This stall didn't sell raw jadeite for gambling; it mostly dealt in odd stones and miscellaneous items, and nothing was expensive.
"Boss, how much for this stone?" Li Muchen squatted down and asked.
"Well, young man, aren't you the one who just opened a stone and made two hundred thousand?"
The commotion earlier had been quite significant, especially with Uncle Ming stepping in, so many of the stall owners in the market had gone over to watch the fun.
"This piece... you're not trying to score another bargain, are you?"
The boss hesitated slightly, picking up the stone and turning it over and over in his hands, acting almost as if he were the buyer.
Li Muchen said, "I just like this stone. Name your price."
"Then... let's say twenty thousand."
When the boss named the price, his eyes flickered with a cunning gleam.
Li Muchen knew the boss intended to fleece him like a fat pig.
Although mysterious stones were also meteorites, they had been buried underground for hundreds of millions of years, and on the surface, they looked no different from ordinary stones found on Earth. The naked eye could not distinguish them, and even instrument detection would at best reveal a slight radioactive anomaly. Only a practitioner using their divine sense or placing the stone in a special magnetic field could tell it was a mysterious stone.
Judging by the other stones displayed nearby, the items here were clearly all very cheap.
"One thousand," Li Muchen countered.
The boss almost jumped up. "Brother, are you for real? I asked for twenty thousand, and you counter with one thousand?"
Li Muchen didn't speak. Ma Shan, standing beside him, grew impatient and said, "Just tell us if you're selling it or not."
"Add a bit more, eight thousand!" The boss held up two fingers.
Ma Shan said, "Do you call going from one thousand to eight thousand 'adding a bit'? We agreed on one thousand, so it's one thousand. Are you selling or not? If not, we're leaving."
"One thousand is way too low, make it two thousand," the boss said.
Ma Shan made a move to leave, but Li Muchen pulled him back and said, "Forget it, forget it. Two thousand is fine."
The two of them put on a double act. Ma Shan, not quite done acting, grumbled as he took the money out of his bag, counted out two thousand, and handed it to the boss.
Just as the boss took the money, someone suddenly called out:
"Wait, I'm buying this stone."
The three of them raised their heads simultaneously and saw a short man walking over, pointing at the stone. "I offer ten thousand."
Hearing the price, the boss beam with joy and immediately moved to return Ma Shan's two thousand.
Ma Shan flew into a rage. "What? Trying to back out of the deal?"
The boss said, "He's offering ten thousand!"
"No backing out once a price is set! We've already paid. If you dare to renege, I'll smash your stall to pieces!" Ma Shan stared wide-eyed, his fierce appearance boding no good.
Although unwilling, the boss was somewhat afraid of Ma Shan. Besides, the rule that a deal couldn't be rescinded once struck was indeed an unwritten law of the market.
He looked at the short man. "My friend, would you care to take a look at some other stones?"
"No, I want this one." The short man spoke with a heavy accent, sounding like someone from the Lingnan region. "How about this, I'll offer fifty thousand."
The boss was dumbfounded.
Fifty thousand?
He could have swallowed a loss of eight thousand, but losing forty-eight thousand was more than anyone could bear to part with.
He looked at Ma Shan and said, "Brother, it's not that I want to break my word, but someone is offering fifty thousand. Why don't you raise your bid as well?"
Ma Shan was a veteran of the underground markets and knew that once a bidding war started in this situation, it would never end.
"Impossible! We've already given you the money. There's no way you're backing out."
Their argument soon drew a crowd of onlookers.
"That's right, fifty thousand for this stone? Sounds like a plant to me."
"No way, running a plant in Uncle Ming's market? They must have a death wish."
Li Muchen's attention was entirely focused on the short man.
To be willing to pay fifty thousand, he must know the value of the mysterious stone. Moreover, there was an aura of gloomy evil about this man; he was very likely a rogue cultivator practicing some kind of sinister, dark arts.
The short man glanced at Li Muchen and said, "If you let me have the stone, I can compensate you with an extra fifty thousand."
This remark caused an uproar among the onlookers.
*Damn, what kind of stone is this? Worth a hundred thousand?*
*Is this guy an idiot?*
*No way, didn't you see those two young guys also wanted to buy it? You weren't there—just a moment ago, they bought a stone for five hundred and made twenty thousand.*
*Really? But this piece isn't even jadeite.*
People discussed it animatedly.
The stall owner was ecstatic. "See? He's not my plant! Young man, sell him the stone. I get fifty thousand, and you make fifty thousand too. Everyone wins!"
Ma Shan also thought it was a good idea, but since he wasn't sure how much the stone was actually worth, he looked to Li Muchen.
Li Muchen shook his head. "I don't take advantage of others."
As soon as he heard that, Ma Shan understood and said, "My buddy said we don't take advantage of others. We're keeping this stone."
At this, the boss lost his temper and cursed, "Hey, you two really don't know what's good for you! Fine, I'm not selling to you anymore. Take your money back and go buy from someone else."
Ma Shan flared up as well, grabbing the boss by the collar and yelling, "Who the hell are you swearing at?"
"You... you dare resort to violence?" The boss started screaming at the top of his lungs, "Help! Someone's beating people up!"
Several security guards materialized out of nowhere, shouting loudly, "Stop right there! Let's see who dares to start a fight here."
They glared menacingly at Ma Shan.
Ma Shan wasn't scared and still didn't let go.
Suddenly, someone called out: "Uncle Ming is here."
Feng Tianming walked into the crowd, his face sinking as he asked, "What's going on?"
Only then did Ma Shan release his grip, saying, "Uncle Ming, this guy is shady. We bought the item, and now he wants to back out."
Seeing that Uncle Ming had arrived, the boss panicked slightly and explained, "Uncle Ming, it's not that I refused to sell. We had just agreed on a price, but the transaction wasn't finalized yet. They offered two thousand, and someone else offered one hundred thousand—you tell me how I'm supposed to sell it!"
After listening, Uncle Ming glanced at the short man and said, "This friend looks very unfamiliar. Which of my old friends brought him along?"
"Second Master Feng, I brought him in." The crowd parted to reveal a man in his thirties with a slightly wealthy build, holding a smoking pipe in his mouth. "Second Master Feng wouldn't mind, would he?"
Upon seeing the newcomer, Feng Tianming burst into laughter. "So it's Young Master Zha! How could I possibly mind a friend of Young Master Zha's?"
Whispers rippled through the crowd:
"That's Zha Minghui, the eldest young master of the Zha Family. I didn't expect to see him here."
"Which Zha family?"
"Hah, you don't even know the Haicheng Zha Family and you're still walking these streets?"
***
Chapter 28: A Miraculous Recovery
Inside the hospital room, Li Muchen sat by the bedside.
Lin Chanming stood right beside him, ready to strike and stop any suspicious movement at a moment's notice.
The Lin family members, President Yao, and the two medical experts watched from behind.
Old Master Lin lay on the bed with his eyes tightly shut, already in a coma.
Even unconscious, his brows were deeply furrowed, as if he were enduring immense suffering.
Li Muchen reached out and gently placed two fingers on Old Master Lin's pulse.
His pulse was already extremely weak.
A sliver of spiritual energy was injected into the pulse, following the meridians up the arm and coursing through Old Master Lin's entire body.
Li Muchen's expression shifted slightly.
*This is the Nailing-Arrow Script!*
No wonder the old master's soul strength was steadily fading.
It was just that this Nailing-Arrow Script required the elderly man's exact birth data. The sorcerer would set up an altar, fashion a straw doll, write the person's name and birth data upon it, and then use a talisman to anchor their soul. Chanting spells day and night, the sorcerer would shoot arrows at the doll, and after seven days, the cursed person's body and soul would scatter into nothingness.
This was an ancient sorcery technique—how could it have appeared here?
Could the Ancient Sorcerer Sect have resurfaced?
Before Li Muchen descended the mountain, his master Yunyangzi had instructed him to pay attention to the movements of the sorcery and demonic factions.
He never expected to find a clue pointing to the Ancient Sorcerer Sect right upon arriving in Hecheng.
Seeing Li Muchen frowning in deep thought, President Yao let out a soft, sneering chuckle. "Well, young man, did you manage to diagnose anything?"
"What could he possibly diagnose? He's just putting on a show." Madam Lin certainly didn't believe Li Muchen knew how to practice medicine.
Only Lin Manqing felt extremely nervous inside.
Of course she hoped her grandfather would get better, but she also knew that hope was exceedingly slim.
As for Li Muchen, her feelings were deeply conflicted. She hoped he could actually heal people and truly cure her grandfather, but if he really did cure him, how was she supposed to face him afterward?
What if he couldn't cure him, or what if he really was just a fraud?
*No, no, that's impossible.* Lin Manqing shook her head hurriedly, banishing this terrifying thought to the back of her mind.
Li Muchen paid no attention to what the people behind him were thinking.
Right now, he needed to determine how to treat Old Master Lin.
To wake Old Master Lin up was simple: a single breath of true qi channeled into his body would suffice.
However, to heal him completely, he had to find that sorcerer and destroy the altar he had set up.
Otherwise, regardless of magical power or medication, it could only prolong the old master's life temporarily, and not for long.
"Does your hospital have needles for acupuncture?" Li Muchen asked.
President Yao replied, "Of course we do."
He immediately instructed a nurse to fetch them.
Madam Lin asked in alarm, "You're not planning to do acupuncture, are you?"
"That's right," Li Muchen said.
"No way, you cannot use acupuncture. Looking is one thing, but how can you let just anyone randomly pierce my grandfather's precious body with needles?"
"Don't you want him to wake up?"
"I—of course I do! But do you even know how to do acupuncture?"
At that moment, Lin Qiusheng surprisingly spoke up. "Forget it. Father is already in this state; let him try. I'd like to see what kind of trick he's trying to pull."
Once Lin Qiusheng gave his word, Madam Lin raised no further objections.
The nurse quickly returned with a large box of needles.
They were stainless steel needles, far inferior to the gold filigree needles Li Muchen usually employed.
However, he didn't mind. If he could use a fishing line as a needle, stainless steel was more than enough.
To be able to pick up any casual object and turn it into a sword—that was the hallmark of a Martial Grandmaster.
To be able to pick up any casual object and turn it into a needle—that was the hallmark of a Medical Grandmaster.
Li Muchen was already beyond the realm of a Grandmaster, merely a step away from entering the Xiantian realm.
This mortal world was merely a place of tempering for him.
Once he achieved complete enlightenment, he would sever all ties with worldly affairs.
In truth, Old Master Lin's illness didn't require acupuncture at all.
Yet if a single breath of true qi alone woke the old master up, others wouldn't necessarily recognize his brilliance.
They might even attribute it to a miraculous act of God where the old master happened to wake up on his own.
Thus, a master who wins battles leaves behind no great heroic deeds; a master of medicine leaves behind no legendary fame.
A true Medical Grandmaster heals you before your illness even flares up, leaving you entirely unaware of his greatness.
The heroes people praised were always the ones whose heroics they could visibly witness.
Therefore, Li Muchen needed to use acupuncture.
He would use miraculous, god-like needlework to conquer these arrogant and haughty people.
He gently pinched a single needle and suddenly exerted force with his fingers, driving the steel needle straight into the old master's glabella between the eyebrows.
A gasp escaped the lips of those nearby.
No one had ever witnessed acupuncture performed this way.
Who starts by piercing the center of the eyebrows, and with such depth?
Yet before anyone had time to voice their questions, Li Muchen had already picked up a second needle and pierced it directly into the Shenting acupoint.
Next, his left and right hands moved in unison, each pinching a needle and applying force simultaneously to pierce the Sibai acupoints on both sides of the old master's face.
This display drew a look of heartfelt admiration from Professor Sun, who had traveled from Qiantang.
Before he could finish marveling, however, Li Muchen's next move shocked everyone to the core.
He used the five fingers of each hand to simultaneously grip four needles—eight needles in total across both hands.
"You're out of your mind!" Madam Lin screamed.
Even Lin Manqing felt that Li Muchen had completely lost his senses.
Yet Li Muchen remained unfazed. With a sweep of both hands, all eight stainless steel needles plunged simultaneously into eight different acupoints on the old master's head and face.
The onlookers stared in stunned silence.
And Li Muchen didn't stop there.
His hands flew up and down, moving faster and faster until they blurred into afterimages. No one could clearly see how many needles he was holding or how many acupoints he was piercing.
Looking at Old Master Lin again, his entire head, face, shoulders, arms, chest, and all the way down to his legs were studded with needles.
Everyone held their breath. The hospital room became dead silent, to the point where one could almost hear the sound of the needles piercing flesh.
A moment later, Li Muchen finally stopped.
Only then did the crowd let out a collective sigh of relief, as if a grand theatrical performance had finally drawn its curtain.
Li Muchen settled back down, placed his fingers once more on Old Master Lin's radial pulse, and quietly channeled a wisp of true qi.
The true qi traced the meridians through his entire body.
The needles blanketing his body were not without purpose; they allowed the true qi to exert its effects much more effectively as it circulated.
Suddenly, Old Master Lin's lips twitched, and with a soft *puff*, he expelled a breath of stale air.
Then, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Dad!"
"Grandpa!"
"Father!"
...
The members of the Lin family were both shocked and overjoyed, calling out to him in a flurry.
Li Muchen turned his head and shot them a glare.
Instantly, the crowd fell silent as cicadas in winter.
By this point, no one dared to question his medical skills any longer.
Even less did anyone dare to show him disrespect.
Li Muchen stood up, swept his large hand outward, and drew an entire cluster of needles out from the old master's body in one smooth motion.
He flicked his hands back and forth a few times.
The needles covering the old master were easily retrieved, leaving not a single one behind.
In each of his hands, he now held a large bundle of needles.
Li Muchen tossed the needles into the needle box and gently patted the old master twice on the chest.
The old master coughed twice, a renewed brilliance returning to his eyes.
He swept his gaze over the crowd, let out a long breath, and said:
"Chanming, I went for a walk around the gates of hell, and now I'm back."
Everyone was overwhelmed with joy.
Lin Manqing's eyes welled with tears; she wanted to cry, yet tears refused to fall.
Professor Sun from Qiantang sighed in amazement, "A miracle! Truly a miracle!"
Director Zhong from Shenzhou was equally full of praise. The looks they directed toward Li Muchen carried a hint of fanatical reverence.
President Yao wore a rather awkward expression on his face.
And the person feeling most awkward of all was Madam Lin.
At that moment, she wished she could find a crack in the ground and crawl straight into it.
Now that the old master was awake, he would inevitably find out everything.
She had no idea how she was going to face the old master's wrath.
***
Chapter 29: Taking Disciples
"You must be Li Muchen?"
Though Old Master Lin had been unconscious, he hadn't been completely oblivious to the outside world; he had heard all the noisy clamor from earlier.
"I am," Li Muchen said.
"I never would have imagined it—you're the one who saved this old life of mine."
Remembering something, Old Master Lin let out a hearty laugh, but the laughter quickly dissolved into a fit of coughing.
Li Muchen reached out and tapped the Shanzhong acupoint on his chest, channeling a sliver of true qi.
"You aren't fully recovered yet and are still extremely weak. You shouldn't talk too much."
Old Master Lin felt a wave of warmth spread through his chest, making him feel much more comfortable.
He nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to you."
Li Muchen stood up and addressed the Lin family, "Let the old master rest. I'll write a prescription, and you must go fill the medicine immediately."
With that, he walked out of the hospital room first.
The Lin family members and the three medical experts followed suit, leaving only Lin Chanming behind to keep watch.
Arriving in the outer reception room, Li Muchen seated himself.
The Lin family and the experts all remained standing.
No one raised any objections.
At this moment, they looked upon Li Muchen with the reverence due to a deity.
Li Muchen picked up the pen and paper on the table, wrote out a medicinal formula, glanced at the gathered members of the Lin family, and ultimately handed it to Madam Lin.
Madam Lin was somewhat taken aback, a sense of unearned flattery washing over her.
"Madam, I'll have to trouble you with this. Remember, the prescription must be filled exactly as written—the names and dosages cannot differ by even a fraction. Furthermore, from filling the prescription to decocting the medicine, you must oversee the entire process yourself."
Li Muchen's tone was exceptionally solemn.
This matter could not be treated carelessly in the slightest. Since someone wanted Old Master Lin dead, and the curse had failed, there was no guarantee they wouldn't resort to more aggressive tactics.
Choosing Madam Lin was also a way to test her.
Li Muchen definitely intended to investigate Luo Mingsha's affair. If it truly originated from this woman's instigation, he wouldn't show any courtesy either.
"Alright, I understand."
Yan Huimin took the prescription with utmost solemnity.
She hadn't expected Li Muchen to entrust the task of fetching the medicine to her.
This effectively gave her an opportunity; she could personally procure and brew the medicine for the old master.
By doing so, even if she had made mistakes previously, the old master would find it harder to heavily blame her.
*This young man really knows how to handle people,* she thought.
Unawares, she had completely forgotten her initial impressions of Li Muchen.
Changing someone's perception was actually that simple: all one had to do was display absolute strength and conquer them.
And what Li Muchen had displayed was absolute strength.
At that moment, President Yao stepped forward and praised, "Truly, the waves behind drive the waves ahead. I never imagined Mr. Li would possess such exceptional medical skills at such a young age. I would like to invite Mr. Li to join our hospital's TCM Master's Clinic as an expert in the acupuncture department, with compensation matching that of our special-grade experts. I wonder what you think of this offer?"
Li Muchen smiled. "I don't even have a medical license, so how could I be an expert? Aren't you afraid of someone reporting you?"
President Yao said, "Rest assured, Mr. Li, I will take care of the licensing issue. All you have to do is show up and consult patients."
Li Muchen gave a noncommittal response.
Professor Sun, who had come from Qiantang, suddenly stepped forward and bowed slightly. "Teacher Li, today has truly been an eye-opener for me. Teacher Li's acupuncture technique is simply divine. Hands that bring spring to the medical world, a master physician of antiquity—that must describe someone like you. If Teacher Li does not mind my advanced age, please accept me as your disciple."
Everyone was startled.
Although there had been a wager earlier, Professor Sun was, after all, a professor at Nanjiang University, a figure of great renown and respect in the medical community, and over fifty years old. He was showing no fear of being ridiculed by bowing to a young man in his early twenties as his master.
As soon as Professor Sun finished speaking, Director Zhong from Shenzhou also stepped forward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Professor Sun, and said:
"Count me in as well. I'm even older than Professor Sun; I just don't know if Young Teacher Li would be willing to accept me."
President Yao wore a slightly awkward expression. Both of these men held higher statuses in the medical community than he did. If they became disciples, what was he supposed to do?
"Oh come on, you two, why go this far? You're both getting up there in years, and you're both highly respected seniors in the medical field. Acting like this isn't proper! The wager just now was merely a joke made in the heat of the moment; Mr. Li wouldn't take it seriously, right?"
Professor Sun, however, shook his head. "A gentleman does not break his word. Since a wager was made, one must be willing to accept defeat. Furthermore, Teacher Li's medical skills are superb. If he is willing to accept us as disciples, we are the ones getting the better deal. In medicine, only those with true skill and virtue command my submission—why should age even enter the discussion?"
Director Zhong agreed, "Professor Sun is right. Teacher Li's medical skill is more than enough to be our teacher. We are the ones benefiting; I'm only worried Teacher Li won't take us. As for this old face of mine, compared to true medical mastery, it's worth squat."
President Yao stamped his foot and said, "Fine! Since the two of you possess such noble character, I will accompany you to the bitter end. Along with you two, I humbly beg this Young Master Li to accept me as a disciple so I may study the art of acupuncture."