Journey to the West: A clone sacrifices to the heavens, possessing boundless magical power.

Chapter 120 Unveiling the List

In the Kingdom of Baoxiang, in front of the notice wall in the inner city.

Yun Zhongzi stood on the periphery of the crowd, holding a worn-out whisk.

A bright yellow notice was posted on the wall, with two armored soldiers standing on the left and right, their expressions grim.

Yun Zhongzi listened intently to the discussions of the people around him and quickly pieced together the whole story.

Lei Zhen, the Grand General who had retired from the court, had fought alongside the king in his early years and was once wounded in the heart by a poisoned arrow.

For years, he has been kept alive by the imperial physicians with strong medicine, but now the poison has attacked his heart, and his hidden illness has completely erupted. He is now on the verge of death.

The General's Mansion issued a proclamation, seeking renowned doctors from all over the land. Anyone who could cure the General would be rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold.

However, after the notice was posted for three days, the several famous doctors who answered the call went in but were all at a loss. Two of them were even beaten to death by the enraged Lei family guards for using the wrong medicine.

Now, this notice has become a death warrant, and no one dares to take it down.

Yun Zhongzi parted the crowd and walked straight to the notice.

"Master, this is no joke. If you peel it off and it doesn't cure the disease, you'll lose your head!" A passerby kindly reminded him.

Yun Zhongzi remained expressionless and swept his whisk across the ground.

An invisible gust of wind swept up, and the notice tore off with a ripping sound, landing steadily in his hand.

Upon seeing this, the two soldiers guarding the notice immediately gripped their sword hilts and stepped forward: "You old Taoist priest, how dare you accept this notice? Do you know the rules?"

"Since I have accepted the challenge, I can naturally cure the illness."

Yun Zhongzi's tone was calm and devoid of any warmth. "Lead the way."

Seeing his extraordinary bearing, the soldiers dared not neglect him and immediately brought out horses to lead the way.

The General's Mansion is located at the foot of the Imperial City, covering a vast area. Armored soldiers stand guard outside the mansion gates, making it heavily fortified.

Yun Zhongzi was led into the front hall.

Seven or eight elderly men carrying medicine boxes stood in the hall, all with worried expressions and sighing softly.

In the very center, a middle-aged man dressed in casual clothes with a fierce look on his face was pacing back and forth. This man was Lei Zhen's eldest son, Lei Bao.

"Young Master, the Taoist priest has accepted the challenge," a soldier reported.

Lei Bao stopped and looked Yun Zhongzi up and down, his brows furrowed. "A Taoist priest? My father suffers from arrow poison attacking his heart, not from being possessed by an evil spirit! You know the arts of traditional Chinese medicine?"

"I know a little," Yun Zhongzi replied.

"He dares to accept the challenge even with only a smattering of knowledge!" A glint of savagery flashed in Lei Bao's eyes. "Men, throw him out! If he's a charlatan, break both his legs!"

Two fierce-looking guards immediately stepped forward and reached out to grab Yun Zhongzi's shoulders.

Yun Zhongzi stood still, without even lifting his eyelids.

Just as the two men's hands were about to touch his Taoist robe...

Yun Zhongzi's spiritual power, which was at the early stage of the Spirit Refinement realm, shifted slightly, and a counter-force emanated from his body.

"Bang! Bang!"

The two burly guards were struck as if by a heavy blow. With a scream, they flew backwards for three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and crashed heavily onto the bluestone slabs in the courtyard, unable to get up for a long time.

The lobby fell into a deathly silence.

The veteran military doctors were so frightened that their faces turned ashen, and they all retreated.

Lei Bao's pupils contracted sharply, and his hand instinctively went to the hilt of the sword at his waist, as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Young master, I am here to save people, not to fight with ordinary mortals."

Yun Zhongzi flicked his whisk and strode into the inner room. "If we delay any longer, even a god couldn't save your father."

Lei Bao gritted his teeth, loosened his grip on his sword hilt, and quickly followed: "If you truly possess skill, Daoist, the entire Lei family will be loyal to you. But if you're merely relying on your limited cultivation to toy with the Lei family, I, Lei Bao, will risk my life to capture you!"

Yun Zhongzi ignored his threat and pushed open the door to enter the inner room.

A strong smell of medicine and death wafted over us.

On the large bed lay an old man who was as thin as a rake. His face was purplish-black, and his breathing was faint. The clothes around his chest were undone, and his heart was beating very weakly, as if it might stop at any moment.

Yun Zhongzi walked to the bedside, extended his right index and middle fingers, and touched the old man's chest three inches above his heart.

Lei Bao was about to ask a question, but he swallowed the words back.

A wisp of cyan light emanated from Yun Zhongzi's fingertip.

This is pure, ultimate spiritual energy.

In this world, most diseases of mortals are caused by the depletion of qi and blood and the imbalance of the five elements.

For cultivators, a mere wisp of spiritual energy is enough to perform a devastating repair on a mortal's body.

"go."

Yun Zhongzi uttered a single word.

That wisp of cyan spiritual energy transformed into a thin, thread-like cyan line, which directly entered Lei Zhen's heart meridian.

Lei Zhen's originally weak heartbeat paused abruptly the moment it came into contact with spiritual energy, and then began to beat again with a strong and powerful rhythm.

"This—" Lei Bao's eyes widened.

Yun Zhongzi did not stop, silently reciting the method of the "Green Wood Nourishing Spirit Technique".

Using that wisp of spiritual power as a guide, he forcibly took over the circulation of Qi and blood within Lei Zhen's body.

The spiritual energy flowed along the meridians, and wherever it passed, the toxins and stagnant blood that had accumulated for decades melted away as quickly as ice and snow meeting boiling water.

Yun Zhongzi flipped his wrist, changing his fingers into a palm, and lightly patted Lei Zhen's chest.

"puff!"

Lei Zhen suddenly sat up on the bed and spat out a mouthful of foul-smelling black blood.

The black blood fell onto the carpet, making a hissing, corrosive sound.

After spitting out the black blood, the purplish-black color on Lei Zhen's face faded at a visible speed, replaced by a healthy rosy glow.

His previously withered muscles seemed to have regained their vitality.

Cleanse the body and remove the marrow!

Although it was only a rudimentary cleansing brought about by a trace of spiritual energy, it was enough to transform a mortal.

Yun Zhongzi withdrew his hand, rested the whisk on his arm, and took a step back.

Lei Zhen gasped for breath, feeling the long-lost lightness and strength within his body. His eyes were filled with disbelief. He threw off the covers and stood up directly from the bed.

"Father!" Lei Bao knelt down with a thud, his tiger-like eyes filled with tears.

Lei Zhen stepped past his son, his gaze fixed intently on the composed Taoist priest in blue robes before him.

In his early years leading troops, he had heard of immortals who could ride the clouds, but he had never seen one in person.

Such methods today, without the use of medicine or skin, can bring the dead back to life with a wave of the hand. What else could this be but the work of immortals?

"thump."

The once all-powerful General Who Protects the Nation knelt down without hesitation and kowtowed deeply to Yun Zhongzi.

"This old man, Lei Zhen, thanks you, Immortal Master, for saving my life!"

Yun Zhongzi accepted the bow calmly, his tone remaining indifferent: "General, your worldly ties are not yet severed, and your life is not yet over. I am merely going with the flow."

Lei Zhen raised his head, his eyes burning with fervor: "The venerable immortal's descent into my humble abode is a testament to the accumulated virtue of my ancestors! I will immediately go to the palace to meet His Majesty and beg him to appoint you as the Imperial Preceptor. You may take as much gold and silver as you wish from the Lei family's treasury!"

For a general who once held great power, wealth and power are a thing of the past; only longevity and a chance to ascend to immortality are what he desires most.

"I am a recluse, not attached to worldly things, and have no interest in court intrigue."

Yun Zhongzi flatly refused.

Lei Zhen's face showed urgency: "What does the immortal master need? As long as the Lei family can do it, we will do anything, even die for it!"