"Absolutely do not disturb the Old Heavenly Master!"
By the Golden Lotus Pond, another elder of the Sacred Sun Peak said to True Person Huaiwu with solemnity that allowed no refusal. Everyone on Heavenly Master Mountain knew that the Old Heavenly Master was in a very poor state and could only recuperate in seclusion. If he were disturbed and forced to emerge now, something terrible might happen, even hastening his end. Such consequences were unbearable for anyone.
"If the Old Heavenly Master cannot act, and Baiyun Taoist Temple is too far away, and there are no good physicians on the entire Heavenly Master Mountain, then what is to become of Lin Qing!"
True Person Huaiwu was completely desperate. His eyes were fierce and red, like a starving lone wolf unable to find food. No one present, including True Person Huang Long, dared to meet his gaze. Lin Qing, as the foremost prodigy of Wudang Mountain, was now facing an untimely death. True Person Huaiwu, as Lin Qing's guardian, had failed his duty. The mental impact he was suffering was immense; it was not impossible for him to go mad from qi deviation. Therefore, no one wanted to provoke him at this moment.
But amidst the crowd, a pair of eyes faced True Person Huaiwu's stare and roar without flinching. They were a pair of clear, clean eyes. True Person Huaiwu met the young man's gaze, and the pressure of his Domain Lord realm unconsciously released upon the latter. However, the young man merely swayed momentarily, his face paling slightly, yet his eyes remained unblinking.
"Who are you?" True Person Huaiwu asked the young man instinctively, but then urgently continued, "Do you have a solution?" True Person Huaiwu looked at Xu Mu with hope. For some unknown reason, he felt that this young man could cure the poison that even elders of the Domain Lord realm could not. That was why he inexplicably asked such a question. And the answer he received was: he could.
"I can cure him," Xu Mu said, glancing at Lin Qing lying on the ground, his breathing gradually weakening. Then he turned to Huaiwu and asked, "The question is, if I heal him, what will you give me?"
Hearing this, True Person Huaiwu instinctively wanted to curse Xu Mu, telling him to heal Lin Qing first. But he immediately stopped himself, fearing he would destroy the only hope of saving Lin Qing.
"Whatever you want, I can give you," True Person Huaiwu said with a solemn expression. Although he was somewhat angry, he spoke with utmost sincerity. In a way, Lin Qing himself represented Wudang Mountain. Years from now, many True Persons might pass away, and the younger generation would take charge. Baiyun Taoist Temple had Xu Mu and Yan Yu, Heavenly Master Mountain had Zuo Mingqiu and Zhao Qingdong, and other Taoist temples were producing talents... If Wudang Mountain were to lose Lin Qing, it might face the fate of being annexed or destroyed, for in this generation, they truly had only Lin Qing left.
Xu Mu stepped forward and knelt to take Lin Qing's pulse, carefully sensing his condition within. At the same time, he calmly said to True Person Huaiwu, "I don't need you to give me anything."
"Daoists have always valued loyalty and righteousness. Wudang Mountain just needs to remember that Lin Qing's life was given by me."
True Person Huaiwu nodded dazedly. The other Daoists were also perplexed, as none of them recognized Xu Mu. Who was this fellow? How dare he speak so boastfully? On what grounds did he believe he could cure Lin Qing!
"Could he be like me?" In Baiyun Taoist Temple, the ageless young True Person looked at Xu Mu with a puzzled expression. Xu Mu was currently diligently taking Lin Qing's pulse, channeling his meager Dao source into the body for healing, his back appearing frail. "No," the young True Person shook his head. He could sense that Xu Mu's bone age was only around twenty, not someone like himself. But how could a twenty-year-old youth possibly cure Lin Qing's injuries?
"Prepare more medicinal herbs, whatever varieties you have, gather them all," Xu Mu left this instruction and then closed his eyes.
True Person Huaiwu also came back to his senses and nervously leaned forward, asking Xu Mu in a low voice, "This... young brother, are you completely confident? If the risk is too great, I can seek other methods."
Xu Mu did not reply. With his eyes tightly shut, he used his Dao source to connect with Lin Qing's meridians and acupoints, using his heart and sea of consciousness as the central points to summon the Pre-Heaven Bagua Disk. The disk rotated, and the four seasons, the cycle of life and death, the songs of birds, the fragrance of flowers, the wind, frost, rain, and snow, all manifested throughout Lin Qing's body.
First, Xu Mu focused on treating the Juque acupoint. Lin Qing's Juque acupoint had been deeply eroded by the mysterious poison. As Juque belonged to warmth and dampness, after being corroded by the poison, the surrounding cells and flesh appeared rotten and disconnected, like a white paper pierced by thick milk. To treat this area, besides using the most precise techniques to remove the poison, one also needed to repair the rotting flesh and revitalize the separated cells. This was akin to scientific alchemy, extremely difficult, requiring Xu Mu to create countless instantaneous changes within Lin Qing's Juque acupoint, turning the wheel and treating different areas of flesh and even cell clusters with different methods.
"Heavenly Cicada Spirit Leaf, Purple Blood Lingzhi, Fire Heart Seven-Leaf Flower, Blood Crystal Grass, Blue Rock Heart Stone." Xu Mu's mind instantly conjured the names of many herbs, which he had analyzed based on his knowledge to be the optimal components Lin Qing needed. "But I don't have these, so I can substitute them with ordinary pine needles, lingzhi mushrooms, wild flowers, the blood of noble beasts, and spirit stones."
Xu Mu's thoughts cleared, and instantly, the spatial ring on his index finger glowed, and over a hundred miscellaneous items flew out, instantly turning to powder, being absorbed and extracted, and sent onto the Pre-Heaven Bagua Disk within Lin Qing's body. Then, dozens of extracted energies, mixed with Dao source, manifested different effects following the rotation of the Dao disk. Tens of breaths later, the festering flesh at Lin Qing's Juque acupoint truly stopped festering and its color returned to normal.
"Hiss..." A black smoke suddenly wafted from Lin Qing's lower abdomen, startling everyone into hastily retreating. True Person Huaiwu stared intently at the black mist, then shouted excitedly, "This is the poison, the poison is coming out!"
Xu Mu ignored their astonishment, silently turned, and his gaze rapidly swept over the dazzling array of spirit herbs brought out by True Person Huaiwu and the other elders. Thousands of scents and appearances flashed through his mind, and then the names of those herbs appeared one by one. Xu Mu's face turned pale; his brain was operating at extreme capacity. Even with the aid of the Pre-Heaven Bagua Disk, he felt an extraordinary pain, as if his head were being gnawed from the inside. Yet, even so, he did not stop. He merely extended his hands, and various herbs were continuously extracted of their energy under his touch, then sent into different acupoints within Lin Qing's body. The Pre-Heaven Bagua Disk rotated, and situations like that of the Juque acupoint were occurring simultaneously in a thousand places within Lin Qing's body.
"Sss..." Thick black smoke surged from Lin Qing's body, billowing upwards like a burning thatched cottage, stirring his tattered Daoist robe. Huaiwu, Huang Long, Yuan Tian Zhenren, and all the other Daoist elders and disciples nervously watched Xu Mu's movements. His hands moved up and down, left and right, their trajectory seemingly without logic, and the acupoints his ten fingers touched were all different. Rather than healing, Xu Mu gave everyone the impression of a "puppetry technique" from ancient Western lands, a spell that used ten fingers to pull strings and control a puppet to achieve myriad forms. The healing technique Xu Mu employed seemed incredible to everyone present. But as more and more black smoke emerged, and everyone could sense the mysterious potent poison evaporating within it, they knew Lin Qing's poison was about to be resolved.
"Huff..." Over ten breaths later. Xu Mu placed one hand on Lin Qing's brow, drawing out the last trace of poison from his sea of consciousness with a thread of Dao source, which then evaporated into black smoke. The Pre-Heaven Bagua Disk silently vanished. Xu Mu let out a heavy sigh, his body drenched in sweat. He forced himself not to faint, closed his eyes, and said in an extremely hoarse and weak voice, "It's done."