Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Saving Lives
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Since the advancement of [Medicine], Fang Yuan, wanting to further push the boundaries, ordered the Zhou Family to release some news and rules on his behalf.
He built a straw pavilion before the secluded valley, seeing only three patients a day. Patients wanting to seek treatment had to personally head down to the pavilion.
In addition, the consultation fees had to be paid first. Trespassing on the back of the secluded valley was also prohibited. Any trespassers would be instantly kicked out, never being allowed back for treatment!
Indeed, such rules were naturally infuriating.
But in their world, only the strongest had the say and there were many people more eccentric than Fang Yuan. The people of Qingye City had grown to accept such rules as quirks of the divine healer, choosing to place their faith in him.
What were these mere rules compared to one’s life?
Over time, the rules set by Fang Yuan became commandments that were strictly adhered to.
“Today, it’s a little odd!”
Fang Yuan sat resolutely, his face showing signs of suspicion, “Usually it’s rare to even see a person in a day. This time I’m actually met with both Zhou Wenwu and Lin Benchu …”
Thinking back to the most recent patients that he treated, most of them suffered exterior wounds caused by the blade or close combat. Suddenly, Fang Yuan had a conjecture.
“Come in!”
“My respects Master Fang!”
Lin Benchu ordered his men to stretcher in a martial artist whose face was pale but lacked any presence of blood, looking just like a zombie.
Upon seeing Fang Yuan, Lin Benchu dared not overstep his position, completely adhering to the etiquette that he showed to Master Wenxin when they had first met.
He bowed, displaying utmost sincerity, “Please save him, Master Fang!”
“Medicine can’t revive the dead. I need you, Minister Lin, to understand this point!”
Overhearing the correspondence between Fang Yuan and Minister Lin, Lin Benchu knew that knew that the favours that he accumulated in the past were of no use. He let out a bitter laugh, his heart experiencing an ineffable sense of regret.
Fang Yuan ignored him and walked forward to lift the white cloth so as to examine the injury.
“Eh?”
He instantly noticed something different from that one glance.
“How is it, Master Fang?”
Minister Lin asked uneasily as if he was afraid that Fang Yuan would reply with a ‘No’.
“This person … is probably someone whose skill was beyond the View Gate. He was only one step away from crossing the Pain Gate by condensing his inner force.”
Fang Yuan glanced over at the slightly depressed chest of the body. He shook his head, “Moreover, the martial art he practiced was an extremely Yin fist technique. Overestimating his own abilities, he challenged an in-house expert. He crippled his own Yin technique and suffered injuries caused by inner force.”
“Tsk…”
Upon hearing that, Minister Lin took a deep breath of cold air as his voice quivered, “Divine healer … You are saying that he was injured by an inner force expert?!”
“What benefit do I get from lying to you?”
Fang Yuan looked at Minister Lin and rolled his eyes, “Who’s the person that injured him? Where is he now?”
“Well, I am not sure either … Regardless, this guy is a disciple of Spirit Returning Sect, Zombie Fist Feng Han. I plead you to quickly treat him …”
Minister Lin’s face revealed a shred of awkwardness, but he still sincerely knelt down to plead.
“This injury… Way too difficult!”
Standing up, Fang Yuan paced around for a few steps, before shaking his head again, “You must know that external injuries are easy to treat, but internal injuries are very challenging. I can’t guarantee that I can heal this guy…”
With a sigh, Minister Lin’s heart sank.
“However, saving his life and even allowing him to regain consciousness shouldn’t be a problem…”
Fang Yuan’s subsequent sentence caused Minister Lin to regain his vigor, his heart aching to shout words of abuse.
Fortunately, he himself knew that these were definitely not people he would want to offend. Thus, he promptly whipped out a box, “I heard that the divine healer has interest in various spiritual items. Pardon the old man’s inability, but I specifically found a Vermillion Fruit ….”
“What? A Vermillion Fruit”
Fang Yuan laughed out, “Is it the legendary fruit that can immensely improve one’s inner force, a mystical fruit that bestows power equal to ten years of hard work?”
“Yes…”
Minister Lin face exuded a hint of awkwardness, “The Vermillion Fruit is an object of legend, so how could an old man like me obtain such a rarity? Well, I exhausted all my efforts to find this one fruit, I seek that the divine healer does not laugh at my incompetence!”
Fang Yuan rolled his eyes once more, almost believing that Minister Lin was playing tricks with him.
However, he still took the box. Upon opening the box, a dark red fruit was in sight.
This fruit was the size of a baby’s fist and had the texture of a peach. While appearing ordinary, after meticulously feeling the fruit, Fang Yuan could sense a hint of spirituality.
“Eh… This is definitely a Vermillion Fruit…”
After confirming that the fruit was indeed a spiritual object, Fang Yuan felt an even stronger headache.
The Vermillion Fruit had a legendary reputation even amongst the ranks of other spiritual plants such as the Vermillion Jade Rice and the Emerald Jade Grass. It came as no surprise that the Vermillion Fruit had such stringent requirements for the environment it grew in.
Naturally, it would not sprout even after 8 or 10 years if it was casually planted in a random plot of land.
To make matters worse, this fruit had an extremely long period of maturity. 100 years could be considered as a single unit of time when describing the length of time required. Hence, one would only be expected to obtain this fruit through a chance encounter. Otherwise, only sects with a long history would dedicate the time to grow this fruit.
“If this fruit can sprout, my [Botany] skill will definitely see a breakthrough, but…”
Fang Yuan shook his head, “Unless… it’s within the Green Peak Spiritual Grounds, along with my unique skills, there can be still some hope!”
“Divine healer… So what do you make of this situation?”
Seeing the uncertainty in Fang Yuan’s face, Minister Lin asked anxiously.
There was definitely a case to be made with the presence of this spiritual object. Regardless of how preposterous the request was, he gathered his focus on this sole hope.
“Hmm… I will help on the account that you and my master knew each other!”
Fang Yuan carefully kept the box and took out a cloth pouch containing rows of thin golden needles.
With a needle in hand, his face turned serious and the aura surrounding him instantly changed.
“Whoosh!”
Minister Lin looked at this scene and was thrown into a trance. It was as though he was watching the reincarnation of Master Wenxin.
“Chi.. Chi!”
Fang Yuan’s needles were seemingly flying, in a blink of an eye, he pierced over ten of Feng Han’s acupoints.
Feng Han’s face distorted, abruptly opening his mouth to spit out a mouthful of black blood.
“Hoo….”
Although he was only awake for a short instance, falling back into unconsciousness shortly, his breathing stabilised and his face had a pinker hue. One could clearly see that he managed to cling to what was left of his life.
“Thank you, divine healer! Thank you!”
Minister Lin was overjoyed and said emotionally, “Witnessing the divine healer’s needles is like watching your master… I can’t believe that despite the divine healer’s young age, you managed to obtain the true skills of your master and even surpass his abilities!”
Bootlicking was free and hence he naturally continued to bootlick.
“Although I already knew this Golden Needle Acupoint Piercing technique beforehand, I still can’t be compared to my master. With Level 3 Medicine, the effects are still magical!”
Fang Yuan felt ashamed but his act of brilliance managed to gain the respect of Minister Lin.
“The patient has been treated, Minister please return home. Forgive me for not sending you out!”
Seeing that Lin Benchu still had words to say, Fang Yuan decisively rolled up his sleeves and lifted his hand to gesture them out.
“Sigh…”
Lin Benchu joined his hands to bid farewell and along with his servants took their leave.
Fang Yuan glanced over at his back view and murmured, “Old sly fox.”
If he were to really keep them around, it was not as if they would be honest and tell him the truth.
Rather than trying his luck getting answers out of them, he would rather look for someone else.
“Divine Healer Fang!”
An instant later, Zhou Wenwu entered and bowed. He spoke with a tone of utmost respect.
“Eh? Are you hurt?”
Fang Yuan shook his head and poked Zhou Wenwu with the golden needle.
“Thank you, divine healer!”
Zhou Wenwu suffered a minor internal injury and felt that his inner power flow was not smooth. Upon the jabs of needles, he instantly felt comfortable and displayed his gratitude.
“Don’t mention the titter tatter, what’s actually happening outside? The injured that the three big families are sending here is abnormally many…”
Fang Yuan frowned, “Also, these are wounds from fights. To think that these injuries come from dealing with merely Guo Family?”
“The divine healer knows it himself….”
Zhou Wenwu’s face turned solemn, “The three big families reached an agreement to divide Qingye City. I was fully rested and obtained manpower to kill and establish dominance. The Guo Family was the best target! I discussed this plan with the divine healer before….”
“Indeed, but you met with trouble?”
Fang Yuan nodded his head.
In reality, he already knew from the get go that the Guo Family had issues but he deliberately kept it from this bunch of people, hoping that they could be the ones to draw out the problem.
“Previously, everything went smoothly. Although the Guo Family was brave, they were no match for the three families. Even some of their businesses were about to be lost….”
Zhou Wenwu started to have suspicions, “However, from three days ago, the Guo Family managed to get the help of a powerful ally, causing a great hit to us… There is another strange thing!”
“Oh? Quick, tell me!”
Fang Yuan waved his hand.
“The Spirit Returning Sect has somehow managed to catch hold of this and specially sent a group a people over. The first of which was Zombie Fist Feng Han, to think….”
Zhou Wenwu shook his head, clearly showing how surprised he was, “When all these news are reported to the sect, they will definitely send more people down. Maybe even an elder will personally lead a team!”
While saying this, he was full of confidence. After all, from his perspective, there was nothing that the Spirit Returning Sect could not resolve within the Qinghe County.
But Fang Yuan was pretty clear that the mysterious party supporting the Guo Family was someone with an unpredictable strength that could definitely match the power of Spirit Returning Sect.
“The battle of the two titans is nearing….”
Although he did not know how Guo Family managed to get the help of such a power, Fang Yuan was no longer kept in the dark and could understand the current situation.
And perhaps even Lin Benchu that old fox knew less than he did.
“Zhou Wenwu!”
Contemplating to this point, Fang Yuan made a decision.
“Your humble servant is here!”
Facing Fang Yuan, Zhou Wenwu was obedient as ever, bowing instantly and listening intently.
“The Guo Family incident has a complicated background….”
Continuing to contemplate, Fang Yuan did not want the periphery that he built up to suffer heavy casualties, “If the sect has any requests, you should do your best to fulfill them. But remember never to personally put yourself at the frontline. I wish you all the best!”
“Could it be that the divine healer feels that Spirit Returning Sect is at a disadvantage?”
Zhou Wenwu heart felt a perturbing chill, suddenly feeling a great sense of inscrutability.