Chapter 31

"Liquidating Deputy Zhou?"

Cai Shanjun smiled and sighed, "I'm only afraid that before I cross the river to gather my confidants, I'll have to clash with Deputy Zhou's defenses at the river ferry."

This sigh of his tugged at his heart and lungs, and he coughed incessantly.

Seeing Chu Tianshu knew that the other party was someone who needed to be saved, so he no longer hesitated, twisted a silver needle, and poured his mental energy into it.

A layer of faint smoke rose from the surface of the silver needle, sterilizing and killing germs.

The first needle went directly through Cai Shanjun's wrist.

Chu Tianshu seemed to be pulling the strings of a two-stringed fiddle, twisting and sending it several times, which made the onlookers feel a bit of phantom pain, before he began to insert the second needle.

By the time his needles reached the throat, everyone realized that Cai Shanjun, who had been coughing until his whole body was shaking, had stopped trembling.

The man with the sickle was overjoyed and slapped his companion on the shoulder: "The Governor's divination was truly not wrong."

Seeing Chu Tianshu raised his eyebrows: "Divination?"

That's right, there was another suspicious point just now.

If they were truly three village farmers, and one of them was seriously ill, treating a dead horse as a living one was possible.

But since it was Cai Shanjun, how could his guards easily trust three people they met in the wild mountains and invite one of them to treat the Governor?

The man in straw sandals smiled: "Our Governor has always been divine in his calculations; a few days ago, he calculated that as we walked this way, we would meet a noble person."

Shopkeeper Ma actually respected this Great Governor quite a bit, but when he encountered something involving his profession, he couldn't help but question it.

"People in the world think that fortune-telling can predict the future, but as far as I know, the study of divination can, at most, only calculate things that have not been personally seen but have already happened or are happening."

"Then, by sorting out the context, one can infer the future, but one cannot know future events out of thin air."

"The Great Governor and Little Chu should have never met before, and there was no connection between you; to be able to divine such an opportunity days in advance, I wonder which school of magical arts this was passed down from?"

If fortune-telling were really that convenient and could point out the path ahead, ninety-nine percent of the sorcerers in the world should have gone to learn fortune-telling.

Those who claim that fortune-telling is that powerful are often not gods, but swindlers.

"It's just some methods of divination pondered by a wanderer in the mountains."

Cai Shanjun felt that his coughing and wheezing had been suppressed, and his expression was much calmer as he said hoarsely, "Actually, I was certain that if there were no other opportunities, I would have succumbed to the poison in these two days; even if I didn't die, my cultivation would be completely wasted."

"I was truly helpless, so I cast a divination; since the hexagram showed that walking this way would lead to a noble person, I thought I might as well try."

He smiled slowly, "Fortune-telling is originally a fifty-fifty thing; if it works, it's my divine calculation, and if it doesn't..."

Seeing Chu Tianshu took over: "If it doesn't, it's feudal superstition?"

Cai Shanjun said warmly: "If it doesn't, it's Heaven misleading me!"

Learned it; this is the terminology of a professional "expert."

Seeing Chu Tianshu stopped talking and focused on inserting the needles.

In fact, Seeing Chu Tianshu didn't know the origin or name of the poison Cai Shanjun had been poisoned with.

But through diagnosis, he knew how this poison was ravaging the person's body.

Following the mechanism of the poison's effect to reverse-engineer it, he sought ways to restrain the toxic force.

This process was a very energy-consuming thing, no less than a major surgery like reattaching a severed limb or a heart transplant.

But they weren't in a fully equipped operating room, and the process of inserting the needles could by no means be dragged out for as long as a major surgery.

This tested the physician's physical strength even more.

If it were the Seeing Chu Tianshu of the past, even if he knew how to insert the needles, his body wouldn't be enough to support him in completing a treatment.

And the current Seeing Chu Tianshu's physical fitness was, of course, not in the same league.

For a fist artist, opening the apertures is a permanent improvement in the tempering of the body.

Therefore, truly powerful fist artists, even without entering the state of opening the apertures, have a physical strength that far exceeds ordinary people in their daily lives.

With his current physical strength, Seeing Chu Tianshu supported the state of opening the spirit apertures.

Within a quarter of an hour, not a single bead of sweat could be seen on his face.

After a quarter of an hour, visible white steam began to rise from his hair.

That was the sweat in his hair being evaporated by his current body temperature, creating a contrast with the icy environment in the mountains.

After three quarters of an hour, Seeing Chu Tianshu's complexion was already clearly as red as a ripe date, and white steam was rising from his face.

At this moment, he placed the last needle, retreated to the side, and let out a heavy breath.

The two men in coir rain capes looked at Cai Shanjun nervously.

Cai Shanjun tried to reach out and touch the silver needle still stuck in his throat, saying softly: "Much better; I feel that once the needles are removed, I'll be able to walk and jump again."

The man in the coir rain cape looked at Seeing Chu Tianshu with gratitude.

"Don't be in such a hurry to thank me!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu raised his hand to stop them, breathing deeply, the flush on his face gradually fading, and said, "The poison you've been hit with is truly powerful."

"Using my needle technique, I can only help you restrain and alleviate it at most; if you were originally supposed to succumb to the poison in these two days, you would be dead or crippled."

"But with my needle technique, you will be able to move like an ordinary person for at least this month."

The man with the sickle said anxiously: "Is there really no other way?"

"I can also write a prescription for him, but many of the precious medicinal herbs in it, let alone in these mountains, I'm afraid you won't even find them in Yuannan City."

Seeing Chu Tianshu took the cup of water handed over by Ma Shu, drank it down, and looked at Cai Shanjun with bright eyes.

"Therefore, you must cross the river within a month to gather your confidants and regain power; only then will it be possible to find all the medicinal herbs."

"I can also accompany you, but in that case, after crossing the river, my reward will have to rise accordingly."

Cai Shanjun asked: "What rewards do you want?"

"First, in the future, you must take my two old uncles to Kunming to retire and settle them in a mansion."

Seeing Chu Tianshu said, "Secondly, I want ten large yellow fish (gold bars), and from all the collections of the Yizhou Martial Arts Hall, the best set of fist techniques and the best set of magical art manuals."

The role of the two manuals need not be repeated.

The ten gold bars were mainly because Seeing Chu Tianshu wanted to test whether he could bring this kind of thing back if he returned home.

"Saving my life and escorting me, these rewards are too cheap for me."

Cai Shanjun stared at Seeing Chu Tianshu for a while, then looked at Zhong Jinqiu and Shopkeeper Ma; his wise gaze seemed to be able to see many things, causing him to reveal a smile of emotion.

"Just based on Physician Chu's treatment just now, it is already completely worth these rewards, but if I refuse other help and die halfway, these empty promises will be worthless."

"So, how about this: before planning to cross the river, the three of you will accompany me to another place first."

Seeing Chu Tianshu asked curiously: "What place? Can you find more reinforcements there?"

"More reinforcements cannot be found for the time being."

Cai Shanjun explained, "I originally had some respect for the President, but after staying in the capital for these two years, I saw him repeatedly relying on foreign races and wantonly assassinating civil and military officials, unable to tolerate even the slightest dissent; I'm afraid it will leave endless disasters in the future."

"If such a person is not opposed as soon as possible, I'm afraid there will be a day when the whole country is ruined and the collapse is hard to save."

"Therefore, I used a plan to go to sea, borrowed a path from overseas through Vietnam, and traveled back from Vietnam, but I was repeatedly hunted and intercepted halfway; the people accompanying me scattered like stars and clouds, leaving only Old Yu and Little Huo."

"If I can't cross the river in time, I won't be able to find other reinforcements."

Shopkeeper Ma also asked: "Then where are you taking us?"

"That is a village, a very beautiful village."

Cai Shanjun said leisurely, "There won't be any reinforcements there, but there won't be any deadly enemies either."

"But if we can successfully borrow one thing from there, the danger of crossing the river this time can be reduced by more than half."

Seeing Chu Tianshu was even more curious and agreed immediately: "Alright, then I'll have to go and see."

Since he had already negotiated the business, Zhong Jinqiu and Shopkeeper Ma, of course, had no reason to refuse.

In their old age, unexpectedly having such an encounter also made the two of them feel a bit stirred up.

Zhong Jinqiu felt the heat in his heart even more, and somehow, it spread to his eyes; he said in a low voice: "Little Chu, he really is..."

"Alright, a great man, just understand it in your heart."

Shopkeeper Ma patted him on the shoulder, "Don't you really squeeze out two drops of cat tears and make people feel awkward."

Zhong Jinqiu glanced sideways at his old friend: "Hmph!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu glanced at them, and his face was already full of smiles.

"Busy until now, I'm hungry too!"

Seeing Chu Tianshu sat on the long bench and patted the tabletop.

"The two old uncles over there, and these two brothers, what food does everyone have?"

"Take it out and put it on the table to appreciate it together!"

Facts proved that the suggestion to put it all on one table was wise.

Old Yu and Little Huo really had a lot of good things hidden under their coir rain capes.

Large bags of beef jerky and candied fruit, all high-sugar and high-oil things.

Although it wasn't very friendly to Ma Shu and the others' teeth, it wasn't strenuous for the few martial artists to chew.

They martial artists had to gnaw on this kind of thing to restore their physical strength more easily.

In contrast, Seeing Chu Tianshu didn't eat a single one of the dry rations Ma Shu brought, leaving them for those with bad teeth to chew on slowly.

Using the table as a bed, sleeping in their clothes, and using the coir rain capes as quilts, everyone rested for the night and set off again at dawn.

This time, Old Yu and Little Huo were in front, hacking through vines and pushing aside leaves, while Cai Shanjun rode the donkey and pointed the way.

Seeing Chu Tianshu, Zhong, and Ma followed behind, chatting and accompanying them.

The road became more and more remote; after passing noon, even Zhong Jinqiu, who liked to travel outside, didn't know where they had arrived.

But Cai Shanjun looked at the mountains, water, and trees, occasionally having people cut down a small tree to observe the growth rings, feeling confident.

Strange to say, after walking for a day like this, they almost didn't feel like they were climbing any slopes.

It seemed that all the roads were just right for traveling through the mountain hollows; apart from the troublesome vines and the need to cross some streams of unclear depth, the road was simply flat.

Three days later, after drilling through a dense banana forest and lifting those wide, dark green leaves.

The front suddenly opened up, the sky was bright, and the scenery became clear.

He saw distant mountain waterfalls falling, and clear water surrounding them nearby.

The mountain village, built along the mountains and water, was located in this beautiful scenery.

Hundreds of stilt houses, large and small, primitive yet exquisite, seemed to exude the fragrance of wood in the sunset.

Seeing Chu Tianshu walked to the side of the donkey, looking at the beautiful scenery ahead in surprise, feeling that his two eyes had become soft and comfortable.

Cai Shanjun, who was riding the donkey, was rubbing his face, removing the disguise on his face.

On the river, a bamboo raft was drifting.

The Miao girl poling the bamboo raft discovered the few people here and stared at them without blinking, as if she had seen some incredible, rare beast.

"Grandpa!!"

The girl suddenly shouted, her sweet, crisp voice resounding through the mountains.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, the husband of the Cave God Goddess has returned!"

(End of Chapter)