Candidates took turns to be examined. Long Xiao and Zhou Sihai were last, so they started chatting to pass the time.
Zhou Sihai was from Pengcheng and came from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. His father was a renowned doctor in Pengcheng. After graduating from university, Zhou Sihai helped out at his father's clinic.
They chatted for a long time before it was Zhou Sihai's turn.
As he prepared to go on stage, Zhou Sihai asked, "Brother Long, which patient do you think I should choose?"
"That depends on your medical skills. Acupuncture is fast and shows immediate results. It's best if the symptoms disappear on the spot."
Zhou Sihai walked onto the stage. There were fourteen patients on stage. Six had mild conditions and were not chosen. Three were very seriously ill and no one dared to treat them. Another five had been treated by others without success.
Zhou Sihai looked at the seriously ill patients and sighed, then walked over to the six with milder conditions.
Finally, Zhou Sihai chose one of the five patients who had not been cured by others.
This was a middle-aged man suffering from severe tenosynovitis. He was groaning in pain as soon as he got on stage. The pain made him very irritable. The first person who tried to treat him failed and was almost punched in the face by the patient.
Zhou Sihai looked at the middle-aged man and said, "I will treat you, but you are not allowed to lay hands on me."
"All of you are incompetent doctors. What's the point of a medical competition? You should all go home and take care of your children, don't come out here and embarrass yourselves," the middle-aged man cursed as soon as Zhou Sihai approached him.
Zhou Sihai smiled, did not argue, and walked to the table to pick up a box of silver needles.
The middle-aged man, having already been pricked by more than a dozen needles without effect, started cursing again when he saw Zhou Sihai preparing to needle him.
Zhou Sihai looked at the middle-aged man and said, "I can cure your illness. The hospital can't. If you want to stop the pain, shut your damn mouth. Otherwise, I'll choose someone else and let you suffer."
The middle-aged man looked at Zhou Sihai in disbelief. His condition had persisted for days, and he had visited all the major hospitals in Donghai. The best result was a week of pain relief.
"Can you really cure me?" the middle-aged man asked.
Zhou Sihai nodded and said, "I can truly cure you, but you have to apologize to me afterward."
"If you can cure me, I'll kowtow to you," the middle-aged man declared.
Zhou Sihai's needling speed was incredibly fast. Before the examiners could even see clearly, he had inserted all the silver needles from the box into the middle-aged man.
"Nine Yang Divine Needles! You know the Nine Yang Divine Needles!" President Long, who was observing Zhou Sihai's treatment, exclaimed and strode towards him.
Zhou Sihai looked confused and asked in surprise, "What Nine Yang Divine Needles? I've never heard of them."
"Aren't your needling techniques the Nine Yang Divine Needles?" President Long inquired.
Zhou Sihai shook his head and said, "My needling techniques are the Nine Gates Divine Needles, a secret inherited from my Zhou family."
Although the Nine Gates Divine Needles could be considered a secret art, this particular technique had a lineage, and more than one family possessed it. The Nine Yang Divine Needles, however, had been lost for over a thousand years. Legend had it that the last practitioner of the Nine Yang Divine Needles died in Shaoyang Valley in Fenghuang Mountain.
For the past millennium, people had searched Fenghuang Mountain for the Nine Yang Divine Needles, but they not only failed to find them but couldn't even locate Shaoyang Valley.
"Impossible," President Long stated. "I am familiar with the Nine Gates Divine Needles as well, and your technique is vastly different."
Zhou Sihai smiled and said, "The Nine Gates Divine Needles passed down in our Zhou family are not the ordinary ones; they are the original version."
There were many legends surrounding the Nine Gates Divine Needles. Those who practiced it knew that it was divided into the common version and the original version, the latter of which no one had ever seen.
"Could I have made a mistake?" President Long mused.
Zhou Sihai nodded and said, "President Long, you have indeed mistaken."
After a few more words between them, the middle-aged man being treated by Zhou Sihai stopped groaning in pain.
Zhou Sihai looked at the middle-aged man, casually removed the silver needles from his body, and said, "Try moving it."
His fingers, which had been immobile, could now move, and there was no pain whatsoever when he moved them, as if he had never been ill.
"It's really cured! That's wonderful! It's truly healed!"
The middle-aged man cried out and immediately knelt before Zhou Sihai.
Zhou Sihai, without even looking at the middle-aged man, turned to leave. President Long called out, "Zhou Sihai, can you tell me who your father is?"
When Zhou Sihai spoke his father's name, President Long's face fell. He had never heard of the name. He knew all the famous Zhou family doctors in China, and this name was not among them.
Zhou Sihai got off the platform, smiled at Long Xiao, and said, "I've cured one. It's your turn."
Long Xiao nodded and stepped onto the platform. He scanned all the patients and walked towards the three who no one dared to treat.
These three patients sat in wheelchairs, their eyes closed, motionless.
Long Xiao reached out and grasped the wrist of one patient. After examining him, a smile appeared on his face. "This is the one."
"Are you sure you want to treat this one? Once chosen, you cannot change," Doctor Huang said to Long Xiao with a hint of schadenfreude.
Long Xiao nodded. "This one. Confirmed."
Long Xiao turned and surveyed the crowd. "Are the patient's family members here?"
An elderly couple came forward. The old woman asked doubtfully, "We are. Can you really cure my son?"
Long Xiao nodded and said, "It should be no problem, but you need to tell me how he ended up like this."
The elderly couple told Long Xiao that their son was a brave warrior who had jumped into the Yellow River in the dead of winter to save a drowning child. The child was saved, but their son was left in this state, unconscious for three years.
Long Xiao nodded and said, "His condition is easy to treat. A few acupuncture points will have him well quickly..."
"Young man, don't joke. We've been to all the major hospitals in China for the past three years without success. You think a few acupuncture points will cure him?" the old woman said, completely disbelieving Long Xiao.
Long Xiao smiled. "The reason it wasn't cured is because the treatment wasn't targeted. Once the correct treatment is applied, the illness will be eradicated."
Long Xiao took out a box of silver needles, opened it, grabbed a handful of needles with his right hand, and inserted them into the patient in the wheelchair.
No one had ever seen anyone insert a handful of needles into a person at once. By the time someone tried to intervene, it was too late. All the needles in Long Xiao's hand were in the patient.
This acupuncture technique was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, and everyone present was stunned by Long Xiao's actions.
Before anyone could react, Long Xiao took out a pill from his pocket, tapped the patient's chin, and casually put the pill into his mouth.
Acupuncture takes effect quickly, while pills take effect slowly. Long Xiao had not only refrained from using the 'Heavenly Star Divine Needles' but had even refrained from using life essence.
The acupuncture was merely a diversion; the pill placed in the mouth was the actual treatment.
A few minutes later, Long Xiao felt the pill should have taken effect, so he removed the handful of silver needles.
"You, what kind of needling technique is that?" President Long asked.
Long Xiao smiled and said, "This is a secret family technique of the Long family, and I cannot reveal it."
"I am also from the Long family, so please tell me," President Long, driven by curiosity, disregarded his status as president and asked again.
"President Long, I truly cannot tell you."
In reality, it wasn't that Long Xiao couldn't tell, but that he genuinely didn't know. Coming up with a name for this technique was not easy; if it was too common, people wouldn't believe it, and if it was too elegant, Long Xiao couldn't think of one.