Su Luoying adjusted her position, lying face-down on the examination bed, her back to Ye Qiu.
Her curves were fully exposed.
While clearing her eight meridians earlier, the intense herbal potency had left Su Luoying feeling like she was in a furnace, her clothes soaked with sweat.
Lying down, her damp clothes clung tightly, faintly revealing her form.
It was undeniably alluring.
Ye Qiu’s breathing quickened briefly, his gaze lingering on her back for a couple of seconds.
“Cough, cough—”
Bai Bing’s cough snapped him back. He glanced at her, meeting her icy glare, as if warning him: Keep looking, and you’re done.
Ignoring it, Ye Qiu said softly, “Luoying, take off your clothes.”
Bai Bing’s eyes widened, itching to yank his ear.
“What treatment needs her to undress over and over?”
“Trying to make me jealous on purpose?”
“Hmph, you’re in for it, you jerk!”
Bai Bing fumed, feeling both sour and angry.
Su Luoying, unfazed this time, promptly removed her clothes after Ye Qiu’s request.
Her flawless back was revealed, gleaming like fine Jingdezhen porcelain.
Perfection itself.
Ye Qiu said, “The ninth blocked meridian is in the spine.”
“It’s the hardest to clear.”
“If we succeed, you’ll be fully healed, Luoying.”
Su Luoying replied, “Dr. Ye, I’m ready. Go ahead!”
Bai Bing frowned slightly.
Why did that sound… off?
Or was she overthinking?
Ye Qiu handed forty-nine five-inch gold needles to Bai Bing, “Sister Bing, disinfect these.”
Bai Bing took the needles and wiped them with alcohol swabs.
Meanwhile, Ye Qiu took a ten-centimeter piece of He Shou Wu, crushed it into powder, and mixed it with warm water, setting it aside without giving it to Su Luoying.
After Bai Bing finished disinfecting, Ye Qiu’s gaze settled on Su Luoying’s back. His hands moved, pressing down simultaneously.
“Hmm—”
The moment his hands touched her back, Su Luoying tensed, letting out a soft murmur.
Her back flushed pink, like peach blossoms ready to bloom.
“Don’t be nervous, it’s okay,” Ye Qiu said gently.
“Okay,” Su Luoying murmured, still shy.
Ye Qiu couldn’t dwell on it. His hands moved along her spine, pressing slowly from top to bottom.
Su Luoying, never this close to a man before, blushed deeply.
After a few minutes, Ye Qiu stopped and called, “Needle!”
Bai Bing handed him a disinfected needle.
Ye Qiu’s expression turned serious. Pinching the needle with his thumb and index finger, he rotated it slowly, inserting it into a spinal acupoint.
This needle took thirty seconds.
For other doctors, thirty seconds was fast, but for Ye Qiu, who could insert a needle in a second, it was slow.
“Needle!” he called again.
Bai Bing handed him another.
It took another thirty seconds for the second needle.
He placed eighteen needles this way.
From the nineteenth, his pace slowed further, each needle taking a full minute.
Seeing sweat on Ye Qiu’s forehead, Bai Bing felt a pang, took a tissue from her bag, and gently wiped his brow.
Time ticked by.
Twenty minutes later, forty-six needles lined Su Luoying’s spine from top to bottom.
Three remained.
“Luoying, adjust your position, lift up a bit,” Ye Qiu said.
She understood, lowering her waist, revealing two dimples.
Swish! Swish!
Ye Qiu struck like lightning, inserting two needles into her dimples.
“Okay, lie back down.”
She did.
“One last needle.”
Pinching the final needle, Ye Qiu took a deep breath and inserted it at the base of her spine.
All forty-nine needles were in place.
He handed her the water cup, “Drink this quickly.”
Su Luoying drank it in one go.
Three seconds later, she said, “Dr. Ye, I feel that heat again, in my dantian.”
Ye Qiu instructed, “Luoying, no matter what happens next, stay calm.”
Looking back at his serious expression, she smiled, “Dr. Ye, I trust you. Go for it!”
Ye Qiu gave a small smile.
Moments later, his face grew unprecedentedly grave. He swept his palm over the tails of the forty-nine needles.
Instantly, they hummed and trembled.
Then, Ye Qiu gripped her arms, channeling two streams of innate true qi into her body.
The qi surged to her dantian, flanking the herbal potency, then guided it into her spine.
The moment the potency hit her spine, Su Luoying trembled violently from pain.
Then—
“Roar—”
A deafening dragon’s cry rang out.
Bai Bing jumped, startled.
She saw a golden dragon shadow, over a meter long, burst from Ye Qiu’s crown, hovering above him, casting golden light that made him look divine.
This…
Bai Bing was stunned.
“Success or failure, we’ll know soon,” Ye Qiu said, his heart racing with tension.
With a wave, the innate true qi above him coiled around his arm.
His palm gently pressed Su Luoying’s back.
“Roar—”
Another dragon’s cry erupted as the qi left his arm, wrapping around the forty-nine needles.
In a flash, it entered her spine.
The moment it did, a massive, mysterious force surged from Su Luoying’s body, blasting Ye Qiu back.
Bang!
He crashed into the door.
At the same time, Su Luoying trembled violently, spitting blood.
“Ye Qiu, are you okay?” Bai Bing started toward him.
“Check Luoying’s condition!” Ye Qiu shouted urgently.
Bai Bing reached the bed just as Su Luoying’s head slumped.
Her heart sank.
She checked her pulse.
Her face paled as she said, “Ye Qiu, Luoying’s not breathing…”
