Actually, this wasn't the first time Liu Li had fainted. She was well aware of what was really happening to her.
"Liu Li, don't move! Wang Xu is treating you!" Luo Ming quickly raised his hand to stop her from sitting up.
Seeing that the Luo couple seemed relieved and calm, Liu Li also chose to trust Wang Xu's medical skills.
Wang Xu began stimulating key acupoints around her head—such as the jade pillow, fengchi, baihui, and taiyang points—gradually channeling the vital energy (jingqi) from his Laogong acupoint into her meridians to gather around the source of the illness.
Liu Li had fainted because the tumor in her brain was pressing on blood vessels, cutting off proper circulation. The purpose of the acupuncture was to stimulate the meridians, improve blood flow, and restore supply to the brain. However, for something as serious as a tumor, such treatments couldn't fully cure the disease in a short amount of time.
To truly shrink or even eliminate the tumor, Wang Xu would need to use the magical energy stored in his dantian.
But to outsiders, it just looked like he was performing regular acupuncture.
Not to mention the Luo couple, who had no medical knowledge—even top-tier medical experts wouldn't be able to see through Wang Xu's spiritual healing secrets.
Huh? What the—?!
As Wang Xu carefully guided a trickle of his spiritual energy through the silver needle into the tumor site, he was stunned to find that the "disease energy" swirling around Liu Li's brain was actually being drawn into his body through the needle!
And even more incredible—once this disease energy entered his body, it automatically transformed into initial spiritual essence and began gathering in the Zhongshan acupoint in his lower abdomen!
This… this is cultivation?!
It really works! Hahaha!
Wang Xu was utterly shocked. His eyes widened in disbelief.
He had never imagined that the cultivation power he had failed to unlock for over three years—and had even begun to doubt existed—would appear now, through treating Liu Li!
Wang Xu was so overjoyed his hands trembled.
If cultivation truly existed, then he would no longer need to ration the tiny amount of spiritual energy stored in his dantian so carefully.
His master, Zhao Tian, had once told him: if you can truly cultivate and discover the spiritual source within your dantian, then you will stand tall in the world—not just as a doctor, but as something far more powerful.
After three and a half years of searching and trying, he had finally reached this breakthrough. No one could understand the surge of emotion he felt at that moment.
If Liu Li's illness could be completely cured and the dense evil energy surrounding her tumor absorbed, Wang Xu's spiritual energy would multiply greatly.
Saving others to benefit yourself—only a fool would pass up such a deal!
Wang Xu now understood why he hadn't been able to cultivate while treating patients in prison—those were all minor ailments and chronic illnesses, with weak disease energy. The transformation process wasn't obvious, and he didn't notice it at all.
So going forward, Wang Xu resolved that he should prioritize treating serious, complex, and rare conditions. That way, he could accumulate more and more spiritual energy in his dantian.
With enough spiritual power... heh, he'd truly rise to greatness!
This realization made Wang Xu even more excited and filled with greater hope for the future.
He thought Liu Li was lucky to have encountered him, but in truth, she was also a lucky break for him.
Twenty minutes later, Wang Xu removed all the silver needles, concluding the treatment.
Liu Li's condition was too serious to be cured in just one or two sessions.
Also, the spiritual energy he had just absorbed was still raw and would need time to be refined within his dantian before it could be used.
But today's treatment had gone very well.
Wang Xu clearly felt the illness loosening its grip. Although he couldn't see the tumor like a CT scanner, he was certain that it had shrunk.
"Liu Li, how are you feeling? Any better?" Wang Xu asked with a smile as he packed up his needles.
"Yes, Liu Li, are you feeling better?" Luo Ming asked anxiously.
"Old Luo, I... I feel much better now. Thank you, Wang Xu," Liu Li said sincerely.
She felt incredibly light and clear-headed, unlike the fogginess she was used to. Though she didn't think of Wang Xu as a good person, she couldn't deny his medical skill.
After the acupuncture treatment, she felt her body significantly relaxed. Since being diagnosed with a brain tumor, this was the first time she had felt such relief.
For a fleeting moment, she even had hope—could this rogue doctor truly cure her terminal illness?
But then she recalled the way he had treated her the night before and found it hard to feel genuine gratitude toward him.
Wang Xu actually wanted Liu Li to move back into his home for easier treatment, but he was too embarrassed to say it outright.
"Achoo!"
"Liu Li, I'm going to the mountain to gather some herbs for healing and scar prevention. Otherwise, your chin will definitely scar. A scarred Venus goddess—what a pity."
After saying that, Wang Xu turned and left. His final sentence made Liu Li's face blush slightly.
That was clearly a backhanded compliment about her looks.
Wang Xu slung a medicine basket and a hoe over his shoulder and headed up the mountain.
He was very familiar with the medicinal herbs in the mountains. He could accurately name their properties, applications, and formulas. What used to seem like worthless weeds and wild shrubs now looked like life-saving treasures.
However, while there were many herbs in the wild, they were scattered, often of poor quality, and grew slowly.
Relying on foraging alone wouldn't work in the long term.
Especially because rare herbs like wild ginseng or he shou wu were extremely hard to find. Wang Xu planned to cultivate medicinal herbs himself—especially the rare ones, which would bring in more profit.
He dug up a few plants of sanqi (notoginseng), kudzu root, schisandra, and also some salvia and aloe vera, before heading back down the mountain.
The salvia and aloe were specifically chosen for their excellent properties in stopping bleeding, reducing bruising, and preventing scarring—for Liu Li's injury.
But as he walked down a narrow path near the foot of the mountain, a group of masked men suddenly surrounded him.
There were four of them, all strong and muscular, each holding weapons—steel pipes and iron rods.
These weren't lethal weapons, but they could cause serious internal damage even without drawing blood.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Wang Xu glared coldly, his voice filled with anger.
After five years in prison, he wasn't easily frightened. He had seen worse.
Besides, now that he had reached a higher level of cultivation, these four thugs were no threat—unless they were trained martial artists, which they clearly weren't.
But the four masked men didn't bother answering. They immediately rushed at him from all sides.
Wang Xu's movements were agile and precise, easily dodging their attacks. The thugs could barely lay a hand on him.
He quickly noticed that they weren't aiming to kill—most of their attacks were directed at his limbs, not his vital points.
That meant they were here just to teach him a lesson, not to take his life.
Thud!
Wang Xu seized an opening, dodged a strike, and delivered a powerful kick to the biggest thug's stomach.
The man flew back two to three meters and collapsed with a loud thump, clutching his belly and groaning in pain, curled up like a shrimp.
The other three froze momentarily. Their strongest man had just been sent flying by a single kick.
This guy wasn't ordinary. He was clearly trained!