Tang Hao's Three Bows and Nine Kowtows: Humiliation upon Humiliation

When she learned she was ill yet again.

Bibi Dong looked miserable. She stood there in a daze for a long while before grumbling in exasperation.

"Why am I sick every single day?"

Cao Mengde, standing beside her, nearly laughed at that.

"Your Holiness, how are you sick every single day?"

"Adding up all your illnesses, you've only been sick three or four times."

As far as Bibi Dong was concerned, ever since she met Cao Mengde.

Whenever she felt unwell, she wasn't worried. After all, she had a divine physician like Cao Mengde around.

What worried her was the treatment.

Thinking back.

Because the affected spots had been so sensitive each time.

Cao Mengde had often ended up touching sensitive parts of her body.

When treating illness and saving lives, she really shouldn't let her thoughts run wild, but she had heard this course of treatment would take a whole year.

"Cao Mengde, are you trying to avoid marrying Nana and spreading these lies to deceive me again?"

A whole year of having her spider forest touched and stroked.

Bibi Dong simply couldn't accept it.

She thought it over and over, and found a reason that convinced her.

But Cao Mengde merely smiled.

"Your Holiness, what do you think?"

Bibi Dong fell silent.

After all this time.

She knew Cao Mengde's character inside and out.

He would never talk nonsense off the top of his head.

With no other choice.

Bibi Dong frowned and looked at Cao Mengde with utmost seriousness.

"Mengde, examine me again. What if you made a mistake?"

Seeing that Bibi Dong refused to believe it.

Cao Mengde pointed at the desk with a show of formality, intending to make her give up hope.

"Hold out your hand. I'll check your pulse."

As soon as he spoke.

Bibi Dong eagerly held out her hand.

In her heart, she prayed with all she had that Cao Mengde had been mistaken this time.

He had to be.

As the saying went.

If you often walked by the river, how could you avoid getting your shoes wet?

The ones who drowned were all people who knew how to swim.

Cao Mengde had practiced medicine for years. Surely there were times when he got muddled?

She hoped he'd been muddled this time and made a mistake.

But to her utter surprise.

Cao Mengde only lightly felt Bibi Dong's pulse before withdrawing his hand.

"That's right."

"Frequent urination, incomplete urination, and blood in your urine."

Heavens!

The diagnosis was like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, exploding over Bibi Dong's head.

The noble bearing on her face vanished in an instant, replaced by fear and unease.

"If you don't believe me, Your Holiness, you can check for yourself the next time you need to relieve yourself."

"Oh, and don't drink my water here."

"That way you can't say I drugged you and deliberately tried to harm you."

"Besides, this strange illness is a lingering consequence of your arduous cultivation. Across the entire Douluo Continent, only I, Cao Mengde, can treat it."

Cao Mengde reminded her, putting on the air of a good Samaritan.

He left Bibi Dong no reason to doubt him.

To be honest.

Bibi Dong really did want to check whether what Cao Mengde said was true.

Unfortunately, she didn't need to go right now.

There was no point returning to Spirit Hall. She believed Cao Mengde completely, and he had said only he could treat it. Looking for another Healing System Soul Master would only waste time.

She might as well wait here.

Once she needed to relieve herself, she would check.

Just then.

A clamor arose outside the door.

"Wow..."

"Isn't that His Excellency Haotian? Why is he kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times? What great Buddha is he going to worship?"

"I heard Tang Hao offended Lord Mengde. To get his son treated, he's knelt all the way from the north of the city to Rejuvenation Hall, hoping Lord Mengde will forgive him and treat his son."

"I see. Still, he deserves it."

"How does that saying go? If he'd known it would come to this, why did he do it in the first place?"

Indeed.

To have Tang San's backache treated.

Tang Hao had gone all out this time.

There he was on the streets of Spirit City, kneeling and kowtowing every three steps.

He was also muttering under his breath.

"I, Tang Hao, apologize to Lord Mengde."

He repeated the movements without interruption, all the way from the north of the city to Rejuvenation Hall.

On the surface, everything seemed normal.

In truth.

Tang Hao's heart was ablaze with towering rage.

Whenever he uttered that apology to Lord Mengde.

Immediately afterward.

He cursed inwardly.

Damn you, Cao Mengde. You've humiliated me, Tang Hao, like this. I'll remember this humiliation.

If I ever get the chance.

I'll pay you back a hundredfold, a thousandfold, ten thousandfold.

Even.

He shifted his hatred for Spirit Hall down a place in his heart, putting his enemy Cao Mengde first.

Hearing the clamor outside.

Bibi Dong went to the door and looked out.

She saw Tang Hao making his way over with three bows and nine kowtows, but she didn't feel the slightest sympathy.

Instead, she turned to Cao Mengde.

"Are you going to treat Tang San?"

Bibi Dong had only asked casually.

The Soul Master Tournament was over, anyway.

She no longer regarded Tang San as a potential threat.

Cao Mengde nodded.

"I keep my word."

"Since I made three bows and nine kowtows my condition for Tang Hao, and he's done it, I'll treat Tang San."

"But Tang San has Twin Martial Souls and trains twice as hard as usual. He has too many ailments. Even if I cure his backache, something else will go wrong with his body in a few days."

"Tang San is just like his father, Tang Hao. He's always showing off, and I don't like him."

"If he falls ill again, whether I treat him will depend on my mood."

After hearing Cao Mengde's words.

Bibi Dong gradually became aware of a problem.

She couldn't help asking curiously.

"You said my illness was also caused by excessive cultivation."

"Nothing this strange has ever happened in the Soul Master World, has it?"

In other words.

Soul Masters could only improve their strength through diligent cultivation.

From Cao Mengde's perspective, had diligent cultivation become a problem instead?

At that.

Cao Mengde rolled his eyes at Bibi Dong in annoyance.

"Your Holiness, have you forgotten the words 'balance work and rest'?"

"Those aren't just empty words. They must be put into practice. If Soul Masters focus solely on cultivation and don't know how to relax, it'll only have the opposite effect, and their bodies will eventually develop problems."

Bibi Dong's doubts soon vanished.

She knew nothing about the body or illness.

How could she dare boast in front of an expert like Cao Mengde?

At that moment.

Tang Hao finished his final bow and appeared at the entrance to Rejuvenation Hall.

"Dad..."

Tang San had come too.

He had been lying on a stretcher the whole time.

Watching Tang Hao humble himself and lose his dignity, he was furious.

Cao Mengde.

You overbearing beast.

If not for Cao Mengde, how would his father have suffered this humiliation in the street?

Tang Hao ignored Tang San.

After all, he had already gone through with it. He raised his head and looked straight at the entrance to Rejuvenation Hall.

"Lord Mengde, I, Tang Hao, had eyes but failed to see and offended you. I hope you'll be magnanimous and treat my son."

Before long.

Cao Mengde appeared at the entrance to Rejuvenation Hall.

He wasn't in a hurry to treat Tang San.

Tang Hao had knelt and bowed in the street. He must have felt deeply humiliated and must be very angry, right?

Then he might as well make him angrier.

"Say... Haozi."