Chapter 101

When Seeing Chu Tianshu and the others went, they were all on light horses and fast steeds.

When they returned, the large convoy of carriages and horses inevitably had to be much slower.

It wasn't until the afternoon that everyone returned to the Wang City.

The steward of the Zheng residence seemed to have been waiting for a long time; as soon as they entered the city, he hurried over to whisper to Zheng Hui.

However, his way of lowering his voice was meaningless to Seeing Chu Tianshu, who was within three zhang.

"My lord, someone is here to see you, holding the token you gave to General Wei back then."

Zheng Hui took the piece of paper from the steward's hand.

It was a small, gold-stamped note with only one line of poetry on it.

"Do not worry about having no soulmate on the road ahead, for who in the world does not know you?"

With a touch of his fingertips, Zheng Hui knew that this paper was indeed a set of small notes he had made himself back then, and the handwriting was also written by his own left hand.

Unless it was personally gifted by that Military Governor of Jiannan Xichuan, General Wei Gao.

Otherwise, even if someone else obtained this small piece of paper, they wouldn't know it was the token of Zheng Hui of Nanzhao.

"Do not worry about having no soulmate on the road ahead, for who in the world does not know you..."

Zheng Hui murmured.

Within Nanzhao, the situation had recently become increasingly tense, and just now, important figures like the Great Tang diplomatic mission and the Tubo high priest had died.

At this time, receiving the token from back then, although Zheng Hui remained calm on the surface, his spine couldn't help but straighten slightly.

After everyone entered the city, because the streets were bustling with people, they all slowed their horses.

Zheng Hui tucked the paper into his sleeve, still unhurried, and led the entire carriage convoy toward the Zheng residence.

Upon reaching the gate and dismounting to enter, Zheng Hui's pace suddenly quickened.

As soon as Seeing Chu Tianshu stepped into this mansion, he smelled a medicinal odor.

The source of the medicinal odor was in the back hall.

In the large hall, the upper part was churning with white water vapor.

It was just like the scene in an old-fashioned kitchen in winter where rice and dishes are being cooked, with water vapor rising and accumulating, unable to disperse.

But the climate in Nanzhao is warm.

To boil up such a scene, it is likely that at least four or five earthen pots of water had been boiled and evaporated in a short time.

Sure enough, there were several empty earthen pots on the ground, full of medicinal dregs, but no stove was seen.

The guest in black cloth and red robe sat on a pear-wood armchair, holding an earthen pot with both hands.

A gurgling sound was coming from the pot, emitting billowing heat.

It seemed that this person was using both hands to accelerate the boiling of the medicine in the pot, concentrating the medicinal juice in a short time.

The medicine boiled in those few pots should have already been drunk by him.

"Is it Commander Hai of the Inner Guard Right Division?"

Although Zheng Hui had some guesses, he still couldn't help but pull out the small note from his sleeve, "Was this token obtained from General Wei?"

Hai Donglai said: "Yes."

One word answered two questions.

When the Tang army defeated the allied forces of Tubo and Nanzhao back then, Zheng Hui heard that the Inner Guard had once competed for credit with the army.

As the leading figures on both sides during that battle, Hai Donglai and Wei Gao were also at odds in the imperial court.

But such a secret token must have been voluntarily given by Wei Gao.

It seems the rumors are untrue.

Zheng Hui nodded and said: "Commander Hai must have come for the sake of the diplomatic mission. I have no clue how their route was leaked."

"Please, Commander Hai, rest and heal here first. After I meet with the monarch, we can discuss it together."

Hai Donglai raised his eyes and swept over the few people in front of him.

Except for the steward and the guards, the attire of Seeing Chu Tianshu and Cheng Xiazi was clearly different from the others in the Zheng residence.

But to be able to appear here, Zheng Hui clearly trusted them very much.

"It seems you have already seen the corpses of the diplomatic mission."

Hai Donglai said, "I originally didn't know the route of the diplomatic mission either; I only came to Nanzhao to investigate the Inner Guard matter."

"Unexpectedly, I encountered someone attacking and killing my Great Tang diplomatic mission!"

Hai Donglai's voice sank, "That gang of monks is not simple, especially that old one."

"Compared to those figures who were called leaders among the Chang'an wanderers in the past, the old monk is even better, and his weapon..."

"A very wonderful person. He should be a high priest of Tubo, right?"

Zheng Hui nodded, his expression solemn.

Seeing Chu Tianshu was picking up the earthen pot on the ground to check the medicinal dregs inside.

"Scutellaria, forsythia, houttuynia, violet, peony bark..."

At a glance, Seeing Chu Tianshu found that almost all of them were anti-inflammatory medicinal materials.

There were also a few particularly precious medicines.

Looking at the growth rings on the medicinal materials, they must be rare treasures, most likely from the collection in the Zheng residence.

"The selection of medicinal materials is good, but this ratio is too reckless. Do you think that the more medicinal materials, the better?"

Seeing Chu Tianshu walked to Hai Donglai's side and sat down, reaching out his hand, "I am a physician. Let me take a look, shall we?"

Sitting beside him, even with the medicinal odor filling the room, Seeing Chu Tianshu smelled the thick, bloody scent on Hai Donglai.

Honestly, he was very curious about Hai Donglai's current physical condition.

What changes would occur in the body functions of a martial arts expert in a state of serious injury, and how exactly would they cope?

Seeing Chu Tianshu could make some guesses based on boxing manuals and medical principles, but he had never seen a real-life example.

Someone like Commander Xu would have been a very good subject for investigation.

Unfortunately, his character was too rotten, and forced by the situation, he had to be killed directly, which was a pity.

With the experience of diagnosing such an expert, if Seeing Chu Tianshu himself were to be seriously injured in the future, or if his physical strength were exhausted to a certain extent and he still wanted to continue fighting.

He could be more confident in grasping and stimulating his own condition in every aspect.

Hai Donglai poured the medicinal juice from the earthen pot into a porcelain bowl on the side, let it cool after pouring half a bowl, placed the earthen pot aside, and extended his hand.

"Then I will trouble you, sir."

Although he was arrogant and bloodthirsty in rumors, this person was quite polite.

Seeing Chu Tianshu saw that his hands were wrapped with many thin white cloth strips, all stained with blood, so he first rolled his sleeve up a bit.

Who would have thought that these cloth strips, wrapped all the way to his forearm, had already turned slightly yellow.

"These cloth strips have been on for a while, right? Were you already injured before you fought the Tubo people?"

Hai Donglai said calmly: "It's not an injury; it's an illness."

With Seeing Chu Tianshu's keenness for force, he could take the pulse through the cloth strips.

He placed his fingers on Hai Donglai's wrist, pondering in silence.

Zheng Hui and the others also sat down one after another, waiting quietly.

"I have truly seen this kind of pulse for the first time in my life."

Seeing Chu Tianshu frowned, "When did you get this illness? Are there any other symptoms?"

Hai Donglai said: "When I was a child, I heard the elders say that this is a congenital problem; I cannot see the light."

"When I was a child, if I stayed in the sun for less than half an hour, red spots would appear on my body; it was heavier in summer and lighter in winter."

"After I turned ten, as long as I was exposed to the sun for half a quarter of an hour, dense red spots would connect into a patch, break, and bleed."

"Later it became even more serious; the onset would be more urgent, and the ulceration would be deeper, worse year by year."

Everyone in the hall was shocked.

They had never heard of such a strange illness. How did this sound like some kind of Yin evil ghost that was restrained by sunlight? It didn't even seem like a living person.

Zheng Hui thought in a flash that this was a major flaw in Hai Donglai.

Even if the people in the hall would not leak it, and with Hai Donglai's martial arts, those in the world who could utilize this flaw were few and far between.

But for Hai Donglai to expose this flaw in front of everyone so casually, this mindset was very unusual.

Unless he felt that he didn't have much time left anyway.

Zheng Hui's heart sank slightly, his gaze filled with hope as he looked at Seeing Chu Tianshu.

For an expert, a serious injury might heal on its own, but when a serious injury and a serious illness are stacked together, it can only depend on medical skills.

Seeing Chu Tianshu listened to these symptoms and thought of the vampire porphyria he had seen in medical journals.

This is also a rare disease worldwide; mild patients may have a near-normal lifespan through strict light avoidance and treatment.

However, for patients with severe congenital porphyria, even with strict light avoidance, most would pass away in childhood due to various complications.

Hai Donglai should have some understanding of his own illness, but he only knew how to eat those anti-inflammatory medicinal materials that were not completely symptomatic. It can be seen that none of the people who had treated him before had given a good treatment plan.

Then he relied on hard practice to train a strong physique, which allowed him to withstand the illness and live for these extra years.

However, being born with this kind of illness makes the difficulty of practicing martial arts much harder than for ordinary people.

"To be able to hold on for so many years in a death loop and train a martial art that is famous throughout the world, you can truly be called heart-hard as iron!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu couldn't help but exclaim.

A physician is always touched by a patient with such a tenacious will to survive, not to mention that they are both martial artists.

Born unable to see the light of day, yet making his reputation as prominent as the scorching sun.

At the same time, Seeing Chu Tianshu couldn't help but think of the Scorching Sun Wheel.

This Hai Donglai is a bit too unlucky.

Born with such an illness, the strong enemy he encountered was holding the Scorching Sun Wheel.

If that old monk had changed to a different martial spirit, Hai Donglai's injury shouldn't have been this severe.

Severe to the point of... potentially dying suddenly at any moment.

The current Hai Donglai seems to be able to walk and talk, and he could probably still manage a few moves if he were to fight someone.

However, this serious injury has already catalyzed and erupted all his complications.

With the severity of this inflammation, if he were sent to a place with hospital equipment.

The test results would definitely make the doctor think that either the equipment was broken or they were dreaming.

This is no longer a scope that medicine can treat.

If in the next moment, the involvement of Hai Donglai's cerebral blood vessels becomes slightly heavier, he will really die here.

It just so happens that because it is severe to this extent, the needle technique Seeing Chu Tianshu is best at is not easy to perform on him.

"Even if you hadn't been injured, with this level of illness, you should have been resting well at home. How could you dare to run around..."

"Wait, you are already so seriously injured; it's one thing to be able to walk slowly, but how did you manage to reach the Wang City within today? You didn't ride a horse, did you?"

Seeing Chu Tianshu's eyes lit up. He activated his spirit communication perspective to carefully observe Hai Donglai, his gaze lingering on his heart.

"Your soldier spirit is inside your body!"

Hai Donglai had long expected the severity of his own injury and illness; his expression showed only a little desolation and regret as he nodded: "My umbrella was destroyed, and the martial spirit could only be temporarily deposited into my body."

When a soldier spirit is cultivated to a high level and the hearts are in perfect harmony, it can indeed be temporarily deposited within the master's body.

In this way, even if the original weapon material is not good enough and is destroyed in battle, the soldier spirit can be transferred to a new weapon.

But the reason why a soldier spirit easily displays miraculous power is that it is purer than a person.

If it is deposited in the body for too long, it will be muddied by the human body's emotions, its ability will regress, and it may even dissipate.

"I forgot that the soldier spirit has such a characteristic."

Seeing Chu Tianshu's brows relaxed, and his expression became spirited.

"Good, good, good! Then you might still be saved!"

(End of chapter)