Their gazes clashed in midair, neither willing to back down.
Blood Rose's gaze was icy and tinged with annoyance, while Ian Song's eyes sparkled with playful amusement.
They stared each other down for several seconds.
Suddenly, Blood Rose broke eye contact and started to undress.
Ian Song was startled. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Isn't uninterrupted healing required? Naturally, I have to take off my clothes," Blood Rose said coolly. As she spoke, she had already removed her tight leather top, revealing white bandages wrapped around her chest. No wonder Ian Song had thought she was flat-chested—she'd simply bound her chest tightly.
Unlike Hannah Han and Mira Su's fair skin, Blood Rose's was a healthy wheat color.
Just as Blood Rose reached to undo her chest bindings, Ian Song hurriedly stopped her—he'd only meant to tease her, not actually act indecently.
"What, you don't need uninterrupted treatment after all?" Blood Rose mocked.
An awkward look flashed across Ian Song's face. "Ha, I was just joking. All right, hurry up and put your clothes back on."
This round ended with Ian Song conceding.
Blood Rose said nothing more and quietly put her clothes back on.
"Give me your hand," Ian Song took a deep breath and said to Blood Rose.
Ian Song reached out and grasped Blood Rose's hand; his palm and knuckles were covered in calluses.
With a thought, he activated Radiance of Life.
Blood Rose felt a warm current surge from Ian Song's hand into her body, instantly spreading throughout her. Wherever the warmth flowed, her injuries began to heal at an astonishing speed.
In less than three seconds, she felt her wounds had healed—even old hidden injuries were gone.
"What an incredible healing ability!" She couldn't help but look at Ian Song deeply.
Ian Song smiled at Blood Rose and released her hand. "All right, you're fully healed."
"Since you healed my wounds, I'll give you a free piece of information," Blood Rose suddenly said.
Ian Song didn't say anything, just watched her, waiting for what she'd say next.
"Fiona Xiang is from the Mystic Maiden Sect. She probably approached you with a purpose, so you'd better be careful."
"What's the background of the Mystic Maiden Sect?" Ian Song asked, frowning. He remembered Fiona Xiang probing for his secrets over dinner, and a vague discomfort rose in his heart.
Blood Rose said, "The Mystic Maiden Sect is an ancient school that's been around nearly a thousand years, and all its disciples are women. Their strongest technique is called Mystic Maiden Tribulation. It's said that any woman who cultivates it can't fall in love with a man for real—if she does, her cultivation collapses!"
"So has Fiona Xiang practiced it?" Ian Song asked, a little nervously.
Blood Rose gave a meaningful smile. "I don't know for sure if she's cultivated Mystic Maiden Tribulation, but I do know she's the current sect master's most beloved disciple!"
Hearing this, Ian Song's face darkened. Blood Rose hadn't said it outright, but her meaning was clear: Fiona Xiang probably had practiced Mystic Maiden Tribulation, which meant he and Fiona likely had no chance of being together.
"All right, I should get going!" As she spoke, Blood Rose walked toward the window. "Hans's death will soon reach Darkworld. You'd better be careful—there's a good chance they'll come looking for you!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Blood Rose jumped out the window and vanished.
Watching Blood Rose disappear, Ian Song could only smile bitterly to himself. Suddenly, his gaze landed on the black bag holding Hans's severed head, and his face changed. He rushed to the window, but Blood Rose was already long gone.
Damn it, what am I supposed to do with this severed head? Blood Rose really dumped a problem on him, leaving Ian Song thoroughly annoyed.
In the end, he decided he'd sneak out to the suburbs later tonight and bury the head there.
Putting the head away for now, Ian Song returned to his room, turned on the computer, and started searching for information about medical arts.
In today's world, medicine is divided into two main schools: Eastern Medicine and Western Medicine.
The Yanhuang Republic is an ancient civilization with ten thousand years of history. Eastern Medicine traces its origins back eight thousand years to the legendary Medical Sage Master Dongyang. Even now, medical classics written by Master Dongyang are still passed down in the Eastern Medicine community.
Historical records say Master Dongyang lived nearly 200 years and wrote eighteen medical books in his lifetime, but only three have survived: Herbal Compendium, Prescriptions for a Thousand Illnesses, and Complete Acupuncture Manual.
The Herbal Compendium records tens of thousands of medicinal herbs, with detailed explanations of each one's properties—it's a required text for Eastern Medicine.
Prescriptions for a Thousand Illnesses contains 1,365 prescriptions and is widely circulated.
Complete Acupuncture Manual describes twelve rare acupuncture techniques, but because so much time has passed, only seven remain; the other four, the most precious ones, have been lost.
Western Medicine is also called mechanist medicine, because without all kinds of diagnostic equipment, its doctors basically can't treat patients at all.
But now, Western Medicine is all the rage, while Eastern Medicine has fallen out of favor.
There are two main reasons for Western Medicine's popularity. First, it only takes three to five years to learn, while training a qualified Eastern Medicine practitioner takes over a decade, sometimes much longer.
Second, Eastern Medicine has much lower operating costs. Most treatments don't require equipment, which saves patients a lot of money.
Patients save money—but that means hospitals can't make as much. Unlike Western Medicine, which always starts with a round of tests whether you're sick or not, boosting hospital profits.
Compared side by side, hospital investors naturally favor the more profitable Western Medicine, deliberately suppressing Eastern Medicine. That's why there are so many posts online smearing Eastern Medicine—claims like 'Eastern Medicine kills patients' and 'Eastern drugs are deadly.'
This has indirectly ruined Eastern Medicine's reputation, and fewer and fewer patients trust it—even though, in reality, Western Medicine causes more deaths.
Back to the main point: after learning about Eastern and Western Medicine, Ian Song made his choice.
He decided to study Eastern Medicine. It has so many treatment methods—herbs, acupuncture, talismans, massage, and more.
Eastern Medicine naturally has an air of mystery, making it perfect for disguising Radiance of Life. If he ever used his divine healing to treat someone, he could pretend to do acupuncture first, then secretly activate Radiance of Life, and credit the miracle to the needles.
After getting a basic understanding, Ian Song started searching for Eastern medical classics. He found hundreds of books—after all, the Yanhuang Republic has nearly ten thousand years of history, and Eastern Medicine has been around for eight thousand. Even though many classics have been lost or destroyed over time, plenty still remain.
"Activate photographic memory!"
He opened a medical classic and used his photographic memory skill to record it.
After two hours, he'd managed to record three full medical classics. If he memorized hundreds more, even if he couldn't become a famous doctor, he'd at least be able to bluff convincingly.