Chapter 716 — Seeking Dr. Wang's Help

And besides, Li Cihua had been meaning to introduce his cousin to Young Master Bing — a man only got anywhere in this world by working under Young Master Bing.

When he learned that Young Master Bing had agreed to help, Li Dilei breathed a sigh of relief. He had heard that Young Master Bing kept a whole stable of formidable hands about him, so surely there was no ailment on his body that could not be cured.

In a private room behind the Geli Fuyun Bar, Dr. Wang studied the array of needles on Li Dilei's body and knitted his brows.

"Dr. Wang, how is it? My cousin's problem..." Seeing that Dr. Wang said nothing, Li Cihua knew in his heart that the matter was serious.

Dr. Wang came from an old family of physicians — masters not only of poisons and medicines but of the healing arts as well, and above all of the arts of doing men harm. So when he first heard that someone had tampered with Li Dilei, planting a few silver needles in him, and that once they were drawn out his left hand had gone dead, he had thought nothing of it.

He assumed it was simply the work of some rare poison or some point-sealing technique. When it came to ruining a man, his own family were the ancestors of the craft — what problem could they possibly fail to solve? This was small tricks, nothing more.

But when Dr. Wang saw Li Dilei with his own eyes, he realized he had been too simple in his thinking. There was no poison on the silver needles in Li Dilei's body — of that he had already satisfied himself by testing an extracted needle on a white mouse.

And as for its being achieved by needling the acupoints — that did not fit either. Li Dilei's hand showed none of the immobility of a sealed point; rather, it had begun to necrose, the whole hand gone a blackish purple, as though the tissue had been destroyed outright.

"It doesn't look good. Whoever did this is a master. Who was it? Do you know what he's made of?" Dr. Wang did not dare to be complacent. This method of doing harm was one he had never seen before, far beyond anything in his own sect's repertoire — frankly, it was almost inconceivable.

"Wei Zhao." Li Cihua's teeth itched with hatred at the very name.

"What?! Wei Zhao?" The name was not unfamiliar to Dr. Wang. Uncle Zhu had been beaten half to death by Wei Zhao and was still lying in bed, and Zhao Qibing's legs had been broken by Wei Zhao too — he could only sit in his wheelchair now, recovering.

"Wei Zhao again?" Zhao Qibing, who was at his side, felt a weight settle in his chest at the name. "Wasn't he injured? How can he still be out hurting people?"

"Hard to say..." Dr. Wang shook his head. "Judging by this needle work, it's possible Wei Zhao himself is a master of the medical arts."

"So by your reckoning, Wei Zhao has recovered his strength on his own?" Zhao Qibing's eyes went wide, and Uncle Zhu, lying on the sickbed nearby, nearly spat blood at the words.

Uncle Zhu was aggrieved indeed. He had nearly croaked and gone down to meet the King of Hell, and Wei Zhao was perfectly fine — alive and kicking, still able to hurt people? Was there no justice in this world?

"Whether he's recovered his strength I can't say for certain, but even if he hasn't returned to his peak, I'm afraid it no longer keeps him from getting around." Dr. Wang's expression was grave as he examined the needles in Li Dilei's body.

The most wretched of them all, of course, was Li Dilei. If even Dr. Wang was at a loss, then he could only sit and wait to die? His left hand had gone blackish purple already — plainly dead — and would certainly have to go.

But Li Dilei had no heart left to worry over whether the hand could be saved; keeping his life would be good enough.

"Young Master Bing, Dr. Wang! Save me!" Tears and snot streamed down Li Dilei's face at once; he was frightened out of his wits.

"Hm?" Dr. Wang paused slightly, his expression growing graver still. "Beneath the silver needles — there is a fluctuation of true qi?"

Li Dilei was only an ordinary man, never trained in any inner or outer art, so there could be no true qi within his body — and even a trace of it would never be perceptible. Yet Dr. Wang sensed a distinct fluctuation of true qi beneath the needles! What did that mean?

"What does that mean? Dr. Wang, is my cousin going to be all right?" Li Cihua was startled and asked at once.

And Li Dilei too stared at Dr. Wang with pleading eyes. He did not want to die.

"I can't say for certain yet, but I'll have to study it." Dr. Wang said, "I'm going to pull out another needle. It may produce the same result as the left hand — or I may work out a way to break the technique."

"Ah?" Li Dilei was dumbfounded. Pull out another one — from where? He looked at the needles all over his body and truly could not decide which one to choose.

"Think it over yourself. This is the only way." Dr. Wang said.

"Then why not pull the needle from his left arm? The left hand's ruined anyway — losing the left arm too won't matter much." Li Cihua thought about it and asked.

"All right!" Li Dilei clenched his teeth; there was no other way. Come nightfall he could hardly stay awake forever — if he fell asleep and knocked the needles loose by accident, he might as well wait to die.

Dr. Wang nodded, motioned for Li Dilei to extend his left arm, then swiftly plucked out the needle from it. The moment the needle was gone, Dr. Wang struck again with the speed of a thunderclap, clamping his hand over the spot on Li Dilei's left arm where the needle had been.

"Ah... my left arm's gone dead too!" Li Dilei had foreseen this outcome, but he had still harbored a little hope. Now that the left arm too had lost all feeling, he was past tears.

"Dr. Wang, how is it?" Seeing Dr. Wang open his eyes, Li Cihua hurried to ask.

"The left arm's finished." Dr. Wang drew a deep breath. "But I think I roughly know what technique the other party used."

"Oh? What technique?" Li Cihua asked.

"Wei Zhao attached true qi to the tips of the silver needles and drove it into Li Dilei's body, then sealed the true qi in with the needles so that it could not spread." Dr. Wang said, "The moment a needle is pulled out, the true qi disperses at once. And Li Dilei is an ordinary man — his tissues simply cannot withstand an invasion of true qi that powerful. In an instant the immense true qi bursts his meridians and muscle tissue, causing the nerves and tissue to necrose..."

He had felt it with his hand earlier: on the needle there had been a fluctuation of true qi, but only at a single point. Once the needle was drawn, the true qi at that point spread rapidly outward in all directions.

"Ah?" Li Cihua and Li Dilei were both stunned. They could follow Dr. Wang's explanation well enough, but it seemed so bizarre — you could do that? Were they reading a martial arts novel? "Then is there a way to save him?"

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