"So you're saying that a big man like you wearing women's underwear was also my frame-up?" Lin Hao chuckled.
Lü Liang was stunned for a moment, and then a bad feeling washed over him.
The moment Lin Hao finished speaking, a wisp of true qi flickered and struck Lü Liang's waist.
In an instant, Lü Liang felt a chill below, and his trousers zipped right down to the ground.
"Well..."
Seeing this, the surrounding crowd first burst into jeers, and then all broke out in loud laughter.
"Holy shit, a thong and transparent at that! That is way too hard on the eyes!"
"Damn, so he swings that way! He had the nerve to pretend he was so deeply in love with a girl just now—completely disgusting..."
Looking down along the gazes of the crowd, Lü Liang let out a sharp scream and frantically tried to yank his trousers up.
Having spent the whole night partying outside, his hookup had dressed him when he woke up in the morning.
Lü Liang never dreamed that the woman had put him in her own underwear.
No wonder he had felt a bit uncomfortable when he left the house.
Meeting the strange looks of the crowd, Lü Liang wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
Driven to fury by embarrassment, Lü Liang glared at Lin Hao and cursed, "I'll kill you!"
Still struggling to pull up his trousers, Lü Liang raised his fist and lunged at Lin Hao.
How could a weakling like Lü Liang, whose body had long been hollowed out by alcohol and women, possibly be a match for Lin Hao?
With one arm around Xu Wei, Lin Hao delivered a kick straight to Lü Liang's backside, sending him flying through the air.
And that was with Lin Hao holding back; at full force, a single kick would have sent him straight to the afterlife.
"Ah!"
Lü Liang let out a heart-rending scream before struggling back to his feet from the floor.
"Punk, you just wait! I'll make you pay with your life!"
Realizing he was no match for Lin Hao, Lü Liang left behind a tough-guy threat and fled in a panic.
Right then, a toy poodle squatting by the side of the road was relieving itself, and was so startled by Lü Liang's charge that it scrambled away.
Before he could take a few steps, however, with his trousers still loose, he tripped over his own feet and went sprawling forward.
His face crashed with unfortunate precision straight into the fresh pile left by the poodle.
What an unlucky kid! The sight of Lü Liang's thoroughly wretched state set the crowd off laughing all over again.
Lü Liang was on the verge of tears. After retching in disgust, he bolted away as if running for his life.
"You guys know what to do next, right?"
Lin Hao walked up to the kneeling thugs, glanced in the direction Lü Liang had fled, and said.
"Don't you worry, sir, leave this punk to us!"
The green-haired thug patted his chest, utterly terrified of Lin Hao.
Eager to get away, they were forced to abandon all criminal code and throw their employer under the bus.
Lin Hao nodded. Granted his permission, the men felt a massive weight lift off their shoulders. After making a series of promises to Lin Hao, they scattered like smoke.
By now, it was almost time for work, and seeing no more spectacle to watch, the surrounding crowd gradually dispersed.
Xu Wei reluctantly pulled Lin Hao's hand away from her waist and said, "Thank you so much for today. I need to rush to the office, but I'll treat you to a meal another day."
With that, Xu Wei walked over to where she had abandoned her car.
Lin Hao smiled and nodded. Once Xu Wei left, he headed deeper into the Jiangbei Herb Market.
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Chapter 9: The Teenager Circumcised at the Men's Health Hospital
The Jiangbei Herb Market is one of the four major Chinese herbal medicine distribution centers in the country.
Occupying an entire street in Jiangbei City's core commercial district, it is locally known as Herb Street.
As soon as he stepped into the herb market, Lin Hao was greeted by a strong aroma of medicinal ingredients, with herbal shops of all sizes lining both sides of the street.
The moment Lin Hao stepped into one of the shops, the proprietor warmly stepped forward to greet him.
Business was getting harder and harder these days, and seeing a customer walk in—even though Lin Hao looked rather poorly dressed—the shopkeeper didn't dare slack off.
The heritage of Xianyimen contained many pill recipes capable of boosting one's cultivation with remarkable efficacy, but they also imposed extremely strict requirements on the medicinal ingredients.
With the spiritual energy of the current world being exceptionally thin, Lin Hao had already prepared himself mentally before coming here.
He had already given up hope on those top-tier pill recipes.
Ultimately, a pill recipe called the "Great Return Pill" caught Lin Hao's eye.
If one strictly used the aged medicinal ingredients recorded in the recipe, each Great Return Pill could increase a practitioner's cultivation by twenty years.
Lin Hao figured it would probably be impossible to gather the ingredients matching the exact ages specified in the recipe.
Still, brewing the Great Return Pill with the herbs available in the current world might not yield twenty years of cultivation, but a decade or so should be doable, right?
Yet, after he listed the required ingredients to the shopkeeper according to the recipe,
and saw the look of regret on the man's face, Lin Hao let out a helpless sigh and headed to the next herbal shop.
After browsing twenty or thirty shops in a row, Lin Hao hadn't even gathered half the ingredients listed in the pill recipe.
Seeing Lin Hao's disappointment, the owner of the shop he was currently in suggested that he check out Bencao Hall, a traditional Chinese medicine clinic located within the herb center.
After thanking the shopkeeper, Lin Hao immediately grabbed the bags of herbs he had already purchased and headed toward Bencao Hall.
Before long, he arrived in front of a grand-looking, antique-style traditional Chinese medicine clinic.
"Welcome!"
Just as Lin Hao stepped into Bencao Hall, a crisp and clear welcoming cheer reached his ears.
More than a dozen beauties dressed in red cheongsams stood in two rows, looking at him with smiles on their faces.
This scene left Lin Hao dumbfounded. Had even traditional Chinese medicine clinics gotten this competitive nowadays?
"Hello, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Seeing Lin Hao walk in carrying bags of herbs, a fine-featured female sales representative stepped forward with a smile.
She took the herbs from Lin Hao's hands, placed them aside, and asked in a gentle voice.
"I'd like to buy a Purple Ganoderma that's over a hundred years old," Lin Hao said after recovering his wits.
"Sir, our Bencao Hall recently brought in a century-old Purple Ganoderma priced at 800,000," the woman said.
Hearing this, Lin Hao couldn't help frowning. The pile of herbs he bought earlier had cost him around 200,000.
Now this Purple Ganoderma cost 800,000, bringing the total right to one million.
Lin Hao couldn't help lamenting how fast money vanished. If someone hadn't practically forced one million on him yesterday, he really wouldn't have been able to afford this.
The price was fair enough, so Lin Hao said, "Alright, let me take a look at it first."
The woman quickly fetched the Purple Ganoderma Lin Hao requested. When opened, it emitted a faint, pleasant fragrance.
After inspecting it with his spiritual sense to confirm there were no issues, Lin Hao said, "This is fine. Please pack it up for me."
"Right away!" In a flash, an exquisite gift box was handed over to Lin Hao.
Taking it, Lin Hao prepared to leave.
Right at that moment, a teenager with his legs spread wide apart rushed into Bencao Hall sideways like a crab,
grinning broadly and shouting at the top of his lungs, "Doctor, help!"
Lin Hao turned his head and saw a patch of red blood staining the crotch of the teenager's trousers.
"What's going on here?" Lin Hao was slightly startled, then thought with idle curiosity, "Did he get his precious bits lopped off?"
He immediately cast his spiritual sense toward the teenager's crotch to take a look.
Oh, good, just popped stitches!
Still, Lin Hao was somewhat puzzled. Why didn't he hurry to a hospital for bandaging instead of running here?
Since it had just opened for the day, Bencao Hall only had one traditional Chinese medicine doctor on duty.
Startled by the commotion, the doctor hurried out to inquire.
"Can you take me somewhere a bit more private first!"
The teenager had delicate, rather handsome features, but right now his face was flushed and he was wincing in agony, as if enduring immense pain.
Dressed in trendy white streetwear, the bloodstain spreading across his crotch was growing larger by the minute, looking quite alarming.
The TCM doctor didn't dare neglect him and hurriedly led the teenager toward a back room.
Seeing the teenager's pretty-boy appearance, Lin Hao suddenly recalled a news story he had seen recently.
An older wealthy woman's kept toy boy was discovered by her furious husband, who promptly had someone chop off the toy boy's manhood.
Could this teenager be in the same situation?
His curiosity thoroughly piqued, Lin Hao followed them in.
Seeing that Lin Hao had just spent 800,000 in the shop, the staff thought twice and decided not to stop him.
"Lu Qiang, twenty years old..."
Once inside, the TCM doctor picked up a medical record booklet to question the teenager, and Lu Qiang answered in agony.
"Tell me the specific situation?"
The doctor continued to ask.
"Yesterday I went to the Men's Health Hospital next door for a circumcision. They said the procedure was free, so I got it done."
"After the surgery, they told me to rest in a room overnight and put me on an IV drip to recover. But this morning, a beauty dressed in black fishnets and a semi-transparent nurse's uniform suddenly walked in."
"She kept pressing herself against me and touching me, saying it was postoperative rehabilitation therapy to help me recover."
"Well, that woman had huge breasts, a plump backside, and even exposed herself—who the hell could take that? I got so excited that I burst the stitches!"
"Then the doctor who operated on me came in and said the first surgery was free, but if they had to redo it, I'd have to pay a 200,000 surgical fee upfront."
"Of course I wasn't going to stand for that! I didn't want to spend another minute in such an unscrupulous hospital. I heard there was a TCM clinic right next door, so I ran over here. I trust that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners won't rip me off!"
"Doctor, please hurry up and stop the bleeding and stitch me back up!"
Lu Qiang ranted and raved, making Lin Hao almost fail to hold back a laugh.
This kid was a hardcore daredevil. Lin Hao felt the pain just looking at him—that particular area was unlike any other part of the body.
"I'll stop the bleeding for you first. As for re-stitching, our TCM clinic can't handle that; I suggest you head over to the city hospital afterward," the TCM doctor said patiently as he fetched some hemostatic medicine.
Lu Qiang seemed unable to bear the pain any longer. Before the doctor even finished speaking, he yanked his waistband straight down.
Lin Hao felt his scalp go numb at the sight. Blood covered the entire area, even staining the thread ends red.
"Spread your legs, let's disinfect first." The TCM doctor grabbed a bottle of disinfectant and sprayed it right on.
Lu Qiang's eyes instantly welled up with tears from the burning pain, and his entire body convulsed with shivers.
Yet he gritted his teeth and didn't let out a single cry, which forced Lin Hao to admire his grit.
After disinfection and applying the medicine, as time passed, Lu Qiang stopped bleeding down there.
"How is it?" the TCM doctor asked.
"It doesn't hurt!" Lu Qiang stood up, took a couple of steps, and then asked, "How much?"
"We only used a bit of hemostatic powder. I didn't expect someone as young as you to have such high pain tolerance; I respect you as a tough guy, so forget about the money." The TCM doctor looked at him in amazement.
Then he added, "Young man, you'd better hurry over to the city hospital and have your little brother properly checked out. Don't take this lightly—it's a matter for the rest of your life."
"Alright, I'll go get it cured at the city hospital first, and then I'll come back to thank you."
Without wasting any more words, Lu Qiang pulled up his trousers and prepared to leave.
"Go on then, don't mention it!" The TCM doctor patted him on the shoulder.
Lu Qiang didn't say another word, turned around, and headed toward the exit.
"Ah!"
However, before he even made it out of the room, a miserable screech burst from his lips.
His entire body instantly curled up onto the floor, his legs bent like a toad's, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans oozed from his face.
The crotch of his trousers turned crimson once more.
Seeing this, the TCM doctor hurriedly stepped forward and pulled down his trousers to inspect.
"Oh no, severe congestion! If we don't get him to a hospital right now, it'll be too late!"
"Young man, please help me call an ambulance!"
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Chapter 10: The TCM Master
While rapidly applying hemostatic medicine to stop the bleeding for Lu Qiang, the TCM doctor asked Lin Hao for help.
"Doctor, save me, I'm begging you..."
Lu Qiang, who hadn't uttered a single groan while enduring the pain all the way from the Men's Health Hospital to Bencao Hall,
could no longer hold back and wailed loudly, clearly indicating that the pain down there had exceeded his limit of endurance.
"Oh no! Even sending him to the city hospital now is too late." The TCM doctor let out a long sigh and looked at Lu Qiang with pity.
He applied Bencao Hall's best hemostatic ointment to Lu Qiang, but it had no effect.
Due to the prolonged congestion, Lu Qiang's nether regions had turned a solid purplish-black, looking utterly terrifying.
"Doctor, don't scare me! If my little brother is finished, what reason do I have left to live? Save me, doctor, save me!"
Startled out of his wits, Lu Qiang jerked himself up from the floor, his distorted face full of terror amidst the agony.
"Count your blessings, there's nothing I can do to help! You were sewn up with a hidden stitch here—I never imagined they could be so vicious. If you had just paid them that 200,000 yesterday, you probably would have been fine.
Right now, that hidden stitch has completely cut off the blood return path down there. If this isn't handled properly, your parts will probably... probably..."
As he spoke, the TCM doctor looked at Lu Qiang with a complex expression, hesitating whether to continue.
"What will happen? Tell me already!" Lu Qiang's eyes bulged as he asked tremblingly.
"To put it simply, your parts are like a balloon being pumped with too much air. Once it exceeds the balloon's critical point, there's only one outcome for the balloon—it goes 'bang' and explodes!
There's only one way left: cut away the flesh and let the blood out. But even then, you probably won't be able to keep that thing of yours anymore!" the TCM doctor said with great difficulty.
"Is... is there really no other way?" Lu Qiang was scared out of his wits, but he refused to give up. If that really happened, his life would plunge into eternal darkness.
"You'd better make your choice quickly! Cutting the flesh to bleed it out at least lets you stand up to pee in the future!"
"Why? Why did it come to this? If I turn out like that, what the hell is the point of me living!" Suddenly, Lu Qiang leaped up wildly and made to slam his head against the wall.
Right at that instant, three cold flashes suddenly materialized, flying with blistering speed straight toward Lu Qiang's crotch.
Lu Qiang's motion stalled, and then he felt a slight chill in his crotch.
The TCM doctor had just been frightened nearly out of his wits by Lu Qiang's stunt.
I had good intentions stopping your bleeding, applying medicine, and not even charging you money.
If you want to die, don't do it in my clinic! Is this how you repay me?
You're trying to drive me to an early grave!
Seeing Lu Qiang slow down, he hurriedly stepped forward to pull him back,
and instinctively glanced down at Lu Qiang's lower half.
There, three silver needles had appeared out of nowhere, their tails vibrating incessantly and emitting a humming sound.
The silver needles were arranged in a triangular formation; as everyone knows, triangles possess stability.
Almost immediately, Lu Qiang's condition stabilized.
As waves of coolness continuously surged forth, Lu Qiang instantly felt as if a red-hot iron rod below had been plunged into a pool of icy water—cool, refreshing, and immensely soothing.
Not only did the pain vanish entirely, but the congested state of his lower half was receding at a visible pace.
What on earth was happening?
Having cheated death, Lu Qiang was stunned for a second, and then his wide-open eyes instantly filled with joyous surprise.
He looked toward the TCM doctor, only to see the man's mouth hanging wide open in utter shock.
Then he turned his gaze to Lin Hao standing beside him.
Lin Hao smiled faintly and nodded at him.
Realizing that it was this person who had saved his life, Lu Qiang was moved to tears of gratitude and prepared to drop to his knees before Lin Hao.
The sensation of escaping certain doom was something only those who had truly experienced it could understand.
Lin Hao stepped forward to support him, then called out to the TCM doctor, who was still trapped in a daze.
Together, the two men helped Lu Qiang and carried him to the back bed.
Recovering his wits, the TCM doctor looked at Lin Hao with absolute horror.
What had just happened defied all his understanding. Based on his experience, Lu Qiang's condition was completely irreversible.
What kind of technique was this?
He was a TCM practitioner, so he naturally studied acupuncture; yet mere silver needles had miraculously eased Lu Qiang's injury and even put him on the path to recovery.
Even Song Ciming, the Grand Master of Medicine in Jiangbei City and the founder of Bencao Hall known as the National Physician, couldn't pull off such a feat.
Ever since he entered Bencao Hall, he had been studying traditional Chinese medicine under Song Ciming.
In his heart, Song Ciming was practically a deity.
Yet this young man, who looked barely twenty, had effortlessly accomplished what even Song Ciming couldn't do with a flick of his hand.
Meanwhile, outside Bencao Hall, an old man stepped out of an Audi A6 and trotted excitedly into the clinic.
"Quick, wrap up that century-old Purple Ganoderma for me."
As soon as he entered Bencao Hall, the old man shouted toward the herb department manager.
The old man looked white-haired yet robust and spirited, with a ruddy complexion and boundless energy. He was none other than the master of Bencao Hall, Elder Song Ciming.
"Ah, Elder Song, you're here. That century-old Purple Ganoderma was just bought by a young man," the woman who had sold the herb to Lin Hao said nervously to Song Ciming.
She hadn't expected Song Ciming to visit today, let alone specifically ask for that Purple Ganoderma.
Song Ciming stamped his foot and asked, "Who bought it?"
He had spent the past few days researching an ancient formula he had accidentally acquired, and today he had finally managed to procure the very last ingredient required by the formula.
He had rushed over to Bencao Hall to retrieve the Purple Ganoderma and prepare the medicine to treat a close friend.
The final ingredient of that ancient formula was precisely the century-old Purple Ganoderma Bencao Hall had recently acquired.
Assuming nobody would buy it, he hadn't called the shop in advance, figuring he would just drop by and pick it up.
He never imagined that someone would actually buy it right before he arrived.
"A young man in his early twenties. He hasn't left yet; right now he's in Treatment Room 1 watching Dr. Liu treat a patient," the woman hurriedly replied.
Before she even finished speaking, Song Ciming hurried off toward Treatment Room 1.
As time passed, Lu Qiang had made a full recovery.
Not only had the bleeding stopped, but even the stitches he had received yesterday at the Men's Health Hospital had fallen off.
It looked no different from normal, except that it appeared like a flower bud about to bloom that had suddenly turned bald.
When Song Ciming knocked and walked into the room, Lin Hao had already removed the silver needles from Lu Qiang's crotch.
He smiled and instructed Lu Qiang to exercise more to increase friction hereafter, adding that he would get used to it.
When Lin Hao made his move earlier, he had infused the silver needles with a trace of spiritual energy from the Hongmeng Scripture.
Healing a minor injury like Lu Qiang's was naturally a walk in the park.