Lanke Chess Edge -
Chapter 68: One Divination Cuts Your Life In Half
“Master!!! Master!!!”
The Taoist boy Qi Wen suddenly panicked and grabbed the Taoist priest’s shoulder, wanting to shake it but not daring to.
“Master! Master, please don’t die. Master! Master, don’t leave me alone! Wuwuwuwuwu… wuuuuu… Master!”
“Aaahh! Someone vomited blood!”
“Where?”
“Over there!”
“Really? There’s blood all over the table!”
“Mother, is there something wrong with the food in this restaurant?”
“Ah!?”
“Hiss…”1“Don’t scare me!”
The entire ground floor of the restaurant was in turmoil, and several waiters and managers hurried over.
In the end, Ji Yuan reacted the fastest. Seeing this situation, he temporarily ignored the shock in his heart and decided that the most important thing was to get the patient to a doctor as quickly as possible.
“Young Taoist Qi Wen, your master isn’t dead yet! Hurry up and help me, I’ll carry your master to find a doctor!”
“Oh, yes, yes! Find a doctor, find a doctor!”
Ji Yuan kicked aside the bench next to him. He said that he wanted the young Taoist to lend a hand, but in fact, he lifted up Taoist Qingsong’s limp body with his own two hands, tapped several of his major acupoints, then quickly turned him over and squatted down, allowing the man to lie down on his back.
“Hey, dear guests, please be patient, be patient! The food in this restaurant is absolutely safe, there will never be problems!”
The shopkeeper was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He retreated to the corner while comforting other customers.
“What’s wrong with this guest? He…”
“Shopkeeper! A life is at stake. Please tell me, where is the nearest medical clinic?”
The shopkeeper looked worriedly at the red-stained tabletop, and answered while wiping off his sweat with a handkerchief.
“Turn left when you exit, then turn right at the street corner. The Anren2 Pharmacy is at the end of the street!”
“Thank you very much. Everyone in the hall, don’t panic! This Taoist priest has been hungry for too long and ate too hastily, causing his old disease to relapse. It has nothing to do with the food in Huike House! Shopkeeper, I’m sorry to have bothered you. Keep the change for this table!”
After saying all this at a very fast pace, Ji Yuan turned his head and spoke to the young Taoist Qi Wen:
“Little Taoist, remember to keep up with me!”
Before the young Taoist priest could understand the meaning of his sentence, Ji Yuan had already taken one step forward, pushed aside a couple of the diners around him, and walked through the door to the street.
“Ahhh! Wait for me!”
The Taoist boy Qi Wen hurriedly followed, but after he exited the store, he saw that Ji Yuan and his master had already reached the street corner. He was so frightened that he hurried to chase after them desperately.
Ji Yuan didn’t use any physical movement skills, but he still ran very fast. The quickly moved with the person on his back as if he weighed nothing. His thoughts didn’t stop racing.
This Taoist Qingsong was surprisingly accurate in his predictions, especially since he vomited blood after he finished calculating. It was obvious that his body simply couldn’t handle the backlash of fortune-telling. This also indirectly showed his ability in divination.3
The concept of ’divulging the will of heaven’ flashed through Ji Yuan’s mind.4
But it was clear that this Taoist Qingsong could only be considered physically robust at best.5 After all, he was essentially just an ordinary person who didn’t even know martial arts. So was it that all of the fortune tellers in this world had a similar level of ability, or was Taoist Qingsong just particularly powerful?
Even in Ji Yuan’s previous life, fortune-telling could sometimes be quite mysterious. A capable fortune-teller could predict many things very accurately. The same seemed to be true in this world.
Ji Yuan didn’t any more about it. The top priority now was to save this man. After all, it was because of this fortune-telling that the other party vomited blood and fell into a coma. A meal was not worth exchanging a life!
Even with the constant input of the spiritual energy, Taoist Qingsong on his back was still barely able to breathe, and blood was seeping out from the corners of his mouth.
‘Please don’t die!’
. . .
This time, finding a doctor to save the injured man was much smoother than the last time he had tried, when he had asked for a doctor to rescue the fox. When Ji Yuan rushed into Anren Pharmacy and shouted for a doctor, the old doctor inside hurried over to treat the patient.
Together with the help of the assistants, Taoist Qingsong Qi Xuan was placed on the bed in the inner hall. The young Taoist Qi Wen arrived at the medicine hall shortly afterwards, panting.
In the inner hall of Anren Pharmacy, the old doctor’s brows furrowed as he took the man’s pulse and looked at his eyes.
“Doctor, my master…”
“Shh! Little Taoist, don’t disturb the doctor while he’s treating the patient!”
The old doctor looked at Qi Wen and then at Ji Yuan.
“This Taoist priest’s vitality is weak due to a lack of Qi and blood. A martial arts master sealed his major acupuncture points with some sealing method, and it seems he has received some additional life-saving treatments to survive until now. I plan to use acupuncture and supplement it with the help of medicinal smoke. If there is anyone who knows martial arts or acupuncture, come and help me!”
“Doctor, please tell me what to do, I’ll help you!”
Ji Yuan quickly stepped forward.
“Alright, take off his clothes. Everyone else should leave. Mu’er, prepare the mugwort6 for the smoke, and Ru’er, brings me my sets of silver needles!”
…
Soon, only a few people in charge of medical treatment were left in the inner hall of Anren Pharmacy. Qi Wen was brought to the outer hall by one of the old doctor’s assistants.
The doctor, who appeared to be in his seventies, grasped the silver needle with a sharp look in his eyes. He didn’t even look at Ji Yuan, but gave orders in a strong voice.
“Press his acupuncture points and seal his San Jiao.7 Don’t let him breathe out! I’m going to start the acupuncture!”
“Alright!”
Ji Yuan also had sweat on his forehead. He was no less nervous than he had been that time he fought the giant snake. His fingers turned into blurs as they repeatedly tapped on Taoist Qingsong’s acupoints.
The old doctor then inserted the needles to stimulate the acupuncture points that Ji Yuan had pressed. At each stage, the apprentices next to him would approach with the smoke from the burning mugwort.
After about half an hour, Taoist Qingsong had been pierced by so many silver needles that he looked like a hedgehog.
“Sir, when I remove the silver needles, I’ll ask you to inject some Qi into him to protect his heart meridians!”
“Yes!”
Ji Yuan didn’t have time to wipe the sweat off his face. While the old doctor and his apprentice were all focused on Taoist Qingsong, he used a small water control technique. All the sweat on his body and face flowed backwards, gathered together, and seeped out from under his feet.
After removing the silver needles and supplying Qi, another quarter of an hour passed. Now, the old doctor constantly applied pressure to Taoist Qingsong’s back with both hands.
‘This doctor is even better than Ning’an’s Doctor Tong! ’
This was Ji Yuan’s sincere evaluation.
…
The entire rescue process lasted for an hour in total, and it was far more difficult and complicated than in the red fox’s case. Ji Yuan felt as if he had personally experienced a major operation from the future era.
At the moment, Taoist Qingsong was lying on the bed. Although his breathing was still weak, at the very least he could tell that was steady.
“Huh… I thought he couldn’t be saved. It seems that the internal energy of martial arts masters is indeed amazing. Doctors should practice it too!”
The old doctor was so tired that he sat down on the chair beside him, wiping the sweat off his face and sighing.
Ji Yuan did not point out old doctor’s misunderstanding. After all, if a doctor really did learn internal skills, although it was not as good as spiritual energy, it would also be helpful in treating diseases. There were many people even in the martial arts world who were skilled in both the medical and martial arts.
“Doctor, how long will it take for him to wake up?”
“I’m not certain, but for now, we can’t let more air in to ventilate, or all of our efforts would be in vain. Let’s just wait for a while.”8
“Yes!”
. . .
It was already evening. In the inner hall of Anren’s Pharmacy Hall, the unconscious Taoist Qingsong was covered with a thin blanket, and some sandalwood was burning beside him.
Ji Yuan, Qi Wen, and a pharmacy staff member sat to the side while the old doctor slept, and continued to look after the shop outside.
As Taoist Qingsong slowly woke up, the first things he saw were the roof beams of the inner hall.
“Oh…. water… water…”
Daoist Qingsong made a hoarse sound, which made the three people who were waiting perk up.
“I’ll get it!”
The store assistant immediately got up and went to get the warm Qi-replenishing tea that had been prepared long ago, while Qi Wen grabbed the side of the bed with tears in his eyes.
“Master… wuuuu… I told you not to speak nonsense… wuuuuuu…”
The shop assistant hurried over with a bowl of tea, leaned over the bed, and lifted up Taoist Qingsong’s head.
“Here is the water, here is the water!”
“Come on, be careful, drink slowly!”
After drinking a bowl of warm water, Taoist Qingsong felt much better, as if he had become alive once more. He patted his crying disciple and turned to look at Ji Yuan, who was silent.
“Ah… I finally understand… what means to presumptuously measure fate without being aware of my own capabilities… I don’t think I predicted Sir’s death, but rather my own…”
Ji Yuan bowed his hands apologetically.
“I’m sorry that you ended up like this, Sir…”
That he was able to speak proved that his life had been saved, so Ji Yuan felt comfortable making a joke as he spoke.
“I assume this Taoist priest will no longer want to take a closer look at my face or palms.”
Taoist Qingsong raised his left arm tremblingly and looked at his own palm. There was a faint line of blood running across half of it.
“No… When I just woke up… I just took a good look at Sir’s face…”
As soon as these words were spoken, even Ji Yuan was stunned for a moment, not to mention the little Taoist boy. This guy really never learned his lessons!
“Little doctor, I still want to drink some water, could you please pour me another bowl?”
“Okay, I’ll go right away!”
The pharmacy assistant, who was a little confused by what he had heard just now, grabbed the clay bowl and ran away.
As soon as he left, Taoist Qingsong’s turned his attention back to Ji Yuan.
“Eheh…heh… Sir, I can’t read your face at all. The more I look at it, the more confused I get. I suppose the same must be true for your palms… Sir… you… you’re not a mortal, are you?”
The little Taoist boy Qi Wen looked at Ji Yuan in astonishment, and the latter raised his eyebrows.
T/n: I was editing the glossary again today and it’s really spiderwebbing into a crazy mess. I’m starting to regret organizing it by geographical location. Nonetheless, I shall prevail!!! XD
- Onomatopoeia of breathing in sharply ↩︎
- It looks like this is a county name… so they’re presumably in Anren County ↩︎
- It’s a common theme for supernatural powers (especially those that are concerned with reading/changing fate, since they are closer to the power of divinity, or in this case, the Will of Heaven/laws of the world) to take a toll on the body as “payment” or balance. The stronger the divination, the more backlash it takes. ↩︎
- 泄露天机 (xièlùtiānjī): to divulge the will of heaven ↩︎
- i.e. not spiritually powerful, no cultivation ↩︎
- Chinese mugwort ↩︎
- 三焦 (sānjiāo): Three acupuncture points known as the “triple heater,” “three burners,” or “San Jiao,” and are related to the flow of bodily fluids. The “top burner” is the thorax, above the diaphragm, related to breathing. The “middle burner” is the abdominal region above the stomach, related to digestion. The “lower burner” is the pelvic region, related to waste and sexual systems. In this case, it looks like the doctor is sealing the acupoints to temporarily halt the flow of fluids to save Qingsong. ↩︎
- If you want to think of it another way, Chinese mugwort has antiseptic properties, so letting air in could be thought of as letting contaminants into the room that was previously sterilized with mugwort smoke. ↩︎
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