Chapter 853: Waking Up

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In a dark room, a ten meter tall bronze cauldron sat on a raging fire that spewed out thick smoke. 

The light shone upon a man, casting a black shadow and revealing his face.

He had his eyes closed, his hands poised in a sign, as he sat before the cauldron.

Hum~

The cauldron started shaking then, blowing out its lid with a bang. It revealed a round and shiny pill, with a golden luster. It floated in the air and darted away.

Zhuo Fan’s flashed his eyes open and saw the pill flashing by him. He made a sign and pointed, “Hold!”

The pill froze in the air, not budging.

Grinning, Zhuo Fan took a vial and placed it inside. The pill looked like a victim as it just slumped dully on the glass wall.

Zhuo Fan closed the vial with a smile. He walked outside, taking a deep breath of fresher air.

“Three days refining feels like ages.”

The gaudy sun above and the deep breaths helped lighten his mood as he took large steps towards the guest house.

Creak~

He found Gu Santong inside, bored out of his mind, sitting at a table and watching the bed with a dead look. The pretty girl was like a sleeping beauty.

Zhuo Fan smiled, “The young miss, how has she been these days?”

“Dad, you’re finally out! Any longer and I’d have gone stir-crazy in here!”

Gu Santong complained.

Zhuo Fan teased, “Many others wouldn’t have been able to sleep from the excitement to spend three days close to such a flower, but only you’d see it as a chore.”

“Humph, like you said, I first need to be equipped!” Gu Santong looked at his small stature and sighed. 

Zhuo Fan’s face twitched, rolling his eyes, “Damn brat, you will one day. I heard sacred beasts mature when their powers increase. So grow up well!”

Patting his head, Zhuo Fan chuckled, turning to the patient. Gu Santong held his chin, then shook his head. 

Zhuo Fan touched her wrist, “There’s still hope, her situation hasn’t worsened.”

Zhuo Fan took out the vial and placed the still warm pill between her soft lips.

The pill flowed into her body and she shook wildly, her unmarred face turning into a frown.

The change was brief, as the girl eased a breath and calmed down again. 

“Dad, why isn’t she waking up? Was your pill a dud?” Gu Santong saw the girl laying as always and complained.

Feeling her condition, Zhuo Fan nodded and smiled, “Brat, that was an 11th grade soul pill, Sacred Soul Pill. A dud? No, it’s her heavy wounds that need more time to heal. In a few days she will recover. You watch over her and don’t let her flee and make it all pointless.”

Zhuo Fan walked out.

“Hold on!”

Gu Santong complained, “Dad, why am I stuck babysitting? You do it!”

“Uh, I… will make some tonic pills for her, ha-ha-ha.” Zhuo Fan beamed, his pace quickening. He justified himself, “Refining is so taxing. I wouldn’t have done this if didn’t want her to wake up…”

Whoosh~

Just as he reached the door, a flash of red blocked him. Gu Santong pouted and snapped, “Dad, my head might not be as quick as yours, but I’m no fool. You said no ordinary pill can help her so you had me watch her while you refined. And don’t we have plenty of tonic pills? What do you take me for, a three-year-old?”

[Uh…]

Zhuo Fan froze, darting his eyes around for a solution.

Gu Santong shouted before he could find one, “It’s your turn to babysit. I’m out to play!”

Gu Santong was gone.

“Hey, wait!”

Too little, too late. The kid was long gone.

Turning from the sleeping beauty to the distant son, Zhuo Fan sighed, “Can’t this kid share just a little of my burden? Watching a comatose person is boring as hell. I still need to find more about Flying Cloud City’s situation…”

Yep, Zhuo Fan was like Gu Santong in this regard, not wanting to be stuck here.

Like father like son. Waiting here for the slow trickle of time was worse than killing them.

But since the son fled, that left his old man to do this rotten task.

Helpless to the extreme, Zhuo Fan slumped in the chair with Gu Santong’s dead expression on his face. Yawning, he looked at the bed, then checked her condition now and then.

He soon noticed that her state was improving, though she showed no sign of stirring.

Frowning, Zhuo Fan gave her a few more pills, with no result. Three days trickled by painfully slow, and the damn girl was still sleeping!

Zhuo Fan’s was far more impatient than Gu Santong, pacing around the room. The rare glance at the bright outdoors with chirping bird only worked to taunt him. Anyone would’ve lost it at this point, “For crying out loud! Where the hell did he run off to? He just couldn’t wait to get far away from his dad? Didn’t he want to stay with me at all times, to rely on each other, be each other’s support? Now look at him, it hasn’t been a week and he’s already fled! What kind of son leaves his dad for three days?”

Scowling, Zhuo Fan paced some more, and glanced at the bed even more, now turning his irritation on her, “And you, brat, I’ve already healed you so why aren’t you awake yet? If you keep sleeping I’ll just thrash you!”

Silence welcomed him.

A raging fire roared in his belly, with no place to vent. These three days were spent doing nothing at all. He couldn’t even cultivate, out of fear the girl woke up and messed his concentration.

These long and arduous, but mostly flat, three days were getting to him. 

He was no saint either, not shirking from hitting a woman. But he had an image to uphold, that of a father. 

[Hitting a defenseless girl will ruin his image of me.]

As a father, only in front of his son did he curb his evil tendencies.

So, his sneaky eyes darted from one corner to the next, making double sure there was no young Sanzi in sight. He showed a vile smile as he approached the bed, rubbing his hands, “Missie, it’s for you own good. A couple of slaps ought to wake you up. If not, it’ll make me feel better too. See, win-win, right? He-he-he…”

Zhuo Fan spat in his hands, lifted his hands high, and let them fall on the girl’s most delicate face.

There was no real force in it, of course, doing it just to let off steam. Anything more and her head would fly.

The wind behind it though made her black hair float.

The slaps weren’t harmful, but they were sure to leave some lasting impressions.

But then her eyes shot open, staring straight at Zhuo Fan in anger.

Stunned, Zhuo Fan’s hands faltered in the air.

Pa!

The pause gave the girl time to grab his hand and fling him on the bed. She jumped on him the next second, clutching his throat as she spoke in a loving voice, “Who were you trying to thrash?”

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