Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 669 Batu is poisoned. Winter is coming!

Late that night, Chen Fan was meditating in his tent when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside.

Batel flung open the tent flap and rushed in, his little face filled with panic. He gasped for breath, "Uncle Chen! My father... my father is dying!"

Chen Fan suddenly stood up and followed Batel quickly toward Batu's tent.

A number of people had already gathered in the tent. Batu's wife was kneeling beside the sheepskin blanket, sobbing uncontrollably. Several old herdsmen stood around with solemn expressions. The old woman was holding a handful of herbs and gesturing on Batu's leg, the herbs emitting a pungent and unpleasant smell.

Batu lay on the sheepskin blanket, his face bluish-purple, his lips black, and a fine layer of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.

His left calf was ripped open, the wound was swollen and the skin was dark purple. There were two small teeth marks in the center, and the flesh around the teeth marks had begun to ulcerate and turn black. A faint stench of decay emanated from the wound.

A dark red line extended upwards from the wound along the thigh, almost reaching the waist and abdomen.

That's not ordinary snake venom; it's poisonous Gu.

"He went to the stable to add hay in the evening and was bitten by a snake," Batu's wife cried. "At the time, it looked like an ordinary snake bite, but who knew that it would turn out like this in just two or three hours."

Chen Fan squatted down beside Batu and quietly probed into Batu's body with his divine sense.

Upon this examination, his brows furrowed. The Gu poison in Batu's body had penetrated deep into his blood vessels and was spreading along his meridians towards his heart.

This poison was of a low rank, merely a low-level poison left by a first-rank Gu worm. However, Batu was a mortal without any spiritual power to protect him, so this amount of poison was enough to kill him.

If the poison is not neutralized in time, he can only last for two or three more hours at most.

He calmly withdrew his divine sense, his face remaining as calm as ever. He stood up and said to Batu's wife, "Go boil a pot of water, and then go to the lakeside to pick a few bitter herbs."

Batu's wife was taken aback: "Bitter lettuce? Isn't that for feeding sheep?"

"Go when I tell you to." Chen Fan's tone left no room for argument.

Batu's wife didn't ask any more questions, wiped away her tears, and left the tent.

Chen Fan then turned to Batel: "Go and get that gray cloth bag from my tent. There are a few packets of medicine inside."

Batel took off running.

A moment later, he brought the cloth bag over.

Chen Fan took the cloth bag and took out several packets of dried herbs from it.

These medicinal herbs were picked by him while herding sheep a few days ago. He processed them slightly in a golden bowl, preserving their medicinal properties but eliminating any spiritual energy fluctuations, and then stored them in his tent.

He selected a few of the appropriate antidotes and put them into a pot to boil in hot water. These were the most common antidotes, which any ordinary pharmacist would use, but their potency was insufficient to neutralize the poison.

The true way to cure the poison lies in his use of his own cultivation to seal off its spread.

With a flick of his wrist, a gold needle as thin as a hair appeared at his fingertip.

The golden needle pierced Batu's inner thigh silently, its tip precisely intercepting the spreading dark red Gu thread.

With the poison sealed in his legs and no longer spreading towards his heart, Batu's breathing immediately became more stable.

The herdsmen in the tent could not see the divine needle, nor could they sense its power. They only saw Chen Fan put a few common herbs into a pot to boil a bowl of medicinal soup, and after pouring it into Batu's mouth, the bluish-purple color on Batu's face began to fade slowly.

"What...what kind of medical technique is this?" an old herdsman stammered.

Chen Fan didn't even look up, but simply scooped the dregs out of the pot and placed them aside: "I learned a few tricks from my master in the Imperial Medical Academy when I was in the palace."

The old herdsman nodded as if he understood, but the shock in his eyes remained undiminished.

In their view, Batu's injury was incurable.

This horrific state of being bitten by a venomous snake, turning the entire body black and purple, has been experienced by others in the tribe before, and none of them survived a single night.

But this quiet stranger, using only a few of the most common herbs, pulled the person back from the brink of death. What else could this be but medical skill?

Chen Fan did not offer any further explanation.

He then took out a gold needle, scalded it with hot water, and gently pricked several acupoints around Batu's wound to release the toxic blood from the ulcer.

Dark purple poisonous blood flowed from the wound, filling almost half a bowl before gradually turning red. After the poisonous blood had drained, he applied crushed herbs to the wound and carefully bandaged it with clean cloth strips.

After doing all this, he divided the remaining medicinal soup in the pot into three portions and instructed Batu's wife to feed Batu a bowl every two hours.

Batu's complexion had mostly recovered, and his breathing was steady and normal, but he was still unconscious.

Batu's wife grasped Chen Fan's hand, sobbing uncontrollably, "Chen Fan, you saved Batu, you are a great benefactor to our whole family!"

Batel knelt down and kowtowed three times before Chen Fan pulled him up.

"No need for that." Chen Fan's voice remained indifferent. "I only know a little about herbs. Batu's wound needs rest. Don't let his leg get wet for three days. Change the dressing once a day. He can get out of bed after seven days."

He stood up, wrapped up the dregs of the medicine, and handed them to Batel. "Don't throw these dregs away. Tomorrow, add three bowls of water and boil them down to one bowl. Continue to feed them to your father."

Batel took the medicine bag with both hands, tears welling up in his eyes, but he held them back.

When Chen Fan stepped out of the tent, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

With a calm expression, he shook his head inwardly and followed them back to their tent...

……

Time flies like the wind on the grassland, blowing by day after day, and winter arrives in the blink of an eye. Winter comes fiercely to the grassland. When the first snow falls, the entire grassland is dyed white, the lake is covered with thick ice, the sheep huddle together in their pens for warmth, and the herders stay in their tents, drinking sheep milk wine around the stove, waiting for spring to return.

Since being rescued by Chen Fan, Batu has held him in even higher esteem.

They told everyone they met that Chen Fan was a divine healer sent by the gods of the grasslands, and that if it weren't for him, they would have been meeting their ancestors long ago. As the story spread, several nearby tribes knew that there was an outsider in the Batu tribe with superb medical skills who could cure snake venom with just a few herbs.

Occasionally, herdsmen would drive dozens of miles on horseback to seek medical treatment from Chen Fan, and he never refused them.

He took minor ailments like colds, bone pains, knife wounds, and difficult childbirth very seriously. He personally prepared every herb and brewed every bowl of medicinal soup.

That evening, Batu came to find him carrying a wine jug, his face showing a hint of something he wanted to say but couldn't.

The two sat on a wooden post in front of the tent and drank a few sips of wine before Batu scratched his head and said, "Chen Fan, there's something I want to discuss with you. That kid Batel will be fourteen after this winter. According to the customs of our grasslands, a fourteen-year-old man should be married. A few days ago, I went to the Agula tribe and talked to the chieftain Zhamuhe there. His daughter, Surina, is also fourteen this year. She has a good temperament and is hardworking, a perfect match for Batel. The wedding is set for the eighth day of next month. You are Batel's master, so according to custom, you should come to bestow your blessing."