CHAPTER 283: CHAPTER 283: A THOUSAND SHOULDN’TS, TEN THOUSAND SHOULDN’TS - 1

"I’ll be seventy in a few more months," Butler Liu answered upon hearing Su Xuan’s question. He couldn’t help but feel puzzled, wondering why Su Xuan was asking.

It doesn’t add up! Su Xuan muttered to himself. The apparition he had seen was dressed in Ming Dynasty attire from four or five hundred years ago. If that apparition was really Butler Liu, then he definitely wasn’t telling the truth.

"Liu, is there anyone in your family who looks a lot like you?" Su Xuan asked. "Like a twin brother or something, who also worked here as a butler?"

"No, there isn’t," Butler Liu said. "My brothers are all quite ugly and certainly not presentable enough to be butlers."

"Alright," Su Xuan said, waving his hand. He knew he wasn’t going to get any useful answers from this line of questioning. "Liu, help me test something."

With that, he asked Butler Liu to fetch some knives from the kitchen, while he himself took the iron rod and stood in the courtyard.

"Master, test what?" Butler Liu asked, walking over with the knives.

"Test this!" Su Xuan extended the iron rod in front of him and told Butler Liu to strike it with all his might.

Holding a deboning knife, Butler Liu struck the iron rod, his heart filled with doubt.

CLANG!

The deboning knife instantly snapped in two!

"This..." Butler Liu’s eyes filled with astonishment. "Master, this iron rod of yours is interesting. It seems... it seems..."

He didn’t know how to describe the feeling. The iron rod in Su Xuan’s hand was clearly heavy and cumbersome, yet it behaved like a legendary weapon that could slice a hair blown against it. The deboning knife, though made of sturdy, fine steel, had shattered against it as if it were incredibly fragile.

"Try again."

Su Xuan had Butler Liu take a heavier meat cleaver, but the result was the same. The moment it struck the iron rod, it broke as if it were made of glass.

"This really is interesting!" Su Xuan’s eyes shone with excitement. "Liu, you hold the rod this time. I’ll try!"

"Alright!"

Butler Liu took the iron rod and held it horizontally in front of him. But as soon as he gripped it, a strange sensation washed over him. It felt as if the iron rod was repelling him, refusing to be held.

CLANG!

Su Xuan took a knife and struck the rod, but this time, the blade didn’t break.

CLANG! CLANG!

He tried a few more times, blunting the blade’s edge, but it still didn’t break.

This scene stunned them both.

"Master, there’s something mystical about this rod!" Butler Liu said, handing it back to Su Xuan. "Why does it have no effect when I hold it? Where did you get this? What a treasure!"

"I picked it up on Zhuilong Mountain," Su Xuan said simply, then looked at his own palm, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The rust on the iron rod had given him a small cut, and he had bled a little.

Could it be my blood? Is that why it only works for me? Su Xuan murmured to himself.

No one could give him an answer. The fact he had verified was the only answer he had.

But he couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it. He had confirmed that he’d obtained something incredible, and he was already bursting with joy.

「Meanwhile」

Du Zilong and his men had arrived at a hospital, rushing Du Yuanzheng, who had been poisoned by a snake, into the emergency room.

"Doctor, our brother here was bitten by a snake while trying to catch it for a meal! Please, you have to save him!"

Du Zilong didn’t dare tell the doctor the truth—he was too ashamed—so he quickly concocted a lie.

"What kind of snake was it?" the doctor asked.

"Just a shiny green one."

"It looked rather cute."

"The kind a little girl would love."

The other disciples of Du’s Tai Chi all spoke at once, but none of them could name the snake.

"All of you, please wait outside. I need to test his blood."

The doctor sent Du Zilong and the others out and drew a blood sample from Du Yuanzheng. When the results came in, the doctor was stunned. It wasn’t just snake venom; Du Yuanzheng’s blood also contained toxins from scorpions, centipedes, geckos, and more.

"This is quite a challenge," the doctor muttered to himself and immediately got to work.

Fortunately, thanks to advanced medical treatments, Du Yuanzheng was out of mortal danger by two in the morning, his life saved.

"Doctor, is he fully recovered?"

When Du Zilong saw Du Yuanzheng again, he was still in a coma and hooked up to a respirator. He couldn’t help but ask the doctor. As for himself, his head was wrapped in gauze, but he wasn’t seriously hurt; Su Xuan had held back. He hadn’t gotten his head wrapped at the hospital, instead buying the gauze from a pharmacy to save money.

"Of course not!" The doctor said, tossing his rubber gloves into a trash bin. "Several of his organs are on the verge of failure. For now, he has to rely on the respirator to recover slowly."

"Then when will he make a full recovery?"

"About ten to fifteen days, more or less."

"Okay, that’s good. That’s good!"

Du Zilong breathed a sigh of relief and stayed by Du Yuanzheng’s bedside. His disciples waited outside the door.

"This is the intensive care unit. You can have a quick look, but then you need to leave," the doctor said, glancing at them. "Come back and stay with him tomorrow after he’s transferred to a regular ward."

"Okay, okay. Thank you for everything, Doctor!"

Du Zilong waved to his disciples, and they left. Before leaving, showing he understood how things worked, he tried to slip the doctor a red envelope, but it was refused.

「Around three in the morning」

The hospital quieted down. Nurses made their rounds, paying special attention to Du Yuanzheng’s room.

"His condition is stable."

"Yeah, he should regain consciousness in the morning."

"Dr. Li said he got bitten trying to catch a snake. He had centipede and scorpion toxins in him, too!"

"That’s terrifying! How could he dare try to eat those things?"

"I know, right? Just looking at those creatures scares me to death!"

The two nurses observed Du Yuanzheng’s condition for a moment, chatted briefly, and then closed the door and left.

Not long after the door closed, a figure in a white coat pushed it open and entered, stopping at Du Yuanzheng’s bedside.

WHEEZE! WHEEZE!

Du Yuanzheng’s breathing was heavy and labored through the respirator.

"Brother, just consider yourself unlucky today," the figure in the white coat whispered, their face hidden by a mask. "You should never have gone to that kid’s house to cause trouble. Sorry about this."

Then, the figure reached out and removed Du Yuanzheng’s respirator.

WHEEZE! WHEEZE!

Du Yuanzheng’s breathing instantly grew heavier. His hand trembled as it rose, as if trying to get the respirator back.

The figure in the white coat simply watched him quietly, waiting for him to "naturally" die.