"So, my proposal is this: first, we restore the young lady's physical functions to normal, and then guide her from a healthy mental state until she is fully recovered."
"Nonsense! The girl is completely insane; how can you possibly guide her?" Medicine King Sun snapped, already losing his temper.
"By using my exclusive treatment method, of course!" Chen Tian did not waver.
Naturally, he was tempted by the money; after all, he was currently broke. While Mayor Huang had asked for his help, he hadn't felt comfortable stating a price. Had the Mayor not come to pull him out of prison today, who knows how much longer he would have been stuck there? He always repaid debts—both of vengeance and of gratitude.
Hearing how expensive Medicine King Sun’s "miracle pills" were, Chen Tian felt a surge of indignation.
"Mayor Huang, I don’t need anything extra. Just pay me one hundred thousand to help me get back on my feet after I cure the young lady. Is that a fair price?"
"Ahem..." Medicine King Sun nearly choked. He actually had the nerve to name a price!
Beside them, the young boy scoffed, "Where did this charlatan crawl out of? He’ll say anything, won't he?"
The young girl chimed in, "How dare you try to swindle us in front of the Medicine King?"
"Swindle? Why don't you try it and find out?" Chen Tian rolled his eyes.
"Hah! You’re just a callow youth trying to scam people everywhere you go. If you can actually cure the Mayor's daughter, never mind one hundred thousand—I won't mind giving you one million to help you improve your life," Medicine King Sun mocked with a sneer.
Chen Tian took him seriously, his eyes lighting up. "Is that a promise?"
"...?"
Medicine King Sun was completely stunned. *Is this kid crazy too?* He had only meant it as a disdainful taunt, but Chen Tian actually looked completely sincere. Disdain filled the faces of the others in the room. They couldn't fathom how the leader of an entire city could be so easily hoodwinked by a mere boy.
"What? Were you just joking?" Chen Tian asked, sounding disappointed.
Medicine King Sun growled, "I can certainly be serious, but what if you fail? I don't believe for a second you can pull a million out of your pocket to pay me back!"
"If I can cure her, there’s no possibility of failure," Chen Tian replied with absolute confidence.
The young boy gave a dismissive snort. "If you don't have real skills, don't make a fool of yourself. This is the Mayor's home—be careful, or they might lock you up for fraud!"
The young girl added, "Our master is the prestigious Medicine King; he treats all illnesses and cures all diseases. What kind of talent could you possibly have? Let's see it."
Chen Tian shrugged. "I know some acupuncture."
"Hahaha! Did a monkey send you here as a joke?" The man and woman burst into laughter.
Medicine King Sun said coldly, "Since you are so determined to court death and attempt fraud right in front of me, don't blame me for being ruthless. I will give you that million if you can cure the young lady. But if you fail? Doesn't that prove you are a fraud who even dared to scam the Mayor? If you willingly admit to fraud and let the Mayor send you to prison, then I’ll take that bet."
Huang Zhonghu looked at both parties, feeling incredibly helpless. Chen Tian was his daughter’s savior; even if he couldn't cure her, he could never send him to prison.
Chen Tian, however, was nonchalant. He smiled and said, "Mayor Huang, since they’ve said so, let’s go through with it. You be my witness!"
"Chen Tian, this..." Mayor Huang felt torn.
Chen Tian, on the other hand, was excited. Honestly, a figure as important as the Mayor had come to pick him up personally and treated him to fine food and drink—Chen Tian would have been embarrassed to ask for a million. But now that someone was betting him a million, he was more than happy to accept.
"It's getting late, let's stop talking," Chen Tian said.
Medicine King Sun glared coldly at Chen Tian and shouted, "Apprentices, bring the tools."
"Yes, Master," the man and woman replied in unison.
Medicine King Sun then explained to Huang Zhonghu, "I have mastered countless miraculous pharmaceutical formulas. One pill cures a hundred ailments; that is no idle boast. Today, I shall show you the power of the Medicine King."
With that, he pulled out various powders and began preparing medicine on the spot. Several small bronze furnaces kept in his luggage were set over lit oil burners. Chen Tian had never seen such equipment and watched with intense interest. Within half an hour, the bronze furnaces were glowing red-hot.
Medicine King Sun opened the furnace door. A glowing red pill appeared, flickering with firelight even as he removed it. He dropped the pill into a cup of medicinal liquid; a soft "chi" sound followed, and the pill turned translucent, laced with fine, saffron-like red threads. It looked incredibly exquisite.
"Mayor Huang," Medicine King Sun explained, "This contains many of my exclusive secret ingredients—thousand-year Lingzhi, ginseng, snow lotus, and countless other precious herbs. This single pill is priceless; I wouldn't sell it for less than a hundred thousand. It has the power to prolong life. Once she takes this, I guarantee she will be back on her feet, acting like a normal person for at least three days."
"That powerful? Then why not use this to save my daughter?" Huang Zhonghu asked, sounding quite moved.
Medicine King Sun sighed, "Life-prolonging medicine is a miracle for those on the verge of death, but for a young lady, it could actually shorten her lifespan if used too much. Today, I gift you one pill so you and your daughter can reunite for a while. Don't worry, Mayor, the side effects will be minimal."
"Good, good," Huang Zhonghu said, overcome with emotion.
Seeing this, Chen Tian quickly intervened, "Although Huang Yimeng has been depressed for a long time and her Yin has overcome her Yang, such an intensely Yang-dominant substance will be more than she can handle."
Medicine King Sun sneered, "I suppose you have some slight knowledge, but my miracle medicine isn't as simple as you think." With that, he fed it to Huang Yimeng.
The young boy said smugly, "Kid, get ready to go to prison. You can't even imagine how incredible my master's miracle drug is!"
The young girl added, "Exactly! Do you realize now how embarrassing you’ve been?"
Within mere minutes, Huang Yimeng's eyes suddenly fixed, and a flash of light returned to them.
"Daughter, how are you? Do you recognize me? It's Daddy," Huang Zhonghu said, grabbing her hand as he noticed the change.
"Daddy... *sob*... Daddy, I'm so scared!" Huang Yimeng burst into tears, wrapping her arms around her father.
Medicine King Sun stroked his beard, looking very satisfied.
The young boy laughed triumphantly, "Kid, do you see my master’s power now? This is a true miracle pill. You couldn't even afford the dust from those precious herbs."
"I hate sleazy con artists like you. We can't let him go, or he'll just go out and scam others," the young girl said, stepping forward aggressively.
But just as they were basking in their success, Huang Yimeng suddenly grabbed her head and screamed, "Ah! My head hurts! My head... Aaaah!"
She went wild, suddenly lunging at Huang Zhonghu and grabbing him by the throat. "Go to hell! You killed my mother! Die..."
"Gack..." Huang Zhonghu was caught off guard, nearly choked to death by his own daughter.
Medicine King Sun was shocked. "How could this be?" He shouted to his apprentices, "Quick, help me! Pull her away!"
But Huang Yimeng’s expression was ferocious, as if she wouldn't stop until she had strangled the Mayor. The three of them couldn't pull her off.
Chen Tian stepped forward in two strides and tapped her *Baihui* acupuncture point with his finger. Huang Yimeng instantly went limp and collapsed to the floor.
"Cough, cough..." Huang Zhonghu rubbed his throat, coughing uncontrollably. "What... what exactly is going on?" His eyes were filled with anger.
Medicine King Sun, looking embarrassed, hurried to defend himself, "This is why I said... mental illness is rarely treatable by medicine alone."
Chen Tian helped Huang Zhonghu to his feet. The Mayor said gratefully, "If you hadn't stopped her in time, Chen Tian, I really would have been strangled."
Chen Tian replied, "If you don't understand the cause, acting blindly will only lead to situations like this."
Medicine King Sun was furious at this remark. "What nonsense are you spouting? If you’re so capable, why don't you try curing her?"
Chen Tian said calmly, "For mental issues, physical therapy and psychological therapy are equally important. If you can't formulate the 'heart medicine' to treat the young lady, you can't cure her."
"Nonsense! Are you saying you can formulate this 'heart medicine'?" Medicine King Sun roared.
Chen Tian nodded seriously. "I can."
After his fright, Huang Zhonghu was leaning more toward Chen Tian and had lost faith in Medicine King Sun. A hundred thousand for a pill that nearly killed him?
"If you're so good, then hurry up and cure her! Let us see it!" the young girl shouted.
"Come on, don't be a coward. We’ll watch your performance!" the young boy added with a sneer.
Chen Tian looked at the Mayor and spread his hands. "I need silver needles."
"No problem, I'll have them sent over immediately!" the Mayor replied.
Once the needles were in his hand, Chen Tian prepared to begin. Seeing him act so seriously, Medicine King Sun scoffed, "Silver needles? Those can't solve mental problems. Besides, at your age, what kind of acupuncture technique could you possibly have mastered?"
"Shut up! I don't want to be disturbed while I'm working," Chen Tian snapped.
"You..." Medicine King Sun was livid. He looked at the Mayor, but seeing that he was remaining silent, he chose not to speak further. In truth, he was curious to see how Chen Tian would use the needles.
To everyone's surprise, Chen Tian used eighty-eight silver needles until Huang Yimeng looked like a hedgehog!
"Chen Tian, can this really work?" The Mayor was dumbfounded; he had never seen such a treatment.
Medicine King Sun scoffed, "A true acupuncture master would never stick needles in like that. Mayor Huang, be careful, or your daughter might lose her life."
"This..." Huang Zhonghu was incredibly conflicted.
Chen Tian roared in anger, "If you keep yapping, do you want me to beat you up?"
"You..." Medicine King Sun was stunned speechless.
The young girl quickly comforted him, "Master, let's just watch. Once he fails, he won't be able to leave the Mayor's house."
The young boy added, "And if the young lady’s life is endangered, we already warned the Mayor, didn't we?"
Medicine King Sun nodded and relaxed, his face full of sarcasm.
Chen Tian now treated the outside world as if it were air. The needles, seemingly placed randomly, were actually following the meridians; every single one was essential. After placing them all, he drove the final needle into the *Baihui* point—the beginning, the end, and the death point.
As that needle sank in, all the other needles began to resonate in harmony. The Yin-evil energy in Huang Yimeng’s body was besieged and routed, and in an instant, Yang energy flooded through her limbs and bones.
"Cough..." She suddenly cleared her head and opened her eyes.
Medicine King Sun was shocked. *How is this possible?* Silver needles could only clear meridians and bones; the nerves were a forbidden zone—it was impossible to apply needles there.
However, they noticed that this time, Huang Yimeng's gaze was no longer ferocious or hollow; it had become clear and bright.
"Ugh, my head hurts. Dad, why are you all staring at me like that?"
This was the clearest sentence Huang Yimeng had spoken in years. It was so clear that Huang Zhonghu couldn't believe it was real. *It's miraculous! She's been ill for so many years—why has she improved in an instant?*
Medicine King Sun's expression became wildly exaggerated. As a renowned physician, there was almost no illness he couldn't treat; his ability to identify herbs and cure disease was legendary. Yet, he found this impossible to believe.
"How can this be? My Nine-Turn Life-Returning Pill used numerous precious Yang-enhancing herbs, yet it didn't restore her. What magic do these needles have? How did you do this?" Medicine King Sun’s disdain had vanished, replaced by confusion.
The young girl was also slack-jawed, overcome with shame, and no longer said a word. The young boy wanted to offer a weak defense, but seeing his master so stunned, he stayed silent.
Chen Tian smiled with satisfaction. "Your pill uses essence to prolong life; it's only suitable for those on the verge of death. But Miss Huang is young; her constitution isn't inherently weak. Such a violent stimulation didn't just fail to help her—it nearly caused hallucinations and aggravated her nerve damage."
"What?" Huang Zhonghu was furious. "Medicine King Sun, didn't you say there were no side effects?"
"This... this was just an oversight," Medicine King Sun stammered, his mouth twitching. He looked at Chen Tian, refusing to yield, and asked weakly, "Then how did *you* do it?"
Chen Tian remained calm. "Fine, since you want to know, I'll tell you. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll try to welch on our bet! It’s simple: I broke the whole down into parts. Miss Huang has been depressed for too long, and the Yin energy had attacked her entire body. That’s why she was tortured by her thoughts and wanted to end her life. I used the meridians to disperse that cold Yin energy; that’s how I achieved a quick recovery, better than any miracle pill."
"This..." Medicine King Sun, experienced as he was, had to admit that Chen Tian’s logic was sound. He had thought it would take three to five years to gradually clear that much stagnant Yin energy. Chen Tian had used the needles to disperse it into all the acupuncture points at once, condensing those years of recovery into a single quarter of an hour.
"What are you all talking about? Dad, who are they?" Huang Yimeng looked at Chen Tian blankly, showing little reaction.
"Daughter, this is your savior—twice over! Heaven truly looks after the Huang family, letting me meet a modern-day Hua Tuo!" Huang Zhonghu grabbed his daughter's hands, overcome with emotion.
Chen Tian waved him off. "Mayor Huang, wait a moment. The treatment isn't finished yet."
"Ah? Not finished? But my daughter is already better!" Huang Zhonghu said, confused.
Chen Tian asked Huang Yimeng with a smile, "Young lady, what about your mother?"
Instantly, Huang Yimeng's expression changed, and her hands began to tremble. The nightmares haunting her memory surged back. She clutched her head and began to cry, "Don't kill me... *sob*... don't kill me..."
"Divine Doctor Chen, this... this..." Huang Zhonghu panicked again.
Chen Tian took a deep breath. "As I said, the physical therapy is done, but there is still psychological therapy. Only by conquering her fear can Miss Huang become a normal person again."
"Divine Doctor Chen, you are incredible! Please, proceed—my daughter seems to be in great pain!" Huang Zhonghu urged.
Chen Tian stood up. "I need to be alone with Miss Huang."
Huang Zhonghu helped Huang Yimeng into her bedroom, and Chen Tian went in and closed the door. A treatment method called "Divine Cleansing Therapy" popped into his mind. Chen Tian began to chant.
At first, Huang Yimeng hugged her head, showing no reaction. But when Chen Tian persisted to the third time, she suddenly calmed down. She listened carefully, and soon began to chant along with him, as if hypnotized.
Before long, all her memories seemed to fade, and she simply kept chanting the words of the therapy. After a while, Chen Tian stopped and a smile curled his lips. He had succeeded.
Huang Yimeng continued to chant. Nearly an hour later, her lips finally went still. Chen Tian gently laid her on the bed, walked out, and closed the door.
"Divine Doctor Chen, how is she?" Huang Zhonghu asked anxiously.
Chen Tian smiled. "The psychological therapy is complete. She hasn't slept well in a long time; when she wakes from this sleep, she will be reborn."
"That's wonderful!"
"No! I don't believe such a treatment exists. You must have used some trick to deceive us," Medicine King Sun, a man of his standing, refused to believe it. He wouldn't admit it even if it killed him.
Chen Tian sat down with his arms crossed, a playful glint in his eyes. "If you don't believe it, let's wait for her to wake up. Of course, whether you believe it or not doesn't matter to me—I just want the million from our bet."
"You... you..." Medicine King Sun didn't care about the money; he cared about his reputation! If this got out, he would be ruined. Furthermore, he couldn't understand how someone with such terrifying medical skills could be so impoverished.
"I'll wait. I'll wait with you," Huang Zhonghu said, his excitement mounting. With the Mayor speaking, Medicine King Sun dared not protest. However, it was clear that the wait was agonizing for him.
Soon, dawn broke. It had been a long night for all of them. Huang Zhonghu wanted to go inside to check on her, but Chen Tian insisted that she would wake up on her own, so he held back.
The morning sun shone into the luxurious villa, bringing a sense of vitality.
*Creak...*
Suddenly, the door to Huang Yimeng’s bedroom opened. Sunlight streamed through the window, hitting the doorway like a spotlight. Within that dazzling light, a graceful, slender figure appeared.
*Gasp...*
Medicine King Sun's apprentices couldn't help but gasp in amazement. Huang Yimeng was about 1.65 meters tall, and she was wearing a pure white dress, looking like a white rose blooming in the sunlight. Other than the faint traces of gloom still lingering on her face, her features were delicate and perfect.