Chapter 10: Seeking the Subtle Under the Microscope: Modern Medicine Breaks Superstition

Outside the Sky Screen.

The Director of the Tang Imperial Medical Bureau knelt at the very end of the hundred officials.

He looked up, watching the medical practitioners' resumes listed on the Glazed Ware, and watching Lin Xuan perform the magical act called "registration."

No elaborate rituals of knocking on doors to seek medical help, no exorbitant sky-high consultation fees.

With just a light touch of the fingertip and a small payment, one could summon the most elite divine doctors of the future.

What destroyed his mind even more was Lin Xuan's matter-of-fact, certain attitude toward curing the Qi Disease.

A terminal illness that dozens of medical officials in the Imperial Medical Bureau had exhausted their entire lives studying, flipping through pre-Qin medical texts until they were worn out, yet remained helpless against.

In the mouth of the youth from the future, it required only a set of "tests" that couldn't be understood, plus taking medicine on schedule, to be completely eradicated.

The gap in medical skill was so vast it was despair-inducing.

The Director's hands trembled as he slowly removed the black gauze official cap from his head.

He placed the official cap squarely on the golden bricks, then untied the fastenings of his official robe.

He prostrated himself on the ground and wept bitterly.

"Your subjects are incompetent, your subjects are like frogs at the bottom of a well, we are ashamed before Your Majesty, ashamed before the Princess!"

Li Shimin slowly stood up.

He wiped the blood from his forehead and raised his hand to stop Zhangsun Wuji from stepping forward to support him.

Grief was forcibly suppressed into the depths of his heart; the emperor's ruthlessness and determination once again took over those bloodshot eyes.

"Come."

Several fully armed golden-armored imperial guards stepped forward.

"Strip the Director of the Imperial Medical Bureau, and all Imperial Physicians who treated the Jinyang Princess, of their official robes."

"Throw them into the death prison."

The medical officials collapsed on the ground, their faces devoid of color.

They couldn't even make a sound begging for mercy.

"But I will leave you a path to life."

"Prepare all medical books, ancient texts, hundred herbs, paper, brushes, and calculating rods for them in the death prison."

"Station heavy guards to watch the Sky Screen day and night; copy down every single word and sentence spoken by that future gentleman, every single herb used, every single method of curing illness mentioned, without missing a single stroke for me!"

"You will deduce the answers for me right there in the death prison!"

"If you can comprehend the medical principles of the future and formulate a prescription to suppress the Qi Disease, you will offset your crimes with merit; I will pardon your death sentence and restore you to your original posts."

A violent killing intent locked onto the entire scene.

"If you bunch of trash cannot comprehend it," Li Shimin ground his teeth, "once Sizi's twelfth birthday on the Sky Screen passes."

"All nine generations of every single one of you will accompany the Princess in burial!"

Returning to the modern perspective.

The little girl tugged at the hem of her pure cotton short-sleeved shirt, her voice very muffled: "My mother also passed away from this illness."

"The Imperial Physician once said this was Heaven's Mandate."

"It is a calamity carried in the bloodline of my mother's clan."

"Can Heaven's Mandate be defied?"

Lin Xuan heard the crux of her words.

Ancients revered Heaven and Earth.

In their understanding, a terminal illness was a death warrant issued by the Old Heavenly Lord.

If this shell of superstition is not smashed, the root of the illness in the little girl's heart cannot be pulled out.

Lin Xuan turned and pulled open the drawer at the bottom of the desk.

After searching for a moment, he took out a white cylindrical instrument and a box of sterile cotton swabs. This was a medical-grade portable digital microscope, equipped with an independent light source and a wireless transmission module.

He walked back to the bedside, dragged a chair over, and sat down.

He picked up the Tablet Computer and opened the accompanying microscope APP.

"Stick out your hand." Lin Xuan tore open the packaging of a cotton swab.

The little girl, not understanding why, obediently extended her right hand.

She had just taken a bath; her small hand was fair and clean, glowing with a healthy pink.

Lin Xuan pinched her index finger.

The head of the cotton swab probed into the edge of her fingernail crevice and gently scraped twice.

To the naked eye, only a tiny speck of fine dust adhered to the cotton swab head.

That was a mixture of keratin and fine dust that was difficult to wash away completely during a bath.

Lin Xuan pressed the power button on the side of the microscope.

The lens focused on the front of the cotton swab, fixed on the stage.

His left hand turned the focus knob on the top.

Ding!

The Tablet Computer emitted a prompt sound; the Bluetooth connection was successful.

The blank screen flickered once.

It was immediately filled with an extremely shocking microscopic image.

The gray fine dust was forcibly magnified six hundred times.

On the screen.

The previously insignificant grime had turned into a range of hills crisscrossed with gullies.

And in the crevices between those hills.

Countless translucent rod-shaped and spherical objects were packed tightly together.

They were even wriggling and dividing extremely slowly.

Hundreds and thousands of them occupied every corner of the entire screen.

The little girl's scalp prickled; she yanked her right hand back abruptly.

She shoved both hands forcefully behind her back and rubbed them hard against her clothes.

"Worms... I have demon worms on my hand!"

Lin Xuan pushed the tablet computer toward her.

"They are not demon worms; these are called bacteria, and there are even smaller viruses."

"They are everywhere."

"In the soil, in the air, on your hands, and even in the food you usually eat."

The little girl's face turned deathly pale; she shook her head desperately.

Lin Xuan explained, "Humans fall ill not because Heaven sends punishment, nor because ghosts and spirits claim lives."

"It is these tiny things that, following your breath and your mouth, drill into your body."

"They set up camp in your throat and lungs, causing destruction."

"Your body, in order to counterattack, will develop a fever, cough, and struggle to breathe."

"This is the true reason your asthma attacks occur."

Above the Sky Screen, images of the microscopic world were projected across Jiuzhou.

A synchronized sound of sharp gasps swept through all past and present dynasties.

Great Tang, Taiji Palace.

Zhangsun Wuji's stomach churned violently; he clamped his mouth shut tightly with his sleeve, nearly vomiting on the spot.

Li Shimin lowered his head, looking at his own hands, accustomed to wielding swords and blades.

Lifestyle customs passed down through generations suffered a devastating blow at this very moment.

The nobles of Great Tang ate Hu cakes and grabbed roasted meat, mostly using their bare hands.

As for the common people, they even believed, "If it's not perfectly clean, eating it won't make you sick."

Food dropped in the muddy ground was picked up, dusted off, and stuffed straight into the mouth.

"Do my Great Tang subjects eat these demon worms raw every single day?"

Li Shimin felt his throat tighten, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

"Issue an edict to the world!"

"From this day forward, within Great Tang, anyone must wash their hands with wood ash before meals and after using the toilet!"

"All drinking water must absolutely not be taken directly from wells or rivers; it must be heated over a fire, boiled, and only then consumed!"

Great Han, Weiyang Palace.

"Imperial Physician Chief! Is this what you often call wind evil entering the body?"

Liu Che pointed at the Sky Screen and cursed loudly, "Where is the wind here? These are living creatures! These are tiny worms devouring human flesh and blood!"

Emperor Wu of Han drew his long sword and severed a corner of the imperial desk.

"Issue orders to all commanderies and counties nationwide! Establish strict hygiene laws!"

"Whoever dares to drink raw water again shall receive twenty strokes of the cane."

"The military must enforce this even more strictly; those who violate the order shall be executed!"

The thunderous authority of the two emperors was implemented across the land through a series of decrees.

They did not yet know at this moment that merely these two iron laws, "drink boiled water" and "wash hands frequently," would forcibly raise the average lifespan of Great Tang and Great Han by a significant margin over the coming decades.

The incidence rates of dysentery, typhoid, and other intestinal infectious diseases would plummet off a cliff.