A little over half an hour later, Brother Tian returned to the bar with a steaming bowl of dicinal soup and drank it in front of Zhao Yuan.
"Pah! Pah! Pah!"
The mont the dicine touched his tongue, an intense bitterness flooded his mouth. Brother Tian gagged and spat it out in a spray.
"Master, this dicine is vile!" Brother Tian exclaid, his face a grimace.
Zhao Yuan's expression was stern. "Good dicine is always bitter. Do you want to get better or not? If you do, then hurry up and drink."
In truth, the dicine for Brother Tian's illness wasn't supposed to be so vile. But Zhao Yuan, wanting to teach him a little lesson, had intentionally added a few extra ingredients. Without affecting the efficacy of the cure, they made the concoction utterly disgusting.
Without a doubt, for the next month and more, drinking this dicine was going to be a unique form of torture for Brother Tian!
Brother Tian stared at the amber-colored liquid, his face a mask of misery.
He didn't want to drink another drop, but he knew he had to.
'If I don't drink it, I'm dead!'
Finally, Brother Tian steeled himself, pinched his nose, and forced the dicine down, fighting back the urge to vomit.
After about ten minutes, once the dicine had likely started to take effect, Zhao Yuan asked, "Well? Feel anything?"
"Aside from wanting to puke, I feel nothing," Brother Tian answered, his hand clamped over his mouth, afraid he'd vomit if he moved it. 'Didn't he say this stuff would work right away?' he thought. 'Why don't I feel anything? Is he scamming ?'
As Brother Tian was stewing in his thoughts, Zhao Yuan beckoned to the two henchn who had pressed his Liver Shu and Spleen Shu points. "You two," he ordered, "press those sa points again."
"What?" The color drained from Brother Tian's face.
'Having those points pressed… the feeling was worse than death. He absolutely did not want to go through that again.'
The two henchn hesitated, not daring to act.
Zhao Yuan shot Brother Tian a glare. "What are you 'what'-ing about? Don't you want to see if it's working?"
"Just do it," Brother Tian finally said through gritted teeth, ordering his n.
The two henchn nodded and pressed down on Brother Tian's Liver Shu and Spleen Shu points.
A wave of excruciating pain washed over him again, and Brother Tian grimaced. But this ti, he didn't collapse. Instead, he started acting like a madman, howling in agony one mont and roaring with laughter the next.
"Brother Tian, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?"
His n were terrified.
'Why did Brother Tian suddenly snap? Does pressing the Liver Shu and Spleen Shu points make you go insane?'
"I'm fine! I'm better than fine! Master, your dicine—it really works!" Brother Tian gasped, panting for breath.
It turned out that while pressing the points was still excruciating, the pain was significantly less than before.
Clearly, this was the effect of the dicine Zhao Yuan had prescribed!
A wave of relief washed over Brother Tian.
"Alright, since the dicine is working, it's ti for us to go." Zhao Yuan stood up. "Oh, right. I almost forgot. From now on, you and your n need to do more good deeds and less evil. Otherwise, even if your illness is cured, it will co back. And next ti, dicine might not work!"
Brother Tian froze. 'Are you kidding ?' he thought. 'I've heard of germs and viruses making people sick, but bad deeds? What kind of scientific basis is there for that? This is so superstitious nonsense!'
Zhao Yuan didn't bother explaining. He just smiled. "What? You don't believe ? That's fine. Sooner or later, you'll co to believe my words."
"I believe you, I believe you! Heh, of course I believe what the Master says!" Brother Tian said, but inwardly, he was scoffing.
Little did he know that as Zhao Yuan spoke, he had activated an Enchanting Talisman, placing a ntal shackle on him. From now on, whenever Brother Tian committed a misdeed, the shackle would trigger. It would create a powerful illusion, making him believe his strange illness had returned, even worse than before. Only by performing good deeds would the shackle recede.
Zhao Yuan said no more. Carrying the stone sculpture in his right hand and a serving of beef potstickers in his left, he ate as he walked out of the bar. Lin Xue and the others were doing much the sa; at that mont, they all looked like a bunch of walking foodies.
Brother Tian and his crew obsequiously escorted Zhao Yuan's group out of the bar, waving goodbye. His attitude was so perfect, he was practically doing a farewell dance.
Watching Zhao Yuan's group leave, a henchman whispered, "Brother Tian, are we just going to let them walk away like that?"
Without even turning around, Brother Tian shot back, "Or what? You wanted to invite them to stay for dinner? Did you not see their appetites? They ran up a bill of several thousand on snacks alone. Are they even human, or are they bottomless pits?"
"Brother Tian, that's not what I ant," the henchman quickly explained, realizing he'd been misunderstood. "I an, why don't we just take him out? You've got the dicine now. If we get rid of him, we can get our money back and get our hands on that valuable treasure…"
Before he could finish, Brother Tian swung around and slapped the henchman so hard he fell to the ground.
"If you want to die, go do it alone! Don't drag the rest of us with you!" Brother Tian snarled through clenched teeth. "Are you blind? Didn't you see him lift that stone sculpture with one hand? That thing weighs hundreds of pounds, at least! You wouldn't be able to lift it even if you used every ounce of your strength! Take him out? Hah! The mont you tried anything, he'd crush your skull with that sculpture! And his companions—the girl is whatever, but those three guys are seriously strong. We might have the numbers, but fighting them would be a suicide mission!"
The berated henchman didn't dare say another word. Only then did he realize how naive and ridiculous his suggestion had been.
For the next month, Brother Tian was on his best behavior, forcing himself to choke down the dicine every single day.
A month later, his strange illness was, in fact, completely cured.
Unfortunately, the mont he recovered, he couldn't resist falling back into his old ways. He took his n to the antique market to run an extortion racket, hoping to recoup the 400,000 he'd spent on his treatnt. But he never expected that the mont he started threatening soone, an intense feeling of suffocation and exhaustion washed over him. Imdiately after, he felt as if scarlet, bloody sweat was pouring from every pore!
The sight terrified Brother Tian.
"Doing bad deeds… it really does make my sickness co back!"
Only then did Brother Tian realize Zhao Yuan hadn't been lying. How laughable and ignorant his previous skepticism had been!
As soon as he felt a little better, Brother Tian rushed to return the extorted money to the rchant, apologizing profusely. The rchants were stunned and bewildered, unable to figure out what kind of ga Brother Tian was playing.
After that, Brother Tian truly turned over a new leaf. He not only led his crew of henchn into legitimate business, but he also frequently helped maintain order in the antique market, swept the grounds, and did whatever good deeds he could. His transformation was so shocking it nearly made everyone's eyes pop out of their sockets.
Eventually, Brother Tian had done so many good deeds that the local community association for the antique market even nad him a Model Citizen and an Outstanding Youth.
On the day of the award ceremony, Brother Tian stood on the podium, his eyes welling with tears. "I am who I am today because of one person," he said. "He not only cured my physical ailnt, but he also transford from a greedy, vicious, hated hoodlum into a respected and beloved Outstanding Youth!"
At this, Brother Tian dropped to his knees right there on the stage and perford a deep, distant bow.
"Unfortunately, I don't know my benefactor's na. But without him, I wouldn't be the man I am today. He is the one who gave my life aning! From now on, I will follow his example and strive to help and heal the souls of others!"
Below the stage, thunderous applause erupted. The ones cheering the loudest were his forr henchn, who had turned over a new leaf right alongside him!
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