The physician also came to check on Lin Sha's condition, clicking his tongue in amazement. The look he gave Du Youqian had changed again, now filled with something close to adoration and a fawning eagerness.
"What pharmacological principle is this? How can boiling these ingredients together create an Antitoxic Pill with such astonishing effects? Doctor Qiu, you have to tell me!"
"I'm not a doctor!" All Du Youqian wanted right now was to find a place and get some sleep.
Lin Sha was mostly out of danger, but it was already the middle of the night.
Du Youqian didn't dare go back now.
He had no Martial Arts to defend himself with now. A few whacks from his father in this life, and he'd end up with broken legs for real.
So, he simply decided to stay the night at Xuanhu Studio.
He hadn't been asleep long when a slight noise startled him awake.
Instinctively, Du Youqian tried to gather his Magical Power for a protective barrier and reach for a Talisman to activate, only to find his body devoid of power and his hands empty.
He gave a wry smile and called out, "Who is it?"
"It is I." The physician's haunting voice drifted through the thin wooden door.
"What do you want?"
"I can't sleep."
Du Youqian's hair stood on end as he realized his oversight.
This physician's Martial Arts were near the level of a first-rate expert. Back in the day, even Cui Wei of the Lone Goose Saber was only at this level.
'I can't even take a single slap from him.'
He wanted to scream, 'I'm not interested in men! You can just get the hell away from me!'
But then he heard the physician's haunting voice, now laced with a hint of desperation, "I've been racking my brain, but I still don't understand how boiling these ingredients together could create an Antitoxic Pill! Although, upon careful consideration, the synergistic interactions of the herbs are pharmacologically sound... But it still makes no sense! That was a rare poison mixed by a Martial World expert. How could it possibly be cured so easily?"
'You...' If Du Youqian had his Cultivation back, he would have sealed the man's acupoints, slathered him in honey, and released a swarm of ants to keep him company.
"I'm tired. We can talk tomorrow."
"Doctor Qiu, could you please discuss it with me? If you don't tell me, I really won't be able to sleep."
Du Youqian changed his mind.
'Honey and ants aren't enough.'
'I should cut open his scalp and pour mercury into it.'
"Doctor Qiu, I'm begging you!"
"I told you, I'm not a doctor!"
"Well then, Master Qiu, allow me to embarrass myself by sharing my own understanding, and you can see if I'm on the right track..."
Du Youqian clamped the pillow over his ears, wishing his life would end so he could just reincarnate again already.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours of sleep later, he fed Lin Sha the second Antitoxic Pill. Though her face was still pale from blood loss, her complexion had improved significantly.
After a short while, Lin Sha slowly regained consciousness.
She shifted, as if trying to sit up. Du Youqian said calmly, "You'd better not move. Your wound is deep and could easily reopen. If it doesn't heal properly, you'll be left with a scar."
Lin Sha was silent for a long time before she spoke. "Young Master Qiu, why did you save me?"
She had been unconscious the night before, but she had drifted back to awareness a few times, enough to know that Du Youqian had been the one busy saving her.
The Madam had already returned to the brothel with her thugs, leaving the task of caring for Lin Sha to Du Youqian.
He brought a basin of hot water to wash her face. Lin Sha neither resisted nor cooperated.
She was like a walking corpse, letting him do as he wished.
Du Youqian was in no mood to talk much with her either.
While treating her before, Du Youqian had been completely focused.
Only now did he have the leisure for stray thoughts to surface.
'Lin Sha... is she truly in love with me? Or does she have some other agenda?'
'I've saved her life, but how am I supposed to deal with her now?'
'Keep my distance? That's obviously not an option.'
'Accept her? I'm not in the mood for that either.'
'Reaching the Nascent Soul Realm within ten reincarnations is a huge amount of pressure.'
Du Youqian truly didn't want to delay his Cultivation for a woman again, yet he was afraid she would try to kill herself once more.
'This woman is just too intense, ready to cut her own throat at a moment's notice.'
'And she has some ambiguous relationship with the Demon Sect.'
Du Youqian didn't dare get involved with her again.
So he borrowed a book from the physician and sat beside Lin Sha, where he could easily monitor her condition.
The physician bustled about, as eager to please as a lovesick puppy in his twenties trying to woo a girl.
Du Youqian paid him little mind, but he was also afraid the man might fly into a rage out of humiliation. His own scrawny arms and legs wouldn't stand a chance.
So he would occasionally toss out a sentence or two, which was enough to keep the fellow occupied for half the day.
In the afternoon, the Madam sent two young maids over to attend to Lin Sha.
Du Youqian then rose to take his leave.
Lin Sha remained expressionless and said not a word, but her gaze quietly followed him.
"Master Qiu," the physician, who had been gone for a while, hurried over and gave a deep bow that reached the floor. "Please, don't leave! Impart your knowledge to me! I swear I will pay a price that satisfies you."
Du Youqian was already annoyed about having a home he couldn't return to.
By now, word of him saying last night that he "didn't want to study anymore and was going to seek out immortals and the Dao" had surely reached his father's ears.
'I shouldn't have been trying to act so tough.'
Hearing the physician trying to stop him, Du Youqian couldn't suppress his irritation, no matter how good his composure usually was. "And what if I insist on leaving?"
"Alas," the physician sighed, "then I will have no choice but to offend you."
Du Youqian tensed up, assuming the man was about to attack.
Lin Sha, ignoring that she had just clawed her way back from death's door, secretly began to gather her True Qi.
But the physician instead called out, "Master, please show yourself!"
Both Lin Sha and Du Youqian were stunned.
Lin Sha was stunned because, despite her grave injuries, her Power was profound. She was virtually unrivaled by anyone beneath the Innate Realm; it should have been impossible for anyone to get so close without her sensing them.
Du Youqian's shock stemmed from the fact that, as a former Innate Grandmaster himself, he had already deduced the newcomer's identity from the subtle clues.
An Innate Grandmaster of the Han Kingdom!
'Gods above,' Du Youqian felt his scalp prickle.
This tiny little clinic was a real den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons—even an Innate Grandmaster had shown up.
'Are Innate Grandmasters common?'
'Of course not.'
Even in a martial nation like the Han Kingdom, with a population exceeding one hundred million, the total number of Innate Grandmasters—both those known to the public and those in seclusion—couldn't be more than you could count on two hands.
'What have I done to deserve this? I just broke through the Mystery of the Womb and I've already run into one!'
The physician had barely spoken when a middle-aged man in a tall, classical hat and a wide sash appeared abruptly in the room, seemingly without having moved at all.
It was as if he had been standing there the whole time, but everyone's gaze had instinctively bypassed him.
Only when he intentionally drew their attention did they finally become aware of his presence.
As for his appearance... a charitable description would be "classically unrefined." A less charitable one would be "damn ugly."
A Sword of an extremely archaic design hung at his waist, a style from at least two millennia ago.
An ordinary person might not have felt the pressure emanating from him; they would have simply seen a plain, approachable man.
In Lin Sha's eyes, however, the man's every posture was one with nature, utterly without flaw. Even if she wanted to attack, there was no conceivable way to begin.
In moments, she was so tense that she broke out in a cold sweat.
Du Youqian, on the other hand, quickly regained his composure.
'If I had my previous life's Cultivation and had recovered my inheritance, I could kill an Innate Grandmaster like this with a single slap.'
'But now,' he had decided, 'one shouldn't be so tyrannical. One shouldn't always resort to violence to solve problems.'
'Peace is paramount, after all!'
'This isn't cowardice, of course.'
'It's just... being true to my feelings. Yes, true to my feelings.'
He smiled and asked, "May I inquire which power this Grandmaster represents? My name is Qiu Yuanqing, and I am willing to offer my humble services."