Lin Yao was unaware that Lan Xiaoqing would only invite him to go out if Xia Yuwen agreed. Xia Yuwen, who was always shy, would of course not agree to meet him; she was only concerned about how Lin Yao's injuries were recovering.
Time passed uneventfully. Kangqi Pharmaceutical Factory, renamed Minhong Pharmaceutical, had smooth production. Government organizations at all levels showed great care for the company and gave it the green light all the way. Lin Hongmei also smoothly became the company's chairman and general manager, completely stripping Luo Jimin of his power to sign major agreements.
Lin Yao wasn't in a hurry as his cultivation of the Luo family's techniques progressed slowly. According to the manual, it usually took ten years to reach the sixth level of Qi cultivation. However, with the help of the neutral medicinal Qi extracted from the small grass, he had already touched the edge of the sixth level in just a few months, which was already a rapid pace of progress.
Of course, there are also aspirations for further advancement, but steady progress is more important. The true qi cultivated through the essence of heaven and earth has become more refined. Lin Yao has been focusing his main energy on cultivation during this period, hoping to reach the Core Formation realm described in the cultivation method as soon as possible.
The little grass hadn't changed much. Ever since it absorbed the medicinal energy of a thousand-year-old or ten-thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum in Qingcheng Mountain, a crack appeared, and then nothing changed. It only became a little active when Lin Yao absorbed the medicinal energy of precious herbs; otherwise, it was a lifeless seed, with even its tail often retracted inside the seed, leaving Lin Yao feeling uneasy.
Lin Yao also had the idea of going to the deep mountains and wilderness to explore and search for treasure. In order to make Xiao Cao better, he could not get away from his business in Chengdu. In order to avoid explaining the changes in the formula, he also had to go to the pharmaceutical factory regularly to absorb the poison gas in the formula. With Xiao Guli taking care of him, he had to suppress his idea of going out.
"Xiao Lin, come over here right away, something's happened to your father." Wen Youmin's voice was very anxious on the phone. He hung up after saying only one sentence, and when he tried to call back, the call couldn't be connected.
Lin Yao's heart jumped, and a wave of fear washed over him.
"Big brother, hurry, we're going to the pharmaceutical factory right away, something's happened to my dad." Lin Yao put Xiao Guli down from his arms, rushed into the bedroom, grabbed the first aid kit, and rushed out the door. As he left, he saw Xiao Guli standing there dumbfounded with a wronged expression, so he quickly added, "Lili, be good, Dad has something urgent to do and is going to see Grandpa. You wait for Dad to come back at home."
"Oh." Little Guli finally recovered and obediently responded, before Ruan Lingling, who had rushed over, pulled him into her arms.
When Lin Yao rushed downstairs, Ge Yong had already started the van. Banan, who had rushed down with him, quickly opened the car door, pulled Lin Yao into the van, and then rushed up to close the door.
Ge Yong started accelerating as soon as Lin Yaogang was thrown onto the carriage. Banan naturally had a way to get on the train, so he wasn't worried about that at all. "What's wrong? Is it alright?"
"I don't know," Lin Yao replied breathlessly, his face full of panic. "Uncle Wen didn't say anything on the phone, but it's probably serious. I'll call right away."
The van sped out of the Dynasty Mansion residential area and headed along the 2.5 Ring Road towards the pharmaceutical factory outside the West Second Ring Road. Wen Youmin's cell phone was still unreachable. He finally got through to his father, Luo Jimin, but Wen Youmin answered the phone again, his tone still very anxious, as if he were fighting with someone. He only said that there was something strange and told him to come over immediately, and then hung up after a few more words.
Lin Yao felt a sense of foreboding, but fortunately he immediately received a call from Shen Ruohua, who was stationed at the pharmaceutical factory, and learned some details about the situation.
Luo Jimin is in trouble! An unknown illness has left him writhing in pain on his bed in the pharmaceutical factory's temporary accommodation, accompanied by bleeding from his mouth and nostrils, his pupils dilating and constricting intermittently, and his skin turning bluish-black all over.
Unable to determine the cause of the illness, Wen Youmin panicked at the sight of these unprecedented symptoms and was about to call 120 when Shen Ruohua stopped him. In the veterans' eyes, Lin Yao possessed the most profound medical skills; he had even saved Nannan and Huzi, who were beyond the hospital's capabilities. Shen Ruohua worried that sending such an unknown symptom to the hospital would delay treatment, so she suppressed Wen Youmin's urge to request emergency medical assistance and instead urged Lin Yao to go immediately.
"Big brother, speed up no matter what, my dad is in danger!" Lin Yao shouted with a sob in his voice. Ge Yong immediately stepped on the gas pedal to the floor, completely disregarding traffic rules, and sped towards Minhong Pharmaceutical Factory, which was more than ten kilometers away.
His superb driving skills were on full display before everyone, but Lin Yao had no time to appreciate it. His mind was filled with worry, fearing that a single second's delay would cost his father his life.
At this moment, the little grass on his chest also changed, as if it could sense Lin Yao's excitement. The little tail at the end of the seed stretched and contracted very unstablely, looking very anxious. Lin Yao had no time to consider the reason, his eyes were fixed on the road in front of him.
Ge Yong ignored all the red lights. No matter how dense the cross traffic was, the minivan would plunge into it, then accelerate and brake instantly to pass through. He used his drifting skills to the extreme, leaving all the traffic police chasing them far behind. From his residence outside the South Second Ring Road to Xinglin Pharmaceutical Factory near the West Third Ring Road, Ge Yong covered the 14-kilometer distance in just over nine minutes. He drove straight into Minhong Pharmaceutical Factory and headed straight for Wen Youmin's temporary residence.
"Get out of the way, I'll handle this." Lin Yao rushed toward his father, Luo Jimin, who was lying on the bed. At this moment, Luo Jimin's limbs and waist were being pressed down by several people to prevent him from resisting.
Lin Yao first prepared to check the pupil reaction, then held his father Luo Jimin's cheeks with both hands. Just as his hands touched the other's jawbone, the small grass on his chest suddenly vibrated, instantly sprouting a tail that split into two tentacles, one on the left and one on the right, reaching straight to his palms, and then rushing into Luo Jimin's body without hesitation.
Something's wrong! Lin Yao's pupils contracted sharply. This was the most critical situation, which was why Xiao Cao reacted so drastically. He immediately activated the medical true energy in his body with all his might, sending it out of his palms and into his father Luo Jimin's neck.
The tiny grass tendrils that detached from the body instantly circled around Luo Jimin's chest from the left and right, targeting his heart. As they moved, they released medicinal energy, which spread throughout Luo Jimin's body, causing his struggles to weaken.
There's something alive! There's an unusual, active organism inside my father's heart!
The feedback from the grass tendrils revealed a shocking truth: a beetle-like creature was parasitizing Luo Jimin's heart, causing severe pain, circulatory problems, and oxygen deprivation.
Gu! It's a Gu worm! The thought instantly flashed into Lin Yao's mind. This kind of witchcraft technique, which was described in the "Complete Collection of Traditional Chinese Medicine", was actually appearing in front of him. Lin Yao immediately felt helpless and could only hope that Xiao Cao could solve the problem.
The tendrils of the grass had already wrapped around the beetle and were pulling it out of its heart. The beetle's position slowly changed. It seemed that the grass could resolve the Gu poison. Lin Yao's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, calmed down a little. At this moment, after the beetle was wrapped up, Luo Jimin also stopped struggling.
The beetle slowly detached from the heart. Lin Yao felt it was the size of a sesame seed, never imagining that this tiny creature would almost cost his father his life. At this moment, the little grass seemed quite at ease. One tentacle wrapped around the beetle and pulled, while the other tentacle remained on Luo Jimin's heart, vibrating at a small, high frequency. With each vibration, a large amount of medicinal vapor was released. Lin Yao felt that under the influence of this vapor, his father's damaged heart muscle was rapidly repaired, soon becoming strong and stable again, and beginning to contract and relax normally, driving the body's blood circulation back to normal.
The beetle was finally pulled away from the heart and floated in the chest cavity outside the heart. Only then did Lin Yao truly breathe a sigh of relief. It involved the crucial location of the heart, and it was such a mysterious and unpredictable Gu worm. He was shocked the moment he discovered it. Cold sweat had soaked through his clothes, and large beads of sweat had accumulated on his eyebrows.
Suddenly, the grass tendrils encasing the beetle twitched, startling Lin Yao, who was completely focused. Was the grass weak? Or was it because the detached tendrils were too long?
While focusing his true energy on the little grass, Lin Yao suddenly had an idea. He tried to slide his right palm close to his father's skin towards his chest. "Big brother, quickly help me cut his clothes open, everyone else get out."
Ge Yong immediately drew his dagger, and with a swift movement, sliced open Lin Yao's clothes below his right hand without making a sound. Lin Yao then moved his hand to his father's chest, directly above his heart.
The grass, whose tentacles had been shortened, indeed regained its abilities. The beetle was quickly pulled towards the ribs and squeezed out of the body through the intercostal muscles. The grass tentacles released from the left hand became even more active. After the heart injury was resolved, the tentacles extended to all parts of Luo Jimin's body, absorbing a lot of medicinal gas from there. This gray medicinal gas was clearly in the category of poison gas, which made Lin Yao even angrier.
They're out!
The tiny grass tendrils that had emerged from his right palm instantly retracted into his body with incredible speed. By the time Lin Yao realized it, the beetle had already followed the tendrils all the way to Lin Yao's chest, tightening its grip inside the seed. This surprised and terrified Lin Yao. He felt the grass seed absorbing the medicinal energy from the beetle's body. The enormous medicinal energy was constantly being drawn out of the beetle and then instantly absorbed by the grass.
When the tentacles on his left palm retracted, Lin Yao felt a wave of exhaustion. He had been releasing his true energy at full power for over ten minutes. This kind of reckless energy surging was a major taboo, as recorded in cultivation techniques, but Lin Yao had no choice but to do it.
"Yao'er, you've come?" Luo Jimin's weak voice interrupted Lin Yao's attention. He withdrew his attention from the little grass and looked up at his father.
"Dad, you're alright now. Take a rest for a bit. I'll have Uncle Wen bring you some electrolyte solution to replenish your energy." Lin Yao's eyes were filled with relief at surviving the ordeal, but he could only suppress his anger as it surged within him.
"Yao'er, I know who did it. Don't kill him." Luo Jimin's voice was very bitter, with an indescribable sense of desolation.
"No way! I must kill him!" Lin Yao shouted, his eyes bloodshot, making him look extremely terrifying.
“Yao’er, I understand what he said now. He said he wouldn’t let me die, he just wanted me to experience pain.” Luo Jimin struggled to sit up. “Don’t be too angry. It was your second uncle. Your second uncle and your grandmother came over earlier and talked to me for a while. There was another person with them. I suspect it was that person who did it.”
“We didn’t talk much at first. Your grandmother came to visit me and mentioned the family property, but your second uncle said something when he left that I didn’t understand at the time, but I do now.” Luo Jimin looked even more dejected and obediently lay down again as Lin Yao instructed. “He said he wanted me to suffer a bit before contacting me again. Now I know what he meant.”
"Dad, this isn't just a little suffering, it's practically taking your life!" Lin Yao said in a low voice to avoid disturbing his father. "You don't know, they've put a curse on you, a curse! If I had arrived any later, your entire heart might have been eaten away by the curse worms!"
"Ah! It's Gu? This is a kind of witchcraft that only exists in legends. How could they possibly know it?" Luo Jimin's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Lin Yao. "Yao'er, when did you learn Gu magic? You can't learn this kind of unorthodox method to harm people!"
"Dad, don't worry, I don't know how to use Gu poison. I only know a little bit about how to remove Gu worms. I killed the Gu worms in your body, you're fine now." Lin Yao comforted him gently, but immediately started flaring up again, "I'll be a monster if I don't kill him!"
"Yao'er," Luo Jimin raised his voice, "your second uncle only wanted to make me suffer a little, he didn't want to kill me. You can punish him, but you can't take his life."
"Dad!" Lin Yao shouted, his voice filled with extreme grief and indignation, "You studied medicine yourself, don't you know what happened just now? That place could have killed you! If I had arrived a minute later, you would be dead! You would be dead!"
“Perhaps it was just that the person who cast the Gu poison didn’t control the Gu worms properly. Your second uncle’s original intention was not to kill me, but just to get the family’s recipe.” Luo Jimin was well aware of the dangerous situation he had just been in, and his tone was full of no confidence. “Yao’er, don’t kill anyone. Promise your father’s only request. As long as you don’t kill anyone, I will agree to whatever you do to him.”