53: Let's get started!

The doors and windows of the low earthen hut were open, and a pungent, bitter smell of medicinal herbs mixed with the rusty scent of blood drilled into people's nostrils, making their brains ache.

Several villagers with worried expressions were crowded inside, their eyes glued to the dying figure lying on the earthen bed.

The light filtering through the window fell directly onto the bloodless face on the bed, which was frighteningly pale. The coarse linen haphazardly wrapped around his chest was already soaked through with a thick layer of dark red, blackening blood, stiffly binding his body.

His breathing was faint and more erratic than a flickering candle in the wind, seeming as if his next breath might not come.

However, the finely stitched silk he wore, embroidered with delicate patterns, was completely out of place when compared to this dilapidated, drafty shack of a poor home.

That face was also extremely handsome. Although his complexion was ghostly white, his underlying features possessed a sharp handsomeness tinged with wickedness.

No wonder Xiaohua, the hunter's daughter guarding the bedside, was staring intently, her gaze a mix of heartache and infatuation, practically trailing threads behind it.

In the Cultivation World, one's face truly wasn't much; methods for disguise and transformation were countless.

But this face—Lin Jingyu would recognize it even if it turned to ash!

Lin Jingxie, the clan's Resource Manager, relied on being the Third Elder's grandson. He was arrogant, often throwing his weight around and withholding supplies from Lower-ranking Disciples like them.

Old Man Shi Three rubbed his big hands, which were covered in calluses and rougher than tree bark. His brows were furrowed into a tight knot, and his voice was heavy, as if weighted by a stone:

"Seven or eight bones are broken, and the internal organs are probably severely injured too. We barely managed to keep him breathing by forcing several bowls of Old Ginseng Soup down... Ah, looking at him now, I fear... he won't make it through the night."

He sighed heavily, revealing the deep helplessness of a Mountain Dweller facing death. Turning to Lin Jingyu, he bowed so low his waist nearly touched his knees, "Divine Doctor, please, have mercy and save him! We are relying entirely on you!"

After speaking, his worried eyes involuntarily glanced at his daughter, Xiaohua. His heart was churning with complex emotions.

This Young Master they picked up clearly wasn't from an ordinary family. Was this a blessing or a curse?

That foolish girl Xiaohua, judging by her look, has probably given her entire heart to him. But could a Poor Hunter scavenging in these ravines ever hope to attach themselves to a Golden Phoenix that fell from the sky?

But... seeing his daughter look as if her soul had been snatched away, Old Man Shi Three felt both soft and pained.

Forget it, forget it. For that little spark in his daughter's eyes, even if he had to cross a Mountain of Blades and a Sea of Fire, he, as her father, would grit his teeth and wade through!

Lin Jingyu quickly waved his hand, forcefully suppressing the turbulent, murderous intent in his heart—the desire to immediately strangle Lin Jingxie. He forced a grave expression of "Benevolence of a Healer" onto his face and sighed heavily: "Alas, this injury is extremely perilous. I... I will do my best, I will certainly exert myself."

He knew clearly in his heart that Lin Jingxie's fatal injury wasn't rooted in those broken bones at all! He had been swept up by the residual shockwave from a fight involving a Great Yao of the Late Stage Qi Refining realm!

The brutal and ferocious Yao Beast Power, like a maggot attached to the bone, continuously eroded his Spiritual Qi and invaded his Meridians.

With his Qi Refining Fourth Layer Cultivation Level, trying to grind away this Yao Power? Without a year or two of hard effort, he shouldn't even dream of it!

As for that Old Ginseng Soup? A treasure in the eyes of Ordinary People, it had zero effect on internal injuries suffered by a Cultivator.

To treat it, what was needed were Spirit Pills and Miraculous Medicines that truly contained Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

"Move aside, everyone! Quickly make room for the Divine Doctor! Why are you crowding here and causing trouble?" Old Man Shi Three quickly shooed away the villagers blocking the doorway and craning their necks, forcing open a narrow path. He looked at Lin Jingyu with trepidation.

Lin Jingxie, lying on the bed, lifted his eyelids and glanced lazily when Lin Jingyu entered. Hmm, a rustic Country Doctor with no Spiritual Qi fluctuations whatsoever—an ant-like existence.

Completely relaxing his guard, he closed his eyes again, enduring the severe pain while painstakingly circulating the Spiritual Qi within his body, repeatedly trying to smooth out and suppress the Yao Beast Power that was rampaging through his Meridians.

He found this kind of "Mortal concern" merely noisy and time-wasting, too lazy even to open his mouth to scold them.

Lin Jingyu sat down on the rickety low stool, mimicking the posture of an old Doctor. He extended three fingers and pretentiously placed them on Lin Jingxie's wrist.

With his other hand, he solemnly stroked the fake Goatee glued to his chin, while constantly sighing, "Tsk...", "Oh dear...", and "Difficult..."

Each sigh was heavier and more heartbreaking than the last, hammering like small mallets on the hearts of everyone in the room. Old Man Shi Three and Xiaohua's faces turned white with fear.

After dawdling for a good while, he slowly withdrew his hand and announced with a "pained" expression: "The injury is too severe. If this had happened to an ordinary person, ten lives wouldn't be enough to lose! That he has lasted until now is a miracle."

His gaze "compassionately" swept over the nervous, suffocating crowd in the room. He cleared his throat and began to usher them out: "I must trouble you, Fellow Villagers, to wait outside first. I am about to perform my Family's Life-Saving Unique Skill—the 'Thirteen Needles of the Ghost Gate'!

This needling technique is profound. It is an ancestral rule that no third person can be present during the procedure. Absolutely no one should stand near the doors or windows; stay far away! Otherwise, if the True Qi is leaked, even an immortal cannot save him!"

When a Cultivator makes a move, even a small residual shockwave is too much for Ordinary People to bear, so it is better to keep them far away.

"Yes! Yes! We'll listen to the Divine Doctor! Thank you for your hard work!" Old Man Shi Three, hearing it was a "life-saving unique skill" and involved "ancestral rules," didn't dare delay and immediately nodded vigorously.

He coaxed and dragged Xiaohua, who was looking back every few steps with eyes full of worry, out of the room.

The other villagers quickly followed suit, filing out one after another, afraid that moving too slowly would delay the life-saving treatment.

Creak—Bang!

Lin Jingyu closed the dilapidated wooden door from the inside and casually slid the simple bolt across.

The light inside the room instantly dimmed, leaving only a few faint rays leaking through the holes in the window paper. The air was filled with a suffocating silence, completely isolating the outside world.

Lin Jingyu leisurely moved to the edge of the bed, "kindly" rambling: "Young man, your physique is truly excellent. Look at your frame, you must have practiced Martial Arts, right? I'll take off your outer clothes now, it will be easier to apply the needles..."

Before his words finished, the mask of the "honest and worried" Doctor on his face instantly cracked and peeled away, like ice shattered by a heavy hammer!

His gaze! Those eyes! In an instant, they became like sharp blades tempered in ten thousand years of cold ice—icy, sharp, and full of Killing Intent!

A chilling, solidified Killing Intent, like a sleeping Vicious Beast suddenly awakening, erupted from him with a "boom," and the temperature in the dilapidated hut seemed to drop instantly to freezing point!