Divine Level Witch Doctor

Everyone turned to look at the small gourd in Zhao Yuan’s hand. Soon, however, many began to shake their heads, while one person asked curiously, ”Kid, what do you want that little gourd for?”

Of course, Zhao Yuan couldn’t tell them the truth.

He had already prepared his story and replied immediately, ”Nothing, really. I just think it looks nice and wanted to find another to make a matching pair. This one was a gift, and my friend said they bought it at the Earth God Temple in Jiantai Village. But I only found out after I arrived that the temple has been torn down.”

The coal miners didn’t suspect a thing from this half-true, half-false story.

Nowadays, people collected all sorts of things, so collecting small gourds wasn’t strange at all.

”Well, what a coincidence. I have a little gourd right here. I found it when they were tearing down the Earth God Temple. Take a look and see if it’s a match for yours.”

Pan Ping placed the medicine he was holding on a nearby pile of coal, freeing up his hands. He then reached into his clothes, pulled out a small gourd, and handed it to Zhao Yuan.

Taking the small gourd, Zhao Yuan immediately activated his Qi Observation Technique.

A brilliant white light rippled within the small gourd. It was none other than Metal Qi, one of the Qi of the Five Elements.

”This is it!”

Zhao Yuan was thrilled. ’Talk about searching high and low for something, only to have it fall right into my lap!’

He caressed the Golden Gourd, not even bothering to look up as he said, ”Uncle Pan, name your price. I’d like to buy this little gourd from you.”

”Hah, it’s just a little gourd, what could it be worth? Since you like it, it’s yours!” Pan Ping said with a grand wave of his hand, his straightforward mountain-folk generosity on full display.

”No, no, no, please name a price.” Pan Ping was being generous, but Zhao Yuan wasn’t the type to take advantage of people’s kindness. He quickly raised his head to speak.

But before the words could leave his mouth, he let out a startled, ”Huh?”

”What’s wrong?”

Pan Ping was completely baffled by this sudden exclamation. He looked down at himself, wondering if something was wrong with him to have caused such a surprised reaction from Zhao Yuan.

How could he know that Zhao Yuan’s gasp was because, using the Qi Observation Technique, he had seen a mass of Evil Qi churning in Pan Ping’s lungs? This Evil Qi was incredibly dense; clearly, the disease had already penetrated deep into his organs!

Through the Qi Observation Technique, Zhao Yuan also discovered that the Earth Qi in Pan Ping’s lungs was incredibly strong, completely overpowering the other four elements. Such an imbalance in the Five Elements clearly indicated a severe problem!

Zhao Yuan asked quickly, ”Uncle Pan, have you been feeling a dull, aching pain in your chest lately? And have you also had trouble breathing and a frequent cough?”

Pan Ping didn’t understand the sudden jump in topic, but he nodded anyway. ”Yes, I have. How did you know?”

Just as Zhao Yuan was about to speak, Pan Ping’s expression suddenly changed. His jaw clenched and his brows knitted together in apparent agony. He clutched his chest with both hands and burst into a fit of violent coughing, spitting up thick clumps of phlegm. Every single glob was black tinged with red.

The red was blood. The black was the coal and silica dust inhaled into his lungs!

Zhao Yuan stepped forward, reached out to take Pan Ping’s pulse, and covertly retrieved the Body Pearl from his Storage Ring Space.

Pan Ping’s pulse was noticeably weaker, thinner, and slower than a healthy person’s. It felt like a dull knife scraping across bamboo—a rough, choppy sensation.

It was a weak and choppy pulse!

In the past, it would have been very difficult for Zhao Yuan to get an accurate pulse reading. But now, with the aid of the Body Pearl, he diagnosed it instantly and precisely.

Combining the pulse reading, the symptoms, the state of the Five Elements and Evil Qi seen with his Qi Observation Technique, and the man’s working environment, Zhao Yuan came to a conclusion: Pan Ping wasn’t suffering from a common respiratory disease. It was silicosis.

The air quality here was terrible, to say nothing of what it must be like down in the mines. As a coal miner, Pan Ping had worked underground for years, inhaling massive amounts of coal and silica dust that became trapped in his lungs, unable to be expelled. This caused his lung tissue to develop fibrosis, ultimately leading to silicosis!

Just as Zhao Yuan was about to share his diagnosis, Pan Ping’s condition took a sudden turn for the worse. He wasn’t just coughing up bloody phlegm anymore; his breathing became labored. He gasped, his mouth wide open, but couldn’t seem to draw in any air. Then, his vision went black, and he started to fall backward.

If Zhao Yuan hadn’t caught him in time, he would have collapsed. The ground was littered with chunks of coal; a fall would have undoubtedly split his head open!

Zhao Yuan kicked the surrounding pieces of coal aside and carefully lowered Pan Ping to the ground.

”What’s wrong with Old Pan?”

”Oh no, Old Pan’s having an attack!”

”Everyone’s been coughing for the last two weeks, but no one’s condition got worse. I was starting to think we were all on the mend. I can’t believe Old Pan had an attack today!”

The coal miners quickly gathered around, sighing and murmuring worriedly about Pan Ping’s condition.

From the sound of it, it seemed quite a few of the miners here had silicosis.

Zhao Yuan spared a moment to look up, scanning the crowd with his Qi Observation Technique. Sure enough, every single miner here had Evil Qi and abnormally strong Earth Qi in their lungs.

The oldest miner took one look at Pan Ping and made a decisive call. ”Pan Ping looks like he’s in serious trouble. Quick, a few of you, let’s carry him to the township clinic!”

”Don’t move him!” Zhao Yuan shouted, stopping them. ”It’ll take a while to get to the township clinic from here. In Uncle Pan’s condition, he won’t even make it to the hospital!”

The old miner frowned. ”Then what do we do? We can’t just do nothing!”

”Let me try,” Zhao Yuan said.

”Are you sure you can handle this?” a few of the miners asked doubtfully.

”I’m a student at West Hua Medical University,” Zhao Yuan said without looking up. ”Even if I can’t cure Uncle Pan completely, I can at least ease his pain and get him breathing again.” As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and, under its cover, retrieved the Golden Nine Needles from his Storage Ring Space.

”Uncle Li, what do you think?”

All the miners turned their gazes to the old miner. Not only was he the oldest, but he was also the most senior. They always deferred to his judgment.

”Let the kid give it a try.” The old miner considered for a moment before speaking in a grave tone. ”It’s like he said, with the state Old Pan is in, he’ll probably be a goner before he even gets to the clinic. Since this boy is a university student from the provincial capital, maybe he really has some skills!”

While they talked, Zhao Yuan held his breath and focused, his mind racing to formulate a treatment plan.

’In an emergency, you treat the symptoms first!’

Pan Ping’s silicosis was the root of the problem, but that could be dealt with later. The priority right now was to bring him out of his coma and relieve his respiratory distress!

These were just the symptoms, but they were life-threatening and had to be resolved immediately!

After a few moments of rapid thought, Zhao Yuan had his plan.