Chapter 163: Snake Venom

Ling Tian examined Sun Yibin’s injuries and could not help but frown. The external injuries were extremely severe; there was hardly a single patch of unblemished skin left, especially on his head, which bore seventeen wounds. Based on Ling Tian’s judgment, these were completely the moves of street brawlers. Given Sun Yibin’s strength, how could he possibly be injured by ordinary thugs?

After assessing the external trauma, Ling Tian checked the internal injuries and let out a sharp intake of breath. The body’s most vital organs had not suffered major damage, but Sun Yibin’s meridians were completely shattered, rendering him virtually disabled. However, there was one comforting point: Sun Yibin’s dantian was not severely injured.

It had only suffered a heavy impact, causing all his true qi to scatter, but there was still a possibility of repair. Clearly, the attackers had assessed him based on normal martial artists. For a martial artist, whether the dantian was damaged was of lesser consequence; the most crucial part was the meridians, because once the meridians were completely destroyed, a martial artist's future was utterly ruined.

To put it in more colloquial terms, the dantian was like a massive reservoir, while the meridians were the rivers extending outward from it. Once the rivers were destroyed, the reservoir lost its water source and could no longer channel water outward.

For earth-bound martial artists, total damage to the meridians meant they were completely crippled. However, for Ling Tian, damaged meridians were not much of a problem; his greatest concern was the dantian. With Ling Tian’s current strength, he could repair meridians, but he was utterly helpless when it came to the dantian.

This was because Ling Tian possessed the heaven and earth divine fire, which could temper meridians and flesh.

Upon seeing Ling Tian, the severely injured Sun Yibin forced himself to muster some spirit, watching anxiously as Ling Tian furrowed his brows. The more solemn Ling Tian’s expression became, the more desperate Sun Yibin felt. Although Sun Yibin knew he had already become a complete cripple, falling short even of a normal person, he still harbored a shred of wishful thinking. In his heart, Ling Tian was an omnipotent god.

Yet Ling Tian’s exceptionally grave expression instantly plunged Sun Yibin’s heart into the abyss.

Sun Yibin caught his breath and parted his lips, but no sound came out. Having suffered overly severe injuries, Sun Yibin had temporarily lost the ability to speak, able only to see and hear. Moreover, as his injuries worsened, even these two faculties were gradually fading away.

Once these sensory abilities vanished entirely, Sun Yibin would become a true vegetable in the literal sense.

Ling Tian withdrew his spiritual sense, then turned to look at Sun Yibin, saying in a low voice, "I can read lip movements. Just move your lips, and I will understand what you mean."

Sun Yibin blinked to show he understood, and then began to move his lips.

After reading Sun Yibin’s lips, Ling Tian sighed and said, "Your injuries are too severe; your meridians are completely shattered. The only fortunate thing is that your dantian has not been thoroughly destroyed and still holds the possibility of being repaired."

Sun Yibin’s lips trembled violently, clearly unable to accept this outcome. Although he had long known his injuries were extremely severe, hearing Ling Tian say it aloud completely shattered the last remaining hope in his heart. As a martial artist, Sun Yibin knew that with his meridians utterly ruined, even an intact dantian would be of no use.

"I cannot heal your injuries for the time being; I will give you some simple treatment first." Ling Tian, currently at the mid-stage of Qi Condensation, lacked the capability at this moment to heal Sun Yibin swiftly. If Ling Tian had reached the Qi Transformation realm, things would have been much easier.

Sun Yibin moved his lips to convey: I am already a cripple. Just give me a swift end; I would rather face death standing than live a wretched life lying down.

Ling Tian did not speak. Instead, he reached out to remove the bandages on Sun Yibin’s body. The hastily applied bandages served no purpose other than stopping the bleeding and could even cause an infection. Just as Ling Tian reached out to undo the bandages, the two doctors standing nearby grabbed his wrists.

Ling Tian looked bewilderedly at the doctors blocking him and asked, "What are you doing?"

A doctor snorted and said, "Do you know anything about medicine? Don't you know that once the bandages are removed, the patient will die from massive blood loss? Besides, someone here promised me a reward of one million earlier. Are you going to pay up first?"

Hearing this, Ling Tian frowned, watching as the doctor's expression shifted from casual indifference to cold ruthlessness.

"What are you glaring at me for? Let me tell you, major hospitals won't take in injuries caused by gang fights, and you wouldn't dare go to one anyway. Only I dare to come. Of course, if you don't pay, I'm calling the police immediately." The doctor pulled out his phone immediately, looking at Ling Tian arrogantly.

Ling Tian was baffled. What the hell was going on here? Just a moment ago, he had assumed these two doctors were Sun Yibin’s personal physicians, but it turned out they were outsiders who harbored extortionate intentions.

While Ling Tian was puzzled, Zhao Ming ran in hurriedly. Upon seeing Ling Tian, he immediately said, "Ling Tian, you're finally here. An hour ago, a group of people came into our bar and started smashing everything without a word. Not only did they wreck the place, but they also started beating people up. Big Brother Sun stepped in to stop them and ended up getting beaten half to death."

Ling Tian patted Zhao Ming’s shoulder and said in a low voice, "I’ll handle this matter. First, tell me what's going on with these two doctors."

Mentioning the doctors, Zhao Ming hurriedly turned to the two of them and said, "Big Brothers, please show some mercy and definitely cure him."

"You already gave us one hundred thousand earlier. According to our agreement, we've bandaged the wounds. Now you can pay the rest of the money, or else we're leaving," one of the doctors said with extreme arrogance.

Zhao Ming anxiously said, "Big Brothers, I don't have that much cash on hand right now. You're Big Brother Sun's specially hired doctors anyway; can't you cure Big Brother Sun first..."

Ling Tian had already figured it out. It turned out these two doctors were specifically hired by Sun Yibin to station themselves at the bar. After all, the bar crowd was rowdy, and accidents were bound to happen—people drinking too much, getting into fights, overdosing on drugs, and so on. But now, these two doctors were trying to take advantage of a crisis to extort one million. Just for a simple external bandage, they had already shaken Zhao Ming down for one hundred thousand.

"No money? Then he can only go meet the King of Hell," the doctor sneered disdainfully.

Zhao Ming was boiling with anger. These damned bastards were letting them down at the most critical moment.

"You're going to save him today whether you want to or not, or don't even think about leaving this place." Zhao Ming's anger flared up instantly, and he felt like giving the doctor two heavy slaps.

The doctor glanced at Zhao Ming dismissively and said, "Don't fucking try to scare me. Let me tell you, right now, besides me, no one can save him. If you send him to the hospital, I bet the moment he gets through the front doors, his feet—" Stopping himself abruptly, the doctor’s eyes darted around wildly, clearly realizing he had slipped up.

Zhao Ming, consumed by anger, didn't notice, but Ling Tian’s expression darkened. There was something fishy going on here. Everyone else in the entire bar had been beaten up; why were these two doctors left behind? And the doctor had clearly almost let something slip just now.

"The money can be given to you. Save him right now," Ling Tian said in a deep voice.

"Show the money first, then we save him," the doctor said with extreme arrogance, even beginning to pack up his medical kit, putting on an act of getting ready to leave.

"How much cash is left in the bar?" Ling Tian turned to look at Zhao Ming.

"Not much cash, only about one hundred thousand or so, which has already been taken out. There's a reserve fund in the safe," Zhao Ming said hurriedly.

"Why didn't you take that out?" Ling Tian asked in return.

Zhao Ming said awkwardly, "Well, the safe's lock is voice-activated, and only Big Brother Sun can unlock it. But right now, he can't even speak."

"Destroy it immediately," Ling Tian said in a low voice.

"I went out earlier just to arrange that. Right now, an oxy-fuel welder is cutting it open," Zhao Ming replied hastily.

Not long after, a waiter rushed over with over a million in cash. When the doctor saw the cash, he leisurely opened his medical kit, taking out a syringe, medicine, and other items. With practiced ease, the doctor drew the liquid medicine from a vial into the syringe, preparing to inject Sun Yibin.

"What are you injecting?" Ling Tian grabbed the doctor's wrist, asking in a cold voice.

The doctor was startled by Ling Tian and stammered, "Sp-special medicine... th-this is an imported special medicine from abroad, which can stimulate a person's potential in a short time, facilitating the subsequent resuscitation."

Ling Tian sneered, snatched the syringe from the doctor's hand, grabbed the doctor by the collar, and said, "Since it stimulates potential, that means it's non-toxic, right? I'll give you a shot of it, and presumably, there won't be any problem, correct?"

Just as Ling Tian was about to administer the injection, the doctor cried out in terror, "Don't... don't! It'll cost lives!"

"Speak. Who ordered you to do this, or I'll give you this shot," Ling Tian demanded threateningly. The needle of the syringe was less than a centimeter away from the doctor's neck, and the doctor could already feel the needle tip, trembling all over with fear.

"I don't understand what you mean. This really is just special medicine," the doctor argued craftily.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ling Tian thrust the needle in. Amid the doctor’s wails, the liquid inside the syringe was injected into his body. In less than ten seconds, the doctor began acting like a madman, rolling on the ground and struggling violently, twitching like a dying stray dog. In the span of a mere minute, foaming at the mouth, the doctor went to meet the King of Hell.

Zhao Ming was too stunned to speak. No matter how dense Zhao Ming was, he now understood that these two doctors had been bought off and intended to kill Sun Yibin with a poisoned needle. However, a question arose in Zhao Ming's mind: why hadn't that group of people simply killed Sun Yibin directly back then?

Ling Tian retrieved a vial of liquid from the medical kit and said, "Snake venom. Takes effect in ten seconds, kills within a minute."

The remaining doctor turned pale with fright, trembling uncontrollably. Especially upon witnessing his partner’s miserable death, he was scared out of his wits.

Before Ling Tian could even make a move, the doctor blurted out anxiously, "Big brother, we didn't know who they were either! An hour ago, someone found us and offered us two million to inject snake venom into the severely injured Sun Yibin, and even told us to wait until you arrived and do it right in front of you..."