Volume 1 Chapter 40: The Leg Has Been "Reattached"

The sound of silver needles piercing flesh was faint, yet it clearly reached Wang Teng's ears.

He had braced himself for a fresh wave of excruciating pain, fully prepared to scream out once more.

However, the anticipated agony never arrived.

Instead, it was replaced by an indescribable, tingling sensation, as if a warm stream of water was slowly flowing in from the points where the needles had pierced. Wherever it passed, the heart-wrenching pain rapidly receded like a receding tide.

Wang Teng widened his eyes in utter disbelief.

Ye Xuan’s expression remained unchanged. With a gentle twist of his fingers at the end of the needle, he drove another silver needle into a different acupoint.

The tingling and itching sensation grew increasingly distinct, while the pain vanished at a breathtaking speed.

In the span of just a few breaths, the agonizing pain that had been torturing him to the brink of death disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only a faint numbness that felt as though the leg no longer belonged to him.

This... what kind of miraculous divine technique is this?

The fear in Wang Teng's heart was unwittingly replaced by profound shock.

He looked at Ye Xuan’s calm and unruffled face, feeling for the very first time that perhaps... he was truly setting his leg?!

Ye Xuan ignored his shifting and unpredictable gaze. After driving in seven or eight consecutive silver needles to completely block the pain receptors in Wang Teng's broken leg, he reached out with both hands and grasped Wang Teng's lower leg, one hand on each side.

"Crack! ... Snap!"

Two crisp sounds of bone realignment echoed through the room.

Wang Teng’s entire body stiffened, and he instinctively wanted to let out a roar, only to find that apart from that terrifying sound, he could not feel the slightest hint of pain.

"The bone is set," Ye Xuan said, his voice as indifferent as ever. "However, the tendons and meridians are damaged and require quiet recuperation."

With that, he skillfully pulled out the silver needles one by one, casually tore a large piece of clean bedsheet from the bedside to serve as a bandage, and firmly wrapped Wang Teng's right leg together with the supporting wooden splints.

His movements flowed like moving clouds and running water, and the tightness of the wrapped bandage was perfectly measured, making him look somewhat like a professional physician.

Having finished all this, Ye Xuan dusted off his hands and looked down at him from above.

"Remember, from this moment on, within one month, this leg must not undergo any strenuous activity."

"Otherwise, if the bone slips and the tendons are completely severed, not even a celestial immortal could save it then—they could only watch helplessly as it rots away."

"You will bear the consequences yourself."

His icy words carried not a trace of emotion, yet they held more weight than any threat.

Wang Teng instinctively swallowed hard and nodded heavily.

Seeing that he had quieted down, Ye Xuan flicked his finger and released his mute acupoint.

"Done."

Dropping those two words, he turned directly and strode toward the door.

Lying on the bed with his throat regaining its sensation, Wang Teng opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. He could only watch helplessly as that demon-like figure pulled open the door.

...

Outside the door.

Wang Defa was pacing back and forth anxiously, like an ant on a hot pan.

The occasional crisp sound of bones snapping from inside the room made his heart leap into his throat, almost driving him to smash the door open.

"Screech—"

The door finally opened.

Wang Defa abruptly stopped pacing and looked over anxiously.

Ye Xuan walked out from inside with a calm expression, looking as though he had merely dropped by a neighbor's house for a brief visit.

"D-Divine Doctor?" Wang Defa hurriedly went up to him, squeezing out a smile that was uglier than crying, his voice trembling slightly. "How is... how is my unfilial son's leg?"

"The bone has been set," Ye Xuan said indifferently. "For the next month, he must recuperate quietly and avoid reckless movement, or even immortals will find it hard to save him."

"Yes, yes, yes! Absolutely! We will certainly recuperate quietly!" Wang Defa felt as though he had been granted a pardon, nodding repeatedly as the heavy boulder in his chest finally dropped into place.

As long as the leg could be saved, everything else was negotiable.

He stepped aside and respectfully made a gesture of invitation. "The Divine Doctor’s great kindness is something this Wang will never forget! I shall escort you out of the estate myself!"

Ye Xuan made no comment and strode forward.

Wang Defa followed closely behind step by step, his attitude humble to the extreme, and personally escorted Ye Xuan all the way to the main gate of the Wang family courtyard.

Watching Ye Xuan's figure disappear at the end of the street, the flattering smile on Wang Defa's face slowly faded, replaced by a bottomless gloom.

He stood in place for a long time before abruptly turning around and walking with large strides toward Wang Teng's room.

...

Inside the room.

Wang Teng was cautiously moving his toes.

To his astonishment, aside from a slight numbness, his leg truly didn't hurt anymore!

The sensation of having recovered what was lost filled him with wild joy.

The previous fear and venomous hatred toward Ye Xuan had also faded significantly due to the "recovery" of his leg injury.

"Bang!"

The door was violently pushed open, and Wang Defa strode in trailing an aura of chill.

"Dad!" Seeing his father, Wang Teng excitedly tried to sit up. "My leg! My leg is really healed! That divine doctor..."

"Shut up!" Wang Defa roared angrily, cutting him off.

Wang Teng was stunned by the shout, the excitement freezing instantly on his face.

"Dad, what... what is wrong with you?"

Wang Defa rushed to the bedside in three strides, staring fixedly at him with a gaze that seemed ready to devour someone.

"I'm asking you, how do you feel?"

"It... it doesn't hurt. It really doesn't hurt anymore," Wang Teng replied with a hint of trepidation.

Confirming that his son's leg was temporarily out of danger, Wang Defa's internal worry lessened slightly, but his anger burned all the fiercer.

Pointing straight at Wang Teng's nose, he cursed furiously, "You unfilial wretch! You idiot! Do you have any idea that today you almost brought ruin and destruction upon our entire Wang family?!"

Wang Teng was completely bewildered; he couldn't understand why, even though his leg was healed, his father was still flying into such a rage.

Unconvinced, he muttered in self-defense, "Dad, why are you acting so servile toward him? Isn't he just some wandering quack who knows a bit of medicine? Once my leg heals, I'll—"

"What else do you want to do?!" Wang Defa was trembling with rage, raising his hand as if to slap him again, but upon seeing the bandaged leg, he forcefully held himself back in the end.

"You think this old man wanted to bow his head to him? You think this old man wanted to watch the very enemy who broke your leg being treated like an ancestor and served with reverence?"

Wang Defa's voice was hoarse, filled with humiliation and lingering terror.

"Do you know! Do you know who one of the two women you harassed yesterday actually is?!"

Wang Teng looked blank. "Aren't they just two unfamiliar out-of-town women? They were pretty, but what kind of remarkable background could they possibly have?"

"A remarkable background?" Wang Defa laughed out of sheer anger. "I'll tell you! One of them is Su Qingxue, the beloved daughter of the current Grand Secretary, Su Changqing!"

"The current Grand Secretary!"

These four words exploded like a thunderclap in Wang Teng's mind!

The trace of defiance on his face was instantly replaced by boundless terror. He stood completely dumbfounded, his mouth wide enough to stuff an egg.

"Th... the Grand Secretary's daughter? Dad... y-you're not joking, are you?" Wang Teng's voice was trembling.

Foolish as he was, he knew what the title "Current Grand Secretary" signified.

That was a position truly above ten thousand people and second only to one! With immense political power swaying the imperial court, he could be said to be the emperor's most trusted subject!

Let alone the fact that his father was merely a minor Vice Commander of the City Guard, even the Lord of Yun'an City was no different from an ant before Grand Secretary Su!

"Would I joke with you using the lives of our Wang family?" Wang Defa said through gritted teeth. "That is what Ye Qianyuan himself said! Do you know now why I had to treat him with that attitude? Do you know now what a colossal disaster you, this unfilial brat, have brought upon us?"

Wang Teng's face instantly turned as pale as paper, drained of all color.

Cold sweat poured down incessantly from his forehead.

He finally understood.

He finally understood why his father had been terrified to the point of behaving like that, and why he had forced him to kneel and apologize to his enemy!

If that woman truly was the Grand Secretary's daughter, then for him to have harassed her openly on the street yesterday and attempted to forcefully seize her...

This was no longer a matter that could be resolved by breaking a single leg; this was a capital offense! This meant the execution of all nine familial generations!

"I... I didn't know..." Wang Teng said with a crying voice, defending himself in sheer panic. "Dad! I truly didn't know she was the Grand Secretary's daughter! If I had known, even if you gave me a hundred guts, I wouldn't have dared!"

He was genuinely terrified now; the dread of death left his entire body freezing cold.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Clutching at it like a drowning man grasping a final straw, he asked anxiously, "Dad! That fellow... was what that fellow said true? That woman... is she really the Grand Secretary's daughter? Could he be bluffing us?"

Wang Defa's expression turned so gloomy that water seemed ready to drip from it.

He remained silent for a moment before finally speaking, his voice exceptionally grave.

"I don't know."

"However, we cannot afford to gamble."

"But don't worry," a gleam of shrewdness and ruthlessness unique to him flashed through Wang Defa's eyes. "I have already activated my connections in the capital and dispatched the fastest gyrfalcon with a letter to investigate Su Qingxue's background."

"At the very latest, news will arrive tomorrow."

"If... if what that fellow surnamed Ye said is true," Wang Defa took a deep breath, his eyes filled with humiliation and resolution, "then even if it ruins our family fortune, we must smooth this matter over!"

"But if..."

He left the sentence unfinished, but the temperature in the room seemed to plunge instantly to freezing point.

Wang Teng looked at the fleeting, piercing murderous intent in his father's eyes and shivered involuntarily.

He knew that if Ye Qianyuan had been lying, the fate awaiting him would be a million times more miserable than descending into hell!

Right now, the lives of him and his father, as well as the future of the entire Wang family, were all hanging on that single gyrfalcon flying toward the capital.