Old Master Wang: !!!
Wang Xiao Wan: ???
“Can the young miss be saved?” It was the old servant who reacted first, hurriedly asking.
“Of course she can be saved.”
As the words fell, Lu Zheng revealed himself, seated on the chair opposite the round table.
“Her mind is intact, her body hasn’t transformed, only the corpse poison is clinging to her vital organs, with slight erosion. As long as it’s completely removed, a few months of recuperation will suffice.”
“It’s you? That… Young Master Lu!” Old Master Wang recognised Lu Zheng.
“Greetings, Old Master Wang.” Lu Zheng nodded, then turned to Wang Xiao Wan. “Greetings, Miss Wang.”
“Greetings, Young Master Lu!” Wang Xiao Wan hurriedly curtsied in return, her face flushing, then dimming, and her complexion paling again.
“Young Master Lu, you, you are…” Old Master Wang stammered.
He had always thought Lu Zheng was just an ordinary outsider who had settled in Tonglin County to manage his estate, privately mocking him as an uneducated, superficial dandy who didn’t study or attend the county academy.
Who would have thought he was actually a hidden adept!
“My apologies, I came here following that Li Lao Si.”
Lu Zheng assumed Old Master Wang was questioning why he was there, as his presence could be considered trespassing.
So, he needed an excuse and a scapegoat.
“That Li Lao Si teamed up with a chicken demon to win money through cockfighting. I followed them here.”
Lu Zheng said earnestly, “I originally intended to expose them, but then I noticed Miss Wang’s situation, so naturally, I set that matter aside to come and see.”
But at this moment, how could Old Master Wang care about pursuing Lu Zheng for trespassing?
“Young Master Lu! Can you save Xiao Wan?”
Old Master Wang asked urgently, then, recalling Lu Zheng’s sudden appearance, he lifted his robe and bent his knees to kneel.
Lu Zheng reached out, preventing Old Master Wang from kneeling.
Looking at Old Master Wang, who seemed well over sixty, and then at Wang Xiao Wan, who appeared to be in the bloom of her youth, perhaps sixteen?
Unable to kneel, Old Master Wang could only bow deeply with clasped hands. “Young Master Lu, greetings! In my old age, I was blessed with a daughter. Xiao Wan is my most cherished girl, and half a year ago, she saved my life. If you can remove the corpse poison and save her, whatever you ask, I will never refuse!”
Tch, so that’s how it is…
“No need, no need, it’s not that serious.” Lu Zheng smiled. “As I just said, Miss Wang herself has some cultivation. The corpse poison hasn’t reached her mind or fully invaded her body. If you had sought help at White Cloud Temple earlier, Miss Wang might be out in the countryside flying kites by now.”
“Ah, this…”
Old Master Wang was dumbfounded, seeing how casually Lu Zheng spoke, then looking at his daughter, he couldn’t help feeling a wave of guilt.
“By the way, I forgot to mention, I’m a lay disciple of White Cloud Temple.” Lu Zheng smiled. “The temple master of Shaotong Mountain’s White Cloud Temple, Master Ming Zhang, is my teacher.”
Old Master Wang’s breath caught. “So you’re a disciple of a renowned master. My apologies for the disrespect!”
“No matter.” Lu Zheng waved his hand, then looked at Wang Xiao Wan. “Your father was mainly worried you’d be slain as a demon, and you just feared implicating your father. Such filial piety and paternal love are why I’m willing to help.”
Tears welled in Wang Xiao Wan’s eyes, and she hurriedly curtsied again. “Thank you, Young Master!”
“Young Master Lu.” Old Master Wang asked cautiously, “To cure my daughter, what must I prepare? Or do we need to go to White Cloud Temple?”
Lu Zheng shook his head, patted his gourd, and a cloth pouch flew out.
Catching it, he spread it on the table, revealing over a hundred silver needles inside.
“This… it’s starting now?” Old Master Wang was stunned, asking blankly.
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow. “What did you expect? Burning incense, bathing, fasting, and chanting?”
“No, no…”
“You’re lucky. Miss Wang has some cultivation, and though the corpse poison has invaded her organs, it hasn’t fused with her body yet. It’s still manageable to remove now. If you’d waited another half year, things would have been troublesome.”
Lu Zheng’s fingers brushed over the cloth pouch, taking three silver needles in hand, and looked at Wang Xiao Wan. “Miss Wang, may we begin?”
“Ye…”
Before Wang Xiao Wan could finish a single word, Lu Zheng’s silver needle pierced her Jianjing acupoint.
No need for sterilisation or disrobing, Lu Zheng’s acupoint targeting was precise, and with true qi enveloping the needles, in mere moments, he had inserted forty-nine long and short silver needles into Wang Xiao Wan’s body.
Inserting! Twisting! Scraping! Vibrating!
Strands of true qi flowed through the silver needles into Wang Xiao Wan’s body, transforming into clouds of qi, coursing through her meridians, delving into her vital organs, and soon encountering the corpse poison within.
What followed was a direct confrontation.
Though the corpse poison had deeply infiltrated and could draw on Wang Xiao Wan’s vital energy, it had not yet fully altered her constitution. How could it withstand the boundless true qi from Lu Zheng?
In just a quarter of an hour, the three onlookers saw black smoke rising from the ends of the dozens of needles in Wang Xiao Wan’s body.
At the same time, Old Master Wang and the old servant behind him suddenly smelled a foul stench, causing them to step back repeatedly, while the dozen or so peace talismans on the walls and windows turned to ash.
Lu Zheng flicked his sleeve, and a surge of cloud-like qi swept out, completely dissipating the escaping corpse poison.
“Done,” Lu Zheng said calmly.
“Done?” Old Master Wang was bewildered.
“Done!” Wang Xiao Wan exclaimed in delight, feeling an unprecedented lightness in her body.
The three looked at Lu Zheng, who remained utterly composed, as if removing the corpse poison that had plagued Wang Xiao Wan for half a year was indeed a trivial task.
But whether it was trivial for Lu Zheng or not, Old Master Wang and Wang Xiao Wan knelt in gratitude once more.
This time, Lu Zheng did not stop them, for he had indeed saved Wang Xiao Wan’s life. Had he not intervened, once the corpse poison fully transformed her body, removing it would no longer be something an ordinary person could accomplish.
After they kowtowed three times, Lu Zheng waved his hand, helping them up.
“Tell me, how did you contract this corpse poison?” Lu Zheng asked curiously.
Old Master Wang clasped his hands and said, “Young Master Lu, allow me to explain. It’s a long story…”
It turned out that the Wang family had lived in Tonglin County for over a hundred years, passing down their legacy through generations, gradually prospering. After the New Year, they decided to repair the ancestral graves.
Wang Xiao Wan had warned her father that the area around the graves was desolate and to bring more people, but Old Master Wang didn’t listen, taking only a few servants and attendants.
Unexpectedly, they met with disaster. Beneath the ancestral graves was a dormant zombie, which, disturbed by their actions, emerged and attacked.
Fortunately, Wang Xiao Wan had some magical abilities and, together with the only three guards they had, managed to kill and dismember the zombie. However, Wang Xiao Wan was bitten, contracting the corpse poison.
“Fortunately, that zombie had only recently transformed, so Xiao Wan was able to hold on until now,” Wang Xiao Wan said softly.
Lu Zheng nodded. What Wang Xiao Wan said was indeed one reason, but there was another…
Lu Zheng glanced at the nineteen strands of fortune light newly added to his jade seal.
Wang Xiao Wan’s innate talent was quite extraordinary!
