"Yes, yes, yes, driving this way is right."
"Take another turn, five hundred meters."
"That's right, this is it!"
Wang Shengli stuck his head into the front seat, talking non-stop to act as a human GPS, while Klein fought hard to keep from snapping his neck.
"Hey, Pluto told me we were just going for a casual drive. It's pretty obvious you had a destination in mind. Don't tell me you were just pointing randomly." Klein's tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction.
Wang Shengli scratched his head and smiled awkwardly. "Where isn't a drive?"
Chen Nuo closed his eyes and said softly, "Wang Shengli, putting on an act in front of outsiders is one thing, but trying it with me—have you got a death wish?"
At that, Wang Shengli's brain felt as though it had been struck by lightning. He said with a trembling voice, "Pluto, please spare me! Pluto, please spare me! I really had no other choice, so I wanted to give this a try."
"The daughter of a friend of mine, who is now my goddaughter, is only nineteen and a half, and half her body is paralyzed. If Pluto steps in, even if you want my life afterward, I'll accept it."
Chen Nuo glanced in the rearview mirror at Wang Shengli's drooping head. "Saving people is the right thing to do. You could have just told me directly; I wouldn't have said anything. But I don't like this kind of trickery. Starting tomorrow, give up women and meat, and kneel as punishment for thirty days."
Hearing such a lenient punishment from Pluto, Wang Shengli felt as though he had been granted an amnesty.
He knew full well that back in Pluto Palace, he had seen people scared to death. By comparison, this was practically Pluto leaving him a way out.
Klein said, "Pluto is already cutting you some slack. Why aren't you getting out to open the door for him?"
"Right, right, right." Wang Shengli's fleshy face crumpled into a grin.
The car door opened. Wang Shengli used one hand to steady the door frame and placed his other hand over the top to keep Chen Nuo from bumping his head.
Chen Nuo raised his head and looked at the detached villa. "Since we're here, let's go inside and take a look."
Wang Shengli was greedy for money and lustful, but he was by no means a bad person. While abroad, he had set traps for quite a few scam syndicates and saved many compatriots. At his core, he was a decent guy, which was why Chen Nuo was willing to go in and take a look.
Wang Shengli led the way, with Chen Nuo following closely behind. Klein brought up the rear. Because the other two were dressed in full suits while Chen Nuo wore floral board shorts and flip-flops, he looked rather rakish.
Still, Chen Nuo was long used to this sort of thing; overly formal clothes felt restricting, whereas flashy outfits suited him much better.
"Brother Wang?! What brings you here?"
The man standing before them was quite plump, though his face was etched with worry.
Wang Shengli firmly grasped his hand and said, "Brother Shen, I've brought a miraculous doctor for you. As long as he takes action, there's no illness he can't cure! My goddaughter has been bedridden for so many years, but after today, she'll definitely be able to stand up again!"
"Pluto... ah, Mr. Chen, let me introduce you. This is the head of Qingcheng, Shen Sanwan."
Before coming in, Chen Nuo had told him not to reveal his true identity, so he referred to him as Mr. Chen.
Shen Sanwan wore an awkward expression. He looked at the man in floral board shorts and flip-flops and hesitated.
At this, Wang Shengli grew anxious. "Hurry up and say something! Mr. Chen isn't someone you can easily invite. Whether your goddaughter walks again depends entirely on Mr. Chen's miraculous hands!"
"Miraculous hands? What an arrogant tone. Even I, the Medical Saint, wouldn't dare make such a claim, yet some wet-behind-the-ears punk dares call himself a miracle worker? What a joke!"
On the second floor, an elderly man dressed in white cloth garments with completely white hair and beard looked down at Chen Nuo with a cold expression.
Shen Sanwan lowered his head and said awkwardly, "This is the Medical Saint Sun Cheng. You must have heard of his name. His master is the miraculous doctor Zhang Chu. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to invite him here?"
Wang Shengli raged, "What the hell do you know! What's a Medical Saint worth? Even his master isn't fit to carry Mr. Chen's shoes!"
Shen Sanwan hurriedly interrupted, "Shut your mouth! Bringing the Medical Saint here is meant to cure Youning's muscular atrophy. Stop making a scene here. Do you want your goddaughter to never stand up for the rest of her life?"
Five years ago, Shen Youning had fallen ill with a severe case of muscular atrophy. Her body grew increasingly emaciated day by day, and her legs no longer had the strength to support her weight when walking. Now, her range of movement was strictly limited to her bed.
Shen Sanwan said coldly, "If you're still Youning's godfather, come with me to watch her stand up again. If you're here to cause trouble, then our relationship ends right here and now!"
Chen Nuo pulled Wang Shengli back. "It's fine. If this Medical Saint can cure her, then there's no need for me to step in. Let's go upstairs together and take a look."
Wang Shengli lowered his head, his voice weak. "I've wronged you, sir."
Knowing that this stemmed from a father's desperation to save his daughter, Chen Nuo patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine. I understand how you feel."
The group went upstairs together, where the Medical Saint Sun Cheng was sterilizing his silver needles.
Chen Nuo looked at the cold, exquisitely beautiful woman on the bed. Her temperament carried a fragile yet piercing quality, like a rose in the wind, with an unwavering tenacity always lingering in her eyes.
Sun Cheng suddenly turned his gaze to Chen Nuo and demanded, "Since you're here to save people, let me ask you: what school or sect do you belong to?"
"None."
Chen Nuo replied indifferently.
His medical skills had been introduced to him by his peerless second master, while his cultivation relied entirely on retreating from the world to study ancient texts and comprehend ancient secret techniques. The medical arts he practiced were known as ancient medicine, and aside from him, there were no other inheritors left in the world.
Thus, he could truly be called the sole successor of ancient medicine.
"A nobody with no background dares to come out and treat patients? Hmph, Shen Sanwan, is this the kind of doctor you had people find?" Sun Cheng said sarcastically.
Behind them, Klein made a throat-slitting gesture, but Chen Nuo pressed his arm down.
Inside the room, Shen Sanwan couldn't help but sigh regretfully. "You're too young to go around playing the charlatan. You won't be able to bear the consequences if something goes wrong."
At that moment, Wang Shengli desperately wanted to punch his good buddy to make him realize what true mastery of medicine and peerless martial arts looked like.
Sun Cheng finished sterilizing the silver needles, walked over to Shen Youning, and said, "Young lady, your condition isn't all that serious. Blocked and stagnant Qi and blood have prevented your muscles from fully absorbing nutrients. I will now use silver needles to clear your Qi and blood pathways so that nutrients can thoroughly nourish your body."
"After these few needles, the feeling in your legs will return, and you'll be able to stand right back up!"
A flash of hope flickered in Shen Youning's starlight-bright eyes. She had been bedridden for five years. In those five years, she couldn't go anywhere and couldn't do anything; even eating required someone else's help, making her feel like a marionette on strings. Now that she could finally stand up again, how could she not be excited?
Sun Cheng successively drove more than thirty silver needles into Shen Youning's withered legs. As the final needle fell, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Done. Miss Shen, how do your legs feel?"
It took less than a second for the golden gleam in Shen Youning's eyes to fade into utter bleakness.
"Nothing."