Chapter 43: Bringing a Friend for Treatment

“Awwoo~~”

Seeing she still didn’t move, the fox grew anxious. It barked at her a few more times, then jumped down from the windowsill and disappeared into the nearby bushes. Moments later it dragged something out — when she looked closely, it turned out to be several already-dead wild chickens.

Well then, it even brought the consultation fee.

Yun Jiao sighed and finally walked over, muttering, “I’ll take a look first, but I can’t promise I can save it.” After all, she wasn’t a veterinarian.

The fox seemed to understand; it immediately dropped the chickens and jumped back onto the windowsill, staring worriedly at the gray wolf lying there.

Yun Jiao examined the gray wolf. It seemed to be a young one — about the size of a medium dog. Looking closer, she saw a gaping wound in its belly, roughly the size of a fist, bleeding heavily. The fact it was still alive was astonishing; wild animals truly were tenacious.

She couldn’t help sighing at its will to live, then prepared to stop the bleeding — but noticed the flesh around the wound was scorched black and smelled burnt. A… gunshot? Was there poaching in this world too?

Studying it more closely, she realized it wasn’t really a bullet wound — it looked more like it had been blasted open by something explosive, leaving such a large hole. Yun Jiao didn’t linger on the cause; after checking the wound she said, “Lie still, don’t move. I’ll get my tools.”

Then she thought better of speaking — animals wouldn’t understand anyway. She hurried inside and grabbed the medical tools her Ancestral Master had prepared for her. But when she came back out, the gray wolf was gone.

“Aw… awooo~” The fox called to her again. She turned to find the wolf now lying neatly on the stone table in the courtyard, belly up, wound exposed, as if waiting.

Yun Jiao blinked in surprise — such cooperation! She didn’t even bother wondering how a little fox had managed to haul a wolf onto the table; she simply walked over.

“Eh?”

She was about to stop the bleeding and stitch the wound when she noticed something odd: inside the wolf’s body was a faint black gas, flowing along its meridians toward its heart through the wound.

This looked familiar. She glanced at the fox by her feet — hadn’t it been the same way when she treated it before? She immediately understood. Setting aside the scalpel, she quickly inserted silver needles to seal off the wolf’s heart meridian, blocking the black energy from entering, then traced the meridian paths and rapidly calculated a formation before needling one point after another.

In less than a few minutes, a formation glowed over the wound. The gushing blood stopped instantly, and the black gas that had been struggling to reach the heart suddenly reversed, drawn back to the formation’s center. Within five minutes, the black energy condensed into a small dark bead, and the formation slowly faded.

Yun Jiao plucked the bead out, then began removing most of the needles, leaving only those to stop bleeding. Afterward, she stitched the wound closed. The medical conditions in this world were limited; she honestly couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t get infected.

But judging from how lively the fox was — still hopping around and delivering food every day — the animals here must be tougher than those in her old world. Yes, it must have been this fox delivering all those foods to her windowsill. No wonder none of their detection talismans ever caught the “person” — it wasn’t a person at all.

The acupuncture and formation work took less than ten minutes, but stitching the wound took half an hour. Only after finishing did she let out a relieved breath and remove the needles that blocked pain and numbed the nerves.

“All done!” She looked back at the fox, convinced it could understand her. “It won’t be able to move for about four hours. After the needle effect fades, it’ll be fine.”

She cleaned up her tools and turned back inside, debating whether to prescribe some medicine. After all, the patient had paid with chickens. But she hesitated — worried the little animals might not handle the medicine. When she turned around again, the stone table was empty: both the gray wolf and the clever fox had vanished.

Looking around quickly — thank goodness! The “consultation fee” chickens were still under the window.

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“Foxes?” Bai Yu was surprised. “You’re saying all the food these days came from that fox you saved before?”

“Mm.” Yun Jiao nodded. “That fox seems very intelligent.”

“It’s opened its spiritual wisdom — of course it’s intelligent.”

Perhaps because he was drinking chicken soup, the Ancestral Master actually spoke up in a good mood.

“A fox that’s awakened wisdom!” Bai Yu’s eyes widened, and he asked timidly, “Could it… be a demon?”

The Ancestral Master shot him a look full of disdain. “Just a beast with a hint of intelligence. Not a demon yet.” Though, he did sense a trace of demonic aura from that gray wolf. It might not be a full-fledged demon, but it had already started cultivating.

Bai Yu couldn’t help feeling nervous — evil demons were far scarier than ghosts.

“Ancestral Master, will it harm her?”

Night Abyss (the Ancestral Master) set down his empty bowl, naturally handed it to Yun Jiao to refill, and casually answered, “Even demons don’t attack humans for no reason. Those two creatures bear no malice toward Yun Jiao. Since they wish to repay her, let them repay.” He clearly didn’t care much. Besides, with him in the temple, those little creatures wouldn’t dare act up under his nose. After a pause, he added, “Have them repay with more chickens.”

Tasty!

(><)

Yun Jiao: “…”

Bai Yu: “…”

Compared to Bai Yu’s worries, Yun Jiao didn’t mind at all. After all, the fox’s gratitude had saved the temple plenty of expenses. She wouldn’t mind it repaying a few more times.

So Yun Jiao didn’t overthink it. Each day, all sorts of food still appeared on the windowsill. The fox stopped hiding, sometimes even showing up to greet her.

Until one day… it brought a panda.

Compared to the badly injured gray wolf, this panda was in much better shape. Its paw had just a shallow cut — not deep, the bleeding had already stopped. Still, the panda stretched out its front paw toward her and let out a low “aw~,” while the fox beside it barked softly. Two pairs of big dark eyes stared at her with pure, pitiful pleading.

Yun Jiao: “…”

So… had they mistaken her home for a pet hospital? Or a veterinary clinic?

I’m not a vet!

“Aw~~~” Seeing her unmoved, the panda and the fox cried again.

Yun Jiao sighed long and hard. “Fine, since you’re a national treasure.” Resigned, she pulled out a bandage and wrapped the panda’s paw. In less than ten minutes the wound was taken care of.

The panda and the fox happily cried out twice, then left behind a pile of bamboo shoots as payment and cheerfully departed. Because of its size, the panda got stuck in the back door on its way out, and Yun Jiao had to push from behind to help it squeeze through.

(End of chapter)