Wu Zhi clenched his teeth so hard he wondered if they would break. Pure agony was all he felt for the following 6 hours as time seemed to slow down to halt. Seconds felt like they were minutes, minutes felt like they were hours, and hours felt like they were days. Weird noises came out of him that he couldn't control a weird mix of moans and groans with heavy breathing here and there. His bones themselves felt like they were slowly changing, morphing, and with those changes and growth came the growing pain. He had never felt his bones before, at least not with his nerves. It was a very different feeling when someone touched your bone from outside your body and your bone felling like its being touched from the inside. Not even a heavy touch but one so gentle it drives you mad with the itchy feeling. Everywhere all at once from your skull to your toes it was an all encompassing itch. He could do nothing but wait, to be patient and meditate. But that was easier said then done. Never the less, he lasted the whole night. By the time daybreak was approaching the feeling was waning. If he had done nothing and cried out in pain the whole night his opportunity to temper his bones would have been lost. If it was with an even stronger medicine he could have died due to qi deviation. The next time he had an opportunity to temper his bones like this and refine them he would make sure he was prepared for what would come. As he didn't have much time before he was supposed to have breakfast with Gu Xiao. He had to make himself presentable.
He was covered in sweat had bloodshot eyes and some bags under his eyes as he didn't get any sleep last night. Cultivators don't need to sleep once they get to a high enough realm but he was no where near that realm so all his cultivation did was barley reduce the effects of sleep deprivation. He made sure he was at least dressed well, and then immediately tried to go to the bath house. He didn't want to make a scene or for people to see him in his current state so he power walked to the bathhouse. Still servants were up and about and some saw him but he didn't pay any mind to it as he arrived at the men's side of the bathhouse. He promptly undressed and took a nice relaxing hot bath. He made sure to take a cold shower afterwards too. It was necessary in his opinion if he wanted to look his best. He then found some nice folded robes his size in the locker room and his old robes were no where to be seen. Obviously a servant had come in to replace his dirty clothes, good thing too as he did not want to wear those now stinky robes. He then made his way back to his room when a knock came on his door after some time. *Knock* *Knock* he opened the door to find the maid Yi Ruo at his door.
"The young lady has invited you to breakfast she said you wouldn't refuse".
"Of course not" he replied "please lead the way".
She then led him to the dinning room as he expected to find Gu Xiao already waiting for him. "It's great to see you again" she replied as she raised an eyebrow when she saw the bags under his eyes. "Did you not have a good nights rest"?
"Unfortunately not, the jade root affected me more than I thought it would. I had spent almost the entire night refining my bones because of it" he said.
"That is unfortunate you better take good care of your heath it would be tragic if I had to marry a corpse" The maid suddenly raised her head to look at Wu Zhi with shock on her face.
"Yes I will try to do better, I hadn't realized how difficult the jade root was, leading to my current state. That being said I have to ask, what will the dowry look like when I marry you".
It was Gu Xiao this time who had a look of shock on her face as she explained "So you do plan to marry me then"!
"Yes, I plan to marry you, I doubt there is any reason not to at this point" he said.
"Humph, we knew you would eventually come around we just didn't know how long it would take for you to commit".
'In truth I decided to commit a while ago, but the biggest reason was actually seeing for myself what I could gain and how rich the Gu family was. If they have members such as the dean of the flying wind sect and not to mention his daughter who was living in a full-on estate IN the sect grounds. It goes to show how far reaching the Gu sect was. If a non-politically involved member of their clan had so much wealth - not to mention it didn't even seem like the main family - then it was easy to speculate how much power and wealth the Gu clan had. With so much gifts/resources they were going to shower me in and the amount of benefits I would receive. I would have to be an absolute brain dead stubborn oxen to refuse. Even an idiot would say yes with zero hesitation. Plus I'm very curious what the palace of eternal love is and why elder Ming put such importance on such a matter. There is a very high likelihood that I would benefit immensely if I choose to participate in the event. With the heavy mention of how big the dowry is and all the clues leading to its size and importance makes me think that I could get something VERY beneficial for me should I decide to marry. There is basically only one choice for me, and that is to marry this young lady'.