Chapter Thirty-Four: Splitting Open the Belly

  A doctor practicing medicine to treat illnesses must have some understanding of the human body's five organs and six viscera. The best method, without a doubt, is to dissect a deceased patient and personally observe the location and shape of the five organs and six viscera. However, this method is not commonly used for two reasons: firstly, damaging a person's corpse harms their yin virtue; secondly, obtaining a corpse is not easy. Doctors who want to personally observe the five organs and six viscera usually seek help from the government's executioners when they are inspecting a victim's body. Mo Xuan had never seen an executioner dissect a corpse before, but he had once seen a woman's intestines dug out by barbarians in a forest outside the city. Thinking of those piled-up red and white things, his stomach suddenly churned, and he rushed out the door to vomit uncontrollably.

  Others saw the situation and felt a little puzzled, Ah Jiu quickly followed out, patting Mo Wen's back to help him relieve his breath, Mo Wen smelled the feminine scent on her body, again associating it with those women's intestines, vomiting even more painfully.

  After a while, Baili Kuangfeng and Ye Xiangyao each brought back a table, aligned them together like a wooden bed. Yulinglong placed the cloth package in her hand on the table, opened the cloth package, and inside was the corpse of a young man who had just died, with a blood stain on his throat, and the blood stain was still slowly dripping, obviously having died not long ago.

  Everyone's face lit up with joy and they widened their eyes in anticipation as Yuling watched the demonstration of Qihuang's magical technique to revive the dead.

  Mo didn't ask and struggled to walk back on his own, with everyone looking at him in confusion, still not understanding why he suddenly vomited.

  Yu Linglong waited for everyone to stand still, then looked around at the crowd. She rolled up her sleeves and took out a sharp dagger from her medical bag, cutting open the clothes on the corpse. Before anyone could react, she made another cut, directly opening up the chest and abdomen of the corpse. She reached inside and pulled out a red and white object. "A great doctor must be familiar with scraping bone to remove poison, and the method of opening the chest to remove decay. You all must remember the location of the six organs in the abdominal cavity. This is the lung, located on both sides of the upper chest, responsible for breathing, with a color that is white with a hint of red. If there is any disease, it will appear grayish black..."

  Everyone had thought that Yuling would demonstrate her medical skills to save people, but no one expected her to disembowel the person. The sudden sight of the red and white entrails made everyone cover their mouths and run out of the grand hall. Except for Mo, who had mentally prepared himself beforehand and was not too shocked, although his stomach was churning and he felt like vomiting again. Ah Jiu and Qiansui also didn't go out to vomit; they had transformed into human form after swallowing blood food before, so they were used to seeing such scenes and weren't surprised anymore.

  Yu Ling didn't blame Baili Kui Feng and the others for going out to vomit, but she also didn't wait for them. Instead, her expression remained calm as she continued to explain, "If the lungs have a pathological change, treatment is relatively easy. If it's an acute condition, you can grind the medicine into powder and inhale it through the mouth and nose. If it's a chronic disease, you can use the method of 'extracting the fire from the bottom of the cauldron' and 'guiding the counter-flow to solidify the foundation'."

  "This is the heart, dark red, varying in size, similar to a human left fist. All blood in the body is supplied by it. If the heart is damaged, it is difficult to cure. There are usually two methods: for acute conditions, medicine is used directly from the blood, and the effect is immediate. For chronic diseases, only swallowing medicinal stones can slowly regulate..."

  Yu Linglong said that at this point, don't ask again to think about vomiting, but he had nothing to vomit at this time, only dry retching. After the corpse was disembowelled, it would emit a strange smell mixed with stench and rot, extremely pungent.

  "What the ancients said about the liver and gallbladder reflecting each other is indeed verifiable. The gallbladder is located below the liver, but its function is not yet clear. When people eat grains and miscellaneous things, it is inevitable that turbid qi will be produced in the body. This turbid qi is then resolved by the liver. If the liver has a disease, it's hard to cure, unless one uses the Washing Marrow Spirit Pill to cleanse the turbid qi from the five organs..."

  In a moment, Yuling only used a moment to briefly explain the shape, position, color, and treatment of the five internal organs, and then took out the needle and thread from the medical bag to sew up the outer skin, rolled up the cloth package and left with a sentence "Wipe clean the bloodstains".

  The corpse had been taken away, but the stench of acid still lingered in the hall. Mo Wu did not ask and finally could not bear to run out with Bai Li Zheng Feng and others to vomit.

  "I'd rather die than be a doctor, I just can't do these things." Liu Shaoqing spat out the most severely, and in his shock, his words were already trembling with sobs.

  "Jade Linglong may seem benevolent, but she is not a kind person. The man she brought will surely die at her hands." Liu Song had never seen such a bloody scene before and found it hard to accept for the time being.

  While everyone was talking, the lame Taoist priest arrived with two young Taoists, bringing tea and water for people to rinse their mouths, clearing away the filthy things outside the hall and wiping clean the bloodstains inside.

  The lame Taoist's move was undoubtedly a flattery, and the crowd did not hold grudges against him for his previous jealousy and betrayal, but instead rushed to kowtow to show their gratitude.

  After everyone calmed down and sat back, the east hall had no statues, but there was an incense burner. The tribute incense in the incense burner had been lit, and the sandalwood fragrance overpowered the bloody smell.

  Half a time later, Yuling returned. At this time, everyone no longer thought she was gentle and kind. This person's skill in disemboweling was extremely skilled, and he must have done it many times before.

  "When treating diseases, it is just like being a human in the world. When showing benevolence and kindness, one's heart should be filled with benevolence and kindness; when taking drastic measures, one should not hesitate. If encountering a severe illness, one should take decisive action to save lives, without hesitation in cutting flesh or breaking bones. Not all things in the world can be done perfectly, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice some to save others, or to give up something to achieve a greater goal. When weighing two benefits, choose the more important one as the right path; when weighing two harms, choose the lesser one also as the right path." Yuling said solemnly after sitting down.

  Yu Ling's words are in harmony with the Taoist concept of yin and yang, directly addressing those difficult situations that cannot be perfectly resolved, pointing out a way to deal with them, and everyone who hears this responds in unison, all benefiting.

  "People all over the world are fond of empty talk, and empty talk seems profound and distant, but it's like talking about military strategy on paper, empty and without substance. From tomorrow on, I will teach you to identify medicinal herbs. All things in the world can be used as medicine, and there are no less than a thousand commonly used ones. I have brought three hundred with me, and I acquired seventy percent of them from Mount Wuyi. If you understand the properties of these thousand medicinal herbs, ordinary illnesses will not be able to harm you."

  Yu Linglong paused slightly at this point, then continued: "Reciting scriptures, practicing meditation and internal energy must not be neglected. Identifying medicinal herbs and understanding their properties also requires dedication. The Master Sima who will teach you martial arts will arrive soon, and later on, you will have to practice both the Qigong technique and martial arts skills at the same time."

  "May I ask, who is this Sima Daochang?" Bai Li Kuangfeng couldn't contain the excitement in his heart. Compared to cultivating one's mind through scriptures, laying foundations through qigong, and saving people with medical arts, he preferred martial arts and magic.

  "Simadou is not a member of any sect, but a wandering Taoist from the Upper Clarity Sect. He has no fixed abode and his whereabouts are unknown. This person is over 40 years old, due to illness contracted in his mother's womb, his meridians were blocked and he was unable to cultivate internal energy, so he could only practice external martial arts. Over several decades, he has practiced external martial arts to perfection, with exceptional lightness skills, and is a young and promising figure in the Upper Clarity Sect." Yulinggong smiled and said.

  "The art of Qi Huang is vast and profound, even if one devotes themselves to studying it for half a year, they may still find it difficult to grasp its subtleties. Now that we are faced with two pressing matters at once, how can we possibly attend to both?" Mo Xun said as he stood up.

  Yu Lingong did not answer immediately, but after careful consideration, he slowly opened his mouth: "You only have three years to learn the Tao, and the time is too short. You can't master all six arts, you just need to specialize in one of them, and roughly understand the other five. Don't be greedy or arrogant, three years is just a foundation, it's impossible to become an extraordinary master."

  Everyone heard this and responded in unison. These three preachers, although they had different personalities, all shared a common trait - being natural and straightforward, without empty words.

  Yu Linglong waved her hand to disperse the crowd, instructing the servants and Daoist priests to sort out the medicinal materials that had been purchased earlier. Mo Xun and the others were not allowed to intervene, so they each returned to their rooms, either studying the pharmacopoeia given by Yu Linglong to learn about medicine, or practicing the five-finger exercise with the small pot left behind by Xuan Yuanzi.

  At dinner time, Lao Wu came again.

  "These past few days' congee seems to have become much thinner." Mo Wen looked at the congee that Lao Wu had sent into the room.

  "You don't know, sir. After the beginning of spring, the Daoist temple's food supply has been tight. The other Daoists have already reduced to two meals a day, but you guys are still having three meals." Lao Wu brought the porridge and rice in front of Mo Wen.

  He didn't ask for the bowl of porridge, but instead reached under his pillow and pulled out a small package containing silver coins. From inside, he took out three black gold ingots and handed them to Old Five, "You and I, two brothers, can't just eat at someone else's expense. Give these two gold ingots to the abbot of the dining hall."

  "Good." Old Wu hesitated for a moment, took the gold and put it in his pocket. "I don't know what's going on, but this year's grain is much more expensive than last year's, ten taels of gold can only buy one stone of millet."

  "Has another war broken out?" Mo asked doubtfully. Every year after the spring began, it was a time when green and yellow were not connected, and grain prices would rise, but this year's grain prices were surprisingly high, almost five times that of previous years.

  "What's going on, there are battles everywhere outside, Liang State is fighting with Zhao State, Zhao State is fighting with Jin State, I heard that Jin State is also fighting with some small countries in the southwest. Luckily we hid here, otherwise we would have nowhere to go." Old Five shook his head and said.

  "We are now studying medicine, next is martial arts and magic. Once we have the defensive martial arts and a way to make a living, we will go find our wives and then return home to continue practicing medicine." Mo Xiong said.

  "Old master, if you've learned martial arts, you must teach me a couple of moves." Lao Wu remembered the promise Mo Xiang had made to him.

  "That's natural, by the way, I'll tell you a good thing. The Sima Daochang who taught us martial arts will be here soon. This person has no spiritual energy cultivation, is skilled in external martial arts and light work, just right for you to learn." Mo Xiong took over the porridge from Old Five's hand.

  "Is qinggong able to run very fast and also fly over walls?" Lao Wu's eyes sparkled.

  "Must be." Mo Wen replied casually.

  "I don't like to fight, nor do I like to be beaten. So I learned qinggong, and when the time comes, I'll fly over rooftops and walls, and no one will be able to catch up with me. I can jump over walls and enter rooms, and no one will be able to stop me." Old Five rubbed his hands excitedly.

  Mo Wen furrowed his brow in silence. Lao Wu had yet to learn any martial arts, but he was already thinking of sneaking into the house through the wall. This guy's heart wasn't right, and he needed a good scolding.

  A night without words, the next morning everyone gathered in the East Hall, following Yuling to learn about identifying medicinal herbs...

  At 11 o'clock, I returned from the hospital and rushed to code words. With everyone's support for me, I absolutely cannot stop updating. From tomorrow on, I will go to the hospital for oxygen inhalation in the morning. I have chronic carbon monoxide poisoning, and my blood oxygen level is less than a quarter of that of normal people. If I don't supplement oxygen, death is near.