(Book 1&2 Complete!) Dao of Healing [Transmigration Healer Xianxia]

I laughed a little as I reached the arena. Yu Chun was sitting elegantly in her seat when I arrived, jade slip in hand as she observed the crowds streaming into the stands. She'd been the first of us three to arrive each morning.

Wang Ren, who had been here bright and early yesterday for the martial competition, was nowhere to be seen today. He had already expressed his lack of interest in the healing competition, so I wasn't that surprised.

He did eventually arrive, but the arena was already full by that point. I looked down at the entrance to the arena and saw all of the healing disciples gathering. Most of them seemed nervous, shifting and fidgeting as they prepared themselves.

They were about to get the shock of their lives. I was both eager to deliver it and also felt a little bad for those who it would affect most. However, it was only on them if they weren't up to par.

The greatest healers were those who truly embodied that in every action they took—not only when they were meant to be working. They would soon discover that.

"I had to get more of the display stones organised for today. The crowds are swelling as that makeshift town grows. It might even become a city if we don't control the migration," Yu Chun said.

It seemed like an offhand remark, but I sensed the hidden question. Did I want to allow the settlement which had sprung up around the arena to remain after the competition was finished?

There would be advantages to having a city so close to the sect's doorstep, but there were also drawbacks to allowing such a thing. It had been convenient during the competition to house the spectators and allow the many merchants to do their business in a semi-permanent dwelling, but I had never officially sanctioned it.

"We would need to install a city lord or administrator of some kind if it remained. I would suggest you, Miss Yu, but you're already working hard enough as it is," I replied.

"It wouldn't be a problem, although I actually had someone else in mind." I raised an eyebrow and she continued. "Du Wen has been helping me out quite a bit with my duties. I feel as though he would be suited to the role. We've both been cultivating with the resources available to us. In any case, if it didn't work out he could be replaced."

"A trial by fire, then? That's assuming we keep the city. It could be dangerous to have such a large settlement right on the sect's doorstep." I thought back to Three River City and the corruption that had spread into its roots despite being right by the Cloudy Falls Sect.

"I think you should let it stick around. A bunch of mortal merchants and labourers aren't a threat to us whatsoever. If it ends up growing large enough, it might even provide income to the sect," Wang Ren said, yawning immediately after while looking thoroughly disinterested.

"Elder Wang is correct. More than that, the Golden Leaf Consortium and other useful organisations would be able to set up branches in the city. It would save a lot of travel time and give the sect direct access to valuable resources," Yu Chun said, agreeing with Ren.

"It seems like we have our answer then. I trust you to arrange everything. That's why you're the Administration Elder, after all," I said with a wink.

Yu Chun snorted, but took out a separate jade slip and recorded something in it before returning it to her spatial storage. That woman seemed to be made of information…

With that decided, it was time to start the competition. Today was an important moment. Everyone here would know what our sect could do. Healing was mostly a lost art in this empire, but the Grasping Life Sect was going to revive it.

There was no going back after this.

The news would no doubt spread to the nearby sects and perhaps even as far as the capital. What the repercussions of that might be I wasn't sure, but I was ready to face whatever came our way.

I stood at the front of the box. With a wave of my hand, all of the healing disciples began to stream out of the tunnel and onto the central stage.

Gathered as one, they were a sight to see. All clad in the green robes of the sect, holding their heads high, they were a source of pride for me.

I then began to address the crowd. "Today marks the beginning of the main event of this competition. The healing disciples of the Grasping Life Sect have gathered to display their prowess to each other, to their Sect Leader and Elders, and you, the people of this territory. Many of you have already visited the sect for treatment, but many of you haven't even heard of what we can do. After today, there will be no doubt." I paused for effect, letting the crowd digest what they'd just heard. "The Grasping Life Sect will change this empire, this continent, this world!"

A clamour of excited roars spread through the crowd. I wasn't sure if they really understood what they were cheering for but looking down at the now confident expressions of my disciples, I knew it had boosted their morale.

They looked up at me expectantly. I had shared the details of the competition beforehand so they all believed they knew what to expect from the preliminary round of the healing competition.

In a sense, they were right. The preliminary round would be exactly what I had announced. Each disciple would be partnered with a patient. They would need to diagnose them and formulate a treatment, which they would then apply. Based on their success they would be graded and the top five disciples would advance to the next round.

Unfortunately for the lazier disciples among them, there was a secret testing phase that they had been going through since the competition began two days ago. It was a little evil, but I believed it was necessary to show them everything a healer needed to be.

"Disciples, before we begin the preliminary round, there is something I have to admit. Ever since the competition began two days ago, all of you were tasked with healing any of your fellow disciples who were injured, as well as any of the spectators with medical issues. Most of you rose to the challenge admirably, with some of you shining amongst your peers and going above and beyond to heal and help those around you. However, there were an unfortunately large number of you who coasted by. You thought you could avoid your responsibilities and leave the healing to the other disciples. This was disappointing for me to watch. Thus, before we begin the preliminary round, there will be a culling in your numbers," I announced.

The disciples erupted into chatter. The crowd began to laugh and cheer in equal measure. Many of them had required healing services over the few days of the competition—our regular healing services didn't stop simply because the disciples were competing.

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I closed my eyes briefly and reached into my dantian. Expelling qi externally and maintaining control over it was the hallmark of the Foundation Building Realm. What that meant is I could perform a very neat trick that was sure to shock the disciples.

I split my qi into dozens of streams and sent it towards those disciples who hadn't met my standards. Each of them was then connected to me by a thin thread of qi.

Once the connection was established, I began to speak in my mind. Through the connection, they heard every word. The results were instantaneous and a little amusing.

Please exit the stage and reflect on your failures. The competition is still going on, which means you have a chance to redeem yourself. Do not let me down again, is what I said.

Almost all of those I spoke to began complaining or crying. Some even fell to their knees, begging for a second chance. I glared sternly at them.

Leave or you will risk your position as a disciple.

With that the final stragglers left. The other disciples—those who had met my expectations—looked around with confused expressions. I hadn't spoken to them. From their perspective a few disciples had suddenly burst into tears and then left the arena of their own accord.

"Those of you who are still here, you have met my expectations. Some of you have even exceeded them by far. To be a healer means to embrace a life of healing, kindness, and determination. If you cannot even do that for your own fellow disciples, then you do not deserve to become an inner disciple of this sect," I declared.

All of them suddenly became quite serious. The ones who'd gone above and beyond knew who they were. Those who had barely met the requirements were clearly facing some internal conflict.

Whatever the case, it was beneficial. This first step was necessary to motivate all of the disciples. Those who had been dismissed would work hard to make up for their errors, while those who remained would work hard to ensure they didn't lose out.

"Now that those of you who didn't meet the requirements have been removed, it is time to begin the preliminary round of the healing competition. All of you are familiar with this process, as it is what you do each and every day in the two treatment pavilions. You will be paired with a suffering patient. Your task is to accurately diagnose them and then devise a treatment to cure them. You will be rewarded for speed, efficiency, effectiveness, and accuracy. Do not let me down. Most importantly, do not let your patients down."

With that, I clapped my hands and the other disciples and mortal assistants of the sect began to carry the patients out onto the stage. As they did so, I clapped my hands twice. An enormous green silk parasol appeared over the open roof of the arena, shading us from the sun. I didn't want the patients to suffer.

There were just over a hundred disciples left after my impromptu culling of the numbers. That was quite a lot to watch at once, but I wouldn't have much trouble. That was important, because if anything went wrong I would need to be the one to step up and fix it.

This was a competition, but these were also peoples' lives. That was the most important thing, which was actually one of my secret grading criteria.

Disciples who sacrificed their patient's comfort or safety simply to try and rush through or earn a higher score would be penalised severely. I wanted to not just produce talented and knowledgeable healers, but those who shared my vision of a better world.

There were twenty-ish disciples per stage, each with a single patient. They had been brought out on beds and dressed in identical outfits. Each patient had a unique condition or wound they suffered from, meaning disciples wouldn't be able to cheat by copying one another.

To be honest, I knew this part of the competition might not be the most exciting for the crowds. However, its purpose wasn't to excite or entertain. It was to spread word of what we were capable of.

I watched as the disciples began talking with their patients, attempting to figure out what was wrong with them. Watching this, I came to a realisation that made me want to slap myself.

It was another ignorance of the powerful, I supposed. On Earth, doctors relied on a variety of tools to assist them in making effective diagnoses. From the reliable stethoscope up to large and complex machines that performed various scans of the patient's body.

Such things didn't exist in this world.

Most relied simply on their qi—or if they were skilled enough—their blood essence. I watched as a few disciples took out tools I didn't recognise. A smile crossed my face.

It seemed some of them were quite enterprising and had created their own tools. Even so, I made a mental note that alongside the creation of new techniques, devising artifacts to assist healers in their tasks should be a priority of mine.

The only issue was the sect didn't have a sufficiently talented artifact refiner to help me produce such things. We'd recruited a plentiful younger generation, but lacked experienced specialists in some areas.

Actually, I suspected the city that had sprung up around us might help with that problem. Large cities attracted skilled artisans, some of whom might be willing to join the sect.

It wasn't something I could address immediately, however, so I squared it away for later and continued watching the competition unfold. A few disciples had already begun performing their treatments, to varying degrees of success.

I knew what most of them were attempting. Of the twenty or so who'd already begun their treatments, only one was actually on the right track—Feng Mei. Eighteen of them weren't correct, but their mistakes wouldn't put the patient at risk so I allowed them to learn from their inevitable failure. The twentieth disciple was about to do something stupid and potentially lethal for their patient.

I stood up from my seat and stepped off the edge of the box. Within two strides I was on the stage, standing beside the disciple. I reached out a hand to stop him from feeding his patient the concoction of herbs and reagents he'd just mixed on the fly.

"You are disqualified, Disciple Tao. The mixture you were about to feed the patient would have caused the fungal infection in his gut to spread at an accelerated rate and take control of his internal organs, leading to death within thirty-six hours. Do you know your mistake, or shall I explain it?" I stated. The patient's face paled and they snapped their mouth shut, while Disciple Tao cursed as his eyes went wide.

"Sect Leader, I know my error. This fungal infection the patient is suffering from should be Blood Harvest Cordyceps. There is another fungus which presents similar symptoms, the Intestinal Leech Cordyceps. While they appear similar the treatments are different and mine would have led to the patient's death. Instead of this mixture I should have…"

I allowed Disciple Tao a minute or two to explain his mistakes. All the while I maintained my focus on the rest of the competition with my spiritual senses.

"Good. Being able to understand where you have gone wrong is an essential trait for a healer. Sometimes you will make mistakes, but I would counsel patience in future to ensure you have all the facts before you attempt a treatment. Return to the waiting room and join the other disciples." I told him. He nodded and rushed off the stage, disappointed but not distraught.

The competition continued in this manner. A few standout talents managed to effectively cure their patients in record time, most stumbled through making errors but eventually reaching the correct conclusion.

The number of disciples who almost made deadly errors was actually quite low. Of the hundred or so who were taking part, I only had to stop twelve from killing their patients.

Four hours had passed. The crowds weren't as incensed as they'd been during the martial competition, but plenty of them were watching eagerly with interested expressions. Clearly this kind of novel experience was entertaining in its own way.

Only eight or so disciples remained on stage. Suddenly I heard a commotion from the tunnel. The disciples there were shouting and making way for someone. A person dressed in green robes, shiny black hair hanging to her waist tied up with a pink silk bow, with a familiar cheeky smirk on her face, entered the arena.

"I was beginning to think you'd never return, Disciple Cui," I said, clasping my hands behind my back and not letting my joy slip onto my face.