「Early the next morning.」

Li Xu woke up and habitually checked the newly refreshed intelligence.

[Today's Intelligence: Patient Zhang Jianing, facial paralysis for over a month, history of multiple episodes. Pathogenesis... Treatment principles... Technique: Balanced supplementation and drainage...]

The report concluded with a complete acupuncture treatment plan for a patient with facial paralysis.

'A patient with facial paralysis...'

A thought occurred to Li Xu. He guessed it was probably a patient at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

After all, today was the day he was scheduled to visit the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for an academic exchange with Zhu Quanxin, the director of the acupuncture department.

After breakfast, Li Xu grabbed his acupuncture kit.

He instructed Song Sisi to hold down the fort at the clinic, then set off for the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

As soon as he entered the hospital gates, he saw Lin Guorui already waiting for him.

"Doctor Li! You're here!"

Lin Guorui hurried over to greet him warmly, his attitude even more respectful than how he treated his own department director.

With Lin Guorui leading the way, Li Xu arrived at the acupuncture department, located on the third floor of the inpatient building.

The department director, Zhu Quanxin, had also been waiting for quite some time.

"Director Zhu, this is the Doctor Li Xu I told you about." Lin Guorui made the introductions. "Doctor Li, this is Director Zhu Quanxin of our hospital's acupuncture department."

"Haha, Doctor Li, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. What a promising young man!"

Zhu Quanxin extended his hand.

He looked at the young man before him, who was even a few years younger than his own son, and couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion. 'Truly, the new generation surpasses the old.'

"You're too kind, Director Zhu. It is I who should be learning from a senior like you," Li Xu said humbly.

After the three exchanged pleasantries, Lin Guorui took his leave.

Only Li Xu and Zhu Quanxin remained in the office.

Zhu Quanxin was just about to brew some tea to discuss the miraculous "Bone Extraction from the Throat" acupuncture technique with Li Xu in depth when there was a knock on the office door, and a patient walked in.

It was a middle-aged man in his forties with a worried expression.

Half of his face was stiff and twisted into a strange expression.

Zhu Quanxin knew at a glance that this was a typical case of facial paralysis.

He glanced at Li Xu, and an idea came to him.

Hearing is one thing, but seeing is believing.

Yesterday, he had listened to Lin Guorui praise Li Xu's skills to the heavens, but he hadn't seen them for himself.

'Why not take this opportunity to see for myself just what's so special about this young man's acupuncture technique?'

"Doctor Li," Zhu Quanxin said to Li Xu with a smile, "a patient has arrived just in time. How about... you diagnose and treat him? It would be a real eye-opener for an old man like me."

He was testing him on the spot.

Li Xu understood immediately.

He knew this was a test from his senior.

He wasn't intimidated. He had learned a great deal about the knowledge and techniques for treating facial paralysis from Elder Cheng's notes and the system's videos. This was the perfect chance for a practical demonstration.

He nodded and readily agreed, "Alright. Then I'll show you what little I can do."

He guided the middle-aged patient to an examination bed and began a detailed diagnosis, following the four traditional methods.

As he examined the patient, he mentally reviewed the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory behind the condition of "facial paralysis."

What is known as facial paralysis is called "crooked mouth and eyes" in TCM. Its root cause lies in the patient's "insufficient vital energy and weak external defenses."

In other words, the body's resistance had weakened, leaving the meridians in the face in a state of emptiness.

If, at this time, the body is invaded by external evils such as wind, cold, or dampness, this pathogenic qi takes advantage of the weakness to invade the Yangming and Shaoyang meridians of the face.

This disrupts the flow of qi and blood in the meridians. Without proper nourishment, the facial muscles become lax, crooked, and uncontrollable.

Therefore, the pathogenesis of facial paralysis is often characterized as "root deficiency and branch excess."

"Root deficiency" refers to a lack of vital energy, while "branch excess" refers to the invasion of external pathogens.

In the acute phase of the illness, the "excess pattern" of external pathogens obstructing the meridians is predominant.

In the recovery and sequela phases, it is mostly a "deficiency pattern" of insufficient vital energy,

or a mixed pattern of both deficiency and excess that is predominant.

After a detailed inquiry, Li Xu quickly grasped the patient's full situation.

The patient explained that he was a department manager at a company, with a hectic job and immense pressure.

A month ago, due to an important project, he had pulled several all-nighters in a row. Afterward, he was caught in the rain. The next morning, he woke up to find that the right side of his face couldn't move, the corner of his mouth drooped to the left, and his right eye wouldn't stop tearing up.

He was terrified and immediately went to the City First Hospital for treatment.

Western medicine diagnosed it as "right-sided facial neuritis," commonly known as facial paralysis.

At the time, his blood pressure was also found to be as high as 190/140 mmHg.

He received drug therapy at the City First Hospital.

However, his symptoms did not improve significantly. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Later, he was transferred to another hospital for inpatient treatment. An electromyography (EMG) test showed "partial damage to the right facial nerve."

He was prescribed a pile of medications and spent a lot of money, but his face was still crooked.

Out of desperation, he came to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine on a recommendation to see Director Zhu.

Li Xu examined him and found that the wrinkles on the right side of his forehead had faded, he couldn't completely close his right eye, his right nasolabial fold was shallower, and the corner of his mouth was pulled to the left. When asked to whistle, he was completely unable to do so.

Looking at his tongue, the tip was red with a thick, greasy coating.

Furthermore, his pulse was wiry and thin.

Combining the four diagnostic methods, Li Xu immediately had a diagnosis in mind:

This patient had a classic "mixed pattern of deficiency and excess."

Prolonged fatigue had consumed his qi and blood, which was the "root deficiency." He had also contracted external wind-cold pathogens that obstructed his meridians, which was the "branch excess."

However, judging from his thick, greasy tongue coating and wiry, thin pulse, the current stage was still dominated by the "excess pattern" of pathogenic qi obstructing the meridians.

For an excess pattern, the "Exposure Method" is essential!

In the words of Elder Cheng's acupuncture style, one must use—the "penetratingly cool" technique!

With the diagnosis confirmed, Li Xu no longer hesitated.

He had the patient lie flat on the bed and took out his steel needles.

He first took a long needle and inserted it into the "Baihui" acupoint on the crown of the patient's head to calm the spirit and guide the qi downward.

Immediately after, he inserted needles into acupoints on the patient's face, including "Forehead," "Drainage Ditch," and "Chengjiang."

Next, he needled the bilateral "Neiguan" and "Yangling Spring" points, as well as the "Huaroumen" point on the abdomen, with the intention of regulating the body's overall qi mechanism and expelling the pathogenic evil.

Zhu Quanxin, who was standing to the side, observed the entire process meticulously.

At first, when he saw Li Xu's choice of acupoints, he nodded to himself in approval.

These were all common acupoints for treating facial paralysis. Their combination was appropriate, and his thought process was clear. It proved the young man truly had a solid theoretical foundation.

But when Li Xu began to formally apply the needles, Zhu Quanxin's brow quickly furrowed.

Because he discovered that Li Xu's technique, as he inserted the needles, seemed a bit... unpracticed!

Although Li Xu's needle insertion was steady, his movements were slightly stiff and lacked fluid grace when performing subtle manipulations like lifting, thrusting, and twirling.

When needling the "Huaroumen" acupoint, he even made a minuscule error in the angle of insertion due to a slight misjudgment of the muscle layer's depth.