Ninth In the World
chapter-17

Chapter 17: Sick of Living

Di Jiu put away his wooden saber contentedly as he felt a surge of emotions. It was as if there was a boiling aura flowing in his body, giving him strength and power. He knew that he had already entered the initial stages of becoming a warrior.

The Di family’s martial arts were cultivated dynamically, so within six days of moving into the Apricot Lake Hall, he had already gained a rudimentary mastery of the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers first move, which meant that he was now an early-stage warrior.

This kind of cultivation speed had never been seen before in the entire history of the Di Clan.

According to Di Jiu’s memory, the most outstanding principle of the Di Clan, which was the first saber move of the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers, should have taken him three months to master. However, it had actually only taken him six days, even though he’d had no master to teach him.

The herbs that he had used had been low-grade, and the ginseng and snow lotus herbs that he had bought weren’t of an old pedigree. Some had actually even been artificially cultivated. The Di Clan had been wealthy back in the Ji Nation, so even its collateral descendants would not have used such trash-like herbs.

Di Jiu had bought these herbs by using all the money in the card Shen Ziyu had given him. The total amount had been approximately 300,000 yuan.

Di Jiu touched the gray stone hanging over his chest with gratitude. His aptitude for martial arts had become so great because of it, and his ability to deduce and remember things had become just as terrifying.

Although he had always been very perceptive, it had never been to such an extent.

His only regret was that he did not have a good saber. The wooden saber that he was currently using had been personally carved by him out of a wooden, slightly heavier material.

Only by mastering the third saber move of the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers would he be able to rise and become a Martial Knight. When he mastered the fifth saber move, he would move up and become a Martial Master. When he was able to use the sixth saber move, he would become a Martial Grandmaster, and when he mastered the seventh saber move, he would be crowned a Martial King.

Throughout the entire history of the Di Clan, only Patriarch Di Yue had been able to pull off the seventh saber move and successfully become a Martial King.

Di Jiu put away his saber. He knew that now that he had mastered the first saber move, he would have to find better nourishing herbs to use. The Di Clan’s Seven Sabers required one’s body to be resilient. If his body was not supported in a timely fashion with good nourishing herbs so it could recover from any damage during the cultivation, he would not only be unable to move up the ranks, but also possibly suffer from severe lingering effects. This was something that every descendant of the Di Clan had to know.

Di Jiu had spent all the money Shen Ziyu had given him and given You Huli the entry token to North Luo University, so he had to think of another way to support himself financially.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of someone knocking on the door echoed around the room. Perplexed, Di Jiu put down his wooden saber and walked out to the backyard.

In the six days that he had been there, other than Brother Hu, who had come over once, not a single patient or stray kitten had visited the place.

If Brother Hu wished to stop by, he would do so during the afternoon. Therefore, Di Jiu had woken up at four in the morning and practised martial arts until 10 before opening the front door. Although he could not practise while the door was open, he had spent his time analyzing the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers. He was planning on closing the door at four in the afternoon and practising again until 10 at night.

Now it was around five o’clock. This was the first time that somebody was knocking on the door.

The door opened to reveal a woman in her 30s. The woman was carrying a man who was approximately her age.

Her hair was a mess. A few strands were stuck against the side of her face, glistening with sweat. She looked delicate and pretty, but judging from her sweaty face, she must have carried the man all the way there.

The fact that she had been able to carry a grown man there, no matter how far it had been, indicated that the woman’s strength was not to be underestimated.

Something was not right. There was a faint smell of blood in the air. Di Jiu looked down and noticed that the woman’s back was drenched in blood. Drops of blood were even dripping down her pants.

The man was very pale. He must have been gravely injured.

“Please save him, doctor…” The woman did not mind that Di Jiu was staring at her. Her voice was pleading.

“There is no doctor around here. You have to visit a hospital…”

Di Jiu had not even finished his sentence, when the woman started pleading again, “Please, please save him. If you don’t save him right now, it might be too late…”

Di Jiu could tell without asking the woman that the man on her back was about to succumb to his injuries. The amount of blood that he had already lost was evidence enough.

Di Jiu hesitated before leading the way inside as he said, “Then please carry him to the surgery room.”

Elder Tan no longer practised medicine at the Apricot Lake Hall, and his granddaughter had already left for the Swallow Capital University’s Institute of Martial Arts, so Di Jiu’s job was to merely guard the place.

The woman stepped into the compound with one stride. Despite the pressing situation, she still remembered to shut the door with her foot.

When the woman placed the injured man on the operating table, Di Jiu understood why she had not gone to the hospital and begged him to let them in, even though he was clearly not a doctor. The man had bullet wounds in multiple places.

Even if the woman had not turned to any doctor she could find amid her desperation, Di Jiu would still have been able to tell that this guy had been seriously injured in a gunfight.

Di Jiu had acquired parts of his former incarnation’s memory, so he knew that possessing a gun was forbidden in China. It appeared as though these two were no ordinary citizens.

The woman just stared at Di Jiu anxiously, making him question whether the man was her husband.

Di Jiu did not care if the two of them were married or not. Although he had not been able to practise martial arts in the Ji Nation, he had seen enough dead people. He did not bother asking any unnecessary questions. He just put on a white gown and a mask and immediately took a surgery kit out of the operating table.

Di Jiu used acupuncture to seal the entry points of the man’s two bullet wounds, stopped the bleeding, and took out a surgical knife. He had a strange feeling that was not a medical realization. It was actually related to the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers.

Time seemed to stop for a while as Di Jiu made a cut across the man’s skin and used a plier to retrieve the bullets as quickly as he could. He did not disinfect or anesthetize the man at all.

Di Jiu had been a medical master before becoming a ranked warrior, so his movements were unbelievably stable. Thanks to the fact that he was a warrior, he could also use his True Qi. His True Qi was unable to completely stop a viral infection, but it could prevent it from spreading to a larger extent.

Even if Di Jiu had spent some time disinfecting the man’s wounds, the outcome would not have been that much better. Besides, the man could not afford the luxury of time.

The woman who had carried the man over stared at Di Jiu in a daze as he pinched the bullets out as fast as he could before throwing them aside. When she finally reacted, Di Jiu had already sprayed some medication onto the wound and bandaged it up.

The medicine had been crafted personally by Di Jiu, and the herbs had also been his.

“I’m done. You can carry him back home.” Di Jiu wiped his hands, even though he had not gotten much blood on them during the surgery.

“Thank you… Thank you…” The woman thanked him profusely when she finally broke out of her reverie. She could tell that Di Jiu was no ordinary person who just ran errands. How could a person who could wield a surgical knife so stably be an errand boy?

This was not the first time she had seen someone remove a bullet, but it was the first time she had seen someone take one out so effortlessly and quickly. Judging by his speed, he had to be better than the best surgeon in the world.

Di Jiu waved his hands indifferently. “It was nothing.”

“I have no money on me now, but I have to pay you for the surgery…”

“You can give me the money whenever you have it,” Di Jiu interrupted her. He had suddenly realized that if he exchanged his current wooden saber for a real one, he could cultivate the Di Clan’s Seven Sabers at an even faster rate.

This surgery was not worth much. The only thing that had cost money were the herbs he had used.

To him, the most pressing issue was finding a blacksmith that could help him create a steel saber as soon as possible.

“Alright. My name is Shi Jinshan. I will definitely bring your money. Please do not report this to your boss.” The woman was very decisive. As soon as she finished her sentence, she grabbed the two bullets, lifted the man again and turned to leave.

Di Jiu had barely even had any time to clean up the surgery room properly, when a cold voice was heard the outside. “I gave you a chance to live, yet you chose to die!”

Di Jiu turned around and stared outside the surgery room, his hands gripping the surgical knife tightly.