The next second, wisps of white smoke began to rise from Xue Kangning's body, looking thoroughly mystical.
Yet Su Hao did not touch these ice-soul silver needles. Instead, hovering his two fingers above Xue Kangning's body, he controlled the depth of the needles entirely through the air.
Witnessing this scene, Feng Zhongyi's eyes widened into perfect circles.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to witness the divine art of qi-guided acupuncture from someone other than his own master in this lifetime.
In fact, Su Hao executed this technique with even greater mastery and flow, without the slightest hesitation—outperforming his master by a considerable margin.
At this, Feng Zhongyi was completely and utterly convinced.
Truly, in the pursuit of the Way there is precedence, and in skills and crafts there are specialties.
No wonder his master had said the holder of the ice-soul silver needles possessed medical skills unmatched in all the world; this young man was indeed fully worthy of such high praise!
As the white smoke gradually emerged, the toxins eroding Xue Kangning's liver were forced out bit by bit.
Black blood spots gradually appeared on his skin, emitting a distinct odor reminiscent of sulfides.
President Sun furrowed his brows deeply.
Even with liver cancer, a patient's body would never emit a sulfide odor. Only when toxins had accumulated and were being forcibly purged would such a condition arise.
It seemed that the sharp turn for the worse in Xue Kangning's condition this time was primarily due to poisoning.
His body was already exceptionally weak from liver cancer, and the poisoning had dealt a devastating blow to his immune system—without a doubt, this was adding frost to snow.
Realizing this, President Sun could not help but look upon Su Hao with newfound respect.
This young man had been able to diagnose Xue Kangning's true illness at a single glance, prescribe the right remedy for the condition, and wield a technique he had never even heard of. It was truly an eye-opener.
Shen Yue held Xue Rou's hand, her heart fluttering with anxiety.
"Rou Rou, can Su Hao really save your grandfather?"
Xue Rou said firmly, "He definitely can! He's not the kind of person to make empty boasts. Look, Grandpa's complexion is already much better than it was just now."
Shen Yue looked closely and saw that it was indeed true, letting out a sigh of relief.
In contrast, the expressions of Xue Yi and his wife were far from pleasant.
The two of them exchanged glances, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.
They had laid their plans for so long precisely hoping that Xue Kangning would die quickly. Before Su Hao and Xue Rou could stir up any waves, their branch of the family could secure greater authority within the Xue family, and later split off from Xue Er and the others.
Otherwise, once Su Hao and Xue Rou joined together, and Xue Kangning placed all his resources into this young couple, the good days for their family would likely come to an end.
Yet the more one feared a certain outcome, the more likely it was to materialize.
In the span of just a quarter of an hour, the blood seeping from Xue Kangning's chest had turned from black back to red, his complexion had returned to normal, and his breathing was no longer as weak as before.
President Sun checked the monitoring equipment nearby and discovered that all of Xue Kangning's vital signs had unexpectedly reached healthy levels. He exclaimed in excitement, "Old Xue is going to be fine!"
Su Hao noticed this as well, stopped channeling his energy, and unhurriedly pulled out all the silver needles.
"Clean the dirt off Grandpa Xue."
At Su Hao's command, Xue Rou moved swiftly, returning shortly with hot towels and warm water.
Xue Er took the items and carefully wiped his father down. Noticing him slowly open his eyes, he asked anxiously, "Dad, how do you feel?"
"A bit sleepy..." Xue Kangning muttered hazily.
"Su Hao, what's going on here? Is this normal?"
Xue Er, who had previously harbored doubts about Su Hao, witnessed the miracle firsthand and completely flipped his attitude, treating Su Hao like an expert as he hurriedly consulted him.
Su Hao nodded and replied, "Don't worry, metabolism consumes physical energy too. It's completely normal for Grandpa Xue to feel exhausted; a good sleep and he'll be fine."
"Later I'll write another prescription for Grandpa Xue to nourish his qi and replenish his blood. Have him take it for two or three days, and I guarantee he'll be walking as if he's flying."
"That's good." Xue Er patted his chest, a heavy burden lifted from his mind.
Yet Su Hao's very next sentence left him completely dumbfounded.
"The most urgent matter now is to root out the person who poisoned him!"
Shen Yue seemed to guess something, her expression turning icy: "Su Hao, are you saying the old master's sudden critical condition was caused by poisoning?"
"That's right."
As Su Hao spoke, his sharp gaze pierced toward Xue Yi like a knife.
"Absurd! The old master was perfectly fine at home, how could he possibly be poisoned?"
Knowing full well that Su Hao was suspecting him, Xue Yi immediately retorted, "Don't think that just because you cured the old master, you can casually fabricate false information to stir up internal conflict within the Xue family."
"Mr. Su is not wrong. Your father was indeed poisoned," President Sun interjected.
Right after him, Feng Zhongyi also nodded, saying, "This poison is extremely covert and difficult to detect; even I was fooled."
Their statements made Xue Yi's counterattack feeble, and his eyes flicked about with a guilty conscience.
Seeing her husband being so useless, his wife Zhu Bi immediately pushed him behind her and self-righteously clarified, "Our couple has always been very filial to the old master all these years, and we've never harbored any malicious intentions. The old master has treated our family with immense grace as well, so we have no reason to harm him."
Su Hao didn't bother arguing back and forth with her, turning instead to ask Shen Yue, "Aunt Shen, what did Grandpa Xue eat this morning and at noon?"
"He had some mung bean porridge in the morning and a bowl of noodles at noon—nothing was wrong with either. But an hour ago, his liver suddenly started aching terribly. When Xue Er and I rushed back, he was almost dying."
Su Hao pressed further, "In other words, you and Uncle Xue Er went out for a period of time this afternoon?"
"Yes, but Eldest Brother and Sister-in-law said they were coming home, which is why we went out."
Hearing this, Zhu Bi immediately cried out, "Xue Yi and I covered for you guys at home at noon, and we didn't go back out for the entire afternoon. The family servants can testify to that, so no matter how you spin it, this is your fault."
Her words clearly aimed to shift the blame entirely onto Shen Yue.
Just as Shen Yue found herself unable to retort, Su Hao dropped a cold comment.
"This kind of poison doesn't take effect the moment it enters the body; it takes at least three or four hours."
"Wasn't it the two of you taking care of Grandpa Xue at noon?"
The scene fell into a dead silence.
Xue Yi and Zhu Bi were struck utterly speechless by Su Hao's words.
"So it really was you two! The old master treated you so well, and yet you commit patricide?!"
Never had Xue Er imagined that his eldest brother's family could be so out of their minds. He lunged forward and began savagely beating Xue Yi.
Xue Yi had not expected his usually submissive younger brother to dare lay a hand on him. Caught completely off guard, he was left with no room to fight back and quickly collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach.
"You brat have lost your mind! You actually dare hit your older brother?!"
"The one who lost his mind is you! You're capable of poisoning your own father—you're truly no human, worse than pigs and dogs. I'm going to kill you!"
Driven completely insane with rage, Xue Er straddled Xue Yi like a frantic beast, raining blows on him until he shrieked in agony.
Fearing a disaster, President Sun turned his head and said to Xue Rou, "Persuade your dad. If someone actually gets killed, you'll be the ones in trouble."
Angry as she was, Xue Rou knew the gravity of the situation and immediately rushed forward, pulling Xue Er away.
"Alright Dad, we don't have absolute proof right now. If you really beat them half to death, we won't be able to answer to Grandpa."
"What proof or no proof? This must have been done by this couple!"
Xue Er had never been this fiercely spine-lined in his entire life, raging uncontrollably.
"You two shameless beasts! It's a fortunate thing the old master is fine this time, but if anything had happened to him, I would have made your whole family pay with your lives!"
"You dare!"
At that moment, the ward door was pushed open, and Xue Aohan rushed in flanked by a group of bodyguards.
She bent down to lift her father up, glaring with sharp eyes as she berated Xue Er, "You keep claiming my parents poisoned Grandpa—where is your proof?"
"My parents weren't even taking care of Grandpa at noon. They went to my uncle's house to play mahjong, and Aunt Qin helped watch over Grandpa."
"I only called my parents back once you guys arrived to take your shift, so you wouldn't find out."
At Xue Aohan's words, both Xue Yi and Zhu Bi looked rather awkward.
The old master was on his deathbed, yet the two of them had run off to play—it was indeed rather heartless.
"In short, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with my parents. Believe it or not, our consciences are clear."
Xue Aohan spoke at the top of her lungs, her tone so full of conviction that she didn't seem to be lying.
"Mom, Dad, we won't take this unjust treatment. We work ourselves to the bone taking care of Grandpa only to get blamed for it! Since they think you're useless, let them take care of him from now on. You're getting old anyway, so stop doing these dirty, exhausting chores and spare yourselves the false accusations!"
With that, Xue Aohan grabbed her parents and made to walk out.
"Old Xue's condition still needs to be monitored, nobody leaves," President Sun declared, blocking the doorway with a solemn voice.
Xue Aohan hesitated, swallowing her words.
Although she had brought quite a few elite bodyguards from Zhao Tai's side and could easily handle President Sun, President Sun had broad connections with colleagues and martial brothers across major hospitals. He was a man she could not afford to offend; otherwise, if anything went wrong with her health in the future, she wouldn't be able to ask anyone for help.
Fearing that Xue Aohan might come to blows with President Sun, Xue Yi quickly intervened, "Aohan, Grandpa's condition still needs to be observed. Let's wait and see."
"Fine, then we'll stay for half an hour. After that, we still have to go see Zhao Tai, and dressed like this we look a bit unpresentable."
Hearing this, Zhu Bi's face instantly lit up with glee.
"Young Master Zhao invited us over as guests? That's wonderful!"
Though Xue Aohan and Zhao Tai had been getting hot and heavy lately, and he had even proposed, the gap between the Xue family and the Zhao family was vast. Zhu Bi had never seriously expected Xue Aohan to truly marry into the Zhao family; she had only thought about squeezing whatever money she could out of Zhao Tai.
Who would have thought Zhao Tai would actually invite them to dinner? This was unmistakably the rhythm of meeting the parents and walking down the aisle into matrimony.
Xue Yi was equally ecstatic.
Throwing off his previous dejected look, he said to Xue Er, "Considering I failed to take care of the old master properly at noon and caused him to be poisoned, I won't hold it against you for hitting me."
"Since you guys are so good at taking care of people, you can take care of the old master from now on. I couldn't care less about fighting you for those things anymore."
Xue Yi had seen the light.
With divine doctor Su Hao escorting him, it was practically impossible for the old master to kick the bucket anytime soon, and his hopes of dividing the family estate would most likely fall through.
Not to mention, the old master liked Su Hao so much that even if the estate were divided, Xue Er's family would undoubtedly get the lion's share.
Factor in the other relatives, and whatever reached his hands would be a mere drop in the bucket.
That being the case, there was no need for him to waste any more energy on these people. It would be far better to thoroughly butter up Zhao Tai and pin all his hopes on his daughter.
If his daughter really could fly up to the branches and become the mistress of the Zhao family, the wealth and glory of his lifetime would be inexhaustible. Why would he need to care about the old master's scraps?
"Whether you poisoned him or not still remains to be verified, so don't chatter nonsense here," President Sun said with a dark face.
Just as Xue Yi opened his mouth to speak, Su Hao abruptly shifted topics: "This wasn't their doing."
"Huh?"
Xue Rou was startled and pressed, "How do you know?"
"I just realized that the poison Grandpa Xue ingested has strong adhesive properties. If they were the poisoners, they would have traces of the toxin on them to some degree, and this poison cannot be eliminated by physical or chemical means," Su Hao said word by word.
"I didn't find any toxins on them. Their guilty conscience earlier was purely because they hadn't been taking care of Grandpa Xue at noon and were afraid of being branded unfilial."
One thing Su Hao hadn't mentioned was that in Daoist arts, there were threads of karma. Within a three-meter radius, people who shared karmic ties to an event would have their threads intertwined.
He had secretly opened his spiritual eyes earlier, but the results showed that Xue Kangning's poisoning had no karmic connection to Xue Yi and his group. The real culprit lay elsewhere.
Deeply convinced by Su Hao's words, Feng Zhongyi turned to President Sun and said, "Let them leave. Staying here will only be in the way."
Clearly, he didn't care much for the character of Xue Yi's family.
Without hesitation, President Sun shooed Xue Yi and the others out like pests and slammed the door shut.
"Mr. Su, that set of silver needles in your hand... could it be the supreme treasure of the Ancient Gate Sect—the ice-soul silver needles?!"
Su Hao was momentarily taken aback. "You're quite well-informed, even knowing about the ice-soul silver needles. I thought you were just a quack."
At these words, the corner of President Sun's eye twitched, his face betraying pure astonishment.
Feng Zhongyi was a grandmaster-level divine doctor, yet in Su Hao's mouth, he was reduced to a quack?
This kid had skills, but wasn't he being a bit too arrogant?
Unexpectedly, Feng Zhongyi didn't mind in the least. He even forced a smiling face and said, "Compared to Mr. Su, I truly am a quack, failing even to diagnose Elder Xue's poisoning."
"In the entire Traditional Chinese Medicine circle, aside from the senior brothers and sisters of my sect, there probably aren't many people capable of diagnosing this, let alone someone of your ordinary caliber. So, there's no need to feel ashamed about it." Su Hao's words were clearly meant as comfort, yet they sounded utterly grating.
Before Xue Rou could tell Su Hao to temper his words, Feng Zhongyi drew a sharp breath and pressed further, "Mr. Su, may I ask if you descended from Mount Wuming?"
"How do you know?"
Yet no sooner had Su Hao given this reply than Feng Zhongyi dropped to his knees before him without another word.
"You... what are you doing?"
Su Hao was somewhat stunned.
Even with his formidable abilities, it shouldn't warrant an old man kneeling to him—that was a surefire way to shave years off his own life span!
Just as Su Hao prepared to help Feng Zhongyi up, however, the latter bowed respectfully, his forehead striking the floor with a solid thud.
"Uncle-Master is above, please accept this bow from your nephew-disciple!"
"Uncle-Master?!"
Facing this form of address from Feng Zhongyi, Xue Rou and the others looked at each other in utter shock, scared out of their wits.
Su Hao was young enough to easily pass as Feng Zhongyi's grandson, so how on earth had he become his Uncle-Master?
On the contrary, upon hearing Feng Zhongyi address him thus, Su Hao snapped his fingers as if awakening from a dream and asked, "Your master wouldn't happen to be Baili Weiyue, would he?"
"Indeed, Uncle-Master Su! He even brought me to meet you back in the day. You were very young then, and with so many years passing, I carelessly forgot all about it," Feng Zhongyi nodded like a pecking chick, incomparably excited.
"No wonder you looked a bit familiar to me. So we've met before."
Su Hao came to a sudden realization, helping Feng Zhongyi to his feet and treating him with a much warmer attitude.
"Who is Baili Weiyue?" Xue Rou asked curiously.
"My senior brother," Su Hao stated plainly.
"A handsome guy who is over a hundred years old yet looks thirty, and whose medical skills surpass my master's, coming in second only to mine."
Xue Rou covered her mouth in speechlessness: "A hundred years old and looking thirty, no way?"
Seeing someone challenge his master's looks, Feng Zhongyi decisively whipped out a photograph of Baili Weiyue.
"One meter seventy-five, exquisite facial features, a head of white hair, draped in long robes, carrying himself with peerless grace..."
Xue Rou was left speechless.
It wasn't that Feng Zhongyi was exaggerating; rather, every word he spoke was entirely literal.
"Does someone really possess the ability to return to youth in this world?" Xue Er swallowed hard, deeply shocked.
Su Hao praised without reservation, "Senior Brother Baili's medical skills are brilliant. He independently created the Beauty Pill and handles his own bodily conditioning with effortless ease. To ordinary people, fifty years of aging amounts to no more than five years of aging for him."
"Good son-in-law, can you make the Beauty Pill? Toss one to your mother-in-law!" Shen Yue's eyes sparkled.
"I don't know how to make Senior Brother Baili's Beauty Pill."
Su Hao shook his head slightly, prompting a look of disappointment from Shen Yue.
"Well, after all, he's your senior brother; he has to have some unique secret skills."
Su Hao smiled without a word.
How could Baili Weiyue's Beauty Pill ever compare to his own Youth-Preserving Pill?
The effect was three to five times worse!
To give his mother-in-law something so inferior would weigh too heavily on his conscience!
President Sun stood dumbly to the side watching, entirely bewildered by the generation gap between Su Hao and Feng Zhongyi.
Yet one thing was crystal clear in his mind: if Jinling Hospital had a divine doctor like Su Hao holding down the fort, their hospital would undoubtedly soar forward by leaps and bounds.
With that thought, President Sun chimed in immediately, "Mr. Su, Medical King Feng, this is a ward after all, without even a place to sit. It's hardly convenient for the two of you to reminisce and chat."
"Why don't the two of you adjourn to my office? I have fine tea there—just the thing to invite you both to taste."
Eager for a proper chat with Su Hao, Feng Zhongyi gladly nodded and said, "Good, good, good. I wonder if Uncle-Master Su has the time?"
"You and President Sun go ahead and drink; I still need to stay and clean up the aftermath. We'll chat another time."
"Understood, Uncle-Master Su. Please take care of business first."
Knowing that Su Hao had matters of the Xue family to handle, Feng Zhongyi didn't press further and left the ward with President Sun.
After the two men departed, Su Hao picked up a pen and paper and began writing a prescription, while Xue Rou's family discussed the matter of Xue Kangning's poisoning.
"It's a good thing the old master fell asleep less than a minute after waking up, otherwise if he found out his eldest son and daughter-in-law failed to provide for him in his old age, it probably would have agitated him into another crisis."
"If it really is as Su Hao said, and the poisoners aren't the eldest brother and sister-in-law, then wouldn't Aunt Qin be the ultimate culprit?"
"Aunt Qin has been in the Xue family for so many years and has always been diligent and dutiful. She wouldn't resort to poisoning, would she?"
"I think so too. Even the eldest brother and his wife couldn't get their hands on that kind of poison, so it's even less likely Aunt Qin could."
The family of three analyzed the situation, yet still could not figure out where the problem lay.
"Forget it. This matter will have to be investigated slowly; in any case, we can't just let it rest like this."
Shen Yue delivered the final verdict, arranging for the follow-up.
Right after, recalling something else, she smiled half-heartedly, "You completely dazed the eldest brother with those blows today; that's not like your usual self at all."
Over the years, Shen Yue had argued countless times with Xue Er over his spinelessness.
Yet today, her husband had utterly discarded his past submissiveness and beaten Xue Yi to the point where he couldn't even breathe a word.
This left Shen Yue feeling immensely gratified, with a sense of finally standing tall and raising her head in pride.