Seeking Truth with a Sword

After the cotton cooled, he rinsed it again with water and let it dry, finally obtaining a De-fat cotton ball.

A De-fat cotton ball absorbed liquid more easily than ordinary cotton. It was odorless, tasteless, unblemished, white, and elastic, and not prone to bacterial growth, making it very suitable for sanitary cotton balls—for things like alcohol disinfection and so on.

At the same time, degreasing cotton was also very suitable for... cough, use as menstrual cloths.

If this news were to spread now, Li Ang definitely didn't want to be known by the somewhat strange reputation of "Gynecology Saint" before getting into the Academic Palace. At least, he'd wait until after he was admitted.

Inside the Academic Palace, there was a patent office where Doctors and students could register their inventions and creations.

If merchants from Yu Country wanted to produce these, it was one thing for local small merchants to secretly manufacture them on their own. However, large merchants undertaking mass production had to pay a very small portion of the patent fees. Accumulating over time, many Academic Palace Doctors and Instructors had amassed small fortunes of tens of thousands of strings of coins.

Naturally, they didn't need to bend their backs for Five Baskets of Rice or go help nobles and the wealthy build houses using Telekinesis and talismanic magic.

Additionally, the public was more likely to accept and adopt inventions originating from the Academic Palace, which further benefited their large-scale promotion.

Should I register the patent anonymously when the time comes? It'd be really strange to end up with a nickname like the gynecology guardian...

Li Ang suddenly recalled, Speaking of which, aren't the drawings of my forceps still with Senior Brother Cheng?

「Yu Country, Hedong Road, Wendeng County.」

Cheng Juxiu, now a bit tanned, sat in the courtyard and suddenly sneezed.

"Ju Xiu, what's the matter?" Gongyang Deming, an Academic Palace Doctor who looked like an ordinary old man, asked with a frown from where he sat opposite Cheng Juxiu.

"Nothing, I just caught a bit of a cold from too much sea breeze," Cheng Juxiu waved his hand. He was about to say something more when the crying of a baby from inside the house interrupted him.

"Is it born?"

Cheng Juxiu, Gongyang Deming, and four other Academic Palace Disciples, both male and female, all stood up and looked towards the house. Soon after, the door opened. Han Qingyun and another female disciple emerged, each holding one side of a pair of silver forceps. They nodded to Cheng Juxiu and the others, saying, "Mother and daughter are safe. The Midwife is taking care of everything inside; all is well now."

"Whew, that's good." Cheng Juxiu let out a sigh of relief. The Academic Palace advocated benevolence and righteousness. Even if the woman giving birth in the delivery room was just from a fishing family they had never met, they felt compelled to try their best to help.

"Additionally..." Han Qingyun began, her expression a bit strange, "These forceps are indeed very ingenious. They assist with birth by clasping the baby's head between the two blades and gently pulling outward. With these forceps, the number of women dying from difficult childbirths worldwide will be greatly reduced."

"Impressive, aren't they? My junior brother invented them," Cheng Juxiu said with a smile. "In the past, women in labor could only rely on their own struggle for life or have a Telekinesis Master use Telekinesis to pull the baby and assist with the birth. However, there aren't many Telekinesis Masters in the world, and even fewer are willing to help with childbirth. Those with sufficient precision, accuracy, and strength in their Telekinesis are rarer still. To say that these forceps are a living Buddha for countless families is no exaggeration."

Cheng Juxiu paused, then added, "It's just important to be careful with the force exerted when using the forceps. It must be applied with skill and precision to avoid harming the mother and baby. Before heading to the Academic Palace to register the patent and start mass production, we must first publish the instructions in the Academic Palace's newspaper. This way, Midwives across the land can practice regularly with objects like peaches..."

"Alright, look at how excited you are. You weren't even this happy when we dealt with those Demons," Mr. Gongyang said, shaking his head with a smile.

He was one of the Doctors who taught Engineering at the Academic Palace. In Dengzhou, Hedong Road, he oversaw the construction of ocean-going vessels capable of crossing the Endless Sea.

Some time ago, fishermen and sailors at Dengzhou Port reported seeing a small island, about ninety feet in diameter, out at sea. Trees, shaded grasslands, and nesting seabirds were on it. However, sighting reports indicated that the island's location wasn't fixed and it often moved.

Mr. Gongyang and his students went to investigate. Using a Water Avoidance Talisman to dive to the seabed, they saw the island's true form: a gigantic, three-legged tortoise Demon over two hundred meters long.

It was classified as: Demon—Level Two—One Thirteen, the Ben Jiu Turtle.

The *Er Ya's* chapter *Shiyu* states: "A three-legged soft-shelled turtle is a *Neng*; a three-legged hard-shelled turtle is a *Ben*."

The *Zhou Yi* states: "White *Ben* is without fault." Thus, it was named Ben Jiu.

This Second-level Demon had a docile nature. In the few times it was sighted, it liked to float beneath the sea's surface, opening its mouth to eat passing algae, schools of fish, squid, and the like. Sometimes, it would also dive into the deep sea to gnaw on seabed silt and rocks—this behavior might have been to aid digestion. Ben Jiu Turtles usually lived in the depths of the Endless Sea; they rarely came near the coasts and seldom attacked ships.

However, such a massive creature was, after all, a Second-level Demon Beast. Leaving it just outside Dengzhou Port remained a potential danger. So, Mr. Gongyang and his students devised a plan: they placed a large piece of whale meat, coated in special grease, in a fishing net. A ship then dragged the net in front of the Ben Jiu Turtle, using the meat's scent to lure it away and slowly guide it back to the Endless Sea.

During this process of guiding it back, Mr. Gongyang and the others also seized the opportunity to collect numerous samples from the sluggish and docile Ben Jiu Turtle. These included, but were not limited to: demonic carnivorous barnacles parasitic on the Ben Jiu Turtle's underside; spice trees growing on its back; and a special metal that grew from the shell on its back. This metal was indestructible, possessed superior properties, and could be used to forge Flying Swords, armor, and even the core components of ships' dragon bones.

Just dealing with the Ben Jiu Turtle—or rather, joyously unearthing these treasures—took everyone a month. Now finally free, they happened to encounter a woman from a fishing family in difficult labor, so they brought the forceps to help, incidentally testing their actual effectiveness.

"After all, the Ben Jiu Turtle is too gentle," Cheng Juxiu said, spreading his hands helplessly. He was good at Hundred Beasts Studies at the Academic Palace but still preferred Engineering and crafting things. "By the way, Mr. Gongyang, now that we have the shell samples from the Ben Jiu Turtle, can we speed up the construction of the ironclad ships?"

"Hmm, come September, when the Ministry of Industry's manpower and resources are in place, we can start construction," Mr. Gongyang nodded. "You and Qingyun should head back to Chang'an for now. You've been a great help this time. Oh, and take the record I've written on the Ben Jiu Turtle back to the Academic Palace, as well as this report on the use of the forceps. His Majesty and the Mountain Master will certainly be pleased. Wait until the Ministry of Industry's directive comes down in September before you return to Dengzhou."

"Sure." Cheng Juxiu nodded in agreement. He took the cleaned forceps from Han Qingyun and placed them in an iron box along with a large piece of metal from the Ben Jiu Turtle.

A thought suddenly occurred to him: Judging by the time, the Academic Palace should be holding its second or third round of entrance exams by now, right? I wonder how Risheng is doing. Surely, he hasn't run into any trouble?