Chapter Eighty-Eight: Blood Demon

Murong Yun led the renowned physician of the Southern Capital straight to the ward.

“Secretary Li, this is Dr. Tang Daomin, one of the most famous doctors in the Southern Capital. He came all the way from the provincial capital especially for this.”

“Less talk, more treatment. Miss Yiling is a direct descendant of the Qin family, and her standing is of the utmost importance. Nothing must go wrong. If anything happens to her here in Luo City, your entire Murong family will never be able to bear the consequences.”

Qin Yiling’s secretary spoke with a frosty expression, every word carrying an unmistakable threat.

“Rest assured. With me here, nothing will happen,” Tang Daomin said. Knowing that his patient was a member of the Qin family from Fengyang, he was all the more attentive. This was precisely the sort of chance that could make his name resound across the south.

“I certainly hope so,” Secretary Li said with a cold snort.

Murong Yun was deeply displeased to be threatened by a mere secretary, but she could only endure it.

Qin Yiling had suddenly fallen ill upon arriving in Luo City. This had nothing to do with the Murong family, but if she truly died here, the Qin family would surely hold them to account without mercy.

And the Murong clan, eager to curry favor with the Qin family and unwilling to offend them, would certainly shift the blame onto her.

Both publicly and privately, Murong Yun did not want anything to happen to Qin Yiling in Luo City.

Murong Yun followed them into the ward. The Qin family’s party consisted of four people in all. Aside from Qin Yiling and her secretary, there was also one man and one woman: the woman was one of Qin Yiling’s managers, and the man was her bodyguard.

Tang Daomin first examined all of Qin Yiling’s test results, then looked over the blisters on her body and took her pulse. His expression gradually grew grave.

At that moment, Han Liqun arrived as well with the medicinal broth. Seeing Tang Daomin already in consultation, he stood quietly to one side and waited.

“What is this stinking stuff?” Secretary Li frowned at the smell of the decoction.

“This is the prescription given by Divine Doctor Lin. He said that wiping Miss Qin’s body with this broth can ease her symptoms,” Han Liqun explained.

“Nonsense! You’ve used so many medicines already, and none of them worked. Now you bring out some foul, black traditional remedy and expect it to cure her? A bunch of quacks! Take it away!” Secretary Li snapped.

“This... Secretary Li, Divine Doctor Lin’s prescription is absolutely sound,” Han Liqun said, trying to explain.

“If there really were a divine doctor, why didn’t you just bring him here to treat her in person?” Secretary Li demanded.

By then, Tang Daomin had finished taking Qin Yiling’s pulse. “Miss Qin appears to be suffering from blood carbuncle poison rash.”

“Is there any way to treat it?” Murong Yun asked.

Tang Daomin shook his head. “Blood carbuncle poison rash is extremely rare. I have only ever seen records of it in medical texts. This illness was created a century ago by the Blood Demon. If one comes into contact with the pus and blood, one becomes infected. The illness develops within twenty-four hours, and those who contract it usually do not survive beyond another twenty-four hours.”

His words shocked everyone present. Secretary Li and the other two in particular had all come into contact with the pus and blood, which meant they, too, had been infected.

What was more, Qin Yiling had fallen ill last night. In other words, she had only a few hours left to live.

“How can this be?!” Secretary Li’s face turned deathly pale. Gooseflesh rose all over him as terror seized him.

“Doctor Tang, you are a famed physician of the Southern Capital. Since you can diagnose the illness, surely there must be some way to cure it?” Murong Yun hurriedly asked.

“Centuries ago, the Blood Demon created this poison and brought calamity to an entire region, causing immense chaos and countless deaths and injuries. This is the Blood Demon’s unique method. With my medical skill, I am truly helpless against it.”

Tang Daomin had been full of confidence, believing this would be his chance to befriend the Qin family and make a name for himself throughout the world.

But now, all he could feel was his own powerlessness.

“If this disease appeared a century ago and caused such a huge impact, yet none of us have ever heard of it, then it must have been cured. Why can’t it be cured now?” Secretary Li pressed.

“Back then, fortunately, the Medicine Sage personally took action and formulated the prescription that cured it. After that, the disease vanished completely, and the method of treatment was never passed down. In all the world today, the only one who can cure it is the Medicine Sage,” Tang Daomin explained.

“The Medicine Sage from a hundred years ago? Wouldn’t that mean he died long ago?” Murong Yun said.

“If he is called a Sage, then he is naturally a transcendent master beyond the ordinary, with a lifespan of a thousand years. How could he possibly be dead? That elder is the foremost authority in medicine in our age.”

Tang Daomin stroked his beard, and when speaking of the Medicine Sage, his face was full of reverence.

“Then where can we find the Medicine Sage?” Secretary Li asked anxiously.

“Someone as transcendent as the Medicine Sage is like a dragon whose head is seen but whose tail is never found. He is not someone one can easily locate.”

At these words, Secretary Li went completely limp.

“What do we do? What are we supposed to do now?”

Murong Yun asked, “Doctor Tang, are you certain the diagnosis is correct? Since this is a rare illness that vanished a century ago, how could it appear in Miss Qin?”

“It should not be wrong. I found the record of this disease in a rare medical text. Miss Qin’s pulse and symptoms are exactly the same as those described there for blood carbuncle poison rash.”

“Is there really not a single thing that can be done?” Murong Yun asked, her expression darkening.

“I am truly powerless,” Tang Daomin said with a shake of his head.

Han Liqun then said, “Why not try this decoction? Perhaps it can relieve her symptoms and lessen her pain.”

“If there were medicine that could ease this disease, how could I possibly not know of it?” Tang Daomin said.

“This was prescribed by Divine Doctor Lin. Perhaps it may work? At the very least, it might spare Miss Qin some suffering.”

After hearing Tang Daomin’s explanation of blood carbuncle poison rash, Han Liqun also felt that perhaps Lin Yang might not be able to cure it either. But since the broth was already prepared, why not try it?

“If it is Mr. Lin’s prescription, then let us give it a try,” Murong Yun said.

“Wait. Which Divine Doctor Lin? I have only heard of one physician in Luo City by the name of Qi Yixin, and his skills are fairly decent. I have never heard of any doctor surnamed Lin who dares call himself a divine doctor,” Tang Daomin said disdainfully.

“Mr. Lin’s medical skill is above Qi Yixin’s. Even Old Master Qi is utterly convinced by Mr. Lin,” Han Liqun said.

“Oh? There is someone in Luo City whose medical skill surpasses Qi Yixin’s?”

Although Tang Daomin considered his own skill superior to Qi Yixin’s, if someone else truly surpassed Qi Yixin, that would indeed be impressive.

“Still, even if his skill exceeds Qi Yixin’s, he absolutely cannot cure this illness. If you want to try, then go ahead.”

Han Liqun did not dare make the decision on his own and looked to Secretary Li for approval.

By then, Secretary Li was so terrified at the thought that he himself might contract this certain death illness that he had completely lost his wits. His earlier aggressiveness was gone; he could only give a weak gesture of consent.

Han Liqun immediately had all unrelated people leave the ward, then called the nurses in to wipe Qin Yiling’s body with the medicinal broth.

On the hospital bed, Qin Yiling was suffering terribly. Her limbs had been restrained, or else she would have been unable to withstand the unbearable itching and would have clawed herself raw.

At first she could still scream, but later even her cries became faint, leaving only painful moans.

The nurses had never seen such symptoms before. Looking at the blood blisters on Qin Yiling’s body, oozing pus and blood, with many areas already ulcerated, they too felt a chill crawl up their spines.

Yet as the decoction was applied, Qin Yiling’s moans gradually grew much quieter. More importantly, the spread of the blood blisters stopped, and the ones that had already risen did not burst open to ooze pus and blood on their own.

It was obvious: the decoction was working.