharp.
Then Mo Yin added, “I made a few changes to the room next door. Would you like to see if you’re satisfied?”
“Oh, okay.”
So, led by Mo Yin, Ye Yumeng followed him into Ward 006 next door.
The moment the metal door opened, Ye Yumeng stopped in his tracks. He backed out and checked the room number again before stepping inside, half-suspecting he had come to the wrong place.
He distinctly remembered what it had looked like at noon. In just half a day, it had been completely transformed.
Not only had his worktable been replaced with a brand-new one, but the hospital bed and bedding had also been changed to something much warmer and more livable. Quite a few pieces of furniture had been added as well, and there was even a brand-new virtual holographic pod.
More importantly, the refrigerator and cabinets were stuffed with snacks and drinks, and even ice cream and popsicles!
Originally, Ye Yumeng had felt that none of this had to be done so carefully. But the moment he saw the ice cream and popsicles, he let out a delighted gasp.
They were all flavors he had never tried before, packed to the brim!
Not just him—even in the original host’s memories, he had never seen this many varieties of ice cream.
Ah Mo was way too thoughtful.
Of course, the truly thoughtful person was not Mo Yin. All of this had been arranged under Lu Nanzhou’s instructions.
Mo Yin had already sighed to himself more than once over how much care and thought His Majesty was showing in matters involving Doctor Ye.
Could it really be only because Doctor Ye had saved His Majesty several times?
Mo Yin had his doubts, but did not dare pry. Once he had confirmed that Ye Yumeng was satisfied with the room arrangement, he excused himself and left.
After returning to the room next door, Mo Yin couldn’t help asking Lu Nanzhou, “Your Majesty, how did you know Doctor Ye likes ice cream?”
At first, when Lu Nanzhou had told him what to prepare, the first items he mentioned had been ice cream and popsicles, and he had specifically emphasized different flavors before later adding other snacks and drinks.
Lu Nanzhou did not answer.
This was a secret that belonged solely to him and Ye Yumeng. He had no intention of sharing it with anyone else.
When no answer came, Mo Yin tactfully shut his mouth.
Before returning to his room, Ye Yumeng once again placed a recording talisman on Lu Nanzhou, and with the added support of the Minor Rejuvenation Technique and the red lotus spirit-energy sphere, Lu Nanzhou’s condition was excellent at the moment.
Controlling his mental power, he quietly let it spread into Room 005, and there he saw Ye Yumeng crouching in front of the refrigerator, looking torn as he chose an ice cream.
“This is so hard to choose!” he muttered softly. “I want to try every single one…”
At that moment, Ye Yumeng seemed to sense something and looked in his direction.
Lu Nanzhou stiffened, only to “see” Ye Yumeng break into a smile.
“Little Rabbit, is that you?”
His voice was gentle, with a lively little lilt to it. “Have you had ice cream before? Which one tastes best?”
Then he paused, hesitating. “Wait… maybe you haven’t?”
In Ye Yumeng’s mind, Little Rabbit was a five- or six-year-old child who had spent nearly two years bedridden. The odds of a child that little having eaten ice cream before really did seem low.
Lu Nanzhou… truly had not.
But this was no obstacle.
His mental power extended toward the fridge, picked out one in gold packaging from a compartment, and guided it into Ye Yumeng’s hand.
He had done his research online. Not only on Medical Planet, but on other planets too, this one consistently ranked first in favorable reviews.
“This one?”
Ye Yumeng closed the refrigerator, peeled open the wrapper, and found that compared to the cone he had eaten before at the night market, this one was much more refined.
“It’s so pretty, I almost don’t want to eat it.”
He stuck out his tongue and gave it a tentative lick.
Sweet and icy-cool—exactly the taste he liked! It was just that… why did his lips feel a little numb?
Sensing his confusion, Lu Nanzhou withdrew the part of his mental power that had been paying too close attention.
Mental power was a very special force. It could stretch outward, pass through barriers, and even manipulate objects, but—
Very few people knew it had another use.
It could serve as a “sixth sense,” or rather, as a deeper extension of the original five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and… touch.
As long as one wrapped a thing in mental power, one could experience it on a much deeper level.
This was something only someone at Lu Nanzhou’s level of mental strength could do. During these hundreds of days and nights, while his body had been trapped in bed, his mental power had only continued to grow stronger.
If he wished, his mental power could even spread across every corner of the Royal Sanatorium.
Of course, that degree of control was only possible when he was fully conscious, and only then could he suppress the presence of his mental power enough to avoid detection.
And just now… he had lost control of himself for a moment.
Fortunately, Ye Yumeng had not realized it was him.
Ye Yumeng licked the ice cream again. This time, aside from the sweet coldness, there was no trace of that earlier tingling numbness.
Probably just his imagination.
Reassured, he took a bite—and was immediately conquered by the rich, fragrant sweetness.
“This is way too good!”
Only after saying that did he realize Little Rabbit was watching him.
“Little Rabbit, do you want some too?” he asked, not really knowing how to comfort him. “Once your body gets better, you’ll be able to eat it too.”
Watching the complicated, conflicted expression on Ye Yumeng’s face, how could Lu Nanzhou not guess what he was thinking?
Compared to eating ice cream, he wanted…
Lu Nanzhou did not let his thoughts continue. Instead, just as before, he used his mental power to press lightly against Ye Yumeng’s head and rub it.
The sensation delivered through mental power was subtler and more immediate than touching him with a real hand.
He could feel every strand of Ye Yumeng’s hair, soft and fluffy. And if his mental power moved just a little lower, just a little more…
Lu Nanzhou restrained himself and withdrew it.
Ye Yumeng, having his head rubbed again, was stunned for a moment.
What was with this little rabbit…
Then he remembered how often he himself patted Little Rabbit’s head, and the thought eased him at once. The child was probably just imitating him.
So Little Rabbit’s meaning just now was that he wasn’t interested in ice cream?
Ye Yumeng had just been about to ask when he felt that thread of awareness withdraw from the room.
Alright then, Little Rabbit had left.
Apparently he truly had no interest in ice cream, and Ye Yumeng had been overthinking it.
With no more psychological burden, he happily went back to enjoying his ice cream.
Only…
StarNet virtual community, personal space.
Inside the private space of the Emperor of Yaojin, everything was furnished in imitation of the real imperial palace.
At that moment, in the emperor’s bedroom, several virtual light-screens floated in the air.
The golden-haired man sat on the sofa, lifting his eyes slightly as his gaze moved over each of those screens. In his glacier-green eyes, the usual stillness and detachment were gone, replaced by dark, surging undercurrents.
Ye Yumeng thought no one was watching Room 006.
That was not true.
Everything he did in that room was being recorded by the cameras and then transmitted, in encrypted file form, to the emperor’s StarNet account.
Other than the Emperor of Yaojin, no one else could access those surveillance recordings.
Lu Nanzhou knew Ye Yumeng would feel uncomfortable, so he had withdrawn his mental power and chosen another way to watch him.
He knew full well that he should not be doing this. It was deeply improper.
And yet, he could not stop himself.
That morning, the sight of Ye Yumeng’s body revealed before him in sleep—his pale, smooth back, his narrow waist curving inward, the full contours below—
Lu Nanzhou cut off the memory.
He sat quietly, staring at the young man on the screen. With a thought, he enlarged the image to its maximum.
Ye Yumeng extended his tongue and licked at the creamy white, thick ice cream.
At first, he only lightly, tentatively licked a little of the cold cream, then smacked his lips at the taste, seeming very satisfied.
After that, his lips pressed to it, and he parted his mouth to take in the pointed tip of the ice cream…
The thick, silky cream smeared at the corner of his mouth. His lips pressed together slightly as his red tongue emerged to lick it away.
Sweet, and unbearably enticing.
After finishing the ice cream, Ye Yumeng tidied up his clothes and went into the bathroom for a shower.
Before long, he came back out wrapped in a cloud of steam.
Although there was a cleansing spell he could have used to clean himself, Ye Yumeng still loved taking hot showers. He always felt that afterward, his mood became especially wonderful.
Padding around the room in slippers, he eventually flung himself happily onto the sofa.
Though the time had been short, the furniture Mo Yin had arranged for Ye Yumeng was all top-grade. The sofa alone was worth over a million Yao gold coins.
For that kind of price, of course it had been designed to fit the body perfectly. Lying on it could only be described as pure bliss.
Ye Yumeng had no idea how much it cost. He only felt that the people in this world truly knew how to enjoy life.
Swinging his legs idly, he debated whether to have another ice cream. But his medical cultivator’s sense of health made him stop himself.
Too much of a good thing was still too much. Moderation was the key to lasting pleasure.
Mo Yin had arranged this room—and especially the bed—with remarkable warmth and comfort. But after resting a bit, Ye Yumeng still got up to sit in meditation and cultivate.
No matter when, he could never afford to grow lazy.
That night, he cultivated longer than usual. It was not until the sky began to pale that he finally opened his eyes again.
A strange brightness flowed through them. Though he had not slept all night, he still looked full of vigor, his complexion flushed and radiant.
He had broken through another small boundary!
Ye Yumeng smiled.
His spiritual capacity had widened again. He had now reached a total of 150 strands of spiritual energy!
That meant there were even more things he could do now, and when sudden situations arose, he would have more room to maneuver.
Ye Yumeng rose and washed up, then began drawing talismans.
The extended-use life-preserving talisman he had first used on Elder Yan had already turned into nothing but useless scrap paper.
The problem was really the wood paper he had been using. The quality was too poor. Otherwise, prolonged use would not have been a problem.
He only hoped the custom wood paper Mo Yin had been arranging would bring him a pleasant surprise once it was finished.
If not, then he could only make do for now until he had time to collect spiritual plant materials himself and create talisman paper. Talismans made that way would certainly be of much higher quality.
Soon, Ye Yumeng drew two fresh recording talismans and filled both of them with Minor Rejuvenation Technique. Together, they consumed 90 strands of spiritual energy.
Ordinarily, after spending 90 points, he would have had almost nothing left—
But now he still had 60 points remaining!
This rich, abundant feeling… ????????????????
Experiencing again the sweetness of having plenty of spiritual power, Ye Yumeng decided that in the future he absolutely had to cultivate even harder.
After putting the talismans away, he watered the two spiritual plants in the room and used a nurturing spell on them, consuming another 10 strands of energy.
The plants, which had clearly looked less vigorous after being transplanted into pots, immediately seemed to stretch and unfurl again.
Then Ye Yumeng resumed cultivation, and in about two hours he had already restored the full 100 strands he had spent.
When he rose again, he glanced at the six calming talismans stored in the cabinet.
Among the three mineral pigments, the red and black performed similarly. But on the calming talismans drawn in silver-white pigment, the spiritual power had dissipated quite noticeably.
Ye Yumeng gathered them up and casually tossed them into the spirit-brush space, letting the Green Jade Brush absorb the remaining spiritual power rather than waste it.
Now it was just a matter of seeing which was stronger: red or black.
By the time Ye Yumeng was fully ready, it was already after eight. But since he did not have to clock in now, and the patient he was treating was right next door, he wasn’t really in a hurry.
Mo Yin had already switched shifts with Lei Qi, so now Director Lei was the one on duty.
The moment Ye Yumeng arrived, Lei Qi automatically began reporting Lu Nanzhou’s condition to him. He was becoming more and more competent in his role as assistant.
Still, Ye Yumeng did not rely on him completely. Instead, he skillfully pulled up the smart-brain interface and looked over Little Rabbit’s data record from the night before.
After looking at the reports for so long, there were now some values he could already understand. For example…
“Little Rabbit, were you too restless to sleep last night?”
Ye Yumeng looked at the sleep record, his brows slowly drawing together.
Normally, once he cast Minor Rejuvenation Technique on Little Rabbit before ending his shift, it was enough to guarantee a full night of stable sleep.
But last night, Little Rabbit not only hadn’t slept well, he had seemed almost excited? Excited about what?
Could it be because he had liked the story Ye Yumeng had told yesterday?
Lu Nanzhou: “……”
He felt slightly guilty, but—
“You didn’t sleep either,” he said through the voice machine, with a rather self-righteous tone.
Ye Yumeng couldn’t help feeling a headache coming on.
Living in the room next door had its advantages. It made care more convenient, and he could spend more time accompanying Little Rabbit. But it also had its disadvantages.
Clearly, when he had been cultivating in the next room last night, Little Rabbit had once again been using his mental power to secretly watch him. He probably just hadn’t noticed because he had been too focused.
And this little one was not only learning to pat his head, but now learning to stay up late too.
That absolutely would not do.
“I…”
Ye Yumeng had intended to have a serious talk with him, but suddenly he broke off.
As he stared at Little Rabbit on the bed, a bold idea arose in his mind, and he sank into thought.
Yesterday, when he had tried guiding the red lotus spiritual energy into Little Rabbit’s body, it had triggered a reaction from his bloodline power. So then…
What if Little Rabbit absorbed it himself?
Little Rabbit possessed mental power. If he could sense spiritual energy and cultivate the way Ye Yumeng did, then he could transform spiritual energy into his own spiritual power!
If that happened, his body might recover with half the effort and twice the result.
Only… would Little Rabbit be willing to cultivate with him? Or rather… should he take Little Rabbit on as a disciple?
Ye Yumeng could not help thinking hard about it.
In truth, he had never really considered this question before. But perhaps there was no reason to struggle over it.
After all, old Doctor never once gave explicit permission for formal discipleship either, even though he had taught Ye Yumeng a great many things before shutting himself away and passing into stillness.
If even the old Doctor had not cared about such formalities, then why should Ye Yumeng cling to empty titles?
Looking at the dazzling merit-light on Little Rabbit’s body, Ye Yumeng felt more and more that this was a good idea. If he could lead Little Rabbit onto the path of cultivation, then perhaps he really might rise from the ashes.
Noticing Lei Qi still standing nearby, however, Ye Yumeng didn’t start yet.
Instead, he first went to the cafeteria for breakfast and brought back a bowl of spirit-rice porridge for Little Rabbit.
Because he had arrived a bit late today, and it was already working hours, most people eating in the cafeteria were patients and family members.
He did not run into the little mountain sparrow again. And since he had not gone to the activity room at noon yesterday, he had no idea what had happened with it…
Yesterday he had given the little mountain sparrow a calming sachet. Maybe after returning, it had fallen asleep just like the silver mouse?
Because its body was so depleted from endless expenditure of energy, if it had fallen asleep, it likely needed an even longer period of rest than the silver mouse did.
The first time he had helped feed the patients in the activity room yesterday, he had also encountered another patient with energy agitation syndrome—a little squirrel.
Perhaps mental disorders involving overstimulation of energy were actually very common in the interstellar era…
Maybe he really did need to prepare some calming sachets.
Though… how exactly should he price them? Ye Yumeng scrolled through his records. He had been so busy yesterday that he still hadn’t gotten around to checking the payment message from Director Lei.
He had given Director Lei three calming sachets…
[“Lei Qi” has transferred funds to your Yaojin Empire Universal Account.
Total: 30,000 Yao gold coins
Time: …
Note: For the purchase of calming sachets
Please verify the source of funds…]
Ye Yumeng: 0.0
Director Lei had paid ten thousand gold coins per sachet! Th-this was way too much!
Ye Yumeng was stunned by Lei Qi’s generosity.
The cost of one calming sachet was less than ten gold coins… and the calming talisman only consumed two strands of spiritual energy.
Based on his current maximum energy capacity, he could make at least seventy-five of them per day. That would mean 750,000 Yao gold coins—
Converted into Xihe currency, that was…
7.5 million in a single day!
Ye Yumeng swallowed hard, but then quickly regained his senses and silently recited a calming incantation to himself.
Director Lei was no ordinary person. It made sense for him to spend a lot. But not every patient was that wealthy—
Of course, most people staying at the Royal Sanatorium probably could afford it.
Even so, Ye Yumeng had not forgotten that the reason he had wanted to make calming sachets in the first place was because of those posts in the medical forum.
The people in those posts were veterans affected by the war. And besides them, the medical section also had many patients from ordinary families.
They probably could not afford prices like this.
And selling something with a cost under five gold coins at two thousand times its value… Ye Yumeng didn’t think he could bring himself to be that black-hearted.
If old Doctor found out, he would definitely break his legs.
In any case, if he sold them directly to patients, he definitely couldn’t charge that much.
But Director Lei likely understood the effort required to make calming sachets. Since he had transferred that amount, it meant he felt they were worth it…
And besides, Director Lei was purchasing them for experimental use, so Ye Yumeng accepted this money with a clear conscience.
If this were the cultivation world, it would be equivalent to someone paying a high price to purchase research rights to a proprietary formula. In that case, of course the price would naturally be high.
As for later, if Lei Qi wanted them for patient use, then Ye Yumeng could simply reduce the price for him.
Ye Yumeng nodded to himself, having made up his mind.
Looking at his newly replenished account balance, he couldn’t help smiling.
He immediately placed another order for materials to make calming sachets, especially dried mist-snow blossoms. He needed to stock up before the season changed and they could no longer be bought.
Hehe, having money really did feel great!
Ye Yumeng went to procurement again and, under the pained gaze of the staff, plucked away another five or six spirit fruits.
Back in the core inpatient department, he began feeding Little Rabbit the spirit-rice porridge. By the time the porridge was finished, Lei Qi had already been called away again for work.
That director really was busy.
Ye Yumeng had no idea how he even found time to do experiments. Looking at the hair on his head, which seemed even thinner than before, Ye Yumeng sympathetically withdrew his gaze.
When he had time later, he should make some hair-growth ointment for him. After all, the man was a major customer.
Once Lei Qi left, only the two of them remained in the room.
Ye Yumeng stood up and pulled the pot of red lotus closer to him. Just like yesterday, he gathered the crimson-red spiritual energy it emitted.
Then he guided the sphere of energy toward Little Rabbit, letting it wrap around his body.
“Little Rabbit, besides the burning pain getting weaker, can you feel this sphere of energy?” Ye Yumeng asked.
Lu Nanzhou opened his eyes.
Ye Yumeng looked at him and explained seriously, “Try using your mental power to observe it carefully. See if you can sense this current of energy gathered in my hand.”
“If you can sense it, then I can teach you how to guide it into your body, and how to cultivate with spiritual power.”
Hearing that, Lu Nanzhou’s heart shook.
He had indeed been trying to sense that force, but he had never expected Ye Yumeng to take the initiative to teach him.
He listened as Ye Yumeng continued.
“Spiritual power is a very powerful force. My own abilities come from it too.”
“When I usually help you digest the spirit-rice porridge and absorb the spiritual energy in the grains, can you feel it?”
Lu Nanzhou nodded and then shook his head.
He could feel Ye Yumeng’s power, but he had no way to distinguish whether it was spiritual power or spiritual energy.
To him, this was a completely unfamiliar field.
But to be honest, he was very interested.
While Ye Yumeng had been busy running around, Lu Nanzhou had been concentrating his mental power and wrapping it around the red lotus, trying to sense every tiny change in it.
He had vaguely brushed against that energy, but he still could not fully understand it.
Ye Yumeng smiled at his confusion. “The reason you can feel it proves you have talent for this. Since spiritual power is transformed from spiritual energy, if you can sense one, you can definitely sense the other too!”
Looking at Ye Yumeng’s optimistic smile, Lu Nanzhou still could not calm his emotions.
“You really… want to teach me?” the mechanical voice asked.
“Yeah.” Ye Yumeng nodded. “I think this is a pretty good solution.”
“The root of your illness is the imbalance in your bloodline power. Your body and mental strength can’t control it, so why not introduce a third kind of force?”
“Spiritual power can nourish the body, and it can also command all things. Since your body doesn’t reject my spiritual power and it doesn’t trigger backlash from your bloodline, then it’s worth trying.”
Even if in the end they still couldn’t use spiritual power to control that eerie flame, it would at least let his broken body recover far more quickly.
That way, when the flames erupted again, he would have some strength to resist them.
Lu Nanzhou listened to Ye Yumeng’s reasoning and did feel that it was workable—at least it sounded far more reliable than Lei Qi and the others. But the problem was—
“You really want to… teach me?”
Did Ye Yumeng truly intend to impart to him such a precious cultivation method, such a unique and powerful system of force?
Did Ye Yumeng not understand the value of what he possessed? How could he pass it on so lightly?
“Yeah… would you maybe… want to be my disciple?” Ye Yumeng hesitated, but in the end he still asked.
“Would you like me to be your master?”
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