Chapter 965 — Are You a Member of the Sun Family?

Liu Tianli lowered his head and said nothing, looking every bit the chastened pupil.

"An entrepreneur, on the other hand, must take the long view instead of haggling over momentary gains and losses!" Liu Zhenhu said. "Jingjing, tell us what you make of this matter."

"Yes, Grandfather." Liu Jinghan gave a slight nod, then said, "Wei Zhao has repaid our Liu family's money and thrown in a favor to boot. That means he still does not truly regard the Liu family as a friend. It is a gesture of thanks, a clean settling of accounts between us. Much as we have gained a short-term advantage, there is no cause for rejoicing."

"Did you hear that, Tianli? That is the difference between your vision and Jingjing's. In her hands, the group could see its profits double, while you do nothing but cling to the old ways." Liu Zhenhu waved a hand. "Never mind. If winning Wei Zhao's friendship were as easy as all that, it would be too simple by half. There will be other chances. Word has it that the rankings of the great families may shift at this year's Gathering of the Great Families. From the look of things, the Xiao family seems destined to lose its standing as a great family."

"Indeed. And after the Xiao family, who then? Looking over the strength of the various families, ours is the weakest of them all," Liu Tianyi said. "We may be able to hold our position in the near term, but who knows what the future holds?"

Wei Zhao, for his part, had no mind to spare for the Liu family's fretting over gain and loss. By now he had followed Gu Pengzhan into Uncle Qing's room.

Uncle Qing lay quietly on the sickbed without stirring, his body still covered with the silver needles Wei Zhao had inserted earlier.

Wei Zhao made a quick examination of Uncle Qing's condition and found that it had not worsened, and he could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"How is it, Xiaoyi? Can he be saved?" Gu Pengzhan asked anxiously.

"He can!" Wei Zhao nodded. "Have Yaoyao and Xiaoshu wait in the living room and keep watch for me at all times. If any enemy breaks in, call me at once!"

"Understood!" Gu Pengzhan did not dare delay. He hurried out of the room to instruct Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu. He knew Wei Zhao was about to use his own particular method to heal Uncle Qing, and so, not daring to disturb him, he quietly withdrew and closed the door behind him.

Wei Zhao had no intention of curing Uncle Qing in a single day. Though every enemy on the surface had settled down for now, all cowed by the beatings Wei Zhao had given them, there was no guaranteeing some cornered beast would not turn desperate and strike. So Wei Zhao meant to heal Uncle Qing over the course of several days, the better to recover swiftly once his own energy was spent.

Besides, even once healed, Uncle Qing would be a cripple. There was no need for Wei Zhao to hurry.

After all, an external-school martial artist's skills differ from those of the internal school. Wei Zhao could only restore Uncle Qing's body to its original state; he could not restore his strength. External arts temper the body, and that was something Wei Zhao could not do in his stead.

Wei Zhao roused the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art and began repairing the meridians within Uncle Qing's body. The energy inside him poured in an unbroken stream into Uncle Qing, swiftly mending his damaged internal organs. Wei Zhao intended to repair the internal injuries first, then the external ones.

Once the internal injuries were healed, Uncle Qing would wake, and whether or not he could get out of bed hardly mattered for the time being.

Half an hour later, Wei Zhao let out a long breath. Repairing Uncle Qing's damaged internal organs had cost him roughly a third of his energy. In treating Uncle Qing he had held nothing back, unlike with Liu Bojia—here he let the repair of the internal organs run to completion.

Uncle Qing had lain abed long enough. The moment his organs were mended, he slowly came to. Seeing Wei Zhao before the bed, he was briefly taken aback, then said urgently, "Mr. Lin, go save the young lady and Xiaoshu at once! They have been taken!"

"Ha, they have already been rescued," Wei Zhao said with a smile. He had not expected Uncle Qing to be so loyal—to have sacrificed himself for Yaoyao and Xiaoshu, and then upon waking, his first words were still a plea to save them!

"Phew..." Uncle Qing let out a long breath. "Good, good! Mr. Lin, was it you who saved me? Of course—it must have been. Here I am asking what I already know! Thank you!"

"Ha, Uncle Qing, that is no way to talk. We are not strangers, and you were hurt on Yaoyao's and Xiaoshu's account. How could I leave you to it?" Wei Zhao smiled as though it were nothing. He did not count healing Uncle Qing's wounds as any great merit.

"For so great a kindness, words of thanks are not enough!" Uncle Qing nodded. "By the way, Mr. Lin..."

"Call me Xiaoyi. Uncle Chu does," Wei Zhao said, cutting him off.

"Very well, then, Xiaoyi it shall be." Uncle Qing hesitated a moment, then agreed. "Xiaoyi, I have long wondered—that your true qi can actually be used to heal another. You should know that except among brothers of the same school, whose true qi may be used on one another, when it comes from someone not of one's own school, true qi does no good to the recipient—it only does harm!"

"I know," Wei Zhao said. "But I am rather a special case." He was well aware of what Uncle Qing meant: once a different strain of true qi entered the body of an internal-school expert, a great deal more true qi had to be expended to refine it away—otherwise it could even put one's life at risk. That was precisely why Wei Zhao had driven his own energy into the Medicine King's body without first converting it through the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art; such true qi, far from serving the Medicine King, would only have made his injuries worse.

"Hmm... are you from the Sun family?" Qing Bo hesitated for a moment, then asked.

"The Sun family? Which Sun family?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback.

"Aren't you..." Seeing Wei Zhao's stunned expression, Qing Bo knew he had guessed wrong, and shook his head. "Right. The Sun family couldn't possibly heal so many people at once. Their true qi can only serve one person, or a few at most..."

"What do you mean by that?" Wei Zhao was beginning to take an interest. "Qing Bo, are you saying that this Sun family of yours has the same ability as mine?"

It was the first time Wei Zhao had ever heard that another clan possessed a power like his, one that could use true qi to repair another's injuries.

"You could put it that way." Qing Bo nodded, a look of reminiscence coming into his eyes. "In the martial world there are internal schools and external schools, but there are also healing clans and injury-mending clans. These two kinds of clans are, in fact, support-type clans, much like the doctors and priests in online games. In fact, many of the ideas in today's online games come from the legends of these clans..."