"Is this the patient you've prepared?"

Jin Bingying was the first to approach the patient with bronchial asthma. He glanced at the man and said arrogantly, "Let me take your pulse first."

Upon hearing this, the patient immediately extended his hand without hesitation. Although he disliked the man's arrogant and disrespectful tone, what could he do? He was the patient, so of course, he didn't dare to confront the doctor.

Meanwhile, Zheng Zerui had approached the patient with ringworm, his expression grave. He took the patient's pulse first, then his frown deepened as he lifted the man's clothing to inspect and touch the ringworm on his lower back and waist. His expression grew even uglier, and a flicker of anxiety appeared in his eyes.

Soon after, Jin Bingying finished his diagnosis of the bronchial asthma patient and had written a prescription. He then strode arrogantly over to Zheng Zerui and said dismissively, "Haven't you finished yet?"

"...Hmph!"

Zheng Zerui bristled instinctively, but he quickly suppressed his anger. Sweating, his face pale, he stood up from the diagnostic area and switched places with the haughty Jin Bingying, moving expressionlessly toward the patient with bronchial asthma to begin his own diagnosis.

According to the rules of the competition, both contestants were required to diagnose both patients and write a prescription for each.

A short while later, the prescriptions they had written were placed on the stage.

On the stage, five experts from Huaxia and South Korea served as the judges.

They each picked up the prescriptions written by Jin Bingying and Zheng Zerui. Almost immediately, the expressions on the five judges' faces clearly diverged.

"It's over. Look at the grim expressions on Elder Du and Lu Lao's faces. They look terrible."

"We must have lost, right? This is the second round already. Damn it, how could this happen?"

"If we lose two rounds in a row, doesn't that mean our Huaxia's Traditional Chinese Medicine has lost to those South Korean sticks?"

"Damn it! How could this happen? This is so infuriating!"

Through the live streams of various internet personalities, the citizens of the Republic watching the gloomy faces of Elder Du and Lu Lao on stage grew despondent, and cries of dismay spread. They weren't fools; they understood what the grim looks on the faces of Elder Du and Lu Lao meant, just as they understood the delighted expressions on the faces of the Korean Medicine practitioners.

Could it be that we've lost again? Doesn't that prove our Huaxia's Traditional Chinese Medicine is inferior to Korean Medicine?

Instantly, a real panic began to spread online. Weren't they supposed to win? How did it come to this?

In the Stadium of Jingdong University, the live streamers facing their cameras also struggled to maintain their smiles. Even their analyses and counterarguments now sounded pale and feeble. In a contest of medical skill, a win is a win, and a loss is a loss. The result was so obvious that even if they wanted to spin it in favor of Team Huaxia, there was simply no way.

And at that moment, seated on the stage, the expressions of Elder Du and the others had indeed turned ugly.

He was furious!

The prescription Zheng Zerui had written was far below his usual standard of skill. Obviously, the young man had been flustered by the tricky case of ringworm. This made him lose focus during the diagnosis of the bronchial asthma patient, causing his performance to plummet. To use a professional term, he was rattled.

In fact, this rarely happens to professional doctors, who usually possess strong psychological fortitude. They are specifically trained and reminded before they begin practicing to maintain a balanced mentality while diagnosing patients. If they lose their composure easily, it becomes difficult to perform at the required standard.

But Zheng Zerui was different. He was not a professional doctor, just the closed-door disciple of a renowned Traditional Medicine expert.

Therefore, his confidence was inherently weaker than that of a 'battle-hardened' professional doctor, not to mention he was currently representing the younger generation of the Traditional Medicine Community of Huaxia against practitioners of Korean Medicine from South Korea. The psychological pressure was immense.

So, when he was confronted with the incredibly difficult case of ringworm, he was almost completely overwhelmed, with no idea what to do. This, in turn, affected his subsequent diagnosis. Zheng Zerui had never been someone with particularly strong mental fortitude, which was why his master had not yet deemed him ready to graduate from his apprenticeship. But now... a problem had still occurred.

"Gentlemen, how should we judge the outcome?" Just then, Song Jinhu's smiling voice echoed through the venue, causing the already grim faces of Elder Du and the others to freeze. With these results, was there even a need to say it?

"Ephedra, scorpion, dried ginger... The young man is quite impressive," Lu Hao said, narrowing his eyes as he held up Jin Bingying's prescription for the patient with ringworm. "However, with just this, his ringworm cannot be completely cured."

"Is that so? Then may I ask, elder, between my prescription and his, who is the winner and who is the loser?" Jin Bingying asked dismissively, pointing a finger at the now pale-faced Zheng Zerui. His smile did not reach his eyes.

Can't be completely cured? What does that have to do with me? I just want to win; nothing else matters.

"You won," Elder Du said, standing up and glancing at him. With those words, he turned and slowly walked down from the stage without looking back.

Instantly, the stadium, which could hold several thousand people, fell deathly silent. Only a small group of obsessive fans and South Korean exchange students were cheering.

Online, through the various live streams, citizens of the Republic who witnessed this unacceptable scene finally lost their composure. They became furiously unhinged, flooding the bullet chats and microblogs with a barrage of vitriol aimed at Zheng Zerui and the Traditional Medicine Community of Huaxia.

"FUCK, WHAT THE HELL? ARE THEY MORONS?"

"THEY CAN'T EVEN BEAT THE FUCKING SOUTH KOREAN STICKS AND STILL HAVE THE NERVE TO BOAST THAT TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE IS THE ORIGIN OF KOREAN MEDICINE? A TOTAL DISGRACE!"

"THIS TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE IS DOGSHIT! CAN'T EVEN BEAT SOUTH KOREA'S MEDICAL ARTS!"

"HEH, THE 'INVINCIBLE SUPERPOWER OF THE UNIVERSE' MUST BE LAUGHING NOW. KOREAN MEDICINE IS A BRANCH OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE? NO, NO, NO! TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE IS A BRANCH OF KOREAN MEDICINE! WHAT A BUNCH OF DISGRACEFUL LOSERS! TRASH!"

"HEH, FROM NOW ON, I'M DONE WITH OUR COUNTRY'S TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE. I'LL JUST STICK TO SEEING A WESTERN DOCTOR."

More than half of this vicious online onslaught was aimed at Huaxia's Traditional Chinese Medicine. The harsh, insulting words were like sharp swords, piercing the hearts of Traditional Medicine practitioners and students all across the Republic.

Was Traditional Chinese Medicine really inferior to Korean Medicine? If so, what was the point of all their years of passion and dedication?

"Elder Du, Elder Lu, I'm so sorry. I really am," Zheng Zerui stammered, his face ashen, as the elders walked down from the stage.

"Sorry?"

Elder Du took a deep breath. Then another. After a third, he forcibly rubbed his face and finally looked at Zheng Zerui, his voice and expression filled with frustration. "Little Zheng, your composure... you really need to work on it."

As he finished speaking, he felt he had nothing more to say. Shaking his head with a soft sigh, he turned to leave, his face etched with disappointment.

They had already lost two rounds. One could only imagine the humiliation they faced before the entire nation and the world's media. Moreover, this was no longer just a matter of face; it was about whether those practitioners of Korean Medicine, who had forgotten their own roots, could take this opportunity to legitimately break away from the Traditional Chinese Medicine system and shamelessly establish their own independent school.

If their generation allowed such a disgraceful event to happen, how could they possibly face their ancestors in the Underworld?

"Tomorrow is the final match! And failure is not an option," Lu Lao said, his tone stiff and his expression unpleasant. He ignored Zheng Zerui completely and addressed Li Dongshen. "Li Dongshen, is your disciple up to the task? If he can't handle that patient with the ringworm, you need to say so now."

"Don't worry, Elder Lu. You know the caliber of the disciples I teach, don't you?" the rotund Li Dongshen said, rubbing his bald head. A long-awaited smile spread across his face. "That ringworm case is tricky, to be sure, but it's not enough to stump my own closed-door disciple."

He had clearly been waiting for this moment.

If my disciple can turn the tide and lead the younger generation of the Traditional Medicine Community of Huaxia out of this crisis, what an incredible honor that would be! He'll surely be the center of everyone's attention. When that time comes, who in the entire country won't know the name Li Dongshen? My name will go down in history, and I'll receive endless honors and praise!

After the Huaxia side lost the second round of the medical skills competition against South Korea, the question of who would represent the younger generation of Huaxia's Traditional Chinese Medicine in the final duel could no longer be avoided. If they lost again, the Korean Medicine side could justifiably separate from its Traditional Chinese Medicine roots and establish itself as an independent school.

If that happened, who could bear the responsibility?

Who could bear the disappointment and indignation of the entire Republic and all the practitioners in the Traditional Medicine industry?

In short, the consequences would be absolutely catastrophic. No one could bear that responsibility.

Therefore, at the decisive meeting, when the Vice President of the Traditional Medicine Association, Elder Li Dongshen, proposed that his disciple Zhou Zhengping represent the younger generation of the Traditional Medicine Community of Huaxia in the final match, no one objected.

After all, Zhou Zhengping was the most prized and celebrated closed-door disciple of Elder Li Dongshen—the nation's Medical Sage—in recent years. His medical proficiency had already reached at least sixty to seventy percent of Li Dongshen's own, which was astonishing enough. Thus, no one had the slightest objection to him representing the Traditional Medicine Community of Huaxia in the final battle.

However, at that very moment, a phone call from Xuu Peiyi, the Vice Minister of Health, immediately plunged the meeting room into chaos.

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