Chapter 622: She fears that the spring breeze will never come again (2/2)
She was afraid that they’d done this all for nothing, that the Heavens had parted them forever, that the warmth of an April spring breeze would never ripple through this world again.
Doctor Gu, please don’t scare Han Yunxi, alright?
Long Feiye never expected these results. His true qi had actually been repelled by Gu Beiyue instead. Isn’t his dantian severely injured? Where did he get the strength? And what was his condition now—alive or dead? He too, had no idea.
Of all times, the old man hiding in the corner reminded them, “Your time is almost up. If you don’t admit defeat now, even gods won’t be able to save you from Halfday Cough acting up.”
Han Yunxi glared into the darkness, her looks enough to kill. The old man immediately shut up, but Pill King actually stepped forward with a laugh. “Even if you can save Gu Beiyue, so what? This old man isn’t afraid to tell you, but even the head elder of the medical academy can’t treat this illness, much less a trifling fifth-rank Divine Doctor like him.”
Han Yunxi suddenly realized that she’d cursed right. The rules of the Medicine Requesting Cave were simply designed to trap its challengers. Nobody would be able to crack a difficult case like this. They had come for nothing after all. If Gu Beiyue really died here, then this would be the biggest mistake they’d ever made!
“You cheater! Abominable!” Hatred rose up as she raised her wrist full of Pear Blossom Teardrop Rain needles, but then a weak voice called out from behind her.
“Esteemed wangfei…cough, cough…please calm your anger. This one, this one can cure this illness.”
It was such a thin and pathetic voice, but it gave them hope and strength all the same! Han Yunxi whipped back and saw that Gu Beiyue was already conscious. Lil Thing was standing on its shoulder, wiping away its tears. He wasn’t smiling like usual, but very calm. His soft, gentle hands were supporting himself against the ground, holding up both himself and their last hope. Han Yunxi had never seen the gentle Doctor Gu in such dire straits, much less witnessed his strength in the face of such weakness. Despite half lying on the ground, he was filled with an indomitable spirit as he challenged Pill King’s verdict and the medical academy’s authority.
He said he could cure something even Academy Head Gu was helpless against!
Han Yunxi stepped forward, but Long Feiye went first to help Gu Beiyue up. Because one of his legs was crippled, he supported the man himself. “It looks like your lordship’s true qi wasn’t wasted,” he muttered under his breath.
“This one’s life was given to me by Your Highness. This one will remember,” Gu Beiyue murmured back.
Seeing Gu Beiyue back to his old self again left Han Yunxi and Lil Thing delighted beyond words. Both master and beast pounced on Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue, giddy with joy.
“A trifling fifth-rank Divine Doctor dares to say such blatant lies? If you can treat something like this, why would you be so severely afflicted now? Hmph!” Pill King laughed mockingly.
Gu Beiyue was in no rush to retort. He sat back in his wheelchair, then replied, “Senior Pill King, have you ever heard of the legend of Shennong tasting 100 herbs to invent 100 medicines? Or how he established agriculture?”
“What do you mean by that?” Pill King didn’t understand.
Gu Beiyue only chuckled. “Unless I was afflicted myself, how could I know which illness it was. Unless I knew the illness, how could I move to treat it?”
In some sense, he was reaping benefits from his disaster. If it wasn’t for his weak body, the disease wouldn’t have spread so quickly nor severely, much less allow him to uncover the true nature of this whopping cough. Now that he’d suffered through the brunt of it, he had a better handle of his diagnosis as well.
“Gu Beiyue, you really know how to cure Halfday Cough?” Han Yunxi was pleasantly surprised. She knew Gu Beiyue’s skills far surpassed fifth rank, but he’d never bothered to get a promotion because he wasn’t interested in name or fame. Still, she didn’t expect him to be that formidable. Can he really surpass that medical academy head?From what she understood, Academy Head Gu was Cloud Realm Continent’s highest ranked doctor yet, an eighth-ranked Empyreal Doctor!
Meanwhile, Pill King was silently stunned that a young physician like Doctor Gu could enlighten to such principles at his age. Still, he refused to believe that he had the skills to cure this illness. Even if he did, they had no more time. The disease would react in earnest in less than 10 minutes.
But Gu Beiyue only gave Han Yunxi a firm confirmation. “Esteemed wangfei, I can cure this. Before it breaks out, we only need to boil the necessary medicine and take it to suppress the illness.”
Despite her incredulity, Han Yunxi still asked, “What kind of medicine do we need?”
“One each of Springsee, Summerhalf, Autumnstone, and Wintergrass,” Gu Beiyue stated seriously.
Hearing this, a complicated look flickered past Pill King’s eyes. These four were truly amongst the ingredients left by the last Pill King to cure this illness. He listened on in silence, but Gu Beiyue said no more.
“That’s it? Anything else?” Han Yunxi asked.
1. Keep giving medicine to a dead horse (死马当活马医) – sima dang huoma yi, an idiom that means “to keep trying everything in a desperate situation.”