"What did you say?" Duanmu Qingshan's head jerked back.
Ten years he had tried to improve his Transforming Qi Ice-Fire Wine. Now Ling Feng was telling him the medicinal herb he needed had been in his medicinal garden all along!
"If you add mouse fruit, you can neutralize the medicinal essence of the ice ethereal soul flower and the burning sun fruit, allowing you to dispel the sword Qi hidden in your cinnabar field," Ling Feng said slowly.
Duanmu Qingshan was surprised.
Just by smell, Ling Feng had identified the two main ingredients of his Transforming Qi Ice-Fire Wine: the ice ethereal soul flower and the burning sun fruit.
Ling Feng was no physician; he was a true doctor!
In the mortal world, physicians could only treat the common people and save martial artists of the Body Tempering and Coagulating Qi Boundaries from death.
But a doctor was different. It didn't matter if you were a monarch who wielded the supreme authority of an empire, a sect master, or the host of a holy land, a doctor could treat you.
'How is this young fellow so skilled in the medicinal arts?' Duanmu Qingshan wondered in amazement.
"Mouse fruit?" Duanmu Qingshan said with a bitter smile, "I have always regarded this type of low-rank medicinal herb as a mere weed!"
"It will take about three years to dispel the sword Qi from your body once you've added mouse fruit. But…" Out of habit, Ling Feng's expression became serious. He was extremely attentive when diagnosing a patient.
"But what?"
"Your wound is contained in your cinnabar field, meaning you will injure your internal organs if the sword Qi in your body backlashes." Ling Feng frowned, "May I take your pulse."
"Go ahead." As a doctor himself, Duanmu Qingshan knew that checking a patient's pulse was the best diagnostic method.
Ling Feng placed a hand over Duanmu Qingshan's pulse and quickly became surprised at how powerful it was.
An old man whose cinnabar field had been corroded by sword Qi for ten years still had such a powerful pulse. This spoke to Duanmu Qingshan's strength.
After a long while, Ling Feng spoke with a frown. "This sword Qi is very strong!"
With such terrifying sword Qi buried in his cinnabar field, it was unbelievable that Duanmu Qingshan had been able to last this long.
Ling Feng quickly concluded that not even the improved version of the Transforming Qi Ice-Fire Wine would be able to dispel that unusual sword Qi from Duanmu Qingshan's body. At most, it could only extend his life.
"Ahem. It belongs to the Questioning Immortal Sect's sect master of the previous generation. Of course, it's powerful," With raw hate, Duanmu Qingshan snorted coldly.
"The sect master of the previous generation?"
"Correct. But, he didn't profit. This injury came at the price of his own life!"
"…"
Several wrinkles appeared on Ling Feng's forehead.
Duanmu Qingshan had butchered the sect master of the previous generation!
No wonder the peak lords harbored such hatred towards him…
'I have truly done obeisance to an interesting master,' Ling Feng thought.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid after hearing that I killed the former sect master?" Duanmu Qingshan asked with a laugh.
"Is there something I need to fear?" Ling Feng's raised his sword-like eyebrows, "Even if I am afraid, will Yang Wei and the other peak lords spare me?"
"Ha, you are really brave!" Duanmu Qingshan looked at Ling Feng in appreciation. Any ordinary person would have already run away to the outer sect and broken off relations with him.
"Tell me more about my condition."
Ling Feng fixed his gaze on Duanmu Qingshan. "I can treat your wound!"
"Oh?" Duanmu Qingshan was more surprised. Not even he had been able to cure his injury. Now, this boy was saying with absolute certainty that he could cure him.
"According to my knowledge, there is only one acupuncture technique that can expel the sword Qi from my body," Duanmu Qingshan said slowly, "The Transcendent Acupuncture Technique created by Saint Doctor Ling Hanyang. But that's not possible. It's believed that he passed away after shortly disappearing twenty years ago."
After speaking, Duanmu Qingshan sighed, raised his wine gourd, and took several swigs.
"Ling Hanyang is my grandfather," Ling Feng said, taking a golden acupuncture needle from out of his bosom.
"Bang!"
The wine gourd crashed to the ground.
Duanmu Qingshan looked at Ling Feng with an unbelievable expression. "You…what did you say?"
"Ling Hanyang is my grandfather," he repeated slowly.
"Saint Doctor Ling Hanyang is your grandfather?!" Stunned, Duanmu Qingshan lost the bearing of a senior-level expert. Both of his hands shivered from excitement.
"No wonder, no wonder! Ha, the grandson of the Saint Doctor. You are actually the Saint Doctor's grandson!"
"I can use the Transcendent Acupuncture Technique to seal the sword Qi in your body, making it harmless. At my level though, I am not able to directly expel it…" Ling Feng said solemnly, "And because the sword Qi has been suppressed in your body for long, I will need the help of some medicinal herbs."
Duanmu Qingshan, who had calmed from his initial excitement, said, "What medicinal herbs do you need?"
"Every herb you used to make your medicinal wine plus the fog spirit flower, the perilla grass, the flying needle grass... Most importantly, I'll need dewdrops from the stone marrow flower."
Ling Feng needed to take a long, deep breath after stringing together so many words.
Duanmu Qingshan was dumbfounded. Not once had he thought about using any of the medicinal herbs Ling Feng had just mentioned. He blushed with shame. Even though he believed himself to be a highly-skilled doctor, he felt like a bumbling child before Ling Feng.
After a while, Duanmu Qingshan finally calmed down and murmured, "I have all of those herbs in my medicinal gardens…"
"Ling Feng, I want you to remain in my Small Bamboo Peak. Don't leave without my orders. Starting today, you are the my disciple, and I will kill anyone who dares move you!"
"Um…" Ling Feng was stunned for a moment. Then he bowed to Duanmu Qingshan with joy, "Thank you, Master!"
Following Duanmu Qingshan's acceptance of Ling Feng, in a grand hall resplendent with gold and jade, Yang Wei sat above the Meteor Peak throne and smashed his big hand against his armrest repeatedly until the golden stone support broke in two!
"What did you say?" he shouted.
In front of him, five scarred youths—Ren Yifei and several of his fellow brothers—kneeled and trembled with fear.
"It's impossible. He was only a Coagulating Qi 1st stage yesterday. You're telling me he has achieved the Coagulating Qi 3rd stage in just a few hours. Moreover he defeated a Coagulating Qi 4th stage martial artist."
Yang Wei's eyes flashed with anger across his sunken expression.
"Master… Master. Even if I had eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gallbladder, I wouldn't dare deceive you!" Ren Yifei pointed to the scar on his face, "Look! Ling Feng did this. Although his strength is not strong, he is very strange!"
"Yes, that boy is very strange! He can use the secret skill of our Jia and Brother Ren's Chasing Cloud Step. He also possesses a very weird acupuncture technique. Once stabbed in the acupoint by him, our whole body becomes paralyzed!" Jia Ping hastily chimed in.
"Ahem! Some common martial skills…Coagulating Qi 3rd stage!" Yang Wei's vision grew cold. "How much trouble can one Coagulating Qi 3rd stage be? Leave. Tomorrow, when you go to Small Bamboo Peak, you are to bring your Senior Brother Shi Tailong along!"
"Yes! Yes!" Ren Yifei nodded quickly before staggering out of the grand hall.