Ao Tu went inside to examine the injury.
A man lay on the sickbed, his face weak and his body gaunt, with a thick quilt covering his lower half.
The man said, "Thank you for treating me, Master!"
Ao Tu said, "No need to stand on ceremony. Which leg is injured?"
The man pointed to his injured leg.
Ao Tu lifted the quilt to examine it. Many layers of old cloth were wrapped around it, and the stench of rot grew stronger.
Only after peeling away several layers of old cloth did he see the wound. A purplish-red swelling larger than a palm bulged behind the man's knee, covered with medicinal herbs. There was an opening in the swelling, which seemed to have been squeezed several times. The cloth was stained with pus and blood, and that was where the rotten stench came from.
Ao Tu could tell at a glance that the flesh and sinews inside had already rotted, leaving nothing but foul-smelling pus and blood. This was beyond the healing power of ordinary medicine. If it was delayed any longer and the rot reached the bone, the entire leg would be difficult to save.
The man said, "Master, how is it? Can my leg still be saved?"
Ao Tu said, "Does the wound hurt?"
The man said, "It hurt terribly at first, but now it doesn't hurt much. It just feels numb. Does that mean it's getting better?"
Ao Tu said, "It isn't getting better. The flesh and sinews inside have rotted away completely. All that remains is a mass of dead flesh, so naturally it no longer hurts."
The man turned deathly pale with fright and said in anguish, "Th-then doesn't that mean my leg is ruined... Master, I'm a stonemason. If my leg is ruined, how