Just as Wang Xiaoqiang was preparing to head to Yunnan to introduce Maca cultivation, something very mysterious occurred in the village.

Sanmiao Village was so named because it had three temples, one of which was the Earth God Temple, located at the center of the village. It had long been dilapidated and its incense offerings had ceased.

Another was the Mountain God Temple, situated at the foot of Great Green Mountain, equally decrepit with its incense offerings dwindling.

The third was the River God Temple, located by the Shibalih River. The progress of society's civilization had gradually led to the decline of such superstitious practices, which were slowly being forgotten by the people. However, the River God Temple was an exception.

Of the three temples, it was only the River God Temple that had not fallen into ruins. Not only had it not declined, but it also continued to thrive with incense offerings. Not only did the elders of Sanmiao Village often burn incense there on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, but also people from nearby villages frequently came to offer incense and prayers.

In the temple, there was but one temple official, over eighty years old, neither blind nor deaf, with a straight back and a steady stride. He would rise early each morning to run beside the Shibalih River, moving swiftly, which the villagers found remarkable, believing he was blessed by the River God, thus the substantial number of incense offerings.

It was said that the temple had been passed down by a Daoist, so it presumably belonged to the Taoist lineage. On the days of burning incense, at the beginning or middle of the lunar month, this temple official would don his Taoist robe, holding a whisk, and sit crossed-legged on a meditation cushion in an attitude of profundity.

When the village was stricken by drought or floods, he would also wear his robes, holding his whisk to perform rituals and pray for rain.

He lived off the offerings given to the temple, and it was said that he had always drunk water from the Shibalih River, even using it for cooking.

The villagers who saw this disdained him for it. Today was the first day of the eighth lunar month, a day for burning incense. Early in the morning, villagers went to offer incense. The first to arrive at the temple was Jiang Sansheng, who had just entered when he saw the temple official slumped on the meditation cushion, his face as pale as gold paper, bleeding from his mouth and nose.

He couldn't help but feel a jolt of shock, and upon checking for breath, he found a faint respiration, which provided some relief. Yet, seeing no obvious wounds on the official, he thought it was due to a sudden illness and immediately called Little Xu Xiaoya from the village health station.

Xu Xiaoya promptly arrived with her medical kit. After administering emergency treatment and injecting a cardiotonic, there was still no sign of awakening from the temple official. Hearing of the incident, Wang Xiaoqiang rushed over, and finding that Xu Xiaoya could not rouse the temple official, was about to dial emergency services when he approached and said, "Doctor Xu, let me try..."

"That would be great..." Xu Xiaoya had already heard that Wang Xiaoqiang, using massage techniques, had cured his parents' leg injuries as well as those of the local entrepreneur Zheng Dana. She believed he had some folk remedies, so she stepped aside to let him examine the official.

Wang Xiaoqiang had no real skill in diagnosing illnesses, but seeing the crowd of onlookers, many of whom were familiar faces from the village, and noticing that the village party secretary Liu Mingshan had also arrived, he dared not take it lightly.

Following the emergency methods people often used, he propped the temple official up, resting his body on his knee to make him sit upright, then pressed his right hand on the official's philtrum point, channeling vibrant Wood Element Spiritual Qi into him. In less than half a minute, the temple official opened his eyes and woke up, his complexion easing considerably.

The crowd, witnessing the temple official rousing from his stupor, were astonished. Doctor Xu had been at a loss, yet Wang Xiaoqiang had managed to awaken the official with a simple maneuver, leading them to praise him profusely.

"Eh, how is Little Qiang so capable?" "Little Qiang really has a way... Has he studied medicine?"

"More effective than Doctor Xu! Haha..."

People's comments didn't make Wang Xiaoqiang cocky; instead, they caused Xu Xiaoya to blush with embarrassment.

Seeing this, Wang Xiaoqiang said, "In actuality, it's not my doing that the temple official has woken up; it's the injection that Doctor Xu gave that worked. It's just that the effects of the injection hadn't kicked in earlier..."

Wang Xiaoqiang's explanation made everyone somewhat skeptical but allowed Xu Xiaoya to save some face. She lifted her bright eyes, gratefully staring at Wang Xiaoqiang, and softly asked, "Little Qiang, what illness does the temple official have?"

"I don't know, I'm not a grandmaster," Wang Xiaoqiang replied to Xu Xiaoya with a naive smile.

"Such a pretender!" Xu Xiaoya glared at Wang Xiaoqiang, then started to pack her medical kit to leave.

Though the temple official had awakened, he was still too weak to speak. At this time, Wang Xiaoqiang requested two men help the official to his bed to rest. As Xu Xiaoya was packing up her medical kit, she suddenly exclaimed, "Eh? What's this book doing here?"

Wang Xiaoqiang turned upon hearing her and saw there was indeed a book on the meditation cushion, which the temple official had been sitting on, so no one had noticed it until then.

Xu Xiaoya picked up the book and examined it closely to see that it was a thread-bound volume, its pages yellowed like withered leaves, giving it a very ancient and mysterious appearance.

As she flipped through, she saw it was filled with strange characters that were incomprehensible, prompting her to throw it onto the floor, but Wang Xiaoqiang picked it up. He sat down on the meditation cushion and opened the book to study it, seeing that although it didn't contain many words, the characters that were written were large and snake-like, completely unintelligible to him.

With time on his hands, Wang Xiaoqiang became keen to study the book, hoping it might reveal the cause of the temple official's coma.

Wang Xiaoqiang took the book to Elder Deyun's house and asked him to look at it, inquiring about the kind of script it contained since he couldn't understand a single character. Elder Deyun laughed upon examining it, saying, "Ha-ha, of course you don't understand it; even I can only comprehend a little. It's all written in ancient script..."

"Ancient script? Like the kind used by literati in old times?" Wang Xiaoqiang asked with curiosity.

"Exactly, very right..." Elder Deyun responded while looking at the book's title page, "This book is called 'Daoist Qi Guiding Technique.' I suspect it should be a Taoist book on nourishing life and practicing Qi cultivation... Ay, Little Qiang, where did you get this book from..."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.