Forge a path to success.

Chapter 227: Doctor, the Miraculous Bringer

Qingye floated above the river, each hand secured by a rope. The gray river flowed beneath her, vast and boundless, its source and end nowhere in sight. Falling into this river would likely mean a gruesome death, a truly gruesome one, but Qingye desperately wanted to plunge headlong into it for a clean end…

Because the ropes tied to her arms were so taut they were about to break, both sides were pulling on the ropes from the shore, using her as the medium for a passionate tug-of-war. The elderly people, though their hair was white, were all full of energy and vigor, and it seemed as if they wanted to pull her to death right there on the spot.

The contestants on the other side of the river were a mixed doubles team, shouting slogans as they strained: "Qingye, come here quickly, Grandpa and Grandma have missed you so much!"

"Grandpa and Grandma, do you want me to die?!" Qingye screamed in agony.

The contestant on this side of the river was a shirtless patriarch, his muscles bulging all over his body, exuding strength and power: "Qingye, don't run! You haven't finished your homework yet!"

"I ran away from home, do I still have to do homework?!" Qingye screamed a second time.

The elderly couple on the other side of the river were furious upon hearing this: "Outrageous! How dare you not do your homework! Quickly kneel down and apologize to your elders!"

"There's no soil here, only water!"

"Listen to your grandparents," the elder chimed in.

"Whose side are you on, patriarch?! You're all just torturing me!"

The rope in the tug-of-war loosened as the elderly people distracted themselves, and Qingye seized the opportunity to pull away and plunge into the river with a splash. The river was flowing swiftly, and despite her desperate struggle upstream, she drifted further and further away from where she had come from. In the blink of an eye, the old men and women vanished, and downstream stood several skeletons, their empty eye sockets burning with bewildered embers.

The skeletons were all dressed in priestly robes; in the turbulent realm, these skeletons were generally called Bone-Praying Cultivators. They watched Qingye struggle for a while, and after Qingye had moved about 80 meters in the opposite direction, one of the cultivators finally couldn't help but speak.

“Righteous one, I’ve seen you come and go several times. Listen to me.” A monk hesitated, pointing behind Qingye. “The reports say you’re going this way. You’ve swum the wrong way…”

"I won't report on it or join in, thank you!" Qingye shouted while drinking water.

The monks exchanged glances, then adopted a gentle, conciliatory tone, as if speaking to a child: "Righteous one, you have now touched upon the mysteries of time and the secrets of destiny; your ability to manipulate the mist is proof of this. You should ride the tide forward and be taught the doctrines of God..."

"Sorry, you've mistaken me for someone else. I have no faith, no enlightenment, and no interest in converting!" Qingye started swimming freestyle with all her might, "Get back to that side!!!"

Just then, a golden rope fell from the sky. Qingye's eyes lit up, and she grabbed the rope and leaped straight up into the air. The monks hurriedly called out from behind, "Remember to report to the nearest church!"

The call of the Bone-Praying Monk echoed behind her. Qingye breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself, "I'm not a skeleton, why would I report to your church?" But halfway through her flight, she felt her hands go limp and were about to fall. Qingye looked closely and realized that her hands had turned into bones.

She thought to herself, "Oh no! My bones must be black! If these sinful bones are white, then there must be something seriously wrong with my body!"
She quickly touched her cheek, but it felt hard and stiff, like bone.

"Do not……"

Qingye's face turned deathly pale.

"No!!!"

She suddenly sat up, her head hitting something hard, causing her to cry out while clutching her head. She rolled around for a while, clutching her head, before opening her eyes to see Chu Hengkong's astonishing expression.

“You look pretty good,” Chu Hengkong said.

Qingye rushed over and hugged him, sobbing, "Waaah, Mr. Chu, I saw Grandpa, Grandma, and the patriarch again! I almost died in the tug-of-war, I was swimming upstream in the river, and several Qi Gu cultivators called me to report... If I had woken up any later, I would have turned into a skeleton! Ahhh!"

Chu Heng thought to himself that this unlucky kid could have such a vivid nightmare; he could probably last for several more hours. The old saying "fools have their luck" seems to hold true; the Death Heretic probably wouldn't want to take this guy in.

He waited patiently for about half a minute, until Qingye calmed down slightly after rambling on and on. She nervously touched various parts of her body, increasingly confused: "Wow, I'm really still alive... How come I wasn't poisoned?! A Double Dream?"

Chu Hengkong said slowly, "You were very lucky. You just happened to run into the best pharmacist in our Huilong City, and a miraculous elixir brought you back..."

"I am deeply grateful for your kindness!" Qingye was moved to tears. "Where is that pharmacist? Could you possibly cover my medical expenses?"

Chu Hengkong gestured to the side, and Qingye turned her head to see a hapless guy wearing a baseball cap rolling on the ground, clutching his chin. His face looked so miserable and his expression so terrified that it was as if he had been hit on the jaw by a headbutt from the sky while walking down the street.

"Dr. Xie just came over to change your dressing," Chu Hengkong said, "but you bumped your head on the ground."

·
"I'm so sorry!" Miss Qingye clasped her hands together and bowed deeply at a 190-degree angle.

Jie An clutched his chin, wincing and his face twitching. He hissed loudly and waved his hand, "It's nothing, a minor thing! The poison's gone, but the injury is still there, just rest... hiss! Go rest!"

Qingye covered her face with her hands, turned around, and disappeared into the fog. Fan De rushed over, his head covered in bandages, and shouted, "Hey, let me tell you, this genius with a crippled heart is truly extraordinary, possessing both sinful bones and an iron head!"

A palm strike from the mist slammed Vande to the ground, filling the settlement with a joyful atmosphere. Miss Qingye was the last seriously injured to awaken; by now, everyone else was mostly able to move, even Shaks was smiling. Jie An had made ample preparations before this trip. The city lord and Youyou were clearly afraid they would die out there, so they crammed Jie An with all sorts of rare and precious herbs—the variety and quality of which even met 80% of the requirements for the Saha World Eternal Joy Pill…

The remaining 20% ​​was made up by Jie An himself, and so a spiritual medicine was concocted as soon as he landed. Before the level 5 Chang Le Dan, even the plague demon's poison paled in comparison, and several seriously injured people were cured on the spot after taking a small piece each.

Chu Hengkong patted Jie An hard, sighing with emotion: "A miracle doctor! Doctor, it really makes a difference now that you've become a 'bitter cane'!"

"The miracle doctor is my father, hey. At most, I'm just prescribing medicine for him."

"You've been suffering for so long, cook?" Vande was surprised. "It's only been a few days? You're quick at doing research."

"A few days?" Jie An asked with a half-smile. "Brothers and sisters, you've been missing for three months. According to military regulations, you're almost due for discharge!"

Qingye jumped out in fright: "Impossible! We've only been in the Despair Wilderness for a little over a week!"

"The two times are not the same?" Shakes frowned.

"This was a major battlefield hundreds of years ago. Now that you're in the Heavenly Prison, don't worry about time. You should be grateful you haven't been reduced to living a day that feels like hundreds of years." Jie An straightened his chin and said seriously, "Seriously, you guys are all pretty tough. I never thought we'd actually need the Chang Le Pill. What kind of Poison King did you offend?"

“The most poisonous kind in the world,” Ji Huaisu said weakly. “Cook, you probably don’t know this, but this place is very rare. There are only five kinds of heretical arts in the world, but here there is a sixth kind that has never been heard of before…”

Jie An covered his ears, his face wrinkled with anxiety: "Oh dear, my ears are so badly damaged! How could I be hallucinating so soon after arriving? What bad luck! I didn't hear a thing! Not a single word!"

"We've already seen it all, what's a little pollution compared to that?" Chu Heng laughed.

"What do you mean by 'see'?" Jie An was taken aback, his expression changing drastically. "Is that girl a heretic?"

"Quiet down and let me explain in detail..."

Chu Hengkong, with the cook in his arms, left the crowd and recounted the whole story. Jie An listened with a fascinating expression.

"Detective, our team can come from all corners of the country, but not from the lowest of the low!" The cook smacked his lips. "Look at you! Oh my, I can't even look at you. The only thing red on your body is your heart; your blood is all black!"
In just three months away from the city, you've transformed from a staunch Allied soldier into a corrupt and morally ambiguous outcast. Your level of corruption and depravity is appalling! If you return to the city, you'll be blasted three hundred miles away by the city's artillery! I need to distance myself from you immediately; don't ever say you know me again..."

Chu Hengkong couldn't hold back: "No, are you just criticizing me?"

"Did they criticize that young girl?" Jie An winked. "Come on, it's the 31st century, why are you still talking about class background? Her ideological awareness is high and strong, who gave us the right to gossip?"

"I didn't see you being this open-minded when I joined the company," Chu Hengkong said seriously. "Seriously, can it be cured?"

The Saha Bliss Elixir can eradicate the defilement of heretics below the Second Abyss, and is a panacea for most people. However, Qingxia herself is a heretic, so they dared not let her take this medicine.

Previously, Jie An had used strong medicine in combination with Fen Ya's life-strengthening infusion to stabilize Qing Xia's condition temporarily. However, with the toxins still not eliminated, it was difficult to feel at ease.

Jie An didn't reply, but turned around and shouted, "Hey! You there, are you done with Bobo yet?"

"My name is Gulibobo!" Gulibobo hopped over angrily, carrying a small basket of leaves in its paws. "You're really ignorant, you weirdo! I already told you that kudzu leaf has no nutritional value..."

"The edible value of the Ge Jin tree is almost non-existent, but because it grows in places with heavy yin energy and is influenced by lingering resentment, it has many wonderful uses. Its roots are highly poisonous, and those who touch them will die, but its leaves can nourish the spirit and calm the soul, and soothe the body in the afterlife. It is priceless in the outside world."

Jie An took the leaf, took out a pestle, and began to pound it as he spoke: "There is a formula called 'Fen Zhuo Su Qing San' in Zheng Xuan Palace in Longquan Township. It has a remarkable effect on those injured in battles with fellow disciples using poisonous techniques. Therefore, this leaf is indispensable."

This is because poisons originating from the same source are the most difficult to cure. Strengthening the body only allows the toxins to penetrate deeper, while merely removing the decaying toxins can actually harm the patient. Therefore, to cure poisons of the same origin, one must first strengthen the injured person's body. Only when the body is strong can the toxins be separated, allowing for treatment without harming the flesh and bones, thus leading to a full recovery.

Jie An lifted the pestle, and a pale blue powder was ready. He carefully wrapped the powder and handed it to Chu Hengkong along with a small piece of Chang Le Dan: "Take the powder first, then the pill. The poison will be neutralized within a day."

"Can Qingxia take Chang Le Dan?"

Jie An gestured as if turning a page in a book. Chu Hengkong took out his notebook and flipped to the page about Chang Le Dan, only to see a sentence written in the effects section: "[When taken by non-Buddhists, it can have an additional exorcising effect]." So much time had passed since Chang Le Dan was made that he couldn't recall it for a moment.

"A healer's duty is to save lives and benefit all beings. There is no reason to save people based on one's position. When my father made this medicine, he had already anticipated that there would be heretics who would abandon darkness and embrace the light. This medicine can save people, so it can naturally save demons as well," Jie An said proudly. "However, every medicine has some toxicity. The pollution of the heretic's true form has penetrated deep into the essence of life. If there is the slightest mistake, the good medicine will become a deadly poison. Therefore, we must first take the medicine powder to strengthen the body's foundation and source, and then slowly neutralize this potent medicine."

Chu Hengkong gave a thumbs up, took the medicine, and turned to leave. Gu Libo stared wide-eyed at the unshaven man.

"God, a miracle doctor!"

"You might know how to grow vegetables, but that doesn't necessarily mean you know about pharmacology." Jie An squatted down, looking sly. "Oh, right, I need to prepare vegetables later. How much are your vegetables per pound?"

(End of this chapter)