Doctors at Ghost Hand Apothecary could wield knives-how could the doctors of Jiang Zhongtang dare show weakness? A brawl erupted!

A doctor from Ghost Hand Apothecary had drawn his knife. How could the doctors of Jiang Zhongtang dare appear weak?

The doctor at the front not only drew his knife, but pointed at the man on the stretcher and said, "Everyone, watch closely. Who doesn't know how to use a knife?"

"This test subject Ghost Hand Apothecary refused to treat—we of Jiang Zhongtang will treat him with a knife!"

As he spoke, he pulled down the man's trousers right before the crowd and sliced his buttock with a small knife, truly opening everyone's eyes.

After that, two white threads danced through his hands, leaving the onlookers dazzled.

It had to be said, no one knew how effective the treatment was, but this Jiangzhong Sect doctor's technique was quite good.

The crowd could not help discussing it. Some people, perhaps planted shills, repeatedly praised Jiang Zhongtang as the true healers with compassionate hearts.

The doctors of Ghost Hand Apothecary immediately took offense. "You Jiangzhong Sect bastards, acting like good people! When you abduct children everywhere to use as medicine subjects, did you ever think about their hardship?"

"We at Ghost Hand Apothecary test medicine openly and put a clear price on it. At the very least, we don't steal and abduct other people's children!"

Upon hearing the people of Ghost Hand Apothecary speak like that, the people of Jiang Zhongtang looked as if their sore spot had been jabbed. They roared, "Bullshit! You can eat food however you please, but you can't talk nonsense! Who the hell would believe Ghost Hand's words?"

"You want to use knives? Who's afraid of who?"

At once, both sides were fired up.

Each side sent out a doctor, and they approached one another with knives in hand.

They stood within the ring of spectators, as though they had stepped onto an arena.

Swish, swish, swish, swish!

The instant they drew close, blade-light flashed everywhere.

Both held small knives—the sort of small knives used to cut buttocks—and their attacks were incredibly swift.

In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged more than a dozen moves.

When weapons met, longer always meant stronger by an inch, while shorter meant more dangerous by an inch.

These two doctors had brought out every peril of close-quarters weapons.

Those tiny knives pointed at each other's eyes one moment, each other's assholes the next, then at a certain "eye" in each other's crotches.

Their knives were fast, and their footwork was fast as well.

By now, the clothes of both knife-wielders fluttered wildly, as if they were dancing gracefully.

From afar, refined people would say they resembled two interwoven butterflies, while ordinary people would say they looked like two giant moths flapping about.

Watching the knife techniques of the Jiangzhong Sect and Ghost Hand Apothecary doctors, Gu Qingfeng realized he had still underestimated the doctors here.

They could truly heal and fight!

At this point, even the people dressed as medicine boys on both sides drew small knives. It seemed even medicine boys knew knife techniques.

But the longer Gu Qingfeng watched, the more wrong it felt.

The two sides seemed to be fighting with murderous fervor, as though they wished to kill one another. Blades flew everywhere, their bodies weaving and shifting—yet until now, neither side had even hurt a single hair.

"Stopping at the proper point?"

The more Gu Qingfeng watched, the more he felt that was the flavor of it.

If they kept playing around like this, let alone stabbing someone to death, even a street dance contest with people standing closer together would be more dangerous than they were.

By then, the two sides seemed to have had enough fun.

After the small knives clashed and sparked, they separated.

"You fucking wait. Sooner or later, I'll make it impossible for your Jiangzhong Sect to keep operating here."

"You think our Jiangzhong Sect was raised on fear? Believe it or not, one day I'll slaughter your entire apothecary household and turn all of Ghost Hand Apothecary into ghosts!"

"Come on!"

"Who's afraid of who!"

Their mouths remained vicious, and they looked ready to start hacking at each other any second. Yet as they cursed, they actually took their people and dispersed.

Gu Qingfeng and some of the spectators could not help cursing as well.

They had finally gotten the chance to watch some excitement. They thought real blades would draw real blood, yet they did not even see a drop.

This was merely a minor interlude between two jianghu factions.

After the Ghost Hand Apothecary doctor returned, he continued cursing, saying that if they dared come looking for trouble again, he would slaughter Jiang Zhongtang's whole household.

Gu Qingfeng returned to his room and put on an extremely excited appearance.

After taking the Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pill, murderous aura had formed inside him, but his liver was perfectly fine.

If he wanted to pretend his liver was damaged, he could only imitate the reactions of the smoke ghost Huang Qu and that skinny husband.

Gu Qingfeng did not know that the husband who had hurried off to work as a laborer had already lovingly "reunited" with his wife.

He would never be able to return and serve as Gu Qingfeng's model again.

After Yellow Smoke Ghost took his medicine yesterday, he had left soon afterward and appeared to be fine.

But today, Yellow Smoke Ghost had been curled up on the communal sleeping platform the whole time, looking somewhat pained.

That appearance was, in fact, liver pain.

Gu Qingfeng's liver did not hurt. His liver was in excellent shape; indeed, as the murderous aura appeared, it only grew better and better.

But in order to continue probing deeper, until he directly brought down this apothecary, he imitated the other man and performed "liver pain."

When he began hurting, the smoke ghost Huang Qu was instead astonished.

Just now, Gu Qingfeng's reaction had followed the same pattern as that skinny man's. He had even nearly slapped the madam into tears again because of it.

Huang Qu had thought Gu Qingfeng was finished, because that was a sign the medicinal effect could no longer be controlled.

But how had this guy changed to the same pattern as him after taking a piss?

If he was following Huang Qu's pattern, then he definitely would not be finished.

How could this guy's constitution be bad one moment and good the next?

At this moment, someone cared even more about Gu Qingfeng's condition than Huang Qu did.

That woman in purple.

Whether Gu Qingfeng lived or died concerned whether she herself would suffer along with him.

It was clear that Sun Sheng, her husband, had wanted the man dead last night. If there was any uncertainty about whether the man lived or died, then there was uncertainty on her end as well.

There was a saying: "Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger." The one she served was a fat man who called himself a healer with compassionate heart, yet he was even more terrifying than a tiger.

But when she asked about Gu Qingfeng's condition, she was visibly stunned.

Her reaction was very similar to Huang Qu's.

When he had fiercely slapped her earlier, she thought his state closely resembled Wang Ping's—overexcited and unable to restrain himself. This was clearly emotional loss of control caused by the liver dissolving into murderous aura.

Yet he had now calmed down, like Yellow Smoke Ghost. His liver was simply injured, not yet at the point of dissolving away.

"What's going on?"

"Brother, can't you just die?"

In truth, Gu Qingfeng's current performance showed that what she had said last night was correct.

This countryman's constitution really was somewhat extraordinary.

But now, what she feared most was being right.

Because if she was right, it meant Sun Sheng was wrong.

And in all of Ghosthand's Eighteenth Apothecary, there was only one person who could always be right.

That was Sun Sheng!

So even being right made her wrong, and she would likely suffer for it.

Before long, Sun Sheng returned.

He did not take the conflict between the apothecary and the Jiangzhong Sect seriously at all.

Right now, he was savoring the wondrous sensation of Liver-Killing Aura.

Such a trivial matter was not worth mentioning.

He was even reflecting on the fact that his Liver-Severing Qi-Killing Pill was not good enough.

Judging from Wang Fan's performance, a person's emotions affected the quality of the murderous aura.

He ought to add several more medicinal ingredients to the pill. If he could make those who took it more excited, more exhilarated, and feel more wonderful, then the Liver-Killing Aura would certainly be more delicious.

It was like certain livestock: if they lived relatively pampered lives, they tasted better than ordinary members of their kind.

He quickly summoned his wife and asked about the conditions of his two "main dishes."

When he learned that Gu Qingfeng was about the same as the smoke ghost Huang Qu and had not yet "matured," Sun Sheng was somewhat surprised as well.

According to his wife's description, this countryman had practically bounced back and forth between "mature" and "immature" for a while.

Perhaps absorbing the Liver-Killing Aura had left him greatly satisfied, or perhaps he had been influenced by Wang Ping's turtle-like cowardice, but this time Sun Sheng actually did not make things difficult for his wife. He merely ordered, "Good food isn't afraid of being played with. Three pills tomorrow—step it up."

The woman in purple hesitated briefly. "Will they agree to do it?"

Sun Sheng said with a serious expression, "At worst, double the price. These poor ghosts always have a price. Our apothecary absolutely does not force people into anything, lest we damage our reputation."

"I believe you can accomplish it, Madam."

The woman in purple nodded, her gaze resolute.