Chapter 32: [Canine Tooth Reverse Hook Arrow] (Part 1)

Mo Shaolin saw through Murong Feiyan's purpose; he quickly drew two feathered arrows from his quiver, and ran alongside Murong Feiyan. Swish! Swish! The two arrows were shot, but both were aimed at Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian lay motionless on the ground, his mouth wide open, his eyes filled with terrified light; his life was no longer under his own control, he could only watch helplessly as the two feathered arrows flew straight toward his chest and abdomen.

Murong Feiyan held the reins with one hand, her delicate body leaning sideways, she waved her long sword continuously, knocking the two arrows aside one after another; then she sheathed her sword, grabbed Hu Xiaotian's arm with one hand, and with all her strength pulled him up, letting Hu Xiaotian lie prone on the horse's back again.

At this moment Mo Shaolin shot another arrow; the black feathered arrow pierced the rain curtain at astonishing speed, striking Murong Feiyan's left shoulder, entering from the front and the arrowhead emerging from her rear shoulder. Murong Feiyan felt pain so intense she almost fainted; she clenched her lips, endured the pain and struck the horse's rump with a backward palm. The horse, in pain, neighed loudly, flung its four hooves, and galloped off into the distance.

Mo Shaolin wanted to shoot again, but the horse had already run beyond his range.

Rainwater mixed with blood dripped onto Hu Xiaotian's cheeks, some trickling past his lips, bringing a salty, astringent taste. Because he was lying on the horse, he could not see Murong Feiyan's exact condition; he could only infer from the continuously dripping blood that she must have been injured.

Murong Feiyan's face turned pale, whether from excessive blood loss or the rain, her vision grew increasingly blurry; she faintly saw the sign of Easy Origin Hall appearing in the wind and rain, and she could no longer support herself, her delicate body went limp and she collapsed onto Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian, although his limbs could not move, still had a mouth; he shouted loudly, "|Someone come, save me…… save me……"

Inside Easy Origin Hall, someone finally heard the commotion, opened the door and came out; seeing the situation before them, they were all startled. Not long after, several more people were called from inside, they went to lead the white horse, and lifted Murong Feiyan and Hu Xiaotian into the room.

Hu Xiaotian was not injured; his meridians were merely sealed. The Second Head of Easy Origin Hall, Yuan Shiqing, recognized him at a glance; as for Murong Feiyan, she was also an acquaintance of Easy Origin Hall.

Yuan Shiqing first helped Hu Xiaotian unseal his meridians; Hu Xiaotian had no time to explain what had happened, and immediately went to Murong Feiyan's side, the feathered arrow still remained inside her body, not removed.

This feathered arrow differs from ordinary arrows; barbs grow on its shaft, and only when it penetrates a human body does it trigger the mechanism inside the shaft, causing the barbs on the shaft to spring out. If forcibly pulled out, it would surely inflict great harm on Murong Feiyan. Yuan Shiqing had never seen such a strange arrow; before clarifying its principle, he dared not act rashly.

At this moment Murong Feiyan awoke from a brief faint, she furrowed her brows, seeing Hu Xiaotian unharmed, she said in a trembling voice, "Your life is indeed tough."

Hu Xiaotian smiled, "My humble life is not so easy to die." Yet he secretly felt grateful to Murong Feiyan; however he would not be so idle as to thank her now, figuring out how to extract the arrow from her body was the urgent priority.

Murong Feiyan's beautiful eyes glanced at the arrow's tail feather; she whispered, "Canine Tooth Reverse Hook Arrow…… there is a mechanism on the shaft…… one must not pull it forcibly……" Before she could finish speaking, the pain overwhelmed her and she lost strength.

Hu Xiaotian asked, "Do you know where the mechanism is?"

Murong Feiyan shook her head.

Yuan Shiqing said, "Could it be on the tail feather?"

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said, "It should be triggered when the arrow pierces the flesh." He began searching from the arrowhead, discovering that the exposed part of the shaft had no mechanism. Eliminating the exterior, the only possibility remained was that the mechanism was lodged inside Murong Feiyan's body. In other words, a surgical exploration was necessary, and the exploration required enlarging her wound. If in the past, if Hu Xiaotian had modern medical tools at hand, this would naturally not be a problem; but in this era of scarce medicine and drugs, even performing the simplest surgery entails considerable difficulty and great risk.

Although Yuan Shiqing was the second-in-command of Easy Origin Hall, and his medical skill was also well known in Dakang, he was somewhat at a loss regarding Murong Feiyan's injury; he quietly ordered his disciples to fetch Li Yifeng, the head of Easy Origin Hall.

Hu Xiaotian requested paper and pen, and immediately drew the necessary surgical instruments on the paper: a scalpel, hemostatic forceps, cloth forceps, scissors, tweezers, tissue forceps, needle holder, suture needle, and suture thread.

Yuan Shiqing looked at Hu Xiaotian's drawn diagrams, feeling completely bewildered: "Master Hu, what are these……"

Hu Xiaotian said, "To extract this arrow from Constable Murong's body, we must borrow some tools; I have drawn the diagrams of these tools to the same scale, I do not know whether Easy Origin Hall can find something similar or comparable." In fact, when Hu Xiaotian said this, he did not hold much hope; finding Western medical surgical instruments in this era was virtually impossible.

Yuan Shiqing stared at the diagram for a while, pointed with his finger at the scissors and said, "This one we do have, only it's a bit larger!"

Hu Xiaotian asked, "Is there any other way to find them?"

Yuan Shiqing said, "I'll have someone think of a way!" He showed the diagram to the warehouse keeper in charge of the storehouse; Easy Origin Hall, after all, is a time-honored medical hall with hundreds of years of inheritance, the quantity of medicinal materials and tools passed down through the ages is unknown, and even Yuan Shiqing, as the Second Head of Easy Origin Hall, is not clear whether they possess similar instruments.

Hu Xiaotian also had someone look for strong alcohol and gauze, and had someone fetch a pot for steaming; the dagger and scissors they found were first disinfected. Regardless of whether they could find suitable instruments, in the end they must devise a way to extract this Canine Tooth Reverse Hook Arrow from Murong Feiyan's body; even if the arrow is non‑poisonous, it has already formed a penetrating wound in her shoulder, bleeding continues, and the longer it remains, the greater the risk of infection.

After arranging these matters, Hu Xiaotian only then recalled that the servants of the Minister's Residence might be frantic; in a hurry he entrusted Yuan Shiqing to send people respectively to the Minister's Residence and the Capital Prefecture to report the news.

After about the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, the warehouse keeper returned; according to the depiction on the diagram, he found a small knife, scissors, and forceps, to Hu Xiaotian's delight he even found an arc‑shaped suture needle; of course this needle was not specially prepared for suturing human skin, but its appearance is about eighty percent similar to the surgical suture needles used previously; what exactly it is for, even the warehouse keeper does not know.

Hu Xiaotian selected the barely usable instruments, threw them all into the pot to boil and disinfect, then placed them in a steamer for distillation. While he was disinfecting the instruments, the Head of Easy Origin Hall, Li Yifeng, also arrived.

Li Yifeng, well‑versed and knowledgeable, at a glance recognized the arrow that struck Murong Feiyan as a Canine Tooth Reverse Hook Arrow; he also knew that one must first locate the mechanism on the shaft, retract the barbs, before the arrow could be pulled from her body. On this point he agreed with Hu Xiaotian, believing the mechanism lay inside Murong Feiyan's body. As for how to find the mechanism within her body, he had no good method. In the past there had been similar patients; the usual practice was to enlarge the wound, locate the mechanism, which often caused greater trauma and bleeding, and some patients died as their condition worsened.

Hu Xiaotian quietly took Li Yifeng aside and explained his plan; Li Yifeng, upon hearing that Hu Xiaotian wanted to cut open and enlarge Murong Feiyan's wound in order to locate the mechanism on the shaft via that method, furrowed his brows, for besides this method there was no alternative, and he said, "Just doing this, will it not cause greater harm to Miss Murong, possibly even damage her vital energy, and enlarging the wound will leave larger scars later?" Although he said that, Li Yifeng already understood in his heart that if he were to handle it, he would inevitably have to adopt the same approach, which would undoubtedly leave a huge scar at the wound site.

Hu Xiaotian said, "There is no other choice; the longer we delay, the higher the infection risk. I am confident that, provided we make the smallest possible incision, I can locate the mechanism on the arrow shaft."

Li Yifeng asked, "Won't there be problems?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "If there are problems, they would be possible bleeding during the operation, and also the postoperative suturing—I lack suitable suture thread."

Li Yifeng widened his eyes: "You mean, to suture her wound shut?" In modern eyes this is an utterly ordinary surgical procedure, but in this era it appears shocking and outrageous. *****************************************************************************

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