“Ha! Acting like you can fix this. I’ve been seen by every healer in the sect and the best healers money can buy. It’s pointless to bluff. Give up, already,” the young man said.

The old man leaned in, raising a sleeve to whisper to Healer, “Hong Lu is the young master of the Hong Clan, the only disciple with promise to be born in the clan in five generations. His clan went bankrupt trying to restore his leg, and could do no better but delay his death. It’s better if you give up. There’s a limit to confidence.”

Healer looked at the old man. “Senior, the one thing I lack the most is confidence.” Turning back to the young man, Healer gestured, pulling toward him. Darkness coiled off the end of the young man’s leg and whirled toward him. Halfway there, the death ducks leaped out of Hui’s dantian. As though they were starving, they snapped up the dark energy with relish, winnowing it in their beaks and wiggling their tails with pleasure.

The black marks on the man’s leg lightened, and the black poison tracing through his veins ran backward. Bad blood came out with the black energy, splattering on the floor in rotten purples and blacks.

Hong Lu stared. He reached down and touched his calf, feeling the living, warm flesh where the black energy had been. Startled, he looked up at Healer.

Healer tilted his head. “So? What does Elder Brother say? Will you take a seat?”

Narrowing his eyes, Hong Lu snorted. “You’re just another charlatan. I’m sure this is nothing but a trick.” Still, with a flick of his hand, he summoned a bench and took a seat on it, propping his leg up slightly so Healer could see it. Even as he sat, his ramrod straight back and squared shoulders exuded a domineering air.

Healer knelt. He looked up at Hong Lu. “This will be extremely painful, and I can’t guarantee it will work. Does Elder Brother still—”

“Still your tongue and heal me, or don’t. I have no time to waste on petty statements and pretty lies,” Hong Lu said, looking down his nose at Hui.

Healer nodded. So be it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Elder Brother!

He blinked, checking the situation with his third eyes again. The glowing threads are still there. They’ve blackened at the very ends, but it’s not like Tang Fei, where I… where a large number of her threads turned black and were removed. I feel as if I could stretch these threads into his foot, as opposed to Tang Fei, where they simply… brutally cut off after a point.

Okay. Let’s give this a try!

Putting his hands to either side of Hong Lu’s leg, Hui carefully circulated the body reforging technique. He monitored it closely as it activated, instantly drawing back his qi when it spread too far up Hong Lu’s leg. His life qi swirled around inside Hong Lu’s leg, not quite starting the technique, just acclimating his body to Hui’s qi. Closing his eyes, Hui traced out Hong Lu’s meridians and qi passages, quietly healing where they broke and bolstering them where they weakened with his life qi. I’ll totally reforge these later, but as I learned with Fan Hulian, if he’s too damaged going in, the reforging technique might collapse his body and cultivation in one.

Unnoticed by Healer, some of the injured cultivators watched from the doors’ shadows, quietly peering out from under hoods as he worked. Standing over him, Sectgoer glanced up and caught sight of them. He smiled. “Anyone who agrees to come work on my peak for a time as a forger is welcome to come and get healed. Ah, even better if you have experience forging spirit items, especially weapons or armor. Even if you don’t, though, as long as you have a willingness to learn, you have a place on my peak.”

Murmuring arose among the watchers at that. One or two of them turned and vanished into the darkness, but more stepped up to take their place. No one approached the Huis. Instead, they watched, intent on Healer’s work with Hong Lu.

Sectgoer glanced down at Healer. Do your best, Healer! Our success rides on you!

No pressure, Healer muttered back. He took a deep breath, centering himself and circulating his qi, then opened his eyes, activating the technique all in one go.

Sweat broke out on Hong Li’s forehead. He clenched his teeth and his fists, bearing the pain.

Hui focused. Under his hands, the inside of Hong Lu’s leg dissolved. He poured life qi into the limb. Focusing, he led it toward the golden threads and fed it into them directly, coaxing them to grow. The gold threads twisted, then squirmed to life. All at once, they darted out, and in the same moment, Hui’s life qi reserves bled out of his body. He bit his lip. The technique trembled as his life qi ran thin, on the verge of failing.

Sectgoer stepped forward and put his hand on Hui’s back. There. Keep going! Just don’t use this much life qi on each of them, okay?

I’ll try not to, Hui replied dryly.

Hong Lu’s leg grew. The severed bone surged out first, then tendons, veins and qi, and nerves. Muscles quickly sprouted, stretching over his bones and meeting his tendons. At last, skin formed, closing off his newly regrown foot.

Healer wobbled in place, totally spent. Damn. Is everyone here this injured? I’m going to get a workout.

Well, you don’t make a name for yourself as a miracle healer without a lot of hard work, Sectgoer pointed out.

Healer stepped back. He pushed his hair back and took a deep breath. That is true, though I wonder how Elder Brother, who lounges on his peak every day forging nothing, would know that. Smiling, he looked up at Hong Lu. “So? What does Elder Brother think?”

In the end, his case wasn’t that hard. Regrowing a limb was no mean feat, but fundamentally, the only thing keeping the other healers from succeeding was the entrenched death qi, which had fully infected his qi and blood in that leg. Without the ability to directly manipulate the death qi, it would have taken an absurd amount of life qi to fully eradicate the infection.

Ah, it’s akin to fighting an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Ordinary antibiotics won’t do much, but if one directly removes the entrenched bacteria from the body, it’s a different scenario. Though I suppose in my world, that would be done with amputation, and what I did today was the opposite of amputation… Oh, well!

In any case, my point is… once I removed the death qi, any limb-regrowth technique should have worked, as long as it took the threads into account. It just happens that my only limb-regrowth technique is the reforging technique.

Hong Lu flexed his toes. He bent and touched his foot, then carefully placed it on the ground. Ever so slowly, he rested his weight on the new foot. His eyes widened. “It’s back. My foot is back!”

Murmurs grew amidst the crowd all around them. The cultivators looked at each other. Abruptly, one stepped forward. “Me next!”

Sectgoer cleared his throat. “Ah, remember, you have to promise to work on my forge if you—”

“You can have a thousand years of servitude. Anything, if you can truly heal me!” the man shouted.

Sectgoer raised his eyebrows. He looked meaningfully at Healer.

Healer sighed. “Yes, yes. Step forward.” Share your life qi. I won’t be able to heal many more like this.

What’s Peak Lord up to? Can he absorb some life qi for us? Sectgoer wondered.

Peak Lord coughed. Give me a moment, Elder Brothers. I’m getting married.

Good, good! So Bai Xue’s mother has accepted us. That’s wonderful news, Healer said.

Oh, getting married. Getting married! Ask Bai Xue for life qi as part of your dowry, Sectgoer told him.

I’ll be sure to mention it, Peak Lord replied sarcastically.

Healer sighed. More realistically, Peak Lord, return to the peak and accumulate life qi from Mount Mu or the growing lotus beasts. I’m about to need a whole lot of it.

Understood. I am getting married, but immediately afterwards, I can return to the peak, Peak Lord said.

Sectgoer exchanged a look with Healer. It’s like when someone says they’re going to get food, and you know it won’t be fast, but three hours later you’re still waiting and you’re starting to wonder if you should just have cup ramen instead, because at least it’ll be food.

Well, not that a whole lot of people were ordering food for us, in our first life. But I do remember that happening to people around us, Healer allowed.

My point is, life qi isn’t exactly on the way, Sectgoer said, rolling his eyes.

Healer smiled, kneeling by the next patient. Hong Lu carefully tested his new leg, not quite able to abandon his bench fully. He glanced around. “Can we get a bed, or at least a couple of chairs?”

The old man reached under his robe and pulled out a camp seat-like apparatus. Nodding his thanks, Healer set it up beside him and guided his patient to sit. “Let me take a look…”

Sectgoer smiled at the rest of the patients. “Please, take a seat and make yourselves comfortable. It might take some time, but Elder Brother and I will heal and employ everyone here!”

Healer snorted under his breath. Heal and employ… making it sound like we’re helping them twice.

Isn’t that how advertisements work? Sectgoer said, shrugging.

Well… you aren’t wrong, Healer allowed, shrugging back at him.