Behind the tightly closed doors of the room, Yang Zixi was dazzled as she watched the young man administer the needles to her uncle.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
…
The thin two-inch long golden needles seemed to come alive in his hands as they passed through the clothing and pierced into her uncle’s body. The whole process was as fluid as flowing water.
Now, Zhou Donghuang was using acupuncture that he had learned in his previous life on Earth on the Yang family chief, Yang Yunji. In the past, the Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle which he had performed on Freezing Wind was another form of acupuncture. Of course, he was not using the same technique on Yang Yunji, but another acupuncture technique called Celestial Dipper Detox Needle.
Celestial Dipper Detox Needle could be used to detoxify poison and was a technique not inferior to the Nerve-Easing, Marrow-Cleansing Needle which he had picked up by chance in his previous life on Earth. Furthermore, the technique had extremely strict standards regarding the needles used: they had to be fine, two-inch-long, pure gold needles, and it required exactly thirty-six needles for each of the thirty-six celestial dippers.
To Yang Zixi’s eyes, the young man’s hands were lightning fast; she could not see how he administered the needles. When she saw him slow down and even stop administering the needles, an hour had passed. All thirty-six golden needles were in Yang Yunji’s body.
“Next, I will hit your meridian points. Together with the thirty-six acupuncture points, this will help to detoxify the poison in your body,” said Zhou Donghuang as he looked at Yang Yunji. “This process will be a little painful… as long as you manage to withstand the pain, I’ll be able to complete the first day of treatment. Prepare yourself. I will begin after ten breaths.”
After he had spoken, Zhou Donghuang turned to the dazed young girl beside him and said with a smile, “Zixi, go out and tell the rest… later, no matter what they hear from this room, don’t come in and disturb the process. If not, not only will they waste all our efforts, they may even endanger his life.” As he spoke, his tone turned serious.
“Ah?” The young girl was first surprised, but once she recovered from her shock, she nodded hurriedly and walked out of the door. After instructing Yang Yunchong and the rest, she then returned to the room.
In that time, ten breaths had passed since Yang Zixi closed the door. As she looked on, the young man at the bedside began his rapid hand movements. The lightning-fast movements left her spellbound. But this time, the young man did not have needles in his hands. His hands were sometimes clenched into a fist and sometimes with palm outspread, landing on her uncle’s body.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
…
As Zhou Donghuang struck with his lightning-fast hands, both fist and palm landing on Yang Yunji’s body, dull thuds echoed in the room. In the beginning, Yang Yunji felt intense pain all over his body, but he clenched his teeth and winced through the pain. But towards the end, the pain became unbearable as he could not help but scream. His hair-raising screams would have made Yang Yunchong and the rest outside rush into the room if Yang Zixi had not instructed them otherwise previously.
“Third Master Yang, elders… aren’t you afraid that the young man will make a mistake and harm Chief even before the poison kills him?” Hearing the screams from within the room, Shi Yu looked at Yang Yunchong, Yang Ping and Yang An, and asked seriously.
“Young Master Shi, rather than wait for the poison to act up, I’d rather let Medicine Master Zhou try,” Yang Yunchong said emotionlessly, ignoring Shi Yu’s attempt at fanning the flames.
“Third Master Yang, from what you say… are you really placing your hopes on this young lad who came from nowhere?” Shi Yu laughed condescendingly. “That lad, even if he really is a basic-level medicine master, could he possibly be as capable as Medicine Master Xiao in terms of treating poison? There is no way that he can detoxify a poison that even Medicine Master Xiao could not treat.”
“Young Master Shi, he has already claimed that he can help to detoxify chief’s poison… today, if he fails to do it, we will definitely not let him go so easily,” said Yang Ping. “For now, let him do what he wants.”
“That’s right,” agreed Yang An with a nod.
After an hour, the screams from inside the room finally quietened down, and the room regained its peace.
Inside, Yang Zixi was shocked. Zhou Donghuang was removing the thirty-six needles which he had stuck into Yang Yunji’s body, and with each needle removed, black poisoned blood seeped out from Yang Yunji’s body, staining his clothes black. And as the poisoned blood left his body, Yang Yunji’s condition seemed to improve.
After all the needles had been removed, half of Yang Yunji’s head of white hair had turned black. At the same time, the wrinkles on his face had reduced. Although he still looked old, he still looked much younger than before. If he had looked sixty or seventy years old previously, now he looked just slightly over sixty years old.
“This… is incredible.” If she had not seen it with her own eyes, Yang Zixi would not have believed that someone could reverse aging in just two hours.
Incredible! Simply incredible! That was all Yang Zixi could think of in that moment.
“You have recovered much better than I had imagined… from tomorrow onwards, I will perform acupuncture on you every day. After four days, you won’t need it anymore.” As Zhou Donghuang put the needles back into the box, he told Yang Yunji, “As long as you drink the medicine that I prescribed every day, you will recover all your strength within five or six days.”
At the same time, Yang Yunji recovered from his state of shock. He dropped to his knees and thanked Zhou Donghuang profusely, “Yang Yunji is grateful to Medicine Master Zhou for his benevolence!”
Only he could experience the miraculous transformation of his body. Previously, he could feel the life seeping out of his body with each moment, as if he were aging constantly… that feeling had caused him to despair. But now, he found that he was no longer losing his vitality, and his body felt much younger. Although his condition was far from his original self, he felt strangely energetic.
In that moment, Yang Yunji felt as if he had been released from hell and ascended to heaven. Finally, there was hope for him.
Hence, he was immeasurably grateful to Zhou Donghuang who had given him this hope, and he knelt in gratitude. He seemed to forget that he was the chief of the grand Yang family and that the man before him was just a sixteen or seventeen-year-old young man… All he knew was that the young man had saved his life.
“Remember what I said.” Zhou Donghuang looked at Yang Yunji, then smiled at Yang Zixi and left the room.
“Medicine Master Zhou, how is it?” Seeing Zhou Donghuang leave, Yang Yunchong, Yang Ping and Yang An rushed to him.
“Go in and see for yourself,” said Zhou Donghuang flatly.
Just as he said this, hearty laughter erupted from within the room, “Hahahaha… Hahahahahaha…” Hearing this, the eyes of Yang Yunchong and the rest lit up as they rushed into the room.
“No… no way!” Hearing the energetic laughter from within the room, Shi Yu looked at Zhou Donghuang in disbelief and entered the room behind the rest.
At the same time, Zhou Donghuang went straight to his room in the Yang family household.
As Yang Yunchong and the rest entered the room, seeing Yang Yunji’s current condition, they did not even have to ask to understand the situation.
“Medicine Master Zhou is really superb,” Yang An exclaimed wholeheartedly.
“I never would I have thought that a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy could detoxify a poison that the famed Medicine Master Xiao, a poison expert among the top medicine masters in the Chu royal city, could not treat,” Yang Ping could not help but remark.
“Brother, look at you now… you must be recovering well, right?” Yang Yunchong asked Yang Yunji excitedly.
“Medicine Master Zhou said, from tomorrow, he will perform acupuncture four times over the next four days and will purge my body of all the snake poison.” Yang Yunji’s face was still filled with excitement. “As long as I persevere and drink his medicine every day, I will fully recover within five to six days!”
“Congratulations, Uncle.” A wide smile spread over the beautiful face of the young girl at his side. She had not smiled this easily in a long while.
“Zixi, I owe it to you for inviting Medicine Master Zhou here.” Yang Yunchong looked at the young girl lovingly.
“That’s right! Lady Zixi deserves the credit for treating Chief’s poison!” Yang Ping and Yang An also looked at the young girl happily.
“How is this possible?!” When Shi Yu saw the black hair on Yang Yunji’s head and the youth in his face, he was in disbelief. “That lad is only a basic-level medicine master at best, how could he possibly detoxify a poison that even Medicine Master Xiao could not treat?!”
Once he had recovered from his shock, Shi Yu turned and left the Yang family household without a word.
“Hmph!” After leaving the Yang family household, Shi Yu’s eyes flashed coldly. “Kid, do you think you did a good thing by helping treat the Yang family chief?”