The Great Song Dynasty's Soul-Forging in Progress

He looked at Qin Tiehua's bloodless lips, and felt as if his heart had been pierced by that bone-piercing arrow—how could he dare, how could he bear to part with this girl who had saved him from death, this silly girl who had risked her life to find minerals for him?

The so-called contradiction was never a choice between saving or not saving.

Instead, he finally understood that from the moment she was shot by an arrow for him, he had already owed her a debt.

What does it matter if we live through countless lifetimes?

Having lived two lives, Wang Zhonghua should learn at least once—to love bravely, even if only once.

I will not betray either lifetime, nor will I betray the depth of our love!

Just as Wang Zhonghua was about to speak, he saw the old man's clear eyes seem to see into his heart. He nodded and gracefully walked to the bedside. His green robe swept by, bringing with it a refreshing medicinal fragrance.

The old man extended his right hand, gently placing three fingers on Qin Tiehua's wrist, and closed his eyes to concentrate.

Liu Xinyi quickly explained the situation, specifically mentioning Wang Zhonghua's alcohol. Liu Jueming took the porcelain bottle and examined it carefully, a glint of light flashing in his eyes: "Young friend, where did you get this?"

"I figured it out myself," Wang Zhonghua said frankly. "You have to try things to know if they're right or wrong."

Liu Jueming gave Wang Zhonghua a deep look, asked no more questions, and took over the treatment himself. He first carefully cleaned his hands and instruments with alcohol before starting to treat the wound.

The process of removing the arrowhead was extremely painful. Even with the use of anesthetic, Qin Tiehua still groaned in agony while unconscious. Wang Zhonghua held her hand tightly, his gaze never leaving her.

When the arrowhead was removed, Liu Jueming carefully examined it and nodded: "Fortunately, it wasn't a poisoned arrow." He gave Wang Zhonghua a meaningful look, "Perhaps the other side has other plans."

A cold glint flashed in Wang Zhonghua's eyes, and he understood the key to the matter—he needed both the people and the secret formula.

In the following treatment, Liu Xinyi's technique was skillful, and Liu Jueming cooperated seamlessly. Alcohol cleaning, applying medicine and bandaging, and administering decoction were all completed in one go.

After everything was taken care of, Liu Jueming wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Your life is temporarily saved. The next three days are crucial. If you can get through the high fever, you'll be fine."

Wang Zhonghua bowed deeply and said, "Thank you so much, old immortal, for saving my life!"

Wang Zhonghua set up a simple "camp bed" next to Qin Tiehua's bed, while the other team members patrolled around to protect him, picked wild fruits, and hunted wild rabbits and wild boars to supplement Qin Tiehua's nutrition.

For three days and three nights, Wang Zhonghua barely slept. He personally wiped her burning forehead and neck repeatedly with a cloth soaked in alcohol; after the herbal medicine was prepared, he would first taste it to check its temperature before carefully feeding it to her chapped lips with a bamboo spoon. Occasionally, she would tremble and mutter in her sleep during a burning nightmare, drenched in cold sweat. He would then hold her icy hand tightly, lean close to her ear, and in a deep, steady voice, repeat again and again, "Tiehua, I'm here. The mountain won't collapse, the sky won't fall, we're all alright."

He cleaned her body and changed her sweat-soaked clothes, his movements as gentle as if handling fragile porcelain. His eyes held no ulterior motives, only unfathomable tenderness and self-reproach. Liu Xinyi was initially somewhat hesitant, but seeing his focused and unwavering devotion, her eyes revealed deep respect and emotion.

This young lady, Liu, possessed not only a beauty as delicate as an orchid in a secluded valley, but also a heart as compassionate as a bodhisattva and superb medical skills. She was almost never far from the medicine hut, assisting her grandfather in preparing decoctions and mixing external remedies during the day, and personally guarding the front hall at night, ready to respond to any movement. When she wiped Qin Tiehua's body and massaged his stiff limbs, her movements were delicate and gentle, and she would often speak softly to the unconscious Qin Tiehua as she did so, as if he could hear her.

"Sister Qin, you are so beautiful. Your eyebrows are like distant mountains. Even when you are sick, you still have a heroic air about you."

"We found an old ginseng today, it's very old, it will definitely replenish your energy."

"Brother Wang is staying by your side, his eyes are bloodshot from staying up all night, but he won't leave your side for a moment. You must get better soon, so as not to break his heart."

These words, faintly heard through the thin curtain, reached Wang Zhonghua's ears. He felt a pang of sadness, yet also a warmth in his heart. In this secluded mountain valley, two girls of similar age had forged a bond of life and death in such a peculiar way.

Mr. Liu Jueming, on the other hand, demonstrated the profound knowledge he had accumulated over decades of seclusion. His herbal hut appeared simple, but inside it was a hidden gem. Not only did it house a large collection of rare ancient medical texts, but it also had a small "medicine testing room" filled with all sorts of herbal specimens, extraction equipment, and even several atlases he had drawn himself, recording the properties and effects of various herbs. Many of the methods of using these herbs differed greatly from the prevailing practices of the time, clearly the result of his years of experimentation and exploration.

"I have chosen to live in seclusion here for two reasons. First, in my youth, I witnessed too much of the coldness of the world, the collusion between officials and doctors, which left me disheartened. Second," he stroked his beard, pointing to the distant, mist-shrouded mountains, "these vast mountains are a natural treasure trove. Many medicinal herbs recorded in ancient texts but now extinct may be hidden in places rarely visited by humans. I have spent half my life searching for three or five of them, and I feel that my life has not been in vain. I further wish to study the properties and compatibility of these herbs, so that I may be able to create a few new prescriptions to save the world."

It was this almost obsessive dedication to medical exploration that made Wang Zhonghua's subsequent remarks strike Liu Jueming like a hammer blow.

When Qin Tiehua's wound began to show signs of redness, swelling, heat, and pain, Liu Jueming frowned deeply, preparing to increase the dosage of the heat-clearing and detoxifying medicine. At this moment, Wang Zhonghua cautiously offered his observations:

"Dr. Liu, from my observation, the 'poison' in Tiehua's wound may not be from plants, but rather... caused by a very subtle 'living creature.' These creatures are invisible to the naked eye, yet they can proliferate at the site of skin damage, leading to suppuration and high fever. Alcohol can kill many of these creatures, but if they have already proliferated, it may be necessary to treat them both internally and externally. Externally, use alcohol and ointment to clean and eliminate them, while internally, we may try to find medicinal materials that can inhibit or even kill these 'living creatures' in the body."

Liu Jueming paused, his hand stroking his beard, his eyes flashing with a sharp light: "Young friend, what you say... is absurd, yet not entirely unfounded! The *Huangdi Neijing* says, 'Where evil gathers, the vital energy must be deficient,' and also, 'When righteous energy is abundant within, evil cannot invade.' What is this 'evil'? Physicians throughout history have offered various interpretations. If we follow your opinion, young friend, it is a tiny 'living thing'... Then many epidemics and festering wounds will have a new explanation!"

He paced excitedly around the room: "I've tried several herbal combinations, which are remarkably effective for certain 'heat toxicity' symptoms, but ineffective for others. If we categorize them according to the concept of 'living things,' perhaps we can reclassify them and prescribe the right medicine for the symptoms!"

Seeing that he had touched Wang Zhonghua's heart, he further outlined his vision: "A single doctor, even venturing deep into the mountains, might find a few miraculous herbs and create a few effective prescriptions. But what if there were a base where everyone could work together to conduct systematic research? In Hulu Bay, I can build a standard medicinal garden for you, transplanting and cultivating various herbs; establish a dedicated 'medical records room' to not only record symptoms and medications, but also collect pus and other substances from patients' wounds and observe changes under a specially made glass microscope (he subtly hinted at the possibility of a microscope); even more, we can set up different treatment groups and use rigorous comparisons to verify which treatments are truly effective. This is not just about saving lives, but also about 'investigating things to gain knowledge,' exploring the origins of medicine!"

He picked up a pen and paper and not only drew more detailed case record forms, including grouping, control, and comparison of specific indicators before and after medication, but also sketched a simple "isolation ward" with independent ventilation and cleaning areas, as well as a conceptual diagram of a "water purification and disinfection device" with a constant temperature pool and multiple layers of filters.

Holding the sketches, Liu Xinyi's fingertips trembled slightly, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of awe and longing as she witnessed the door to a completely new world opening. Having studied medicine with her grandfather since childhood, she was exceptionally intelligent and no longer content with simply following prescriptions; deep down, she harbored a profound curiosity about the mysteries of medicine. What Wang Zhonghua was depicting was precisely the future of medicine she vaguely yearned for but had never clearly envisioned.

"Grandpa," her voice trembled with excitement, "what Young Master Wang said might just be the opportunity for medicine to break free from its thousand-year-old stagnation! Our seclusion here to research medicine is 'exploring the source'; if we go to Hulu Bay to practice this way, that would be 'opening the stream'! Only when the source and the stream are connected can they form a great river!"

"Grandpa," she said softly, "you always said that doctors have three lives—"

"A lifetime of knowing medicine, a lifetime of saving lives, a lifetime..." The old man paused.

"I'll spend my whole life paying off my debts." Liu Xinyi looked out the window.

There, Wang Zhonghua was using a dagger to cut open the bandage on his wound, blood seeping out, but he was completely unaware, only changing the cold towel on Qin Tiehua's forehead again and again.

"He owes her," a ripple of emotion stirred in the young woman's heart, "Does that mean I should owe him too?"