# Chapter 897: Hope (Part 2)
The central area of the Yun Family was utterly silent. Yun Qinghong, unable to rest easy, had even set up a massive isolation barrier, making the entire Yun Family appear as if they were facing a great enemy.
Inside the main hall, only three people remained: Xiao Yaohou, Yun Che, and Yun Gu.
"Medical Saint Senior, she..."
"No need to explain." Yun Gu smiled, not letting Yun Che explain Xiao Yaohou's condition. He extended a pair of slightly pale hands. "Let this old man first take her pulse. Xiao Yaohou, please rest assured, this old man always administers pulses to women from a distance using transmitted energy. Just relax your breathing."
"I am in your debt." Xiao Yaohou glanced at Yun Che and spoke indifferently. From her expression, it was clear she held not a shred of hope. Because the matter of her having only three years of life remaining was something the Golden Crow Soul Spirit had personally stated.
If even the Golden Crow Soul Spirit had declared it incurable and irreversible, how could mere mortals interfere?
Yun Gu said no more. He lightly closed his aged eyes, formed a peculiar gesture with his fingers, and a gentle stream of profound energy flowed into Xiao Yaohou's meridians.
Yun Che held his breath on the side, his entire body as still as if nailed to the ground, afraid of making even the slightest sound.
Unexpectedly, the pulse-diagnosis time was quite short. After only a dozen or so breaths, Yun Gu slowly opened his eyes and lowered his hand.
"Senior... how is it?" Yun Che quickly asked.
"..." Yun Gu was silent for a long while before speaking slowly: "She stubbornly pursued a power too great for her own profound veins to bear, thus being forced to use her life vein as a common carrier. Now, her life vein has already withered by nearly half. If this continues, within two years, it will be completely exhausted."
"..." Yun Gu's words finally caused a ripple in Xiao Yaohou's gaze. Because this was a secret known only to her and Yun Che, and it involved the power of the divine path. This old man with only a mortal body, using only a dozen breaths of long-distance pulse diagnosis, had described the situation with perfect accuracy.
"That's right, exactly." Yun Che nodded quickly. "During that period, for a special reason, she forcibly endured power her profound veins could not withstand in order to rapidly gain powerful profound energy. The consequence was a remaining lifespan of only about three years... Medical Saint Senior, do you have any way to save her?"
"If the life essence carried by the life vein is compared to a red candle, then a normal person's red candle burns slowly along the wick. But hers, because the life vein was forcibly made into a power carrier, is like being thrown into a sea of fire, with her life essence being rapidly incinerated. It concerns the life vein, and also concerns life essence... Difficult, difficult indeed." Yun Gu sighed heavily.
"...Even Senior has no way?" Yun Che asked with a heavy heart.
Yun Gu shook his head, but smiled faintly. "This old man only said it was difficult. I did not say there was no way to treat it."
Yun Gu's words were like celestial music to Yun Che's ears. He lunged forward to Yun Gu's side, saying with immense excitement: "Senior, you... you mean... you mean you have a way to save her?"
Xiao Yaohou, who had been sitting motionless, also slowly stood up. Though her jade-like face still held a majestic mien, deep within her gaze, something was trembling.
Yun Gu's expression turned serious. He stood up and paced slowly, appearing deep in thought. Yun Che, who was a complete demon-god in front of others, now followed behind Yun Gu like an obedient child listening to instruction, hanging on his every word: "Exchanging one's life for a short-term explosive increase in profound power is not a rare occurrence. Though the methods differ, the underlying principles are roughly the same. Some pay the price of severe damage to their profound veins, some damage their essence blood, and others change the connected energy channels between their profound veins and life vein, allowing life essence to drain at extreme speed, enabling the life vein and profound vein to jointly bear power that the profound vein alone cannot withstand."
Yun Che nodded repeatedly. Xiao Yaohou belonged to the third type. Though she knew the consequences, for the sake of revenge and to reclaim the power and dignity of the Demon Emperor bloodline, she had acted without hesitation.
"However, Xiao Yaohou's condition is a thousand times more extreme than any case this old man has ever seen in his life." Yun Gu sighed in admiration.
"Though the life vein and profound vein are originally connected, it is only a physical connection, with their energy channels being different. But in Xiao Yaohou's case, the energy channels of her life vein and profound vein have completely merged into one. It seems the power she forcibly bore back then must have been extremely overwhelming. If they were only slightly connected, one could discard all profound power to extend life. But since her life vein and profound vein have completely fused into one, even if all her profound power were abolished, she would only live a few months longer at most."
Yun Che nodded again. If abolishing her profound power could stop Xiao Yaohou's life essence loss, why would Yun Che have been agonizing over this until now? With him around, even if Xiao Yaohou became a cripple, what did it matter?
Yun Gu glanced at Yun Che and said with a smile: "Young friend, it seems that everything this old man just said was already clear to you."
Yun Che nodded and said: "This junior also understands a bit of medical theory. I have been more aware of her condition than anyone. In my humble opinion, the only method I could think of to save her was to desperately increase her lifespan. But no matter how hard I tried, even if I exhausted all the available resources of the Illusion Demon Realm, it would only be a drop in the bucket."
Back when he had asked Mo Li about it, the two methods she had told him were: one, wait until his Great Dao Pagoda Art reached a sufficiently high level to forcibly extend Xiao Yaohou's lifespan; two, find the Primordial Chaos Life-Death Seal to grant Xiao Yaohou infinite lifespan that would never run out. Both of these fell under the category Yun Che had described.
Yun Gu's footsteps halted, and he said with a smile: "Then have you ever considered another method? First, drain all her profound power completely, and then re-separate the energy channels of her life vein and profound vein."
Yun Che was startled, then said: "If the energy channels of her life vein and profound vein could be re-separated, that would naturally be the most perfect solution. But... this is simply impossible. Her life vein and profound vein are not just partially connected—they are completely fused as one. If one tries to forcibly separate them strand by strand, not only would it be more difficult than ascending to heaven, but even the slightest mistake would cause a massive disruption of their energy channels... and instantaneous death."
"Could it be..." Yun Che's spirits suddenly lifted: "Senior, do you know a method to separate the profound vein and life vein?"
Yun Gu neither nodded nor shook his head, but continued: "The human body can be seen as an independent and complete small world. Since it is complete and independent, it cannot escape the principle of cause and effect. If it can be brought together, then it can surely be reversed. If they can merge, then they can surely be separated. This is also the foundational principle in the medical scriptures this old man has studied."
This was also the foundational medical theory Yun Che had learned from Yun Gu. Put simply, it meant there was no incurable disease in the world—if there was, it was only because the cure had not yet been found.
"If this had been a few months ago, this old man would absolutely not have been able to separate a life vein and profound vein whose energy channels had been forcibly fused by external force. But just three months ago, this old man finally achieved enlightenment on a passage of medical scripture that had puzzled me for decades..."
Yun Gu seemed to have immersed himself in his own medical discourse, reciting involuntarily: "At the beginning of life, the cycles draw from the void, the sealed channels follow their pattern, the paradox of life and death, thus yin within yin, yang within yang, yang within yin, yin within yang..."
"It ends at the beginning, blooms at the peak, the ebbing and flowing of human breath corresponds to the way of the heavens..." As he listened to Yun Gu's soft recitation, Yun Che's consciousness gradually grew hazy. Before his eyes appeared the scene of his master teaching him to recite the "Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture," and he involuntarily began to chant along.
Until Yun Gu stopped, Yun Che was still somewhat dazedly continuing: "Calm yet tranquil, chaotic yet turbid, yin within yin follows the path of life, yang within yang wages fierce battle..."
When he suddenly snapped back to awareness, Yun Gu's face had lost all its calm, and he was staring at Yun Che in shock: "Young friend, you... why do you know the Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture?"
"..." Yun Che opened his mouth, then had to forcefully explain: "This junior... when I studied medicine back in the day, the text I cultivated was the Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture. Could it be that Senior also cultivates the Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture? What a coincidence—it seems this junior and Senior share a deep fate. It appears there is more than one copy of the Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture in this world. However, this junior's attainment in the medical path is shallow. Though I have thoroughly read the Heavenly Dao Medical Scripture, I cannot comprehend many of its passages. The passage Senior just recited, in particular, I do not understand at all. Could it be that Senior has already achieved complete mastery?"
This passage of medical scripture—not only he, but also his master Yun Gu back then had never been able to solve it, right up until his death, never penetrating its mysteries.
Could it be that in this life, he had already penetrated it?
"I see." Though still astonished, Yun Gu did not press further. He continued: "This passage of medical scripture contains the fundamental principles of all the energies within the human body. This old man studied it for half a lifetime before finally realizing that its key lies in the concepts of 'yin within yin, yang within yang' and 'yang within yang, yin within yin.' If one comprehends this principle, then separating the energy channels of the profound vein and life vein, though the process will be difficult and lengthy, is absolutely not impossible."
Though he did not understand at all the true medical principles contained in that passage of scripture, since Yun Gu had spoken such words, it proved that Xiao Yaohou truly could be saved.
Yun Che was overjoyed beyond measure and said with great excitement: "Please, Senior, apply your divine skill and save Xiao Yaohou."
Yun Gu, however, shook his head slightly: "This old man is, after all, a man. Though I know the principle, I cannot personally perform it. I can only pass the knowledge on to others."
Yun Che quickly knelt on one knee, speaking each word with gravity: "Your junior Yun Che wishes to worship Senior as my master. I beg Senior to grant this request."
"Oh, hohoho." Yun Gu laughed lightly and said: "Young friend, rise first. This old man said I cannot perform it, not because of the difference in gender, but for another reason entirely. As for taking you as a disciple, that absolutely cannot be done. Your gaze is clear and free of evil thoughts, but your body carries an extremely heavy aura of slaughter and blood. You may become a hero of an era in the future, but you are absolutely unsuited for the cultivation of the medical path."
"..." Yun Che stood up, his face dim with shame in his heart. Yes, he could never go back to the state of mind he had when he traveled the world with his master in those days... he could never go back.
The Yun Che of those days had pursued the medical path single-mindedly, his greatest wish being to surpass his master in medical skill, to earn his master's praise, and to save more people... He was a person from a completely different world than the Yun Che of now.
Now, he truly could not hope for Yun Gu to take him as a disciple again.
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[Ugh, I was just trying to randomly make up some nonsense, and it turned into a whole chapter?]
[Forget it, let's just leave it like this...]