Zhang Jiuling and Nie Xueliang conceded one after another, and everyone instinctively turned their gaze to Li Chunfeng.
Would this master of traditional Chinese medicine also concede voluntarily?
If so, it would be rather dull.
After all, everyone was eager to witness a showdown between the master and Ye Qiu.
“Li Chunfeng, I suggest you don’t waste time and just concede!” Xu Liu said, barely able to contain his eagerness to compete with Ye Qiu.
Li Chunfeng replied, “I won’t concede voluntarily. This round, I’ll compete with young Ye.”
At this, the audience buzzed with excitement.
Li Chunfeng began, “The title of Medical Sage is not merely a name, but a supreme honour.”
“Such honour demands true merit to convince the masses.”
“Ye Qiu’s acupuncture and bone-setting techniques are evident to all.”
“This round, I wish to challenge young Ye in my strongest field.”
“They call me a master of pharmacology. Young Ye, how about we compete in pharmacology this round?”
Ye Qiu smiled, “Elder Li, you’re the senior. I’ll follow your lead.”
“Very well, this round we’ll compete in pharmacology.”
Li Chunfeng raised his hand, signalling to the staff below.
Then, twenty staff members brought up twenty trays onto the stage.
The trays were filled with an assortment of medicinal herbs.
Li Chunfeng explained, “Each tray contains fifty types of herbs.”
“Twenty trays make one thousand types of herbs.”
“Young Ye, this round we’ll compete in identifying herbs.”
“I should clarify, I don’t yet know what these herbs are, as they were arranged by old Zhang.”
“Our task now is to identify these herbs.”
“I’ll identify five hundred, and you’ll identify five hundred.”
“After identifying each herb, write its name on a slip of paper.”
“Old Zhang has a list of the herbs. After we finish, we’ll compare our answers to his list.”
“The one with fewer mistakes wins.”
“If neither of us makes a mistake, then it comes down to time.”
“The faster one wins.”
“One round decides the victor.”
“How does that sound?”
Before Ye Qiu could respond, the audience began murmuring:
“That’s what they’re competing on?”
“Isn’t that too simple?”
“Even an ordinary Chinese medicine practitioner should be able to identify those thousand herbs.”
“I suspect Elder Li is going easy.”
“I thought this would be exciting, but they’re testing something so basic. Boring.”
“What a waste of time. Identifying five hundred herbs, even at top speed, will take hours, right?”
“Elder Li must be bored out of his mind.”
“They should’ve just competed in treating patients. Then we could’ve seen Dr. Ye’s miraculous acupuncture again.”
The crowd was somewhat disappointed.
Ye Qiu felt the same, saying, “Elder Li, isn’t identifying herbs a bit too simple?”
Zhang Jiuling cautioned, “Young Ye, don’t be careless. This may seem simple, but winning will be very difficult.”
Is that so?
Ye Qiu glanced at Li Chunfeng.
Li Chunfeng smiled, “Young Ye, you’ll need to be careful this round.”
Ye Qiu asked, “Elder Li, shall you start first, or shall we begin together?”
Li Chunfeng said, “Let’s start together to save everyone’s time.”
“Alright,” Ye Qiu nodded in agreement.
“Host, please start the timer!”
As Li Chunfeng spoke, he began.
He picked up an herb, glanced at it, and wrote its name on a slip.
It took less than three seconds.
Then, he picked up the second herb, the third, the fourth, the fifth…
In under half an hour, Li Chunfeng had identified two hundred herbs.
Lightning fast.
The audience gasped in amazement.
“Good grief, Elder Li’s speed is unreal!”
“Dr. Ye’s only identified just over a hundred, right?”
“Looks like Dr. Ye’s going to lose this round!”
On stage.
Ye Qiu’s expression was unprecedentedly solemn.
Only now did he finally understand why Zhang Jiuling said this seemingly simple task was actually very difficult.
Because Li Chunfeng’s speed was simply too fast.
“A minute on stage reflects a decade of practice off stage. Elder Li is truly a master of pharmacology. Impressive,” Ye Qiu marvelled, focusing entirely on identifying herbs.
A while later.
The gap widened.
Li Chunfeng had identified three hundred herbs, while Ye Qiu had only reached two hundred. At this rate, Ye Qiu was certain to lose.
What to do?
Ye Qiu furrowed his brow.
He felt immense pressure.
“I must find a way to beat Elder Li, or the title of Medical Sage will slip away,” Ye Qiu thought to himself.
Nearby, the two masters of traditional Chinese medicine were also whispering.
Zhang Jiuling said, “This round is dangerous for young Ye.”
“Old Li’s still sharp as ever. It’s tough for young Ye to win,” Nie Xueliang sighed.
However, at that moment, Ye Qiu grabbed five herbs at once, glanced over them, and quickly recorded their names.
“Well, young Ye’s picking up speed.”
“It’s no use. Old Li’s ahead by over a hundred. Even if young Ye identifies five at a time, he can’t catch up.”
“Yeah, young Ye’s lost this one.”
“Not necessarily, unless young Ye can identify fifty herbs at once, but that’s impossible…”
Bang!
Before Nie Xueliang could finish, Ye Qiu suddenly slapped a tray, sending it crashing.
Instantly, fifty herbs scattered on the ground.
Ye Qiu swept his eyes over them and began recording their names, taking less than two minutes.
Then, Ye Qiu repeated this method, knocking over the remaining trays one by one.
A single glance.
And he recorded the herb names.
Ten minutes later.
Not only had he caught up to Li Chunfeng’s pace, but he surpassed him, quickly leaving Li Chunfeng behind.
Twenty minutes later.
Ye Qiu was the first to stop, taking fifty-five minutes.
He waited another five minutes before Li Chunfeng finished.
“Phew~”
Li Chunfeng let out a long breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and smiled at Ye Qiu, “Young Ye, your speed is actually faster than mine. That surprised me. I just wonder about your accuracy?”
Nie Xueliang couldn’t wait, “Old Zhang, hurry up and show the herb list.”
Zhang Jiuling pulled a USB drive from his pocket, handed it to the staff to open on a computer, and projected it onto the big screen.
Then, Nie Xueliang began comparing Ye Qiu’s written herb names with the list on the screen.
“First one, correct.”
“Second one, correct.”
“Third one, correct.”
Fourth, fifth, sixth…
All correct!
Up to the four hundred and ninety-ninth, Ye Qiu hadn’t made a single mistake.
“The five hundredth—”
Nie Xueliang paused suddenly as he reached this point.
