novelraw Chapter 11 Rewards
Chapter 11 Rewards
"Awoooooo~ Roar!"
Still bound by vines and hanging halfway in the air, the Flying Thunder Dragon struggled weakly a few more times, letting out a howl that was neither a sound of enjoyment nor pain.
Following Chen Yan's instructions, Hua Miao immersed all four of its paws in pots of different sizes. The firewood under the pots was burning brightly, and the half-boiled water was already bubbling. A little steam rose up, and the heat spread from its paws throughout its body. As a cold-blooded animal, the Flying Thunder Dragon panted heavily with its tongue lolling out, just like a large greyhound.
"Hey, Flower Cat, turn off the heat! Can't you see its paws are practically cooked?"
Chen Yan, who was carrying a large bundle of herbs back, saw Hua Miao still frantically adding firewood and quickly tried to stop her.
"Why turn off the heat? I've never even tried boiled Flying Thunder Dragon claws before..."
Flower Cat is very disappointed.
By removing a few pieces of firewood and reducing the fire's intensity, Chen Yan retrieved the Flying Thunder Dragon's forepaw and squeezed it. After soaking and boiling for more than half an hour, the hard calluses on the soles of the Flying Thunder Dragon's claws had turned into white, watery folds that crumbled easily with a gentle squeeze.
He then picked up the flying dragon's toes, pried open each of its claws, and carefully examined the gaps.
Just as he expected, his claws were full of small white bubbles of all sizes. This was normal, after all, the Ancient Tree Forest was extremely humid. Running and jumping around in mud and rotten wood with bare claws every day, it would be strange if he didn't get blisters.
However, the more bubbles there were, the more excited Chen Yan became.
"Come here, Flower Cat, let me teach you a claw recognition technique. Do you know what a genuine old claw looks like?"
Chen Yan was in high spirits. Even though he was holding the wrinkled and sticky claws of the Flying Thunder Dragon, he held them as if they were priceless treasures.
"The first step is to look at the color. Look at the skin of this claw. It's blue with a hint of red, red with a hint of pink, and pink with a hint of white. The color is simply perfect."
"The second step is to look at the texture. Feel it; it's soft yet firm, firm yet resilient, and it even has a slight stickiness. The texture is quite good."
"The third step is to smell it again..."
Hua Miao grabbed Chen Yan's head, which was lowered as if trying to breathe deeply.
"Brother, stop smelling it, I'm scared!"
He looked up with a hint of regret, then sighed as he gazed at the flower cat whose face seemed to say, "Are you having another episode?"
"My path is utterly solitary!"
With everything ready, Chen Yan spat a few times on his hands, then grabbed a handful of fine salt and rubbed it between his hands.
After coating his hands with a thick layer of snow-white salt, Chen Yan finally reached out his sinful hands to the Flying Thunder Dragon's claws, which were unable to move, filled with terror, and trembling all over.
"Come on, I've got the best way to deal with a seasoned pro like you. First, let's use salt to kill the thorns!"
"Awoooooo!"
The Flying Thunder Dragon's broken howl startled a flock of birds in the forest.
"Okay, a rub of salt will both disinfect and flavor it. Next, I'll use my carefully selected pumice stone to exfoliate your calluses!"
Chen Yan scooped a stone covered in granular protrusions from the boiling pot, rubbed it hard against the Flying Thunder Dragon's claws, and as clumps of dead skin fell off, its delicate and sensitive soft white scales were finally exposed. Then he rolled it over the rough, hot pumice stone—
The entire body of the Flying Thunder Dragon, from the tip of its tongue to its tail, instantly stretched into a straight line. It couldn't even shout anymore, and could only make a few strange "clucking" sounds from its throat.
Just one front paw alone rubbed off more than half a pound of dead skin, completely transforming the front paw into a pink, soft, and smooth paw that was almost unrecognizable.
"Alright, the dead skin is removed. Now for the main event: acupressure massage!"
Holding the Flying Thunder Dragon's clean white claws, Chen Yan, who was once a VVVIP of the Bathing Emperor, vaguely remembered the half-sentence of a mantra taught by the woman who was born unfortunate and was overwhelmed by her gambling father, sick mother, and younger brother who was in school.
"The first method is to touch, to diagnose illness by touching the feet."
He quickly felt several nodules and lumps under the skin of the flying dragon's claws.
"Secondly, massage the affected area."
Chen Yan gritted his teeth and put all his strength into kneading, rubbing, squeezing, and touching it until he quickly eliminated it.
"Thirdly, rub the Yongquan point frequently to prevent all kinds of diseases."
He made a few gestures on the Tobi-Kadachi's claws and roughly located the Yongquan acupoint, if it had such a point.
With just a light press, the Flying Thunder Dragon, which hadn't reacted much to the previous two steps, suddenly shuddered. A few drops of fishy, foul odor emanated from beneath it, and it began to struggle frantically again.
Chen Yan chuckled and patted the Flying Thunder Dragon with a sense of empathy.
He almost fell off the bed the first time he was pinned down.
"Young man, how come you have kidney problems at such a young age? Flower Cat, hold him down, I'll give him a good rest and help him recover today!"
Chen Yan only released his grip when he had pressed the Yongquan acupoint until it was bright red and the Flying Thunder Dragon's eyes were filled with tears.
"Fourthly, keep warm. Cold enters through the feet; keeping feet warm ensures peace. Meow, bring hot water!"
After the massage, the half-curled front paws were placed into the half-boiling hot water. The already unbearable soreness and itchiness were instantly amplified several times. The Flying Thunder Dragon almost fainted. The Flower Cat, unable to dodge in time, was enraged by the splash of its paw-washing water. It pressed down hard on the Flying Thunder Dragon's paws, which were trying to escape, and pressed them all the way down.
As a burst of fine bubbles rose, the white, tender toes it had just massaged turned bright red at a visible speed.
"Okay, the first leg is done. Three more to go!"
The Tobi-Thunder Dragon's roar lasted for a long time.
Afterwards, Chen Yan, whose forehead was already covered in sweat, looked at the four white and tender paws in front of him with satisfaction. He gently ran his finger across one of them and clearly saw that the fine scales on the upper half of the paw were glowing with a shy pink light.
"A masterpiece! A perfect masterpiece! I swear, it's softer than your tiny paws when you were born!"
After admiring it for a while, Chen Yan drew his sword. With a flash of light, the vines binding the Flying Thunder Dragon were cleanly severed. Before it could even rejoice at regaining its freedom, it jumped up again at an even faster speed after landing.
Although Chen Yan thoughtfully wrapped it with herbs to reduce sensitivity after the massage, it was clear from its increasingly high jumps that the stimulation from its first foot massage was still too strong.
"Goodbye, Lei Zi. Remember to come find me next time your feet get itchy!"
The Flying Thunder Dragon turned its head to look at Chen Yan, who was still staring at its claws with lingering affection. Finally, it whimpered a few times in great fear. It would never forget this demon in its life. Its tail curled up, and it endured the soreness, numbness, swelling and itching as it burrowed into the forest and disappeared.
[Task completed.]
Unlike the previous single reward, this time a small roulette wheel appeared after the bubble burst. Chen Yan was startled and, without time to explain, rushed to the stream to wash his hands, but the roulette wheel had already started spinning, and it was so fast that he couldn't see it clearly at all.
"Damn it, there wasn't a pre-draw ceremony, this is definitely bad luck!"
Sure enough, after a few breaths, the pointer did not stop at the static electricity accumulation that Chen Yan wanted most, but instead stopped at the lightning resistance column.
"Ah, the lightning that danced at my fingertips is gone!"
[Lightning Resistance (Weak)]: There is no special improvement, it's just that the skin is a bit thicker.