Alchemy Commission.
Jiao Ling's brow was furrowed, her expression incredibly solemn.
"We need to perform a thoracotomy immediately to remove the broken bones from your organs!"
Looking at the situation inside Qi Zhimu's body through the lens, she could hardly believe her eyes.
Although the fractured ribs had regrown, many of the broken shards had pierced directly through his lungs. Even more bizarrely, the wounds had perfectly fused with the broken bones.
It was as if... the lungs and ribs were originally meant to grow together.
"I've been practicing medicine for over two hundred years, and this is the first time I've seen such a strange case. How did this even happen?"
"Personal constitution. My regenerative power is relatively strong."
"Even with good regenerative power, this shouldn't be happening," Jiao Ling said, puzzled.
The regenerative abilities of different Xianzhou people do vary, but no matter how special the constitution, it should still follow basic biological principles: seeking benefit and avoiding harm.
Like when a blade severs an arm—if the blade isn't pulled out, the wound would never heal around the blade's body.
Yet the state of Qi Zhimu's body defied this principle.
Despite her confusion, Jiao Ling's hands weren't affected. She prepared her tools and moved to administer anesthesia to Qi Zhimu.
"There's no need for anesthesia, Healer Jiao."
"...What did you say?"
"No anesthesia."
"Are you kidding me? I don't have a fetish for cutting open conscious patients."
Qi Zhimu wasn't numb yet, but Jiao Ling felt completely numb herself.
This man didn't pick his moments for joking, really... "If I lose consciousness, you won't be able to complete this surgery," Qi Zhimu said calmly.
"What do you mean?"
"..." Qi Zhimu didn't explain further. He suddenly took a surgical scalpel from the side and made a quick slash across his chest.
Before Jiao Ling could even stop him, she saw the wound begin to heal at a visible rate.
That terrifying speed gave her an urge to report him to the Ten Lords Tribunal immediately.
Could he have been possessed by a Borisin?
"I haven't been possessed. After the bone removal surgery, you still need to perform a deep post-war checkup for me. Don't waste time," Qi Zhimu reminded her.
If it weren't for the fact that this was a mandatory post-war procedure and that Cloud Knights with medical knowledge cannot self-examine, he wouldn't have bothered coming to the Alchemy Commission.
"This... alright, bear with it."
Jiao Ling was someone who had seen much. She took a deep breath to suppress her stray thoughts.
She cleanly opened Qi Zhimu's chest cavity and carefully gripped a broken bone with forceps.
"Don't make it so complicated. Just pull them out directly," Qi Zhimu said, his words shocking.
"You..."
A simple sentence completely broke Jiao Ling's composure, leaving the remaining words "are sure?" stuck in her throat.
Oh, and the question mark too.
She had truly never seen such a procedure or scene before!!
It completely failed to conform to the medical protocols of the Alchemy Commission's Healers and defied all medical logic.
"Just treat me as one of the Abominations of Abundance. That way you can finish the surgery faster. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Don't dawdle."
"...Fine."
He was so badly injured, yet instead of letting the Healer be careful, he was perversely urging her to move faster.
Jiao Ling had lived for over two hundred and fifty years, but this was the first time she had encountered a patient like Qi Zhimu.
It was her shift today, and she was certainly gaining some new experiences.
Jiao Ling pulled a total of nine broken bones from Qi Zhimu's body. Throughout the entire process, Qi Zhimu's expression didn't change once.
What horrified her even more was that the wounds didn't even need stitching.
Less than half a minute after the last bone was removed, the opened chest cavity had returned to its original state.
She really wanted to ask: 'Lord Vanguard, are you still a Xianzhou person?'
"Of course I am."
"I've never seen such a Xianzhou... Eh, how did you know what I was thinking?" With only her eyes showing, Jiao Ling's gaze was filled with bewilderment.
"Because everything you wanted to say was in your eyes."
Jiao Ling was silenced again, at a loss.
However, meeting Qi Zhimu's gaze, her confusion turned into a pie chart of emotions.
Thirty percent bewilderment, thirty percent doubt, and forty percent'seeing a ghost'.
Actually, such Xianzhou people... weren't non-existent.
Those who had completely fallen to the mara affliction and lost their sanity might possess such terrifying regenerative power.
But if Qi Zhimu had fallen to mara, the judges of the Ten Lords Tribunal would have come to collect him long ago.
No, she had to give him a comprehensive examination!
Cloud Knights must be examined after war, and isn't the most important part to detect their mental state and assess the risk of mara?
A Cloud Knight Vanguard over six hundred years old was undoubtedly one of the ultra-high-risk groups.
Post-war examinations required multiple Healers to work together, involving many tedious items.
But until all the procedures ended, the results only fell into two categories.
One: Excellent.
Two: No risk.
Mental state: Excellent. No risk of falling to mara.
Physical state: Excellent. No obvious hidden injuries left.
Whether mental or physical, the only issue was fatigue.
But this was actually the most normal part. It would be strange for a Cloud Knight who had just finished a long-term campaign not to be tired.
"Lord Zhimu, may I ask if this constitution of yours is innate?" Jiao Ling couldn't help her curiosity.
"Acquired."
"How was it acquired?"
Hearing this, Qi Zhimu showed her the training video records from a certain day.
When the giant fists of the Aurumaton Gatekeeper in the footage smashed down on him time and again, Jiao Ling was completely stunned. She didn't snap out of it until long after Qi Zhimu had left.
Only two words remained in her heart—
...Insane!
Who on earth trains their regenerative power this way?
Even a masochist would kneel in terror... Outside, Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold had been waiting for a long time.
The three boarded a starship, but their destination wasn't home; they were returning to the Cloud Knights' military camp delve.
On the way, the atmosphere was somewhat somber.
As Qi Zhimu's personal guards who had followed him on the expedition for two years, the sisters knew best why he was so strict with Jingliu.
And... heartless.
Even though that so-called heartlessness was only on the surface.
During this expedition, they had successfully wiped out a large tribe of the Blackclaw Hunting Pack and captured its Nest Father alive.
If it had ended there, the expeditionary force could have been said to return in a grand victory.
But afterwards, they encountered the current Borisin war leader: Ussa.
The Divination Commission's calculations weren't omnipotent. The news arrived a step too late, leading the expeditionary force into a direct confrontation with Ussa.
Ussa didn't bring a terrifyingly large Borisin army, but the wolf-toxin pheromones he released caused the Cloud Knights to suffer heavy casualties.
Normally, when fighting Borisin, every Cloud Knight would take a Spirit-Cleansing Pill.
After taking this medicine, the influence of panic caused by Borisin pheromones could be suppressed.
But the efficacy of the Spirit-Cleansing Pill could not counter the wolf-toxin released by a Borisin war leader.
If Qi Zhimu hadn't forcefully attacked Ussa, forcing him out of the battlefield and leading away his Thousand-Wolf Guard, the entire expeditionary force might have been wiped out.
No one knew how Qi Zhimu, under the siege of the Thousand-Wolf Guard, had managed to slice Ussa's massive body in half at the waist.
But Ussa didn't die.
The Thousand-Wolf Guard used suicidal attacks to stall Qi Zhimu, carrying Ussa's remaining upper half onto a Beastship to escape.
The injuries all over his body were left from that bloody battle of a cornered beast.
By the time Qi Zhimu returned to the main battlefield carrying Ussa's lower half, the expeditionary force was outnumbered and gradually falling into a disadvantage.
Fortunately, the aura carried by Ussa's half-body terrified countless enemies on the main battlefield. Otherwise, the losses in this battle would have been even greater.
Even so, after the battle ended, the bloody casualty figures were hard to bear.
Young people with insufficient combat experience accounted for seventy percent of the casualties... Lord Zhimu must be very self-reproachful.
As the Vanguard leading the team, he failed to protect his comrades who had entrusted both their trust and their lives to him.
But without him, everyone might have died.
This was not his fault.
And this was likely why Lord Zhimu was so strict with Jingliu, not allowing her to easily follow a Vanguard on an expedition.
Expeditionary forces were grand and conspicuous, making them easier targets for powerful Abominations of Abundance.
Thinking of these causes and effects, Clear Cold spoke in a low voice.
"Lord Zhimu, why not tell Jingliu the truth..."