Chapter 78: Shattering

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There is no anger on Ruan Goutin’s face. There is no satisfaction there either. He does not care at all about what he has just done. The disciple gasps in pain and clutches his chest, writhing on the floor, yet to Ruan Goutin, it is as if he is not even there. The disciple he just wounded is not worth putting in his eyes.

Liu Jin cannot be so callous.

“It will be okay,” Liu Jin says, trying his best to sound gentle. “Hold still for a moment. It will all be well.”

Liu Jin takes the disciple’s hand, fully aware that a single panicked swing from someone in the True Realm could separate his head from his body. The moment Liu Jin makes contact with the disciple and takes in the state of his body, a cold, sinking feeling spreads through his gut. He had suspected it from the moment he had seen the imprint of Ruan Goutin’s fist on the disciple’s chest. There is no denying it now.

Ruan Goutin just struck this disciple’s middle Dantian.

Striking someone’s Dantian is far from unheard of. To achieve this feat, only two requirements need to be met. First, the one doing it must possess great control over their Qi, so that they may be able to accurately send it into their opponent’s body.

Second and most important of all, the one doing it must be far stronger than their opponent.

Qi empowers and protects the body. This is especially true when talking about the three dantian. As a cultivator grows, the Qi around their dantian becomes denser, making it nearly impossible for a cultivator on the same level to damage them. Even if the target were to remain still and offer no resistance, it would be hard as long as their level was the same. To do so in the middle of a fight might as well be impossible.

When Yun Han wounded Cui Tian during the Eastern Port City Tournament, he more than met the two requirements. The same can be said of Ruan Goutin. As a high-ranking member of the Eternal Raging Valley, it is natural for him to be able to damage the dantian of someone in the True Realm.

However, the damage Yun Han did to Cui Tian’s dantian and the damage Ruan Goutin did to this disciple’s dantian just now cannot possibly be compared.

Twenty-nine Dragon Bone Needles go into the disciple’s chest in the blink of an eye, stopping the Qi around his Dantian from scattering. Liu Jin’s eyes are wide as he takes in the state of the man’s Qi. This is…

It is a complete disaster.

Cui Tian’s dantian was “merely” damaged by Yun Han. His injury hampered his ability to cultivate, but it was never something that could not be healed by a competent doctor. The only reason it was so damaging to him is due to the Seven Leaves School’s lack of resources.

This disciple’s dantian is on the brink of shattering.

If Liu Jin does not do something for this disciple within the next minute, he will lose his cultivation for good. His middle dantian will be completely destroyed. The Qi he has carefully cultivated will dissipate. It will never flow through his body again. His other two dantian will gradually deteriorate, unable to compensate for the loss.

In a few days, he’ll no longer be a cultivator.

This is not the type of damage someone can come back from. Even in the entirety of Five Bats City, Liu Jin doubts there is a single doctor who can fix something like this, and there is no way Ruan Goutin doesn’t know that.

Ruan Goutin just sacrificed one of the Eternal Raging Valley’s disciples without a second thought.

Already, the disciple’s dantian is starting to collapse. It is breaking piece by piece. If Liu Jin had been given at least a few days or even a few hours to prepare, he is sure he would be able to fix this.

He merely has fifty seconds.

The disciple’s body spasms, and Liu Jin sends a jolt of his Qi through the Dragon Bone Needles. He cannot allow the disciple’s Qi to disperse. As more of his Qi disperses, the dantian will weaken further and break apart even faster.

However, what is he supposed to do in such a short time!?

With every second that passes, the disciple’s condition worsens! If he tries to heal him right now… if he makes a single mistake…

Is this really it?

Is he really so… helpless?

No.

Fire rises with Liu Jin! Why is he allowing such defeatist thoughts to fester within him? He is the son of Liu Jianguo and the disciple of Old Jiang! The task before him is not an impossible one!

Identify every part of the broken dantian.

Bring them together.

Stabilize and repair.

Liu Jin’s Qi rises. Nine-Headed Snake God’s Veins pulse within him as he seeks to harmonize his Qi with that of the disciple. Although complex, the underlying principle is the same as when he refines ingredients. He just has to match the properties of his Qi to that of the disciple’s. By doing so, Liu Jin’s Qi slithers into the disciples’ meridians without encountering the slightest resistance.

He closes his eyes.

One. Four. Nineteen. Thirty-Eight.

Seventy-Five.

The disciple’s dantian is currently broken in seventy-five pieces.

Sweat shines on Liu Jin’s face and falls down onto the disciple’s body. As it does, Liu Jin’s Qi gently wraps around each fragment of his dantian. With it in such a fragile state, he needs to be extremely gentle. If he is too rough, he’ll just shatter the dantian further. However, if he is too slow, the dantian will break beyond repair. There is no room for error.

Quickly yet carefully.

Firmly yet softly.

One by one, Liu Jin brings each piece of the man’s shattered dantian back together. His hand blurs as he does this, moving the Dragon Bone Needles to target new acupoints as necessary, pushing more of his Qi into the disciple to further stabilize him.

Only twenty-five seconds pass, yet they feel like twenty-five hours to Liu Jin. By the time Liu Jin finally takes his hands away from the disciple, he is tired, dazed, and covered in sweat. Without a doubt, he is an unsightly spectacle.

Yet, he manages to maintain a respectful posture as he kneels before Ruan Goutin.

“My lord, I have stabilized this man’s condition. However, the damage to his dantian is still not fully repaired.”

It is Liu Jin’s Qi and the Dragon Bone Needles that are keeping the disciple’s dantian whole right now. He is no longer sixty seconds away from losing his cultivation, yet that can easily change.

“To fully heal him I’ll need—”

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“You are a doctor, are you not? I have asked you to heal that man. If you cannot, I have nothing to say to you and nothing to offer you.”

It takes all Liu Jin has not to react to that. Rage burns within him, almost breaking to the surface.

“…Of course, my lord. Forgive my foolishness. I will finish the task my lord was kind enough to bestow upon me.”

Liu Jin does his best to keep his face blank as he reaches for his spatial pouch. He did not want to reveal it like this, yet there is little choice. His mind carefully goes over every item within the bag and settles on the one which will be most useful for this.

Spring Copper Leaves.

A rare ingredient that can only be harvested once every hundred years found only in a few areas of the Crimson Cloud Empire. In theory, this should help properly fuse all the pieces of the disciple’s dantian back together. Liu Jin has never tried anything like this before, but he’s confident it will work.

Hopefully.

Liu Jin takes the leaves out as well as a tea kettle and a burner. It must be an odd sight to be sure, a young child making tea in the middle of a throne room while all eyes are on him and the wounded man next to him.

Liu Jin ignores it all.

Once he is done, he gently lifts the man’s head and feeds the tea to him—one sip, then two, then more. Once the cup is empty, Liu Jin fills it again and repeats the process. He does this until the disciple has drunk all the tea.

By the third cup, the results start becoming apparent to Liu Jin’s senses. When the tea is finished, Liu Jin feels confident enough to remove the Dragon Bone Needles. The disciple gasps in surprise. His eyes look at him with wonder.

“My lord, you have asked, and I have obeyed. He needs to be cautious for the next few months and make sure to drink Spirit Leaf Tea once every week. However, his dantian is repaired.”

“Is that so?”