Soul-Shifting Great Method

Scenting Beauty?

Lu Changfeng's mouth twitched. This reward seemed rather dubious.

Beside him, Cui Mingxuan stepped forward and pressed him. "Director of Medicine Lu, what is Military Advisor Yao's condition? Has pathogenic wind invaded his brain, or is it rising liver yang?"

They had already treated him for both, without the slightest effect.

If Lu Changfeng named either one, it would prove he was nothing special!

Everyone waited for his verdict, taking pleasure in his impending humiliation.

This fucking workplace...

Lu Changfeng breathed out and said calmly, "This condition is caused neither by pathogenic wind invading the brain nor by rising liver yang, but by displaced 'ear stones' inside the ear."

"Ear stones?"

Not only did Yao Yuansheng freeze, but Cui Mingxuan and the other medical officers behind him also exchanged bewildered looks. They had never heard the term before.

"Precisely."

Lu Changfeng's tone was firm. "Deep inside the human ear are tiny stones that govern balance. If they become displaced, their movement creates the sensation that heaven and earth are spinning. Medicines cannot cure this condition. A specific physical maneuver is needed to return them to their proper place."

"Absurd!"

Cui Mingxuan could not resist challenging him. "Stones inside the ear? I have never heard of such a thing! Director of Medicine Lu, do not spout nonsense and delay Military Advisor Yao's treatment!"

This man had to go!

Lu Changfeng could not be bothered with him. He turned to Yao Yuansheng, his gaze blazing, and said with absolute certainty, "I can treat it. Do you want treatment or not?"

The question was extremely rude, almost coercive.

Ordinarily, Yao Yuansheng would already have flown into a rage.

But at that moment, the dreadful vertigo was tormenting him until death seemed preferable to life. Suddenly confronted by Lu Changfeng's clear, piercing eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through everything, and that confidence beyond his years bordering on arrogance, the curses on his tongue caught in his throat.

This boy... his expression was far too commanding, far too certain of success. He was nothing like the medical officers behind him, who could only say they were helpless, their faces full of fear or evasions.

As though moved by some unseen force, Yao Yuansheng fought back the urge to vomit and forced a few words through clenched teeth. "Treat me! If you fail... I will..."

"Lie down!"

Lu Changfeng ignored his threat completely. He stepped forward and firmly took hold of Yao Yuansheng's head and shoulders.

Under gazes filled with suspicion, disdain, or anticipation of a spectacle, Lu Changfeng moved swiftly and precisely. He quickly turned Yao Yuansheng's head toward the affected side, then laid him on his back with his head hanging over the edge of the bed at a specific angle.

"Aaargh-"

Violent vertigo struck instantly. Yao Yuansheng could not hold back a scream, his stomach churning like storm-tossed seas.

"Bear with it!"

Lu Changfeng's low command carried a strange, soothing power. His hands remained steady as iron clamps, holding Yao Yuansheng's head in place as he tried to struggle.

Then, following the essential principles of the ear stone repositioning maneuver, Lu Changfeng guided Yao Yuansheng's head and body rapidly through several key positions, his movements flowing like drifting clouds and running water.

Every angle had been precisely calculated to use gravity to roll those mischievous "ear stones" along the semicircular canal and back where they belonged.

The entire process took only a few dozen breaths.

Once the sequence was complete, Lu Changfeng slowly helped the deathly pale, still-shaken Yao Yuansheng sit up.

Yao Yuansheng kept his eyes tightly shut, every muscle tense, waiting for that familiar, world-shattering vertigo to swallow him again.

Yet... the expected agony never came.

With extreme caution, he tried turning his neck very slowly-a movement that would once have made him wish for death. Now, all he felt was a slight aching tightness.

The spinning heavens and earth that had plagued him for over a month, making life worse than death, had actually... vanished?!

His eyes flew open. He stared at Lu Changfeng in disbelief, his voice trembling violently with excitement. "...C-cured? I really... really don't feel dizzy anymore?!"

[Successfully treated Yao Yuansheng. Reward issued: Scenting Beauty.]

"The ear stones are largely back in place."

Lu Changfeng calmly took a cloth to wipe his hands and instructed him, "Rest quietly today, and move your head slowly. I will return at this time tomorrow to examine you again and ensure a complete recovery."

Dead silence filled the duty room!

Cui Mingxuan and the others gaped at Military Advisor Yao, who looked as though he had been granted a new life, then at the utterly unruffled Lu Changfeng. Their faces burned as though an invisible hand had delivered a vicious slap.

Had they not known the circumstances, they would have thought Lu Changfeng had hired Military Advisor Yao to put on an act!

A stubborn illness they had failed to cure with every prescription and acupuncture treatment for over a month had been resolved in moments by this boy's seemingly childish set of "maneuvers"?!

This lay entirely beyond their understanding.

Qing Dai could not help smiling. Even Medical Superintendent Shen Jingwan, who had remained silent throughout, finally showed a faint flicker in her eyes, though her face had been as still as an ancient well. She gave Lu Changfeng a long look, as though reassessing this newly appointed young Director of Medicine.

Yao Yuansheng was so overwhelmed that he nearly wept. He gripped Lu Changfeng's hand and babbled, "A divine physician! Director of Medicine Lu truly is a divine physician! I... I offended you earlier. These damned eyes of mine were blind! Please forgive me! Please!"

He immediately began pulling out money.

Lu Changfeng accepted without ceremony. In his previous life, anyone who caused trouble over medical treatment could forget about ever receiving care from him again. But now he was living under someone else's roof. He could let the insults slide, but he would certainly take the money-as compensation for emotional distress.

He gave Qing Dai a look, and she accepted the gold ingot.

Yao Yuansheng left with a thousand expressions of gratitude.

Lu Changfeng looked at his subordinates again. This time, most of the scrutiny, suspicion, and contempt had vanished from their eyes, replaced by shock, confusion, and a lingering trace of awe.

Lu Changfeng looked in turn at the three who had made the biggest fuss.

Medical Assistant Cui Mingxuan, Apothecary Zhou Wenqian, and Medical Officer Qian Weiyu-these three were most likely not Taiping's people. They belonged either to Wu Youji or to Empress Wei and Wu Sansi.

The reigning emperor, Li Xian, was an idiot whom Wu Zetian had frightened senseless. He judged whether someone was good or bad by a single criterion: whether they treated his wife, Empress Wei, well. Make his wife happy, and he would grant promotions and noble titles; fail to make her happy, and he would find every way to punish them.

Thus, even when his wife openly committed adultery with Wu Sansi, he pretended not to see it. After all, it made her happy. Those who reported their affair, however, were either exiled or killed!

With such a fucking moron on the throne, even Taiping, his own younger sister, could not openly oppose Empress Wei. If the Princess's Residence were truly sealed so tight that not a drop of water could get in, who knew what whispers Empress Wei might pour into his ear!

Lu Changfeng knew a little about this, so he could understand why the place was currently full of leaks.

Taiping's indiscriminate killing of medical officers probably also served as an opportunity to eliminate spies.

But...

Whatever her intentions, now that he had taken charge of the Spirit Pivot Institute, these rat droppings had to be cleared out! Otherwise, if something went wrong while medicine was being brewed—if someone tampered with it—even he, the Director of Medicine, would be unable to escape blame!

The conventional approach would be to win over one faction, suppress another, and gradually replace them, but that was too slow and far too inefficient.

"Good thing this is a martial arts world. It saves me plenty of trouble..."

With a thought, Lu Changfeng secretly circulated his true qi!

"Whose idea was this little performance?"

Lu Changfeng's icy gaze locked directly onto Cui Mingxuan. His voice was quiet, yet carried a strange power that pierced straight into the heart.

As he asked the question, he secretly activated the Soul-Shifting Great Method from the Nine Yin Manual. Combining nine yin true qi with his gaze and tone, he drove an invisible awl straight into Cui Mingxuan's mind, its defenses already shattered by shock!

Cui Mingxuan was still reeling from Lu Changfeng's miraculous display and burning with the shame of his own humiliation. His mind was in turmoil. Struck by that mind-subduing gaze and those words, he felt slightly dizzy as an irresistible impulse flooded his thoughts, compelling him to tell the truth.

A flicker of resistance crossed his face, but his mouth opened against his will. He murmured, "It... it was Qian Weiyu who suggested it first. He said... said we should use Military Advisor Yao to test your mettle... Apothecary Zhou also... also agreed..."

At those words, Zhou Wenqian's and Qian Weiyu's expressions changed drastically!

They stared at Cui Mingxuan in horror, then whipped their eyes toward Lu Changfeng, their gazes filled with incredulous fear.

How could Cui Mingxuan have spilled such secrets so easily, as though possessed?!

What sorcery... had this Lu Changfeng used?!

It was not just them. The pupils of every medical officer and clerk in the hall, including Shen Jingwan, who had been watching with cool detachment, contracted sharply!

They had seen it clearly. Lu Changfeng had used neither torture nor leading words. A single, seemingly ordinary question had made the normally reserved and proud Cui Mingxuan reveal the truth like a puppet on strings!

This chilled them far more deeply than the "wondrous technique" he had used to cure the Otolithiasis!

That, at least, still belonged to the realm of medicine. What they had just witnessed touched upon a realm unfathomable even to ghosts and gods-the manipulation of human minds!

Eerie! Terrifying!

The shock and awe in everyone's eyes as they looked at Lu Changfeng were instantly veiled by profound fear.

Not only did this boy possess divine medical skill, but he also wielded such bizarre, inscrutable arts. Before him, it seemed impossible to conceal even the most secret thoughts buried in their hearts!

Qing Dai held her breath slightly as well. Although she knew Lu Changfeng was no ordinary man, she had never expected him to possess such methods. Was this a yin-yang art?

For the first time, a distinctly grave expression appeared on Shen Jingwan's previously unruffled face.

Lu Changfeng took in everyone's reactions and sneered inwardly.

This was exactly the effect he wanted. Amid struggles for power, making people fear you was sometimes more effective than earning their respect!

He stopped looking at Cui Mingxuan, who stood dazed and distraught, still unable to understand why he had spoken the truth. Turning his gaze to the ashen-faced Zhou Wenqian and Qian Weiyu, he spoke in the same even voice, now laden with an invisible pressure. "Now we can have a proper conversation about who, exactly, you are working for."