Half an hour passed quickly.

The patient’s daughter ran back, panting. She was carrying a bag of Chinese medicine containing the prepared decoction. "Doctor Li, the pharmacy rushed the decoction. Should I give it to my dad now?"

Nowadays, almost every Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine offers a service to prepare decoctions for patients.

The patient, Zhang Weiyuan, was part of the international exchange case, so he was given priority treatment. The moment the prescription reached the pharmacy, it was moved to the front of the line to be decocted.

Not a moment was wasted, which was why it was ready so quickly.

Li Xu nodded. "Go ahead. Be careful he doesn’t choke."

The patient’s daughter nodded worriedly and began to administer the medicine, one spoonful at a time.

Li Xu offered some reassurance. "The old man’s stomach and kidney qi still remain. The root of his yin and yang is still present."

"Kidney qi is the foundation of prenatal essence."

"Spleen and stomach qi is the foundation of postnatal essence."

"This means the foundation of the patient’s yin and yang is still intact. Although his condition is severe, he still has a fundamental constitution to work with."

"This bowl of medicine is like adding a spoonful of oil to a nearly depleted lamp."

"I’ll come back and check on him after the treatment."

With that, he intended to lead Yamada and the others to see other patients. After all, it would take time for the medicine to take effect, and there was no need to wait around idly.

However, Yamada waved his hand, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot.

"Dr. Li, if you don’t mind, I’d like to wait here,"

Yamada said. "I want to see the patient’s changes firsthand, as soon as they happen."

The other international exchange doctors all nodded in agreement.

Li Xu had just explained so much theory; now it was time to see the proof.

No one wanted to miss the chance to witness a miracle... or a complete disaster.

Seeing this, Li Xu didn’t insist. He pulled up a chair and sat down. "Alright, then we’ll wait together."

The room fell silent, leaving only the sound of the patient’s daughter administering the medicine.

Because the old man’s jaw was clenched and he was unconscious, the process of feeding him was exceptionally difficult.

His daughter used a spoon to gently pry open his teeth, slowly pouring the dark brown medicinal liquid in.

Most of the liquid trickled out from the corner of his mouth, but a small portion still made its way down his throat.

"GULP..."

The soft sound of swallowing was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

It was the sound of hope for survival.

About twenty minutes passed after the medicine was administered.

The patient showed no significant reaction right after taking it. He remained unconscious, his limbs rigid.

A few of the foreign doctors began to whisper among themselves, their eyes revealing a hint of skepticism.

In their experience,

if Western emergency medical techniques were used, there would have been changes long before now.

In fact, there would have been changes within minutes.

One of the doctors shook his head, thinking, ’Traditional Chinese medicine is still not up to par...’

However, just then, the nurse who had been watching the bedside monitor suddenly let out a small cry. "Huh?"

Everyone’s attention was instantly drawn to it.

On the monitor, the heart rate, which had been racing at around 120 beats per minute, was now slowly decreasing. It dropped to 110... 105...

Although it was still high, the downward trend was undeniable.

Moreover, his blood oxygen saturation had slowly climbed from a dangerous 88% to 91%.

To a doctor’s eyes, this tiny, subtle change was like a clap of thunder.

It was working!

It was really working!

And it had only been twenty minutes.

Aren’t Chinese herbs supposed to be slow to take effect?

Sometimes not showing any effect for days?

So... why was this so fast?

Yamada shot to his feet and walked to the bedside. His eyes were glued to the monitor, then he glanced at the patient’s face.

The strange, hectic flush on his cheeks, which looked like rouge, was now showing signs of receding.

It wasn’t obvious, but to a professional, it was like a receding tide. Even if the water only pulled back a meter, it was still receding.

Everyone was speechless. At this point, no one spoke of leaving.

Li Xu was just as thrilled.

Because for this treatment, he had no "intel" to help him.

It was based entirely on his own skills.

The medicine taking effect so swiftly and precisely proved that his skills had reached an expert level.

They waited for another half an hour.

By now, a full hour had passed since the medicine was administered.

The changes were even more obvious.

The patient’s limbs, once as rigid as iron, the spasticity so severe it was visible to the naked eye, were beginning to relax.

The old man’s brow was no longer so tightly furrowed, and his breathing had become much steadier. It was no longer the ragged sound of a broken bellows.

Even the unconscious groans from the old man’s mouth had quieted.

Yamada took a deep breath, reached out again, and placed his fingers on the old man’s cun-kou pulse.

The moment he touched it, his pupils contracted instantly.

Shock.

Beyond shock, there was only more shock!

The pulse, which had been faint to the point of being almost nonexistent, could now be clearly felt.

It was still fine and weak, still rapid, but the beat under his fingertips now had a "root."

It was no longer that floating, gossamer-thin thread that felt like it could break at any moment.

Instead, it possessed a flicker of life force that, while faint, was tenacious.

This was nothing short of a divine miracle.

One had to understand, the patient had previously been given a death sentence. His pulse was nearly gone, a sign of his life force giving out completely.

It was like a broken-down car with a completely dry fuel tank and a dead engine. Just a second before it was about to be pushed off a cliff, someone suddenly added a scoop of fuel, and the engine miraculously roared back to life.

And this was after just one dose of medicine.

Only an hour had passed.

And there was such a dramatic change.

Now, the last wisps of doubt that had been lingering in the room evaporated completely.

Everyone was now thoroughly convinced that Li Xu’s talk of "two doses" was no empty boast.

If one dose could have this effect, then after two, just as Li Xu had scripted, the old man would definitely be able to cough up that life-saving phlegm.

The way the doctors from the exchange group looked at Li Xu had completely changed.

It was a look of admiration for the strong, of awe for the unknown, and even more, a complete re-evaluation of the ancient medical art of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Dr. Caballo’s jaw dropped, and he couldn’t close his mouth for a long time. He muttered to himself, "Unbelievable... This is practically witchcraft... No, this is Eastern magic."

As for Yamada, the arrogant professor from Tokyo University, his temper had subsided considerably.

He looked at Li Xu, gave a deep bow, and said in somewhat stiff Chinese, "Dr. Li, I have been taught a lesson. Your medical skill is truly... profound and unfathomable."

He had originally come here to "challenge the master," or perhaps to "steal their techniques."

But now, he felt like a mere elementary school student standing at the feet of a giant.

This level of pulse diagnosis, this mastery of formulating prescriptions... no one in the world of Kampo medicine in Japan could match it.

Li Xu stood up, helped Professor Yamada to his feet, and smiled faintly. "Professor Yamada, you flatter me. This is merely a fundamental skill in Traditional Chinese Medicine. As long as the diagnosis is accurate, Chinese herbs can certainly be used for emergencies."

"A fundamental skill..."

Yamada’s mouth twitched.

’If this is a fundamental skill, then what does that make us?’

’Kindergarten dropouts?’

But he was, without a doubt, completely won over.

The rest of the tour went much more smoothly.

The group continued their rounds, checking on the other patients in the wards.