Chapter 8: Old Doctor Chen, A Startling Discovery

In Lu Qing’s mind, the image of a kind-faced, thin old man appeared.

Old Doctor Chen.

This old doctor was the only doctor in the several nearby villages.

His medical skills were superb. While not quite able to bring the dead back to life, he could almost always cure common ailments like headaches, fevers, bruises, sprains, colds, and chills with his medicine. It was rare for him to fail.

Therefore, he was highly respected by the nearby villagers.

It was said that even the wealthy families in town often invited him for treatment.

Such a figure undoubtedly held a special status in the village.

Almost no villager dared to show him any disrespect.

The original owner had been an ignorant young boy with a limited perspective, and he hadn’t paid much attention to many things.

But as Lu Qing thought about it, he discovered some unusual things.

For example, in his memory, Old Doctor Chen should be quite old, but his body was very healthy and robust. He could often go into the deep mountains alone to gather herbs.

One had to know that the deep mountains of this world were not the developed tourist attractions of his previous life.

They were true, rugged mountain ranges and primeval forests.

The number of poisonous insects, venomous snakes, jackals, tigers, and fierce beasts within was unknown, making it extremely dangerous.

Even experienced hunters dared not venture too deep into the forest at will.

For Old Doctor Chen, an old man, to be able to safely enter and exit such places was truly unusual.

Lu Qing was very curious about his abilities.

If only he could learn some of Old Doctor Chen’s medical skills.

His special ability could see through the basic information of all things.

It would be infallible for identifying medicinal herbs.

It was a perfect match for medical skills.

If he could learn a bit of Old Doctor Chen’s skills, his and Xiao Yan’s future life would have some security.

But how could he learn from Old Doctor Chen?
As Lu Qing pondered, his eyelids began to feel heavy.

His body was weak, after all, and the physical exhaustion was not something his willpower could resist.

In the end, before he fell asleep, Lu Qing couldn’t come up with any good ideas.

However, what Lu Qing didn’t expect was that before he could figure out a way to get close to Old Doctor Chen, Old Doctor Chen came to him.

Lying on the recliner, Lu Qing fell asleep. In a daze, he seemed to hear someone talking, and then he felt someone grab his hand.

He woke up with a start.

“Lu Qing, you’re awake. Old Doctor Chen is examining you!”

A loud voice sounded.

Lu Qing found it somewhat familiar, seeming to be that of Grandpa Zhang from next door. He first felt a sense of relief.

Then, he became fully awake and opened his eyes.

Old Doctor Chen?
He turned his head and saw two old men nearby, one standing and one sitting.

The sitting one was thin and had a kind face. Who else could it be but Old Doctor Chen?
“Don’t move, let me check your pulse first.”

Seeing that Lu Qing seemed about to get up, Old Doctor Chen said gently.

Lu Qing immediately dared not move.

Only then did he realize that Old Doctor Chen’s hand was resting on his wrist.

No wonder he had vaguely felt someone grabbing his hand just now; it was Old Doctor Chen checking his pulse.

Seeing Old Doctor Chen close his eyes again to check his pulse, Lu Qing didn’t dare to move and could only lie obediently on the recliner.

Feeling that the pulse-taking wouldn’t end for a while, Lu Qing took the opportunity to observe this somewhat mysterious Old Doctor Chen.

His first impression was that the old doctor was even gentler than he remembered. His thin frame had a somewhat ethereal, sage-like quality.

Just looking at him gave one a sense of peace.

But at this moment, his expression was grave, and his brows were tightly furrowed, as if he had encountered a difficult problem.

Lu Qing quietly observed Old Doctor Chen for a while. Suddenly, he saw a faint red light emerge from the old doctor’s body.

[Chen Songqing: Superb medical skills, kind-hearted, respected. A good old physician.]

[Cultivation: Accomplished in Qi Refining, Houtian Internal Organs Realm.]

What is this?!
Lu Qing’s eyes widened abruptly, not just because of the faint red light emerging from the old doctor’s body, but more because of the description in the second line of text.

In the time since he had woken up, Lu Qing had gradually figured out some of the patterns of his special ability.

Ordinary, unremarkable things would generally show a gray light under his ability’s inspection.

More special things, like medicinal herbs, would show a white light.

But humans, without exception, all showed a white light, at least all the people he had met in the village were like this.

However, the intensity of the white light varied. Adults had the strongest, teenagers and children were next, and the elderly were last.

Lu Qing guessed that this might be related to a person’s energy, or perhaps their life force.

After all, generally speaking, adults have the most energy, and the elderly have the least.

But Old Doctor Chen’s case overturned his understanding.

What appeared was an unprecedented red light!
More importantly, the content of the line of text that appeared after it.

Cultivation?
Accomplished in Qi Refining, Houtian Internal Organs Realm?
What did this mean? Could it be that the world he was in was not, as he had thought, a world similar to ancient China, but a more fantastical, peculiar world where one could cultivate?

Lu Qing’s mind was thrown into chaos by this sudden change.

Just as he wanted to continue observing and get more information from the old doctor, Old Doctor Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw Lu Qing’s flustered and shocked expression, first frowned, and then relaxed.

He comforted him gently, “Don’t be afraid, I’m just checking your pulse.”

He had misunderstood, thinking that his grave expression while checking the pulse had frightened Lu Qing.

Lu Qing took the opportunity to control his emotions and asked with some trepidation, “Grandpa Chen, how is my illness? Am I all better?”

Grandpa Zhang, who was standing by, also looked at Old Doctor Chen with hope.

Old Doctor Chen pondered for a moment and said, “That’s right, your illness is indeed cured. Although you are still a little weak, as long as you recuperate properly, you will be fine.”

“Really? That’s great! Lu Qing, hurry up and thank Old Doctor Chen. If it weren’t for the old doctor prescribing medicine for you, you might not have woken up!” Grandpa Zhang said with great joy.

“Thank you, Grandpa Chen.”

Lu Qing got up from the recliner and was about to kneel and kowtow.

In any case, the old doctor had indeed saved his life.

If it weren’t for that bowl of medicinal soup, he might not have survived the period of memory integration.

For this alone, he deserved a bow.

But Old Doctor Chen stopped Lu Qing. “There’s no need for this. Your waking up is also your own good fortune. This old man just did what little I could.”

Old Doctor Chen’s words were not just humility.

In fact, even now, he was still extremely surprised.

When Lu Qing fell ill, he had indeed come to see him.

At that time, Lu Qing had a severe cold that had penetrated his bones, his breath was as faint as a thread, and he was already at death’s door, with only his last breath left.

Even if a true medical saint had come, it would have been difficult to save him.

With the benevolent heart of a doctor, he had still prescribed a medicinal soup in the end, and added many precious herbs to it.

The purpose was merely to do his part and leave the rest to fate.

Some of the herbs he had added were even pre-ordered by nobles in the city.

For this reason, he had to rush into the mountains the next day to gather herbs to fill the gap.

He had thought that Lu Qing would not survive this ordeal, but when he returned from gathering herbs, he heard the villagers all saying that Lu Qing’s illness was cured.

Not only could he get out of bed and walk, but he could even go to the river to catch fish.

Astonished, he didn’t care about anything else and wanted to go and see for himself.

When he arrived outside the courtyard, he happened to run into Grandpa Zhang, who had just returned from working in the fields, so the two of them went in together.

He had originally thought that the villagers’ words were exaggerated.

Now, after checking Lu Qing’s pulse, he found that the villagers had not exaggerated at all.

Lu Qing’s illness was actually completely cured.

Except for still being a little weak, all the previous symptoms had disappeared.

This couldn’t help but astonish Old Doctor Chen.

(End of this chapter)