Gu Qishao was already starting to back away, but Mu Linger didn’t go

to pester him. All she did was smile at him. Instead, it was Huang

Gengchen that walked up and cupped his hands in greeting. “Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

Doctor

Gu, long time no see. This old man has brought 60 of my disciples with

me this time. 10 of them will stay in South Ning City while the rest

have been dispatched to various places in search of ill children and the

elderly. This...can count as part of this old man’s humble efforts.”

Han

Yunxi was so moved, she didn’t know what to say. If anyone had to ask

for her feelings, her only thoughts would be that it was a shame she

wasn’t a doctor with a bunch of disciples, too.

Gu Beiyue returned the greetings. “Old Huang, this one has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Old

Huang laughed. “Heheh, this old man helped you convinced many doctors.

Over the next few days, they’ll come with disciples in tow as well. You

can set your cares at rest.” As he finished, he nodded at Han Yunxi once

before heading for Pill Fiend Pharmacy.

Han Yunxi’s cold heart finally found warmth. She just knew it, this world still had plenty of good-hearted doctors!

Mu

Linger still stayed put after Huang Gengchen left. “Don’t you worry,

just leave Pill Fiend Pharmacy to me and Doctor Huang!” she called out

cheerfully. Then she winked at Gu Qishao and abruptly left without a

word. Despite his surprise, Gu Qishao couldn’t help but secretly exhale

in relief.

--

It was very busy at Pill Fiend Pharamacy.

Plenty of patients were waiting for Mu Linger to examine them, so as a

member of a medicine family, she could help out with some minor cases.

At times like this, she didn’t have s.p.a.ce to waste here.

In any

case, it’s not like Qi gege will like me if I cling to him. I should

hurry back to Pill Fiend Pharmacy and resist everything that Medical

City’s done.

She never liked Medical City to begin with. After realizing that Qi

gege

was

the same Gu Qi Sha they’d kicked out in the past, she hated them even

more. But after walking some distance away, she couldn’t resist turning

back to shout, “Qi

gege,

take your Poison Corpses and destroy Medical City. Linger will always support you!”

“Silly la.s.s!” Gu Qishao smiled helplessly. That girl had actually supported what Han Yunxi herself rejected.

Although Doctor Huang had won the support of many other physicians, their help was still limited.

“Doctor Gu, I think our chances of success...aren’t high,” Han Yunxi spoke the truth.

But Gu Beiyue only said, “Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

if

you turn yourself in, you can save the innocent citizens temporarily,

but it won’t last them a lifetime. There’s no need for a guilty

conscience, nor should your resolve be shaken. We have to seize this

chance to change Medical City’s rules. That’s purely a school of thought

and has nothing to do with power plays.”

Han Yunxi never expected

Gu Beiyue could understand her so well. He even knew exactly what she

had been thinking. His gaze wasn’t sharp, but soft and warm. Despite

this, he could see through people’s worries.

Gu Beiyue, you can heal illnesses, people, and the country. Can you...heal hearts as well?

“Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

our

chances for victory are extremely high,” Gu Beiyue continued. “It’ll be

the Apricot Woods Conference in a few days. This one will go to

partic.i.p.ate in the congress.”

The Apricot Woods Conference was

held once every five years, It was the most distinguished gathering of

Cloud Realm’s medical community, a place where everyone showed off their

medical arts. Its compet.i.tion, combined with the physician’s

achievements in the medical field, would re-a.s.sign ranks to all its

doctors. Physicians of fifth-rank Divine Doctor t.i.tles or lower needed

the compet.i.tion to evaluate their ranks. There was a limit to the quota

of such partic.i.p.ants. But Primogenitor, Sage, Empyreal and Sovereign

level doctors relied mostly on their own achievements to evaluate their

respective ranks.

Once a doctor earned a rank, he or she could

received multiple benefits from Medical City. For example, they could

seek instruction from higher-ranked physicians, or access the medical

academy’s exclusive medical skills, or earn an allowance from the

academy for research purposes, etc. Even without all these benefits,

just an official ranking was enough to send applicants scrambling for a

chance. Doctor’s ranks were proof of a physician’s level of skill within

Cloud Realm Continent. It was a way to validate one’s professional

knowledge, an honorable and glorious t.i.tle.

“You…” Han Yunxi

always knew that Gu Beiyue’s skills far surpa.s.sed his fifth rank t.i.tle,

and that he didn’t care for Medical City’s ranking system. That was why

he’d never gone to get ranked.

Is he going to show his true skills at the Apricot Woods Conference?

“Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

this one is planning to challenge Academy Head Gu Yuntian. I’m just worried that esteemed

w.a.n.gfei

won’t believe in me,” Gu Beiyue was smiling despite the serious situation.

Han

Yunxi’s heart was pounding. It’d be a lie to say she wasn’t

antic.i.p.ating the results. Although she had no idea where Gu Beiyue found

such self-confidence, she knew that his words were definitely

dependable!

“I believe in you!” she said firmly.

Medical

City had such power to rally supporters in the medical community because

it represented the “pinnacle” of medical arts along with its wealth of

resources.

If...if Gu Beiyue challenged Gu Yuntian’s

authority and expressed his willingness to accept disciples, then what

will be the results?

Even if they couldn’t shake the medical

academy, they’d at least attract a few doctors their way. Han Yunxi

could finally see hope!

Gu Qishao started to chuckle. “Gu Beiyue,

I never expected you to have the Apricot Woods Conference as your goal

too! This old man has my eye on it too. If you can get rid of that old

Gu Yuntian, I guarantee that the position of academy head will be

yours!”

“Gu Qishao, you have something to use against Gu Yuntian, right?” Han Yunxi asked anxiously.

Gu

Qishao was (publicly known as) the head elder’s foster son in his youth

and also extremely familiar with the Poison Sect. Han Yunxi figured

that he must know a thing or two to speak so boldly.

Gu Qishao turned towards her with a bewitching smile. “Secret!”

Han

Yunxi had no idea of the relations.h.i.+p between Gu Qishao and the academy

head, nor the extent of his sufferings at the academy. Seeing his

seductive smile, she couldn’t help but grin back. “Gu Qishao, tell me

the truth. Are you a member of the Poison Sect?”

“

Pah!”

Gu Qishao was extremely agitated. “Han Yunxi, this old man will never agree to be your relative!”

“It’s

fine if you’re not part of the Poison Sect family. If you marry Mu

Linger someday, you’ll end up related to me anyways,” Han Yunxi was

serious.

Gu Qishao’s mouth twitched as he pretended not to hear.

Of course, Han Yunxi understood his feelings, but what else could she do

about them besides returning them with jokes?

You always have to be

half-jesting when you talk about feelings with him. If you’re too

sincere, he’ll always refute them on the spot or turn up his nose. He

doesn’t take it to heart.

“There’s an important matter that I

think we should discuss indoors,” Gu Beiyue interrupted their joking.

Han Yunxi knew that there was another trouble afoot besides “withdrawing

the doctors,” and that was: Ning Cheng. General Baili had already

arrived via the back door when they entered the rooms.

Thanks to

the threat of the red coat cannons, Tianan’s Mu Clan troops had already

retreated. Ning Cheng took over three of their cities before immediately

withdrawing his troops. The Tianan army suffered heavy casualties, so

Ning Cheng only left a third of the red coat cannons and two border

defense troops to deal with them. Half of his remaining forces were

divided between the western skirmishes with Chu Tianyin and the

south--with South Ning’s commander-in-chief’s estate as their target.

General

Baili finished laying out Ning Cheng’s recent movements before he said,

“Even if Northern Li gets their battle horses today, it’ll still take

them a couple of months before they can use them. This soldier intends

to head north with soldiers before the start of the Apricot Woods

Conference. The infantry forces can fight together with the navy to

attack. Combined with the Chu clan troops, we’ll be able to divert Ning

Cheng’s attention.”

“The navy?” Han Yunxi grew doubtful.

“Yes.

There’s a large river running through Tianning called the Sandy River.

It starts from the west in Western Zhou and runs all the way to the

Eastern Sea. If Tianning’s troops want to head south, they’ll have no

choice but to cross this river. As long as we race against time and take

Tianning’s Crane Forest Prefecture, we’ll be able to control this

waterway. Once we do, it’ll be harder for Tianning to head south. We can

drag things on until Northern Li sends their own troops,” General Baili

declared.

Han Yunxi immediately understood. This was called

“gaining the initiative by striking the first blow.” If they were doomed

to fight with Ning Cheng, then it was better to deal with him now

before he finished off Western Zhou’s forces. Moreover, sending an army

now would catch Ning Cheng by surprise. Perhaps they could even catch

him unprepared on the battlefield. After all, Long Feiye was still on

Celestial Mountain and everyone would a.s.sume they’d wait for him to come

down before making a move.

Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao would deal

with Medical City together, so there was hope there; General Baili would

pin down Ning Cheng over here.

No matter what,

Han Yunxi thought,

We can at least control the overall situation to buy Long Feiye some time.

Naturally,

she had no idea that Gu Beiyue would head to the Apricot Woods

Conference or that General Baili would start attacking first because

both men were following Long Feiye. That man could control everything

even from the distant peaks of Celestial Mountain. Han Yunxi discussed a

few more details with everyone else before realizing late night had set

in. None of them had eaten yet.

“Zhao

mama,

have the kitchens prepare some food,” Han Yunxi instructed.

General

Baili didn’t stay to eat, but hurried off on military matters. Gu

Qishao would never leave. He couldn’t even remember how long it’d been

since he’d last eaten with Poison la.s.s at the same table. He found a

good flask of wine and said, “It’s been years since the three of us ate

at the same table. Long Feiye’s still got this old man’s restaurant

closed up!”

“Doctor Gu’s just recovered, so he can’t drink wine.

Neither I nor Mingxiang will drink either, so you can drink by

yourself,” Han Yunxi said.

Gu Qishao rolled his eyes at her. “Killjoy!”

Han

Yunxi ignored him and told Gu Beiyue, “Prepare for tomorrow and

delegate your tasks as needed. How about leaving in secret the night

after tomorrow?”

Gu Beiyue nodded. After a pause, he finally said, “Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

this

one has been exchanging letters with His Highness Duke of Qin over the

past few days. After learning of his serious wounds, this one has a

needle treatment method that is extremely helpful for internal

internals.”

“Really?!” Han Yunxi was thrilled. Gu Beiyue’s acupuncture skills were top-notch.

“Mm,” Gu Beiyue was still hesitant. “Esteemed

w.a.n.gfei,

this

one cannot personally treat His Highness Duke of Qin atop Celestial

Mountain. Perhaps you can have a trusted aide do the deed instead?”

Han Yunxi couldn’t wait for Long Feiye to get well faster. Each day earlier was one day won.

“I

can!” she immediately agreed. Before Gu Beiyue could recommend Baili

Mingxiang, Han Yunxi was already pulling her over. “Let’s make it

Mingxiang. She learns fast, so two days should be enough.”

Baili Mingxiang was extremely surprised. She couldn’t believe her ears as her heart pounded in her chest. If esteemed

w.a.n.gfei

wasn’t holding her hand so tightly, her fingers would be shaking by now.

Heavens! I’m going to Celestial Mountain to treat His Highness Duke of Qin with needles?

She

unconsciously looked towards her left. Although Su Xiaoyu wasn’t here

anymore, it still felt like the girl was standing right here and staring

at her with eyes filled with questioning hostility.