Free Web NovelChapter 19: Chapter 19—Divine Doctor Qian
Chapter 19—Divine Doctor Qian
"Doctor Qian—does that mean we’ll have to bear responsibility for his death?"
Qian Jun frowned, clasping his hands behind his back, his foot tapping the ground with barely restrained irritation.
Doctor Qian shook his head. "We don’t have to. He has lost all hope of living a normal life—but I can make sure he survives." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
The bright-eyed girl’s expression fell instantly, lips pressing together, corners pulling downward. "Grandfather—you are a miracle doctor. Can’t you heal him? You’ve healed so many internal injuries, so many broken bones. You have even brought people back from the very brink of death."
Every pair of eyes in the room brightened with a thread of hope.
The Qian Pharmacy had no great number of physicians, no unique specialties, no famous techniques to its name—and yet it ran steadily, drawing patients from across the city. All of that was because of one man. Doctor Qian.
Doctor Qian smiled—but it was a tired, bitter curve of his lips. "You are flattering me, Shu’er. The people I healed—the ones I brought back from the brink—they were all martial artists with strong healing abilities. Ordinary people don’t have the money to even meet me." He paused. "And the ones I brought back from near-death? Not one of them survived longer than a few months afterward—if they were ordinary people."
The room went quiet.
"You already know the answer yourselves," he said, his voice rising with quiet firmness. "Can any of you name even one ordinary person—without a martial arts realm—whom I brought back from the brink of death and survived a full year?"
Silence.
Qian Shu tugged at Doctor Qian’s sleeve. "Then, Grandfather—at the very least, just make sure he survives. That’s enough."
Qian Jun collected himself and pressed further. "Doctor—with just a shattered nerve system and a cracked sternum, you could still ensure a person walks and moves, even if weakly. We’ve seen that before. So why are you saying this boy would be bedridden for the rest of his life? What is different?"
The whole room leaned in.
Doctor Qian fell silent for a long moment. Then he replied, "His vitality is fading at an extraordinary rate. And beyond the skeletal damage—his heart and lungs have taken a direct hit."
"His heart and lungs—?!" Qian Shu’s voice jumped an octave.
"Who would strike a servant—and a Lei Clan servant at that?" Qian Jun muttered from the side. He took a few slow steps back, expression shifting to something more calculating. "Should we... throw him out? Whoever injured a Lei Clan servant must have enormous status. If that person learns we helped this boy survive... our pharmacy could be destroyed for it."
"No!"
Qian Shu’s voice rang sharp and immediate. "He came to our pharmacy bearing all of that pain. On his own two feet. If we throw him out now... We would be spitting on his will to live."
Doctor Qian nodded slowly, expression firm. "Shu’er’s right. We must honour his determination. A person who endures that much pain and still fights their way to a doctor’s door—that alone deserves our answer."
For a moment, nobody in the room responded.
"Then—the real reason," Qian Shu gently steered them back, her voice quieter now. "What is it, Grandfather? You are hiding it."
Doctor Qian exhaled through his nose. "Looks like I’ll have to reveal the truth."
At those words, Qian Jun raised a hand. The senior staff in the room read the signal without needing to be told—they exchanged quiet glances and filed out one by one. Within moments, only three remained.
Doctor Qian. Qian Jun. Qian Shu.
Doctor Qian sighed. With a deep breath, he said, "Bizarre Qi."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Thud!
Qian Jun’s legs buckled. He sat down heavily against the wall, back sliding to the floor, muttering in a low, broken loop. "Bizarre... Bizarre... how can it be? Bizarre..."
Qian Shu’s liveliness evaporated. Her face went perfectly still. Cold sweat began to bead at her temples.
"Does that mean—Bizarre creatures are already in this city? We have to run—" Qian Jun yelled, grabbing the edge of the table beside him and hauling himself upright.
Doctor Qian’s voice cut through steadily. "I will make sure this boy wakes up and gives us information—so that we can all escape and save as many people in this city as possible." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Qian Shu snapped back to herself and nodded. "Yes. Even just for information about what Bizarre creature did this—we have to save him." She pulled open Lei Cheng’s robe. Due to the illusion, neither of them noticed the small fox mark at the center of his chest.
Doctor Qian reached into his robe and drew out a set of finger-length acupuncture needles. "Level Five Medical Skill—Nine Rotation Needle." He moved quickly, inserting nine needles in rapid succession across Lei Cheng’s chest in a circle, channeling his own red blood Qi into each one. Red energy swirled visibly among them.
Lei Cheng’s body convulsed. Blood surged from his mouth.
"Damn it—!"
Doctor Qian’s jaw clenched. He had told the others he was uncertain whether the boy would survive—to keep their hopes from rising too high. In truth, Doctor Qian was no ordinary physician hiding in an ordinary pharmacy. He had healed injuries that would have caused death. He had turned around cases others had already given up on.
But Bizarre Qi was a different matter entirely.
The moment he had injected the needles, the golden Bizarre Qi coiled inside Lei Cheng’s chest had reacted violently—jolting, surging, and flinging the needles outward with tremendous force.
Swish!
Doctor Qian waved his hand. A swirl of red energy deflected the needles aside. Qian Jun and Qian Shu threw themselves low to avoid the scatter. The needles struck the walls and buried themselves several inches deep into the plaster, wisps of smoke rising from their glowing golden tips.
"I’ll have to draw the Bizarre Qi out first."
Doctor Qian reached into his case again—this time withdrawing a single thick needle. It was the same length as a finger, but twice the thickness of the thread-thin needles he had used before.
A heavy, deliberate instrument.
He gripped it—and drove it directly into Lei Cheng’s chest, just above the heart. The thick needle buried itself halfway in.
"Level Five Medical Skill—Needle King’s Pull."
Doctor Qian positioned both palms several inches above the needle’s exposed half and began channeling his red blood Qi downward into it in a steady, focused stream. The needle began to corrode—visibly—rust spreading across its surface as a thin trail of smoke rose from where golden Bizarre Qi met red Qi.
’Grandfather is drawing all the Bizarre Qi toward a single point and sealing it there,’ Qian Shu realized, watching with wide eyes.
The needle continued to soften. The rust deepened and spread.
The moment it was halfway corroded, Doctor Qian hissed sharply, maintaining his Qi flow without a break.
"He cannot stop channeling his Qi," Qian Jun muttered, struggling to keep still. "Or the Bizarre Qi would go berserk."
"Qian Shu—new needle!"
Qian Shu was already moving. She had the next one ready—same size, same weight—and drove it into exactly the same spot the instant the first dissolved to dust. They worked in silence, swapping needles one by one as each corroded away, each replacement drawing out more of the trapped Bizarre Qi, coaxing it inch by inch toward the surface. Gradually—slowly—a glowing golden scar, a few inches long, appeared on Lei Cheng’s chest as the concentrated Qi rose to the skin.
Doctor Qian straightened. He pressed his palms together and began forming hand seals, his Qi surging to a peak.
"Level Five Sealing Skill—Pure Yang Seal!"
His right palm blazed to life—white flames wrapping around it from wrist to fingertips. He brought it down flat onto Lei Cheng’s chest.
Lei Cheng’s body convulsed violently, shaking against the bed in rapid, uncontrolled bursts.
Then—
BOOM!
A shockwave of brilliant golden light erupted outward, hurling Doctor Qian and two others clean off their feet. They hit the walls and floor in a tangle.
Qian Shu’s face was ashen. Her mouth fell open.
But Doctor Qian was already grinning—pushing himself upright, brushing off his robes. "It worked."
Only then did the tension leave Qian Shu’s face.
On Lei Cheng’s chest, the Bizarre Qi had been contained—a large glowing white circle now trapped a core of golden light between them, sealed in place like something caged, above his heart.
---
Outside the Qian Pharmacy.
A young woman stood on the street before the building, perfectly still. She appeared to be in her early twenties—her figure so perfectly proportioned that it seemed nothing had been denied to her. The surroundings seemed to dim slightly in her presence, as though the world itself had become a backdrop.
A veil covered the lower half of her face, but her eyes—glowing with a vivid, deep purple light—drew every gaze instinctively, even though no one nearby could explain why they were looking. Her temperament felt so far above the ordinary that no one would raise their voice or move too quickly in her presence. Her skin was porcelain white, utterly unblemished.
And yet—despite all of this—not a single person dared walk close to her. They glanced, and in the next moment moved aside, going about their business as though she were simply a current in the wind.
Yet hidden beneath her bangs was a closed eye on her forehead. No one on the street seemed capable of noticing it.
She murmured softly, almost to herself.
"This goddess has finally found you."
A faint smile touched her eyes.
Her purple eyes settled on the pharmacy entrance.
"Lei Cheng."
