Way of the Devil

Chapter 597: Healing Art (2)

Lu Sheng was still pondering how he should go about asking Tu Jin to teach him the healing art.

He had to establish himself in Libra City as soon as possible. To continue Arriving in the Other Worlds, he needed a vast stock of energy crystals as backup. At the same time, he needed a safe and secret fixed base of operations for his formation. All these required a huge amount of resources and money. When he was back in the Prime Devil Sect, all he had was only enough for him alone.

The immense Prime Devil Sect had practically monopolized a fifth of the entire Nine Bright Province’s economy. Even then, it was barely enough to support his Arrivals.

Now, he was all alone and poor. Although he had some resources and money with him, it was far from enough for him to set up for another Arrival.

He had to earn money fast.

While Lu Sheng was processing these thoughts in his mind, Tu Jin, who was in front of him, suddenly spoke up. “Lu Yue, do you know how to do the Liberal Fortune Hand Sign?”

“It’s a simple set of hand signs. I’ve seen them, there are only 136 of them in total. Although I haven’t mastered them yet, I should be able to put them to some use after practicing for an hour or so,” Lu Sheng replied with a nod.

“Only? 136?!” Beside him, De Yun’s lips were trembling. An hour… Even he would only be able to manage 16 hand signs, let alone 136…

Tu Jin felt extremely satisfied. He nodded. “Well then… From this day on, you’ll be involved in small-scale organ-transplantation surgeries with me.”

He did not mention any passing down of knowledge, but his intentions were very clear already. The transplant surgery had only been a thing that his daughter and two disciples, who were actually learning the art, could see. It was a core technique.

Now, he was allowing Lu Sheng to observe it as well. It was clear that he was intending to teach Lu Sheng something, albeit in a different manner.

“Alright!” Lu Sheng immediately knew what he implied. He agreed with a smile.

Tu Jin glanced at him. He saw that Lu Sheng was looking back at him. The two of them smiled with tacit agreement.

The next day, Tu Jin had indeed made De Yun go on an errand, and called Lu Sheng into the operating room with him.

The dark operating room was slightly lit by the faint golden beams of the morning sun, which shone into the room through the wooden windows at an acute angle.

“Swoosh.”

Tu Jin flattened a white scroll before Lu Sheng.

“Young man, now, a good choice is laid before you.”

Lu Sheng had barely sat down after he entered the room when he saw the flattened paper.

He raised his head to glance at Tu Jin. Then, he looked at the content on the paper. The writings were made up of ritualistic runes that resembled Devine Veins.

“Contract. Tu Jin shall aid Lu Yue in applying for an identity jade certificate and semi-permanent residence rights. Lu Yue must master all Tu Style Healing Arts and find a successor as well. Main witness: Libra City.”

“Sign this.” Tu Jin smiled and pointed at the section on the lower-right corner. “It doesn’t matter even if you can’t read it. Just place a hand print.”

Lu Sheng found this peculiar.

Although this was just what he wanted, there was something about this situation that rubbed him the wrong way…

He said nothing. He merely took the paper and scrutinized it.

“Although I’m not exactly literate, I trust in your personality, mister Tu Jin,” he responded with apparent conviction. He swiftly pressed his finger down on the paper.

He did not dye his finger with any colors before this, but when he pressed his finger on the paper, a black fingerprint instantly appeared.

The contract paper instantly burned up. It turned into black ash in the air in the blink of an eye and disappeared.

“Alright. Now, you’re officially a member of my Tu Style Healing Art.” Tu Jin’s attitude clearly warmed up.

“So, should I address you as teacher?” Lu Sheng changed his form of address on his own.

Tu Jin immediately broke into laughter.

Lu Sheng said nothing. He merely displayed a look of anticipation on his face.

He had many teachers throughout this life of his, from the family’s military drill master who’d taught him the basic fist techniques to the Prime Devil Sect’s Liu Shanzi.

A teacher’s job was to preach doctrines, impart knowledge, and resolve the doubts of the student. Although his teachers’ might not be as powerful as he was, Lu Sheng always maintained a certain level of respect for the individuals who taught him sincerely.

Tu Jin did not notice the subtle change in Lu Sheng’s attitude.

Then, in this small room, he started teaching Lu Sheng Tu Style Healing Art’s basic technique, Spirit Prompt.

In the operating room, Tu Jin spread his fingers. Countless fine white threads slowly seeped out from the gaps between his fingers.

These threads seemed to be flowing as they gave off a gentle yet tough impression. It was as if they could melt and become hard at any time.

“The essence of Spirit Prompt is to promote the production of spirit-prompting threads that are strong enough.” Tu Jin wore a proud smile, which was a rare sight. “Also, there’s no way to produce spirit-prompting threads on your own. Someone must plant the seeds in you beforehand.”

“Seed?” Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes.

“This.” Tu Jin pointed, and a white thread immediately shot toward Lu Sheng’s palm.

Lu Sheng resisted his reflex to launch a counterattack, and allowed the white thread to enter his palm and disappear.

He quickly felt an additional, unique energy that seemed like a strand of hair in his arm’s meridians.

“Listen carefully. You must remember the basic formula that I’m going to teach you now. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask your Senior Apprentice Brother De Yun. Although he’s not as bright as you are, he’s spent more years working on this than you did, and he’s been learning this for quite some time now.” Tu Jin put on the airs of a teacher and instructed Lu Sheng.

“Understood.” Lu Sheng nodded solemnly.

The duo continued their session; the teacher taught, while the student learned. The two of them had exceptional cooperation. The basic Spirit Prompt formula, which was slightly less than a thousand words, was quickly memorized by Lu Sheng.

“Remember, the first spirit-prompting thread is black. You’ll have to temper and purge it of its impurities. Then, it will be black-spotted, gray, white, and finally transparent,” Tu Jin reminded him.

“There are five stages to the basic formula. Your teacher has cultivated hard for many years, and is only at the fourth stage of the white thread. Fortunately, they were strong and numerous enough.”

After giving his instructions, he allowed Lu Sheng to practice.

The first practice session of the basics was very important.

Lu Sheng returned to his own room, feeling delighted. Tu Jin gave him a personal room in the wooden hut’s courtyard.

This was his reward for processing the medicinal herbs as his assistant.

When he returned to his room, he saw De Yun standing in front of the pharmacy. De Yun smiled at him warmly and gave him a big thumbs-up.

Lu Sheng returned the gesture with a faint smile.

He closed the door and scanned his surroundings with his spirit. He quickly confirmed that there were no spying arts in the vicinity.

Lu Sheng pulled a chair and sat down. He was thinking if he should rank up to the highest tier as quickly as possible.

However, he hesitated. In the end, he decided to do it himself. He would stick to his original plan. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he would accumulate his Mental Energy and use it for the crucial breakthroughs only.

He calmed himself down on the spot. Then, he started to carefully circulate the spirit-prompting threads according to the steps laid out in the Spirit Prompt formula.

However, he quickly noticed that the spirit-prompting threads grew and solidified slowly by feeding on his own vigor. He decided to convert his Yang Essence into a large batch of vigor.

In no time, the spirit-prompting threads darkened. Its number slowly multiplied from the initial single thread.

More than two hours later, there were already 100 spirit-prompting threads in Lu Sheng’s body.

‘That was still too quick, but this skill formula is compatible with me. There’s nothing to hide here.’

Next, Tu Jin started to seriously impart some techniques and methods regarding the spirit-prompting thread to Lu Sheng.

The spirit-prompting thread had the ability to promote the growth of cells. It could hasten the healing of wounds, replenish a person’s blood and essence, and could even be detached from the practitioner and inserted into another person’s body to replenish the person’s vigor.

The spirit-prompting thread could dissolve automatically and turn into pure blood and essence. This specialty was the greatest advantage for it to be used in surgery.

The shortcoming was that it was difficult to cultivate, and it was very selfless…

When Tu Jin learned that Lu Sheng had cultivated several hundred spirit-prompting threads in one go, he was not shocked. It was natural for a healthy and energetic person to cultivate many threads in one go.

“Tell me when you’ve raised the strength and color by one rank” was Tu Jin’s only comment. Then, he started showing Lu Sheng the diagrams of plant structures.

Lu Sheng had initially thought that he was quite accomplished in medical science already. However, compared to Tu Jin, he noticed with surprise that the breadth this person’s knowledge struck fear in anyone who knew about it.

He was well-informed about various organisms, from the microorganisms to the colossal, heavenly beings. He was even an expert in many of them.

On the subject of the dissection and understanding of the human body, living beings, and even spirit force fields, Tu Jin was basically a grandmaster.

However, Tu Jin’s explanation quickly made Lu Sheng understand how an ordinary old man like him reached such heights.

Everything was because of the main city.

By passing the main city’s professional recognition examination, he had the authority to enter the main city’s great library and consult various tomes for information. He could even spend some contribution points to simulate his surgeries.

The main city contained a vast depository of information on the countless planets in the various stellar zones.

The knowledge Tu Jin had was only equivalent to one hair from nine oxen. However, Tu Jin had practically spent all his savings just to increase his knowledge and improve himself.

The result was that Tu Jin could not set aside enough money for his daughter’s dowry even at his age. This was something that he had always regretted.

When Lu Sheng understood this, he put more heart into his lessons.

Time passed. A month went by in the blink of an eye.

Before they knew it, Tu Jin had basically taught Lu Sheng everything about the first chunk of the Tu Style Healing Art, Spirit Prompt.

What he needed after this was to work hard in cultivating the spirit-prompting threads. Then, it would be time for him to gain practical experiences in writing prescriptions, surgeries, and treating patients. All these required actual cases for him to gain experience.

…..

Deep within a yellowing verdant and lush forest.

Lu Sheng was strolling among the trees as he pondered a difficult case that he encountered recently.

Before he knew it, he had surpassed De Yun. He was now at a level where he could prescribe medication and treat ailments when Tu Jin was not around.

The medical knowledge he obtained from Tu Jin aided him greatly in drawing parallels in his own cultivation base and physical training.

Lu Sheng had faintly felt his Eight-Headed Devil Art’s main body, which had shown no movements for a long time now, showing some lax signs of improvement now.

‘It’s been two months already…” Lu Sheng suddenly snapped back to the present. “How long has it been since I’ve been able to focus on learning one thing in peace…’

Unfortunately, he was in no position to revel in such blissful times.

“I think I’ve gained all I can from Tu Jin. The only thing left is for me to learn the second big chunk and secret skill of the Tu Style Healing Art. Looks like there’s no need to intentionally suppress the improvement in my Spirit Prompt anymore,” Lu Sheng muttered to himself.

When he considered that his clansmen were still on the Yellow Springs Planet, there was no way that he could stay here for too long.

As for how he would establish himself here and achieve swift progress, he had some plans of his own already.

‘There are two requirements to improve Spirit Prompt. The first is to have a sufficient supply of blood and essence. The second is to have a good control over precision.’

Lu Sheng suddenly stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes.

“Deep Blue.”

The familiar light blue interface popped up before him.