980 Tainted Things

"I take it that you've visited graves of your ancestors on the second day".

The man chuckled as he said, "Well, I did, and hell, something weird really did happen when I was burning stuff for my grandfather. There was a strong gust of wind blowing, and, my gosh, it scared me. For a moment, I thought my grandpa actually wanted to come out and see us for a bit!"

"Did you start feeling unwell after heading home?" Wang Yao asked.

"Yeah, I didn't feel good during the night," the man said. "I thought I caught a cold or something. I didn't much bother about it, but it got increasingly worse. Damn, did I happen to have something dirty and eerie latch onto me?" Those thoughts had already crept into his mind. He was thinking of getting treatment in that direction. However, none of those so-called spiritually linked people had been able to help him. His condition had gotten even worse. He was feeling lethargic and heavy all over. The onset of his condition was a bad headache, which made him feel terrible. He constantly felt as if he had needles poking into him.

"You seemed to have caught external disease-causing factors," Wang Yao said. "It's not a big deal."

"Really?" The man was surprised. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Come."

Wang Yao waved his hands and released his neixi. A warm, comforting aura instantly wrapped around the man. It made him feel as if he was basking in warm sunlight and a comfortable spring breeze.

"This is good," the man said.

Wang Yao simply tapped his body lightly several times and massaged his head for a bit.

"Alright, you're good now," Wang Yao said.

After Wang Yao said that, the man felt the warm aura around him quickly dissipating. It was not long before that man felt nothing anymore.

"So, is that it?" The man was shocked.

"Yes, try moving about for a bit and see if you still feel unwell somewhere," Wang Yao said with a smile.

The man immediately stood up and moved his body just to see how he fared.

"Gosh, you don't say," he said. "I'm really feeling better all over now. Most importantly, my head no longer hurts."

"That's good to hear," Wang Yao said.

"This is surreal!" He put his thumb up at the doctor. He was very impressed.

Then again, it was not time to be fully relaxed. He was still somewhat skeptical.

"Well, we'll take our leave now, Master," Pan Jun said.

"Sure. Have a safe trip."

"Will do."

The two men left the clinic and hopped into the car.

After starting the car, Pan Jun asked, "How are you feeling now? Tell me the truth."

"I'm really feeling better all over now. My head no longer hurts, and I don't feel all that tired. I have no idea how long this will last though." Since it was only the two of them in the car, he voiced his doubts to Pan Jun.

"I sure hope so."

"You can rest easy now," Pan Jun said with a smile. "You'll be all better from here on out. I know the doctor, and he is good at what he does."

Back in the clinic…

"What was that weird feeling from that man back there?" Su Xiaoxue asked.

"What do you think?" Wang Yao did not bother to immediately answer her. He wanted to hear her opinion.

"Hmm, how should I put this," Su Xiaoxue said. "It just felt rather eerie and cold to me, especially when he got closer. It was as if he'd just walked out of an ice cave."

"There was a weird aura emanating from his body," Wang Yao said. "It was a dark Yin to be precise. It was like the time I came into contact with tainted stuff, so this was not my first time dealing with such a patient."

"Tainted stuff? Do you mean demons and monsters?" Su Xiaoxue asked.

"Not those." Wang Yao chuckled as he waved his hand in denial.

"Based on the symptoms of the few the patients that I've come into contact with, all of them seemed to have been to some remote, dark, and dank place," Wang Yao said. "Furthermore, all of them had been constitutionally weak before they got sick."

"Some people suffer severe headaches and puke hard after coming back from visiting graves," Su Xiaoxue said. "Does that mean that they have probably been tainted by something unclean?"

"Well, you could say that," Wang Yao said. "External disease-causing factors caught onto them."

"How can such cases be treated?" Su Xiaoxue asked.

"By strengthening their bodies," Wang Yao replied. "When their bodies are strengthened, they are able to deal with those problems on their own. Otherwise, they need to see someone who can expel all that malignant aura through external force."

However, people with the likes of Wang Yao's abilities were few and far between.

"Relax, you won't have to be afraid of any of that," he said.

"How so?" Su Xiaoxue asked.

"That neixi that you're training in will naturally allow you to resist them," Wang Yao said. "Furthermore, you're in very good shape, which means that you have enough Yang energy in you to repel them."

"So, other than being immune to poisons and naturally repellent to rats, snakes and bugs alike, I now have the ability to resist the likes of demons?" she asked.

"You got that right," Wang Yao replied with a grin.

In He County, thousands of miles away…

Cough, cough. Guo Zhenghe coughed for a bit. He had not been in good shape for the past few years. Many matters needed his attention, so he had gotten stressed from overworking. He recently caught a cold and had a bad cough. It rattled his insides so much that it kind of hurt.

Hiss!

He took a deep breath.

Why is this hurting increasingly bad? I sure hope there aren't other problems popping up. He thought about it a little more before calling his secretary. He made an appointment with a doctor in the county hospital to get a checkup that afternoon.

The checkup yielded rather severe results.

"I'd advise you to have a further checkup in the city, Secretary Guo."

"Please, just tell me what the problem is," Guo Zhenghe said.

"We found a tumor-like growth latching onto the outside of your intestines. We don't have enough medical facilities to deal with your case here. What do you think?"

Guo Zhenghe was stunned for a bit.

"Secretary Guo?"

"Umm, sure, I'll look into it, thanks," Guo Zhenghe absent-mindedly said. "Keep this secret from everyone else."

"I know what to do," the doctor hurriedly said. "Please rest assured."

"Alright, you can get back to your work."

Guo Zhenghe immediately felt frustrated and irritated about the potential diagnosis. He was very worried. The situation instantly reminded him of the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. He had received a full body checkup three months ago. At that time, everything had come back normal except for some minor hiccups. Now, some worrisome disease seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. He was unable to figure out why that had happened so quickly. The past several months, he had mainly been dealing with the series of dire cases and matters pertaining to the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. Worse still, he had been hit with the bug curse right before the new year, and it was the people from that place who had treated him.

With something like that popping up somewhere in his body, he knew that it had something to do with them.

"Damn it!"

He thought about it for a while. When he returned to the office, he spoke to his superiors about taking a short leave. After hearing that he intended to go home for a bit, they immediately agreed. They all knew Guo Zhenghe's background. They knew he was only where he was for experience. However, it was entirely unexpected that so many severe cases had happened. They were worried the Guo family would blame them for not being much help. Thus, none of them saw fit to get in Guo Zhenghe's way.

After his request was approved by his higher-ups, Guo Zhenghe called his family.

When his mother heard that he wanted to make an appointment with a specialist back in Jing, she was very worried. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing much," he replied. "I just need to get checked out."

"Sure, sure." His mother hurried and made an appointment with the best specialist.

The next day, Guo Zhenghe departed in the morning. After he was done with the work arrangements back in He County, he caught the earliest flight back to Jing. He arrived in Jing the same day.

As soon as she saw him, His mother came up to ask him about his condition. "What's happening?"

"It's fine, Mom."

After resting for the night, he went to the best hospital in the county the next day. His checkup confirmed that he had a tumor-like growth in is abdomen. After taking samples of that growth and running tests, they also found huge amounts of unknown microorganisms.

"Microbes? What kind of microbes?" Guo Zhenghe's mother immediately asked.

"We're still getting that part analyzed," the specialist said. It was the first time he had run into this situation.

The Valley of Thousands of Medicine! It has to be them!

After they left the hospital, his mother took him to see two more specialists. Both doctors came to the same conclusion. He had been infected with some sort of poisonous bugs.

It's not just bugs! It's the curse" Guo Zhenghe's face suddenly turned pale and ugly.

It has to be the Valley of Thousands of Medicine!

He put that place onto his must-kill list.

His sister was hit first. Now, it had been him. He wondered who would come after him.

"How did you get something like that in the first place?" his mother asked.

"There's no need to worry, Mom," Guo Zhenghe said, comforting his mother. "I'll take care of it myself."

"Uncle Chen, Uncle Li, a minute please," Guo Zhenghe invited both of the doctors into the study.

"Uncle Chen, Uncle Li, are you able to do something about the curse?"

"Well, Zhenghe, tell me the truth, how did you get this curse in the first place?" Chen Zhouchuan asked.

"I was stationed in He County, which had a rather place special place in it called the Valley of Thousands of Medicine. The people from there specialize in researching these things."

"So, did all those bad things that happened in He County a while ago have something to do with them?"

"Yes, they were involved somehow," Guo Zhenghe said. "I was hit before the New Year. It was people from that place that came to undo the curse for me."

"Tsk. Well, this thing with you most probably has something to do with them then," Chen Zhouchuan said. "Truth to be told, Zhenghe, we both would be able to do something if it was the usual kind of bugs. This curse isn't anything usual. It will probably kill you. It's best to get it looked at by someone else."

"Do you know of someone like that, Uncle Chen?" Guo Zhenghe asked.

"Me? I'd tell you to try Wang Yao."

"Him?" Guo Zhenghe's brows raised when he heard the name.

He knew Wang Yao was capable of taking care of such curses, but he did not want to go there if at all possible. The two of them were on bad terms due to what happened with Su Xiaoxue.

"Isn't there anyone near southern Yunnan capable of getting rid of this other than him?"

"We hear that there is someone called the King Pharmacist of Miaojiang near that place, and he is quite skilled," Li Shengrong said.

"I've heard of that person before," Guo Zhenghe said. "He has a strange temperament and rules." He knew more about the man named Wu San than the two elders before him. Wu San had studied in the Valley of Thousands of Medicine, and he was related to Miao Xihe in some way.

"You could try it out with him instead," Li Shengrong said.

...