Divine Level Witch Doctor

Zhao Yuan was moved by the medical experts’ show of support. After thanking them, he turned to Kawashima Haruhiro and said, ”Mr. Kawashima, it’s your turn. Let’s not waste any time, shall we? I’m in a hurry to get some lunch.”

Kawashima Haruhiro roared furiously in his mind, ’Eat, eat, eat, is that all you can think about? Are you a goddamn glutton?!’

After witnessing Zhao Yuan’s astounding performance, how could he possibly dare to step up and show off his own Observation Technique?

He was confident, but he was also self-aware enough to know his limits. At his level, diagnosing seventy or eighty people in half an hour would be an extraordinary performance. And yet, that was only half of what Zhao Yuan had accomplished...

This was shaping up to be a guaranteed loss! And a truly miserable one at that!

How could he even compete?

But what else could he do?

Concede defeat? He couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Today, he wasn’t just representing himself; he was representing his master’s school—the Genji School! If he admitted defeat, he would single-handedly destroy the school’s honor! His crime would be even greater than Kobayashi Haruo’s!

For a moment, Kawashima Haruhiro was caught between a rock and a hard place, completely at a loss. Large beads of cold sweat broke out, drenching his clothes.

Zhao Yuan waited for two minutes. Seeing no reaction from Kawashima Haruhiro, he asked, ”Mr. Kawashima, why aren’t you saying anything? Could it be that you’re scared? That you don’t dare to compete?”

He was throwing Kawashima Haruhiro’s earlier taunts right back at him.

How could Kawashima Haruhiro possibly miss the jab? His face instantly turned ashen with rage, and he almost blurted out, ”Scared of you? In your dreams! I’ll take you on right now!”

In the end, however, he reined in his emotions and suppressed his fury. His eyes darted about as he decided to cast aside all integrity and find a way to wriggle out of this competition. ”No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” he said. ”The diagnostic technique I wanted to compete with you in wasn’t that one!”

Hearing this, not just Zhao Yuan, but everyone present was stunned.

Xiao Xianlin said with a frown, ”Mr. Kawashima, how is Zhao Yuan mistaken? What you said before was clearly Observation. We heard you very clearly; there’s no mistake.”

”That’s right, we heard you perfectly. You said Observation!” Qiao Zhixue chimed in.

An old professor from Jinmen Medical College standing nearby saw right through Kawashima Haruhiro’s intentions and questioned him, ”You’re not trying to back out just because you see you’re going to lose, are you?”

Kawashima Haruhiro muttered to himself, ’Damn it, how is every single one of these Chinese people so shrewd?’

But what he said was, ”Perhaps my Chinese isn’t good enough, and I misspoke. The technique I wanted to compete with Zhao Yuan in is the one for diagnosing illnesses by listening to sounds and smelling odors, not this diagnostic technique that uses the eyes.”

”Are you saying you want to compete with me in Auscultation, not Observation?” Zhao Yuan asked.

Kawashima Haruhiro nodded hurriedly. ”Yes, yes, I meant to compete in Auscultation. My Chinese isn’t very good, so I mistakenly said Observation instead of Auscultation. How embarrassing.”

Misspoke? Not Observation, but Auscultation?

No one in the room believed a word of it. Those who knew Kawashima Haruhiro, in particular, were well aware that the Japanese expert’s Chinese was exceptionally fluent—he was a true China expert! Him misspeaking? Confusing Auscultation with Observation? What an absurd joke!

Everyone looked at Kawashima Haruhiro with gazes full of contempt. ’Resorting to cheap tricks because he can’t beat Zhao Yuan? And he calls himself a renowned medical expert. Absolutely shameless!’

Someone immediately stood up to denounce Kawashima Haruhiro, but he had already decided to brazen it out. He stuck to his story that he had simply misspoken. He even turned to Su Hong and said with righteous indignation, ”I’m a foreigner, so what if I used the wrong Chinese word? If I asked all of you to speak Japanese, could you guarantee you wouldn’t make a single mistake?”

Such a shameless attitude was simply staggering and a real eye-opener for Zhao Yuan.

Seeing that people had started arguing with Kawashima Haruhiro and knowing that it was not appropriate for this to continue, Zhao Yuan quickly clapped his hands and said loudly, ”Teachers, seniors, please quiet down and listen to me.”

The medical experts were quite respectful of Zhao Yuan, and the room quickly fell silent. All eyes turned to him, waiting to hear what he had to say.

”Mr. Kawashima, are you certain it’s Auscultation?” Zhao Yuan asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm. ”You didn’t misspeak this time, right? I’d hate for you to wait until the competition is over, see that you’re losing, and then start crying that you misspoke again.”

Kawashima Haruhiro’s face flushed slightly, but he quickly suppressed it and said, ”I absolutely did not misspeak this time. It is Auscultation.”

Zhao Yuan nodded. ”Fine, I’ll play along with you one more time. Tell me, what are the rules?”

Kawashima Haruhiro had already thought it through and replied, ”You and I can only rely on listening to sounds and smelling odors to diagnose patients. The time limit is still half an hour. Whoever makes more correct diagnoses wins.”

”Deal!” Zhao Yuan agreed without hesitation. After glancing around, he added, ”Most of the people here have already been diagnosed by me using my Observation Technique. If we continue the Auscultation competition here, you certainly won’t agree and will say I’m bullying you. How about this: let’s find a hospital to compete in. What do you say?”

Kawashima Haruhiro, of course, wouldn’t refuse. In fact, even if Zhao Yuan hadn’t suggested it, he would have demanded a change of people and venue.

There were medical experts from Huashang present. One immediately stood up and took on the task of contacting a hospital. After a few phone calls, they had arranged things with a Grade A Class Three hospital, which was very close to the hotel.

After thanking the famous Huashang doctor, Zhao Yuan beckoned to Kawashima Haruhiro and said, ”Let’s go, Mr. Kawashima. We’ll head over now. Oh, right. If you’re too scared to compete, just let me know in advance. Don’t go running off halfway through.”

Then, paying Kawashima Haruhiro no more attention, he walked out of the conference hall, surrounded by the crowd from West Hua Medical University and led by the famous Huashang doctor, heading for the hospital where the Auscultation technique competition would be held.

Seeing Zhao Yuan’s confident appearance, Kawashima Haruhiro felt a pang of fear.

Previously, he would have assumed Zhao Yuan was just putting on a brave face. But now, after witnessing Zhao Yuan’s miraculous skill in Observation, he couldn’t help but wonder to himself, ’Could it be that this kid isn’t just an expert in Observation and Palpation, but in Auscultation as well?’

For the first time, he felt a sense of utter uncertainty.

But things had already come to this; he couldn’t back down now. He could only bite the bullet and see it through!

’In a moment, I must give it my all, use every skill I have, and win this Auscultation competition!’ Unconsciously, Kawashima Haruhiro’s attitude toward Zhao Yuan had already undergone a 180-degree turn.

He no longer felt he could easily defeat Zhao Yuan. Instead, he now saw him as an opponent of equal standing, one he would have to give his absolute all against just to fight for a chance to win!