Chapter 594 The Doctor And The Quack
The old man hurried up inside the inn and was struggling to fix his attire as he was going upstairs. You could even hear the commotion from the first level once he got up.
"Hurry! We've been waiting," said the driver, stress and worry clear in his voice.
A servant came toward us interrupting my 'spying'
"A table for two?" he asked as he seemed to be trying to distract us from what was going on.
"Sure," I said as my eyes scanned the entire inn. Whatever was happening wasn't any of my business so I let it go.
The servant then led us to a table at the center but I stopped him, "I'd like to sit there," I replied as I pointed at an empty corner."
The servant looked at the corner and me and said, "Sir… but there is nothing there," he said.
"… are you sure?" I frowned.
"Yes… that's a wall sir, do you need me to call you a medic?" he said.
I shook my head, then approached what he called a wall and said, "How did you manage to put something like this here? It's like a formation… but it has laws in it, a formation of laws, not inscriptions," I said.
Old Fu looked at me strangely for a moment but he didn't interrupt.
Suddenly the entire world seemed to quiet down. I looked around and could see people around us having frozen in time, even the spillage of wine was frozen in the air unable to move.
A hearty laugh echoed from behind the 'wall' and soon it fell off revealing three men, but I couldn't even see their faces it was as if something was covering their faces, it wasn't darkness but it was something that absorbed light to an incredible extent.
"Didn't I tell you he's a bit special, but it's too soon for you to meet us, child." The one of the three men said. "I would advise you to go up, it is ordained," the man spoke.
These three were… strange, they didn't give off a feeling of domination, and they seemed like mortals, but no mortal could ever survive in the Sea of Demons... but I had an inkling about who they were. And since everyone seemed frozen, it is what they chose and they didn't want to be disturbed.
I nodded and turned just as 'time' seemed to resume, "I must have been mistaken, set up a table wherever," I told the servant.
"Are you okay?" asked old Fu.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But whoever is upstairs isn't going to be so in a second,"
"Are you planning on going up? It is not our business," he said.
"Let's say I have a feeling that it may be our business," I said as I headed towards the stairs.
And once again, I could smell it, that whiff, a smell that was too familiar to me to mistake it.
The higher up I go the more powerful that scent becomes. It wasn't a nice smell by any means, no it was disgusting, stinky, and filthy, it reminded me of my first days of cultivation.
It reminded me of pain and agony and was the very reason I became who I am.
And just as I stepped up and was on the second floor I saw a room with its door opened. Servants were rushing in with basins of water and out, while the old man from before seemed to be pulling out needles and trying to do acupuncture on a patient.
The patient's robes were corroded, they looked like they were made of golden silk threads. A woman, all I could see was a part of her skin and it immediately confirmed my suspicion.
There was the couch driver on the doorstep pacing forward and back. Anxious and terrified waiting for the medic to help.
I approached and was instantly noticed.
"FUCK OFF!" the driver said as he began releasing his cultivation level.
He was strong… probably the Void Stage.
"I can leave, but if I do, she will die…"
"Please kick him out, I'm losing my concentration!" the old man said.
The carriage driver pulled out a sword and came toward me threateningly, but old Fu instantly appeared in front of us and placed a hand on the driver's shoulder.
"You should listen to the child," old Fu said.
"Senior, I don't know who you are or who you're affiliated with, but this is the daughter of the general of the West, if anything happens to her, are you prepared to shoulder the consequences," he said.
"If you keep letting that fool treat her, a lot will happen to her, and surviving isn't one of them," I said.
And suddenly the woman screamed as if she was a banshee in a past life. The entire floor shook.
"KILL ME!" she shouted. "KILL ME! IT HURTS TOO MUCH TO BEAR!"
The words caused the entire hall to shudder as you could hear the pain of the woman.
The old man who called himself the medicine king stood up, then approached the driver and said, "She won't make it, it's too late, the poison is too strong, it seeped into her bones. Trying to save her will only cause her more agony and pain," he said.
"Are you telling me to let her die?!" the driver shouted.
"No, I'm telling you to make her death merciful," the medic said.
"I can treat her," I said.
"Fool, you think you can treat this?! It's the Bone and Body Grinding Poison! Not even gods can save her now!"
"That's what a quack doctor would say, move!" I said as I moved forward.
The driver was about to stop me when old Fu grabbed him even tighter. "Let him do his thing, I trust the child to be of great service to you. After all, she'll die anyway, let him try," he said and that didn't sound like a request but an order.
"Fools who think they know, there are always seas below seas and mountains above mountains, today you'll learn the price of hubris!" said the doctor.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said as I got to the patient.
Her entire skin was corroded, her body was full of pustules and her bones seemed to be in the process of being ground.
The Bone and Body Grinding Poison was doing its job of destroying a body as slowly and as mercilessly as possible. She still had a few hours of agony in her before she would perish.
Every part of her body was affected, her hair had already fallen, her face was now looking like the victim of a third-degree burn, and the rest of her body was slowly being crushed to mush.
"The moment you touch her, you'll also be afflicted, and you'll have to pay an arm for your arrogance," said the Medic.
"There are seas below seas!" I said as I pressed both my hands on the woman's abdomen.
"And mountains above mountains!" I added as I galvanized my Qi.
Instantly the poison seemed to respond to me.
"And today you'll learn the price of hubris!" I added as I opened my mouth wide and sucked the air in calling upon every iota and ounce of poison to a 'better' host.
The poison as ecstatic as if it had finally seen heaven eternal jumped with joy as it left the woman to jump towards me, like two lovers that have been separated and finally met, and to that, I opened my maw.
It instantly surged out of her body and into me as I consumed it whole.
I closed my mouth and opened my eyes and then sighed as I stood up.
"Her life is no longer in danger," I said as the woman seemed to finally fall asleep.
The driver couldn't help but be astonished.
"That was the bone and body Grinding Poison!" he said.
"So?" I replied shrugging, "It's nothing for an actual healer. Unlike a quack who would rather kill a patient than try and help them. You disgust me," these words were spoken to the shaken medic who snorted and stomped his way out.
The driver instantly knelt on the ground, "I have eyes but failed to see Mount Tai! Please punish this foolish servant! Thank you! Thank you for saving our young lady!" he said.
"We're not done saving yet," I said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Do you think that once she wakes up and looks at herself in the mirror she will still want to keep living? You know not the heart of a woman." I said.
"Pardon my lack of knowledge, but I heard that the Bone and Body Grinding Poison cannot only damage the body but the structure of it, no divine treasure or even replacing the body itself can help with the scars, as even a new body will generate the same scars and wounds the old one had. That's why it's such a vicious poison," he said.
"Your knowledge is good but it is lacking, after all, why do I have jade-like skin? You never questioned that?" I asked.
The driver then seemed to realize that I did consume all the poison and seemed to be proficient at it, meaning I encountered it before at least. And still have a smooth jade-like skin far fairer than most ladies would even have even if they wanted to.
"Just rest and relax and let me do my magic," I said as I began pulling my needles, the same needles I used to fix old Fu's appearance.
I guess the men at the table were speaking the truth, it is indeed fate for me to meet this poison, even here in the beyond.