Treatment Plan

At those words, Hu Mang frowned instead.

As everyone knew, whenever there were two options, there was usually something wrong with the first.

Especially when it seemed like such a good option.

Sure enough, Doctor Qin Mo continued:

"It's just that the artificial meridians are a little expensive."

"How expensive is a little expensive?"

When a great Nascent Soul cultivator called something a little expensive, it was probably an astronomical price for a Qi Refining cultivator.

"A set of 'Foundation Establishment Realm' artificial meridians costs two million. If you have Heavenly Gate medical insurance, you can probably knock another third off that."

"..."

Hu Mang suddenly felt that his compensation for his workplace injury really was a little meager.

"But a set of 'Golden Core-grade' artificial meridians, which would let you cultivate all the way to the Golden Core Realm without any restrictions, costs fifty million."

"How much? Fifty million?!"

Hu Mang's eyebrows and eyeballs were almost tangled together.

"Mm, fifty million. And you'd have to place an order, because some of the top-grade medical materials have to be ordered from the Immortal Dynasty."

Hu Mang pressed his thumbs against his temples.

He had heard of the Immortal Dynasty while he was overseas.

He took a deep breath.

"Doctor, tell me about the next option."

Doctor Qin Mo nodded without concern.

"The second option is to use an artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower. Our inpatient department just received one, so I can submit an application for you."

"An artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower... isn't that used to temper Golden Cores?" Hu Mang asked, puzzled.

"Mm, ours is a custom-made medical version, which means its power can be adjusted. Little Sun can adjust the tower's voltage to a strength suitable for normal meridians, then use demon-subduing lightning power to drive the 'turbid Qi' out of your meridians bit by bit."

"The advantage is that, as long as you can endure the pain of the process, we can clear out most of the turbid Qi in your meridians."

"But this approach only treats the symptoms, not so much the root cause. In other words, it can clear the turbid Qi from your meridians, but it can't deal with the impurities deep inside your acupoints."

"Once your meridians are clean, your cultivation will most likely return to the Foundation Establishment Realm. That way, living your life and finding a job shouldn't be much of a problem."

Hu Mang remained wary.

"How much does this treatment plan cost?"

Doctor Qin Mo and the balding Little Sun exchanged a glance and both laughed.

"It won't be too expensive. We rarely use this Lightning Tribulation Tower ourselves, so it's just sitting there anyway."

"We'll charge you ten thousand per session. Conservatively speaking, in your case, it'll take at least seven sessions to clean out your meridians. Add in the medicinal pills, acupuncture, and examinations during the process, and the whole package should come to a little over a hundred thousand."

It wasn't exactly cheap.

But compared to fifty million for "Golden Core-grade meridians" and two million for "Foundation Establishment-grade meridians," it was practically the price of cabbage!

"I'll take option two," Hu Mang said without hesitation.

"Mm, I'll enter your information, then." Doctor Qin Mo put his reading glasses back on.

"You could visit a few other places too, but you'd most likely end up back at our Hundred Herbs Spirit Hall. We really are the only place in all of Zhongshan Holy Land that has a medical artificial Lightning Tribulation Tower-"

"Oh, right, do you want to stay in the hospital?"

Hu Mang asked in confusion:

"I don't have to stay?"

"Mm. Although we're using lightning power to drive the turbid Qi out of your meridians, we can't give you 'lightning tribulation treatment' for seven days straight. Your body and mind couldn't take it. Apart from being admitted for examinations on the night of each treatment, you can go home during the two or three days between treatments. Your home is here, right?"

"Mm, we moved here more than ten years ago."

"Then your family picked a pretty good time to move. Getting into Zhong Mountain isn't so easy now," Doctor Qin Mo remarked casually.

"Will you stay in the hospital?"

"No, I still have some things to take care of at home."

"Mm, go pay first, then go straight to the internal meridian medicine department. Little Sun will explain the rest of the process to you."

Hu Mang nodded, thanked him, and glanced at the balding Doctor Sun. Seeing that he had no intention of leaving yet, Hu Mang pushed open the door and went out.

After Hu Mang left, Doctor Sun glanced at Elder Qin and asked,

"Grandmaster, do we need to handle the Calamity Ash eruption?"

"What would we be handling an overseas eruption for? Just file a report," Qin Mo said casually.

"But it really doesn't look like a natural eruption. Interesting."

Doctor Sun was still a little puzzled. "Have we managed things so well here that those things have spread overseas?"

"Possibly. But it's also possible there's an undiscovered undersea Tribulation Oil field around Java. There are plenty of possibilities. Let the people responsible for investigating do their job; there's no need for us to speculate."

"All right, Grandmaster, I understand."

Meanwhile, Hu Mang had just finished queuing to pay when he suddenly received a call. Seeing the name on his Spirit Pivot No. 1's screen, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mom, you're getting on in years. Don't run away from home like some young girl. You had me worried, you know."

"Bullshit. Who do you think I was doing it all for? I was just in a bad mood and went downstairs for a walk. But as I walked, I suddenly realized there was a way to treat your condition!"

"So you're planning to use the Moon Fox Life-Bearing Instruction again, aren't you? Mom, didn't you tell me that using that Demon Race secret technique three times would mean certain death? Even if we Crimson Moon Foxes are a first-rank Aristocratic Clan of the New Heavenly Gate and first-class protected Demon Beasts of the Heavenly Gate, you'd still die."

"You're planning to trade your life for mine. You think I'd agree to that?"

"No, I wasn't thinking of trading my life for yours. My good son, I've got a new method-"

"I know what your new method is. A sacrifice, right? A demonic-path sacrificial technique that uses the Essence Blood of dozens or hundreds of people to replace the 'aftereffects of the demonic technique,' right?"

"Huh? How do you know everything?" Mama Hu asked in puzzlement from the other end of the phone.

"Obviously. Your son hasn't spent these years messing around for nothing. More importantly, Mom, your social circle is only so big. Wasn't that bunch with backgrounds like yours always playing with those unorthodox paths?"

"Nonsense. There are respectable people among the ones I deal with too, you know."

Hu Mang found an out-of-the-way pillar to lean against and looked around.

"Come on, Mom. I won't even get into the older generation, but among the younger ones, which respectable person didn't go take the college entrance exam?"

"Apart from your highly educated son, which one of that bunch even finished nine years of compulsory education?"

"Hehe, that's all thanks to me. Back in the Liang Dynasty, I loved studying too. You inherited my bloodline, so of course you love studying as well-"

"Ah, ptooey, ptooey! I almost let you lead me around by the nose. Don't you want your cultivation back, boy? Or are you so kindhearted you can't bear to see people die? Surely not. When you were still drinking formula, I carried you on my back while I went around digging up graves and devouring the vital essence of the dead. Did nine years of compulsory education really turn you into a great humanitarian?"

"Actually, I do have some ways around the requirement for a blood-food sacrifice, but I'd have to do a few things first-"

Hu Mang frowned and immediately interrupted her.

"Mom, before our whole family becomes a top-priority target on the Demon Suppression General Bureau's wanted list, serial killers in some major 404 case, could we try treating me with some safe, scientific methods first?"

"You're injured so badly. What other methods could there be?" Mama Hu asked in puzzlement.

"For example, how about we go to a major hospital, register for an appointment, and find a Nascent Soul doctor to examine me?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Why would a Nascent Soul mighty figure treat us?" Mama Hu instinctively retorted.

For most of Mama Hu's life, and in most of her experience, a Golden Core cultivator was already a big shot on the level of a "national preceptor."

Anything above that was already beyond imagining.

After all, across five dynasties and a thousand years, no one that formidable had ever appeared.

"Then why wouldn't he treat me?" Hu Mang countered. "Since when have I been so special that, when he's openly taking appointments, he'd treat everyone else but not me? Did I kill his whole family?"

"Oh, I suppose that's true," Mama Hu said blankly.

"Right? So how about we make your method option two for now? First, let's see how my option one works and whether the Nascent Soul doctor's skills are up to the job."

Hu Mang coaxed his mother, who had little education and was somewhat out of touch with society.

"What are you thinking? A Nascent Soul doctor's skills are bound to be the best," Mama Hu said, instinctively slipping into teaching mode.

"As for treating you... it might work."

"Then why don't you come back first? Where are you now? I'll come get you," Hu Mang said patiently.

"I'm on a barren mountain at the border of Jiangnan Province. More than ten years ago, I carried you all the way here like this."

Something about that sounded wrong to Hu Mang.

"Wait, Mom, you didn't take the expressway or a flying boat? You're running around in the wilderness entirely on your own two feet?"

"Now you're underestimating your mother. I watch legal affairs programs every day. These days, those blessed lands and expressways have so many surveillance Law Artifacts. If I fought my way back to our hometown like that, wouldn't they find me as soon as they checked? That's called knowing how to avoid being tracked."

"..."

Couldn't you spare your old arms and legs the trouble? Something could easily happen.

Does anyone sell grilled sausages on that mountain? What are you going to do for dinner tonight?!

Next, Hu Mang embarked on difficult negotiations with his mother, and in the end they reached a compromise.

He would undergo treatment at the Hundred Herbs Spirit Hall and keep her informed of its effects.

As for his mother, she still decided to go back to their hometown first and continue working on option two—but not by running around in the wilderness.

She would take a flying boat.

He still had to book his mother's ticket online.

But whatever the case, he had finally half-persuaded a potential killer great demon to put down her butcher's knife.

After hanging up, Hu Mang suddenly froze as he thought of something.

Good thing this treatment didn't require a family member's signature.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even have been able to get the procedure.

"Mom, with your habit of looking after your head while leaving your ass exposed, you were probably a silly, sweet innocent when you were young."

"Oh~ no wonder that guy surnamed Xie likes you. A silly, sweet little fox demon—you're the standard female lead in a sweet romance."