The Brazen Mad Physician

Jiang Chen looked up at the princess who, according to rumor, was willful by nature but gifted:

Princess Ping'an.

Yuwen Chan.

Her delicate oval face was half veiled by tasseled locks, like a moon behind clouds. Her high coiffure swept up like flying eaves, and she carried a musk-like fragrance. Slender as bamboo, she had the lively air of a hare ready to spring.

In short, she was spirited and impulsive, the very picture of a spoiled princess.

Her considerable talent and Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivation lent her an otherworldly grace.

In beauty alone, Princess Ping'an was quite attractive. With her exquisite makeup and dazzling robes, she was a lovely sight within the palace.

But beside the looks and bearing of the Thousand-Faced Fox, Tian Mingye, or Li Lingzhou, whom Jiang Chen had met, she was in another league entirely.

Even the empress dowager, no longer young, had more to boast of in both looks and figure.

Jiang Chen had weathered plenty of storms. A pretty young girl was hardly going to overawe him.

He merely said calmly:

"My medical skills are limited to gynecology. Your Highness is young and not yet married, so I doubt you have any problems of that sort."

I'm young?

I'm older than you, pretty boy!

Yuwen Chan planted her hands on her slim waist and took a closer look at Jiang Chen. He really was only in his twenties, though he was rather handsome.

Who would have thought Grandmother, always so lofty and dignified as the mother of the realm, had a taste for this?

"Your skills are limited to gynecology? What is gynecology?"

Jiang Chen said:

"What people commonly call women's ailments."

At once, Yuwen Chan's expression changed. Feigning shock, she pointed at Jiang Chen, her face flushing red.

"You brazen quack! Are you saying that, as a man, you tend to my grandmother's... those sorts of matters?"

Jiang Chen nodded slightly and said with a straight face:

"Medicine is not as sordid as Your Highness imagines. Observation, listening, inquiry, and pulse-taking, acupuncture and massage—all serve to heal the sick. There is no distinction between men and women."

Of course, I usually went straight in!

Yuwen Chan was checked by his words and could not find a rebuttal. She decided to test his abilities another way.

"Hmph. Since you're so capable, my lower abdomen happens to have been aching since I got up today. Take a look."

By then, two maids had followed her in through the main gate. Hearing that the unmarried princess wanted a man to treat her for a woman's ailment, they went pale with fright and hurried to stop her.

"Your Highness, you're not yet married! You mustn't!"

Yuwen Chan crossed her arms over her chest and said without a care:

"Why not? I want to have myself checked before I marry, so my future consort won't misunderstand."

That was one way of putting it?

Jiang Chen was impressed. No matter how flimsy an excuse sounded, it somehow seemed reasonable coming from Princess Ping'an.

"You're trying to lure me into an impropriety so you can use it against me, aren't you?"

Yuwen Chan looked as though she had misheard. Pouting, she said disdainfully:

"Why would I bother targeting a mere quack in the Qi Refining realm?"

Jiang Chen was helpless. Fortunately, this was the empress dowager's domain, so he had little to fear from the princess's antics.

"Good. Sit down, then."

I have to sit down, too?

Displeasure crossed Princess Ping'an's face.

"Can't we go to that stone table?"

Jiang Chen could not be bothered to move, so he made something up on the spot:

"No. This is where the auspicious stars converge with the land's spiritual veins. It's the finest spot in Spirit-Calming Garden, and treatment works best here. We mustn't move."

Princess Ping'an knew he was talking nonsense, but she had no ready retort.

She sat cross-legged on the marble beside the pond and held out her right wrist with a disgruntled look.

Jiang Chen took her slender but by no means fragile wrist. He blended the Five-Element Spirit Control with his power of resonance and slowly sent it into her body, where it swiftly spread through her limbs and bones.

He had to admit that her talent for cultivation surpassed the empress dowager's by several measures.

Only in her thirties, she had already spent ten years in Foundation Establishment. Liu Ruyan, who had the same cultivation, was over a hundred.

Even so, Jiang Chen thought it fanciful of her to enter a palace power struggle with only Foundation Establishment cultivation.

She may be hiding her strength!

After all, Fireburn Kingdom's political struggle was no simple palace intrigue. It seemed to involve Dragon Bone as well.

This was the Ascending Dragon Continent. Dragon Bone was a treasure of the entire continent, bearing hundreds of thousands of years of history and countless secrets. Powerful figures of every stripe were bound to come investigate.

To be safe, Jiang Chen merely spread his power of resonance throughout the princess's body, inside and out. He did not probe any particular spot deeply.

Nor did he find any hidden strength.

Could the beast tamer be the key instead?

The princess had not lied about her lower abdominal pain. It simply was not a gynecological ailment, but a problem with her food.

"This isn't a gynecological problem. You just ate too many meat-filled rice balls this morning. The venison filling was tainted with demonic aura, which caused the pain. Find another imperial physician and have them prescribe a pill to clear the aura. That will cure it."

Princess Ping'an snatched back her hand, rose, and angrily berated him:

"How dare you, quack! You dare accuse me of colluding with the Demon Race?"

Yet she thought, He does have some skill. His Five-Element Spirit Control darted through my spiritual meridians without the slightest feeling of anything foreign. His spiritual sense was warm and gentle; it left my whole body tingling.

Jiang Chen said calmly:

"Who was it that said she wouldn't target me?"

The princess argued back:

"I allowed you to touch and examine me. That doesn't mean you can spout slander."

Then she called to the palace maids nearby:

"Someone, seize this quack! Grandmother can deal with him when she returns!"

The maids exchanged glances. Who would dare lay a hand on the empress dowager's physician? None said a word, and none dared step forward.

The princess had not counted on them anyway. Seizing an opening, she reached out herself and grabbed for Jiang Chen's shoulder.

Instead, Jiang Chen caught her in a counterhold, pinning both her arms. She struggled from side to side but could not break free.

"You brazen mad physician! How dare you lay hands on me!"

Only then did the princess realize how serious this was.

Her spiritual pressure abruptly surged and burst outward as she tried to break Jiang Chen's one-handed hold.

But Jiang Chen's power of resonance seeped through her limbs and bones, leaving her spiritual pressure nowhere to go.

Jiang Chen thought back to when he had been at Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Even in a chaotic fight, he could easily thrash a merchant at Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

Now he was at Qi Refining Ninth Layer and possessed Li Lingzhou's Pure Yang Sword Aura. After last night's fierce entanglement with the empress dowager, his measured combat strength was only slightly below Foundation Establishment Peak, and close combat made up the difference.

At this range, subduing Princess Ping'an, who was only at Foundation Establishment Early Stage, was almost effortless.

Wave after wave of resonance rolled from his palm through the princess's body, spreading and seeping deeper. It suppressed her spiritual pressure and set her whole body tingling, steadily eroding her will to resist.

For someone at Foundation Establishment to lose to a Qi Refining cultivator was humiliating enough. The princess was also pinned from behind by a man, unable to move.

"Who are you, really?"

Jiang Chen only said:

"Who I am doesn't matter. Trust the empress dowager's judgment and stop bothering me."

Seeing she could not beat him, Princess Ping'an resorted to tears and a deafening uproar:

"Let me go!"

"Help! Someone is molesting me!"

"Grandmother, come save Chan'er—"

Yet no matter how loudly or desperately she cried, her voice could not escape. It vibrated and swirled inside her mouth; even the maids beside her heard nothing.

Only then did Jiang Chen release her, saying simply:

"You should go back, Your Highness."

Princess Ping'an glared at Jiang Chen, her lovely face tight with anger. She was certain he had something to do with the disappearance of the two Merfolk Women.

"You're finished! Not even Grandmother can protect you!"

Just then, the empress dowager returned. She entered the garden with her hands behind her back, affection glinting in her stern eyes.

"Chan'er, who bullied you?"

Princess Ping'an turned and saw her grandmother. With a wail, she threw herself into the empress dowager's arms, pointed at Jiang Chen, and complained through her tears:

"Him! Grandmother's imperial physician.

He accused me of eating demon meat. When I tried to grab him, he used some kind of sorcery to catch me instead.

He even took the chance to molest me! If Grandmother hadn't come back so soon, Chan'er would have been done for at that quack's hands!"

Jiang Chen listened carefully. Apart from the accusation of molesting her, she had not gotten much wrong.

The entire Spirit-Calming Garden was under an illusion the empress dowager had laid down, so he was not afraid of the princess's false accusation.

He merely asked calmly:

"Oh? How would you have been done for? Why don't you tell us in detail, Your Highness?"

The princess cried even harder.

"Grandmother, look at him! He's bullying me again..."

The empress dowager glanced at Jiang Chen. Aside from his impudence, he had behaved properly.

"Don't be afraid, Chan'er.

Imperial Physician Jiang is an extraordinary wandering healer I found among the common folk. He can treat an affliction that has troubled me for years. A divine physician is bound to have a temper.

Those quacks have no temper, but they have no ability either.

Besides, Imperial Physician Jiang is merely unafraid of rank and power. He treats every patient equally.

If you want treatment, what's the harm in tolerating a little of his temperament?"

Princess Ping'an had not expected her grandmother to defend him so thoroughly. Clearly, he was far more than an imperial physician.

"Is he really that good?"

The empress dowager nodded.

"Of course."

Princess Ping'an released her grandmother and cast Jiang Chen a sidelong glance. She sensed something open and unclouded in his bearing.

"Fine. For Grandmother's sake, I'll spare him this time. I won't be so kind next time."