As a cultivator, his constitution and willpower were far more resilient than those of an ordinary person, so he could withstand the acupuncture method of expelling poison. The so-called acupuncture expulsion of poison involved using needles to drive the true qi throughout a person's body, forcing the toxin into a single location before finally expelling it through urine. The process was excruciatingly painful and placed extremely strict demands on the subject's physical endurance. If one could not hold on and the true qi faltered with no reserve to draw upon, the backlash during the expulsion could kill them.

For an ordinary person, this method was utterly impossible, because the true qi within an ordinary body was pitifully scant, worlds apart from that of a cultivator. That tiny trickle of true qi was nowhere near enough to drive the poison out of the body.

Of course, if it were merely a common poison, or a slow-acting one, there would be no real danger to life. Even expelling it would not require much true qi; guidance through acupuncture or massage alone could accomplish the task.

But Gu Mengyao was an ordinary person, and the poison she had taken was lethal. Wei Zhao did not dare risk this method at all. If there was truly no other way, he could simply keep channeling energy into Gu Mengyao's body to sustain her life, then take her to see the old man. Surely the old man would have a solution.

Hm? A sudden flash of inspiration struck Wei Zhao. Channeling energy. The energy within his own body could be used by Gu Mengyao. That meant he could simultaneously channel energy into Gu Mengyao's body while using acupuncture to expel the poison.

And the true qi inside Gu Mengyao's body originated from his own. As long as he kept channeling it in without pause, there would be no danger of the true qi running dry.

At this thought, Wei Zhao was overjoyed. He had not expected that in the end he would still have to rely on his own energy. For this, he had Jiao Yazi, Elder Jiao, to thank. Were it not for him, Wei Zhao would never have known that the true qi he cultivated had such immense use.

Yet after the joy came a new dilemma. After all, acupuncture expulsion of poison required removing all of the patient's clothes, and the young lady was not his girlfriend. Had it been Tang Yun, that would have been one thing, but would the young lady agree?

Moreover, he could not secretly undress Gu Mengyao while she was unconscious. The expulsion required Gu Mengyao to cooperate while fully awake.

"Grandpa Guan, please tell the hospital to prepare a fully sealed ward for me. I need to perform acupuncture, and I need absolute silence, free from any disturbance," Wei Zhao said after a moment of thought to Guan Xuemin.

For one, he genuinely feared being disturbed. For another, if Gu Mengyao was to undress, no one else could be allowed to see her, so a fully sealed ward was necessary.

"No problem!" Guan Xuemin nodded. If the First Hospital was a public-private partnership where Guan Xuemin's word carried only limited weight, then the Second Hospital was entirely private. That is, his son Guan Xiaoxiang was the hospital's biggest shareholder, and even the director had to answer to him. Setting aside Guan Xuemin's prestige in the medical world, even if he were an ordinary man, his word carried weight in this hospital.

Guan Xuemin made a single phone call to the director, and very quickly a ward was cleared out in the emergency department, a fully sealed operating room.

Soon medical staff wheeled Gu Mengyao into the operating room, and Gu Pengzhan, Qing Bo, and Guan Xuemin all tactfully refrained from following inside. Though Guan Xuemin was curious about Wei Zhao's acupuncture method, hearing that Wei Zhao could not be disturbed, he could only abandon the idea of watching.

"I want to stay with Sister Yao!" Shen Yushu, however, refused to leave and ran into the operating room.

"Xiaoshu, don't interfere with Wei Zhao's needling. Come out at once!" Though Gu Pengzhan knew how close Shen Yushu and his daughter were, at this moment he had to assert his authority as an elder and not let her interfere with Wei Zhao.

"I won't! Arrow-Brand Brother, are you going to chase me out?" Shen Yushu looked at Wei Zhao pitifully, but her tone was resolute. "I absolutely must stay with Sister Yao!"

"Ha, you don't need to leave. In fact, stay and help," Wei Zhao said. He had never intended to send Shen Yushu out. After all, he would soon need to discuss the acupuncture with Gu Mengyao, and if Gu Mengyao could not bring herself to accept it, Shen Yushu could help persuade her.

"Yay! Arrow-Brand Brother is the best!" Shen Yushu was delighted that she too could do something for Sister Yao.

Seeing Wei Zhao say this, Gu Pengzhan breathed a sigh of relief. He was also reassured to have Shen Yushu assist Wei Zhao, since Shen Yushu would absolutely never harm Gu Mengyao and would surely give it her all.

After Wei Zhao entered the operating room, he locked the door from the inside. The room was thoroughly soundproofed; no sound from within could be heard outside.

"Arrow-Brand Brother, are we going to start saving Sister Yao now? What do you need me to do?" Shen Yushu asked anxiously.

"When I perform the acupuncture shortly, Yao will need to remove her clothes to cooperate. But she may have psychological reservations. Can you help me persuade her?" Wei Zhao said to Shen Yushu.

"Oh, okay!" Shen Yushu nodded. "But Arrow-Brand Brother, you're not deliberately using this as an excuse to see Sister Yao's body, are you?"

"Heh..." Wei Zhao chuckled. "If I wanted to see, why would I bother discussing it with her? I would just have you strip her clothes off right now."

"Oh, that's true!" Shen Yushu thought about it and realized he was right, but then said, "Then why discuss it at all? I'll just strip Sister Yao's clothes off right now, who cares whether she agrees or not!"

"Better to ask her first." Wei Zhao waved a hand to stop Shen Yushu from going further, then grasped Gu Mengyao's wrist and activated the inner cultivation method of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. The energy within Wei Zhao's body surged rapidly into Gu Mengyao's.

Before long, Gu Mengyao's eyelashes fluttered, and she awoke once more. This time, she herself sensed that something was wrong.

"I... passed out again just now?" Gu Mengyao opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room, no longer the isolation ward from before. Fortunately, the people before her were familiar: Wei Zhao and Xiaoshu.

"The energy in your body is being destroyed by the poison too quickly. I can only channel my own energy into you to wake you, but this is only temporary. If I stop channeling, you will fall unconscious again shortly," Wei Zhao said.

"Ah!" Gu Mengyao was startled. So that was how it was. Earlier, she had thought she had already recovered. "What is wrong with me?"

"You have most likely been poisoned," Wei Zhao said.

"Then... can I still recover?" Gu Mengyao asked.

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