Chapter 262: Chapter 262: Clearing the Obstruction and Soothing the Diaphragm, Broadening the Chest and Smoothing the Qi

Huh?

Xue Shuheng froze when he heard Li Xu’s diagnosis.

Although he hadn’t performed a detailed pulse diagnosis on the patient like Li Xu had,

the other symptoms Li Xu mentioned—a swollen face, rapid breathing, vomiting bloody water, chills and fever... all of it matched his own observations of the patient’s condition perfectly!

Xue Shuheng was a professor, after all, a man of genuine learning and ability.

He knew in his heart that Li Xu’s diagnosis was incredibly precise—it hit the nail right on the head!

A wave of panic washed over him.

’Could it be... does this kid really have some trick up his sleeve that I don’t know about?’

"So what?" Xue Shuheng asked with a frown. "Even if your diagnosis is correct, how do you plan to treat her?"

Li Xu didn’t answer him. Instead, he turned to Dr. Han from the ER and asked, "Excuse me, do you have any stainless steel acupuncture needles here?"

"Yes, of course we do!"

Although Dr. Han didn’t believe acupuncture would be of any use, he still had a nurse immediately bring over a brand-new, sterilized set of acupuncture tools.

Everyone looked on, finally understanding.

So, Li Xu was going to use acupuncture for the treatment.

Hu Qiming was giving a real-time report in the class group chat.

Hu Qiming: [Li Xu is going to use acupuncture!]

Miaoli: [Acupuncture?! Are you kidding me! How could acupuncture possibly get a bone out? Does Li Xu even know acupuncture? It’s really over this time...]

Li Baojie: [The art of acupuncture is incredibly profound, easy to learn but difficult to master. We only learned the basics back in school. Li Xu... what is he trying to do?!]

Everyone was extremely worried.

Only Xue Shuheng, upon seeing Li Xu take out the stainless steel needles, felt the trace of panic that had just risen in his heart instantly vanish into thin air.

’Acupuncture?’

He almost wanted to laugh out loud!

Back in school, acupuncture had only been an elective for Li Xu’s major. Everyone had learned only the most basic acupoint identification and needling techniques.

Never mind Li Xu; even he himself was just an amateur when it came to acupuncture.

His expertise lay in pharmacology.

In his eyes, for Li Xu to think he could handle such a dangerous emergency with his shoddy acupuncture skills was a ridiculous fantasy!

’Using acupuncture to remove a bone?’

’That’s more absurd than a myth!’

He was completely at ease now.

He was certain that Li Xu was about to fail in an utterly comical and ridiculous manner.

When the patient’s family saw Li Xu take out that long row of stainless steel needles, their faces also turned pale with fright.

They were filled with a fear of the unknown,

yet it was mixed with a faint, glimmering hope for a miracle.

「Inside the emergency room」

All eyes were fixed on Li Xu.

Li Xu paid no mind to anyone’s thoughts.

He was recalling an extremely similar case recorded in Elder Cheng’s personal notes.

It was also a special case of a "pork bone stuck in the throat."

Elder Cheng had specifically noted in his writings that this condition was perilous and its pathogenesis complex. It was not advisable to use conventional methods like "Mountain-Burning Fire" or "Penetratingly Cool," which were major tonifying or draining techniques, to avoid driving the pathogen deeper or depleting the healthy qi.

The principle of treatment should be to "unblock obstruction to free the diaphragm, and broaden the chest to smooth the flow of qi"!

In a flash, a plan had already formed in Li Xu’s mind.

Holding his breath and concentrating his focus, he plucked a three-inch-long steel needle from the needle pouch.

His gaze instantly sharpened!

With the index and middle fingers of his left hand held together, he quickly located the "Tiantu" acupoint on the midline of the patient’s neck, in the center of the suprasternal fossa.

Holding the needle in his right hand and aiming for the acupoint, he slowly inserted the long needle with an exceedingly professional and steady technique, piercing straight to a depth of three inches!

This move made everyone present gasp in shock!

The Tiantu Acupoint is a vital point on the Ren Meridian. Directly beneath it lie the trachea and esophagus, and deeper still are critical structures like the aortic arch. It is one of the most dangerous acupoints on the human body.

An ordinary acupuncturist would, at most, only dare to needle it superficially to a depth of half an inch, yet Li Xu dared to pierce it straight for three inches!

Such boldness and precision were simply unheard of!

Immediately after, Li Xu took out a one-and-a-half-inch steel needle and inserted it into the "He Gu" acupoint on the girl’s left hand. He then took another needle and inserted it into the "Neiguan" acupoint on her right wrist.

He Gu is the Yuan-Source point of the Large Intestine Meridian of the Hand-Yangming, adept at opening the orifices, clearing heat, and unblocking the qi circulation of the head and face;

Neiguan is the Luo-Connecting point of the Pericardium Meridian of the Hand-Jueyin, skilled at broadening the chest to regulate qi, and suppressing rebellious qi to stop vomiting.

With the three needles in place,

Li Xu’s technique was professional, steady, and fluid, without a hint of hesitation.

At the side, the smile on Xue Shuheng’s face had, without him realizing it, frozen once again.

Although he wasn’t an expert in acupuncture, he still had a discerning eye.

With such precise acupoint selection and masterful technique, how could he possibly be a student who had only graduated a year ago?

He seemed even more skilled than the old doctors in the hospital who specialized in acupuncture!

Panic began to stir in his heart again.

Just then, the girl on the hospital bed let out a pained groan.

She pointed at her throat, as if she could feel something surging upward, but it was stuck at the entrance of her throat, and she couldn’t vomit it out no matter how she tried.

"Quick! Help her up!" Li Xu commanded in a low voice.

The nurse and the family member rushed forward to help the girl sit up, her back resting against the head of the bed.

Li Xu instinctively held his breath. The crucial moment had arrived!

He moved both hands at once. With his right hand, he began performing a rapid, short needling technique on the girl’s Neiguan Acupoint at an extremely high frequency, like a small bird pecking at grain—the Sparrow Pecking Technique!

At the same time, with his left hand, he abruptly thrust the long needle in the Tiantu Acupoint two inches deeper!

A straight insertion five inches deep!

And he increased the amplitude and frequency of his twisting and rotating!

The simultaneous application of these two strong stimulation techniques instantly pushed the stagnant, rebellious qi inside the girl’s body to its absolute limit!

"BLEAARGH—"

Under the intense effect of the acupuncture, the girl could no longer bear it. She suddenly opened her mouth and let out a loud retch!

A piece of pork bone, larger than a big red date and streaked with blood, mixed with a large amount of noodles and murky phlegm, shot out of her mouth, landing with a "SPLAT" into the kidney dish the nurse had prepared in advance!

Everyone looked.

The culprit pork bone, having been chopped by a cleaver, had sharp, jagged, sawtooth-like edges!

One could only imagine how difficult and perilous it would have been to remove it with surgery!

As soon as the pork bone was out, the girl immediately felt her throat loosen, and she let out a long breath of relief.

The swelling on her head, face, and neck also began to subside at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The entire emergency room fell deathly silent.

Everyone was utterly stunned by the magical scene that had just unfolded before them!

The first to react was the girl’s mother.

She looked at the bloody pork bone in the dish, then at her daughter—weak, but now breathing smoothly. With a "THUD," she fell to her knees and began kowtowing desperately to Li Xu.

"Doctor, thank you! Thank you for saving my daughter!"

Dr. Han from the ER stood with his mouth agape, rubbing his eyes. He felt as if his entire worldview had been completely overturned. "This... this... Chinese medicine... can it really treat people like this?"