"What? She's gone?!"
The Tianshi, who had traveled all the way from the Academy with great difficulty, stared at his student working at the local hospital, his beard practically bristling with rage. "Explain yourself! What do you mean she's 'gone'!"
"Teacher, Teacher! It's not that she's 'gone' as in dead," the director of Renxin Hospital, Lungmen's largest medical facility, said submissively. "It's that she's... left..."
Sighing inwardly, the director thought about his own situation. He was in his forties, a director at such a prestigious hospital, and quite successful in his career. Usually, he was a man of influence; a single glare from him within the department was enough to keep anyone from acting up.
Even when dealing with the Hospital Director, if he slammed the table over a disagreement, the other man would usually just offer a compensatory smile.
Having skill and ability allowed such indulgence. He was an outstanding graduate of the Academy, and after years of practice, he was considered a figure of some renown in the medical circle.
But today, he had to maintain this humble smile.
So what if he was an Academy talent? The man before him was a legitimate, practicing Tianshi.
Moreover, he was his former mentor. If he himself was a figure of some renown, his mentor was the mountain peak that loomed over everyone.
Thus, the staff in the department watched in silence as their usually stern director was lectured like a grandson by an old man.
Not a single person dared to utter a word.
A person's reputation follows them like a shadow; there was no way they hadn't heard of this Tianshi's great name. Their textbooks back in school were filled with his contributions, and his portrait was even printed on the covers.
When this old gentleman came to Lungmen, even the Chief Executive would have to host a banquet in his honor.
"If a person has left, isn't that the same as them being gone?" Ouyang Xian glared at him. "Do you have any idea how fast we rushed here from Baizao?"
"I threw all my ongoing projects to my students and brought a team to Lungmen on a whim, only for you to tell me she's gone?"
"Teacher, you really can't blame me for this," Director Qian quickly pleaded his case. "That Divine Doctor didn't interact with us at all. She spent all her time giving pro-bono medical services in the slums!"
"We've been trying to find a way to request an audience these past few days, but she simply ignored us..."
"Um, so, Doctor," at that moment, the patient on the hospital bed asked weakly, "about my illness..."
"You can pack your things and go home now," the Tianshi Ouyang Xian said offhandedly.
"Huh? This... this..." The patient's face instantly turned ashen, and he stammered, "But didn't the Originium Crystals on my body just fall off? Why has my condition worsened?"
Go home? Wasn't that just another way of saying there was no hope?
"Sir, you've misunderstood, sir," Director Qian felt a massive headache coming on and quickly explained, "Teacher means that your illness has been mostly brought under control, not that it's worsened!"
Hearing this, the patient looked toward the white-haired Tianshi.
While Director Qian's medical skills were guaranteed, the patient wasn't a fool. Though he didn't recognize the old man, the director's deferential attitude—calling him 'Teacher' at every turn—clearly indicated that his medical skills were even more profound!
"That's exactly what I meant," Ouyang Xian said, looking at the X-rays the patient had provided without even raising his head. "The symptoms on your body have been very well controlled. The Originium Crystals in your body have basically been eliminated."
"So don't waste money in the hospital. Go home early, eat well, sleep well, adjust your routine, and start taking care of your health. That way, the subsequent spread of Oripathy will slow down."
"Ah... I see..." The patient finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I said, how could you let her just walk away!" After instructing the patient, Old Mr. Ouyang turned back to criticize his disciple. "You came out of the Academy too; there's no way you don't know what these two X-rays represent!"
In his hand were two sets of X-rays—the before and after shots of the patient receiving the pro-bono treatment.
"If someone else brought these two films to me and told me they were taken of the same person, with the one showing the severe Originium Shadow being the 'before' shot, I would have scolded them to death!"
"Teacher, this really isn't my fault," Director Qian felt extremely aggrieved. "The legs belong to her; I couldn't exactly keep her here by force, could I?"
"Who told you to keep her by force!" Old Mr. Ouyang's beard bristled again. "Couldn't you have provided for her with the best food and drink? Given her whatever she wanted!"
"Forget about Lungmen not being able to do it; if this were in Baizao, everyone in the Academy would be begging her to give lectures!"
"But I never even saw her face," Director Qian lamented. "Not just me, even our Hospital Director was turned away. Later, he led a group of people from all the major hospitals to visit together, but she still refused to see us. What could we do?"
"Ahem," at this point, the Hospital Director, who had come running over after hearing that the old gentleman from the Academy had appeared at his hospital, felt a bit embarrassed.
'Hey now, Director Qian, couldn't you say such things a bit more quietly? I have a reputation to maintain...'
"Dean, you're here?" Seeing the Hospital Director arrive, Director Qian's eyes lit up. Not noticing the other man's awkward expression at all, he quickly pulled him in front of his mentor. "Tell him, she just wouldn't see us, right? It's not that we didn't try!"
"Mr. Ouyang, this... we really did our best," the Dean said helplessly.
He had wanted to get to know this giant of the academic world. If he could build a good relationship, wouldn't recruiting people from the Academy in the future be...
But meeting under these circumstances was somewhat awkward.
"Um, is the Divine Doctor's medical skill really that amazing?" Hearing the conversation, the patient couldn't help but ask.
Then he saw everyone's eyes snap toward him simultaneously. He instantly shivered.
"Um, I wasn't questioning the Divine Doctor's skills," he chuckled nervously, explaining, "I just don't really have a frame of reference, you know?"
"Let's put it this way. If I give you an egg now," Old Mr. Ouyang glanced at him, "and tell you to scramble it into a dish for me. Then someone else picks up the eggshell, rubs it a bit, puts that dish back into the shell, makes it whole again, and then hatches a chick out of it—that's roughly the concept."
"Huh? She's that powerful?" The patient was completely dazed. This... this was actually possible?
"And that's not all," Old Mr. Ouyang looked at the X-ray in his hand, then fixed a sharp gaze on Director Qian. "Setting everything else aside, let's talk about you. One-tenth of your lung, one-seventh of your liver, and a small part of your kidney had already transformed into Originium. Hmph, no matter where you went, they could have issued a critical condition notice and told you to go home and enjoy your final days."
"Then the Divine Doctor gave a grand wave of her hand, and the organs that had turned into Originium became flesh and blood again. You tell me, isn't that miraculous? This Divine Doctor truly lives up to the name!"
He emphasized the words 'lives up to the name' particularly heavily.
Director Qian shrunk his neck.
'Even though Teacher is talking to the patient, every single word is a jab at me!'
"That truly does live up to the name," the patient said, his respect rising instantly. "So Director Qian, why couldn't you keep the Divine Doctor here!"
The condition was only temporarily controlled; it would continue to develop in the future!
The patient instantly understood his own position and began to point fingers at the Dean and Director Qian along with the old gentleman.
"This... I..." Director Qian didn't know what to say anymore.
It was fine for his teacher to scold him, as he was a titan of the industry and his mentor—many people begged for his guidance or even a scolding without success. But you, a patient, how can you...
Fine, can't afford to offend, can't afford to offend. Anyone who could afford a private suite in Lungmen's top hospital was either rich or powerful, and this one was both.
"Just be glad that it's only me seeing this X-ray right now," Old Mr. Ouyang said gloomily. "Do you think this is only a matter for the medical world?"
"To be able to turn Originium-contaminated organs back into flesh and blood—I'm not sure how much medical knowledge this Divine Doctor possesses, but this feat alone proves that she must understand Originium incredibly well!"
After all, he had seen the recordings. There wasn't a trace of medical technique throughout; it was all Arts.
It was miraculous.
Old Mr. Ouyang looked at his trembling student. "If those old fogies who research Originium find out... tsk tsk tsk."
"At the very least, I can see that Lungmen is about to become famous in the academic world! To the extent that the Governor will be impeached in the middle of a court session!"
"After all, the influence of those old fogies is much greater than mine as a doctor. The Ministry of Works is filled with their disciples and grand-disciples."
In recent years, Yan's massive infrastructure projects had caused the power of the Ministry of Works to skyrocket.
"If they so much as step out to say a word, which student wouldn't drop everything to rally for their teacher?"
Hearing this, Director Qian felt as if his world was collapsing.
"Forget it, scolding you won't yield any results," Old Mr. Ouyang sighed. "Do you know where the Divine Doctor went?"
He figured that it wasn't impossible for him to go abroad for some academic exchange. If the mountain wouldn't come to him, he would go to the mountain.
Since she had such ability, it was only natural for him to take the initiative to visit.
"Well..." Director Qian shrunk his neck and looked at the Dean.
The Dean's throat was dry; he looked left and right but refused to speak.
"What's going on? Where exactly did the Divine Doctor go?" The old gentleman sensed something was wrong.
"It seems..." Director Qian's gaze shifted. "It seems to be Kazdel..."
"Kazdel... Kazdel..." Hearing this, Old Mr. Ouyang clutched his chest. "How could it be Kazdel?"
"Don't you know how chaotic the territory of the Sarkaz is? How could you let her go into that dragon's den?"
"That wasn't something we could decide, Teacher," Director Qian sighed helplessly.
"I know you couldn't control it," the old gentleman took a deep breath. "But in the vastness of Lungmen, surely someone could have. And yet they just watched as she went to Kazdel?"
"No, I'm going to submit a petition right now. I'm going to impeach Wei Yenwu for being perfunctory and failing to do his proper job! Such a great talent, and of the True Lung lineage as well—how could he be sent to a place like Kazdel?"
He was truly incensed.
Mainly, the old gentleman was an academic and had little connection with the court; he didn't know about their guesses regarding the Divine Doctor's identity.
Furthermore, given Bailu's appearance, countless people had seen her during the pro-bono sessions. It was only natural for others to assume she was of the True Lung lineage.
"Sigh, being a Governor is difficult..."
Not long after, a report landed on Wei Yenwu's desk.
"Old Mr. Ouyang, a pillar of the nation, wants to impeach me for being perfunctory..." Wei Yenwu shook his head helplessly. "Where that Divine Doctor wants to go is hardly something a mere Governor like me can decide."
"Wouldn't you agree, Huijie?"
"Indeed," Chen Huijie was reasonable. She knew that Miss Bailu's destination was indeed not something Wei Yenwu could dictate.
"The old gentleman also wants me to send troops to bring her back," Wei Yenwu sighed again. "He's deeply afraid the Divine Doctor will be harmed by the Sarkaz."
"To be fair, any normal person would think so," the Rat King added from the side. "After all, that's Kazdel. It's the Sarkaz."
"And the Divine Doctor's appearance... she does look a bit too harmless."
"It's normal to be worried."
"But actually, there's no need to worry that much," Chongyue said fairly. "Although she looks, well, a bit frail, one always has some means of self-defense when traveling abroad."
"If nothing else, that trick of turning into a dragon in the recordings is enough to handle most threats."
"Indeed," Wei Yenwu and the Rat King echoed.
Chen Huijie looked at the three men in front of her, then glanced at Lin Yühsia beside her.
Sigh, what a mess.
She still respected the Grandmaster.
As for her uncle...
"By the way, Huijie, aren't you worried about being unable to unsheathe Chi Xiao?" Seeing this, Wei Yenwu looked at Chongyue with a smile. "Since the Grandmaster is here, why not ask him for some guidance?"
"Chi Xiao, eh? I've encountered quite a few weapons of that type," Chongyue looked at the sword at Chen Huijie's waist. "As for being unable to unsheathe it... well, looking at you, your physical cultivation is sufficient. What's lacking is likely just some resolve."
"This isn't something that can be trained; you can only slowly experience and realize it for yourself."
Strictly speaking, Chi Xiao didn't refer to a specific weapon, but rather a forging method for making weapons, or rather, an Art specifically for forging a certain category of weapons.
Chi Xiao didn't restrict the form; it could be a dao, a sword, a spear, or an axe. The one at Chen Huijie's waist was a custom order from Raythean Industries, forged in the shape of a dao.
The reason everyone was used to calling it a sword, and the accompanying Arts were called the Chi Xiao Swordplay, was because the original Chi Xiao archetype was a sword.
Over time, the name became the established convention. So if one day in Yan you encounter someone charging at you with a spear yelling "Chi Xiao Swordplay," don't find it strange.
It was perfectly normal.
As for why Chongyue was still in Lungmen, it was primarily because his mission was to ensure that nothing went wrong in the city.
Although it had been confirmed that Bailu was not a Feranmut, the power behind her was not simple. Chongyue could only pull himself away from here after she had been away from Lungmen for some time.
"So, Lord Wei, you never even saw Miss Bailu's face once?" he asked curiously. "Even though you are the Chief Executive of Lungmen."
"Logically, I certainly should have met such a person," Wei Yenwu sighed. "But she simply didn't care to see me."
This was also one of the reasons why he had initially suspected she was sent by Baizao; she knew far too much, and her attitude and leanings were very clear.