The chronic ailments troubling the Cui family patriarch were twofold: issues with his blood pressure and his heart.
Regarding his blood pressure, as long as he paid attention to his diet, maintained a proper balance, and avoided extreme emotional swings, there would generally be no major incidents. He could get by peacefully. However, the problem with his heart was something that, no matter how meticulously he took care of himself, was unavoidable. When it decided to act up, no one could predict it.
Just like the incident a few days ago—no one had seen it coming. Perhaps he merely dozed off for a short while and suddenly collapsed. Or perhaps he might go to sleep at night and simply never wake up the next morning. This is the nature of birth, aging, sickness, and death—things that lie beyond anyone’s control.
The Cui family was considered a prominent and respectable household in the city of Xidu. In their quest to eradicate the elder’s root illness, they had consulted countless renowned physicians and had even specially invited famous doctors from the capital for diagnosis. Yet, not a single one had been able to provide a cure. In fact, these so-called experts hadn’t even dared to attempt a cure, merely suggesting regulation through medication and prescribing mild, gentle formulas.
Now, however, Jiang Fei had declared that he would thoroughly eradicate Elder Cui’s illness, ensuring the old man would remain safe and sound for the next several years.
Even though the family members had, over the past few days, confirmed Jiang Fei’s identity through various channels—verifying that he was the founder of Jiang’s Pharmaceutical Company, the “Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine” who had previously made waves in both print and online media, and the President of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association hailed as the foremost practitioner of his time—they still found it hard to believe he possessed such capability.
On the contrary, many in the Cui family were quite worried upon hearing that Jiang Fei planned to first treat the elder using acupuncture. They feared something might go wrong, causing the old man’s hard-won stability to relapse and deteriorate. If that happened, the loss would far outweigh any potential gain.
The problem was, Jiang Fei’s status far exceeded their expectations. He was not merely the founder of a vast pharmaceutical empire and an extraordinary miracle doctor; he also had a mysterious background that prompted individuals like Yang Feng and Mu Chaoyang to vie for his favor.
A person like this was no longer someone seeking to climb the social ladder of the Cui family. Rather, it was the Cui family who now hoped to associate with Jiang Fei!
Therefore, even if they privately doubted his medical skills and believed his abrupt course of action was ill-advised compared to doing nothing at all, they could only swallow these concerns and keep them to themselves. They dared not voice their objections for fear of offending Jiang Fei.
The pre-prepared silver needles were brought out, and a dedicated nurse stood by to assist with disinfection. Lin Moli, still recovering from the grace bestowed upon her the previous night, was present, but she did not step in to assist Jiang Fei personally as she used to. Her body was still somewhat uncomfortable.
Today, members of the Cui family—young and old, from various positions and walks of life—had all returned.
Aside from their concern for the elder’s health, a significant reason for their presence was the news that such an extraordinary son-in-law had arrived at the Cui residence. They had made a special trip back to get acquainted. After all, meeting a figure like this might prove immensely useful someday.
Many had returned, but only a handful of Cui family members were permitted inside the room—merely five or six individuals. This group included Lin Moli and her mother, Cui Ruzhu, along with two or three others who were considered the current pillars of the Cui family.
“Relax. Nothing will go wrong,” Jiang Fei said, standing beside Elder Cui. In his right hand, he held a seven-inch silver needle, while his left hand gently massaged the elder’s Juque acupoint.
It wasn’t just the other family members who harbored slight disbelief. Even Elder Cui himself felt a twinge of skepticism deep down. After all, he had never witnessed Jiang Fei perform acupuncture or save a life firsthand. He didn’t know the true extent of Jiang Fei’s medical prowess, and a great deal of what one hears secondhand is often unreliable.
Thus, as he watched the gleaming silver needle in Jiang Fei’s hand and imagined it about to pierce his flesh, Elder Cui felt a wave of unease.
Hearing Jiang Fei’s reassuring words, the old man sighed inwardly. He was just considering whether closing his eyes might make him less fearful when, suddenly, Jiang Fei’s hand moved with the speed of lightning.
Whoosh!
It must be said that once Jiang Fei’s medical skills reached the level of Great Perfection, his needle speed became even faster. It was akin to how the third level of the Lonely Nine Swords reached a state where having no sword almost surpassed having one.
The speed was such that the human eye could barely register it, like a genuine flash of lightning. A full two seconds passed after Jiang Fei made his move before Elder Cui finally realized what had happened.
Had the silver needle already been inserted into the Juque acupoint on his chest and abdomen?
He felt absolutely no pain, not the slightest discomfort. Even when he looked down and saw the needle vibrating rapidly like a bee’s wing, there was still no sensation of pain.
“So miraculous?!” Elder Cui was now astonished, and his belief in Jiang Fei’s medical skills began to grow.
If nothing else, the speed and technique Jiang Fei displayed before inserting the needle were utterly breathtaking. Prolonged illness had made the elder something of a connoisseur of doctors. While he didn’t understand medicine himself, he had seen so many physicians over the years that he could roughly gauge a doctor’s skill level.
The technique Jiang Fei demonstrated before inserting the needle was absolutely unparalleled in his decades of experience. Any so-called famous doctor he had encountered paled in comparison, trailing behind by an enormous margin.
“Hmm?” Soon, Elder Cui’s expression shifted. The absence of sensation gave way to a distinct feeling.
But this feeling was not unpleasant. On the contrary, it was a comfortable, warm current of energy that began to spread slowly from the Juque acupoint where Jiang Fei had inserted the needle. It diffused along his meridians, and within a short time, it had circulated throughout his entire body, with particular focus on gently nourishing his heart.
It was the depths of winter, the coldest period of the year. With age, the body’s functions decline, and even inside a heated room, Elder Cui normally felt chilled. But now, that changed. A warmth originating from deep within his body blossomed outward.
This sensation gave Elder Cui an almost illusory feeling, as if his body was gradually being revitalized, bit by bit growing younger, with old age receding from his frame!
The notion was utterly absurd, as if he had consumed an elixir of immortality.
Consequently, Elder Cui no longer bothered with closing his eyes. He kept them wide open, filled with disbelief. Had he not feared disrupting Jiang Fei’s intense concentration during the acupuncture session, he would have voiced his questions long ago.
A hush fell over the room. Everyone watched Jiang Fei and Elder Cui without blinking, beginning to sense that this acupuncture treatment was unlike any other they had witnessed.
As Jiang Fei progressively adjusted the needle placements, moving from Juque and Guanyuan to Neiguan, Daling, Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, and Taichong, Elder Cui’s complexion changed little by little. He looked less like a man undergoing acupuncture and more like someone relaxing in a hot spring. His entire body grew increasingly warm, his face flushed, and beads of sweat began to trickle down his forehead.
Is this… a movie scene or actual medical treatment?
That was the thought running through everyone’s mind. The scene before them was simply too extraordinary, entirely beyond belief. A single silver needle inserted into the body could cause someone to sweat profusely in the dead of winter? Was this some form of internal energy cultivation?
About twenty minutes later, after withdrawing the needle once more, Jiang Fei suddenly inserted it into the final and most crucial major acupoint: Tanzhong.
Hummm!
The warm currents flowing throughout Elder Cui’s body seemed to undergo a sudden transformation. His internal organs began to tremble in response. In an instant, all the warmth congealed, turning intensely cold. The sensation was akin to stepping stark naked from a sweltering sauna directly into a world of ice and snow.
By this point, Elder Cui’s various organs had been nourished to their limit by the “vigorous vitality,” significantly restoring the damage they had previously sustained. Now, abruptly enveloped by this “yin” coldness, that vitality was thoroughly solidified.
This solidification was not a bad thing.
Rather, it was like taking a fresh vegetable and suddenly placing it in a refrigerator to chill, preserving it at the peak of its freshness for the maximum possible duration.
Of course, the human body and vegetables are entirely different and cannot be generalized.
Nevertheless, after experiencing the extreme “yang” energy, Elder Cui’s organs were suddenly tempered and cooled by the “yin” nourishment. The aging organs throughout his body had been rejuvenated to an unknown degree, especially his heart condition and high blood pressure, which Jiang Fei had specifically targeted with the needles. The root causes of these ailments were virtually eradicated, completely worn away!
This sounded almost miraculous—reversing time and restoring youth to an aging body.
Even the many esteemed sages of Traditional Chinese Medicine throughout ancient history had never achieved such a feat. If they had, it would surely be recorded in the historical annals, and countless emperors obsessed with longevity would have forcibly summoned them to their courts long ago.
Yet now, with his medical skills elevated to the level of Great Perfection, Jiang Fei had indeed accomplished precisely that.
Another ten minutes or so passed, making a total of half an hour. At last, Elder Cui, seated in his chair, felt neither heat nor cold. Only then did Jiang Fei swiftly withdraw the silver needle.
“Huuuuh—”
Jiang Fei exhaled a heavy breath. Even with his current formidable physical condition, he felt utterly drained by this session of acupuncture.
There was sweat on his forehead, his face was somewhat pale, his head throbbed, and his spirit felt sluggish. He had an overwhelming urge to go straight to sleep.
Aside from the very beginning, right after he first obtained the System, when he had overexerted his mental energy performing too much acupuncture, Jiang Fei hadn’t pushed himself to this extent in a long, long time.
Now, treating just a single patient had driven him to this brink.
“The final technique of the Eight Divine Acupuncture Methods, the Yin-Yang Energy Exchange Technique, truly lives up to its reputation! While it can nearly reverse the balance of yin and yang and maximize the healing of a patient’s condition—practically snatching lives back from the King of Hell—it places incredibly high demands on the practitioner!”
*”Fortunately, I’ve not only maxed out my medical skills but my Spirit attribute has also reached 5.3, which is five-point-three times that of an average person. Without such formidable mental fortitude, no matter how advanced my medical techniques were, I probably wouldn’t have successfully executed this Yin-Yang Exchange Technique. I would have run out of mental stamina halfway through and been forced to abandon the treatment.”*
Jiang Fei handed the silver needle to the nurse and took a cloth from her to wipe his face, trying to calm his emotions. He felt a lingering sense of apprehension.
“Alright. Help the old master put his clothes back on,” Jiang Fei instructed the people nearby.
Elder Cui, too, had by now fully recovered his senses after Jiang Fei removed the needle. Toward the end of the treatment, he had gradually become aware of the changes taking place and understood what had happened within his body.
Thus, his face filled with astonishment, he waved a hand and slowly rose from his chair, his voice strong and resonant as he declared, “No need for help. I can manage myself!”
“Father, how do you feel?” Cui Ruzhu and several of Elder Cui’s other children immediately crowded around him, their faces filled with anxious anticipation.
“Good! Very good! Couldn’t be better!” Elder Cui replied as he dressed himself, his eyes gleaming with vigor. He used three different variations of “good” to express his state of mind.
He felt as though not only had his heart condition and high blood pressure been cured, but his entire body seemed to have shed ten years of age. How could such a feeling be anything but wonderful!
Ignoring his children’s inquiries for a moment, he looked at Jiang Fei with an expression of profound shock and said earnestly, “I’ve lived to a ripe old age and have seen countless people, but I never expected my judgment to be this far off the mark this time! I had previously harbored doubts about the authenticity of your medical skills and the various reports I’d heard. Seeing it now with my own eyes, there is absolutely no shred of falsehood! Today, I am utterly convinced of your medical prowess. Not only have I never seen anything like it, I’ve never even imagined that anyone’s skill could reach such a divine level, treating this old body of mine—which was practically knocking on heaven’s door—so effectively! If it weren’t for your relationship with Jasmine, I’d be tempted to call you my benefactor!”
Lin Moli, who had been tending to Jiang Fei and wiping the sweat from his brow, felt a surge of satisfaction upon hearing these words. Unable to suppress a light laugh, she gently chided, “Grandfather, what are you saying? How could you possibly call Jiang Fei your benefactor?”
Elder Cui’s mood had never been so elated. He declared loudly, “Indeed, I cannot call him that. What grandfather calls his granddaughter’s husband his benefactor? Nevertheless, today I finally understand why Jiang Fei was able to single-handedly defeat the Western Medicine Exchange Delegation and earn the title of ‘Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine.’ It is truly a divine skill!”
Hearing this, Cui Ruzhu and the other Cui children felt their hearts finally settle. They understood that their father’s illness had indeed been cured, and it seemed the benefits far exceeded their expectations. It wasn’t merely a matter of being “better.”
As this realization sank in and the heavy stone in their hearts was lifted, the way they looked at Jiang Fei, their “son-in-law,” underwent a complete transformation.
They had previously worried that his reputation was hollow, that he might not only fail to cure their father but perhaps even worsen his condition. Now they saw they had been judging a gentleman by the petty standards of a villain.
This young man before them possessed abilities that far surpassed their imagination.
