Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 123 - Beating the Knife Demon by a Close Call

Translator: Thyaeria

There’s a tactic called Hit-and-Run. With the Knife Demon’s strong desire to win, Su Tao just had to maintain a distance instead of facing him head-on. This way, the Knife Demon’s advantage would be weakened. Thus, the Knife Demon was on the verge of vomiting blood from the anger. Every time he got close to Su Tao, the latter would pull out a silver needle and shoot it in his way. It was fine if he was throwing it without an aim, but those needles seemed like they had eyes, since they were directed at his vital acupoints. If he was stuck by one needle, even the Knife Demon have no idea how would his outcome would be.

Yan Wujin gently nodded his head. Although Su Tao’s running route seemed to be in disorder, it was actually brilliant. The Knife Demon’s fighting style had always been charging forth, so Su Tao had chosen to run in an S shape, causing the Knife Demon to feel uncomfortable to pursue. However, there was a trace of graveness in Yan Wujin’s eyes as this situation was still unfavorable to Su Tao.

Yan Sha whispered, “But Su Tao can’t just keep running, right?”

Yan Sha could tell that the Knife Demon was slowly trying to grasp Su Tao’s movements, in search for an opportunity to let Su Tao walk right into a trap.

Five minutes later, the Knife Demon had started to crumble with rage. It wasn’t the problem of fighting, but Su Tao had no intention of facing him head-on.

Waving the dagger in his hand, the Knife Demon hollered, “This is the technique that the Old Goat Yan has taught you? What a joke.”

Su Tao turned around and cast a glance at the Knife Demon before showing a cheap smile. “It’s called tactics. Watch how I deal with you later.”

Seeing how arrogant Su Tao still was, the Knife Demon’s nose had practically turned crooked from the anger and he took two steps forth. According to his estimation, Su Tao would inevitably move towards the west. Thus, he had made a fake movement to block the path and catch Su Tao by surprise.

However, the Knife Demon suddenly felt that something was amiss when he saw that not only did Su Tao not run, the latter even charged at him.

Laughing inwardly, the Knife Demon roared, “Good!”

At the same time, he tightened his grip on his dagger in preparation to get rid of Su Tao in one go.

But in the end, Su Tao still had no intention of facing the Knife Demon head-on. He swiftly came to a stop and started to run in circles two meters away from the Knife Demon.

When Yan Wujin saw this, he nodded his head in satisfaction. That brat Su Tao was cunning enough. He reminded Su Tao of his silver needles not to get Su Tao to run and dodge blindly, but to remind Su Tao of his advantage.

Even Yan Wujin was puzzled when Su Tao started to run at the beginning. He thought that Su Tao was afraid of facing the Knife Demon head-on. However, that was just a tactic of Su Tao’s; he wanted to wear down the Knife Demon’s patience before running in a circle and unleashing ranged attacks.

The Knife Demon couldn’t unleash his attacks due to the distance, and Su Tao was a ranger. It’s like a game, where the Knife Demon was a warrior, and with a certain distance between them, the Knife Demon could only fight blindly and be continuously worn down.

Su Tao had displayed an astonishing level of hand speed, firing three to four needles every second. It was even more potent than a crossbow, which the Knife Demon had to focus his attention, or the silver needles might hit him.

Crisp sounds of metallic clashes echoed out, which made the Knife Demon’s heart sink even further. He knew that if this continued, he would be the one to fall deeper into a disadvantage.

With a deep roar, the Knife Demon took two steps forth without regard for the storm of needles.

Su Tao’s gaze turned sharp. He knew that the crucial time had come. Without any hesitation, he threw ten-odd silver needles out, all aimed at the Knife Demon’s important acupoints.

However, the Knife Demon had utterly disregarded the needles and continued to charge forth.

Su Tao was shocked, the acupoints which he was aiming for were all crucial to the mobility of a human body, such as the Taiyuan Acupoint on the wrist. If it was stung by an ordinary needle, it could treat and ease coughing symptoms. But if the force was too powerful, it could affect the breathing in the lungs, causing asthma.

But when the silver needle burrowed into the Knife Demon’s Taiyuan Acupoint, that fellow didn’t even have a single reaction. His movement wasn’t affected, he was holding onto the dagger and charged over, completely disregarding the acupoints that had been stung by a needle.

There wasn’t much Su Tao could do. He could only toughen his scalp and throw all the silver needles in his hand out. The Knife demon roared as he hacked the blade down towards Su Tao’s head, which Yan Sha screamed out upon seeing the danger.

Su Tao felt a piercing gale blowing against his face and stopped moving. He wasn’t acting arrogant, but it was because he couldn’t move at all.

10cm... 5cm... 1cm...

When the knife was at the tip of Su Tao’s nose, it finally stopped and fell to the ground.

The Knife Demon had his eyes widened with disbelief and his body was frozen. He couldn’t muster any strength, as if he had lost control of his limbs.

Su Tao felt as if he had ridden a roller coaster. It took a long time before his heart calmed down.

According to his understanding of the human body, the reason why the Knife Demon could still charge at him despite having so many needles on his acupoints could only be explained in one way. The Knife Demon had relied on his powerful willpower to overcome the movements of the body.

“You lost!” Su Tao sighed. In terms of strength, he was clearly inferior to the Knife Demon. Many reasons factored to his victory. Firstly, the Knife Demon was injured and had long reached his limits. Not to mention that the Knife Demon had exhausted himself greatly when he fought with Tian Ya.

Most importantly, the Knife Demon had underestimated the accuracy of Su Tao’s needles. After being played around by Su Tao for so long, he was only focused on bringing Su Tao down. Thus, Su Tao made use of his anxious desire to win and caught the Knife Demon by surprise.

Yan Wujin watched the whole thing from the side. Even if he were standing in the Knife Demon’s shoes, he also wouldn’t be able to defend against Su Tao’s last move. Even though he had practiced martial arts for so many years, he only knew more about the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and some of the Death Acupoints.

Those acupoints that Su Tao had targeted belonged to the blind spot of a martial artist. It was akin to how ordinary Physicians only researched on acupoints and rarely on the Conception and Governing Meridians. There weren’t many martial artists that would research the acupoints in the human body, so the Knife Demon did not notice that the needles that Su Tao had unleashed were all aiming at his acupoints.

Despite being acupoints, all of them had different functions. A martial artist would research on ways to defeat his opponent, while Physicians researched on how to save lives.

Dramas had exaggerated the strength of martial artists, like how they could heal the wounds of others with their hands by placing them on the patient’s back and how smoke rose from the head. They’re basically all nonsense.

The acupoints that martial artists used to cultivate Qi was fundamentally different from the acupoints that the Physicians used to heal their patients.

As for Su Tao, he didn’t have a blind spot at all. Whether it was the Eight Extraordinary Meridians or the Twelve Standard Meridians, he’s familiar with all of them. So Su Tao’s victory couldn’t be considered unfair, he won through wisdom. He used his professional knowledge to defeat the Knife Demon.

“I have lost, there’s nothing else I can say.” The Knife Demon sneered as he continued, “Since I’m in your hands, do as you wish to me.”

The Knife Demon wasn’t confident in today’s mission, to begin with. It was mainly because the battle had dragged out too long, and there wasn’t any further meaning for it to drag any longer.

Slowly pulling out the silver needles on the Knife Demon’s body, Su Tao sighed, “If you’re not in a hurry, take a seat in the Three Flavour Hall so that I can treat your injuries. Otherwise, there might be repercussions a few years from now. At that time, even if you wanted to have them treated, it will be too late.”

The Knife Demon’s lips moved, but he did not say anything. He knew that Su Tao might not have any good intentions, but since he had already lost, he had no right to speak. Since Su Tao wanted him to take a seat in the Three Flavour Hall, then he’d take a seat then.

It wasn’t early anymore, and the members of the Three Flavour Hall had started their dinner. When Cai Yan saw Su Tao bringing a few people along, she was a little astonished and asked, “Want to have dinner together?”

Casting a glance at the Knife Demon, Su Tao faintly smiled. “Sure. Prepare more rice since there’s a fellow that can eat quite a bit.”

Golden Tooth placed the chopsticks down on the table and went into the kitchen to fix up two more dishes. By the time he returned to the table, the Knife Demon had already cleared up everything on the table and could only take more rice.

Zhao Jian felt that the Knife Demon was a little familiar, since they have previously met in a karaoke. Although the Knife Demon’s appearance hasn’t changed much, his clothes were neat with an arrogant attitude back then. Right now, his face was covered in facial hair, looking pitiful, so Zhao Jian couldn't link them together.

The Golden Tooth was the Chef of a Five-Star Hotel, so his culinary skill was pretty good. On the other hand, the Knife Demon had to hide from Yan Wujin and his creditors. He had been living an inhumane lifestyle. Thus, when he encountered such great food, his appetite instantly opened up. Looking at how the Knife Demon ate, Yan Sha also couldn’t help smiling. This person’s state of mind was pretty good, despite sitting at the table of his enemies, he could still eat so heartily. There’s probably not a second person like the Knife Demon in the world.

Putting a piece of fragrant braised pork into his mouth and stuffed a few mouthfuls of rice, he slowly swallowed them before burping out. When he saw everyone staring at him, he awkwardly smiled. “It has been a long time since I had such a fulfilling meal.”

Su Tao faintly smiled. “Are you full now? If you’re not, I’ll get someone to make more for you.”

The Knife Demon sighed, “No need. You can speak your terms.”

Su Tao felt that the Knife Demon had some attainments in literature from his way of speech and smiled. “Let’s change locations to speak.”

Seeing that Su Tao brought the Knife Demon into his bedroom, Yan Sha asked in puzzlement, “What is Su Tao trying to do?”

Nodding his head, Yan Wujin faintly smiled. “He’s trying to convert an enemy into a friend!”

Yan Sha was shocked before she bitterly smiled. “The Knife Demon even wanted his life earlier, can he succeed?”

Yan Sha was too young, and in her mind, there’s only the differentiation between an enemy and a friend. In reality, enmity and friendship have always been hard to differentiate. A friend could instantly turned into an enemy. She was too young without any experience, so even if Yan Wujin explained to her, she also wouldn’t get it.

Yan Wujin slowly stood up and sighed, “Since we’ve eaten, let’s return.”

Yan Sha hugged her treasured sword and followed behind Yan Wujin, then said, “The food in the Three Flavour Hall is pretty good, can we come here often for meals?”

With a smile, Yan Wujin replied, “Not difficult to accomplish.”