「A few hours later.」
At Physician Lu's house.
Everyone watched anxiously.
Physician Lu was taking the pulse of his unconscious son.
Xu Lei, putting on the air of a senior monk, sat cross-legged on a nearby bed, feigning a meditative state.
Meanwhile, many villagers had gathered in the courtyard of Physician Lu's home.
This was because earlier, in his effort to save Physician Lu's son, Xu Lei first needed to find someone for a blood test.
To find a suitable blood type, he naturally needed a large enough pool of people.
So, Physician Lu had called on other villagers to help.
As a physician, he was well-liked, so many people came.
When everyone first heard that the life-saving method involved drawing blood, exchanging blood, and transfusing blood, every one of them turned pale.
They thought it was a life-for-a-life exchange.
Xu Lei was just about to explain that donating blood wasn't fatal.
You could replenish it just by eating some good food.
But just then, some villagers dragged over a bruised and swollen young man.
It turned out this man was a fugitive.
He had killed someone and was on the run.
His clothes and shoes were worn out, so he tried to steal some from the village, but unexpectedly, the villagers caught him.
A single shout brought neighbors rushing from all sides, and they swarmed him in a group beating.
The petty clothing thief fell to the ground, clutching his head and crying for his parents, his pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears.
After learning the situation, Xu Lei couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.
After all, the clothes he was wearing were also swiped.
He was a petty clothing thief, too.
Seeing the miserable fate of this young thief after being caught by the villagers, Xu Lei couldn't help but swallow hard.
"Let's use his blood,"
someone then suggested. "He's a murderer. If we hand him over to the Government, he'll be beheaded anyway."
"Use his life."
"To save Physician Lu's son."
Seeing that the others were reluctant to give blood, Xu Lei didn't waste time trying to explain to the villagers that a blood transfusion wasn't fatal.
He tricked the clothing thief into revealing a few things, confirming that he was indeed in good health.
After another quick examination and confirming there were no issues, he decided to just test if his blood type matched Physician Lu's son.
He figured if it didn't match, he could then explain to the other villagers that transfusions weren't deadly and test them instead.
Unexpectedly, by a stroke of luck, the clothing thief's blood was a direct match.
This was because Physician Lu's son didn't have a rare blood type.
It was just ordinary type B.
Having found a suitable blood donor, Xu Lei naturally proceeded with the transfusion.
As for the process...
For the blood typing, for instance, Xu Lei only used two glass slides and a piece of pale-yellow test paper.
As for the transfusion... well, it was just a simple outdoor blood transfusion rescue procedure.
But these simple procedures from Earth left the natives of this ancient world staring, dumbfounded and breathless.
"The murderer and clothing thief is dead!" a villager exclaimed sometime later. "I told you! It really is taking a life to save a life!"
Xu Lei was speechless.
A blood transfusion definitely shouldn't kill someone.
But this murderer and clothing thief had actually died after giving blood!
Was he scared to death?
Or did he die from internal injuries he'd already sustained during the group beating from the villagers?
Xu Lei couldn't figure it out.
But since the murderer was dead, Xu Lei didn't bother explaining.
After all, it was fine if the villagers believed saving a life via transfusion was an act of trading one life for another.
It would make it easier for Xu Lei to capitalize on the situation and pose as a Divine Monk, inspiring more awe and reverence!
In any case, many people from the village had now gathered to watch the spectacle.
They wanted to see if this 'Little Monk,' Xu Lei, could truly use a life-for-a-life method to save a man who was certain to die.
"His color has returned, his breathing is steady... my son is alive!"
Just then, Physician Lu cried out, his voice trembling as hot tears streamed from his old eyes.
After all, he only had one son!
He had been on the verge of the tragedy of an old man burying his young son!
To have him back from the brink!
The emotions welling up in his heart...
...were beyond words!
"What?"
"He's really alive?"
"The one even Physician Lu himself couldn't cure, the one he said was bound to die, was saved with someone else's blood?"
"He used the life of that murderer and clothing thief to trade for the life of Physician Lu's son?"
"What kind of technique is this? Is this the Buddhist Dharma?"
The crowd of villagers erupted in an uproar, filled with shock and disbelief.
THUD.
At that moment, Physician Lu rushed over, still crying, and fell to his knees before the meditating Xu Lei. "This old man thanks you, Divine Monk!"
"Benefactor, please, rise quickly."
Xu Lei had long grown tired of feigning meditation. He quickly stood up and said, "We Monks act out of compassion. Besides, fate has brought us together. There is no need to thank me; thank the Buddha. It is you and your son who share a karmic bond with the Buddha. Their lives were not meant to end!"
Physician Lu immediately pressed his palms together and knelt, bowing toward the heavens in prayer to the Buddha.
The few others in the room just watched, stunned.
"Alright, your son needs quiet," Xu Lei said. "Let's go outside."
「One minute later.」
In the courtyard.
A dense crowd of villagers stared at Xu Lei.
"Little Master, it really is you!"
The tea-picking girl was in the crowd. She called out joyfully, "I never thought I'd see you again here!"
Xu Lei offered a benevolent, Buddha-like smile, looking at the innocent and pure tea-picking girl, and then at the dazed man standing beside her, the one known for cursing "damn your mother."
Clearly, they had recognized Xu Lei.
However, because Xu Lei had used the "life-for-a-life" blood method to save Physician Lu's son, all the villagers now saw Xu Lei as a Divine Monk.
This even made the man question his reality.
After all, a Divine Monk couldn't possibly be a thief, could he?
"No, I can't call you Little Master anymore. I should call you Divine Monk!" the tea-picking girl added. "I can't believe you have such great Divine Power, the ability to trade one life for another! Father, look, how could a Divine Monk possibly... take your clothes?"
The hulking man snapped back to his senses.
"But, if I may be so bold, Divine Monk," he said, stepping forward from the crowd and speaking respectfully, "what is the story behind these clothes?"
"Amitabha Buddha. Benefactors, please, I must insist you do not call this humble Monk a Divine Monk."
Xu Lei said with his palms pressed together. "I am just an ordinary Monk."
After speaking, he turned to the man.
"As for the matter of the clothes—that day, as I was traveling through the mountains, I observed that this garment was entangled with sin."
Xu Lei said with a straight face, "Whoever wears this garment will often find their good fortune suppressed."
"One who should have great fortune will find it diminished;"
"one who has little fortune will have none at all, and may even invite disaster;"
"and one with no fortune to begin with faces the peril of death, a calamity that could even affect their descendants!"
"Fortunately, Benefactor, you are a man with some good fortune, which is why you did not suffer a great catastrophe from wearing it."
"But over time, it would have shortened your life."
"Though my Magical Power is weak, I could not bear to see this happen!"
"So, I decided to intervene and purify it."
"However, I understood that if I spoke to you directly, Benefactor, you would likely be full of doubt!"
"Furthermore, Benefactor, you must have done something that weighed on your conscience to invite such a calamity and end up with this sin-entangled robe!"
"Though I was guiding you toward salvation, I also had to let you face a small punishment!"
"Taking it without asking that day, and causing you, Benefactor, to suffer from mosquito bites—this was the reason."
"Such is the cause and effect of this matter."
"If you believe it, Benefactor, then so be it."
"We Buddhist Disciples do not seek rewards for our actions."
"If you do not believe it, then so be it."
"You may come forward to demand this robe back, or you may beat me as you would a common thief."
"I will surely not strike back if struck, nor talk back if cursed."
As he finished, he chanted, "Amitabha Buddha." With his palms pressed together, Xu Lei stood tall and lowered his gaze, saying no more.
After the transfusion, when he saw the color gradually returning to Physician Lu's son's face and considering how young the boy was, Xu Lei already knew he would definitely be saved.
Adding to that the utterly shocked expressions of everyone around him, he knew he had things well in hand today.
That's why he could spin this whole tale without batting an eye.
It didn't matter whether the man and the others believed him or not.
Even if they didn't, Physician Lu would surely protect Xu Lei, his son's savior.
"Zhao Tieniu, isn't it just a cloth shirt? How many silver coins could it be worth!"
Just as expected, Physician Lu spoke up. "If you dare touch a single hair on the Little Divine Monk's head, I won't let you off!"
"The Divine Monk saved you, yet you don't even realize it! You haven't even thanked him!"
"If you're going to be so ungrateful, then take it back!"
"Let it keep suppressing your family's fortune!"
"Or do you still want money for it? This old man can give you these dozen or so copper plates!"
But at that moment...
"Elder Lu, what are you saying? I would never!"
Zhao Tieniu quickly replied, "I witnessed the Divine Monk's miracle of trading a life for a life and bringing the dead back to life with my own eyes!"
"The Divine Monk guided me through a hardship and asked for nothing in return. I'm incredibly grateful in my heart."
"I, old Niu, thank the Little Divine Monk!"
He even tugged on the tea-picking girl's sleeve and said, "Hurry up and thank the Divine Monk with your father!"
"Oh, oh."
The tea-picking girl also said, "Thank you, Divine Monk!"
"It is nothing. No need to be so polite."
Xu Lei replied, "As I said, there's no need to call me Divine Monk."
"Everything is bound by cause and fate."
"There is a reason why the heavens had me meet you and guide you."
"It is good that you can understand the deeper meaning and know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong."
"Rest assured."
"This garment has been purified by me."
"From now on, as long as your family continues to harbor goodwill in your hearts, your good fortune will gradually return!"
Seeing he had successfully bluffed his way through everything, Xu Lei couldn't help but breathe a silent sigh of relief.
He looked again at the father and daughter, who were completely taken in and filled with gratitude.
'I'll find a chance later to give this father and daughter some real benefit to make it up to them.'
Xu Lei thought, 'The people here today have mistaken my simple life-saving blood transfusion for a miracle!
'This proves that the other knowledge I brought from Earth as a Transmigrator will be useful here. It's enough to give me an overwhelming advantage.'