164 Complications

"That was simply amazing!" the chief physician exclaimed as Cha Ming purged the blood cleansing apparatus. "Might I keep it for study?"

Cha Ming looked to Li Yin, who nodded. He cleansed the apparatus with water qi before offering it to the man.

"Make sure not to use it on anyone, as it's not sterile," Cha Ming said.

"Of course, of course," the chief physician said. "It seems like the king's blood is now quite clean. What might Dr. Li's next plan be?"

The man had given up all pretenses of superiority. Instead, he had relegated himself to the role of an inferior student.

"This is where it gets tricky," Dr. Li said. The princess and the chief physician were listening in rapt attention. "We've cleaned his blood, which has allowed him to regain some vigor. Nutrition is not an issue, since the chief physician has been injecting him with a nutrition serum daily."

"Please, call me Dr. Dong," the chief physician said.

"Very well, Dr. Dong," Dr. Li said before continuing. "Then the next logical step is replacing his blood. His Majesty's blood cells are extremely unhealthy, and it seems like his body is incapable of producing healthy ones."

Dr. Dong frowned but didn't interrupt. The princess, seeing his expression, couldn't help but speak up.

"Is there are problem with changing out a person's blood?" Princes Guo asked. "I've taken dozens of blood multiplication potions with no ill effect."

"It's complicated because we can't use such potions," Dr. Dong said. "The only way we could proceed is to replace His Majesty's blood with another person's. However, this is a taboo in the medical community since we normally possess alternative means. It is forbidden because of the many complications that can arise."

"Such as?" Princess Guo said.

"For one, diseases can be passed through blood," Li Yin explained. "Some potentially deadly diseases cannot be passed on any other way. More importantly, there is a phenomenon called the principle of blood rejection."

"Different people's blood tends to be rejected by the one receiving the infusion," Dr. Dong clarified. "The medical community studied it at some point but eventually gave up since blood multiplication potions were far too easy and cheap to make."

"Then how could we possibly risk this with my royal father?" Princess Guo asked.

"We'll do it in two steps," Dr. Li said. "I've determined through preliminary research that incompatible bloods agglutinate, though I'm not sure of the exact mechanism. Blood tends to be most compatible within a family, so I'll need a sample of the king's blood, your blood, and your two brothers' blood. We can look externally after that."

The princess instantly retrieved her hair pin and pricked her finger, allowing blood to rapidly trickle into a crystal vial. "Is this amount sufficient?"

"More than sufficient, but could you please secure the vial, Cha Ming?" Dr. Li asked.

Cha Ming grabbed the vial and placed a special lid on it. Then he opened a plug and whisked away the remaining air in the vial. "Exposure to air degrades the blood. The blood must also be kept at a low temperature to prevent rotting."

"Disinfecting the blood shouldn't be difficult," Dr. Dong said. "It hasn't been contaminated with qi-binding venom, greatly simplifying the process. My only concern is proof of concept."

"I'm willing to personally undergo this trial," Li Yin said. "We can start gathering random blood samples in the Jade Bamboo Auction House for compatibility testing. Once I've found a suitable blood type, I'll receive a transfusion for proof of concept."

No one spoke out against this. The king's life and the kingdom were at stake. After saying their goodbyes, Cha Ming and company left the palace in high spirits. They had obtained a blood sample from Princess Guo and Prince Lei. Only Prince Tian's blood sample remained.

***

The wooden door to Prince Tian's study creaked opened to reveal a court eunuch. He stood as Prince Tian finished a discussion with his guest.

"What is it?" Prince Tian said, looking over.

"Your humble servant is here to inform you that Dr. Dong has requested an audience," the eunuch said. "He wishes to secure a vial of your blood to be used in finding a treatment for your royal father. What are your instructions?"

"Bring him in," Prince Tian said.

The eunuch scurried out the door, leaving only him and Zhou Li in the study. "Should I tamper with the blood?" he asked.

Zhou Li snorted. "That seems like a very easy way to expose yourself and your past misdeeds."

"Misdeeds that were committed under your instruction and coercion," Prince Tian added. "Regardless, I'm committed to this course of action. I must do this for the sake of the kingdom."

"Removing the king from the equation was the only way to tide us through these difficult times," Zhou Li said. "War will soon envelop the entire continent. Whose side do you wish the kingdom to stand with? The winning one or the losing one? In any case, it doesn't matter if they treat him. It's virtually impossible for them to find the true cause of the king's malaise. By the time they've figured it out, it will be too late." Zhou Li moved toward a bookshelf, where he revealed a secret exit.

"Is it really necessary for my father to suffer so much?" Prince Tian asked before the black-cloaked man slipped away.

"Timing is everything, my prince," Zhou Li said. "Each and every step of the process is necessary. In a sense, it's not a bad thing that the third prince is scrambling to treat your father. At least his suffering will be eased considerably before his eventual demise." He then walked out of the room.

The chief physician appeared shortly after. The prince dutifully gave him a vial of his blood and expressed his best wishes. How could he not hope for their success? The man was his father, and he hated every second of his slow and painful death.

***

Cha Ming returned from an appointment with a smile on his face. The Jing family, one of the most adamant neutral camps in the city, had finally given in for the high price of two mid-grade gold-gathering formations and a Gold Slaughtering Grand Formation. Unlike most families, they did not possess significant assets in the center of the city. Therefore they were less concerned with collateral damage from powerful cultivators; they were more worried about the possibility of ransacking and pillaging by local ruffians.

A middle-foundation-establishment elder could only do so much to safeguard his family. However, with a Gold Slaughtering Formation, he could easily crush anyone below core formation who dared enter his home. The deterrence alone would provide his family with a substantial degree of protection.

Cha Ming passed several Jade Bamboo office workers on his way to Li Yin's study. Each one looked haggard and sleep-deprived. Elder Bai was no different. As a foundation-establishment expert, his ability to keep working through fatigue was surpassed only by the young master himself, who was rumored to never sleep.

He soon found his way into a stone-walled laboratory, which was situated right next to a budding alchemist workshop. Li Yin was busy examining several blood-filled test tubes with a minor healing formation Cha Ming had set up before leaving. The older man shook his head as he examined each test tube with a grim expression.

"All failures," Li Yin said. "My own compatibility tests are failures as well."

"Can you show me?" Cha Ming asked as he walked closer to the magnified projection of one of the vials.

"You see this blood clumping?" Li Yin asked Cha Ming. "Incompatible blood agglutinates in this fashion. Only in rare cases of compatibility will this not happen."

"What do you think causes it?" Cha Ming asked, carefully choosing his words. "It must be something outside the blood cells that makes this happen."

"I speculate it has to do with the plasma fluid," Li Yin said. "However, the blood will be transfused into the recipient's bloodstream. There is no way to prevent interaction with blood plasma."

"Could the donor and the recipient's plasma be different?" Cha Ming asked. "What if they were separated, and we only tested with the donor's blood cells?"

"Brilliant!" Li Yin exclaimed. "Quickly, separate a portion of this blood for me."

Cha Ming hurriedly used his resplendent force to separate the thick red blood cells from the clear plasma. He repeated the process with a portion of blood from Prince Tian and Prince Lei. The doctor then dropped a portion of each blood into samples of the king's blood. Two vials agglutinated, while another didn't.

"Success!" Li Yin exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. He then had Cha Ming repeat the process for the dozens of blood samples on his desk. It was no problem for him to find a few compatible bloods. "I'll be testing the blood transfusion on myself tonight. With any luck, we'll be able to proceed with the king's transfusion tomorrow. Please tell Wang Jun to secure four cups of Prince Tian's blood. He's a core-formation cultivator, so he can handle it." The doctor then rushed off to secure his own blood specimens.

"Should I even tell him about blood types?" Cha Ming muttered. With his intelligence, he'd figure it out in a day or two. Plus, who knew if the blood types here are the same as Earth's?

***

Wang Jun was hard at work when a soft knocking sound, followed by the click of his door opening, revealed Elder Bai's reassuring figure. "What is it this time?" he said, sighing as the man walked over with a bundle of paper.

"Yet another round of loans being called," Elder Bai said. "At this rate, any loan that can be called will be called. Which makes no sense, given our superior financial situation."

"It's like they're out to get us, Brother Jun. What will we do?" his sister asked.

"What was that?" Wang Jun asked.

"I said it's like they're out to get us," Elder Bai repeated. "Are you sure you're all right? It seems you've been having difficulty hearing lately."

Wang Jun shook his head. He looked past his sister's ghostly figure, who was playing on the floor, before continuing. "I'm fine. Now what's the story with the remainder of that thick pile?"

"Incident reports," Elder Bai said. "Although the cost of the goods and the trade caravan itself are insured, I'm afraid that exporting anything outside the city will be impossible in the near future. All of these high-grade weapons will need to be sold within the Song Kingdom itself."

"Were any of those goods Cha Ming's?" Wang Jun asked. Elder Bai shook his head. "I would ask where the military was when these incidents happened, but I'm sure I know the answer," Wang Jun said. "Prince Tian's stupidity knows no bounds. It's not only me that's suffering, but his kingdom's international credibility. Anything else?"

"None," Elder Bai replied.

"Good. Let's go get some good news," Wang Jun said as he walked out the door.

"Don't forget me!" the ghostly child on the floor said. Wang Jun ignored her like he always did.

It isn't a poison, and it isn't a curse, Wang Jun thought. Just what is it that's causing me to see and hear these things? The average person would have gone insane by now.

"Young Master, I have an important message for you," someone said suddenly. Hei Ling appeared out of nowhere and completely caught Wang Jun and Elder Bai unaware. Protector Ren appeared inside the room just in case.

Hei Ling looked at Protector Ren with what seemed like disappointment. "Here it is," he said, placing a small piece of paper in Wang Jun's open palm. "If Protector Ren was right beside you, I wouldn't have been able to breach his defenses," Hei Ling commented before walking out the door.

Wang Jun shivered but read the message. It lit up in his hands, leaving not a shred of evidence behind.

"I thought I asked to have him tailed!" Wang Jun yelled. "How the hell can he come and go as he chooses?"

The Jade Bamboo staff in the vicinity looked at him with shocked expressions. They'd never seen him lose his temper.

"Elder Bai," said Wang Jun, "I want to speak with Li Ming tonight. Protector Ren, please follow me to the alchemist workshop."

The man clung to him like his shadow—Hei Ling's breach had reminded him of his own shortcomings.

They passed through many corridors before arriving at a room bustling with customers. At Wang Jun's instructions, these customers were all in Prince Lei's camp. Such an arrangement would only change if the supply produced by this workshop far exceeded his faction's demand.

"How can I help you today?" a beautiful attendant in a green cultivation robe said.

"I need to speak with Master Ling Bai," Wang Jun said.

"Right this way," the attendant replied. Fortunately, they were inside the Jade Bamboo Auction House. Everyone here would recognize Wang Jun at a glance. He was soon brought into a small office in a remote corner of the workshop.

"How are things looking these days?" Wang Jun asked Ling Bai, who was just finishing his review of an important document.

"Things are going very well," Ling Bai replied. "One of our peak-mortal-grade alchemists broke through and became a magic-grade alchemist. Our number of apprentices has doubled, while the number of low-leveled alchemists has also doubled. Many of these people have defected from Master Alchemist Zhou's workshop. Due to his bad policies, we were able to rope them in without even offering them a pay raise."

"How about sales?" Wang Jun asked.

"As you know, it's difficult to increase margins on mortal-grade pills," Ling Bai said. "However, our market share is sitting at twenty-five percent. It won't be long before we cannibalize another fifteen percent of the market. Unfortunately, our market share on higher-level goods is quite low. This will take much time to fix. We'll have to recruit an opposing master alchemist to make any progress on this front."

"Keep up the good work," Wang Jun said.

"Thanks, brother!" his little sister's ghost replied. He ignored her and walked out of the room. His next stop was another secret meeting with the Black King. This time, he brought Protector Ren along as a precaution.

***

"Are you sure you want me to wait here?" Protector Ren asked doubtfully. They were in a quiet wine shop that offered private rooms.

"I can't take you with me for reasons I can't speak of," Wang Jun said. "I should be using a Void Transfer Talisman to arrive at your side directly. I don't want a repeat of last time."

"Suit yourself," Protector Ren said. "It won't be my fault if you die."

Wang Jun nodded and walked out into a dirty street. The wine shop was quiet because the street was quiet. It was the perfect place for an ambush. Wang Jun gripped the Void Transfer Talisman tightly.

A few turns later, he entered yet another dark alley. This one contained a similar door to last time. No, that wasn't it. It was the same door, but in a different location. This time, it opened for him without asking him the security question. Wang Jun proceeded down the staircase before arriving at the same room as before.

"I'm so glad you could make it here alive," the Black King said. "Was my warning helpful?"

"It bought me a fraction of a second," Wang Jun said. "I take it you weren't contractually allowed to tell me anything?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Black King said. "Everyone must be self-sufficient in this world, and you must never let your guard down. Now then, here are your profits from our latest transaction."

He tossed three sacks onto the table. "The first was successfully sold at two times the list price. Your profit is based on selling at 1.75 times the list price, for a total of 11,667 high-grade spirit stones. Similarly, the next batch netted you 12,500 high-grade spirit stones. Finally, I managed to sell the last batch at 2.5 times list price. This netted you 13,333 high-grade spirit stones. Are you satisfied?"

"Very," Wang Jun said, retrieving the bags and plopping two more on the table. "Please sell these two bags of goods for me. Sell one at 2.25 times market price, and another at your discretion."

"Why all the caution?" the Black King said.

How could anyone be anything but cautious around you? Wang Jun thought.

"How can anyone be anything but cautious around you?" his sister's apparition pouted. Wang Jun ignored her.

"Each bag contains 20,000 high-grade spirit stones' worth of goods," Wang Jun said. "How can I not be cautious?"

"That's more like it." The Black King laughed, summoning the usual contracts.

Wang Jun signed them only after cautiously inspecting them. "Will that be everything today?"

"There's one more thing, but I'll require a confidentially contract," Wang Jun said.

The Black King shrugged and summoned another piece of black paper.

"I have a large quantity of immortal-jade core I wish to liquidate."

"How much are we talking?" the Black King asked with interest.

"Five hundred jin," Wang Jun said. "The estimated market value on the batch is 750,000. However, it can't be sold to a buyer from within the Song Kingdom."

The Black King thought for a while. "I can do it, but it will take some time. The Xia Dynasty has the lowest taxation rate on newly excavated products at ten percent. However, this is a restricted resource that can't be sold anonymously on normal markets. For such a huge sum, I can sell it for a twenty-percent commission over and above the tax."

"Ten percent," Wang Jun said.

"I thought I told you there was no bargaining with me?" the Black King said.

"And without me you won't be able to secure such a huge, effortless deal," Wang Jun countered.

Both sides looked at each other tensely from opposite sides of the table. Meanwhile, his sister's apparition was running around wildly chasing a rat.

"Fine," the Black King said. "Ten percent it is, but it will take six weeks to secure a buyer. You're not holding the immortal-jade core with you personally, are you?"

"That would be a gross violation of my family's policies," Wang Jun said. "There is only one place where we can store such precious resources. If you pay me, I'll even tell you where it is. I'm quite confident in its security."

The Black King grunted. "No need. Will that be everything for today?" His eyes flickered to the talisman in Wang Jun's hand. "I see that you're learning."

"I never fall for the same trick twice," Wang Jun said. "Though I'd hate to use it. Could I interest you in providing me a secret way out? For a fee, of course."

The Black King chuckled. He waved his hand, revealing a hidden staircase. "Follow this hallway, and you'll arrive just outside the wine shop where you left your precious Protector Ren. Speaking of which, it seems that he's actually taking his job seriously now."

Wang Jun frowned but moved into the tunnel.

He passed through many hallways and staircases before finally exiting into the very room where Protector Ren was sipping away at a glass of wine.

"Let's go," Wang Jun said to Protector Ren, who dropped his cup in surprise. "We have a lot of work to do."

***

The clock in Wang Jun's office ticked away, adding pressure to Li Ming, who had just been cross-examined.

"So you're saying that he's managed to evade you seventy-two times, and that even a core-formation cultivator would have trouble doing this?" Wang Jun said. "We'll have to change our plan of attack. I want you to go on a team mission."

"With who?" Li Ming asked.

"With Hei Ling, of course," Wang Jun said. "You'll both be framing someone, and I want you to use this opportunity to dig into his real identity and his past. Can you do it?"

"I'll try my best," Li Ming said. "Many thanks for trusting me with such an important mission."