Soon Moya brought Gao Yue to their destination.
Gao Yue never expected that the Medical Priest they were looking for actually lived in a cave on the edge of a cliff. The cave was very, very high up, and to reach it, they'd have to climb the rock face.
Gao Yue craned her neck to look at the height, and despair welled up in her heart.
Holy crap, this Medical Priest probably doesn't want anyone coming to see him! What a location to pick.
While she was fretting over how on earth she was supposed to get up there, Moya simply carried her in his arms and, without the slightest pause, stepped up the steep cliff face. His toes landed on the protrusions in the rock, and with a bend of his knees he'd leap up seven or eight meters at a time—it was thrilling.
Effortlessly, in the blink of an eye, they were inside the cave.
The cave was bright and spacious. Many stone platforms were arranged inside, covered with jars and the like, and the ground was strewn with Medicinal Herbs whose purpose she couldn't guess.
The Medical Priest was an elderly old man with hair and beard all white, spry and full of energy, busy tending to his bottles and jars.
After being set down from Moya's arms, Gao Yue's first move was to snatch away the nightgown he was holding, grabbing it at just the right angle, terrified that the underwear tucked inside might fall out.
Seeing Moya look at her, she explained:
"This dress is dirty. It'll get your hands dirty."
Moya's heart stirred, thinking this Cub was far too considerate of others. He looked away and said to the Medical Priest, "Medical Priest, this Female Cub's arm is broken."
Cub?
The Medical Priest could tell at a glance that Gao Yue was a full-grown Female—just perhaps short in stature due to her race.
But after a moment's thought, he chose not to point this out. He came over and examined Gao Yue's injured arm, and as she winced in pain, he said, "The bone is completely broken, and there are small bone fragments nearby. I'll need to cut open the flesh to deal with the fragments."
"In a moment I'll use a Bone Knife to cut open your flesh, piece all the fragments back together, then stitch the flesh closed. Only then can it heal properly."
Hearing this, Gao Yue wasn't afraid at all—if anything, she felt relieved.
Great, it seemed this one actually knew real medicine. What she'd feared was him boasting that he could simply reset the bone with no more than that—that would have been a disaster, and her arm would have been ruined.
Moya, however, frowned.
They had to cut open her flesh too? That she'd have to suffer like this was something he hadn't anticipated.
Such a fragile Female Cub—surely she'd cry without end, and surely she wouldn't want to accept a treatment like this.
Yet he saw Gao Yue take the news quite calmly, without crying or fussing, and without raising any objection to the treatment plan. She merely made a suggestion to the Medical Priest: "Grandpa, could you knock me out before treating me? Otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to hold still."
The Medical Priest laughed, his laughter hearty and robust.
He turned and walked into the inner part of the cave, returning with a stone jar.
When the stone jar was opened, an extremely slender little green snake slithered out and coiled itself around the Medical Priest's aged wrist.
"Heh heh heh, don't worry. Even a Male couldn't hold still through the pain of bone-setting, so how could I let a Female like you suffer through it? This is a medicine snake. One bite from it, and you won't feel any pain."
Gao Yue eyed the tiny snake curiously, her gaze fixing on its triangular head... wait, didn't that look like a venomous snake breed?
The Medical Priest smiled and said, "This is our tribe's Numbing Snake. Since it was young, its fangs have been steeped in medicine, so wherever it bites, you'll feel no pain."
Gao Yue understood—the venom this snake secreted was likely some kind of nerve-numbing toxin, which was why it had a pain-relieving effect.
"Okay."
She nodded firmly and took the initiative to pull open the animal skin blanket, exposing her injured arm.
"Go ahead and bite."
Despite saying so, her slightly pursed lips betrayed her fear.
As the medicine snake crawled onto her arm, Gao Yue's skin trembled faintly. She then closed her eyes, shoulders drawing in slightly, body tensing.
But no matter how afraid she was, she didn't pull back.
The Medical Priest found the Female's expression utterly adorable, his smile turning kindly.
No wonder she'd been mistaken for a Cub—that hunched-shoulder, fearful look really did resemble a Cub, and an obedient, endearing one at that.
Moya, too, couldn't help finding her adorable in that moment.
Clearly terrified, yet she still obediently held out her arm without needing to be coaxed.
..Her temper really was remarkably good. Even before, when he'd caused her broken bone, she'd never once lost her temper at him—she'd even been too embarrassed to let him carry her dirty clothes, afraid of dirtying his hands.
No wonder her tribe had fed her until she was so plump—probably because she was just too adorable, so everyone wanted to feed her more.
Moya couldn't help but soften his expression, gently patting her back to comfort her.
The tiny emerald-green snake, cool to the touch, crawled onto Gao Yue's arm, opened its mouth, aimed near the injury, and bit down very lightly.
Gao Yue had braced for pain, but to her surprise, she felt almost nothing—far gentler than an IV needle.
Then something miraculous happened.
Her arm didn't hurt at all anymore!
The effect was even more remarkable than an Anesthetic. An Anesthetic made your flesh feel like a dead lump, but this Numbing Snake seemed to only block the sensation of pain—if you touched the skin, the sense of touch was still perfectly clear.
Once the Numbing Snake had returned to its jar, the Medical Priest went to fetch other tools, saying kindly to Gao Yue, "Next I'll be cutting open the flesh. Whatever you do, don't move."
At the sight of the sharp Bone Knife, Gao Yue's face went pale.
In all her years she'd never once had surgery. The closest thing was the dentist, and even then, she'd always put it off again and again, needing to fully brace herself mentally before she could go.
But given how severe the injury was, surgery was unavoidable.
A broken bone didn't just snap cleanly into two neat pieces—there were bound to be many small fragments, and if the flesh wasn't cut open to clear them all out, there'd definitely be lasting complications.
Treating it this way was necessary, and more scientifically sound.
The question was, was this bone-mending paste actually safe?
Since it concerned her own health, Gao Yue spoke up to ask.
The Medical Priest gently and patiently told her not to worry—this paste had already healed many broken arms and legs among his tribespeople, and everyone had recovered fully afterward with no ill effects at all, including the weaker Females and Cubs.
Hearing this, Gao Yue said nothing more.
Treatment was better than no treatment. If left untreated, her arm would surely worsen, and she might even die from a severe infection down the line.
So her only request was that the Bone Knife be scalded with hot water first, then cooled before the surgery—that would help with disinfection.
The Medical Priest agreed.
Soon the Bone Knife was fully sterilized, and the Medical Priest held it in hand, ready to perform the surgery on Gao Yue.
Gao Yue sat on the stone platform, her body growing tenser and tenser. Her uninjured left hand quietly clenched tight, and even her pale, delicate toes curled together.
She couldn't stop herself from being afraid—after all, this was surgery that would cut open flesh down to the bone. Even lying in a dentist's chair used to scare her.
But the more afraid she was, the more intently she stared.
Her two dark eyes fixed tightly on the Medical Priest.
As she watched, the old man before her seemed to transform into a butcher sharpening his knife to slaughter her... so she kept taking deep breath after deep breath.
That timid yet valiantly determined look completely melted Moya's heart.
Just as Gao Yue was gripped by fear, she suddenly felt a light breeze brush past her side—Moya had sat down behind her, wrapping his arms around her. Then everything went dark before her eyes; he'd covered them with his hand.
"Relax. If you don't watch, you won't be afraid."
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