Healing System

"Gu Wan?" Michael called out to the drunkard before going up to him and shaking him awake.

At first, the sword apprentice was using his mana to block off any shaking, essentially stabilizing himself.

However, Michael quickly dispelled that with sheer force and shook him again.

Immediately, Gu Wan's eyes shot open, glaring at him with hatred.

'Your fault for not waking up...' Michael thought inwardly, but in the next moment, he heard steady droplets hit the floor, and upon looking down to see what it was, he was met with a bottle of booze.

It was one that was already open and now broken.

"You dare..." An ominous amount of mana began rising from Gu Wan's body as he tugged at the bed sheets and pulled out a longsword—the first one Michael had seen in this world.

Before he knew it, the longsword's tip approached him, but before it hit, a shield appeared to deflect it to the side.

'He's a little agitated...' He thought inwardly while easily blocking the strikes.

They held decent power, but the technique was that of a toddler's, merely swinging from the left to the right, or simply downwards.

After his many battles, that would not work on him anymore.

With each attack, he was slowly getting slower and slower, until eventually, Gu Wan dropped the longsword onto the ground.

"Are you done?" Michael asked with amusement.

However, instead of a response, what met his eyes was the sight of the man before him crying, his tears dripping down onto the ground like the broken bottle of booze.

Seems like he was quite fond of that bottle, maybe it held some memories?

'No... I just think he is too lazy to go buy another one.' He concluded and looked back at Hu Rong, who, for some reason, was wandering the hallways instead of staying with him.

"Hu Rong?" Michael called out, and immediately, his disciple ran up to him before cupping his fists.

"Sorry, Master Mujin! This disciple nearly fell prey to the art of seduction!"

'There's no one there though?'

He stared down at his pathetic disciple for a few moments, until Gu Wan finally stood up once more.

The anger from before seemed to be gone; he wasn't even reaching for the longsword anymore.

"I apologize for my earlier behavior," Gu Wan bowed with cupped fists, showing his respect.

Michael smiled, as the discussion could finally move forward. "It's alright, no need to bow," he said, trying to lighten up the mood before continuing,

"I may not be the best healer around, but could you please describe your injury to me?"

Upon hearing those words, Gu Wan once again grew weary; however, when he looked at Michael's face, he immediately calmed down.

There was this saintly presence about him that made people naturally feel at ease, and he only had his D-Ranked Charisma stat to thank for that.

"My Dantian is fractured, and Qi keeps leaking out. One day I woke up and I was suddenly like this," Gu Wan explained with a sour expression.

Michael nodded before asking another question, "Did you do anything strange the day prior? Fought anything?"

"No, I was here like always," he replied instantly with a poker face.

'Cursed by someone inside of a brothel... this guy is either really unlucky or he's lying.' Michael narrowed his eyes at him in suspicion before saying,

"Could I take a look at your Dantian?"

"I apologize, junior, I can't do that." Gu Wan immediately waved him away before picking up the longsword on the ground and stashing it behind his back.

However, Michael did not back down. "I can heal you."

Immediately, Gu Wan turned his head towards him with a doubtful expression, one that contained just a tiny trace of hope.

"You are lying; I have been to the best physicians in these lands, and not one was able to cure me."

"Why give up hope?" Michael said, trying to get a reaction, but once he noticed it was not working, he tried something else.

"If I can't heal you, I'll buy you booze. How does that sound?"

As soon as his words dropped, Gu Wan threw the longsword onto the bed before sitting down with a massive grin.

"That is a deal."

He gave up pretty quickly, such a simple curse too, I wonder how no one was able to cure it yet? The System remarked, to which Michael merely shrugged before walking up to Gu Wan.

Stretching out both of his hands in front of Gu Wan's abdomen, he began his little act.

Healing him right away would do him no good; if the man is as big of a drunkard as he expected, then Michael needs to give him a tiny amount of hope in winning.

Covering Gu Wan in his golden mana, he began gently moving it, giving the sensation of a calm massage.

That was until finally, he used Purify; the mana drain was less than before surprisingly, at the same time, the skill began working like a charm.

The curse which had been clinging to the man's Dantian started evaporating, and not even a few seconds later, it was completely gone.

Michael took a deep breath, feigning exhaustion before straightening his back and putting on a soft smile. "It is done."

"...What?" Gu Wan replied, opening his eyes wide in shock.

He couldn't believe it, but upon channeling his mana, or better known in this world as Qi, he was convinced.

"The flow... It's also no longer leaking... How?" He stared at Michael with sheer confusion in his eyes.

"It's a trade secret, anyways, I don't owe you booze anymore, do I?" Michael grinned back at the shocked man before continuing,

"Since you are better now, what do you say we talk more about the escort mission?"

"Huh? Oh, okay." Gu Wan mindlessly nodded, paying attention to each word Michael was saying.

"My name is Mujin, the one beh—where did he go again!?"
Continue your journey with empire

Hu Rong was once again wandering the halls; thankfully, he didn't stray too far, so Michael was simply able to reel him back in with mana before continuing his introductions.

"This is Hu Rong, my disciple. We accepted the mission because of the reward, but could you tell us why it's so high? Seeing 1 Gold is not that common for most."

Gu Wan nodded in understanding before speaking, "I am getting a Dao partner in the next city, I don't want to be late because of bandits—oh, and you can refer to me as Old Gu."

'What's a Dao partner?'

They are getting married essentially. Man and woman, yin and yang, they will cultivate together to achieve greater strength.

'You can get stronger by absorbing mana with someone else...?' Michael widened his eyes in amazement.

Only works if both of you have a Dantian mana core, sadly. But don't fear, although the progress is faster, if there is no balance between yin and yang, cultivating together would not work. The Mana—Qi would simply reject you.

He raised his brows, questioning, 'So they don't become lovers? If the effect diminishes, won't they just go find someone else?'

Precisely, only the strongest relationships last. But very few of those exist in murim.

'How tragic.' Michael remarked before smiling and setting his gaze back on Gu Wan.

"Congratulations! However, in exchange for me healing you, I will need a bit of the money forwarded."

"No problem." Gu Wan shrugged and tugged at his tattered robe before pulling out a small pouch and after shuffling through it for a little while, pulling out 3 yellow coins.

"Here, this is the least I can do for now. Do not worry, I will repay my debt a hundredfold," he said with a very deep bow and handed him the coins.

"Pleasure doing business with you, see you tomorrow." Michael cupped his fists in response before grabbing Hu Rong by the collar and heading out.

It was about time he did some spending.