I grabbed hold of her shoulders until she stopped gibbering and shaking. Once Xiao Cui had calmed down she managed to explain the problem.

“It’s my mother. She… I don’t know what happened but one moment we were eating dinner and the next she was coughing and coughing. You have to help her!” she shouted, pulling me as she walked back the way she came.

“Alright, calm down little Cui. Of course I will help your mother—if I can. First I need to have a look at her condition,” I replied.

What had happened in the short time between me dropping Xiao Cui home and going for a walk around the village to make her mother fall ill so suddenly?

I thought back to the sick granny. Was it the same illness or just a coincidence? To figure that out I would first need to have a look at Xiao Cui’s mother.

****

Once more I found myself inside little Cui’s home. This time her father was there, having returned from work out in the rice paddies. The majority of the village worked as farmers since it was the most plentiful work available.

He was sitting beside the bed where her mother lay. Her cheeks were bright red. Unlike the warmth they’d had upon greeting me earlier that day, this was the burning heat of fever.

The moment we entered she tried to sit up and greet me, but was hit by a coughing fit that made her spray mucus across the sheets. Xiao Cui’s father immediately lay her down and grabbed a cup of water, giving her a drink.

I was seriously confused. How had a woman gone from perfect health to immobile and wracked with fever in a single afternoon?

Were even the germs in this crazy world more powerful? I was broken from my thoughts by Xiao Cui tugging on my sleeve.

“Big brother Zhao, can you help her like you helped me?” she asked with wide, hopeful eyes.

I didn’t want to give her false hope. “I can check her condition, but I can’t make any guarantees of healing her,” I said while shaking my head.

She let go of my sleeve, moving to the corner to sit in a ball. There wasn’t much I could do in this situation except what I knew best. Moving to the bedside, I greeted her father and reached out to grab her mother’s wrist.

Her pulse was weak, barely enough to keep her alive. Looking at her face I saw that her lips were dry and cracked and her eyes were milky.

The symptoms were almost identical to the old granny I’d met earlier. However, I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions yet.

Once is chance, twice is a coincidence. Only when something happens three times can it be said to be a pattern.

I also wasn’t sure about carelessly using my healing technique on her. Thus far I’d only tested it on physical injuries like cuts and bruises.

When I used it on someone who was healthy, it caused tumours and cancerous growths that disfigured his body. There was a chance my blood essence would have no effect on the germs and just hurt Xiao Cui’s mother.

That was a chance I couldn’t take. Removing my hand, I sighed and shook my head. “It seems to be an intense fever. I can’t cure her with my technique, little Cui. I’m sorry,” I apologised. “However, don’t be disheartened. Usually this type of fever passes on its own. Just give her plenty of water and keep a cool cloth on her forehead.”

Xiao Cui jumped up and pouted before rushing out of the house. I frowned and started to follow her, but her father stopped me.

“Brother Zhao—can I call you that?” he started to say. I nodded and he continued. “Brother Zhao, just leave her be for now. Thank you for trying to help my wife. Cui er will be fine, she’s just very close with her mother and can’t bear to see her like this. I will make sure to follow your advice and let you know if her condition changes,” he said with a stoic visage.

I nodded and gently slapped his arm before walking out of the house. Right before I left through the door he shouted after me. “And thank you for bringing her home!”

****

For the first few nights after that I slept in a stable. Xiao Cui’s family had offered me their home but I felt awkward being there while the mother was suffering with a fever I couldn’t cure.

However, I now knew that this was more than just a few cases of fever as the world headed into winter. Almost half the village had fallen ill in just a few days.

All displayed the same symptoms, going from perfectly healthy and energetic to bed-ridden and overheating in a matter of hours. I was seriously confused as I’d never seen any illness like this before.

This morning I visited the old granny once again, but her condition had worsened and she didn’t even realise I was there. She didn’t react when I took her pulse, wiped the sweat from her forehead, or gave her some water to drink.

I estimated she would die within the next few days if nothing was done. While she seemed to have made peace with that, I couldn’t accept it. I had to figure out if my healing technique would work on this disease before it was too late.

A soft meow sounded in my ear and I startled, turning towards the roof of a nearby house. A black cat was stretching. It lay down on the roof and turned to me, its tail swaying from side to side.

This was the first domesticated animal I’d seen since waking up as Zhao Dan. “Here kitty kitty. Pspsps,” I called out, uncaring if anyone saw me.

The cat looked at me with disdain while preening its claws. Unfazed, I decided to use my hidden ace.

Bending my legs, I leapt the entire height of the house and landed gently on the roof right in front of the cat. It jumped to all fours and hissed at me.

Reaching down, I tried to grab the cat but it nimbly evaded my clumsy attempt, dashing through my legs instead. Grunting in annoyance I turned to chase after it.

We raced along rooftops, darted between houses, and even ran through a neat garden at one point. However, I was steadily gaining ground.

The cat grew slower with every moment and then suddenly it fell on its side. Within a few steps I caught up and bent down to inspect it. When I realised what had happened I was shocked.

This cat had caught the same illness as the rest of the village… Already its breathing was ragged and placing a hand against its head I felt the heat spreading to my palm.

The first thing I did was to take off my outer robe and wrap it around the cat, while lifting it into my arms. I didn’t want the chilly autumn air to make its condition worse.

Rather than burden Xiao Cui’s parents with another unfortunate soul I decided to bring the cat and go to the old granny’s place. I’d taken to visiting her every day and there was always a fire going.

It was the perfect place to leave this poor creature. I entered, noticing an eerie quiet in the air.

I hurriedly placed the cat beside the fire. Not too close and not too far—I wanted it to keep warm but not overheat. That was a common way of dying when people had a fever.

Then I rushed over to the old woman, fearing the worst. Her chest was still and her eyes shut. Grabbing her wrist, I felt no pulse. Damn it!

You can’t die on me, granny. I was about to risk it all and try my healing technique when she suddenly coughed and her eyes shot open.

Turning to me, she saw I had her wrist in my hands and frowned. “Stupid boy, I told you not to go messing with my wrinkled bones,” she scolded me, pulling her hand back.

I could only laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Standing up, I smiled and replied, “You’re much too old to be my type, granny. I was just making sure you hadn’t died without writing me into your will.”

She cackled but started coughing halfway through. I helped her to drink some water before turning back to the cat.

“What are you doing over there, damn thief?” she called out.

“I’m choosing which of your possessions to take after you croak,” I quipped. We’d taken to this light hearted bantering in place of heavier topics during my visits.

Lifting the cat into my lap, I made up my mind. If I stood by and did nothing, then most of the villagers who had fallen sick would die.

I wasn’t the type of man who could stand by and watch that happen, knowing I had the power to potentially cure them. The life of a cat was still valuable and I would do my best not to hurt it, but I needed to figure out if my healing technique worked against the virus.

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It purred weakly as I lifted its head, but had no strength to slip from my embrace. I reached into my body and pulled on the blood essence gathered there.

A cat’s body was tiny compared with a human’s, so I made sure to restrain the unruly energy as much as possible while separating a tiny portion. My secondary goal was also to improve my control over my blood essence so I wouldn’t accidentally hurt my patients.

Sweat rolled down my forehead as I focused, but I was succeeding. A few red sparks travelled towards my finger and I brought it closer to the cat’s chest.

I guessed that the lungs would be the best place to target since that was where fevers usually hit hardest. However, this was a totally new illness and I was making shots in the dark here.

The moment my fingers touched the black fur, I lost control of my blood essence. The few sparks already at my fingertips raced into the cat’s body and I could feel the rest of it rushing down my arm.

I hurriedly pulled my arm away, hoping that the little essence I’d managed to inject into the cat would work its magic. At first the sparks seemed aimless, just travelling further into the cat without purpose.

Seeing the stark difference between this and the almost immediate effect when I treated Xiao Cui, I couldn’t help but sigh. Perhaps this experiment was doomed to fail.

It was upsetting since I’d had fun chasing this cat through the village. I almost felt bad for it—perhaps our game had caused the fever to accelerate.

There were a total of four little sparks inside the cat’s body. It wasn’t difficult to keep track of all of them. For now they just floated about and I continued to watch just in case something unexpected happened.

Even without the technique I still had my medicinal knowledge and could relieve the animal’s suffering that way. One of the sparks suddenly fizzled out and disappeared when it entered the cat’s leg.

For a few seconds I kept a keen focus on the spot where it had vanished, but nothing happened. Letting out a disappointed sigh, I realised that my technique may not be effective on something like a virus.

However, I hadn’t lost all hope yet. There were still three energetic sparks of my blood essence floating around inside the cat.

One was lingering around its chest, darting between two fixed points and slowly accelerating. Another was winding around its stomach, with no fixed pattern.

The third entered its head, but then moments later fizzled out in similar fashion to the first. Worse, no essence had surged back into me when those two sparks vanished, making me worry that this was a permanent loss.

While I wouldn’t regret trying to save the cat even if that was the case, I had to pay attention to my body. If I ended up regressing my cultivation it would cause major instability in my body—perhaps even permanent damage in severe cases.

Then, the red spark in its stomach started to fizz and shake. After a moment of madness it disappeared like the first two.

My frown deepened as I stared at the cat, which was no longer shivering thanks to the heat of the fire. Was this poor creature doomed to an early death, claimed by this mysterious illness?

I wanted to find a cure, not just for the cat and the old granny, but for Xiao Cui’s mother and everyone else in the village who was bound to fall sick. I’d made a vow after all, so what use was I as a doctor if I couldn’t cure one measly fever?

All my hopes were pinned on the final spark, lingering in the animal’s lungs and passing between them. Suddenly it started to fizzle and I felt my heart catch in my throat, fearing the worst.

I almost choked on the thick tension lingering in the air. The spark burnt faster, disappointment and guilt building in my chest.

Suddenly, the spark flashed brightly and I leaned in, hoping against the odds that my efforts might bear fruit. Unfortunately, the spark burst like the others, dissipating into…

My eyes widened and I leaned so close to the cat’s chest I was almost kissing the silky fur. How had I missed this?

Even straining my sight to the limit, I struggled to make them out—tiny motes of blood essence diffused throughout the cat’s body. Specifically, its lungs, brain, and stomach. Those were three of the places the larger parts of my blood essence had vanished—or so I believed.

There were two foundations to my healing technique. They were my strange blood essence and my mysterious ability to see the flow of qi and blood in other people.

After seeing Wang Ren perform the qi healing art, I’d just copied what I saw without thinking much about what I was really doing, inflating my ego after a few successes.

I’d not taken the time to stop and observe the process, to figure out what was going on at the molecular level. Perhaps it was the influence of this new world—this new body and old memories.

I’d already forgotten the scientific process. At the core, most doctors were scientists. We observe illness and plague, the human condition, and then we do our best to treat our fellow humans.

However, I wasn’t wholly to blame. Even straining my sight as I was now, the miniscule particles of blood essence were ridiculously difficult to see. My eyes started to burn and a tear rolled down my cheek, forcing me to blink and sit up once more.

Though once I’d managed to wipe some of the pain away, I smiled at what I saw. Tiny clumps of the cat’s own blood essence were beginning to form through its body, swirling in a familiar pattern.

My technique had kickstarted the process of fighting off the strange fever, but now the cat’s body was joining the battle. Soon, I hoped it would be healthy enough to run across the rooftops once more.

However, just when I thought the situation had been resolved, the cat screeched and started convulsing. Had I made a mistake? Pushed too far with the technique and inadvertently worsened the creature’s condition?

A similar thing had happened with Xiao Cui, when I was still getting used to my new technique. My control hadn’t improved much, but I believed I hadn’t overdone it here.

Perhaps I was wrong.

Panicking, I reached out towards the cat, thinking I might be able to pull some of the chaotic sparks out and ease the pain. But, when I drew near and had another look inside, I realised I had once again let my emotions get the better of me.

There is something that all doctors know well and would constantly fight with their patients about back on Earth. Many illnesses—especially fevers such as this—would seem to get worse during treatment.

Patients would run to us and complain that the medicine isn’t working, we had lied to them, and other protests. However, the body is not invincible. Fighting off sickness takes a lot of energy and it often leaves us weak.

However, this is not a sign that the illness is getting worse but instead proof that the treatment is effective. There is always a storm before a rainbow.

Despite the cat’s convulsions and the pain I knew it felt, I saw my blood essence raging, fueling the growing swirls within the cat’s body. A minute later, they started to fire off bolts of blood, consuming the microscopic sparks with every strike.

From my point of view, the technique was like a raging storm that vanquished all sickness. I placed the back of my hand against the cat’s forehead, feeling the searing heat that still consumed the poor beast.

However, it soon began to fade. The whirlpools of blood essence were raging torrents now, having burned almost all of the essence I’d provided. The technique was reaching its climax. Then, all four exploded in a shower of vital sparks, sending a river of life raging through the cat.

****

The old granny’s breathing was shallow. Without focusing, one could mistake the shrivelled woman for a corpse. I sat beside her, lifting a jug of water to her cracked lips and wiping away the splashes that leaked from her mouth.

She was a cantankerous old bat, who would greet me with an insult more often than a smile. However, I liked her upfront style. I’d take an honest bastard over a silver-tongued schemer any day.

The cat was curled up under the blankets, purring softly in the warm bed she’d built for herself. The mischievous feline was still weak, but my technique had purged whatever pathogen was causing the sudden fever.

Once again, my cultivation had grown after my success. I wasn’t able to distinguish the exact progress, but I felt that I was around two-thirds of the way towards seven-star Body Tempering. Zhao Dan would’ve been jealous at the rate I was progressing.

Then again, I was using his identity, so this could be considered a continuation of his legacy. I hoped that would bring his soul some measure of satisfaction, wherever it had ended up.

I no longer felt like a complete stranger in my own skin. Every time my blood essence flowed through me I became more accustomed to this strange power.

My success with the cat had motivated me. I wasn’t sure my control had progressed by much, but at the very least I knew the haphazard technique I’d created was effective against the strange illness.

Knowing I wasn’t just firing shots in the dark built my confidence. I watched over the granny as she spent her final hours alone, withering away in a village that seemed indifferent to her suffering.

She’d made me promise not to treat her, but how could I stand by and watch someone die, knowing I had the ability to save their life. I was sure her defiance was a product of her loneliness, seemingly left to her own devices by the rest of the village.

In my last life I had died alone, powerless to change my own fate or make even the tiniest difference on a global scale. Here, I had real power, crackling at my fingertips and begging to be used.

For now I was weak, only a six-star Body Tempering disciple—former disciple—not even considered a true cultivator in the eyes of those lofty masters who could wield qi like an extension of their own body.

No, I would not let myself tread the same path. I had been given a second chance and I would be damned if I let anyone else tell me how to use it.

Placing the jug back on the table, I leaned forwards until my hands were hovering over the old granny’s stomach. “Someone has to look after this mischievous little girl when I’m gone,” he joked, stroking the cat gently. “Even if you hate me for the rest of your life, I’ll happily bear that grudge.”

She mumbled something, then snorted through her nose. I almost leapt out of the chair in surprise, but she soon returned to her near-comatose state.

“Ha! Even at death’s door you’re still not going to make things easy?”

With the cat, I’d done my utmost to hold back my essence, fearing that even a drop too much would hurt it. The sickness had progressed too far in the old woman’s case. She’d been the first case—that I knew of—and I guessed the fever had claimed most of her body.

Aggressive illnesses required aggressive treatment. I wasn’t going to go wild and flood her with raging sparks, the way I’d done with the bandit—I didn’t want to kill her, after all. However, I would not be gentle.

So, placing two palms against her skin, I turned my focus inwards and drew on the raging essence. It was still energetic, bursting out of every cell after my recent growth, so the moment I gave it an outlet, the sparks raced to escape.

One, two, four, ten… the number of sparks that flooded into her body rapidly grew. In the end, I drained almost half of my reserves before putting an end to the flow.

Now usually this would be the point where I removed my hands, leaving the treatment to the instinctive expertise of my essence. However, my goal was to improve my control and take a more scientific approach to my treatment.

So, keeping contact with her skin I narrowed my focus and attempted to direct the erratic sparks to the worst affected parts of her body, the areas where fevers festered—mostly the lungs and stomach.

At first nothing happened. I wasn’t dissuaded, expecting such a result on my first try. After a few seconds I was able to make a single spark change its path, though it still missed the mark.

Unrelenting, I continued to clamp down, forcing my will on the sparks. This was my blood essence and I would not be ignored.

The moment I did that, all hell broke loose.