Chapter 59 - Acupuncture 'therapy'

Splash!

This place was quite scheduled. I'd planned to let Feng Yi wash herself first but we hadn't brought our changing wear with us, so I bathed while she ran to Qangqing.

The bath was very refreshing with the cold water of the well. Underground water was the best in an area such as this.

Feng Yi came while I was still washing myself. Her gaze lingered on my body for four long seconds. I laughed and told her to separately put our clothes on the well's circular edge.

It didn't take long for me to finish and I did not stay there like a creep. Coming back to Lou Gaeli's house, I waited for Feng Yi. She took her sweet time bathing and came back wearing the same type of clothes.

Her hair was wet and she seemed to have forgotten to bring the towel with her. I didn't need one but she would have needed to dry herself. Her clothes stuck to her body even though she had waited for a long time to wear it.

By now, a lot of villagers had woken up. Lou Gaeli had a habit of waking up early it seemed.

''Bring the needles, we'll go somewhere most people don't.''

We went out of the cave once again. I saw Lou Shila doing her duties of washing yesterday's dishes. I then noticed the old lady didn't really help her daughter-in-law with any housework.

'It must be tiring living in such a place as a widow, slaving away her youth day to day,' I thought and just... nevermind, there was a more important matter to attend.

At the back of the soft water village, there was a steep incline just like from where we had descended on this canyon. I climbed that and Feng Yi silently followed me.

I didn't comment on how she looked at the moment, it'd only be rude. The heat that would follow later on in this desert would quickly dry our clothes.

After some more walking, we were out of the canyon. It took about ten minutes as our bodies were already tempered. I sat on the edge of a cliff and felt the western winds that were returning to the east.

''You told me about acupunctures, but I don't know what this stuff actually is.''

She sat beside me. If we fell from here, we would surely die but she wasn't afraid of heights in the least. I told her not to worry about the acupuncture therapy and that I would guide her in the process. Her job was to use the needles to pierce my skin.

I knew where my acupuncture points were located. If done well, it wouldn't hurt at all but if something went wrong, the pain would be excuritiating, to say the least.

The sky had already changed its colour from orange to blue. There was not a dot of white on it. High and lofty clouds indeed didn't grace the skies of a desert.

"So... what do you want me to do?" Feng Yi asked a little bit uneasily. All of this was new to her.

I first undressed my upper body and sat on a cross legged position. I had also brought something with me, healing reagents. A perfect therapy wouldn't require anything. However, perfection is unachievable and I would be a fool to even think Feng Yi could do things with pinpoint precision.

"Kneel behind me and put your hands on my back."

"What about the needles?"

"Just do what I said."

"...Okay."

I felt her palms press on my back muscles. Coldness of the earlier well water remained in her fingers. That cold passed on my skin and in my bones to balance the temperatures of both bodies.

"Umm..."

"Silence. Now trace your right forefinger across my back."

I then felt a pointy coldness just beside my backbone. It started going up to my left shoulder making a curved line, but I suddenly said "stop," and her finger remained there.

"Pick one needle from the case, just one."

"Are you really going to do this?" She was hesitant. Anyone would if I they were in her situation.

"Come on Feng Yi, I should be the one worried here. You just have to do what I said," I sighed.

Feng Yi took out a needle with her another hand while keeping her forefinger right where it was. Then came the difficult part, to open the acupuncture.

Out of all 108, only one, vital acupuncture was open in all humans. It was also at the back but many people didn't know about it. This was open from the birth and closing it would make our brains unable to control our body.

Manually opening other points was more difficult than closing. If Star Pagoda didn't have such requirements, I would never do it.

"Now exchange the needle's tip with your fingertip... ow, don't poke me."

"There is blood..."

"Leave it. It's just a scratch."

Then I told her to move the tip a li...ttle bit up, just a li...ttle bit.

"Now, insert."

I held my breath right after I said that and once again felt the cold, this time more pointy. Just like an injection. It may sound painful but I felt no discomfort.

"Whoa, it slipped in. No blood this time!" Feng Yi was amazed.

The bodies of humans in this world were fundamentally different than of people from earth. We looked the same yet my physique here had way more potential and hidden wonders.

The same activity was repeated until 20 needles covered my back. Then we switched to the front. Of course, Feng Yi made some more mistakes, which were really painful but she learned from them.

After two hours, 60 needles marked their territories all over my upper body. Each had a distinct angle and some were red, dyed by my blood. I gritted my teeth.

I didn't want this but it was a necessary hurdle.

'God damnit this hurts!'

Feng Yi seemed carefree earlier but that expression was now overshadowed by worry and cautiousness. She wiped the blood on my body with her skirt's hems.

'Oh, a show of kindness. How generous...'

"Would you be so kind to rid me of these pants?"

"Wut?" She froze.

"My pants, help me undress. I can't with these needles on my hands. 48 still remain, those will go in my legs."

I slowly stood up while trying not to touch my body with my hands. The sun was getting more and more of a passionate hottie and my shadow was getting shorter.

A crystalline drop of sweat trickled past Feng Yi's forehead as she looked at the belt on my waist. Those were my orders, to pull my pants down.. Well, I was wearing an underwear of course, but it wasn't as 'convenient' as what I used to wear on earth.