As ice toad blood dissolving pills were expensive, the group didn’t carry the pills with them. They could only fetch for some from the pharmacy and pray that it wouldn’t take too long.
“We can’t just wait idly.” Appraiser Wang was aware of how long it would take to go to the pharmacy and back. Among the poisoned pet beasts, some were so severely intoxicated that they couldn’t afford to wait anymore.
Appraiser Wang immediately took out a set of needles. Acupuncture needles were necessary tools for beast appraisers so one would carry them everywhere. Appraiser Wang’s needles were aged, as evidenced by how worn out the outer layer of his pouch was.
By now, Appraiser Cao had come to terms with reality as well. After they both appraised the beasts for the third time, they managed to confirm that poisoning was due to the three-leaf antidote. Despite their confusion and disbelief, facts were facts.
After giving it some thought, he said, “Even if we feed them the ice toad dissolving pills now, it won’t be able to remove the poison completely. We’ll need the help of acupuncture to inhibit the toxins. Appraiser Wang, I’ll assist you as well.”
Appraiser Cao took out his needles but now, he felt somewhat helpless. There were five poisoned pet beasts so he and Appraiser Wang couldn’t treat them all at once by themselves. It was currently late at night so even if they called for other appraisers, they might not make it in time.
Then, he looked at Lin Jin and Ouyang Tong.
Lin Jin knew what he was about to say. Disregarding their previous exchange, Lin Jin offered before Appraiser Cao could ask. “Let me help out.”
“I’ll help too.” Ouyang Tong followed after Lin Jin.
“Great! Thank you!” Appraiser Cao had mellowed down after learning that Lin Jin was right. Looks like the man wasn’t deliberately trying to offend them after all. However, now wasn’t the time for that. Handling five pet beasts with just four of them was still somewhat strenuous. After all, acupuncture administration required absolute concentration with no distractions.
“If it’s too much, I can treat two pet beasts.” Immediately after Appraiser Cao said that Lin Jin raised his hand to insert his needles into two pet beasts. It was carried out with such speed and accuracy, the likes of which Appraiser Cao had never witnessed before.
Having studied acupuncture for so many years, Appraiser Cao could easily tell a person’s proficiency with just one glance. His eyes immediately lit up at Lin Jin’s performance.
‘Amazing.’
Lin Jin’s acupuncture administration could be described succinctly with three words, swift, accurate, and steady.
Now that Lin Jin had taken the initiative to inhibit the poison in two pet beasts, their biggest hurdle had been cleared. Without wasting a single second, Appraiser Cao started treating one pet beast while Appraiser Ouyang did the same.
For a moment, the scene was eerily quiet. Chief Liu and his group stood there, watching the treatment process while slowly trying to figure out the situation.
It seemed like both Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao had indeed made a mistake, but due to how delicate the process looked, they couldn’t disturb the appraisers despite their dissatisfaction.
In actual fact, administering acupuncture on two pet beasts at the same time was easy for Lin Jin. He could even take on all five pet beasts with his pulse-seeking technique.
However, it was better to lay low sometimes or he might just end up drawing more trouble to himself.
He was also observing the other three as they worked, so if any of them couldn’t hold out, Lin Jin would take over their pet beast. Speaking of which, Lin Jin had several methods for neutralizing the poison that didn’t require the ice toad blood dissolving pill. Just the pulse-seeking technique alone was enough for him to achieve his goal.
And that was what Lin Jin was doing.
Invoking a spell, the silver needles began to maneuver around the pet beasts’ bodies. Both pet beasts were wonderful breeds that would probably be incomprehensibly expensive for regular folks. They also had great potential so it was no wonder their owners were so concerned.
Ouyang Tong and Appraiser Cao managed to catch a glimpse of Lin Jin performing this technique. As Ouyang Tong was only a Rank 1 beast appraiser, his knowledge was limited. He had no idea why the needles Lin Jin had administered on the pet beasts suddenly disappeared.
Appraiser Cao, on the other hand, was a fairly competent Rank 2 beast appraiser. His heart jolted at the sight of Lin Jin’s technique. He gasped silently to himself, “Th-that’s the internal needle technique!”
There were two ways one could practice acupuncture, but the two methods were poles apart in terms of difficulty. Many people knew of the external variant of acupuncture but not the internal variant which Lin Jin used.
Appraiser Cao had only ever seen the technique in books and no one in headquarters knew how to perform the technique yet.
Hence, the sight of Lin Jin performing this almost-mythical technique simply stunned Appraiser Cao.
He took a deep breath as the emotions behind his eyes shifted into utter realization.
“It’s no wonder His Majesty issued a special decree to promote Appraiser Lin to Rank 3.”
Appraiser Cao smiled and shifted his attention back to the pet beast he was treating.
With the help of acupuncture, the continued spread of the toxin was largely controlled, a move that bought them more valuable time. Someone came back with ice toad blood dissolving pills. They were fed to the first three pet beasts and when it came to Lin Jin’s patients, Lin Jin waved and said, “These two won’t need it.”
“Why?” The apprentice seemed confused. By now, Appraiser Cao already had a pretty good idea of how strong of an appraiser Lin Jin was. He looked at the two pet beasts Lin Jin had treated and sure enough, they were no longer displaying the signs of poisoning.
Looks like the toxins had been completely removed.
Apart from that, there was also a visible improvement to the pet beasts’ condition.
No matter how reluctant he was to admit the truth, there were no excuses. Facts were facts. Leaving aside the question of whether Lin Jin deserved his Rank 3 title, it was certain that he was far superior in skills compared to either Appraiser Cao or Appraiser Wang.
Appraiser Wang realized this as well but he wasn’t as indecisive as Appraiser Cao. He simply walked over to examine the two pet beasts’ conditions.
Upon examination, Appraiser Cao’s expression changed. Then, he turned to Lin Jin and bowed.
“Appraiser Lin, it is regrettable that I had shown such a terrible attitude earlier. Please, allow me to apologize for my mistake.”
Lin Jin hurriedly stopped him but Appraiser Wang was a stubborn man, he insisted on bowing before Lin Jin. Since Appraiser Wang had already surrendered, there was no need for Appraiser Cao to keep up appearances.
By and large, it was Lin Jin who helped them out. If Lin Jin hadn’t spoken up, all five pet beasts would have suffered, and at least one or two of them would have died. If that truly happened, both their careers would have come to an end here, and they would have dragged headquarters’ prestige down with them.
Lin Jin was their benefactor.
As for Lin Jin’s skills, it wasn’t hard to gauge when he effortlessly rescued two pet beasts, both of whom were on the brink of death. More importantly, he achieved it only with his acupuncture skills without further supplements.
Both Appraiser Cao and Appraiser Wang failed to tell how he did it because what he did was on a whole other level.
The distaste they felt earlier was gone without a trace, and with Appraiser Wang making the first move, Appraiser Cao too, bowed and apologized.
Lin Jin didn’t want to make their lives that hard, so he saluted them both. “My fellow appraisers, please forgive me as well, for being too direct.”
With this, everything else was now bygones.
“Appraiser Lin, you must be on an urgent mission for you to visit this place at night?” Appraiser Cao asked. Now that their relationship was no longer antagonistic, they were free to ask their questions.
Without concealing his intention, Lin Jin told them about his confrontation with the demonic appraisers at Reed City. “The Demonic Appraisal Association isn’t going to let us off the hook that easily, so I came all the way here to obtain as much information I can get on these people.”
“I see.” Appraiser Wang and Appraiser Cao exchanged a glance. No doubt, they too knew about the Demonic Appraisal Association. That organization was a tumor to the beast appraisers’ community and every beast appraiser with even the slightest sense of justice despised them to the core.
“Please go ahead, Appraiser Lin. We keep a lot of files on them here. We’ll get these pet beasts settled in and if Appraiser Lin isn’t in a hurry to leave later, we’d like to treat you to a drink.” Appraiser Wang was a straightforward man. Back when he wasn’t convinced yet, he would have tried to challenge Lin Jin at any given opportunity. Now that the truth was revealed, the man spoke with surprising earnesty.
