Chapter 2366 - 2175: Are You Here for a Consultation?
Chapter 2366: Chapter 2175: Are You Here for a Consultation?
Song Xiaodong actually meant well, but when Zhang Guojian saw that cocky, careless look on Song Xiaodong’s face, he suddenly flared up, swung his fist and was about to hit him.
"What the hell do you know about medical skill? We kindly lent you gasoline and let you stay here in this Taoist temple, and now you’re joking with me?" Li Wendao hurried forward and grabbed hold of Zhang Guojian.
"I’m warning you, if anything happens to my daughter, I’ll never let you off!" Zhang Guojian was held fast by Li Wendao, yet still stretched out his hand, jabbing his finger angrily at Song Xiaodong.
Jiajia’s boyfriend, Sun Hailong, the one who’d lent gasoline to Song Xiaodong, also walked up to him and said to Mr. Song: "Mr. Song, please stop joking. Even the two masters are powerless—what could you possibly do? Don’t joke around anymore, Mr. Song, let us handle our own affairs."
Li Wendao was holding on to Zhang Guojian while turning his head to say to Song Xiaodong: "The Taoist temple kindly took you in, yet you keep stirring up trouble! Senior brother, let me throw this rascal out!"
Li Wenxin looked at Li Wendao and, for some reason, his face suddenly filled with anger. He flung his sleeves and walked out the door.
Song Xiaodong walked out as well.
"Mr. Song, if you open the furnace before the timing is right, the materials will leak out their Spiritual Energy and turn to ash." Li Wenxin met Song Xiaodong’s eyes and said to him.
Song Xiaodong said nothing, turned around, and was about to go back into the Elixir Chamber to continue his alchemy.
"Master, you win." Song Xiaodong said with his back to Li Wenxin.
"But your elixir isn’t finished yet." Li Wenxin said to Song Xiaodong’s back.
"Since the fire hasn’t reached the right point yet, I’ll just add more charcoal." With that, Song Xiaodong slipped back into the Elixir Chamber.
In Miss Zhang’s room, Zhang Jiajia was already delirious, sunk into a coma, her breathing growing weaker and weaker.
"Mr. Zhang, I’m truly sorry, but we really are at our wits’ end. Mr. Zhang, please go back and prepare for the funeral." Li Wendao sighed and said to Zhang Guojian.
Hearing Li Wendao’s words, Zhang Guojian’s whole body went limp. If Sun Hailong hadn’t been there to hold him up, he would have just collapsed to the floor.
In the end, Zhang Guojian and Zhou Mei as a couple, and the outsider Fang Xiaoyu, still had to be somewhat rational, and began packing up, getting ready to go down the mountain.
By the time the luggage was packed, it was already dusk. Zhou Mei, whose eyes had been red-rimmed and vacant all along, finally couldn’t hold back anymore—she let out a wail, threw herself onto the unconscious Zhang Jiajia, and started sobbing.
"Jiajia... you can’t die! Wake up and look at Mom!"
"Let Mom die in your place! Wake up, look at Mom!"
"Say something to Mom!"
Off to the side, Little Jade couldn’t hold back either; she cried as she tried to comfort Zhou Mei.
Zhang Guojian sat on the threshold of Jiajia’s room, smoking one cigarette after another. Sun Hailong suddenly remembered something and hurried to the Elixir Chamber, where he saw the cauldron in the Pill Recipe room emitting waves of strange fragrance. Inside the cauldron, something seemingly bejeweled and radiant was about to emerge into the world, while Song Xiaodong was fully focused, fanning the charcoal fire beneath the cauldron with a palm fan.
"Mr. Song?" Sun Hailong called softly.
Song Xiaodong turned around, and with a flick of the fan in his hand, the charcoal fire went out. The glow from the cauldron instantly vanished.
"Ah!—"
Just as the Golden Core was about to be refined, Song Xiaodong’s effort was ruined at the last moment, interrupted by Sun Hailong. His body felt hollowed out, and he slumped back against the wall behind him.
"Mr. Song! Please save Jiajia’s life!" With a thud, Sun Hailong fell to his knees in front of Song Xiaodong.
"Get up! A man’s knees are worth Gold!" Song Xiaodong barked at Sun Hailong.
"Jiajia is still young, she can’t just die like this!" Sun Hailong said to Song Xiaodong.
"Her father won’t let me treat her." Song Xiaodong lowered his brows.
"What he says doesn’t matter!" Sun Hailong hauled Song Xiaodong up in one motion and headed toward Zhang Jiajia’s room.
Li Wenxin also walked out from his meditation room and asked Song Xiaodong: "The fire’s at the right point?"
"Ruined at the last step." Song Xiaodong replied.
"Ah..." Li Wenxin shook his head.
"Uncle, let this Mr. Song try!" Dragging Song Xiaodong along, Sun Hailong barged straight into Zhang Jiajia’s room.
Zhang Guojian’s face was veined with bloodshot lines, an empty cigarette pack in his hand. He lifted his vacant gaze to glance at Sun Hailong and Song Xiaodong, but said nothing.
Li Wenxin followed unhurriedly behind, while Li Wendao hurried past him into the room and grabbed hold of Song Xiaodong.
"What are you doing? I’ve already given Miss Zhang a tonic—she can hold out for the trip home. Don’t mess around; if something happens outside the Taoist temple, or on the road, what will we do then?" Li Wendao shouted at Song Xiaodong.
"Junior brother!" The expression on Li Wenxin’s face was like that moment of fury before a killing; his single "junior brother" shook the windowpanes with a faint tremor.
Seeing that Li Wenxin was truly angry, Li Wendao let go of Song Xiaodong and obediently stepped aside.
Song Xiaodong sat down on the edge of Jiajia’s bed and reached out to feel her pulse. He lifted his head to look at Li Wenxin and said: "Taoist Master Li’s diagnosis is chill of unknown origin."
"Yes. Cold invading, yang depleted, life span exhausted." Taoist Master Li nodded.
Song Xiaodong lowered his head to study Jiajia’s pale face, then said: "The chill isn’t the pathological mechanism, it’s the cause. For Miss to be this sick, it’s not some chill of unknown origin, but organ damage caused by cold—in other words, Miss has been frostbitten, and is on the verge of freezing to death!"
"How is that possible? It’s only late autumn!" Fang Xiaoyu asked Song Xiaodong.
"When you two went out to play, did Miss say she was cold?" Song Xiaodong asked Fang Xiaoyu.
"Yes." Fang Xiaoyu nodded.
Li Wenxin’s brows furrowed even tighter.
"Yin-Yang Harmony, tonics are fine, but a drop of water on a cart of firewood. For someone on the brink of death, you need a fierce remedy."
With that, Song Xiaodong took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket and poured out a fire-red elixir, as vivid as the sunset outside that had not yet completely sunk below the horizon.
"This is called the Fire Essence Pill, refined from furnace fire and the essence of the sun at midday. It can replenish primal yang; originally it’s a treasure for strengthening a man’s vigor. But Miss happens to be a rare pure-yin body—her yin has reached the extreme and declined, hence today’s calamity. With this pill, we can correct the yin and yang, return them to their proper place, pull her back from the cliff’s edge, and bring life out of certain death." Song Xiaodong continued.
When he finished speaking, Song Xiaodong pried open Jiajia’s tightly shut pale lips and administered the pill to her.
Jiajia swallowed the elixir, but nothing seemed to change. Song Xiaodong, however, was confident, and turned to leave.