Du Youqian naturally went along in the carriage.
Sitting in the carriage, he closed his eyes and began to ponder.
'Where on earth did Lin Sha learn these Superior Martial Arts?'
'And why, judging from her Body Technique, do her Martial Arts seem related to the Demon Dao?'
'Could she be a pawn of some Demon Dao power?'
'But in this brothel, the Madam, the pimps, and the thugs don't know any Superior Martial Arts.'
'At most, they know a few crude brawling techniques. It doesn't seem like a Demon Dao stronghold.'
'And most importantly, Lin Sha seems to possess a Spirit Root, and a high-quality one at that…'
'For her to be practicing Mortal Martial Arts is a truly egregious waste.'
"Young Master Qiu, we've arrived."
Hearing this, Du Youqian immediately jumped out of the carriage. After knocking a few times with no answer, he ordered the thugs to tear down the door of Xuanhu Hall. He then rushed inside, carrying Lin Sha.
"You, what do you people think you're doing? Are you robbers? Is there no law anymore?!" A short old man in his forties or fifties shouted as he ran out, hastily pulling on his clothes.
From the looks of it, he was the physician of Xuanhu Hall. He had probably been in the middle of enjoying himself with his beautiful wife or concubine and was interrupted at a critical moment, so he was quite furious.
Du Youqian ignored him, but still gave him a second glance.
'This physician's Martial Arts are incredibly profound. He's hidden them well.'
One of the thugs stepped forward and restrained the physician. The physician acted like an ordinary person who knew no Martial Arts, flailing his arms in an angry Turtle Fist, but he was helpless.
'His acting is quite good.'
A thug shoved a small piece of silver into his hand and said with a sinister grin, "We're just borrowing your place for a bit."
Du Youqian cleared a long table and laid Lin Sha flat on it.
Another thug lit the oil lamp they had brought and placed it nearby.
By now, Lin Sha was only breathing in, not out. She could pass away at any moment.
Only then did the physician notice Lin Sha. He took a look, then beat his chest and stomped his feet. "Why did you bring a dead person here? What bad luck! What terrible luck!"
The Madam was furious and shrieked, "My daughter isn't dead! She's not dead!"
The physician glanced at her again and curled his lip. "Don't worry, she'll be dead soon. She's lost too much blood and been poisoned. Not even an Immortal could save her."
The Madam immediately turned to Du Youqian with a pitiful look, hoping for some reassurance.
"She won't die. Don't listen to this quack." Du Youqian had no time for small talk. He tossed out the comment and immediately got to work.
The physician just sneered. "A quack? Then let me see how you're not a quack."
He wasn't afraid of being beaten.
Who in this world could guarantee they would never suffer from some illness, a headache, or a fever in their entire life?
Therefore, no one dared to offend a doctor.
Even if he deliberately killed a few patients according to orders from his superiors, others would only dare to shout a bit and try to extort some burial money. They wouldn't dare do anything to him.
But as he sneered, surprise began to fill his eyes.
His eyes widened, and he stared intently at Du Youqian's every move.
"Suturing the wound with a needle and thread? The idea isn't bad."
"Chizhu Ye, Sanye Rui, and Aina Qin? Can those be used together?"
"Huh? It's that good at stopping the bleeding?"
When Du Youqian took out a box of Silver Needles and skillfully performed acupuncture on Lin Sha to suppress the poison, the physician could no longer hold back. "Young man, from whom did you learn this set of needle techniques? Your master is truly brilliant!"
Du Youqian just smiled faintly and offered no explanation.
When he saw Du Youqian measure out a dozen or so more medicines and place them into a clay pot in a specific order to brew, the physician's sneer returned. It was as if he were thinking, 'I'll just watch you put on this act. Keep it up. Just don't make a complete fool of yourself.'
After watching for a while, he couldn't help but say, "Kid, you're good with needles, but that's not how you brew medicine."
Du Youqian simply smiled faintly again, without explaining.
'How is this brewing medicine?'
'This is Alchemy, using the "Water Pill Technique"!'
Although he was using medicinal herbs from the Mortal World and clearly had no True Qi or Magical Power to channel, the core principles of Alchemy were the same.
This was the first time Du Youqian had ever attempted this.
Although this Antitoxic Pill he was refining would likely not even have a rank...
...his own Alchemy was already at Tier Two Middle Grade.
Even so, he wasn't one hundred percent confident that he would succeed.
This was a challenge for him as well.
The flames danced lazily, licking the bottom of the clay pot.
The medicinal aroma gradually spread, filling the entire room.
Time passed, second by second.
There was still no color on Lin Sha's incomparably beautiful face, and the rise and fall of her chest was nearly imperceptible.
However, Du Youqian could see that her condition had not worsened.
The Madam and the thugs couldn't help but yawn.
They didn't understand what was happening anyway and saw nothing surprising about it.
The physician, on the other hand, knew enough to be discerning. After watching with a sneer for a while, his expression grew serious.
From time to time, his mind would wander as he pondered, muttering to himself under his breath.
Finally, the physician couldn't bear it any longer and asked, "Young doctor, if I may ask, the medicinal ingredients you're brewing are for detoxification, correct? I saw you add Tai Min Grass, White Line Grass, Viola patrinii, and Lian Canghua... These are indeed antitoxic Medicinal Herbs. However, the poison this young lady has taken must be some unique concoction from the Martial World. Can your mixture truly neutralize it?"
Du Youqian was watching over the clay pot and monitoring the heat, so he didn't need to be fully concentrated at every single moment.
He took out the dagger Lin Sha had used to take her own life and handed it to the physician. "Examine it for yourself."
The physician carefully unsheathed the dagger. He first sniffed it, then closed his eyes and thought for a long time.
Then he ran to another room and tinkered for a while, preparing several solutions which he dripped onto the dagger one by one.
After a good while, he shook his head. "Forgive my lack of skill, but I can't identify it. However, I am certain that this is a strange poison. The onset time should be about fifteen minutes, and the symptoms would include convulsions, difficulty breathing, and a purplish complexion. For this young lady to have been poisoned for so long without the symptoms appearing... young doctor, your golden needle technique is truly unparalleled."
Du Youqian smiled faintly. 'Such pleasant words. Feel free to say more.'
The physician then asked several more questions, and as Du Youqian was in a good mood, he answered them one by one.
About an hour later, the "Water Pill" was finally out of the furnace—no, out of the pot.
This time, he had successfully refined a total of five Water Pills.
The Water Pills looked rather fluffy and weren't perfectly round.
Du Youqian carefully inspected the quality of the Water Pills. He sniffed them, then broke one open and tasted it himself. After confirming his success, he pried open Lin Sha's mouth and fed her two of the pills.
About half an hour later, some color returned to Lin Sha's face, and her breathing became much more even and strong.
Du Youqian let out a sigh of relief. "In six hours, feed her the remaining two Antitoxic Pills, and she should be fine."
The Madam, who had been drowsing, became much more alert upon hearing this. She said resentfully, "Young Master Qiu, if my daughter is truly fine, then we'll call it even. But if there are any future complications, you can't just wash your hands of this matter."
Du Youqian awkwardly agreed.