Master of The Azure Palace Chapter 7: The Beggar, The Monk and The Courtesan (6)

Read chapter 7 of Master of The Azure Palace by AzulConVerde on NovelPedia.

Saman Pa led Lán into the clinic and to a small room that seemed to be half office and half medical suite. Lán entered the room and Saman Pa sat down next to him. “Now tell me, where does it hurt?” the monk asked “Im not here for treatment” Lán replied “My injury is old and I’ve lived with it for a long time, we’ve already tried all sorts of treatments, I’m here with a busi-” Saman Pa held up his hand to interrupt “Please, I insist" “I can see that you are suffering young man” Lán reluctantly agreed, he told Saman Pa about how he got injured and all of the different pills, tonics, treatments and acupuncture points various master physicians had tried to make him better. Saman Pa nodded in understanding, he placed two fingers on Lán's left hand and two fingers on the right side of Lán’s neck. Lán felt as a wave of internal energy washed over him, it was different from the attack he had received years ago, Saman Pa’s internal energy was calm and it slowly moved through Lán’s body to give the monk an accurate assessment of the young man. “Impressive, you must be at least an Advanced Martial Artist to have that level of control over your internal energy” Lán said amazed. “No, no, I know nothing of the martial arts, I have only refined my internal energy for the purposes of medicine and nothing more” Saman Pa chuckled as he sat back down. The monk thought for a little bit before sighing deeply. “It’s possible to treat your injury, but it will take a lot of time and effort from both of us” Lán was shocked “How? I have consulted with countless doctors and masters and they have not been able to help” Saman Pa looked directly into Lán's eyes and thought for a few seconds before finally relaxing his gaze. “You seem like an honest young man, so I ask for your discretion on this matter, resolving your injury would require surgery” This shocked Lán even more. Surgery was a deeply taboo practice, it required cutting into a person and momentarily disrupting the body’s natural balance, many people viewed it as antinatural or morally wrong, more so among the higher posts of the Chinese Empire where acupuncture and internal alchemy was preferred, as surgery was often associated with witchcraft and sorcery. Lán now understood why the West Wind Taoist sect was so angry with this unassuming clinic. A deep sense of fascination surged inside Lán. “How do you deal with the internal bleeding once the surgery begins?” he asked. “I see you have an understanding of medicine” Saman Pa replied with a smile “Here, let me show you how your procedure would go” They both talked for hours, first about Lán’s procedure and then about all kinds of medical concepts and practice. Lán even suggested a few theories on how to better some of the procedures Saman Pa talked about. This surprised the monk, concepts that had taken most of his life to understand, this young man understood in a matter of seconds. A deep friendship began to grow between the two of them. The sun had begun to set when they finally changed their conversation. “So, what do you think? Would you like to do the procedure?” Saman Pa asked “As I said the surgery would be dangerous and It would take two years of constant therapy and recovery from your part to get to a state where you could stand normally and be without pain” Lán shook his head and sighed "Sadly this is not the time for rest, my family needs me now and I can't afford to stop” Saman Pa nodded in understanding “So tell me, how can I help you?” “My family has lost the trust of the people of this city, and I understand that we need to get it back through actions and not words” Lán replied “I would like my family to become official sponsors of this clinic and help pay for its expansion as well as the treatments of the citizens of Húchéng” Now it was Saman Pa’s turn to be shocked, what this young man offered could be a source of great good and help so many people. “Young Master I would be honored to help you with this endeavor” Saman Pa said as