Super Doctor

This highly indignant elderly doctor appeared to be Old Master Li’s personal physician; otherwise, he would never have protested so righteously against the master receiving Xu Ze’s treatment.

Hearing the doctor’s words, Old Master Li chuckled, “Old Jiang… Don’t judge Young Xu by his youth. His acupuncture skills are quite remarkable.”

“Absolutely not! As your personal physician, I cannot agree to you receiving treatment from such a doctor. At his age, it’s uncertain whether he even possesses a medical license…” The old doctor, named Jiang, voiced his worried indignation.

“Haha… Old Jiang, there’s no need to be so tense…” Old Master Li covered his mouth and gave a light cough. Dr. Jiang had been his personal physician for over a decade, and the master knew him well. Dr. Jiang was always extremely meticulous, so it was natural for him to be highly skeptical of a young doctor like Xu Ze.

Faced with Dr. Jiang’s distrustful words, Xu Ze remained calm on the surface, though he secretly mused, “Old Jiang? No wonder his words are so ‘spicy’…”

Old Master Li cast a reassuring glance at his dutiful physician and said gently, “Old Jiang, rest assured… Xiao Ze is a very capable doctor. He can cure this chronic cough of mine.”

“What? He can cure your cough? How is that possible? Sir, you mustn’t believe just anyone… You’ve been to so many hospitals, and none of them could help…”

“Old Jiang… Say no more. Don’t worry, Xiao Ze knows what he’s doing…” Seeing that Dr. Jiang was still rambling, Old Master Li waved his hand to cut him off.

Noticing the master’s displeasure, Dr. Jiang dared not make further noise. He could only step back grudgingly, glaring at Xu Ze as if ready to devour him at the slightest mistake.

Xu Ze, as composed as ever, waited for the old master to lie down comfortably before pulling out a case of silver needles from his pocket. He then turned to Dr. Jiang with a smile and asked, “Do you have any alcohol, please?”

Dr. Jiang still wore a look of displeasure, but seeing Xu Ze’s smiling and respectful demeanor, he felt he couldn’t make things difficult. With a cold expression, he handed over a bottle of alcohol.

Xu Ze understood the thoughts running through the old doctor’s mind. He smiled slightly, took the alcohol, and fetched a pack of cotton swabs. After sterilizing the silver needles, he said to Old Master Li, “Sir, I’m about to begin.”

Old Master Li, who had been growing impatient, promptly replied, “Please, go ahead… begin… cough… cough…”

Xu Ze gave a slight nod. He had already devised a treatment plan the previous day. Old Master Li’s condition was primarily due to a prolonged blockage in his lung meridians caused by a mix of stagnation and cold, compounded by his weakened constitution, resulting in a chronic cough.

The treatment needed to follow the principles of warming yang, boosting qi, resolving stasis, dispelling cold, and dredging the meridians. However, the process had to be gradual, given the master’s advanced age and frail health. Rushing was not an option.

Old Master Li had likely taken traditional Chinese medicine for this before, but due to his weak constitution and the long-standing nature of the cold-stasis congealment, the effects had been poor. Now, by targeting specific acupoints with acupuncture and combining it with bioelectric therapy, there should be some improvement.

However, this case was far more troublesome than Old Master Tang’s. The condition had persisted for too long, involving old injuries mixed with stagnant cold… It was truly a complicated situation.

Xu Ze gently applied disinfectant alcohol to Old Master Li’s chest and abdomen. Under the watchful eyes of the two nervous doctors, he began inserting needles starting from the chest and abdominal areas.

“Xinshu (BL15), Jueyinshu (BL14), and Geshu (BL17) to tonify qi and dredge the lung meridians; Lieque (LU7), Taiyuan (LU9), Chize (LU5), and Feishu (BL13) to unblock the Hand-Taiyin Lung Meridian and relieve cough; then Yunmen (LU2) and Tianfu (LU3) to directly target the areas where stasis and cold have accumulated.”

Xu Ze’s hand movements were swift as lightning, hardly pausing to confirm the acupoints. In less than half a minute, nine needles were in place, leaving Dr. Jiang and the other doctor sweating profusely and trembling with anxiety.

Fortunately, Old Master Li showed no signs of discomfort after the needles were inserted, which allowed the two doctors to relax slightly. Nevertheless, they kept their eyes fixed on the master, ready to intervene at the slightest adverse reaction. They had already decided that if Old Master Li showed any signs of distress, they would immediately stop this itinerant doctor and have the guards arrest him.

Noticing their tense expressions, Xu Ze smiled reassuringly and gestured for them not to worry. Then, he gently flicked the tails of the nine silver needles. Starting from Xinshu, Jueyinshu, and Geshu, he moved to Lieque, Taiyuan, Chize, and Feishu. After setting the seven needles in motion, he lightly flicked the needles at Yunmen and Tianfu.

Through bioelectricity, the seven needles stimulated the acupoints, causing them to emit unique biological fluctuations. These formed special bioelectric currents that gradually converged towards Yunmen and Tianfu.

The two needles at Yunmen and Tianfu began to sway slowly, releasing their own peculiar biological fluctuations. Combined with the bioelectric currents, they started to gently impact the blocked lung meridians, gradually dispersing the congealed stagnant cold…

Under the stimulation of these bioelectric currents, the old master felt a warm, tingling sensation spreading through the cold, injured area in his chest. The tingling wasn’t intense, but it tickled enough to trigger mild, involuntary coughs.

Seeing the master’s coughing reaction, Dr. Jiang and the other doctor glared at Xu Ze and snapped angrily, “Do you even know what you’re doing? If anything happens to the master, your life wouldn’t be enough to compensate!”

“It’s fine… It’s a natural reaction to the treatment,” Xu Ze replied with a slight frown. “Since Old Master Li trusts me, you should too. This is just the acupuncture starting to take effect, beginning to dredge his lung meridians. It’s a mild stimulatory response.”

Observing that Old Master Li was only coughing lightly without any other abnormalities, the two doctors relaxed a bit, though they continued to watch him closely, fearing any mishap.

Fortunately, the master only experienced occasional mild coughs without further discomfort, allowing the two tense doctors to gradually ease up.

It was then that they noticed something peculiar: the silver needles, after being lightly flicked by Xu Ze, continued to vibrate for over a minute without stopping…

They leaned in closer, staring intently at the needles. Confirming that they were ordinary silver needles, they were truly astonished and began to regard Xu Ze with strange curiosity.

“This kid is really quite unusual… Not only is his needle insertion peculiar, but the needles also caused such a reaction in the master…” Dr. Jiang stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Soon, the vibrations of the needles gradually subsided, and as they did, the master’s coughing also ceased.

Xu Ze stepped forward and gently pinched the tail of the needle at Yunmen with his index and middle fingers, swiftly channeling bioelectricity into it to assess the condition of the master’s lung meridians.

Xu Ze frowned slightly during this examination. The blood stasis at the Yunmen and Tianfu points of the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian had dissipated somewhat under the stimulation of these bioelectric currents, but it seemed to be slowly recondensing at an extremely slow speed…

He sighed softly, then removed the needles and carefully stored them away.

Li Yue, standing nearby, noticed Xu Ze’s sigh and felt a pang of alarm. “Does even Xu Ze have no solution?” he wondered anxiously.

He looked at Xu Ze with concern and asked, “How did it go, Xu Ze?”

Seeing Li Yue’s anxious expression and Old Master Li’s seemingly calm demeanor that barely concealed a trace of nervousness in his eyes, Xu Ze smiled lightly and said, “It’s effective… but it will take a long time.”

“Effective? That’s good then…” Li Yue let out a sigh of relief, his face relaxing into a smile. He glanced at Old Master Li and said, “Slow is fine… We have time. There’s no rush…”

Old Master Li also smiled and nodded. “Xiao Ze, no need to rush. As long as it’s effective, we can take it slow… I don’t mind if it takes half a year or even a full year.”

Seeing their reactions, Xu Ze nodded. After a moment’s thought, he said to Old Master Li, “Sir, I’ll be straightforward… I can improve your condition, but I can’t guarantee when it will be completely cured.”

“Improve my condition?” Old Master Li looked at Xu Ze with a smile. “To what extent?”

Li Yue also stared at Xu Ze intently, clearly concerned about the outcome.

“Well… With consistent treatment, it should be possible to keep the coughing at bay,” Xu Ze replied after some consideration.

“No coughing? Wouldn’t that mean he’s cured?” Li Yue asked in surprise.

Xu Ze gave a faint smile. “But maintenance treatment would be required. Before a full recovery, if the treatment stops, I believe the condition would gradually revert to its previous state.”

“Are you certain… that this acupuncture can cure the master’s illness? Can it prevent the attacks?” Dr. Jiang interjected, his tone filled with skepticism.

“Certainly,” Xu Ze replied respectfully, as he held great regard for veteran doctors who genuinely cared for their patients. He smiled lightly and nodded. “As you can see, has the master coughed for quite some time now?”

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback and turned to look at Old Master Li.

The old master himself seemed startled, then broke into a joyful smile. “No… No coughing. I haven’t coughed for a while now…”

Delight spread across everyone’s faces. Indeed, the master typically coughed every half minute or so, but now, at least two minutes had passed since the needles were removed without a single cough.

“Really… It’s really effective? And it worked so quickly?” Li Yue exclaimed in happy astonishment. He then looked at Xu Ze excitedly and asked, “Xu Ze, how long can the effects of one treatment last?”