Perhaps due to the sunlight, his handsome face finally showed a hint of color.

Feng Miao Jun greatly admired him. Those who could withstand the sun’s true fire were as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns. When would she be able to cultivate such an ability?

“Change the medicine.”

Hearing his command, Feng Miao Jun snapped out of her reverie. Yun Ya had already gone outside the cave to wash up and returned, now raising an eyebrow at her.

“Oh.”

She quickly took out the medicine box. As Yun Ya sat with his back to her, she removed the clothing from his upper body to examine his wounds. This fellow had a cleanliness obsession—he must have fetched water and wiped his body clean after she entered the Inch-Sized Flask last night, removing all blood stains and even changing into a fresh set of clothes.

Though covered in wounds, she could see that Yun Ya had excellent body proportions and beautiful lines—the standard “slim in clothes, muscular when undressed” physique of a lean, strong type. He seemed to have every muscle line that should be there, and even those that shouldn’t.

With his upper garment removed as he sat hunched over, his abdominal muscles were clearly defined. Feng Miao Jun even accidentally glimpsed a bit of the Adonis belt showing above his trousers. Hmm, she felt an impulse to lift them to see the complete version.

They say a man must precisely control his body fat to around twelve percent to develop such an Adonis belt. Most men probably only have… squid lines.

It would be a shame if he didn’t become a body model. If he applied some olive oil or something, tsk tsk tsk…

“Enjoying the view?” someone asked her.

“Yes…” Feng Miao Jun answered reflexively before suddenly coming to her senses, realizing she had been shamelessly staring at his critical areas. She quickly looked up, meeting Yun Ya’s ambiguous smile.

Caught in the act. Since she had thick skin anyway, she simply steeled herself and said with a grin: “Being by your side truly offers great benefits. I fear all the women in the royal capital will envy me in the future.”

Yun Ya hadn’t expected such shamelessness from one so young, but the smile on his lips deepened: “Who said I’m taking you back to the royal capital?”

She was shocked: “But yesterday you clearly said you would spare my life!”

“I also said, only if you satisfy me.” His gaze swept over the medicine box, and Feng Miao Jun’s smile immediately brightened threefold as she changed his bandages with particular attentiveness.

Removing the medicinal cloth that clung to the wound, she could see that the originally deep brown medicinal paste had lightened. This was because she had specially added green stone moss as a test agent when preparing the medicine, making it easy to see how much of the medicinal effect had been absorbed. From the current situation, Yun Ya’s body had absorbed most of the medicinal power—quite ideal.

As for the wounds, they no longer looked as terrible as yesterday. The many burn blisters had deflated, some beginning to harden, visibly on their way to scabbing over. This brought to mind the eyeball-like plant she had used yesterday, called the Thousand Demon Eye. Though hideous in appearance, it truly had remarkable effects in reducing suppuration and healing sores, and could prevent the most dreaded wound infections. Feng Miao Jun clicked her tongue in admiration, but Yun Ya merely smiled: “One cannot judge by appearances alone.”

Feng Miao Jun understood this statement to mean that people shouldn’t be judged solely by appearance either. Yun Ya’s looks embodied heaven and earth’s finest qualities, yet inside he was an uncompromising fiend. Still, she was curious: “Why isn’t this spiritual medicine recorded in the medical classics?”

“It wasn’t naturally occurring, but artificially created.”

She was surprised: “You’re so formidable!” Was this man omnipotent? Powerful in magic, overwhelming in martial arts, and also versed in pharmacology?

Could he leave some path for others to excel?

“Not me,” he didn’t take undue credit. “A friend discovered it by accident.”

Though his vitality was strong, the hole in his chest remained the most troublesome wound. The injury showed signs of healing, but not very obvious ones and the lung damage worsened his cough, further hindering recovery.

Here, only time could help.

While changing his bandages, she probed: “In the past, your health… didn’t seem very good?” After a calm night, she’d thought things through. Since she had to stay with him for the foreseeable future, why not take this opportunity to understand him better?

She recalled some philosophers saying that fear stems from the unknown.

The more comprehensively she understood him, perhaps the clearer she would be about how to proceed.

Feng Miao Jun remembered that when she first saw him in the courthouse, this man was wrapped in fox fur and drinking hot tea even during the late summer heat. She had thought he was playing dumb to catch his prey, but what prey did he need to feign for? With her different experience now, she was more inclined to believe he truly had some ailment.

As Wei’s State Preceptor, what rare treasures couldn’t he obtain? She was curious about what illness could trouble Yun Ya for so long. This was a chance to learn more.

“Hmm, it’s been much better these past few years.” He seemed unwilling to discuss it further and changed the subject: “What’s your breathing technique formula?”

Oh? Feng Miao Jun quickly recited the incantation for him to hear, showing no sense of keeping her methods secret—nor did she need to. She had once selected six or seven breathing techniques from Yanhai Tower, and Xu Feng Nian had helped her choose this one.

After listening, he gave a slight smile.

“Not good?”

“Being mundane and ordinary is itself a mistake.” He glanced at her sideways. “Would you like to learn the Sun-Feasting Technique from me?”

Feng Miao Jun was overjoyed, her face instantly blooming with a smile, answering both clearly and loudly: “Yes, of course I would!” That was the very technique Yun Ya had just used, and she had witnessed its effects firsthand. Moreover, since their spiritual powers shared the same source and quality, she could borrow countless ready-made experiences from Yun Ya, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

For once, her smile came from the heart, as lovely as a night-blooming cereus, so delicate and beautiful it defied description. Even Yun Ya was momentarily stunned, instinctively averting his gaze before saying: “If you fulfill your duties diligently, every three days you may seek my answers to your cultivation questions.” He had initially thought to say “daily,” but the words caught in his throat as he suddenly remembered that after returning to Wei, he would be overwhelmed with affairs of state—how could he have time to solve her problems every day?

Even so, Feng Miao Jun was still delighted, her beautiful eyes sparkling with joy as she responded with a smiling “Yes!” Yun Ya’s perceptive eyes immediately saw that what she urgently needed now was not broad, diverse knowledge, but the guidance of a clear-minded teacher. “You’re willing to teach me!”

Cultivation was, after all, a systematic project requiring step-by-step, solid progress. Though she had access to the experiences of predecessors through her self-study in Yanhai Tower, she still needed the Great State Preceptor to personally offer guidance, pointing her in a clear direction amidst the vast sea of knowledge, so she could reach the other shore swiftly and nimbly.

A trace of disdain flashed in his eyes: “Mo Ti Zhun only knows how to stick to conventions, lacking grand ambition. His mystical arts—you need not learn them.”

Such words would sound arrogant to others, but from him, they were merely commentary. Feng Miao Jun understood his implied meaning—ancient texts mentioned that different types of people are best matched with different mystical arts to achieve complementary effects.

In her view, Mo Ti Zhun’s character was indeed as Yun Ya described—excessively proper, with too many rules to follow.