Chapter 314 - 312: Potent Medicine

Yang Xun rushed forward, catching the two bodyguards. He dragged them to the ground, then stepped up and pushed open the door to Zhao Hongshan’s room.

The room was dimly lit, the curtains tightly drawn. A thick, heavy smell of medicine permeated the air.

Zhao Hongshan lay on the bed, his complexion sallow and his cheekbones jutting out. He was significantly thinner than the last time Yang Xun had seen him. His lips were dry and peeling, his breathing weak yet rapid. The rise and fall of his chest was barely noticeable; he was on his last breath.

Yang Xun quickly walked to the bedside and placed three fingers on Zhao Hongshan’s pulse. As soon as his True Qi probed inside, his brows furrowed sharply.

"What’s wrong?" Zhao Linglong stood behind him, her voice laced with obvious tension and worry.

Yang Xun didn’t answer immediately. He carefully examined the man for another moment before saying in a deep voice, "Your father’s condition is much worse than I expected. Not only did the injuries from the car crash fail to heal properly, but he was also given some aggressive drugs."

"Aggressive drugs?" Zhao Linglong’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"They’re potent stimulants meant to forcibly keep him alive. They can make him look a bit more energetic in the short term, but they are actually overdrawing his remaining Primordial Qi," Yang Xun said, withdrawing his hand. His gaze fell on the medicine bottles on the nightstand. He picked one up, unscrewed the cap, and sniffed it, his expression darkening further. "Something was added to these pills as well. Although the dosage is small, long-term consumption will cause his liver and kidneys to fail. In the end, it would look like he died of illness, but he would actually have been poisoned."

Zhao Linglong’s body swayed violently. Her lips paled, and her voice trembled. "It’s Wang Xuelian... She wants to slowly drain my dad to death."

Yang Xun nodded, his tone certain. "As long as your father dies and you are married off to anyone at random, the entire Zhao family will completely fall into the hands of that mother and daughter."

Zhao Linglong’s eyes instantly reddened, but she gritted her teeth and held back her tears. She merely clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

Yang Xun said no more. He took out silver needles from his portable medicine box, along with a few medicinal herbs he carried with him. "Help me hold him up. Make him lie on his side; I’m going to administer acupuncture to expel the poison."

Zhao Linglong quickly stepped forward, carefully holding Zhao Hongshan’s shoulders to help him roll over.

Yang Xun inserted the silver needles into several key acupoints on Zhao Hongshan’s back one by one. With every needle that landed, a wisp of warm True Qi seeped in. His movements were extremely fast. With a flurry of his fingers, over a dozen silver needles were firmly planted on Zhao Hongshan’s back.

The True Qi flowed into Zhao Hongshan’s meridians along the silver needles like fine silk threads, beginning to inspect the drug-eroded channels one by one. A thin layer of sweat seeped from Yang Xun’s forehead, but his hand movements didn’t pause for a moment. He peeled away the toxicity hidden deep within the meridians bit by bit.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps and angry shouts came from outside the door.

"Who are you?!"

"Stop her!"

Following that was the crisp CLANG of metal and a suppressed grunt.

Sun Rao’s voice drifted in from the doorway, carrying a cold composure. "Ah Xun, people are coming. Continue the treatment; I’ll hold them off."

"Stay safe," Yang Xun replied without looking back. The silver needle in his hand steadily pierced the acupoint over Zhao Hongshan’s heart.

Outside the door, Sun Rao leaned her back against the doorframe and drew a dagger from her waist. The blade glinted with a cold, harsh light under the dim corridor lamps. In front of her, seven or eight men in black short-sleeved shirts surrounded her, glaring like tigers watching their prey. The leader wore a floral shirt, his gaze fierce. It was none other than Wang Xuelian’s brother, Wang Guangyao.

"Where did this wild brat come from, daring to run amok in our home? If you know what’s good for you, get out of here, or don’t blame us for not holding back!" Wang Guangyao pointed at Sun Rao, his tone arrogant and domineering.

Sun Rao didn’t answer. She merely lowered her center of gravity slightly and twirled the dagger between her fingers. The tip of the blade pointed in Wang Guangyao’s direction as she spoke in a voice as calm as still water, "If you want to go in, you have to get past me first."

Wang Guangyao’s face darkened. He waved a hand at the men behind him. "Get her! Teach this wretched girl a lesson!"

Several thugs charged forward with howling cries. Sun Rao moved her feet, her figure meeting them head-on like a shadow. Her movements were fast and precise. Every strike landed on her opponents’ arms or shoulders. The blade sliced through flesh and skin, bringing up a string of blood beads, yet strictly avoiding any fatal spots.

Screams rang out one after another. The three men at the very front retreated, clutching their arms. Their cuffs were already soaked with blood, and their faces were deathly pale.

Wang Guangyao stared at the blood dripping onto the floor, his pupils constricting slightly. He hadn’t expected this seemingly frail young woman to be such a skilled fighter. Moreover, her strikes were clean and efficient; every cut was merely a flesh wound, yet it was enough to completely incapacitate a person.

"You... Who exactly are you? What do you want?" Wang Guangyao’s voice lacked its previous arrogance, replaced by an unconcealable trace of dread.

"I said, if you want to go in, you have to get past me first," Sun Rao repeated, her tone still calm, but the killing intent in her phoenix eyes surged unhidden.

She was an assassin trained by Scarface, after all. Naturally, she wasn’t someone these small-time thugs could easily deal with.

The commotion in the corridor reached the room. Zhao Linglong tensed and tightly clenched her fingers, but upon seeing Yang Xun’s focused profile as he administered the acupuncture, she forced herself to calm down and continued to support her father’s shoulders.

At this moment, Yang Xun had entered the critical stage of the treatment. The circulation of his True Qi was like a fine, dense net, repairing the drug-eroded meridians in Zhao Hongshan’s body one by one. He could feel Zhao Hongshan’s pulse gradually recovering its powerful beat. Although there was still a long way to go before a complete recovery, the most dangerous hurdle had at least been cleared.

Outside the door, after a brief silence, Wang Guangyao gritted his teeth and waved his hand again. "Everyone, charge! How many can she hold off alone? I don’t believe we can’t exhaust her to death!"

This time, everyone rushed forward simultaneously. Sun Rao flipped her dagger and met them again.

But she was only one person, after all, while the opponents had the advantage of numbers. Furthermore, having learned from their previous mistakes, the thugs no longer approached recklessly. Instead, they attacked from different directions all at once.

Sun Rao blocked an attack from the left, but someone’s fist from the right had already smashed into her shoulder. Her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly dodged to the side, only to take a kick to her back.

With a muffled THUD, her body stumbled. She took two steps back, her spine crashing against the doorframe. But in the split second she was knocked back, she retaliated with a backhand slash at the nearest man. The blade cut across his forearm, leaving a bloody gash.

Another scream rang out, and the man retreated, clutching his arm.

However, before Sun Rao could adjust her center of gravity, Wang Guangyao himself lunged forward. He was sturdier than all the thugs. With a heavy foot, he kicked Sun Rao squarely in the lower abdomen.

Sun Rao let out a muffled groan and flew backward.