Chapter 23: Providing Consultations in the Village

During this period of studying Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhou Chen did not set aside his cultivation. Longfu Village is surrounded by mountains on all sides, where soul-devouring insects have been preying on the local wildlife. The villagers have not been spared either, though the insects merely absorb their soul energy without causing any actual harm to their souls. The villagers lead a low-stress life, mostly spending their time gardening, fishing, or playing cards. The absorption of soul energy actually makes them feel more fatigued, which might even help with insomnia.

Zhou Chen's soul strength has already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining; he is just one opportunity away from breaking the critical threshold and leaping into the Foundation Establishment stage. Zhou Chen is in no rush, continuing his slow accumulation. With a month left before school starts, he has plenty of time.

News of Zhou Guangxi’s clinic spread quickly through Longfu Village. A long line of villagers formed before his desk. Consultations were completely free, but if a diagnosis revealed an ailment requiring treatment, fees would apply. Naturally, Zhou Guangxi could not offer everything for free, as he needed to purchase common medicinal herbs. The benefit of living in the same village as a "barefoot divine doctor" is that everyone is generally quite healthy. However, there are always those with persistent issues from excessive smoking or drinking.

"Come here, Xiao Chen, you take his pulse. This is a classic case of damage from excessive alcohol consumption, leading to impaired liver detoxification and the accumulation of toxins in the body. He also tends to drink in large gulps, which has damaged his esophagus, resulting in blood-tinged phlegm when he coughs."

The patient joked, "The old master is training the young master! Brother Guangxi, your legacy is in good hands!"

Zhou Guangxi shushed him and told Zhou Chen to close his eyes and focus on feeling the pulse. From then on, whenever Zhou Guangxi encountered a patient with an interesting condition, he would let Zhou Chen examine them as well. If no herbal medicine was needed, he would perform acupuncture on the spot. For minor ailments, he would let Zhou Chen practice his skills. The villagers trusted Zhou Chen implicitly; even if he accidentally misapplied a needle, Zhou Guangxi was there to set things right in a few quick motions. As news spread, people from neighboring villages began arriving, and a long queue formed in front of the desk every day.

"Divine doctor, please save my father! He’s been bitten by a many-banded krait!"

A sturdy man rushed up to Zhou Guangxi, carrying an elderly man on his back. Zhou Guangxi quickly rose to examine him. The area where the old man was bitten showed extensive swelling, and his breathing was failing as he slipped into a coma. Zhou Guangxi peeled back the man’s eyelids; the pupils were dilated and unfocused, causing him to frown. When a TCM practitioner frowns, the situation is dire, especially when it is a master like Zhou Guangxi.

"How could he be bitten by a krait? When did this happen?"

The venom of the many-banded krait is notoriously deadly, but it rarely attacks humans; such cases are extremely rare. Even in summer, the season when they are active, they usually slither away at the sound of human footsteps. This made Zhou Chen feel a twinge of guilt, as he had sent his soul-devouring insects to absorb the soul energy of a krait just that morning around two or three o'clock. The exhausted snake had been unable to retreat in time when the old man approached, and in its panic, it had struck him.

If the patient had arrived earlier, Zhou Guangxi could have used acupuncture to temporarily seal the venom’s circulation, buying time to retrieve herbs and prepare an antidote. But now that the old man was paralyzed and the neurotoxins had blocked his neurotransmission, time was running out. Zhou Chen, having read about the many-banded krait in his medical texts, knew the severity of the situation. He placed his palm on the old man’s head and channeled his own soul energy to shield the man’s soul and prevent the neurotoxins from spreading further.

Zhou Guangxi quickly applied acupuncture to the old man, sealing off major acupoints to maintain blood circulation while preventing local necrosis. "Xiao Chen, what are you doing?"

Zhou Chen replied, "I am using my soul to guard his."

Zhou Guangxi did not press him on this somewhat mystical answer. Instead, he hopped onto a villager's motorcycle and raced home to prepare the antidote. Ultimately, through their combined efforts, the old man’s life was saved, and he was sent to the hospital. Zhou Chen appeared to have done nothing, but only Zhou Guangxi knew that if the neurotoxins had continued to spread, they would have completely destroyed the old man’s spiritual meridians, leaving him a vegetable even if he survived.

Zhou Guangxi became increasingly curious about his grandson’s uniqueness. Yet, since Zhou Chen did not speak of it, he did not ask. From then on, Zhou Guangxi taught with even greater fervor, pouring all his knowledge into his grandson, as if he wanted to transplant his entire medical legacy into Zhou Chen.

Days turned into weeks. The range of diseases Zhou Chen encountered grew: from menstrual irregularities and dysmenorrhea to cancer and Parkinson’s, as well as difficult-to-treat conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, strokes, and neurogenic hypertension. Some patients came from the county, others from distant cities. Even high-ranking officials from the province arrived, but all had to follow Zhou Guangxi’s rules and wait in line.

Zhou Guangxi could not cure every ailment; he relied primarily on acupuncture supplemented by herbal medicine to slowly restore balance. It was not a process that could be rushed. In cases of cancerous neurofibromas, hospitals would typically push for chemotherapy—if successful, the patient might live a few more years, but if it failed, they were as good as gone. Under Zhou Guangxi’s patient care, patients grew healthier, and the cancer cells ceased their proliferation. As long as they maintained a positive mindset, they could live another twenty or thirty years.

However, even Zhou Guangxi could not completely eradicate cancer; the cells were simply too difficult to kill. Certain herbs could kill cancer cells, but not entirely. If the medicine were too potent, it would kill the host along with the disease. This only fueled Zhou Chen’s ambition. Once his soul strength reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he could condense the Demon Seed again and unlock the ability to control disease-devouring insects. Any intractable disease would then become their food, refined into energy to nourish his own body, truly setting him on the path of immortality. By then, the very cancer that terrified the world would become a stepping stone for Zhou Chen on his journey to becoming the supreme divine doctor of the Middle Kingdom.