The next day, Fang Qiu and Jiang Miaoyu arrived at the conference room in the hotel on time.
“Today, we’re going to record the fifth episode, and 15 of the 20 contestants will advance.”
Director Li Huawen said, “The subject of this episode is decocting medicinal herbs!”
Hearing the subject, everyone was stunned.
Decocting medicinal herbs?
What a tough subject!
In medical skills, common sense, diagnostic skills, these contestants were not weak and were very confident.
But decocting medicinal herbs was a different skill.
There were as many other ways of decocting medicinal herbs as there were people in the world.
One more drop of water, one degree lower the temperature, the medicine would be completely different.
Clearly, the program group was going to screen and eliminate contestants based on nuance!
“During the decocting period, the three judges will always pay attention to your decocting techniques and finally grade the medicine according to its efficacy, so as to determine the ranking,” said Director Li Huawen.
When they heard the rules, the contestants thought it was as what they had expected—the judges would pay attention not only to the way the medicinal herbs were decocted but also to the property of the medicine.
Then everybody felt the pressure.
As long as the competition started, they must do their best and concentrate on every step!
Subsequently, under the arrangement of the program group, 20 contestants took a bus and came to the empty factory building where yesterday’s competition was held.
When they returned, they found that the 30 rooms that were temporarily built in the factory yesterday had been demolished and replaced with three square arrays of stoves. Each square array consisted of six stoves arranged in an arc.
Next to each stove was everything needed to decoct medicinal herbs.
Stoves were spaced more than a meter apart.
At the front of each square array was a set of tables and chairs for the judges.
“How come there are only 18 stoves?”
“Three judges, six contestants for each?”
At the sight of the stoves, the contestants began to discuss.
“As you can see,” said Li Zhengtang, pointing to the three stove arrays, “since Fang Qiu and Luo Jie have advanced to the top 15, they don’t need to participate in this round, so there are 18 contestants in this round.”
At his words, everyone nodded.
No one questioned Fang Qiu and Luo Jie.
After all, the two had shown their powerful abilities yesterday. Since they were so good at processing and distinguishing herbs, their basic skill of decocting medicinal herbs couldn’t be questioned.
So, asking them to participate in the competition would only consume the energy of the three judges. It would be better to keep them out.
“Ready, recording begins.”
Director Li Huawen shouted, “All the contestants are free to choose the seats.”
Hearing the director’s words, the 18 people spread out under the lenses of many cameramen and began to choose stoves.
A little while later, when all the contestants had finished selecting stoves, the three judges freely took a seat.
“The competition begins.”
With the director’s command, the competition of decocting medicinal herbs officially began.
But in this kind of competition, no one was in a hurry. Everyone began to decoct medicinal herbs step by step with great care.
Meanwhile, the three judges intently watched the contestants that they were responsible for.
As for Fang Qiu and Luo Jie, they didn’t get involved in the whole process. They just watched from the side, and occasionally a cameraman would shoot them.
The final result didn’t come out until three p.m.
As the descendant of a Chinese Medicine family, Jiang Miaoyu successfully made it into the national top 15.
In addition to her, Gu Shaoyu, Leng Wenzhuo, Li Sanxiao, and Chen Ziju, the descendants of the four Chinese Medicine families also undoubtedly entered the national top 15.
The rest of the qualifiers were all experts.
There was no doubt that these 15 were the most elite members in the young generation since they had emerged from so many people in the country to become the national top 15 today.
No one was easy to deal with.
For both Jiang Miaoyu and Fang Qiu, the challenges ahead were going to get bigger.
“The recording is over.”
Finally, after identifying the top 15 in the country, Director Li Huawen announced that the recording was over, saying, “The next recording will be in two weeks, and we will send you a text message next week to tell you the specific situation. Now dismiss. Those who need to go back to the hotel can take the program group’s bus, and those who don’t can leave now.”
Then all the people dispersed.
Fang Qiu and Jiang Miaoyu didn’t go back to the hotel with the program group.
After the other people left, Fang Qiu took Jiang Miaoyu to stroll around the downtown area of Bozhou and ate many local special snacks. Then he took Jiang Miaoyu to an amusement park and stayed there until the evening before returning to the hotel.
The next day, Fang Qiu returned to Jiangjing with Jiang Miaoyu.
Once back to school, Jiang Miaoyu went to Chu Yunyun to report.
Fang Qiu went back to the dorm, took off his backpack, and headed for the library.
When he came to the library room, Fang Qiu smiled and shouted, “Mr. Xu, I’m back.”
“Oh.”
Sitting at his desk, Xu Miaolin glanced up at Fang Qiu and asked blankly, “What are you doing here?”
“I’m ready to take the examination for doctors of brightness,” Fang Qiu replied.
“Well.”
Xu Miaolin, not at all surprised, nodded and said, “I was going to ask you to attend the examination of doctors of brightness when the Young Chinese Medicine Doctor was over. But since you have mentioned it, start preparing now.”
“Okay.”
Fang Qiu nodded, and said, “Why don’t you pick a field for me?”
At his words, Xu Miaolin frowned and pondered.
Xu Miaolin had previously explained to Fang Qiu about doctors of brightness and the assessment methods.
Doctors of brightness were those who had learned about the basics of Chinese Medicine and were properly trained by real masters; they had inherited their teachers’ knowledge; they understood pathogenesis and could diagnose comprehensively and dialectically with outstanding understanding and capability in some field.
For a craftsman doctor to become a doctor of brightness, he must memorize at lease three classics of one field and pass the test drafted by five doctors of brightness in the same field from the Provincial Chinese Medicine Association with no error.
Actually, Fang Qiu had been planning to take the examination for doctors of brightness for a long time.
However, he had never decided which field to choose. That was why it had been dragging on.
Now, Fang Qiu threw that choice at Xu Miaolin.
He wanted Xu Miaolin to advise him.
After all, within this year, his strength in Chinese Medicine was linked to Xu Miaolin’s future happiness. In order to make Fang Qiu a highly-skilled doctor, Xu Miaolin would try every means to teach Fang Qiu the best things.
Although Xu Miaolin had done the same thing before, the difference was that Xu Miaolin now felt a little more eager.
“Well…”
While pondering, Xu Miaolin muttered before continuing, “Then choose ‘Earth-replenishing Field’ of Li Dongyuan, one of the four great doctors in the Jin and Yuan dynasties.”
The Earth-replenishing Field?
Fang Qiu froze for a moment, and information about Li Dongyuan and the Earth-replenishing Field came to his mind immediately.
Li Dongyuan was one of the four great doctors in the Jin and Yuan dynasties in the history of Chinese Medicine; he was the founder of the theories about spleen and stomach in Chinese Medicine; he emphasized the important roles the spleen and stomach played in human bodies. Because the spleen and the stomach belonged to the central earth in the five elements, his doctrine was known as the “Earth-replenishing Field”.
Li Dongyuan thought that spleen and stomach were the source of vitality and the motive force of human life activities and emphasized the important roles of spleen and stomach in human life activities.
“Yes.”
Xu Miaolin nodded and said, “The spleen and the stomach are the sources of human life activities, and diseases often arise from the two parts. What’s more, modern people don’t pay attention to diet, and their spleen and stomach are easy to have problems, so it is more appropriate to choose the Earth-replenishing Field.”
At this point, Xu Miaolin began writing a book list for Fang Qiu.
“Clarification of Perplexities About Internal and External Damage, Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach, Secret Book of Orchid Chamber, Medical Invention, Dongyuan Prescriptions, Keys of Living. And Records of Typhoid, The Book on Baby-protecting, Main Points for Treating Typhoid, Dongyuan’s Tips, Prescriptions on Curing, Arguments on Medicine, The Treasure Book of Medicine Use, Keys of the Five Meridians, Treatise on Ulcer and Sores, Prescriptions for Women, and Drug Properties in Verse.”
After finishing it, Xu Miaolin patiently listed the locations of these books in the library.
“These are the works of Li Dongyuan.”
As he handed the list to Fang Qiu, he added, “Get these books out and read them thoughtfully; in addition, the examination for doctors of brightness is required to apply in advance, at least 10 days ahead of time. Tell me when you’re ready.”
“Got it.”
Fang Qiu thought about it and said, “Well, the end of the month, the 30th.”
At his words, Xu Miaolin mentally calculated the time.
There were 16 days left before the end of the month.
“Only half a month to go, do you have confidence?” Xu Miaolin asked.
“I have to be confident.”
Fang Qiu grinned and said, “You know whose student I am.”
“Hmph.”
Xu Miaolin rolled his eyes at Fang Qiu and replied, “That’s the truth!”
Fang Qiu spread his hands.
“All right, you go and prepare it.”
Xu Miaolin waved his hand and said, “If there’s something you don’t understand, just ask me. As for the other matters about attending the examination, I will deal with them all.”
“Thank you, Mr. Xu.”
Fang Qiu thanked him and walked into the library with the book list. Then he found all the books on the list and carried them back to the dormitory.
As soon as he got back to the dormitory, he heard Sun Hao’s strange cry.
“Oh, my God!”
“What?”
Fang Qiu looked at Sun Hao inexplicably.
“Hey, you’re strong enough, but why are you still so eager to learn? All of a sudden, you’ve got so many books. Is it because of the pressure the show put on you that you came back to study?” Sun Hao asked.
Fang Qiu rolled his eyes at Sun Hao without explanation.
“Oh, by the way,” Zhu Benzheng turned to look at Fang Qiu and said, “The youngest, you just came back. I’ve got news for you.”
“What’s it?” Fang Qiu asked.
“Apprenticeship training model has been in practice for half a year. The school has announced that from next week, students who have taken part in the model will be assessed. There will be a school-wide assessment.
“This is like a school-wide competition of the Young Chinese Medicine Doctor.
“The school is going to compare the performance of the average student with that of the student in this model to see how well the apprenticeship training model works.”
Speaking of this, Zhu Benzheng beamed and asked, “This is the model that you put forward to benefit the whole school. Do you have faith?”
“Of course I do.”
Fang Qiu immediately replied, “As long as the teacher is serious, this method is definitely better than the normal teaching method.”
Although he said so, this was not Fang Qiu’s activity.
All he had to do was concentrate on preparing for the examination for doctors of brightness.
Besides, the next day was Friday. His scheduled battle with Qingfeng Jian Li Chengtian would be taking place in the evening!
Although there were many famous scenic spots in Jiangjing, which were well-known in the whole country, there were not many tourists on weekdays.
This week, however, the normally quiet city had suddenly become lively.
For some reason, every day a large number of people came here by high-speed trains, trains, planes, and buses.
As soon as they arrived in Jiangjing, they rushed to the suburb.
Their destination was Elder Yi’s manor in the suburb of the city!
Apparently, these people were here to watch the big battle between the mysterious man John Doe and Qingfeng Jian Li Chengtian.
That was why Elder Yi had been so busy in recent days.
Martial arts practitioners and Martial Superiors from all over the country, no matter whether they were experts or not, went to his manor as soon as they arrived in Jiangjing.
In order to greet these martial arts practitioners, Elder Yi especially drew a map and posted it on the Wulin online forum for everyone to watch in case they got lost.
He had expected only a few dozen people to come from other provinces.
But to his surprise, dozens of people came on the first day, dozens more on the second day, more on the third day, and more on the fourth day.
By a rough calculation, hundreds of people from other provinces had come.
Most of them were Martial Superiors, and few were martial arts practitioners.
As the owner of the manor, Elder Yi naturally had to take care of these people.
But these people did not care at all about Elder Yi’s reception of them; when they met Elder Yi, they all asked him to save a place for themselves; some even asked Elder Yi to give them a room and let them live in the manor.
Of course, Elder Yi would not allow them to live in the manor, and he dared not give anyone a place.
Everything would be determined by the order in which people arrived on the night of the battle.
Of course, Elder Yi mentioned the conditions of the entry into the manor.
In addition to being strong enough, these people had to pay an entrance fee each.
There was no hard rule for the fee.
But the demand for strength was much higher than before.
Only the Martial Superiors could enter the manor.
After all, only Martial Superiors could be enlightened by the two men’s battle, and the martial arts practitioners could not see anything; even if the latter got into the manor, they would not have any harvest.
Eventually, after Elder Yi issued the rules, everyone settled down in the suburb.
Then, almost all of the hotels in the suburb were fully booked.
Under such circumstances, some people went to the manor to have tea with Elder Yi and exchange their thoughts on cultivation every day in order to get closer to Elder Yi and thus get a fixed position.
But Elder Yi was selfless and gave them no chance.
This made these visitors very helpless.
Many of them were angry with Elder Yi, but on second thought, they knew Elder Yi was not someone they could offend. After all, it was from Elder Yi’s manor that the mysterious man John Doe became popular, and now John Doe had set the battle site in Elder Yi’s manor. Apparently he was closer to Elder Yi.
Thinking of this, many indignant people could only suppress the anger in their hearts and didn’t dare to fall out with Elder Yi.
After all, if they fell out with Elder Yi and created a disturbance here, the mysterious man John Doe was sure to pick on them. Then they would be in trouble.
After all, right now on the Wulin online forum, everyone was terrified of the mysterious man John Doe.
Although John Doe was a good man who had done a number of things to punish the bad guys and eliminate the evil ones, everyone clearly remembered that all the people John Doe had dealt with ended up losing their kung fu.
This kind of punishment was too cruel and terrible for martial arts practitioners.
As a result, few people dared mess with John Doe.
Naturally, few people dared to provoke Elder Yi.
Time passed quickly.
In a flash, Friday came.
In advance, all the local Martial Superiors gathered in Elder Yi’s manor and began to wait.
The martial arts practitioners from other provinces were all shut out and told that the time had not yet come.
By five o’clock in the afternoon, about one hundred people had gathered outside the manor.
These days, in order to receive these people, Elder Yi specially asked professionals to transform the manor; some unnecessary vegetation, rocks, etc., were taken away from the manor, and a large space was left for all the tables and chairs.
Therefore, as the Martial Superiors of Jiangjing all entered the manor, they still felt that the manor was very empty. After all, there were few Martial Superiors in Jiangjing.
At seven o’clock in the evening, the gate opened.
The people officially entered the manor!
This time, Elder Yi himself stood at the gate to greet them.
People lined up to get in.
Soon the manor was full of people.
Finally, thanks to the transformation, the manor was able to accommodate all the experts at the Martial Superior Level from other provinces.
Although it looked crowded, it didn’t disappoint many people.
The big tables in the manor were changed into rectangular tables for two and four.
When all the tables were filled, the waiters of the manor began to move about to collect the entrance fees.
It was just the entrance fee, not a bet!
After all, it cost Elder Yi money to renovate the manor.
Because there were no hard rules, some people gave 10 yuan, some 50, some 100, some a few hundred, and some even more than 10,000.
Unwittingly, everyone in the manor was competing for giving more money.
The waiters were overjoyed.
After collecting the entrance fees, Elder Yi asked the waiters to serve these people with good food and wine.
Each table had a pot of wine and several dishes.
Food and wine could even be ordered, but the price was expensive.
At the same time, there were some graceful beauties in the arena, ready to perform, for everyone to kill the boring time.
At half-past six, just as everyone watched the show happily, a whistling sound rang.
“Whoosh!”
Like a bullet from a gun, a beam of white light burst from the distant night sky, and in an instant, it was over the manor.
As everyone took a closer look, they found that it was a middle-aged man of about 50.
“Qingfeng Jian Li Chengtian!”
At the sight of this man, the whole audience was surprised.
“He is worthy of being an eighth-class Martial Superior with an opened meridian. His ability to move in the air has reached such a level! He can stay in the air for so long.”
Everyone gasped, staring at Li Chengtian floating in the air.
At this point, Elder Yi got up, asked the performers in the arena to leave, and cupped his hands to greet Li Chengtian.
“Please!”
“Swoosh.”
Without saying anything, Li Chengtian rushed down and landed on the arena.
Now the audience could see him clearly.
He wore a white embroidered ribbon tied to his head, a white silk robe, and an old sash about a handbreadth across his waist. At first sight, he seemed ethereal, as if he was not a person in the secular world.
In addition to his clothes, Li Chengtian had a square face with dashing eyebrows, a Roman nose, and sharp eyes.
Now he had a very strange sword in his hand.
The sword was all green, but it was certainly made of iron; there was a faint wind around the scabbard, with a trace of rather sharp energy Qi.
“Is that Qingfeng Sword?”
“What a terrifying sword! It can draw energy Qi even in the scabbard.”
“No wonder he’s the best among equals. Since he has the sword, today, the mysterious man John Doe will probably lose!”
Various arguments were heard one after another.
In the arena, Elder Yi cupped his hands and said to Li Chengtian, “Senior, please wait a moment.”
At his words, Li Chengtian glanced at Elder Yi, nodded slightly, and sat cross-legged.
He laid his sword flat on his folded legs, then closed his eyes and waited quietly.
Around the arena, those outstanding figures from different places were constantly talking.
The appointed time was seven o’clock in the evening, and it was already six forty-five.
As the time approached, the chatter under the arena grew louder.
“It’s almost time for the battle. How come John Doe hasn’t come yet?”
“Yeah, Li Chengtian’s already here.”
“The mysterious man John Doe is too arrogant. How dare he let Li Chengtian wait for him?”
“I mean, would John Doe be hiding in the darkness, seeing Li Chengtian and Qingfeng Sword in his hand. Knowing he was no match for Li Chengtian, he was scared off?”
“Oh, that is possible.”
“That’s right. John Doe already took the 10 million. Even if he suddenly changes his mind and doesn’t fight with Li Chengtian, he’ll be sure to make the 10 million.”
“My God, John Doe isn’t like that, is he?”
“Who knows? Think about it, now that John Doe has sold Earth Treasures for money, he must be short of money. Maybe it’s all a hoax. He’s going to swindle the 10 million and run away with it.”
…
There was a great deal of discussion.
While everyone was talking, they looked around for the mysterious man John Doe.
As a result, the mysterious man, John Doe, did not appear when it was 6:55 p.m.
At the moment, everyone grew anxious.
Had the mysterious man John Doe really escaped?
Time was still passing.
At 6: 57, the mysterious man John Doe didn’t show up.
At 6: 58, he still hadn’t.
At 6:59, the mysterious man John Doe hadn’t shown up yet.
It was almost the appointed time, and the mysterious man John Doe hadn’t shown up yet.
There was a sudden uproar in the manor.
However, compared to the audience, as one of the protagonists of the battle, Li Chengtian still sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, without showing the slightest anxiety.
Anyway, if the mysterious man John Doe didn’t show up, he would wait here until he showed up.
Then it was seven o’clock!
It was the time.
Everyone frantically looked around for the mysterious man John Doe.
At that moment, there was a sudden whistle.
“Whew!”
They looked towards the source of the sound.
As they turned their heads, they saw a dark figure rush into the arena.
When he landed, there was no sound, like a ball of cotton.
The crowd looked closely and saw that the man was wearing a black tracksuit and a black mask. Only his eyes were visible.
“John Doe!”
“Haha, he’s finally here.”
“I thought he’d run off with the money, but here he is.”
“How could John Doe run off? As long as he has an engagement to fight, he is sure to come, even if he has to go abroad, let alone at home. For instance, didn’t he go to Outer Mongolia last time?”
“Well, he has come, but so what? He puts on airs!”
“I admit that the mysterious man John Doe is strong, but when they’ve made an appointment, he had Li Chengtian waited for him for 15 minutes. Is he too arrogant?”
“He’s not a celebrity who’s going to walk on the red carpet. What’s this about putting on airs? The appointed time was at seven o’clock, and now he has arrived on time. Why did he have to come early? Does it mean he’s putting on airs when he didn’t come early? Why don’t they race to see who comes early?”
The chatter spread.
In the arena, Li Chengtian, who had been sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, finally opened them when Fang Qiu landed.
