By this time Feng Jiu was no longer in the rear courtyard — she was in the side chamber.

“How are you feeling today — any better?” After administering acupuncture to Feng Yi’nan, she used a medicinal solution mixed with powdered Snow Lotus Beast horn to massage his lumbar spine.

After that, she helped Feng Yi’nan to his feet, wanting to see whether he could walk on his own.

Regrettably, after only two steps, Feng Yi’nan nearly fell.

Sitting back into his wheelchair, seeing that Feng Jiu’s temples were already beaded with fine perspiration, Feng Yi’nan was filled with guilt: “I’m sorry, Young Master — it’s my fault for being so useless.”

“It is my medicine that has not yet reached a state of divine mastery, not enough to heal you the moment it is applied,” Feng Jiu said with a light smile.

“What physician in the world can achieve results the very moment treatment is applied? Young Master, you are no immortal.” Feng Yi’nan, afraid she might be displeased, immediately said so.

Feng Jiu curved her lips into a smile: “Exactly — and you already understand this, so I only switched you to a new medicine today. How could you possibly be well again right away?”

She raised a hand and tapped lightly at his temple: “So then, what is there to apologize for? Besides, you were injured because you were saving me. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me.”

“Young Master…”

“All right — must we really fall into another endless cycle of you apologizing and me apologizing, you feeling guilty and me feeling guilty?”

Feng Jiu sat down beside him, poured herself a cup of tea, and raised it to her lips.

“Do not be anxious. This medicine will certainly have its effect. It is simply not an immortal’s elixir — it cannot make you well all at once. Give yourself a little more time, and a little more patience.”

“I am not impatient, Young Master — please do not misunderstand me.” Feng Yi’nan, afraid she would be angry, wanted to explain, yet his tongue was too clumsy and he did not know what to say, nearly fretting himself to death over it.

“So easily flustered.” Feng Jiu gave him a sidelong glance, set down her teacup, and began pushing his wheelchair toward the door.

“Come, I’ll take you outside for some sunlight — mustn’t let you grow moldy cooped up in this room.”

Feng Yi’nan turned to look back at her — this face he had been looking at for nearly half a year and still somehow felt unfamiliar with. He could not help but let out a quiet sigh.

It was all his own uselessness. Half a year had passed, and the Young Master had been tending to him with such devoted care all along, yet he had still not recovered in the slightest. He was truly good for nothing.

Even now, the Young Master still had to spend so much time on him every single day. He truly felt too sorry for it.

Half a year, and he could not even manage the smallest of tasks. There were times he truly fell into despair and wanted to stop dragging the Young Master down like this.

Yet he knew that if he gave himself up to despair, the Young Master would only have to live even more exhausted — so he dared not let himself think such things, and only wanted to hurry up and get well.

But the injury had reached the sinews and meridians of his lumbar spine — what the Young Master called the nerves — he did not fully understand, but he did know that it was absolutely not something that would heal easily.

Feng Jiu pushed Feng Yi’nan beneath the shade of the trees. The April breeze, when it brushed against the skin, still carried the faintest hint of a chill — yet because she was helping to loosen his muscles and sinews, Feng Jiu’s temples were still dotted with tiny beads of perspiration.

“Young Master, this kind of thing can be left to the page boys to do,” Feng Yi’nan said with some urgency, as he always did — each time he would try to persuade her, and each time she would refuse to listen.

“If I were away it would be one thing, but while I am here, how can I leave it in someone else’s hands? Can a page boy’s massage possibly match the skill of mine?”

Though said in jest, it was also the truth.

Feng Yi’nan said nothing more, only gazed at her shadow falling across the ground, his heart filled with a thousand thoughts and feelings.

Feng Jiu continued massaging him for quite some time, ensuring his legs would not suffer from muscle atrophy due to the prolonged inability to walk.

Only then did she straighten up, and looked down at his slightly flushed face: “Let me help you up for a walk.”

“We already walked just now…”

“Are you afraid of hardship and fatigue?” Feng Jiu regarded him, asking in a mild tone.

“Of course not — I am only afraid that you will be tired,” Feng Yi’nan replied, as he still felt deeply uncomfortable about being attended to by her. She was the master, and he was her subordinate — how could he allow his master to attend to him continuously? But right now, he truly had no other way.

“I am not tired.” Feng Jiu helped him to his feet.

Feng Yi’nan was tall and broad of frame, and was certainly not light in weight. To say she was not tired would be untrue.

But recently the muscles in his legs had clearly gained a small measure of strength, indicating that the muscular nerves had begun to show some improvement. At this point, intensive training was essential — otherwise, no matter how much medicine was administered, it would all be in vain.

Feng Yi’nan knew she was tired. His build, compared to hers, was considerably taller.

Though the Young Master had spent three years being “her,” and half a year as a man, she was, in the end, only a young girl — still a little slip of a thing.

Beneath her feet she wore some kind of tall boots, which made her appear no shorter than an ordinary man, though compared to him she was still nearly half a head shorter.

In reality, she was a girl with a genuinely slender frame.

“Come, walk slowly — one step at a time, don’t be hasty, slowly now…”

Feng Jiu’s voice sounded a little hoarse, a clear sign that the effort was beginning to wear on her.

When Qiao Mu came by, she found the two of them practicing walking slowly in the sunlight — it had been like this for the past two months. But today’s practice session seemed somewhat more intensive than usual.

They had already practiced once in the early morning, and now they were going again. One could see that Feng Jiu was tired, and so was Feng Yi’nan.

Even so, Feng Yi’nan’s steps today seemed slightly stronger than they had been yesterday.

A surge of joy welled up in Qiao Mu’s heart, and she stepped forward at once: “Young Master, has the new medicine taken effect?”

“The new medicine should have some effect, though it could not possibly show results this quickly,” Feng Jiu exhaled lightly, her face flushing red from the exertion.

She looked up at Feng Yi’nan and asked in a husky voice: “Is there a fierce, burning sensation along your back?”

Feng Yi’nan had originally been struck by an arrow that injured his lumbar spine, hitting the spinal nerves precisely. He currently had no sensation in his lumbar region, only able to feel the unusual sensations along his back.

Feng Yi’nan nodded: “Yes.”

The burning sensation along his back was deeply unpleasant, but the medicine had been applied by the Young Master, and whatever the sensation, he had no choice but to endure it. And since he could bear it, there was no need to mention it to the Young Master. Had she not asked, he certainly would not have brought it up at all.

“This is the new medicine taking effect — promoting blood circulation, and with excellent therapeutic benefits for the recovery of the sinews and meridians. The process is simply a bit more painful.”

Of course, since he had only the faintest sensation along his back, it was not yet truly painful for him at this stage.

Once the spinal nerves recovered, the real pain would come — burning like fire.

The horn of the Snow Lotus Beast should by nature be an extremely cold substance, yet the effect it produced when applied was that of a supremely yang, supremely vigorous great tonic.

Combined with more than a dozen other medicinal herbs also gathered from Snow Lotus Mountain, it promoted blood circulation and cleared stasis, its efficacy remarkable, with superb therapeutic effects for the recovery of the sinews and meridians as well.

Feng Yi’nan’s other tissues were all intact — the sole injury was the arrow that had struck his spinal nerves, causing the nerves to atrophy.

As long as the nerves recovered, his legs would certainly be restored!

“Yi’nan, believe me — these legs of yours will absolutely be able to recover. I stake my very life on this guarantee!”