Seeking Truth with a Sword

"Alright."

Li Ang didn't waste words and nodded in agreement.

"Di Wu."

Jiao Cheng, supporting himself on the ground, stood up with the help of a cane.

Di Wu, who was waiting outside, immediately entered the room and, following Jiao Cheng's eye signals, used a small knife to cut the ropes binding the hands of Song Shaoyuan and You Douzhi.

"Come with me."

Jiao Cheng, ignoring Song Shaoyuan and You Douzhi who had quickly grabbed each other's hands, walked out of the room with the aid of his cane. The two Sword Carrying Monks also rose leisurely and followed.

Li Ang nodded towards Song Shaoyuan, signaling him not to worry, and then left the room himself.

The corridor of the building was winding, and the walls and floor emitted a scent that had been permeated with incense for years.

Li Ang followed behind, observing the two Sword Carrying Monks.

Their steps were steady and their breathing was regular, with the sword guards on their hanging longswords being narrow and thin, and the sword hilts elongated.

Sword Masters...

Li Ang silently mused. The most authoritative institution in Yu Country for imparting the way of Cultivation was naturally the Academic Palace.

Next in line were the Garrison, the Imperial College, and the internal academies set up by the Ministry of War itself, specifically for nurturing war orphans and training officers.

Besides these, there were the Lizheng Academy in Luoyang, the Songzhou Academy in Longxi, and the Bailu Academy at the south slope of Lushan, among others. These places also taught cultivation methods. However, in terms of overall scale, available resources, or the quality and quantity of teaching staff, none were comparable to the Academic Palace.

As for civilian Cultivators, they could generally be divided into three types.

One type was the noble families like the Five Families and Seven Hopes, which had endured for hundreds or even thousands of years. With a long history and numerous family members, they intermarried among themselves. When they discovered that a youth from their family met the conditions for Cultivation, they would send them to advanced family schools for further study.

Sometimes the Five Families and Seven Hopes would also intermarry with young Cultivators from the outside world to absorb new blood. Constrained by the gradually increasing pressure from the Yu Country Royal Family, the Academic Palace, and the Garrison, families that had once been very illustrious had remained low-profile for over a hundred years. However, no one knew how many Cultivators in the Cloud Patrol Realm, or even the Candle Cloud Realm, still lay hidden deep within their manors and fortresses.

The second type consisted of civilian Cultivators who had received only incomplete Cultivation education. They usually had one or two Cultivators in their ancestry. However, due to various reasons, their families had fallen on hard times, and they hadn't managed to enter the Academic Palace. Thus, they could only step onto the path of Cultivation with one or two remaining scrolls. Their power naturally varied greatly, ranging from the Body Concealing Realm to the Cloud Patrol Realm. Not only was their progress in Cultivation slow, but sometimes they also had to accept employment from the nobility, merchants, and guilds for "wealth, partners, techniques, and territory." Those Cultivators who came from foreign lands and served the gentry of Yu Country essentially belonged to this category as well.

The third kind... were the completely out-of-mainstream Jianghu folks.

A Sword Master capable of freely using a Flying Sword must be at least in the Rain Listening Realm.

Li Ang silently thought, I wonder how Jiao Cheng managed to win them over. Money, or secret manuals?

Yu Country no longer had any real cultivation sects. Perhaps the chaotic Late Sui era, when hundreds of sects ran amok wreaking havoc on the common people, had left too profound an impact on Yu Country's High Ancestor and Emperor Taizhong. Consequently, both emperors spared no effort in eradicating most of the cultivation sects at that time. Only a few survivors fled to the Zhou Kingdom, West Jing, or the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains.

Every now and then, news would circulate among the Yu Country's common folk about discoveries like some sect's mountain gate stronghold hidden deep in the mountains, containing elixirs and treasures, or graveyards of some Former Sui period Candle Cloud Realm Cultivator, with a Divine Skill Secret Manual inside. Ninety-nine parts false, and the remaining one... might not even be true.

「They arrived.」

The sound of the cane tapping on the wooden floor suddenly stopped, and Jiao Cheng pushed open a door and walked in.

The air in the room was thick with the scent of medicine. In the dim candlelight, one could see a tattooed man lying unconscious on a bed in the corner of the room, with two other men beside the bed tasked with looking after him.

"Doctor Li."

Jiao Cheng shifted to the side, permitting Li Ang to assess the tattooed man's condition. "Can this person be cured?"

Li Ang stepped forward and observed the tattooed man lying unconscious, his complexion pale, with lips and nail beds showing a purplish hue. His clothes had recently been changed, and traces of vomit lingered below his mouth and on his neck. There were no signs of head trauma, his limbs felt cold, and his pupils...

Li Ang pried open the man's eyelids. He noted the unequal size of the tattooed man's pupils, their sluggish response to light, and an abnormal appearance to the color of the man's eyes. However, without an ophthalmoscope, the details were unclear.

Li Ang released the tattooed man's eyelids and asked, "Where had he been before this? Why is he unconscious?"

The two men responsible for care at the bedside seemed hesitant to speak and quickly glanced at Jiao Cheng for guidance, who was pensive and silent.

Are they unwilling to speak, or do they not want to? Li Ang wondered.

Li Ang, only intent on taking Song Shaoyuan and You Douzhi away, did not bother to probe further and continued, "When did he fall unconscious? Were there any symptoms before he fainted? Was there vomiting or incontinence?"

Jiao Cheng remained lost in thought.

This was the first time I'd encountered such uncooperative patient relatives! Li Ang thought.

Li Ang frowned slightly. "Do you want to cure him or not? If you delay further..."

"Four hours," Jiao Cheng suddenly said. "He fell unconscious four hours ago. Before he fainted, he did have bouts of vomiting and incontinence. Also, no matter how we called his name, there was no response."

Li Ang asked, "Were there any convulsions? Did he use coal to heat his room?"

Jiao Cheng replied, "No."

Li Ang pondered for a moment, then said to Jiao Cheng, "This man has been unconscious for four hours. I can only administer treatment; whether he wakes up or not depends on his luck."

Jiao Cheng thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Alright."

Li Ang immediately instructed, "Move him to a well-ventilated room and open the doors and windows. Prepare plenty of clean ice, some sticks, and two or three large wooden tubs. Additionally, have your men go to the East Market right away to buy kelp and plaster. Make sure they choose dry kelp with a layer of white frost on its surface—the more, the better. If you're not sure if it's frost or mold, taste it – the frost is sweet."

""Kelp?""

The gang members inside and outside the room, along with the two Sword Masters, all cast surprised looks.

Kelp? And dirty kelp at that? Could it really be used as a remedy?

"Don't just stand there," Jiao Cheng said indifferently. "Get moving."

""Yes!""

The gang members, excluding the two Sword Masters, immediately began to carry out Li Ang's orders. Some carefully moved the unconscious man with his mattress to a ventilated room, while others rushed to the storeroom to find ice and tubs.

Watching everyone busy themselves, Li Ang stepped out of the room, his mind racing.

The unconscious symptoms displayed by the tattooed man didn't seem to match those of carbon monoxide poisoning, cerebral hemorrhage, or epilepsy, but rather... cerebral edema. More specifically, it was indicative of high-altitude cerebral edema caused by acute hypoxia.

The problem, however, was... Where could there be a high-altitude area near Chang'an?