Chapter 108: A Skilled But Greedy Doctor
As Lennie had served in the army for many years, Cloud Sect had become a little unfamiliar to him. He remembered that Cloud Sect had outer disciples and inner disciples. However, he could not recall whether the outer disciples included some nature creatures or not.
Judging from Zen's life energy, he believed that the extraordinary young man in front of him must be at a half-step into the nature level. What confused Lennie was that the young man's life energy was somewhat strange.
All people, including a few great masters like Lennie, couldn't believe that a person who was at a half-step into the nature level, could give such a superior performance!
Despite his injuries, Zen stood straight like a statue. Curious, Lennie walked up to the boy and reached out to touch one of the veins on Zen's neck.
“His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys have been damaged, and all the veins have been ruptured...... He shouldn't be able to stand with such severe wounds. What a persevering man......!” Lennie said in astonishment before turning and asking his niece, “Nina, who is this young guy?”
“Uncle, please don't be concerned about his identity. He is severely injured, and we need to help him! Please save him. Please,” Nina said in a trembling voice, “Can he be saved?”
Lennie smiled and replied, “The guy is so strong that he is still alive after his wounds. So saving him isn't impossible. Although there are many ways to heal him, each comes at an exorbitant cost. So, I have to ask you who he is.”
Lennie had been in many life and death situations, and for Nina, he would pay any price to help her. However, for a stranger, he would be unwilling to go all out. So he needed to know who the extraordinary young man was.
“He...... He saved me. And he is in a critical condition because he tried to save me...” Nina gazed at Zen with mixed feelings.
Lennie was wise enough to assess the situation at first glance correctly. However, he needed to confirm his suspicions before proceeding. And so, he asked about the young man to see how Nina would react. When he saw Nina's expression, Lennie smiled because as an elder, he knew it would be impolite to ask about details that she would consider private. So he said, “Okay. Sure, we will save him!”
After he finished reassuring Nina, Lennie moved his finger, and a bright life vitality appeared in his hand. In an instant, the life vitality turned into an acupuncture needle.
The Zhu Clan was not only good at making and using hidden weapons, but it was also famous for the needle method named Yin-Yang Acupuncture Needle. The Yin-Yang Acupuncture Needle could be used for both, subduing an enemy and saving an injured person.
However, Zen's injuries were too severe for Lennie to cure. By using the Yin-Yang Acupuncture Needle, Lennie could preserve Zen's life.
“Bloop!”
Lennie made a slight gesture with his hand, and the long acupuncture needle was inserted correctly into Zen's Shenque acupoint.
Then, Lennie made another gesture with his hands, and more acupuncture needles appeared. Masterfully, Lennie inserted them, one by one, into Zen's Shanzhong, Rugen, Guanyuan, and Taiyuan points......
Nina watched with bated breath as Lennie repeated the action several times. After a while, all 14 important points in Zen's body had been covered.
After Lennie finished, Zen's eyes closed tight, and his wounds stopped bleeding.
Then, Lennie reached forward to draw out the bone spurs in Zen's body, one by one.
Seeing the severity of Zen's injuries, he had to admit that Zen was badly wounded. A frown appeared on Lennie's face and sweat beaded on his brow as he focused on the task of removing the bone spurs. Even though Lennie had experienced many wars, he trembled with fear when drawing out the bone spurs from Zen's body. He knew that a common person at the nature level would die once struck by a bone spur.
But how could this guy still be alive after so many bone spurs penetrated his organs? 'Is he really so tenacious?' Lennie wondered.
After removing all the bone spurs from Zen's body, Lennie pressed Zen's shoulders slightly. Then a little sliver sword made of life vitality appeared on the ground. Lennie used the sword to support Zen.
After that, he walked toward Nina to see if she was injured. Once he was satisfied that his niece was not injured, he placed Nina and Zen on a silver sword to fly them out of Sky Forest.
“Uncle, my friends are in Sky Forest...” At that moment, Nina thought of the disciples from Lady Peak, Skytop Peak, and Drizzle Peak.
“Don't worry. Many demon generals have sneaked into the Sky Forest and it has been known to White Emperor City. A rescue team was sent to search for and save the disciples of Cloud Sect,” said Lennie.
Nina gazed at Zen who lay beside her. Then she turned and asked, “Uncle, why are there so many demon generals in Sky Forest? I remember, in the past, it was difficult to find a demon general in Sky Forest. This is why Cloud Sect has been sending disciples to slay demons in Sky Forest for so many years. In all this time, the disciples have only encountered one demon general. But in this trial, there were so many demon generals in Sky Forest. Is something wrong with......?”
After all, Nina was a member of a noble clan. She had a wide range of knowledge and great wisdom. When confronted with numerous demon generals, she immediately realized that something must be wrong at White Emperor City.
As was known to all, White Emperor City was located on Shura Battlefield. All these years, it had been the most powerful and important military pass in Burning Sky Empire.
Except for some insignificant demon soldiers who were unworthy of being captured, it was not easy for the demon generals who were far more powerful than demon soldiers, to escape from White Emperor City.
But this time, things were different.
Lennie nodded and said, “Yes, there is something wrong at White Emperor City. The demons of the Shura Battlefield are becoming more powerful. About half a month ago, the Imperial Army was defeated by the demons at the Shura Battlefield. The two towers have been occupied by them, and the Imperial Army had to retreat to White Emperor City.”
Nina was stunned. For so many years, the people of Shura Battlefield had worked hard to progress against the demons. Little by little, they had built two massive towers, the Heaven tower, and the Earth tower, to resist the demons. However, this time, the situation seemed to be unprecedentedly grim, as the demons had now occupied the two towers......
Flying on the sword was faster than running on foot in the forest.
Lennie directed the sword to carry them northwest. They flew like the wind, and soon, they reached their destination. Nina gasped as she saw a big white city.
“It is the White Emperor City!”
Since all the buildings and walls in the city were made of dolostone which was white and very hard, the city was called White Emperor City for its white color.
Lennie and Nina landed at the gate of White Emperor City with Zen who was still comatose.
Several soldiers appeared at the gate and, seeing Lennie, said respectfully, “Sir, if you want to enter the city, please show your jade token and accept our checks to let us make sure that you are not dressed up!”
Lennie knew these rules, and so, he removed his token from his waist and handed it to the soldiers.
After checking the token carefully, the soldiers returned it to Lennie.
Then they waved at the other soldiers on the wall who were handling a big demon-revealing mirror.
The demon-revealing mirror worked in the same way as the Demon-revealing Needle of the Zhu Clan. It could also tell when a demon was disguised as a human. In this way, it prevented demons from entering the White Emperor City.
Zen, Nina, and Lennie were checked in the demon-revealing mirror.
After the confirmation, the soldiers bowed to show respect to Lennie and then opened the gate to let them in.
As White Emperor City was an important military pass, all of its buildings were designed to defend against enemies. The city was hence, built to be functional not aesthetic.
Since they weren't allowed to fly in the city, Lennie made a little silver sword out of his life vitality for Zen to lie on. Then, he and Nina walked beside Zen.
Soon, they arrived in front of a low building.
“Nina, Zen is seriously injured. Payne Xue is a highly skilled doctor in White Emperor City. If he agrees to help, Zen will heal quickly. However, it may cost us a lot of money!” Lennie whispered to his niece.
Nina pouted and said, “Uncle, I will save Zen at any price, and if necessary, I will sell the Tai-Yi Moxa Stick that my grandpa gave me...”
“No, no, you can't do that!” Lennie was astonished. The Tai-Yi Moxa Stick was a family heirloom of the Zhu Clan. He remembered that he didn't get the Tai-Yi Moxa Stick when he was young even though he had worked hard, but the master of the Zhu Clan, Bowen, loved his granddaughter Nina so much that he gave it to her.
“Why can't I sell Tai-Yi Moxa Stick?” Nina asked feigning innocence.
“Anyway, you can't sell it!” Lennie felt somewhat upset.
But Nina went on to say, “Okay, then I will sell the Secret Box...”
“Oh, no......!” Lennie became more upset.
“Then, how about the Ichthyosaur Pearl? Or the Double Star Loop? Or...”
Hearing that Nina wanted to sell all the family heirlooms, Lennie seemed to be more crazy than upset.
He cursed the family master, who spoiled Nina by giving her all these heirlooms.
Finally, Lennie stopped Nina and said, “Okay. Okay! I will pay all the medical costs to save Zen!”
Hearing that, Nina smiled demurely.
Then Lennie knocked on the door of the white building. After a few moments, a middle-aged man opened the door. Nina noted that he had a humpback and a mustache. When he smiled, his small eyes reflected wisdom.
“Payne, I need your help,” Lennie said softly.
Seeing Lennie standing at the door, Payne Xue laughed sarcastically before speaking in a sharp voice, “Oh, it's you, Lennie! Last time we met, you declared that you would never ask me for help. Don't you remember?”
It was now clear to Nina that the two men shared an unpleasant history.
Payne was greedy. Even though he was a highly skilled doctor, he asked for too much money for his medical services.
Lennie remembered the incident Payne had spoken of clearly. Lennie's comrade had been injured at the Shura Battlefield. When Lennie asked for help, Payne quoted an outrageous amount, which angered Lennie. And that was why Lennie had called Payne a high-skilled but avaricious doctor!
Lennie also said that he would never ask Payne for help even if it meant that Lennie would die at the Shura Battlefield.
“I will pay you whatever you charge, all right?” Lennie hummed reluctantly. If it had not been for Nina, Lennie would never have asked Payne for help.
Payne said in a sharp voice, “Sure. Since I love money more than people, I will forget what you have said in the past, and help you. Heh heh!”
Then Payne asked the three to come into his room.
Lennie walked to the jade bed in the room and placed Zen on it.