Chapter 8: Old Doctor Chen, A Startling Discovery

In Lu Qing’s mind, the image of a thin, elderly man with a kind face emerged.

Old Doctor Chen.

This old doctor was the only physician in the surrounding villages.

His medical skills were superb. While one couldn't say he could bring the dead back to life, he could treat common headaches, fevers, bruises, and colds with ease; there were few ailments he couldn't cure.

Because of this, he was highly respected by the nearby villagers.

It was said that even wealthy families in town often invited him to treat their illnesses.

Such a person naturally held a special status in the village.

Almost no villager dared to show him the slightest disrespect.

The original owner of this body had been a naive youth with limited horizons, and he hadn't been sensitive to many things.

But as Lu Qing pondered, he discovered some unusual details.

For instance, in his memories, Old Doctor Chen should have been quite old, yet his body was very robust. He could often venture into the deep mountains alone to gather herbs.

One must understand that the deep mountains in this world were not like the developed tourist attractions of his past life.

They were true, towering mountains and ridges, primeval forests.

They were filled with countless venomous insects, snakes, jackals, tigers, and wild beasts—extremely dangerous.

Even experienced hunters dared not venture too deep into the forest without caution.

For an old man like Doctor Chen to be able to enter and leave these places safely was truly extraordinary.

Lu Qing was very curious about his abilities.

If he could learn even a fraction of Old Doctor Chen’s medical skills, that would be wonderful.

His special ability allowed him to see through the basic information of all things.

Using it to identify medicinal herbs would be foolproof.

It was a perfect match for medical practice.

If he could learn a bit of Old Doctor Chen’s craft, his and Xiao Yan’s future life would have some security.

However, how could he manage to learn skills from Old Doctor Chen?

As Lu Qing thought about this, his eyelids couldn't help but fight each other.

His body was weak, after all, and the exhaustion was something his willpower could not resist.

In the end, before drifting off to sleep, Lu Qing hadn't come up with any good plan.

However, what Lu Qing didn't expect was that before he could even think of a way to approach Old Doctor Chen, the old doctor came to him himself.

Lying on a recliner, Lu Qing was asleep. In his groggy state, he seemed to hear someone talking, and immediately after, he felt someone grab his hand.

He woke up with a start.

"Lu Qing, you're awake! Old Doctor Chen is examining you!"

A booming voice rang out.

Lu Qing found it somewhat familiar; it seemed to be Old Man Zhang from next door. His heart relaxed for a moment.

Immediately after, he became fully alert and opened his eyes.

Old Doctor Chen?

Turning his head, he saw two old men nearby—one standing, one sitting.

The one sitting, with a thin frame and a kind face, could be none other than Old Doctor Chen.

"Don't move, let me take your pulse first."

Seeing Lu Qing about to get up, Old Doctor Chen said gently.

Lu Qing didn't dare to move.

Only then did he notice that Old Doctor Chen’s hand was resting on his wrist.

No wonder he had felt someone grabbing his hand in his daze; it was Old Doctor Chen taking his pulse.

Seeing the old doctor close his eyes again to focus on the pulse, Lu Qing didn't dare to fidget and honestly remained lying on the recliner.

Feeling that the pulse-taking wouldn't end for a while, Lu Qing couldn't help but observe this somewhat mysterious Old Doctor Chen during his spare time.

His first impression was that the old doctor was even gentler than he remembered. His thin frame carried a hint of an ethereal, sage-like quality.

Just looking at him gave one a sense of peace.

However, at this moment, his expression was grave and his brows were tightly knit, as if he had encountered some difficult problem.

Lu Qing quietly observed the old doctor for a while, and suddenly, he saw a faint red light emerge from the old man's body.

【Chen Songqing: Superb medical skills, kind-hearted, respected by others, a fine old physician.】

【Cultivation: Accomplished in Qi Refining, Postnatal Internal Organ Realm.】

What is this?!

Lu Qing’s eyes widened suddenly, not just because of the faint red light appearing on the old doctor, but because of the description in the note that followed.

Since waking up, Lu Qing had gradually figured out some patterns of his ability.

Ordinary, unremarkable objects usually emitted a gray light under his ability's inspection.

More special items, such as medicinal herbs, would present a white light.

But humans, without exception, had always emitted a white light—at least, everyone he had met in the village had.

It was just that the white light varied in intensity; it was strongest in adults, followed by youths and children, and weakest in the elderly.

Lu Qing guessed this might be related to a person's energy or vitality.

After all, generally speaking, adults had the most energy, and the elderly had the least.

But the manifestation on Old Doctor Chen’s body overturned his understanding.

What appeared was an unprecedented red light!

More importantly, the content of the note that popped up.

Cultivation?

Accomplished in Qi Refining, Postnatal Internal Organ Realm?

What did this mean? Could it be that the world he was in was not the ancient Chinese-like world he had assumed, but a more mysterious, peculiar world where one could cultivate?

Lu Qing’s heart was thrown into chaos by this sudden change.

Just as he wanted to continue observing to gain more information from the old doctor, Old Doctor Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

He saw Lu Qing’s panicked and shocked expression; he frowned at first, then relaxed.

He comforted him gently: "Don't be afraid, I am just taking your pulse."

He had misunderstood, thinking his grave expression while taking the pulse had frightened Lu Qing.

Lu Qing took the opportunity to control his emotions and asked with some trepidation: "Grandpa Chen, how is my illness? Is it all better?"

Old Man Zhang, standing to the side, also looked at Old Doctor Chen with hope.

Old Doctor Chen pondered for a moment and said: "Indeed, your illness has truly cleared up. Although you are still a bit weak, as long as you recuperate properly, there should be no further issues."

"Really? That’s wonderful! Lu Qing, hurry up and thank Old Doctor Chen. If it weren't for the old doctor prescribing medicine to treat you, you might not have woken up at all!" Old Man Zhang said with great joy.

"Thank you, Grandpa Chen."

Lu Qing climbed off the recliner and made a move to kneel and kowtow.

Regardless, the old doctor truly had the grace of a savior toward him.

If not for that bowl of medicinal soup, he might not have survived the time it took to integrate his memories.

For that alone, he was worthy of his bow.

Old Doctor Chen stopped Lu Qing. "There is no need for that. That you could wake up is also your own fortune; I merely did a small part."

Old Doctor Chen was not being modest.

In truth, he was still extremely surprised.

When Lu Qing fell ill, he had indeed come to see him.

At that time, Lu Qing’s cold had penetrated his bones, his breath was as thin as a thread, and he was already at death's door—down to his very last breath.

Even if a true medical saint had come, it would have been difficult to save him.

With the heart of a healer, he had finally prescribed a decoction and added many precious herbs to it.

His goal was merely to do his part and leave the rest to fate.

Some of the herbs he added had been reserved by noblemen in the city.

Because of this, he had to rush into the mountains the next day to gather more herbs to fill the gap.

He had expected Lu Qing not to survive this ordeal, but to his surprise, when he returned from gathering herbs, he heard villagers gossiping that Lu Qing’s illness had already healed.

Not only could he get out of bed and walk, but he could even go to the river to catch fish.

Stunned, he didn't care about anything else and wanted to come over to see for himself.

Arriving outside the courtyard, he happened to run into Old Man Zhang, who had just returned from working in the fields, so the two of them entered the house together.

He had thought the villagers' words were exaggerated.

Now, after taking Lu Qing’s pulse, he found that the villagers had not spoken a word of falsehood.

Lu Qing’s illness was truly completely cured.

Except for still being physically weak, his previous symptoms had vanished entirely.

This could not help but fill Old Doctor Chen with immense astonishment.