Rong Feishuang did not expect to witness such a horrific scene the moment he stepped in through the front door. Baili Bin’s legs, which were originally in an already atrophied and shrunken state, had become something much more gruesome. His legs were beyond salvation as they had become pure black, like carbon.

The reason why he was convinced to go with Hua Jingya’s acupuncture technique was because he had read in historical archives, writings about her family’s game-changing technique. Back then, even his master had commented about how the Hua family has perfected the art of acupuncture. This was why he had not doubted Hua Jingya’s actions, especially after she had demonstrated her work to him in person.

What’s more, Hua Jingya had once told him that she had already reached the peak of creating formations, using the countless lives she had saved to prove the validity of her statement. As a fellow traditional practitioner of medicine, there was no reason for her to lie about this, right? Rong Feishuang wholeheartedly believed in her work.

And he thought that he’d be able to see Baili Bin stand back on his own two feet after a couple of months.

Never in a thousand years would he expect to see such a heart-breaking scene. Baili Bin was lying on the bed lifelessly; whether or not he was alive or dead was uncertain.

“Quick! Let me take a look!”

Rong Feishuang sounded anxious. Without wasting an extra-second, Uncle Tai stepped aside to allow the healer to take a closer look at the young master. Then, he looked back up at Hua Jingya with an icy-cold look in his eyes. Since he had been cultivating ancient martial arts when he was a young boy, the pressuring aura emanating off his body was like none other.

Hua Jingya, who was originally staring blankly at Baili Bin couldn’t help but shuffle backward fearfully after being glared at by Uncle Tai. Leaning against the wall, she peered back at Uncle Tai with timid eyes. Her body was trembling uncontrollably out of fear.

“Hurry up! Get Old Baili over here! And my disciple, Zhu Yuan as well!” Rong Feishuang’s pupils shrank. Suddenly, a look of horror surfaced on his face as he continued working on Baili Bin. “The restrictions within his body have broken down! Damn it!”

It’s over.

Hua Jingya could feel her strength drain out of her body as she collapsed onto the ground. As the descendant of a famed healer, it was natural that she could see Baili Bin’s life force gradually leaving his body. She thought that she would return to the limelight of the medical world after today. How did things turn out like this?

“We’re running out of time!” Rong Feishuang yelled as he looked up at Uncle Tai. “Use every ounce of your chi! Keep his heart beating!”

Uncle Tai could not afford to bother with Hua Jingya any longer. He immediately walked over to the bedside and in a more refined manner, he began transferring his body’s chi into Baili Bin’s body. Through his perception of mental strength as well as chi, Uncle Tai could also feel the life force slowly drain out from Baili Bin’s body. Despite this, he continued pouring out his strength into the young master.

“If I cannot save the young master by the end of today, I will pay for the loss of his life with my own!” said Rong Feishuang as he put down his hand powerlessly.

Uncle Tai glanced at the dark mist that was gradually forming above Baili Bin’s face. An indescribable pain swelled up in his chest. The young master was still alive and full of energy not even an hour ago. Even though he couldn’t lift his legs, he was still conscious and healthy.

His mind stopped registering what Rong Feishuang said from then on. It was as if the two people who were in the same room as him had stopped existing.

Death permeated through the air in the room. Seconds passed by like hours as they stared wide-eyed at Baili Bin as life slowly flowed out of his body.

‘It was all my own fault!’, thought Rong Feishuang as he raised his hand.

A wave of conflicting chi was about to smash into his chest. This was the only way it could make him feel slightly better during such a morbid situation.

And yet, before he could lower his hand, an invisible barrier stopped him. Then, a clear voice came from behind. “Healer Rong, there is no need for you to do this.”

This voice? Rong Feishuang looked up immediately to find two extra people standing in the room. One of a man and the other, a young lady. The man was handsome and the young lady, equally beautiful.

“Uncle, please step aside. Let me deal with this.” Her voice was as calming as it was clear. Uncle Tai looked up and was astonished to see the young girl standing by his side.

With disbelief in his voice, he asked, “Miss Gu?”

“Yep.” Gu Xiqiao rapidly scanned Baili Bin’s entire body. Her brows were slightly furrowed. With a flick of her fingertips, Uncle Tai’s hand was moved away by an invisible force.

And then, a terrifyingly astronomical amount of life-containing chi burst forth from her body.

Both Rong Feishuang and Uncle Tai looked over at her body. Gu Xiqiao appeared to be covered in a veil of mist. Even with the naked eye, the black mist above Baili Bin’s eyes could be seen dissipating rapidly.

“What terrifying life force…” Uncle Tai’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Rong Feishuang too, was awestruck. “This…”

Stunned, Hua Jingya stared at Gu Xiqiao. She could feel a stinging warmth flare up across her face. Her eyes were filled with nothing but contempt for the young woman.

It was then that a ball of black mist abruptly emerged from Baili Bin’s body. It seemed to have a consistent shape. The moment it left its host, it headed straight towards Gu Xiqiao’s body. And yet, while narrowing her eyes, she laughed. “You still trying to escape?”

She reached out into empty air and grabbed something. Before they could see what she was actually trying to do, a bamboo tube had already materialized in her hand. That ball of black mist was subsequently sucked into said tube.

The bamboo tube began to shake violently.

Gu Xiqiao knocked on the wall of the bamboo tube. With a raised brow, she issued an ultimatum. “Move again and I’ll kill you.”

The bamboo tube went still almost immediately. With a satisfied expression, she tucked the tube into the pocket of her coat. Turning around, she came face-to-face with Rong Feishuang and Uncle Tai, who were both staring at her dumbfoundedly.

They still could not get past what they had just witnessed. However, their thoughts were quickly interrupted by someone else’s voice. “Master, what on earth is so urgent that I had to come immediately? Is something wrong with Mr. Baili again…”

Zhu Yuan staggered breathlessly through the door. He was at A University’s research lab when he was summoned by Rong Feishuang. Despite it being located not far away, he stomped on the gas pedal the moment he got into his car. He sounded out of breath. Before he could finish his sentence though, he went silent upon seeing Gu Xiqiao standing before Baili Bin’s bed.

“Wha-what are you doing here?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Gu Xiqiao glanced at him nonchalantly.

“Well, technically, no. You go wherever you feel like going, don’t you?” Zhu Yuan asked with a smile. The anxious look he initially wore was now long gone. Walking over to Rong Feishuang, his expression changed into one of sorrow and pain. “Master, I see you managed to get her over. Was there a need for you to call me over then?” And so urgently at that. He had to abandon his half-finished experiment because of that dreaded call.

Rong Feishuang slowly regained his senses upon hearing his disciple speak. He looked at Zhu Yuan, as if it was his first time seeing the man in his life.

Rong Feishuang knew that this disciple of his was a fairly cocky fellow. There was pretty much no one he bowed down to nor did he ever see Zhu Yuan act this way toward another person like this.

“You know her?”

“Well, she’s the one I told you about.” Zhu Yuan kept his eyes fixed on Gu Xiqiao. By now, she had already taken out a pack of silver needles. A glow then appeared in his eyes. “I never thought you guys knew each other.”

“So it seems.” Rong Feishuang let out a great sigh. No wonder Old Man Su had such an enormous reservoir of life force in his body. It probably was from the life-bringing chi that her body contained. “I don’t know exactly who she is but this Baili kid probably does. I have to say, this friend of yours is no commoner.”

“Of course! I’ll introduce her to you afterward.” Zhu Yuan continued staring at Gu Xiqiao’s hands. The way he spoke sounded as if he was pompously praising himself. Rong Feishuang was seeing another side of Zhu Yuan; it felt like it was his first time meeting his disciple all over again.

In the next second, his eyes were wide-open from astonishment.

He had seen Hua Jingya work her needles. The way she did her work was clean and precise. And yet, what he saw now was enough to send chills down his spine.

Finally, he understood what Chinese idiom, floating clouds and flowing rivers, meant. It seemed almost as if the needles were a fundamental part of Gu Xiqiao’s biology itself. It appeared like a part of her own body. The way she inserted the needles was lightning fast. Rong Feishuang couldn’t keep his eyes off her fingers. He had seen the way, and so, the entire atmosphere turned dead serious.

As she inserted needles into Baili Bin’s body, the handsome man beside her would pass her fresh, sterile needles one after the other. It seemed as if their minds had synced up as the pair worked like a well-oiled machine.

Ten minutes later, she started removing the needles. Baili Bin’s eyelids fluttered the moment the last needle was removed. Slowly, his eyes peeled open, revealing a pair of gentle but slightly surprised gaze. “Miss Gu? Shuxuan?”

“It doesn’t seem like there are any major problems,” announced Gu Xiqiao. After sighing, she smiled at Baili Bin. “Brother Baili, Haha’s waiting for us downstairs. We’ll be leaving now. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” answered Baili Bin instinctively. However, his memory was blank up until seconds ago. He had no idea what had happened to himself.

Zhu Yuan was a little saddened to see the duo leave. “With Master Jiang here, there’s no way I’m gonna make Beauty Gu stay for a while.” Zhu Yuan had been researching traditional Chinese acupuncture recently. By coincidence, he was able to catch a glimpse of Gu Xiqiao’s out-of-this-world needle insertion technique. He wanted to get a lecture from her about the subject and yet Master Jiang probably would try to keep his woman to himself.

Gritting his teeth, he cursed at Jiang Shuxuan, the insecure bastard!

After a while, he heard his master’s voice. Turning around, he discovered that Rong Feishuang had yet to wipe that stupefied look off his face. “S-She, how did she pull it off?” Rong Feishuang started to feel as if his own voice was nothing but an illusion.

He could understand why Gu Xiqiao’s body contained such an enormous volume of life force. Rong Feishuang thought that this was what Zhu Yuan praised her for. What surprised him was the moment when she whipped out the packet of needles. The way her fingers worked seemed as if she had undergone tens of thousands of years’ worth of training.

If not for him witnessing firsthand Gu Xiqiao at work, Rong Feishuang would never believe that there existed someone in this world so skilled at this art. Even he was ashamed about himself, what more to say of Hua Jingya who is nothing but a speck of dust compared to that young lady.

How old was she? Judging from that clear face of hers, twenty? Perhaps even younger than that?

For such a young person to be so skilled, how the hell was she unheard of in the ancient martial arts world? Even he had never heard about such a person back then. Hua Jingya, the half-assed healer was able to garner so much attention and yet nobody ever talked about this accomplished young woman.

Rong Feishuang suddenly understood why his disciple admired the young lady so much.

“Master, you better get used to it.” Seeing how shocked his master was, Zhu Yuan immediately used what Professor Jiang said to him initially on Rong Feishuang.

Baili Bin gradually got his bearings. He looked down at his legs. With a shaky voice, he said, “Uncle Tai, I think I can feel my legs…”

The entire place went dead silent after he said that. Rong Feishuang, who had just calmed himself down was stunned once more.

***

Outside the door, Gu Xiqiao was waiting for the elevator with Jiang Shuxuan. As the steel doors rolled open, the two were about to step in when a figure standing inside made them stop in their tracks. It was an old man with a wrinkled face. There was a turbulent look in his eyes, which he did not put in the effort to hide. However, he froze up in surprise upon locking eyes with Jiang Shuxuan.

“Shuxuan?”

“Grandpa Baili.” Jiang Shuxuan bowed as a gesture of respect.

Baili Qu was about to say something when he picked up on Gu Xiqiao’s presence, who was standing at the corner of his field of vision. His eyes widened. This was the old man’s first time meeting Gu Xiqiao. Even before Jiang Shuxuan could introduce her to him, he knew instantly who this young lady was.

No wonder. Baili Bin’s description of her was perfectly on point.

“If you’ll excuse us, Grandpa Baili.” Jiang Shuxuan bowed again at the old man before leading Gu Xiqiao into the elevator.

Baili Qu only regained his senses after the elevator doors rolled shut. Suppressing his curiosity, he suddenly remembered Ah Tai’s call before barging into Baili Bin’s house.

“You know Grandpa Baili?” asked Jiang Shuxuan who was looking at the floor numbers light up one after the other above the elevator door.

Gu Xiqiao was also in deep thought about it. She couldn’t seem to piece the puzzle together. “It’s our first time meeting.”

Jiang Shuxuan ruffled her hair and proceeded to not ask anymore questions.

A white dog was already waiting for them before the elevator door opened up. Beside it lay a large bag of things. Jiang Shuxuan picked the bag up. The trio then headed for the building on the other side.

Unbeknownst to Gu Xiqiao, Baili Bin’s room had exploded with excited chatter. Not only that, the ancient martial arts world was also about to explode.