Chapter 89.1: Solved
This time, Nan Yu needed to use his mental power with complete concentration for a very long time. Since he might run out of mental power by the end, he took out the Nianshen Grass and held it in his hands right from the start.
He didn't even bother maintaining the pretense of placing both hands on either side of Qin Wenxing's head. Instead, he simply held the Nianshen Grass in both hands and released his mental power directly.
His mental power connected to his own Mental Sea, then to the Nianshen Grass, and finally to Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea. It continuously circulated between the three. As a result, the rate at which his mental power was consumed slowed considerably.
If he had previously only been able to endure for ten hours, now he could last seventeen or even eighteen hours. This greatly extended the amount of time he could continuously remove Qin Wenxing's Mental Contamination.
It also significantly increased the chances of a successful recovery.
Still, he wasn't entirely certain whether it would work.
If it failed...
If it failed, it actually wouldn't be too much of a problem. He simply wanted to remove everything in one go so that the damage those remnants caused to Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea would be minimized.
If the treatment was interrupted halfway through, then the remaining foreign mental power would continue damaging Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea. After all, the person who had attacked him with mental power had truly intended to kill him. Even now, a great deal of that person's mental power still remained inside Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea.
Nan Yu had no way to directly expel that mental power.
So he only had two choices.
The first was to continuously remove the Mental Contamination without interruption, rendering that foreign mental power completely useless.
The second was to stop midway, allowing Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea to suffer even greater damage. Then, just like Lan Feng, he would have to repair it little by little over time.
The latter was obviously far more troublesome and time-consuming.
Nan Yu pushed those distracting thoughts out of his mind.
Now wasn't the time to think about that.
The important thing was to focus on removing Qin Wenxing's Mental Contamination properly.
Second by second, time passed.
Nan Yu remained there throughout the entire night, working until dawn before finally withdrawing his mental power.
The instant he retracted it, he collapsed into the chair, still tightly clutching the Nianshen Grass with both hands to keep it from falling onto the floor.
His mind was a complete blur.
It wasn't exactly because he had overexerted his mental power.
Rather, he had controlled it so precisely that only the tiniest thread of mental power remained.
Just a tiny bit...
If he had continued for even one more second, his mental power would have been completely exhausted.
At that point, the damage to his own Mental Sea would have been severe.
Fortunately, he had judged the limit perfectly.
Using that tiny remaining strand of mental power, Nan Yu connected with the Nianshen Grass and slowly circulated it through a cultivation cycle.
It took about an hour before he gradually recovered.
This had indeed been a gamble.
But Nan Yu didn't regret it.
Because he could clearly feel that both the strength and purity of his mental power had increased by nearly twice what they had been before!
He didn't regret making this decision in the slightest.
The rewards were more than satisfactory.
After stabilizing his own mental power, he examined Qin Wenxing's Mental Sea once more.
Although it was full of dents and uneven scars, at least it hadn't been completely destroyed.
Given enough time to recuperate, those damaged areas would gradually heal through Qin Wenxing's own natural recovery ability.
He would inevitably feel mentally exhausted during this period, however.
After all, his Mental Sea had been damaged and needed time to repair itself.
Nan Yu stood up and walked toward the door.
As he walked, it felt as though he were floating.
He knew it was because he was simply too exhausted.
He felt like he could collapse into sleep the moment he lay down.
He was just...
Too tired.
Opening the door, he expected to see a crowd waiting outside.
Instead, there was only one person.
And that person was Yu Lanfeng.
"Marshal? You're still here..."
Yu Lanfeng looked at his bloodshot, reddened eyes and the way his entire body seemed to sway as he walked.
It was obvious he had pushed himself to the limit.
"Go get some rest first."
Nan Yu shook his head.
"He's fine now. From here on, he just needs to recover properly. He'll gradually get better on his own."
The deep frown on Yu Lanfeng's face visibly eased, though it soon returned.
"I understand. Thank you."
"I'll take you to rest."
Nan Yu thought that sounded pretty good.
"Let's go. I think however long I stayed inside, you stood outside for just as long. And before coming to the hospital, you must have already been working without sleep."
"I need rest."
"But I think the Marshal needs it even more."
"In that case... we... we should just rest together."
"There are plenty of rooms upstairs anyway."
The moment those words left his mouth, Nan Yu screamed internally.
What had he just said?
This was...
This was way too embarrassing!
He had been certain Yu Lanfeng would refuse without hesitation.
Instead...
"All right."
"We'll rest together."
Nan Yu wasn't sure whether he had misheard or not.
Nor did he know how he ended up back in the resting room.
He only knew that he hazily took a shower, changed into pajamas, and when he lay down on the bed...
There was another person beside him.
Don't misunderstand.
That person was lying on the sofa beside the bed.
Judging by his appearance, he had already fallen asleep.
And very soundly, too.
Nan Yu couldn't help feeling surprised.
Could Yu Lanfeng really fall asleep that easily?
Wasn't it said that the stronger an Ability User was, the harder it became for them to fall asleep when other people were nearby?
Because of the vigilance ingrained into their subconscious...
But Nan Yu no longer had the energy to think about such things.
After lying down and pulling the blanket over himself, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Yu Lanfeng for a few moments before unknowingly closing his own eyes.
Less than two seconds later, he was fast asleep.
After Nan Yu fell asleep, Yu Lanfeng—who had appeared to be sleeping—slowly opened his eyes.
He quietly stared at Nan Yu's sleeping face.
He watched him seriously for more than ten minutes.
Only then, as though he had finally made some kind of decision, did he close his eyes again.
This time, he truly fell asleep.
Nan Yu slept so deeply that when he finally woke up, he didn't even know where he was.
He didn't know what time it was.
For a moment, he almost forgot who he was.
Fortunately, his memories quickly returned.
He slowly sat up and rubbed his stomach.
He was starving.
Absolutely starving.
Looking at the time, he realized it was already the early morning of the third day.
That meant he hadn't eaten anything for two whole days.
No wonder he was so hungry.
It felt like a war was breaking out inside his stomach.
He put on his shoes and walked outside.
Then he saw a sight that almost blinded him.
What was this?
This was actually...
Yu Lanfeng cooking in the kitchen!
Nan Yu felt he really hadn't fully woken up.
He turned around, went into the bathroom, washed up thoroughly, and finally cleared his head before walking back out.
This time, Yu Lanfeng was no longer cooking in the kitchen.
Good.
Instead, he was sitting at the dining table, looking at him.
"Come eat something."
Nan Yu wanted to ask something, but when he saw the plain porridge and side dishes on the table, he became even hungrier.
Forget it.
Questions could wait.
He should eat first.
Hopefully it tasted good.
He took a sip of the porridge.
Hm?!
It was delicious!
The two of them eventually finished the entire large pot of porridge between them.
Nan Yu rubbed his stomach.
He wasn't completely full, but this was about right for now.
He turned on his communicator and found numerous messages and missed calls waiting for him.
He went through them one by one, replying to his family and friends as he did.
He definitely couldn't brush off Nan Yun.
After initiating a call °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° and confirming that Nan Yu was truly safe, Nan Yun finally relaxed.
"Has the hospital been that busy?"
"Sorry, Big Brother. Things have really been hectic these past two days."
"I understand."
"You need to get enough rest, okay?"
"Don't worry, Big Brother."
"I just woke up. I'm full of energy now!"
Only after seeing that Nan Yu was genuinely fine did Nan Yun say,
"That's good."
After ending the call, Nan Yu suddenly noticed a communication request from Zhou Huayin.
Only then did he remember that he had previously told Lan Feng to wait until he came over.
But Qin Wenxing's situation had delayed everything.
He immediately called Zhou Huayin.
"Xiao Yu?"
"Yes, Uncle Zhou. Sorry about that. Something came up at the hospital and delayed me. I'll head over shortly."
"They're both still there, right?"
"This is important."
"I have to tell them face to face."
"I know."
"They're still here."
"When we couldn't reach you yesterday, they became very worried and thought something had happened to you."
"But I knew that with you in that hospital, nothing could possibly happen."
"They're both waiting here."
"You can come over whenever you're ready."
"All right."
"I'll be there soon."
Yu Lanfeng looked at him.
"You're going to tell them the truth about Lan Feng's Mental Sea?"
Nan Yu nodded.
"Now is the best time."
"If I told Lan Yu before curing Lan Feng, I have no idea what he might do."
"But if I wait until after Lan Feng is cured, they'll have no guard against it."
"What if those Mental Power Users target them as well?"
"If they come one at a time, they're not much of a problem."
"But once they unite..."
"They become terrifying."
After all, every Mental Power User had their own circle.
Within those circles, besides themselves, there were numerous Ability Users revolving around them.
Mental Power Users depended on the strength of Ability Users.
Ability Users likewise depended on the abilities of Mental Power Users.
The two sides complemented one another.
But Mental Power Users were obviously much rarer.
That made the positions around them something everyone fought over.
Now that so many Mental Power Users had united...
Even as powerful as Lan Yu and Lan Feng were, they wouldn't be able to withstand them.
After tidying himself up, Nan Yu said,
"I'm leaving now."
Yu Lanfeng nodded.
"I'll have someone..."
"I'll take you there myself."