"What method did you use? Did you look closely?" Song Hao asked.
"There's nothing special about this 'miracle cure without medicine.' Ji Dongyang asked Qiu Ru for the seeds of several herbs: cypress seeds, jujube seeds, radish seeds, and Job's tears. There weren't many of each, just ten or twenty seeds each, plus seven large red dates. He said it was some kind of ancestral secret recipe from the Ji family of medicine called 'Qingxin Tang,' and then he boiled it in water for my senior brother to drink. I waited all day, but I didn't see any effect. Ji Dongyang said that I needed to be treated three times according to his method, with each treatment three days apart, and it would only be effective after nine days," Luo Feiying said.
"What? Ji Dongyang actually used medicine this time when he used the 'Medicine-Free Divine Formula'?" Song Hao was taken aback upon hearing this. Then he suddenly realized and said, "That's right, his situation is special now. He doesn't dare to openly use the secret technique of the 'Medicine-Free Divine Formula,' so he deliberately uses medicine as a pretext for treatment, while secretly responding with some kind of 'divine order.' Those kinds of medicines are not used for their medicinal properties, but for their numbers. It's just to deceive people. Using it so cleverly is quite ingenious!"
"Is Ji Dongyang confident about treating Li He's illness?" Song Hao asked again.
"He said the results would be clear in nine days, and he seemed very confident. He wasn't chanting incantations or casting spells; I wonder what strange thing he's up to. Is this the miraculous remedy without medicine? It doesn't seem special at all; it's too simple," Luo Feiying said, bewildered.
“The most ordinary thing is the most miraculous! Let’s see the effect in nine days. If it can really cure Li He’s illness completely, then Ji Dongyang and his miraculous prescription will be worth half of the Heavenly Medicine Hall!” Song Hao said.
"How is your senior brother Li Hexian's mood?" Song Hao then asked.
"It's strange, whenever we see him get agitated or act aggressively, all Qiu Ru and I have to do is say, 'Song Hao is here!' and he immediately becomes obedient. Your needle really scared him," Luo Feiying said.
"Really!" Song Hao was quite surprised to hear this, and laughed, "It seems that I have also become a medicine for treating Li He! Everything can be a medicine, there is indeed truth to that."
“Song Hao, if Senior Brother Li He’s illness is really cured, I want him to stay and work at Tianyi Hall. I don’t want him to go back to his father’s place,” Luo Feiying said.
"If he's willing, let him stay. Our Heavenly Physician Hall welcomes him. Li He's acupuncture technique combines the strengths of the Luo family and the Dou family of the Golden Needle Sect, making him a prodigy in acupuncture. Although he has mastered the reverse needling technique to its extreme, developing a deadly needle that slowly takes a life, if we disregard the harm it causes, he has a unique understanding of acupuncture, but he hasn't used it in the right way. If he can dedicate himself to the proper path of acupuncture in the future, his cultivation will be limitless!" Song Hao said.
Luo Feiying laughed and said, "According to what you said, the Heavenly Medicine Hall will have three acupuncture musketeers in the future! That will be you, Wu Qiguang, and Li He!"
Song Hao laughed and said, "You're quite good at describing things. I hope that when that day comes, Tianyi Hall will have another master of acupuncture."
"By the way, Yingying, there's something I need to discuss with you," Song Hao said. "You know about the feud between Li He and the Dou family of the Golden Needle Sect. Even if Ji Dongyang cures his illness with his secret, incurable remedy, it won't resolve the knot in his heart. In the long run, he'll still suffer from depression. After all, he still possesses the dangerous technique of reverse needling. So I think we should find a way to resolve the feud between him and Aunt Dou, thus removing this knot in his heart and eliminating the incentive to use reverse needling to harm others, allowing this harmful needling technique to die out on its own."
Luo Feiying nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. To cure an illness, you must treat the root cause. If the root cause is not removed, there is a possibility of relapse. His fatal needle technique was learned under such a depressed mood, based on the reverse needle technique. Moreover, this matter must be resolved. In the future, if Li He stays in Tianyi Hall, he will not be able to work with the two disciples of the Golden Needle Sect, Kong Fei and Fu Zhongqi."
Song Hao said, "After he recovers, I will contact Aunt Dou Haiqin again and arrange for them to meet and let bygones be bygones. Li He didn't intend to betray the Golden Needle Sect back then; it was just that the unexpected turn of events caught him off guard. It also implicated me in the incident involving the acupuncture bronze man, which led to the establishment of the current Tianyi Hall. I suppose it was all fate!"
Luo Feiying sighed and said, "In that case, the feud between our Luo family and the Dou family will also be resolved. Kong Fei and Fu Zhongqi still haven't said a word to me. It's also something our Luo family owes the Golden Needle Sect."
"Oh, right, Song Hao," Luo Feiying added, "I ran into Lin Fengyi on my way here. He asked me to inform you that he and my grandfather are having a discussion about a new drug tomorrow afternoon, and he wants you to attend. They've selected another formula for treating stomach ailments from that book, 'Qi Fang Yan Chao,' called Bao Wei Qian Kun San. Clinical trials have shown it to be extremely effective, and they're preparing to apply for a production license and begin mass production."
"After several months of clinical trials, Grandpa and his team finally finalized the formula for Baowei Qiankun San and are ready to put it into production. Half of the dozen or so flagship products the pharmaceutical factory is now producing are based on ancestral secret formulas contributed by various renowned doctors, while the other half comes from that book, 'Qi Fang Yan Chao'. This book, 'Qi Fang Yan Chao,' has supported half of Tianyitang's pharmaceutical production! This is something I never imagined when I sought this book in the past. This is all thanks to my master and Ding Fengjie, the greatest itinerant doctor in history!" Song Hao said with emotion.
The book "Qi Fang Yan Chao" brought enormous profits to Tianyitang, and Song Hao never forgot Ding Fengjie, who had dedicated his life to the book. Although Ding Fengjie was no longer alive, Song Hao was still grateful to his nephew who had provided important clues in finding the book, and had a large sum of money sent to him as a reward.
Chapter Seventeen: The Art of Incantation
The three months of spring are called the time of germination, when heaven and earth give birth to new life and all things flourish. Go to bed late and rise early, take long walks in the courtyard, let your hair down and relax your body, so as to invigorate your spirit. Give life and do not kill, give and do not take away, reward and do not punish. This is the way to respond to the spring energy and the way to nourish life.
—From *The Treatise on Regulating the Spirit in Accordance with the Four Seasons* in the *Huangdi Neij
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That day, Song Hao, Tang Yu, and Luo Feiying arrived at the Hundred Herbs Garden in Wansongling again. This was the ninth day that Ji Dongyang had been using his secret, medicineless remedy to treat Li He, and the three of them came to see how it was going.
Li He had already moved from the iron gate that had confined him to another room. When Song Hao and the others came in, he was hunched over the table reading a book.
"Song Hao!" Upon seeing Song Hao, Li He quickly stood up, his face showing a complex expression.
"I heard you're almost fully recovered," Song Hao said with a friendly smile.
"Those calming medicines, though few in quantity, were ingeniously combined. After only three doses, one felt as if waking from a deep sleep! I wonder where you found this master of medicine?" Li He asked, bewildered. Clearly, he was unaware that he was receiving treatment with the "miracle cure without medicine," or even that the cure itself existed.
"You've come uninvited, and you've come to the Heavenly Medicine Hall with me, so you must have come specifically to treat you," Song Hao said with a smile.
"Song Hao, thank you for waking me from a nightmare!" Li He said gratefully.
"We're all very happy to see you recovered, so don't stand on ceremony with me. We hope you can forget everything in your dream and start anew," Song Hao said.
"I heard from my junior sister that you're willing to let me stay at Tianyi Hall. Thank you for saving me. I, Li He, am willing to do everything I can for Tianyi Hall," Li He said gratefully.
Song Hao smiled and said, "Your body has just recovered, so it would be best if you rested for a while."
"Senior brother, are you really fully recovered?" Luo Feiying asked, still harboring doubts.
"I drank the 'Heart-Clearing Soup' three times in nine days, and before I knew it, I felt completely refreshed. Strangely enough, the acupuncture I had previously applied to my body was also invisibly neutralized. It seems that there are indeed extraordinary people in the Heavenly Physician Hall who can neutralize our counter-needle techniques with both acupuncture and medicine," Li He said admiringly.
"Really? You really feel okay?" Luo Feiying asked in surprise.
"Yes, junior sister, I have recovered completely. Thank you for taking care of me these past few days," Li He said gratefully.
"Wow... is that Ji Dongyang really that amazing?" Luo Feiying exclaimed.
“This person’s medical skills are beyond our comprehension. I once asked him about the principles of his treatment, and he said it was simply ‘following the principles of Yin and Yang and conforming to the methods of numerology.’ It seems that this ‘great number’ that corresponds between heaven and man has become an invisible elixir in the world! The ‘Heart-Clearing Decoction’ is ostensibly a medicine, but in reality, it is simply a matter of selecting the right numbers,” Qiu Ru said.
"Well said! I didn't expect you to have this kind of insight!" Song Hao exclaimed.
"I'm just guessing! Because those few mild medicines wouldn't be enough to cure such a serious illness. Besides, when Ji Dongyang asked me to prepare the medicine, he had strict requirements on the quantity—not a single pill more or less. Hence this unexpected idea," Qiu Ru said with a smile.
"This Ji Dongyang is truly beyond my expectations!" Song Hao said excitedly. "It seems that this advanced medical skill is beyond our current comprehension. Confirming its existence is good enough; it can also dispel some of the mysteries surrounding how ancient people cured difficult diseases using non-forbidden incantations. The art of medicine is vast and profound; what we understand is perhaps only a drop in the ocean!"
“That’s right, there are indeed many things in this world that we don’t yet understand.” A voice sounded from behind.
When everyone turned around, it was Ji Dongyang.
"Hey! Why are you out here? Someone will find out." Luo Feiying said.
“I haven’t done anything shameful, so I’m not afraid of the light of day,” Ji Dongyang said.
Song Hao laughed and said, "Alright! Come out for some fresh air and relax, but don't go outside the Hundred Herbs Garden, otherwise it's beyond my reach."
“I know that,” Ji Dongyang said.
At this moment, everyone was filled with admiration for Ji Dongyang. The Ji family, a medical family, had finally made their miraculous prescription, which had no medicine, show its extraordinary effects.