"You're exaggerating."

Upon hearing Huang Sheng's nearly horrifying claim, Huang Zhenyang shook his head.

A poor kid supported by Wong Qifu could threaten the Huang Family? Was Huang Sheng underestimating his own family's strength?

"Perhaps," Huang Sheng said with a faint smile, offering no argument.

***

「Hospital.」

"I'm sorry, Miss Wang. We've done all we could," the white-haired hospital director said, his face solemn.

Although no one told him the patient's relationship with Wong Qifu, seeing her here in person was enough. The man on the bed must be very important to her.

"Alright." Wong Qifu nodded and walked into the ward.

Seeing this, the director exchanged a glance with Wang Wu, shook his head, and left. Wang Wu followed Wong Qifu inside.

On the hospital bed, Xu Ke lay perfectly still, his chest no longer rising and falling. Not a sound escaped him.

Wong Qifu sat by the bed, gazing at Xu Ke. "Why have you all left, one after another?"

"Miss, my condolences," Wang Wu said, taking a deep breath.

Wong Qifu stretched out her hand to touch Xu Ke's cold cheek. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

Her mother had died twenty years ago, her father ten years ago. And today, Xu Ke was gone too. She hadn't even been able to see him one last time. All that was left was his face, his eyes tightly shut.

Tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks. "I think this is the first time I've ever touched your face."

Wang Wu remained silent.

Lin Qinghua stepped forward, and she and Wang Wu silently watched Wong Qifu.

Other than her tears, Wong Qifu showed no reaction. But then, they noticed her fingertips were trembling. She seemed to be reaching out to caress Xu Ke's face, but her hand hesitated, never quite making contact.

People talk about heart-piercing pain. Wong Qifu didn't know what Xu Ke had felt as the blade pierced his heart. Maybe it was like having a hole bored through it. Now, she felt like her own heart had a hole in it. Another one!

Her tears dried on her face. After a moment of silence, she said, "I'll call his parents."

"Alright," Wang Wu nodded.

Wong Qifu slowly got up. "Don't send him away yet."

Wang Wu nodded. "Okay."

He knew she meant not to take Xu Ke to the morgue yet.

"I'll find someone to see him off," Wong Qifu said, gazing at Xu Ke.

Wang Wu remained silent.

The Huang and Ye Families... they're doomed.

Just then, Wong Qifu's eyes widened in surprise as she noticed Xu Ke's ring.

It was emitting a red glow. The light pulsed, shifting from a faint hue to a deep, eerie crimson before fading back to nothing, over and over...

The next moment, the ring let out a crisp sound.

CRACK.

A crack appeared on the gem out of nowhere.

CRACKLE.

A second fissure spiderwebbed across its surface.

POP.

With a soft report, the gem shattered. Wong Qifu's eyes instinctively narrowed.

The next second, Xu Ke's body suddenly moved.

THUD!

The hand wearing the ring shot up and then slammed down.

CRASH!!

The entire hospital bed exploded into splinters.

***

Xu Ke's consciousness was hazy.

The moment the blade pierced his heart, it felt as if a shackle in his mind had shattered, dissolving into nothingness. After that, he plunged into a state of pure chaos.

The chaos seemed to last an eternity. There, he saw images that were both familiar and strange.

「Three years ago.」

While looking for an internship, he had said a temporary goodbye to Siao Jia and bid farewell to his parents. Then, an old man in a black robe led him away from campus.

He saw flashes: a long, bluestone mountain path; a towering pile of medical books.

The old man looked at him with a smile.

"Master?" Xu Ke was startled.

The old man smiled faintly. "My name is Ren Gu, but most prefer to call me the Medical Saint."

"I am taking you as my disciple because you possess exceptional innate talent and good moral character. Therefore, I will impart my medical knowledge to you and teach you martial arts."

"The purpose of martial arts is to cultivate True Qi and strengthen the body. However, it is also incredibly powerful against enemies. The cultivation realms include Acquired Martial Artist, Innate Martial Artist, and so on."

In his memory, Xu Ke stared blankly at the old man.

How could he not remember this?

After he finished speaking, Ren Gu pondered for a moment before continuing.

"Of course, I'm not teaching you martial arts so you can kill people. It's for self-defense. In the future, as you travel the world healing the sick, you'll inevitably run into troublesome patients. With martial arts, you'll be able to protect yourself even from the most aggressive ones."

Xu Ke was speechless.

This memory felt a bit absurd...

Then the scene shifted. He saw himself hunched over a stone desk, poring over medical texts and practicing with Silver Needles. Other times, he saw Ren Gu chasing him all over the mountains with a stick, yelling as he was struck.

"This," Ren Gu had called it, "is to train your movement techniques."

A year flashed by in an instant.

One day, having completed his medical studies, Xu Ke was preparing to leave the mountain and attend his graduation ceremony. Ren Gu also planned to leave.

But just then, a woman arrived on the mountain, holding a dying little girl. The little girl was as lovely and delicate as a porcelain doll, but her deathly pale complexion ruined the image.

The woman pleaded with a quivering voice, her eyes red with tears, "Old Ren, I beg you to save my daughter. I'll give anything, even my life. Please, save her. She's only four years old..."

After speaking, she knelt and kowtowed. Before Xu Ke could stop her, she had already split her forehead open, and blood was streaming down her face.

Ren Gu stopped the woman and stepped forward to carefully examine the child.

In the end, he sighed deeply. "I cannot save her. Her fated time is up. Her life force is already fading away."

The woman looked as if she'd been struck by lightning. Her eyes went blank, and she couldn't even cry anymore.

The Medical Saint himself, with his supreme skills, had said it. Her daughter was truly beyond saving.

Seeing this, Xu Ke couldn't bear it. He hesitated before saying, "Master, can I use the technique to defy heaven and change fate?"

"Defy heaven and change fate?" Ren Gu's brow furrowed. "No. The technique to defy heaven and change fate is a medical taboo. The Oath of the Medical Path will cause a backlash against the practitioner, and the price is extraordinarily heavy."

"At best, your medical memories will be sealed away, you'll lose all your Innate True Qi, and your innate talents will crumble. At worst, you'll be left paralyzed in a coma, never to awaken."

"There is no way to lift the Oath of the Medical Path, other than death."

"You have only just completed your studies. You cannot bear even the lightest of these prices."

Xu Ke smiled. "But didn't I learn medicine to save people?"

"Nonsense," Ren Gu snorted coldly.

Xu Ke said cheerfully, "Then will I forget you, Master?"

"I don't know," Ren Gu hesitated. "Perhaps... as long as it doesn't involve medical practice, you might not forget me."

"Then that settles it." Xu Ke nodded. "Spending this past year with you, Master, has been the most important thing. True Qi, medical skills... those are just external things. How can they compare to a human life?"

"If you cultivate diligently, you'll eventually be able to take my place," Ren Gu sighed heavily. "Think of how many people you could save then. It's not worth it, not for one little girl."

"It's alright," Xu Ke said. "I can't stand by and watch a life be extinguished right in front of me. She's only four years old."

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