Chapter 15: 15. The First Strange Poison

What? He can save him? Lin Fan can actually save him? Damn it, why couldn’t he say everything at once? He nearly scared us to death!

Hearing this, the Yuan family members, whose faces had been ashen with despair, were suddenly invigorated. They all turned to look at Lin Fan in unison.

Yuan Youwei’s beautiful eyes lit up, shimmering with tears of excitement.

“Fine,” Doctor Jiang said with a cold, sarcastic laugh after a moment of shock. “Lad, if you can actually show me something, I, Jiang Wanqiu, will take you as my master!”

“Forget it,” Lin Fan replied coolly without looking up. “I’m not a recycling center that takes in any piece of trash.”

Then, he slowly squatted down and began inserting silver needles into the old man’s chest.

“Hmph! Talk is cheap!” Doctor Jiang’s face turned livid with frustration, and he flicked his sleeves and turned away.

The next moment, Lin Fan shook his head as he continued his work. “You quack. An absolute quack. Who sealed the old master’s heart meridians? That was complete malpractice!”

“You brat, what the hell do you know!” Doctor Jiang shot up from his seat, instantly incensed. “If I hadn’t sealed the old master’s heart meridians, he wouldn’t have lasted this long!”

“You sealed the meridians around his heart, but that prevented the Poison Insect inside him from escaping, forcing it to burrow desperately toward his heart,” Lin Fan said, concentrating on his needlework without even glancing at the man. “If you had discovered this sooner, the old master wouldn’t have been comatose all this time.”

A dead silence fell over the room again. Doctor Jiang’s expression changed dramatically. Beside him, Mrs. Xue, Yuan Tao, and the others stared with pupils constricted in shock.

“Doctor Jiang, haven’t you been telling us all this time that my grandfather contracted an extremely rare disease?” Yuan Youwei’s voice was like ice, the corner of her eye twitching. To meet his endless demands, the Yuan family had been put through the wringer for the past six months. One moment, he needed a Tianshan Fire Lotus; the next, he required Arctic Millennium Ice Marrow. After they had gone through immense trouble to acquire both, he announced he needed a White Dragon Grass, which only blooms and bears fruit once a century. After all that, the Yuan family had spent countless resources and shed blood and tears, all while being suppressed by forces like the Black Tiger Hall of Haicheng, leaving them gasping for air.

To think that this so-called famous doctor from the Southwest provinces hadn’t even figured out the real cause of the illness! In fact, his six months of pretentious busyness were worth less than Lin Fan’s brief examination.

“Also, I’ll have someone thoroughly investigate whether you visited Chen Biao last night,” Yuan Youwei said, staring coldly at Doctor Jiang’s pale face, a sharp glint in her eyes.

She was already beginning to suspect that her grandfather’s sudden illness was no natural disaster. It was a man-made catastrophe, born of a vile conspiracy. The Yuan family was the top family in Haicheng, and her grandfather was the Chairman of the Haicheng Chamber of Commerce. Adding to that the ambush she had faced tonight from the elite of the Black Tiger Hall, all the signs pointed to one conclusion: someone wanted the Yuan family leaderless, ripe for being devoured whole.

“Director Yuan, don’t let this brat fool you! The old master truly has a strange disease. I swear, I have no ulterior motives!” Doctor Jiang pleaded, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. But his desperate explanations were met with disbelief as Yuan Tao, Mrs. Xue, and the others surrounded him.

“Miss Yuan, you’re actually mistaken about this old fellow,” Lin Fan said just as he placed the last of the long silver needles into the old man’s chest. He finally paused, turning his head to look at the anxious Doctor Jiang. “He thinks he’s clever, but he’s laughably stupid. Still, I suppose he stumbled upon the right course of action by mistake. The Poison Insect has been living deep within the old master’s heart meridians for a long time. In order to ensure its own survival, it has been desperately preserving the last thread of its host’s life force.”

What an insult! A naked, shameless insult!

“You brat, don’t you dare spout such nonsense! I, Jiang Wanqiu, have practiced medicine for decades! You have no right to slander me!” Doctor Jiang was nearly mad with rage, his finger trembling as he pointed at Lin Fan, shouting so hard that spittle flew from his mouth.

“Hit a nerve, did I? Calling you stupid is a compliment. With your paltry skill, do you think you deserve to be called a divine doctor, like my mother was?”

Lin Fan looked away from him, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal his chest. There, right over his heart, was a coin-sized mark shaped like a lotus flower. Under the light, it gave off a strange, faint, seven-colored glow.

The Seven-Core Deadly Lotus. A poison so potent it had nearly killed Lin Fan on several occasions, and for which there was almost no cure. Only by gathering seven specific, counteracting herbs could its toxicity be suppressed.

“No, that’s impossible! Absolutely impossible! How can you coexist with the Seven-Core Deadly Lotus?” Seeing Lin Fan stare at the mark, momentarily lost in thought, Doctor Jiang’s eyes bulged as he cried out in disbelief.

That thing was the supreme treasure of the Holy Poison Sect. It was said that its poison could kill even an expert at the God Realm of martial arts. It was known as the deadliest poison in the world! He never would have imagined it could be coexisting, however bizarrely, with the young man before him.

“You’re a fool, but at least you’re not blind. You actually recognize this,” Lin Fan noted, his expression shifting.

Years ago, he had been ambushed by a mysterious figure and infected with the Seven-Core Deadly Lotus. Around the same time, the Ying family in the Imperial Capital had come under pressure from a powerful enemy. He had always suspected the two events were orchestrated by the same force, but he had no proof or leads. Doctor Jiang’s reaction now made him wonder if the old man knew something.

“In that case, take a good look at what the deadliest poison in the world really is.”

Lin Fan gripped the silver needle and, with a sudden twist, plunged it into the center of the lotus mark on his chest. Instantly, a terrifying tendril of black, corrupted blood emerged from the wound. It slithered up the needle like a living creature!

THUD!

Yuan Youwei, standing nearby, turned deathly pale. Her body swayed, and she collapsed to the ground, nearly fainting. A short distance away, Mrs. Xue and the others scrambled back in horror. Everyone felt as if a massive boulder had been dropped on their chest, the pressure so intense it was suffocating.

It truly was the deadliest poison in the world. Just a whiff of its aura was enough to cause extreme discomfort.

“Poison Insects are nothing but trash in the face of my poisoned blood,” Lin Fan said, his own face now pale. He quickly withdrew the silver needle, calming the rampaging Seven-Core Deadly Lotus back into submission.

Then, without hesitation, he plunged the blood-tainted tip of the needle deep into the old man’s heart meridians.

In an instant, a small, bean-sized lump bulged from the old man’s previously still chest. A sharp, piercing chirp echoed from within his body, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

The rapid succession of events left the room utterly silent. Yuan Youwei and the others could only stare, wide-eyed, holding their breath.

A moment later, Lin Fan withdrew all the silver needles and steadily regulated his Inner Breath. “Alright, it’s done. You can carry him back now,” he said, nodding to Yuan Youwei.

Recklessly activating the Seven-Core Deadly Lotus had seemed to take but an instant. In reality, Lin Fan’s back was soaked with cold sweat. Even his hanging fingertips trembled imperceptibly. The momentary need for exquisite control was immensely draining on his spirit. The slightest lapse would have caused a backlash, putting his own life in grave danger. If the dose of poisoned blood had been even a fraction too much, the old man would have been instantly corroded into a pool of gore.

In truth, it was not just his blood; all his bodily fluids were now faintly toxic. This was why he had been so cautious at the Su Family residence, even choosing to eat separately from everyone else. The irony was that while he was being considerate of Su Mengqing and the others, they saw his behavior as weakness and low self-esteem, causing them to look down on him even more.

One, two, three… a full ten seconds passed. The hall remained steeped in an eerie silence. Yuan Youwei blinked, her beautiful eyes filled with uncertainty. Mrs. Xue, Yuan Tao, and the others exchanged glances, not daring to speak.

That’s it? It’s over? But Mr. Yuan Sr. still looks dead!

“Hahaha, you’ve all been fooled! The kid tried to fight poison with poison,” Doctor Jiang suddenly burst out, laughing hysterically. He pointed at Lin Fan, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face as if he were looking at a complete idiot. “He never considered that the old master’s body couldn’t possibly withstand the corrosion of that poisoned blood!”

“And what if I could precisely control the dosage of the poisoned blood, using just enough to neutralize the Poison Insect?” Lin Fan countered, glancing at Doctor Jiang.

He was certain the Poison Insect had been converted into nutrients, which were now replenishing Mr. Yuan Sr. The powerful, instantaneous effect would not only revive him but restore his consciousness on the spot.

“Old fellow, stop pretending,” Lin Fan said, losing his patience as the man on the stretcher remained unresponsive. He reached out and slapped the old man’s face.

However, this casual act provoked a collective gasp from everyone in the room.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep