For each poisoned patient, if both sides are powerless to counteract the poison, choosing to abandon treatment is indeed the best course of action.
After all, though giving up treatment is embarrassing—damaging one’s reputation and causing a loss of face—it’s still infinitely better than causing a patient’s death and a major medical incident. In this competition, it would be a total victory over the opponent!
Upon hearing Holder’s words, the young Western medicine expert who had been assigned the poisoned patient still wore a grim expression, but he finally let out a sigh of relief.
For him, today’s competition might become a lifelong humiliation—a shameful mark on his career where he dared not treat a patient. But for Western medicine as a whole, it would be a great contribution!
As long as the soon-to-be-appointed young president of the Chinese Medicine Association took action and ended up killing the patient, he would win for sure!
Meanwhile, Jiang Fei spent another 1,000 gold coins from the system to exchange for Niuhuang Xuejie Pills and Yulong Suhe Powder. Looking at the two small bottles in his storage, he felt much more confident.
The poison in this patient’s body seemed like an enhanced version of the one Old Man Ye Zhennan had been afflicted with—far more potent and insidious. Even with two types of detoxifying elixirs, it would still be extremely difficult to simultaneously dissolve the blood stasis with acupuncture, suppress the toxins, and expel them in a short time.
But though the poison was stronger, Jiang Fei’s medical skills had also improved significantly since his time at the Jin City Sanatorium.
He had advanced from Level 7 to Level 8, reaching the legendary Qi Perception Realm—where he could sense the flow of energy in a patient’s body and master the fifth and sixth techniques of the Divine Needle Eight Methods.
Thus, Jiang Fei was fully confident—certain, even—that he could completely neutralize the poison and cure the patient.
Still, even he had to admit: pulling this off would be hard.
Watching the two Western doctors lead their respective patients away, followed by a swarm of reporters, Jiang Fei glanced at his own patient and sighed inwardly:
“This time, I’ll really have to follow the ancients’ example—try the legendary ‘scraping the bone to remove the poison’!”
Yes, scraping the bone to remove the poison!
To fully cure the patient, once the blood stasis dissolved, the toxins would migrate to the knee bone. Even with the two detoxifying elixirs, expelling the poison would be impossible. If left untreated, the patient’s life wouldn’t be in danger—thanks to the elixirs and Jiang Fei’s acupuncture—but their leg would be permanently crippled.
Jiang Fei couldn’t allow that.
Whether for the sake of completing the system’s mission and obtaining the Nine Swords of Dugu manual, upholding the reputation of Chinese medicine, or simply fulfilling his duty as a doctor, he had to do his utmost.
So without hesitation, he spent another 1,000 gold coins on two detox pills.
And that wasn’t all—he planned to spend another 1,000 gold coins later…
Attending this exchange conference would cost him a total of 2,000 gold coins, far more than he’d anticipated. The thought pained him, but with things at this stage, the coins had to be spent. Thankfully, he still had over 3,000 left—enough to cover it.
Soon, Jiang Fei and Cui Xiuping led their patient into the treatment room, followed by reporters and representatives from both sides of the exchange. The entire process would be observed—or rather, monitored—closely.
“Jiang Fei, what’s really going on? What did you detect when you took the pulse earlier?” Cui Xiuping asked uneasily.
Jiang Fei smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. Your patient just has ordinary blood stasis—treat them as you normally would. My patient, though… is a bit more complicated. But after this round, we might not even need a second match. We’ll have already won.”
Before Cui Xiuping could press for details, Jiang Fei waved him off, and the two led their patients and observers into separate treatment rooms.
Professor Holder, the head of the Western medicine delegation—a British nobleman fluent in Mandarin—chose to observe Jiang Fei’s treatment without hesitation.
He was waiting for Jiang Fei to kill the patient.
The moment Jiang Fei acted, the patient would die.
And once that happened, the Chinese Medicine Association would be finished—utterly disgraced!
After all, what could be more sensational than the future president of the association killing a patient during acupuncture?
Cui Qinghe, Yu Ruzhi, and others also gathered to watch Jiang Fei’s treatment, curious about his methods and eager to witness the legendary Divine Needle Eight Techniques.
Of course, observers and reporters weren’t allowed in the treatment room—they watched via monitors in an adjacent space. Too many people would distract the doctor.
Medicine isn’t a circus—it doesn’t need an audience.
Before entering, Jiang Fei glanced at Holder with a mild, almost shy smile—harmless as a lamb.
Yet seeing that smile, the cunning professor suddenly felt a pang of unease.
After the patient was settled in the room, Jiang Fei turned to the reporters and said:
“Before I begin, I have something to say. Both my current patient and the one I reassigned earlier have unusual conditions—their ailments aren’t just simple blood stasis. Their blood stasis contains a highly lethal toxin. If an ordinary doctor failed to detect it and proceeded blindly, the blood stasis might dissolve easily, but the patient would inevitably die of poisoning. My treatment today will be… unconventional.”
This was a necessary warning—otherwise, when he switched from acupuncture to surgical bone-scraping, people might think he was just showing off.
The crowd erupted in shock.
“Is that true? Do you have proof?” someone challenged.
Jiang Fei smiled. “You’ll see. Check on the Western doctors later—I suspect one of them didn’t dare treat their patient out of fear of the poison.”
With that, he entered the treatment room, leaving the crowd buzzing as they hurried to the observation area.
Inside, Jiang Fei had the nurses prepare everything: silver needles, scalpels, anesthesia, disinfectants.
Acupuncture required no anesthesia—his painless needle technique sufficed. But bone-scraping? That would definitely need numbing.
Even if Jiang Fei’s skills rivaled Hua Tuo’s, this patient was no Guan Yu—they couldn’t calmly play chess while having their bone scraped clean!
After administering the two pills and putting the patient to sleep, Jiang Fei took a seven-inch silver needle.
Before even inserting it, the needle trembled in his fingers—responding to the patient’s pulse and blood flow!
In the observation room, Old Master Cui, the three school leaders, and even Holder gasped in unison:
“Qi-Guided Needling!”
The needle shook without physical contact—proof that Jiang Fei could sense and manipulate qi.
This was a realm no living practitioner had reached—not even Cui Qinghe himself.
Like the Divine Needle Eight Techniques, it was considered a lost legend.
“I underestimated Jiang Fei,” Cui murmured. He had already held Jiang Fei in high esteem, but never imagined the young man had transcended into the realm of the ancient masters.
Some of those very masters had never achieved this level!
Even Kong Yun and Yan Xiping, who had initially questioned Jiang Fei’s presidency, were now utterly convinced.
“He truly deserves to be our leader.”
…
Jiang Fei’s treatment continued:
The needles flashed—sometimes the foundational four techniques, occasionally the fifth (Canglong Baiwei—”Blue Dragon Swings Its Tail”) or sixth (Chifeng Yaotou—”Red Phoenix Nods”).
Under the exquisite needlework and the surging qi, the sleeping patient’s expression shifted—sometimes relaxed, sometimes pained.
Ten minutes later, the bruising had completely dissolved.
But Jiang Fei’s expression grew graver.
The poison was far more potent than expected. Without the elixirs suppressing it—concentrating it in the knee bone—it would have already killed the patient.
If he stopped now, the leg would be crippled.
Taking a deep breath, he ordered:
“Sterilize the tools. Prepare for surgery—we’re scraping the bone.”
