16 Curing the Illness

Now that the matter of the spy had been dealt with, Ling Hong aimed to remove the Gu Insect as well. He had first-hand seen how dangerous these things were in his previous life, and these were used especially during family feuds to silently dispose of competitors. Unless one were a supreme cultivator, no one would be able to detect the insect and the infected person would die.

Removing it was no small feat either. One must know that every Gu Insect was reared through the supply of a cultivator's qi and was linked to the creator's life. If any died, it would cause backlash on the creator and he would immediately know that it was killed. For this reason, Ling Hong knew that he had to be extra careful while handling it. He still did not know of the cultivation stage of the creator of this insect, so he wasn't sure of protecting the Hua Family if the creator came knocking.

He gestured at Hua Meiling to come towards him. Although the girl did not know him at all, from her parent's reaction she deduced that he must be a friend. Seeing her hesitation, Meimei grabbed her hand and tried to soothe her "Sister, don't worry. Big Brother Ling came here especially to cure your illness."

"Big Brother?" she was puzzled.

"Although we are not blood related, he has been taking care of me for the past years. He was my only family till today. So you don't need to worry, brother will cure your disease and we can play together for a long time!" Meimei replied with fascination towards her brother in her eyes.

Being told to that there had been no cure and she would die soon, Hua Meiling's had long given up hopes of surviving after reaching 20 years. But now with the words from her sister and the hopeful gazes of her parents, she somehow felt that this young man in front of her could possibly cure her disease.

She walked up to Ling Hong, bowed and said "Mr. Ling, I have already given up hope long ago. Even if you don't succeed, I am happy with just my sister finally spending time with me. So don't blame yourself if you can't help me."

Seeing the girl's actions, Ling Hong's heart ached. Just what amount of pain had she been hiding all these years and how much willpower would it take? He told himself that he would try his 120% to cure her, even at some expenses on his side.

He bent down and patted her head, saying "Don't worry, if I am here it means I'm sure of helping you. There might be some pain so just hold on, okay?"

The girl nodded in response. Ling Hong tapped her little nose and said "And don't call me 'Mr.' and whatnot. You are Meimei's sister which means you are mine too. Just call me brother."

Meiling knew that he was honest in saying those words. All the years of seeing the actions of several boys, she was long disgusted being near them. But the young man in front of her was obviously not one of those people. She knew he was acting really as a big brother.

Her eyes reddened for a bit as she held on tightly to her clothes before asking "Brother....Big Brother, will you really cure me? Ever since I knew I would die early, I tried to look strong for my parents. I am actually scared of dying and even more now that sister has returned. I really want to grow old and enjoy life with my family. Can I..... really do that?"

This was the first time she had spoke her feelings out loud, even her parents didn't know how to react. He looked at this girl who appeared strong at first but was now shivering. Wiping off her tears, he spoke to her "Silly girl, which brother doesn't want their sister to have a happy life? Don't worry you'll be able to do all the things you mentioned, okay? I'll make sure that you do so."

He stood up at looked at the couple sobbing quietly on the sofa. Hearing their daughter's inner thoughts for the first time pained them and they felt guilty when she mentioned how she was only trying to put a strong front. Ling Hong wanted to give them some time, but suddenly the girl had started trembling. It seemed that emotions of the girl had stirred her heart and the Gu Insect was active now. This was the most ideal to carry out treatment immediately else she could die!

"Get me a container, something to hold the insect once it's taken out. Hurry!" he yelled as he retrieved the Willow Box and took out the nine golden needles. He could not use the normal ones as he needed to guide spiritual qi to expel the Gu Insect. Ling Xiu heard it and ran to fetch it herself, not even bothering to call anyone for help.

He tore open the clothes at the backside of the girl before placing the nine needles in a circular pattern, five forming a circle and four forming another one inside the first. As he had yet to step into the Qi Refining Realm, he could only utilize a weak spiritual qi. But as he had his divine sense, he could use it to force and guide the qi stored.

He held his palms against the needles as he forced out all the spiritual qi he had. He first guided them through the outer five needles and into her heart from there, thereby creating a qi barrier around the infected area of her heart. After that he began to agitate the qi transferred through the needles making up the inner circle. This caused the Gu Insect to be caught up in the qi flow and forced it apart from the girl's heart. As the insect was removed, the surrounding foul blood had also been pushed out.

It could have escaped into another area of the heart after the qi assault, but due to the qi barrier it was entirely trapped. By this time Ling Xiu had returned with a plastic container as instructed. Ling Hong was still concentrating on guiding his qi, but showed through some body signs what he wanted. As she realized what he meant, she held the open container near her daughter's mouth. Satisfied that his aim was achieved, Ling Hong gave a final burst of qi, draining him of all that was available. The girl suddenly started trembling and sweat started appearing on her forehead. She suddenly lunged forward and spat out a mouthful of blood, which due to Ling Hong's instructions earlier was safely captured in the container.

After a few rounds of wheezing, the pale face of Hua Meiling gradually began to gain color. She felt that the pain she had always felt in her heart had disappeared. Tears started flowing as she realized that her so called 'incurable disease' had been cured. She turned around and aimed her watery eyes at a fatigued Ling Hong, who similar to her was recovering from the exhaustion.

Hugging him tightly, she whispered "....thank you."

Ling Hong just smiled as he held her and retrieved the golden needles one by one. He then stood up and walked over to the container, where a puddle of blood lay inside. If one observed closely. they could see a small worm of nearly 1cm length swimming around. He closed off the container before handing it over to Hua Jun.

"Keep it safe and away from sight , especially make sure that it doesn't die. If so the man behind this Gu Insect can also appear, and I'm not confident enough to beat him." he said as he held it out.

Hua Jun nodded and sounded a signal, to which two bodyguards appeared. They took away the container after getting instructions. One of them also picked up the unconscious Ms. Liu as they went out. After seeing them go out, he turned to Ling Hong to ask about his daughter.

"Will she be fine afterwards?" he asked nervously. Although he believed in Ling Hong and saw the insect removed, he was nonetheless worried about any harm to his daughter.

"She'll be fine. Just have her take a rest for a day and she'll be more energetic than before." Ling Hong said.

"That's good...that's good." Hua Jun mumbled before he turned looked over at his wife and other child who had already gone over to Meiling and supported her as they went to her bedroom. He looked at Ling Hong with a gaze of thankfulness.

"Ling Hong, our Hua Family is indebted to you. Not only we got our lost child back, but we also managed to get the other away from death. In the future, I will do everything in my power to help you." he said in a resolute voice.