"Thank you," Yang Xi's mother said gratefully, looking at Zhou Hong as if he were Guanyin Bodhisattva, her eyes filled with hope.
Zhou Hong placed his hand on Yang Xi's mother's waist and immediately felt that her two kidneys had atrophied, shrinking to the size of walnuts and becoming useless. With modern medical technology, her blood would need to be pumped out by a machine, filtered of toxins, and then pumped back into her body – dialysis. This would require at least three sessions a week, each lasting half a day.
If she had the money, a kidney transplant would be an option, but she would also have to take immunosuppressants for life.
Of course, Zhou Hong had no idea how this disease was treated in this world.
"Auntie, your two kidneys have atrophied. Now, I will help you return them to their normal state."
"Ah, atrophied kidneys can still return to normal?" Yang Xi's father was taken aback. Kidney atrophy was irreversible, like a dead tree. For a moment, he doubted if Zhou Hong was bragging.
"It is indeed difficult, but not impossible. Today, for my teacher, I will go all out." Zhou Hong decided to use a technique from his past life that could rapidly reverse the atrophy of the kidneys. However, in his previous life, it would have been a minor matter. But here, with no spiritual energy, Zhou Hong could only use this technique by depleting his life essence, and it would consume a significant amount.
But for his teacher, Zhou Hong decided to risk it.
The next second, Zhou Hong placed his palms on Yang Xi's mother's lower back and chanted incantations. A powerful, indescribable energy flowed from his hands into her body, constantly repairing the atrophied kidneys.
In just a few minutes, Zhou Hong's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his face had turned pale.
Soon, five minutes passed.
Zhou Hong stopped. However, the continuous depletion of his life essence had left him extremely pale and his spirit feeling vacant for a moment. Su Dan Novel Network.
His life essence was finite. Once it was completely depleted, he would also be finished.
The technique he had just used was called the Yin-Yang Reversal Spell. This spell could revive withered trees, causing them to sprout anew, but it consumed a great deal of one's own energy.
"Alright, your two kidneys are now as good as new."
"Ah." Yang Xi and her father were somewhat incredulous.
"Mom, how do you feel?" Yang Xi asked anxiously.
"I can't see my kidneys, but I can feel that my waist feels much stronger, and I have more energy overall. I'll try drinking a few bowls of water now. If I can urinate, it means my kidneys are truly healed. I can get an ultrasound tomorrow to confirm it."
Yang Xi's mother immediately drank several bowls of water.
Zhou Hong felt dizzy, his blood circulation was in turmoil, and his body was struggling to cope. However, he didn't want to show it in front of Yang Xi, so he said, "Teacher Yang, I'm going outside for a moment."
"Okay, don't go far. Dinner will be ready soon."
"Alright."
Zhou Hong went behind the house and leaned against the corner of the wall, panting heavily. The Yin-Yang Reversal Spell was extremely potent, capable of even reviving the dead at times, but its cost was too great. Even in his past life, he had been hesitant to use it lightly.
Zhou Hong quickly formed a hand seal, trying to alleviate the physical pain, but there was no spiritual energy here, and his spell had no effect.
"Heh heh!" Zhou Hong gave a bitter smile and thought to himself, "Yin-Yang Reversal... I really shouldn't have used it so carelessly. It seems I'll need to find a place to sleep for the next two days. While it won't replenish my depleted life essence, it will at least allow my body to gradually heal from the damage."
"Pfft!" Suddenly, Zhou Hong's reversed meridians, unable to absorb spiritual energy for recovery, caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Damn, how could it be this severe?" Zhou Hong was stunned. This current body was not his original one; it was incredibly weak. If it were his original body, even without spiritual energy, depleting his life essence wouldn't have resulted in such a state.
"Zhou Hong, what's wrong?" Just then, Yang Xi walked up from behind. She seemed to have noticed something earlier and had quietly followed Zhou Hong, only to find him painfully clutching the wall and even spitting blood.
"Haha, I'm fine," Zhou Hong quickly forced a laugh.
"Don't lie to me. Something must have happened. Tell me, did you injure yourself while treating my mother just now?" Yang Xi asked, her eyes red.
"Alas, teacher, to be frank, your mother's kidneys were like a dried-up tree. It's not easy to bring them back to life. Of course, the main problem is that I'm not in my prime right now; otherwise, it wouldn't be like this."
Yang Xi didn't fully understand, but she knew that Zhou Hong had risked his own health to cure her mother.
"Why are you so foolish?" Yang Xi said, crying.
"Don't worry, I won't die. I'm just feeling a bit unwell temporarily. I'll be fine after a few days of rest. I won't be staying for dinner tonight; I have to leave now." Zhou Hong wanted to leave immediately, all he wanted was to find a place to recover.
"Zhou Hong...!" Yang Xi cried out, a complex feeling churning in her heart.
"I'm leaving now; see you another day."
Zhou Hong ran off quickly.
Yang Xi watched him disappear into the night, her heart filled with an indescribable emotion.
"Xixi, where is Divine Doctor Zhou? Hurry and call him in for dinner," her father said as Yang Xi returned to the house.
"He left."
"Ah, didn't he say he was staying for dinner? Why did he leave in such a hurry?"
"Dad, when he was treating Mom just now, he didn't use ordinary medical techniques. It was a method we can't comprehend. This method caused him great harm. He coughed up blood behind the house just now."
"Ah." Yang Xi's parents' faces changed.
"I knew it. Ordinary medical techniques couldn't be that miraculous, curing it in five minutes...!" Yang Xi's mother said incredulously.
"Xixi, is he really your student?"
"Yes, he transferred in today."
"Then why would he treat my mother in this way for you? Could it be that he likes you?" Yang Xi's mother asked.
"I don't know. He's a very strange person. He's mentioned several times that a teacher should be treated like a wife, as if hinting at something, but he hasn't said it directly."
"Alas, if he truly likes you, then you should...!"
"Mom, don't talk nonsense. He's the live-in son-in-law of a wealthy family. How could I be worthy of him?"
"That's true. He can perform such miraculous techniques, restoring your mother's kidneys in five minutes. He must be one of those legendary figures in the martial arts world with extraordinary abilities. Such an outstanding person, how could you, a university teacher, be worthy of him?" Yang Xi's father sighed, a hint of regret in his voice.