Top Soldier Pursued by a Beauty

As Su Yurou spoke, she leaned involuntarily toward Zhao Dong, her face filled with fear. "We suddenly heard a scream from inside the manor!"

"A scream?" Zhao Dong's brow furrowed. "What kind of scream?"

"It sounded like… like the desperate wail of a woman, but also like a child crying. In short, it was terrifyingly bizarre!"

"And then?" Zhao Dong pressed.

Su Yurou, still shaken, said, "Then my father fainted. He's been unconscious ever since. No matter how many doctors we've brought in, they all say there's nothing they can do." Her eyes welled with tears as she continued, "The doctors say my father doesn't have much time left. He might… he might die today…"

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Zhao Dong immediately went upstairs with Su Yurou.

When Zhang Fang saw Zhao Dong again, it was as if she were seeing a deity. She grabbed his hand and wept uncontrollably.

"Mr. Zhao, I beg you, you must save my husband! He is the pillar of our Su Family, my beloved husband, and Yurou's biological father… you have to save him!"

"Don't worry," Zhao Dong reassured her. "Since I'm here, I won't stand by and watch him die." With that, he stepped into the bedroom.

Inside, Su Tian lay on the bed, his skin pitch-black and his eye sockets gaunt. He looked like a thousand-year-old zombie, a truly horrifying sight. He showed none of the robustness from when they had first met yesterday.

"He's been possessed!" Zhao Dong declared.

The Su family members were shocked.

"Is it… because of that scream last night?" Su Yurou asked, trembling.

"That should be the reason," Zhao Dong nodded slightly.

Hearing this, Su Yurou and Zhang Fang were overcome with regret.

"It's all my fault! If only I had convinced my husband to believe Mr. Zhao sooner, this never would have happened!" Zhang Fang lamented, thumping her chest in self-reproach.

Seeing this, Su Yurou quickly comforted her. "Mother, don't blame yourself. I'm responsible too. But assigning blame isn't important right now. We have to save Father first."

"Yes… save my husband. We have to save him…" With tears in her eyes, she looked at Zhao Dong and asked, "Mr. Zhao, my husband… is there any hope for him?"

"It's hard to say for sure without finding the source of the problem," Zhao Dong replied honestly before walking out toward the manor grounds.

He first went to the vicinity of the locust tree.

"Mr. Zhao, is the locust tree the problem?" Su Yurou asked anxiously.

Zhao Dong shook his head. "This tree is a problem, but it's just a catalyst. The root of the issue isn't here." He then turned and walked back toward the villa.

The Su family didn't understand what he was doing but didn't dare to question him. They could only follow anxiously behind.

"The villa is fine," Zhao Dong sighed, his gaze shifting elsewhere. In an ordinary place, finding a source of Yin energy wouldn't be difficult. But because of the locust tree, the entire manor was shrouded in it, making this like trying to find a single black grain of sand on a beach. It was no easy task.

An hour later, Zhao Dong stopped beside a rockery on the manor grounds.

"Found it!" He walked up to the rockery and stomped on the ground. The earth around his foot instantly cracked and burst apart. Once the dust settled, it revealed a black talisman that emitted a foul, rank odor.

He picked it up. On the black paper, the character for "death" was written in large, red cinnabar, looking incredibly terrifying and bizarre. A faint, baleful Spiritual Energy coiled around it. Zhao Dong's pupils instantly shrank as he murmured, "The work of a Cultivator!?"

A Cultivator is different from a regular cultivator; they are extremely rare. Zhao Dong had barely met any Cultivators himself, yet the Su Family had managed to offend one?

When the Su family members saw Zhao Dong pull something from the ground, they all gasped, a new sense of reverence appearing in their eyes as they looked at him.

"Mr. Zhao is truly capable!" Su Yurou exclaimed sincerely.

Zhao Dong's brow was deeply furrowed. "This is a Yin talisman. It's not something an ordinary person could create. Who exactly has your Su Family offended?"

At this, the Su family members all shook their heads.

Su Yurou replied bitterly, "My father manages almost all of our family's business. Only he would know who we might have offended. Is this Yin talisman very powerful?"

"This thing is an object of great evil," Zhao Dong said gravely. "It absorbs the surrounding Yin energy, causing it to coil around the Su Family manor and never disperse. Yin energy is inherently harmful to humans, and such a dense concentration is a favorite of ghostly beings. So, while the living view this as a dreadful place to be avoided, for ghosts, it's a land of great nourishment!"

"Then why was only my father afflicted?" Su Yurou asked.

Zhao Dong replied, "Because of that locust tree. The tree itself possesses a thick Yin energy. Your father is fond of it and must have tended to it often, which led to him being contaminated. With that double dose, it was only natural for him to be the first one affected. However, if these two things aren't removed, all of you will eventually have problems as well."

HISS!

Everyone gasped and hastily took several steps back. They stared at the Yin talisman in Zhao Dong's hand, their eyes filled with dread.

Gathering Spiritual Energy in his hand, Zhao Dong crumpled the Yin talisman to dust.

At that moment, Su Yurou grabbed his arm and pleaded, "Mr. Zhao, since you could find the Yin talisman, you must have a way to save my father, right? Please, you have to save him! If you can bring him back, everything I said before still stands!"

Zhao Dong looked at her and sighed softly. "Rest assured. Since I came, I won't stand by and let him die. Your father's condition is complicated now, but not hopeless."

Everyone returned to the bedroom. Zhang Fang immediately ordered people to go and uproot the locust tree, while Zhao Dong took out a set of silver needles and entered the room.

The silver needles pierced the skin, swiftly locking Su Tian's major acupoints to prevent any more Yin energy from seeping in. At the same time, he channeled Spiritual Energy into Su Tian's body and began forcing the accumulated Yin energy out.

Ten minutes later, Zhao Dong nodded in satisfaction. "The underlying problem is solved. We just need to wait for an hour." He then turned to Su Yurou and the others to give his instructions. "I need to go buy some medicinal herbs to help regulate your father's body after he wakes up. Before I return, no one is to touch these silver needles. Understood?"

"Yes, yes, don't worry! We absolutely won't touch them!" Su Yurou immediately nodded. She then led a few family members to surround Su Tian's bed, terrified that someone might accidentally bump into the needles.

Seeing this, Zhao Dong nodded in relief and left the Su Family's residence.

"Yurou, we really owe so much to Zhao Dong this time," Zhang Fang said with lingering fear. "Otherwise, it's likely your father wouldn't have survived."

Su Yurou nodded, her face full of gratitude. "You're right. This is already the third time Mr. Zhao has saved someone from our family. We owe him a great debt!"

"After he cures your father, we must thank Mr. Zhao properly," Zhang Fang added with a sigh.

"Yurou! Auntie Zhang, how is Uncle Su doing?"

At that moment, a young man's voice suddenly called from outside the door. A young master dressed in a black trench coat with slicked-back hair strode into the room, accompanied by a white-haired old man in traditional Tang attire. This dandy was Qian Qiang, the eldest young master of the Qian Family and one of Su Yurou's suitors.

"Young Master Qian, what are you doing here?" Su Yurou frowned, clearly not fond of him.

Qian Qiang pulled the old man forward. "Well, I heard that Uncle Su was gravely ill, so I specifically invited Master Sun to take a look."

Master Sun!?

Hearing the name, everyone present was stunned.

"Are you the number one physician from Provincial City, the renowned Sun Simiao?" Zhang Fang asked in shock.

Master Sun nodded slightly, his expression proud. "Indeed, I am Sun Simiao."

"For Divine Physician Sun to grace us with his presence, our Su Family is truly honored, but…" Zhang Fang said hesitantly. "Before you arrived, another young physician had already started treating my husband."

"What?" Qian Qiang was dumbfounded. Someone stole my chance to take the credit? He quickly looked toward the bed and, sure enough, saw Su Tian covered in silver needles. "Which physician took action?" he asked, confused.

Zhang Fang explained, "A young physician from out of town named Zhao Dong."

"Zhao Dong? I've never heard of him!" Qian Qiang turned to Sun Simiao. "Master Sun, have you heard of this person?"

"No," Sun Simiao answered truthfully.

Hearing this, a disdainful smile appeared on Qian Qiang's face. "Hmph! A nameless nobody that neither Divine Physician Sun nor I have ever heard of dared to treat Uncle Su? If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility? This is simply ridiculous!" With that, he pushed through the crowd, about to reach out and pull the needles from Su Tian's body.

"Don't!" Su Yurou hurriedly stopped him, biting her lip. "Mr. Zhao is not some nameless nobody; he is our family's savior! He instructed us that these needles must not be moved!"

"Ridiculous!" Sun Simiao shouted angrily. "This acupuncture is completely without pattern, just a random jumble of needles! If they aren't removed promptly, your father will die!"

Sun Simiao's angry shout made the faces of Su Yurou and the other family members turn pale.

"Divine Physician Sun, you… you can see a problem with the needles?" Zhang Fang asked anxiously.

"These needles bypass all the critical acupoints entirely! Instead, they are all placed in points that cause Yang energy to leak out. At this rate, all the Yang energy in your father's body will dissipate. When that happens, not even an immortal could save him!"

"This…"

Zhang Fang's face changed, and she began to hesitate. She trusted Zhao Dong, but she truly wasn't sure about his medical skills. Sun Simiao, on the other hand, was the most famous divine physician in Provincial City. His words carried authority.

At that point, Qian Qiang said smugly, "Yurou, how old is this Zhao Dong? Even if he knows some medicine, how many years could he possibly have studied? Medical skill requires deep experience. It's not something anyone with a little knowledge can claim to master! Master Sun is a renowned divine physician, while Zhao Dong is just an unknown junior. How can he compare? Now that Master Sun says there's a problem with the needles, there is definitely a problem!"

"This…" Zhang Fang wavered.

Although Qian Qiang's words were unpleasant, they weren't unreasonable. People of her generation tended to trust age and reputation more. Su Yurou also frowned deeply, her own doubts surfacing.

Seeing his chance, Qian Qiang pressed further. "Auntie, you say this Zhao Dong is capable, but where is he?"

"He went to buy medicinal herbs. He'll be back soon," Su Yurou explained hurriedly.

Qian Qiang sneered, "Buying herbs? I think he knows his skills are lacking, so he ran off in advance, afraid to face the consequences when things go wrong! Saving a life is like fighting a fire. Divine Physician Sun is right here. If you keep stopping him from acting and something happens to Uncle Su, it'll be too late for regrets!"

Finally, the phrase "saving a life is like fighting a fire" completely shattered Zhang Fang's resolve. She gritted her teeth, pushed past the others blocking the way, and said, "Divine Physician Sun, we'll have to trouble you!"

"No! Absolutely not!" Su Yurou once again rushed forward to block Sun Simiao, pleading, "Mom! Zhao Dong has saved me several times! I trust his character! Even if he can't save Father, he definitely wouldn't just run away. He said the needles must not be touched. I suggest we wait for him to return. If there's still nothing that can be done then, we can let Divine Physician Sun take over!"

"Nonsense!" Zhang Fang said urgently, pulling Su Yurou away. "Who knows when Zhao Dong will be back? What if he doesn't return until tomorrow? We might be able to wait, but can your father? Can we afford not to trust Divine Physician Sun's reputation? Now, move aside!"

Zhang Fang's angry rebuke, combined with Sun Simiao's fame, finally broke Su Yurou's persistence. With a helpless sigh, she finally stepped aside.

Divine Physician Sun strode to Su Tian's bedside. "What kind of bullshit needle technique is this? Utterly reckless!"

With that, he reached out and swiftly pulled out all the silver needles.

Everyone watched Su Tian with bated breath.