Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Hearing the madam’s words, Zhao Rong felt utterly helpless. He was here to find the Heavenly Pool Jade Magnolia to save a life, not to trade for it. Why was she so vehemently opposed to the idea?

Just as Zhao Rong stood there, puzzled, Xuelian suddenly looked at the madam and said, ”Madam, perhaps we can make a deal?”

Before Xuelian could finish, the madam began shooing them away. ”Both of you, get out of my inn! We don’t welcome people who come here to pick Heavenly Pool Jade Magnolias.”

As the madam was pushing them out, Xuelian pointed toward the back of the house. ”Wait, don’t push us away just yet! We might be able to revive your husband, the one who’s paralyzed and unconscious in bed…”

The madam paused for a second, stunned, but then resumed pushing them. ”Get going, and stop your boasting. Even if the Jade Emperor himself came down, he couldn’t save my husband.”

Now shoved outside the door, Xuelian looked back at the madam. ”How can you know without letting us try? My Brother Zhao Rong is the greatest doctor in the world! He not only revived Wang Meili, who was in a coma for ten years, but he also saved me when I was lethally poisoned!”

At the mention of this, the madam suddenly fell silent. Seeing her chance, Xuelian immediately stepped forward. ”Just let us try. Brother Zhao Rong might really be able to save your husband.”

The madam was lost in thought. When Xuelian saw her hesitating, she knew the opportunity had arrived. She began walking back into the inn, speaking as she went. ”If Brother Zhao Rong can revive your husband, you let us stay. If he can’t, we’ll leave immediately.”

The madam considered her words, then decided to take the risk. ”If you can revive him, I’ll give you a Heavenly Pool Jade Magnolia. But if you fail, I want you to disappear from my sight and never set foot near our Heavenly Pool again.”

Xuelian nodded happily. ”As long as you agree, your husband has a chance!”

As the madam led them into the house, she said, ”My husband has been in a coma for over a decade. I’ve summoned all the famous doctors and medical experts in the land, but none of them could help. If you can actually save him, I will give you a superior-grade Heavenly Pool Jade Magnolia.”

”It’s a deal,” Xuelian said with a firm nod.

Standing to the side, Zhao Rong felt incredibly awkward watching Xuelian make this deal with the madam. He leaned in and whispered into Xuelian’s ear, ”Sister Xuelian, what if I can’t revive this man?”

In stark contrast to his uncertainty, Xuelian replied with confidence, ”Brother Zhao Rong, we have the Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus. Are you still afraid you can’t save someone?”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong resolved to try.

When they followed the madam into the room, they saw a man lying on the bed, dressed in sumptuous clothing. He was completely unresponsive, a vegetative patient who was only still breathing. The moment Zhao Rong realized the man was in a vegetative state, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He turned to Xuelian, worried. ”If he were just in a coma like Wang Meili, I’d be confident. But this man is in a vegetative state. I’ve never tried to revive a vegetative patient before.”

Seeing his lack of confidence, Xuelian encouraged him. ”Brother Zhao Rong, you’ve always been one to achieve great things without sweating the small stuff. I believe you can definitely save him!”

Taking a sharp breath, Zhao Rong said, ”Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

Putting on the air of a doctor, Zhao Rong stepped forward to check the man’s pulse and feel his breathing. The madam watched from the side with cold, skeptical eyes. If you can actually revive my vegetative husband, then pigs might fly.

While examining the patient, Zhao Rong rapidly searched his mind, combing through the Alchemy Manual for any record of a cure for such a condition. In no time at all, he found one: a pill specifically designed to treat vegetative patients. Its name was quite unique: the Comatose Patient Awakening Pill. The ingredients required were one petal from a Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus, one seed from a Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus, one low-grade Demon Crystal, one stalk of Divine Grass, and a pot of Heavenly Pool water.

When Zhao Rong saw the list of ingredients, he was overjoyed. Well, I’ll be damned! Isn’t this a gift from the heavens? I was just worried I didn’t have the ingredients to craft the Comatose Patient Awakening Pill, but it turns out I have every single one.

He had seized the Snow Lotus petal and seed from Zhang Bin, a disciple of the Wild Wolf Sect, at the foot of the mountains. He had obtained the Demon Crystal after killing the Half-beast Zhang Bin. The Divine Grass was something he had gotten from the dragon Ma Long back when he was at the True Martial Sect. As for the Heavenly Pool water, that was the easiest of all. The Heavenly Pool lake was just a short distance away; he could fill a bottle in no time.

Just as Zhao Rong, brimming with confidence, was about to begin the Alchemy process, a huge crowd of people swarmed in from all sides. They surrounded him and the patient, forming a tight circle three layers deep. When the onlookers heard that this young man claimed to be a doctor who could revive the madam’s vegetative husband, they erupted in ridicule.

A man who was particularly close with the madam scoffed, ”This kid’s clearly all talk. If he manages to revive the madam’s husband, I’ll eat my hat!”

A pretty boy, who seemed to have an ambiguous relationship with the madam, glanced disdainfully at Zhao Rong. ”This guy looks like a traveling quack, all show and no substance. It’s bad enough that he’s here trying to get a free meal, but to pose as a doctor and pretend to save someone? What a joke.”

An older admirer, his eyes filled with rage, glared at Zhao Rong. ”If this punk actually revives that man, I’ll throw myself into the lake!”

Hearing the mockery, Xuelian retorted angrily, ”You onlookers haven’t seen Brother Zhao Rong’s medical skills, so you should keep your mouths shut!”

Zhao Rong, however, paid them no mind. He silently retrieved a pressure cooker and the Eternal Flame from his Magic Ring.

When he opened the pressure cooker, filled it with water from the Heavenly Pool, and tossed in the Snow Lotus petal, the seed, the Demon Crystal, and the Divine Grass, the crowd burst into uproarious laughter.

A guest who had lived in the inn for ten years chimed in, gnawing on a chicken leg. ”I’ve traveled all over and seen plenty of Alchemists in my day. They all use a proper Medicinal Cauldron for Alchemy! But this brat is using a pressure cooker? I don’t think he’s performing Alchemy; I think he’s stewing a soup!” The guest roared with laughter.

Another young man, who had ended up at this inn only because he couldn’t find a youth hostel, threw a whole chicken into Zhao Rong’s pressure cooker. ”Hey, kid, you might as well just stew this chicken for me. You don’t look like an Alchemist at all.”

Zhao Rong wasn’t bothered by the chicken. He simply put the lid on the pressure cooker and said, ”Adding a chicken to my ingredients is fine. It might even improve the pill’s flavor.”

With that, he skillfully controlled the Eternal Flame and began the Alchemy.

The madam stood by, her eyes filled with disdain and disbelief. The pretty boy sidled up to her and whispered, ”Madam, if this guy actually revives your husband, I suppose we’ll have to keep our distance from now on.”

The madam let out a cold laugh. ”You think I’m stupid enough to find a real doctor to save that damned husband of mine?” She squinted, her voice turning venomous. ”The only reason I’m letting these two greenhorns mess around is to put on a show for my in-laws. I want them to see that even though I, Wang Jinlian, despise my husband, I’m still doing everything I can to save him.”

She then motioned for someone to start recording the scene with a camera. She planned to send the video to her mother-in-law’s family to prove what a devoted wife she was, still trying to treat her husband even after he’d become a vegetable.

Hearing this, the pretty boy gave her a thumbs-up. ”Sister Jinlian, you’re brilliant! No wonder all those famous doctors your in-laws hired could never save him. You were sabotaging them from the start, making sure they’d only make him worse!”

The madam stated confidently, ”If a doctor with real skill showed up, I’d never let them near my good-for-nothing husband.” She pointed at Zhao Rong and Xuelian. ”But these two? I could tell at a glance they know nothing about medicine, let alone Alchemy. That’s why I let them try. I knew from the start there was no way they could possibly save him.”

The madam and the pretty boy shared a lewd laugh.

But just as they were cackling, Zhao Rong wiped the sweat from his brow and shouted, ”The Alchemy is a success! You can give this to your husband now!”