Physician’s Odyssey

As one hour passed, the atmosphere grew intense as everyone wore grave expressions.

Although the five candidates each took a different time, all of them managed to diagnose Kohei Koizumi's illness, cancer!

Even with the continuously improving medical standards, no one could say for sure that they're confident in treating any illnesses linked with cancer.

Furthermore, Kohei Koizumi's cancer has reached the last phase, with the cancer cells spreading to his five viscera and six bowels.

Although Ouyang De and Peng Hanyi were cancer specialists, they were also helpless against Kohei Koizumi's condition.

When Helian Zhen took the test results, he inwardly nodded his head, since everyone had the same conclusion, malignant lymphoma.

Then again, the results from Su Tao and Ling Yu weren't the same as the three western medicine candidates. Aside from lymphoma, they even gave terms like malignant, cervical carcinoma with cachexia and abdominal mass.

In the end, Ji Donghe was the first to speak out, "The patient's condition has already reached the late phase of cancer, and he doesn't seem to have received any treatment before this. If we use chemotherapy now, perhaps we might be able to extend the patient's life a little."

However, Ouyang De shook his head. "The patient's body is extremely terrible. Not only will chemotherapy kill the cancerous cells, but it will also damage his organs. The reason why he's still able to walk is that he has not received any chemotherapy. Otherwise, he would be bedridden by now without the capability to walk."

Seeing that Ouyang De rejected his medical treatment, Ji Donghe unhappily questioned, "Then, do you have a better solution?"

Since Ouyang De was somewhat unhappy with Ji Donghe, he replied, "The use of medication to control the spread of his cancerous cells."

"Isn't that the same as letting the patient die?" Ji Donghe sneered in disdain.

Although Peng Hanyi had a low-profile character, he still said his suggestion, "The cancerous cells have spread to multiple parts of the patient's body, and surgery is clearly impossible. Why don't we use radiotherapy?"

In western medicine, there are three types of treatment for cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

Surgery meant the removal of the cancerous tumors, while chemotherapy relied on chemicals to kill the cancerous cells, and radiotherapy relied on radiation to destroy the targeted cancerous cells.

Simplifying it, the three solutions fit a diversity of problems.

In Ouyang De's eyes, both Ji Donghe and Peng Hanyi's solutions were reckless. Ouyang De received many cancer patients, and he rarely used chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Many western medicine doctors would perform chemotherapy and radiotherapy for late-phase cancer patients despite knowing that the patient's body couldn't take it. In the end, it would only result in the patient's swift death.

Occasionally, there were a few that managed to live, and those were heavily promoted to mislead patients that chemotherapy and radiotherapy were beneficial!

Hearing the arguments between the three western medicine candidates, Helian Zhen slightly shook his head. Those were conventional methods, and for someone like Kohei Koizumi, how could he have never received similar suggestions?

Compared to that, Ouyang De's solution was more steady, and this was also the best method for Kohei Koizumi at this moment.

However, Kohei Koizumi believed in TCM, so if he chose to take medication, it would also be TCM's prescriptions.

Letting out a sigh, Helian Zhen knew that the TCM faction had an advantage in this competition.

But very quickly, Helian Zhen noticed that it's only a misconception.

Ordinary physicians wouldn't know how to operate western medicine apparatuses, so it's challenging for them to distinguish the illness. Only someone like Su Tao and Ling Yu, who were versed in western medicine as well, could have this sort of advantage.

He could only say that the three western medicine candidates were weaker than Su Tao and Ling Yu.

Looking at Su Tao, who was silent, Helian Zhen asked, "What's your conclusion?"

"Kohei Koizumi's condition is already beyond cure! According to this trend, he will die of organ failure in less than a month." Su Tao truthfully said.

Initially, Su Tao determined that Kohei Koizumi could still live for a year, but Kohei Koizumi's complexion fooled him.

It was mainly because Kohei Koizumi used make-up when making a public appearance to conceal his actual complexion, not to mention that he had been taking medicine daily. Thus, it's impossible to make an accurate diagnosis by his complexion alone.

The complexion could influence his judgment, but Su Tao managed to get an actual glance at Kohei Koizumi's situation.

Although his observation diagnosis was formidable, there were also times when it failed him. Thus, the four methods of diagnosis cannot be lacking and never be overconfident when examining the patient. If a process was missed, then there might be a mistake made.

Hearing Su Tao's words, Helian Zhen, nodded his head, since they have also gained an understanding of Kohei Koizumi's condition beforehand and came out with the same conclusion that he could only live for a month.

The reason why he became the patient for the second round was that it was a request from Japan's foreign embassy, so they had to give them this face. Furthermore, this sort of difficulty could also reflect on the National Healer Selection's threshold.

For this round, the judges did not give a standard for victory and insisted on the candidates to provide a thorough method. This was to test the candidates' reactions and comprehensive ability before scoring them.

After all, Kohei Koizumi's condition was too difficult to treat!

Even the two divine physicians of the Wang Family have refused to treat Kohei Koizumi. A household with two imperial physicians, the two of them were legends in the medical industry.

The National Healer Selection was extremely strict, since they would pose all sorts of difficulties to test the candidates' overall strengths.

Evidently, the three western medicine candidates did not perform better than the TCM candidates, since they only provided ordinary methods, and the patient would not accept those treatment methods.

From Kohei Koizumi's history, anyone could tell that he's someone that didn't like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. So amongst the three western medicine candidates, only Ouyang De managed to vaguely guess the patient's intention.

It was also because of this matter that Helian Zhen gave Ouyang De slightly higher marks.

Right now, Ling Yu, Su Tao, and Ouyang De took the first three positions. The reason why Ling Yu was slightly ahead of Su Tao was that he's the primary physician in the first round.

It was also a physician's ability and technique to analyse the patient's thoughts during treatment.

But naturally, western medicine wouldn't be so complicated.

Most western medicine doctors were dogmatic during treatment, and they wouldn't ask about your thoughts. They would only provide you with an explanation before obtaining your acknowledgment and signing the disclaimer.

But regardless of western medicine or TCM, a National Healer couldn't do that since they would be treating authoritative figures, so the systematic procedures in western medicine cannot be used here.

Diagnosis-wise, Ouyang De, Su Tao, and Ling Yu held an advantage, compared to the other two.

After that, Helian Zhen asked Ling Yu, "What's your view on this matter?"

"I share the same thoughts as Senior Brother Su Tao; however, we could use acupuncture and medicine to extend his lifespan." Ling Yu replied.

Standing to the side, Su Tao nodded his head. Ling Yu was truly formidable to share the same thoughts as him.

"According to what Su Tao said, the patient can only live for another month at best, so how long can you extend his life?" Helian Zhen asked.

"Six months, at best!" Ling Yu helplessly replied and continued, "The patient might seem to have lymphoma on the surface, but his five viscera and six bowels are failing, which led to his immune system falling, allowing pathogens to invade his body. This is the main cause for him to be this terminally ill."

Ling Yu wrote the Imperial Five Elements Acupuncture Technique during his report.

In TCM, the five viscera were separated into five elements with the heart as fire, liver as wood, spleen as earth, lungs as metal, and kidney as water. As a result, the five elements engender each other as metal subdues wood, wood subdues earth, earth subdues water, water subdues fire, and fire subdues metal. At the same time, metal gives life to water, water gives life to wood, wood gives life to fire, fire gives life to earth, and earth gives life to metal.

So if he wanted to extend Kohei Koizumi's lifespan, then he would have to use the Imperial Five Elements Acupuncture Technique along with the Rising Dawn Qi to create a circulation between the five viscera.

Then again, this technique required the Rising Dawn Qi to be on the eighth level. Although Ling Yu's Rising Dawn Qi has just reached the eighth level, he still hasn't tried this technique.

"Is that the same for you if you were to treat him?" Helian Zhen turned to Su Tao.

After a brief pondering, Su Tao answered, "If I'm the one performing the treatment, I might be able to extend the patient's lifespan by a year if he maintains a good mentality!"

Although half a year and a year didn't seem much in Helian Zhen's eyes, Ling Yu was somewhat shocked. Even at his best, his medical skills could only extend the patient's life for half a year.

But Su Tao could extend the patient's life for a year?

From his understanding, Ling Yu knew that Su Tao wasn't someone to run his mouth, which was why he fell into silence. On this matter alone, he could see the gap between himself and Su Tao.

"Mentality?" Helian Zhen was in doubt as he looked at Su Tao.

Nodding his head, Su Tao replied, "There was this case in the past. A healthy person heard the wrong report and misunderstood that he had cancer. As a result, every day, his mental state was terrible, and in the end, his body showed signs of cancer in less than six months. But when another knew that he had cancer, he ate and slept well. When he returned to the hospital, his cancer disappeared. This is the power of mentality, it can affect the body itself."

Hearing those words, Helian Zhen nodded his head. Although the case that Su Tao spoke of was rare, it did happen in the past.

Looking at the treatment method provided by Su Tao, the Chaotic Yin-Yang Acupuncture Technique, he had no idea what sort of acupuncture technique this was, and there seemed to be a conflict with Ling Yu's Imperial Five Elements Acupuncture Technique.

Thus, Helian Zhen sighed. TCM in China has declined for so many years, and it finally showed signs of rising. Regardless of Su Tao or Ling Yu, the two of them could bear the banner of TCM.

Waving his hand, Helian Zhen announced, "I will inform the patient and his next-of-kin all of your conclusions. They will be the ones to decide on the treatment."