Stuck in a Chinese novel - Chapter 145

Chapter 145: Awry
Chapter 145

“Where have you been, brother Tian?” Run Long asked when Noh Tian came to meet him.

“I’m sorry brother Long. I had to go out of the country for a few days. But as soon as I heard about you, I returned,” Noh Tian apologized and explained.

“You should thank him, young Long. It is because of him that we even get to meet the director,” Ouyang Na said.

“It’s the least I can do after not being there for my friend, elder Na,” Noh Tian said.

“So, what do they say?” Run Long asked.

“since it was too risky getting caught by the Ruan family, I exchanged a favor with the cultivator special forces to arrest you. That way, we can keep you out of their reach. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you attacked the Ruans. But, remember the director of the cultivator forces I told you about? The one who’s sick? They have promised to take you out of the city and away from the records for a few years if you were to cure that man.” Noh Tian explained.

He paused for a second before he continued, “Now normally, I would have advised you against such a procedure and I still don’t think it is the right thing to do. However, I think you should cure this person. It helps you out.”

Noh Tian stopped to let the information sink in. Run Long processed all of his words before he asked, “What do you think, elder Na?”

Ouyang Na looked at Run Long for a while before he said, “Like young master Tian said, I wouldn’t also recommend you dealing with them. they are the second most powerful force after the military. If anything were to go wrong, the consequences would be dire. Unsalvageable.”

After Ouyang Na gave his opinion, Run Long asked, “So should I do it or not?”

“No. You shouldn’t.” Ouyang Na said which troubled Noh Tian a little but before he could speak, Ouyang Na continued, “But given the circumstances, you have no other choice.”

“Not to mention your talent is good in cultivation as well. They might even offer you a position if you were to do well.” Noh Tian chimed in, stating benefits that would make Run Long accept the offer.

Run Long contemplated for a while before he nodded and said, “They have confiscated my stuff. Tell them to return it and we can begin.”

“Of course. I will get on it right away,” Noh Tian replied and went away. Run Long looked at Ouyang Na and said, “You should go now, elder Na.”

“I ought to stay,” Ouyang Na replied.

“I have already dragged your name down. I don’t want to do it again. If anything were to happen, I wouldn’t want you to be incriminated as well,” Run Long said.

“But–” Ouyang Na started, probably to complain but Run Long interrupted him by capturing his hands and said, “Please. I will come to you as soon as I am free. But for now, I need you to go.”

Ouyang Na looked deep into Run Long’s dark eyes and nodded. “I will wait for you,” Ouyang Na said before he added, “The entire Na family will.”

“That will make me happy,” The touchy departure ended with Run Long’s gratitude for everything the Na family had done for Run Long. He would never forget that favor, not until his dying breath. Just he won’t forget his enmity with the Ruan family, especially Wei Jun Ruan until his end.

***********

“Make sure nothing goes wrong,” A man in a black suit told Run Long, rudely grabbing his shoulder.

Run Long held back his words. The man was much stronger than him, he couldn’t run his tongue there. So he chose to remain quiet and went inside the room where an old man was lying on a bed.

Run Long could sense power from the man but he could also sense something else. Miasma. There was evil power coming from the old man. It wasn’t his own but he was infected with it.

He was trying to suppress it with his enormous power but was still failing. Run Long, first and foremost, examined the old man to see if he could even withstand the treatment. As if he could, what kind of treatment it should be.

“I can treat him. But he will lose his left arm,” Run Long said to the man in the suit. The man looked at the old man worriedly and after a while closed his eyes for a moment before he replied, “Do it.”

To a cultivator, their arm was very necessary, however, if that was the only way to save the old man, the man was willing to do it because he believed the fighting days of the old man were over. He figured if the old man didn’t have an arm, the emperor wouldn’t enforce his decisions on him anymore.

Run Long nodded and began to press several acupoints on the old man’s body to make his body numb. The man kept an eagle’s eye on the old man and Run Long to make sure nothing went wrong.

Once Run Long was finished pressing the points, his Qi had almost run out but he managed to finish the blockage technique before it did.

“I need to replenish my Qi for a while before I can continue,” Run Long said to the man.

The man looked at Run Long, making sure he was out of Qi, and then at the old man to see his breathing was very much stable so he replied, “Very well. But hurry.”

Run Long nodded and instead of leaving, he moved to the corner of the room and began to restore his Qi. His Qi pool was now much larger than before. So it took him a few hours but he made sure to be as fast as he could.

The man didn’t hurry him because he could see the old man was still stable and he didn’t want any mistakes due to the healer’s low Qi. So he didn’t bother the healer and let him recuperate properly before he did anything else. He could risk his job, but he couldn’t risk the life of the old man.

Run Long stood up, feeling refreshed and full of power. He made his way back to the old man and began to guide the miasma of the old man to his arm. It was a tedious process and since he didn’t have much time to stabilize his new cultivation realm, he had some trouble controlling his Qi.

He still managed to pull through and succeeded in transferring half of the miasma to the left arm before he once again ran out of Qi. Run Long was now sweating hard and breathing laboriously.

It was difficult for him to control the miasma but he managed to trap half of it in the old man’s arm. It wasn’t just him as well; the old man was also helping him deal with the miasma although he was unconscious.

Run Long once again excused himself for rest and was allowed to do so. This time, Run Long wasn’t looked over like a hawk by the man but he still didn’t let his guard down, even though he was a little lenient now seeing the condition of the old man had improved a lot.

Run Long once again took a few hours to rest and once he was fully refreshed again, he got back to work. This time, he managed to finish gathering the miasma in the old man’s arm. Once he was done, he took out his acupuncture box.

“What are you doing?” The man asked, cautiously since the needles could be used as a weapon.

“I need to isolate the miasma otherwise, if even the smallest amount of it remains, it would spread once again in a few years and he would be like this again. He might not be able to bear it then.” Run Long explained.

The man nodded and stepped back but not much. He still remained close enough to react in case things went south.

It wasn’t long before Run Long managed to isolate the miasma in the arm of the man and entrap it with his needles. The old man wouldn’t need to supply Qi that way to keep it trapped.

Just as everything was going smoothly, the old man suddenly began to tremble. It was a small tremble at first but then it intensified to the point he looked like he was having the strongest of seizures ever seen.

“What’s wrong with him?!” The man hurriedly asked before he held the old man down with his hands. Some men from the outside also came in hearing the commotion and saw the old man seizing.

“What happened?” A woman asked while she helped the man hold the old man down.

“I don’t know. He suddenly started to act like that.” The man replied but then, their eyes went to the needles. Or more like to the spot where the needles were embedded. The spots were turning blue slowly.

“You! You poisoned him!” The man yelled and was about to lunge at Run Long when the woman stopped him and said, “Not now! Tend to him first!”

Run Long, on the other hand, couldn’t make out what was happening either. One moment everything was going okay and the next moment, everything started to go wrong.

“Take him away!” The woman ordered the men holding Run Long. That was the last thing Run Long remembered before everything went black.