Chapter 952: The Connoisseur of Fake Treasures Lets One Slip Through

Let me tell you, when I first found out this was ambergris, I thought I’d hit the jackpot!

But as soon as people saw this sea toad, they said it was useless. I went through great trouble, treating the apothecary’s master to wine, only to learn that the sea toad had consumed ambergris—now the entire spice was ruined; using it wouldn’t just fail to smell good, it would stink.

But it’s specifically effective for treating illnesses—not every illness, just eye ailments.

Whether it’s wind-blurred vision, heat-blurred vision, sudden eye inflammation, tearing in the wind, pterygium, or red blood vessels in the eyes, one application fixes it immediately. I’m not a pharmacist, nor a licensed doctor—I’m just giving out a bit of this to help people and build goodwill.

He pointed to a man and said, “This gentleman’s eyes are full of red veins—let me try applying some. I won’t take a penny; I’m not selling.”

The man squatted down, pulled out a small glass vial filled with water, then a tiny knife and a bone hairpin.

He used the small knife to scrape off some powder directly from the sea treasure.

He dipped the bone hairpin in cold water, then into the scraped powder, and applied it to the man’s left eye.

Soon after, the man said, “Could you please apply some to my right eye too?” He dabbed it on the right eye as well. The man exclaimed, “Much better!”

Seeing how cheap and effective it was, soon several others knelt down, one after another, having the ointment applied to their eyes.

Strangely enough, everyone who received the medicine said, “This remedy is excellent.”

Dou the Blind Man stood nearby, just smiling—he was blind, but his nose was sharper than ever!

As soon as the man scraped with the knife, Dou could smell it: it contained calcareous stone and borneol.

Having wandered the world for so many years, what tricks hadn’t Dou seen?

He instantly recognized the man was a “Pí Mén” practitioner.

“Pí Mén” means herbal sellers—calcareous stone and borneol both clear heat and reduce fire, perfectly suited for eye ailments. But selling goods openly on the street is tough—merchandise dies on the street, meat’s cheap if your nose can smell it. No matter what business, once it’s laid on the ground, it’s finished.

So they resort to street tricks: they fashioned this sea treasure from herbs and spun a tale to deceive people!

Nowadays, people aren’t as honest as before; there are still some making “earth treasures” and “sea treasures,” but now they’re even faking antiques and fake odd stones—they won’t even give you real stuff anymore.

Dou the Blind Man silently shook his head—those in this trade must appear honest and rustic to gain trust, so they dress like country folk. But this man’s speech was too slick—where was the rustic charm?

This petty trick only fools ignorant country folk at temple fairs.

Once they reach Zhigu City, they won’t make it past one street before being exposed…

At that moment, someone else asked, “Master, can your stone toad oil cure blind eyes?”

The man hesitated, “How can anyone know unless you try?”

The man looked refined, like a scholar. He bowed and said, “Allow me to inform you, sir: my mother worked by oil lamp light to support my studies, and it ruined her eyes! If you can cure her heat-blurred vision, I’ll pay any price.”

The man replied, “I won’t charge you more than I charge anyone else.”

“Thank you, Master!” The scholar hurried home.

“Blind eyes” means the pupil is clouded white, obstructing vision—today we call it cataract.

Dou the Blind Man himself had been blind for years and had consulted countless doctors—he knew calcareous stone and borneol couldn’t cure this. But he knew a trick to fake blindness.

A chicken’s eye has a membrane covering it, which looks exactly like that white opacity.

So some people took chicken eyelid membranes and used them in this deception.

What happened next, Dou didn’t need to see to know.

He turned to leave—but as he twisted his neck, his eyes didn’t move, and a sliver of peripheral vision still lingered on the man’s stone toad.

These “heaven-seeing eyes” of his were clouded, the veil covering his pupils, yet a sliver of peripheral vision still let in light.

That sliver of vision caught something astonishing—the stone toad in the man’s hand was glowing faintly with a mystical radiance.

Dou’s heart leapt—this object was a genuine treasure!

Among the pitted, rough stones, dozens of stone toads, only three emitted this glow—and the light, piercing through the thin veil over his cornea, seemed to slightly dissolve the clouding in his eyes.

Dou’s heart pounded—this treasure might actually cure his blindness.

A seasoned veteran, Dou kept his face perfectly calm, though his mind churned. He paused briefly, found a quiet spot, sat down, and listened intently as the man hawked his sea treasure.

He turned the man’s words over and over in his mind, matching them against his own knowledge.

He’d dismissed the lies as nonsense—but the stone toad was undeniably a miraculous cure for eye ailments.

The man’s story must have a real origin!

“Few know that giant whales consume sea monsters and produce ambergris. Only seasoned seafarers understand this. Originally, I doubted how this man knew such details—but now I see: the high master who revealed this treasure’s origin must have told him.”

“The sea toad is mostly a maritime legend. Based on my knowledge, deep-sea fish carrying a lantern on their heads are called sea toads.”

“These fish emit light from their foreheads in the deep ocean; legend says eating their liver improves vision.”

“I assumed this man had merely heard the legend and fabricated the stone toad deception.”

“But now I realize—I was the one who missed the truth!”

“The ‘Records of the Jiao People of the Eastern Sea’ say: in the Eastern Sea lies the Jiao Kingdom, where men are hideous and women stunningly beautiful. Jiao men have bulging eyes that cannot be fully covered by eyelids; once on land, wind makes their eyes dry and itchy.”

“So they worshipped a demonic deity resembling a toad, named Igorle, known as the Toad Lord. Under his guidance, the Jiao captured a colossal toad called the Slathra Clan, then implanted its eggs into Jiao women’s wombs, hatching a brood of small toads.”

“The Jiao men harvested oil from these small toads’ skin and rubbed it on their eyes, enabling them to walk on land and torment humans.”

“They caused chaos across Yingzhou!”

“The ‘Records of the Jiao People of the Eastern Sea’ were written by merchants who heard these tales while sailing to Fusang. I thought them absurd—but now, some truths are confirmed. Clearly, the demonic Toad Lord and Dagon, Father of the Deep, are no mere fables…”

As Dou the Blind Man wrestled with these thoughts, the scholar returned, supporting his elderly, white-haired mother.

The filial son helped his blind mother forward and begged the treasure seller to treat her first.

It was a heartwarming scene of maternal love and filial piety!

The man applied the eye ointment—the old woman immediately closed her eyes and whispered, “So cool! My eyes feel so cool… Oh! I can see a little light!”

Everyone who had been treated opened their eyes, each feeling better, all watching as the man cured the scholar’s mother’s heat-blurred vision.

Hearing his mother’s words, the son acted as if moved by heaven and earth, pounding his chest and crying out, begging for his mother’s sight to be fully restored. The seller said, “Close your eyes! This medicine needs a full tea’s time to dissolve the clouding—when you feel something drop, call me to remove it.”

The old woman nodded, exclaiming, “A divine doctor!”

This performance drew a growing crowd, and people murmured, “A divine doctor!”

The man quickly replied, “I’m just a farmer—I know no medicine, only this sea treasure!”

Everyone gasped, “A divine remedy!”

The commotion reached inside the Medicine King Temple, where a group of doctors observing a Westerner dissecting a corpse heard the noise and sent someone to investigate.

Dr. Hua was sketching the dark black lungs of the fully dissected corpse with his brush.

A section of the lung had been unfolded and placed on a white cloth for all to see.

The sight of black mucus, bluish alveoli, and densely packed alveoli like fish eggs clinging to gills left everyone solemn.

Hearing the commotion outside, Dr. Hua was informed.

He lifted his head and said, “There’s a man outside selling eye medicine—everyone who’s used it calls it divine.”

Dr. Huo shook his head, “Probably a fraud. Send him away. Don’t let the foreigners laugh at us. These Westerners are brazen and reckless, but their medical methods are uniquely advanced—I fear we may not match their surgical skills!”

After a full tea’s time, the old woman cried out, “Something has fallen!”

The man pulled out a pair of small tweezers and announced, “Look, everyone—his eyes are cured!”

He gently pried open the old woman’s eyelid—the thick veil completely obscured her pupil. He used the bone hairpin to lift it.

The veil on her eye slowly moved, and when he pinched it with the tweezers, he extracted it.

He held up the veil for all to see—it was about the size of a fingernail, as thin as a fingernail too.

As the crowd gasped in awe, someone suddenly laughed, “Let me see that?”

Everyone turned—another blind man had pushed forward.

Dou the Blind Man touched the veil—his certainty grew. He smiled at the old woman, “Try opening your other eye?”

The old woman hesitantly opened her other eye. Dou chuckled, “You haven’t applied medicine to this one, have you?”

The “son” stepped in front of his mother, glaring, “Are you here to cause trouble?”

Dou pointed to his own eyes, “I’ve been blind for ten years! Seeing such a miraculous remedy, how could I not be desperate? You’ve cured your mother—put yourself in my place. Have a little compassion for an old man’s longing!”

The old woman reluctantly showed him.

Suddenly, Dou’s hand shot out, swiftly wiping across her other eye.

“Huh? Why did the veil on this eye fall off too?”

He raised his finger—there, on his fingertip, was a thick layer of veil.

Looking at the old woman, both her eyes were now clear, the heat completely gone.

Dou pinched the veil between his fingers, sucking his teeth, “This… looks exactly like a chicken’s eyelid membrane. So the legend wasn’t false?”

The crowd erupted. Someone grabbed the scholar by the collar, demanding,

“What’s going on?”

The sea treasure seller lunged for his wares with a cloth, shouting, “I gave medicine freely, took not a single coin—you’re bullying me! I won’t give any more!”

But his hand grasped nothing.

Dou the Blind Man held up the stone toad and said, “Don’t rush—I’ll buy the whole lot if it’s truly precious!”