56 Chapter 54: Reasons To Be A Friend.
I take a deep sigh, opening my eyes and groaning in tiredness, completing the last step for my preparations for the Emperor's surgery. The second stage of the Buddha technique would help a lot in keeping me aware and focused at all times.
The worm was much more dangerous than I realized, the first round of in-depth analysis with my machines revealed as much. Firstly, it seemed to be dying at a rapid rate, I couldn't give it more than one more year, its organs were already starting to fail.
Secondly, it seemed highly likely that its death would also bring its host to the grave. I couldn't help but wonder how such a thing could evolve at all since it didn't seem to be producing eggs at all.
Maybe it behaved differently in another environment, but that was unknown.
Second, my plan to recreate it completely to study it from its DNA was a failure, predictable but sad nonetheless. The destructive pulse was also a disappointment, there was just too much that could go wrong.
On the other hand, I started down a completely different road. An artificially intelligent rune array that could recognize the worm or any other infection and destroy it.
Unfortunately, that was still just my imagination. A fantasy that I had a month to realize.
As I kept drawing graph after graph on my new large blackboard, detailing how each rune should connect with another to create the effect that I desired most, I heard the front door alarm ring.
Someone was trying to break into the clinic.
I looked at my clock, it was lunchtime.
Who in the nine Hells tries to break into another's property at lunchtime?!
I'm going to give them a piece of my mind.
My mind kept wandering around my worm problem as I disappeared from my spot and reappeared in front of my door a moment later, I snapped my fingers and the door opened on its own.
In front of it, there was a burly man, confused by the sudden door opening, "Who are you and what do you want from my clinic?" I asked calmly, but sternly.
The idiot didn't even realize that the door was open all along, had he just tried to open it instead of trying to smash it open with his big fist. This is a clinic, of course, the door is open for the patients!
As if raw strength could ever break through my doors.
"Finally, you, a mere commoner, dare to make the crown prince wait?!" the burly idiot, now upgraded to burly fucker, shouted at my face.
"First of all," I make a silencing motion, then his mouth shuts, his lips sealed by a string of sealing runes. I then continued with a faint smile on my lips, "This is a clinic, a place of healing, do not disturb the quiet of my patients."
I see panic appear on his face, he starts clawing at his mouth, trying his best to open it up, but it is useless. This is my domain.
There were so many runes in and around the clinic that I was omniscient as long as I was inside this range, and with knowledge comes power through runes.
In a panic, the man swung a fist at me.
It was slow, weak, and filled with fear. I willed it to stop, and it did, the man was stopped in a position exactly like the beasts of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range.
It took two months to set this up, and every night I spent hours adding layer after layer of protection. As Jasmine confirmed, there was no way someone with around my same level of cultivation could even speak without my permission while inside my domain.
I ignored his useless aggression, I knew fear could make people do stupid things, so I raised a finger to my lips and continued as if nothing had happened, "Understood?"
I gave back mobility to his head, and he nodded rapidly as if his life depended on it. Whoever this crown prince was needed better hooligans.
I gave him back the gift of speech and hoped he wouldn't waste it, "Now, in a low voice, what do you want from my clinic?"
"A-are you the Doctor?" the man asked while trembling, to which I nodded happily, he gulped and continued, "T-the Crown Prince would like to invite you t-to his residence… You're f-free to refuse, of course!"
As I was about to refuse, because this lackey pissed me off, Jasmine's voice resounded in my head, "Refuse, you're in the princess' camp already, having a private meeting with the crown prince would send contrasting messages to the wrong people."
I required no further reason, so I immediately replied with a kind smile, "I refuse, and next time, my door is always open, you may come back if you're ever in need of medical help." then, before seeing if the annoying brute had anything else to say, I closed the door.
"Damn politics, annoying piece of…" I looked at the two curious pairs of eyes peering at me from around the corner, "What?"
"Teach, you're scary." replied my adopted daughter. "I thought it was so cool!" countered her brother, with starry eyes shining in his eyes.
"Thank you, Zhu, but that was nothing cool, dealing with idiots isn't fun, did you two need something?" I changed the subject with the subtlety of a truck.
"Oh yeah, I reached the fourth level of the Nascent Profound!" my son answered smugly, looking down at his sister. "Congratulations Zhu!" I replied happily while patting his head, "Is there anything you want as a prize?"
"Prize?!" his eyes widened, maybe I should give them stuff more often, they were so cute when they were happy, "Please teach me how to do that stoppy thingy!"
"Sure, but later, Xue did you want something as well?" I turned to my daughter, who had been looking at me expectantly for a while. "Teacher, can you… teach me to help people? Like you do?"
Oh no, oh fuck.
She wanted to follow in my footsteps, and that made me too happy. "Sure!" I replied immediately, afraid that she would change her mind.
I had already been teaching them stuff, but it was just basic education about the physics that adapted to this world and some basic biology, I hadn't even gotten to cell theory yet! That made me happier, even if I had no idea of the source of her sudden interest.
"Let's start right away!" I dragged both children to my lab, where I started teaching both the basics of things.
Which just meant giving the girl a skin-like tissue to practice suturing and the boy a lesson about physics.
Neither enjoyed it.
The days passed, and I finally got down the first theoretically correct idea about how to destroy the worm.
Two days after I scrapped it, it couldn't deal with the issue of the shared death of the host. What if I exported the worm without killing it?
Three days later, I figured I couldn't export it without taking it out of the Profound Veins, but what if I… The day of the operation finally came, I had a method, highly experimental and dangerous, I loved it so much, my little brain-child.
Things were going smoothly, the most difficult thing to arrange was to bring the Emperor to the clinic secretly.
Stupid politics.
Firstly, there were a bunch of high-level cultivators all around the place, keeping guard and making sure nothing would go wrong, like an ambush.
Secondly, there was one Sky Profound level cultivator that entered my house, and thought he was being sneaky.
Only then was the Emperor finally transported into the clinic by four people on a palanquin, then he was escorted inside by the princess and by a young-looking man, probably around twenty or so.
He was strong, less than Sky profound, but around as strong as those they classify as Elders, Earth profound it was called if I remember correctly.
I immediately took the situation into my own hands as soon as they were far from any spying eyes inside my building. I shut the door and levitated the Emperor, making him feel as if he were on the softest bed so that he could rest properly.
The man was weak, but he still had more than a year of life to live even without my intervention, he couldn't properly walk alone. His physical situation reminded me of a ninety-year-old man who didn't exercise properly.
I did offer them a wheelchair, which I had to create from scratch as they didn't exist here, but they refused for some reason.
Something about Imperial Honor or something.
Cang Yue looked at her floating father with clear worry in her eyes, so I did my best to reassure her, "Don't worry, I have a plan that will be the most likely to take care of the problem once and for all."
"Thank you, Doctor," she nodded gratefully looking right into my eyes, "The Empire and the Crown will do its best to compensate you for your efforts."
"Don't worry, this is my job, and we are friends, aren't we?" I chuckled, I then nodded to the guy wordlessly before leaving with my patient in tow. A long and difficult surgery was about to follow.
I stopped and looked intently at the hiding Sky profound dude, who seemed intent on following me, "You're not allowed in the operation room."
After he was found out, he finally stopped hiding from the others as it was useless in front of me, "I am His Imperial Highness' guard, I will protect His Highness should you have evil intentions."
I glanced at the Emperor, who seemed barely conscious and too stunned to be useful right now, then I turned to the princess, who sighed and ordered, "Uncle, I trust the Doctor with my life, I take full responsibility, I order you to stay outside."
He seemed hesitant, but he eventually relented, so I thanked him and closed myself into the operation room, ready to stay inside for a while.
Meanwhile, in the waiting room of the clinic, the Princess, her friend, and the Emperor's bodyguard sat down and waited.
"Princess," The old guard asked with a low voice, "Is it wise to so readily trust a stranger? What is it that makes you trust him that much?"
"I don't know that man much either, but I do not believe he has anything against the Empire I believe that his presence here is a boon for us all," she explained slowly, after careful deliberation of her words.
"You seem to like him a lot," chuckled the young man who accompanied her, "I've never heard you put that much faith into someone."
"It's not what you think, Big Brother Yun! There is nothing romantic between me and the Doctor!" the girl exclaimed as she blushed.
"Ahem." the three of them turned to the little girl who called for their attention, who then pointed to the "Keep your voice down." sign on the wall.
Before the guard could become outraged, "Oh, I apologize." the princess said, causing the two men who knew of her status to have a double take at her, doubting their ears.
"Princess Cang Yue, why did you apologize to that child?" the Elder guard asked with a confused expression, the child had been extremely rude toward a member of Royalty.
"That one of the Doctor's disciples," the two half understood, but were still skeptical, just who was this Doctor that seemed to be held in such high esteem by the only Princess of the Empire?
"You truly want to know why I'm not afraid he wants to hurt my Royal Father?" she asked, obviously the guard nodded. "There are three main reasons, firstly, what are the most important things to a cultivator?"
"Talent, resources and understanding, of course," replied Ling Yun.
She nodded and continued, "Yet, that man granted me an understanding, knowledge great enough that it propelled my cultivation forward seven minor steps in just a year, and he called it a test, he didn't even consider it anything important."
"Is that how you reached the peak of True Profound so fast?"
"Exactly, now look behind us," she murmured.
Both of their bloodstreams became cold, and all of a sudden, their backs were drenched in cold sweats as a sort of primal fear assaulted their senses, the Sky realm elder more than the Earth realm young man.
"That is his Master," she said, as the young-looking girl with more power than they could understand and so beautiful that she could charm any man kept her eyes on them.
Yet, despite her beauty, the two men felt only danger, how could they not sense it first?
"If they wanted to harm the Emperor, there is nothing we can do to stop them…" murmured the Elder.
The princess nodded, which prompted the young man and hope of the entire Heavenly Sword Villa to ask, "And what about the third reason?"
The princess nodded lightly, replying naturally.
"He called me his friend."
Sup everyone, gimme feedback so that I can improve the story~
And the stones, gimme stones pls!
