“Are you asking if it’s convenient for… him to pass out once more?”
Butler Lu and Mo Yu’s mouths twitched.
The Great Herb King shook his head vigorously.
No one liked to be knocked out, so who would possibly agree that it’s convenient for them to pass out?
Hearing those words, the Great Herb King would have struck first if not for his physical disability, needless to say, to allow the other party to knock him out.
“Physician Bai Chan, this…”
Seeing the objection in the old master’s eyes, Butler Lu hurriedly spoke up. However, before he could finish his words, the middle-aged man before him seemed to have come to an epiphany, “Forget it, there’s no use asking you about it. It’s best that I do it myself!”
Thus, he stretched out his arm.
Padah!
With tears brimming in his eyes, the Great Herb King passed out once more.
Having knocked out the Great Herb King, Zhang Xuan noticed that Butler Lu was in the middle of his words and turned to look at him with a doubtful expression, “What’s wrong?”
“I… That… Nothing!”
Butler Lu smiled awkwardly.
He had intended to stop the other party and to see if there was a way to treat the old master without knocking him out. However, since the daylights had already been knocked out of the old master, there was no longer any need for him to speak up.
“Un, I’ll continue on with the treatment then!”
With the Great Herb King now unconscious, the book in Zhang Xuan’s hands jolted the moment he came into contact with the other party’s body.
The location of the gu worm was refreshed.
Having ascertained the location, Zhang Xuan’s hands jerked, and a silver needle was pierced into the other party’s body.
“Hm? I missed it…”
Checking the area with his zhenqi, he realized that the gu worm had escaped once again.
“Looks like killing the gu worm is much more difficult than I have expected!” Zhang Xuan’s expression was grim.
He thought that it would be easy for him to eradicate the gu worm with the Library of Heaven’s Path providing him its location. However, from the looks of it, he had underestimated the gu worm.
Even though the delay between browsing the book in the library and the piercing of the needle was extremely short, it was more than sufficient for the gu worm to escape from its original position.
Zhang Xuan touched the Great Herb King once more and pierced a silver needle into the other party’s body.
Puhe! Puhe! Puhe!
Under the numerous assaults by the silver needle, the gu worm seemed to have realized that it was in danger, and it escaped furiously through the other party’s blood vessels.
“The blood vessels within a human are complicated, and countless small capillaries spread out across the entire body. If this goes on, I won’t be able to catch it even after a day of effort. I have to find a way to corner it before I can destroy it!”
After inserting a few needles in quick succession, he noticed that the gu worm moved faster and faster, and its movements were erratic without any specific pattern. Troubled, a deep crease emerged on Zhang Xuan’s forehead.
“Is it dead yet…”
After a dozen of consecutive needles, Zhang Xuan eventually managed to force it to a corner and just as he was about to deal the final blow, a weak voice sounded. Turning his head to take a look, he saw that the Great Herb King had roused from his sleep.
Him becoming awake meant that the location of the gu worm on his book in the library couldn’t be refreshed.
Knowing that there was no time to be wasted, Zhang Xuan didn’t even bother to speak this time. He stretched out his hand immediately and ‘padah!’, the other party was knocked out once more.
“Not good! That fellow has escaped again…”
By the time the book was updated, the gu worm had already escaped. Zhang Xuan’s expression darkened.
The other party’s awakening had hastened his blood flow, allowing the gu worm to escape far away from Zhang Xuan’s encirclement.
“Damn it!”
He didn’t expect that a small gu worm would be that sly. With his eyebrows shot up, he turned to Butler Lu.
“Come here. Knock out the old master the moment he awakens…”
The Great Herb King’s cultivation had reached Zongshi realm pinnacle. Even though his body had been driven to the brink of death under the torture of the gu worm, the defensive mechanism from the zhenqi in his body remained functioning, allowing him to recover swiftly from his unconscious state.
On the other hand, in order not to worsen the dying Great Herb King’s condition, Zhang Xuan couldn’t exert too much force when knocking him out.
In order to prevent the gu worm from getting away again due to him awaking, it was best to make preparations beforehand.
Thus, Zhang Xuan decided to render Butler Lu’s help. With someone to knock the Great Herb King out, Zhang Xuan would be able to direct his undivided attention toward killing the worm.
“Knock the old master out the moment he awakens…”
Butler Lu’s body trembled in agitation, and he was on the verge of tears.
The man before him was his old master. If he were to do this, he could imagine the kind of trouble that would await him if the old master were to choose to pursue this matter in the future…
“Can I turn down your request…”
“Don’t waste my time, hurry up!”
Seeing a conflicted expression on the other party, Zhang Xuan frowned. “If you don’t want to save the old master, feel free to reject my request!”
“I…”
Even though Butler Lu was torn, he knew that the priority was to save the old master. Thus, he walked over and stretched out his hand.
Just as his heart was in turmoil, Mo Yu’s voice suddenly sounded.
“That… Physicians often use [Soul Numbing Powder] to knock their patients out. With a single whiff, one should stay unconscious for a significant period of time. Furthermore, it doesn’t hurt one’s body… Will that work?”
“Soul Numbing Powder? Is there such a thing? Of course, it will work!”
Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
His goal was just to keep the other party in an unconscious state. It didn’t matter whether the other party was knocked out through physical means or through medicine.
“The Soul Numbing Powder works as well?”
Hearing Zhang Xuan’s reply sent tears flowing down Butler Lu and Mo Yu’s face.
The Soul Numbing Powder was a common medicine used by physicians, and it was often utilized on the less courageous patients. There wasn’t a single physician who hasn’t heard of it, and most would carry several doses with them wherever they go…
Yet, this fellow has never heard of it…
The heck!
If not for the incredible skills he has displayed, we would really doubt if he is a physician!
Otherwise, how can he possibly not know the basics?
If Zhang Xuan had used this earlier, the Great Herb King wouldn’t have to be smacked on the head so many times. If this continued, even if he successfully treated the other party, it was likely that the Great Herb King would become dumb from the multiple impacts on his head…
“We have the medicine here, I’ll fetch it right now…”
Fearful that the old master would be struck once more, Butler Lu rushed out in a hurry.
The Great Herb King dealt in medicine, and it was absurd to think that they wouldn’t possess such an elementary herb in their storage. In no time, Butler Lu arrived with several sacks.
Zhang Xuan grabbed a sack casually and placed it before the Great Herb King’s nostril. As expected, the medicine quickly sent the latter into a deep sleep, and it didn’t seem likely that he would regain consciousness so soon.
“To think that you would have such a good stuff. You should have taken it out earlier!”
Seeing how amazing the medicine was, Zhang Xuan glared at Butler Lu.
“I…”
Butler Lu felt wronged.
As a physician, you brought a cleaver into the surgery room. Naturally, I thought that you specialize in using it. Who in the world would expect that… you don’t even know what a scalpel is…
Mo Yu shot a look of sympathy at Butler Lu as well. If not for her having gotten used to Zhang Xuan’s bizarre actions, she herself would have thought that he was doing it on purpose.
Under the potency of the Soul Numbing Powder, the Great Herb King fell into deep sleep. Zhang Xuan continued with his treatment; leaving a single hand in constant contact with the other party’s body while having the other hand pierce needles into the other party swiftly, forcing the gu worm to a corner in the bloodstream.
This time, his operation went successfully and the gu worm was entrapped shortly.
“Go!”
With a jerk of Zhang Xuan’s fingers, a silver needle immediately pierced straight into the Great Herb King’s body.
Jijiji!
In that instant, a piercing shrill sounded from the Great Herb King’s body and the worm could be seen to be struggling about in his blood vessel.
“Die!”
With a tap of his finger, a surge of pure zhenqi flowed into the other party’s body through the silver needle. And in the next instant, the worm, as though meeting with its nemesis, thrashed for awhile longer before falling motionless.
Just like any other poisonous substances, the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, which was reminiscent of pure water, was the gu worm’s greatest nemesis. Upon contact, that resilient lifeform crumbled immediately and died on the spot.
“Come on out!”
Exerting pressure on the other party’s blood vessel, Zhang Xuan sent a burst of zhenqi into the other party, and the silver needle and gu worm flew out simultaneously.
Padah! The two landed on the floor.
“Is this the so-called Contract Gu?”
Butler Lu and Mo Yu walked over immediately.
The gu worm on the floor was the size of a firefly. There were unique runes scribbled on its dark green body, and it looked so disgusting that it could send a cold chill down one’s spine.
“Un!”
Zhang Xuan exhaled deeply.
The greatest problem that plagued the Great Herb King’s body was this gu worm. With this little fellow extracted from his body, his languishing body should recover with time.
Moments after removing the sack of Soul Numbing Powder from the other party’s nostril, the Great Herb King slowly awoke.
“Old master…”
Butler Lu walked forward.
“Do I… still need to be knocked out?”
After waking up, the Great Herb King glanced at Zhang Xuan and his lips quivered uncontrollably.
He was traumatized after getting knocked out continuously.
He was afraid that a fist would be awaiting him the moment he awoke.
“There’s no need for that anymore. The gu worm has already been killed!”
Butler Lu pointed to the worm on the floor.
“It’s dead?”
The Great Herb King was taken aback. Glancing at the corpse of the gu worm on the floor, his face reddened in agitation.
After being afflicted with the Contract Gu, his life and death became something beyond his control. The reason why the Contract Gu was used to gain another’s trust was that even the most incredible poison masters were unable to cure one of it. Yet, the physician before him was able to kill it easily. Even though he had witnessed the event personally with his own two eyes, he found the situation hard to believe nevertheless.
“Physician Bai, thank you for saving my life!”
Standing up from the reclining chair, the Great Herb King knelt to the floor.
Initially, he thought that it was his fate to die from the Contract Gu. Never in his dreams did he expect that he would be saved by the man standing before him!
In order to be rescued from his despair, not to mention three times, even if he were to be knocked out ten times or hundred times, it would have been worth the suffering.
“Old master, you… you…”
Seeing the Great Herb King get up to kneel on the floor, Butler Lu grew agitated.
It was just awhile ago that the old master was unable to move or speak. Yet, at this moment, he had stood up and knelt down all by himself. This went to show that his body was already starting to recover.
“With the gu worm in my body dead, my strength is gradually returning to me. However, the trauma within caused by it isn’t resolved yet. Physician Bai, I beseech you to treat me…”
Stopping Butler Lu from helping him up, the Great Herb King kowtowed to Zhang Xuan.
While the death of the gu worm had solved the root of the problem, that little fellow had been on a rampage inside the Great Herb King’s body for the past few days, sapping his spirit and energy dry. He would still require the help of this physician to nourish his damaged body and rejuvenate his stamina.
Otherwise, now possessing the appearance of a person in his nineties despite not having reached even fifty, it was clear that he would not have long to live.
“You want me to solve your current problem?”
Reading through his book in the Library of Heaven’s Path, Zhang Xuan frowned.
Tortured by the Contract Gu for numerous days, his body was severely injured. If not for the innumerable precious herbs he possessed as the Great Herb King, he wouldn’t have been able to survive until this day.
His physical and mental frailty could only be gradually treated through the consumption of various tonics over a long period of time. However… Zhang Xuan was different.
Not only could the Heaven’s Path zhenqi heal one’s stamina and bring him back to his peak, it could also heal the Great Herb King’s damaged blood vessels completely, simply by driving it through his bloodstream.
However, the Heaven’s Path zhenqi was too pure. Previously, when Zhang Xuan was treating the other party, he was unconscious. Furthermore, by the time he awoke, the Heaven’s Path zhenqi had already melded as one with the zhenqi in his body, making it impossible for the other party to detect any abnormality.
However, if Zhang Xuan were to treat him now, the other party would definitely realize the uniqueness of his zhenqi, and this could bring about unwanted trouble.
Zhang Xuan was unwilling to take this risk.
“I can treat you, but…”
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Xuan spoke up. However, before he could finish his words, he realized that the Great Herb King was staring at him with incredible determination.
“Physician Bai, you need not speak any further. I understand!”
After which, he lifted his hand and struck his head.
Padah!
He fell limply onto the floor, unconscious.
