The list of candidates for the medical school entrance exam was delivered to Liu Hong's desk, along with a secret letter from Hua Tuo.

In the secret letter, Hua Tuo explained Zuo Ci's skills to Liu Hong in detail and made a request to Liu Hong, hoping to allow Zuo Ci to conduct surgical research with him.

Liu Hong was naturally quite interested in this legendary immortal, Zuo Xianren.

Of course, Liu Hong was not interested in the way of ghosts and gods, but in Zuo Ci's alchemy, or more accurately, the various novel things derived from alchemy.

For example, the invention of gunpowder was due to an accident by an alchemist.

(In fact, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, those alchemists who were skilled in alchemy had already mastered the "original gunpowder" based on saltpeter. However, this gunpowder only had the ability to burn and did not have any explosive power.)

The *Shennong Bencao Jing*, compiled during the Eastern Han Dynasty, only lists saltpeter and sulfur as medicinal materials.

For Liu Hong, these alchemists who were skilled in alchemy were rare talents, and he would not let them go easily.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Hong wrote a secret letter agreeing to Hua Tuo's request and hoping that Zuo Ci could gather more alchemists and disciples to come to Luoyang for research.

Upon receiving the emperor's reply, Hua Tuo immediately went to find Zuo Ci, who was preparing to take the engineering college entrance examination, with great excitement.

"Brother Yuanfang, I'll take you to a wonderful place!"

Seeing Hua Tuo's excited and mysterious expression, Zuo Ci nodded and then followed Hua Tuo into the carriage, arriving at a secret manor located in the west of the city.

Upon entering the manor, Zuo Ci was secretly alarmed by the numerous guards stationed every three or five steps, and his curiosity grew even stronger.

Zuo Ci followed Hua Tuo to a house, and then, under Hua Tuo's guidance, put on two thick cotton masks.

The two then entered a secret underground room through a hidden door in the house; to be precise, it was an underground prison.

Each of those prisons also held slaves, and these slaves were the Jie people who had been secretly transported to Luoyang.

Seeing Zuo Ci's puzzled expression, Hua Tuo explained, "These slaves are all heinous criminals."

Zuo Ci shook his head upon hearing this: "What I care about is not their origins, but their purpose!"

Hua Tuo: "As you can see, they are all afflicted with various ailments. These ailments are of great help to me in researching corresponding prescriptions and medicines."

Zuo Ci nodded: "Brother Yuanhua's research is a good deed that will benefit future generations and will surely be remembered for eternity."

Hua Tuo smiled and said, "I dare not hope to be remembered for eternity. I only hope to live up to His Majesty's kindness and not let the people of Han suffer from illness."

As he spoke, Hua Tuo led Zuo Ci to a laboratory.

Upon entering the laboratory, Zuo Ci was immediately drawn to the bottles and jars on a wooden shelf, which contained processed organs.

Hua Tuo stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "If you want to study surgical medicine, you will always have to overcome these obstacles."

Zuo Ci nodded in agreement: "No matter what you do, someone always has to make a sacrifice."

Upon hearing Zuo Ci's words, Hua Tuo nodded with satisfaction.

Hua Tuo then looked at Zuo Ci with a solemn expression: "I invited Brother Yuan Fang here today because I wanted to discuss this matter with you. What do you think, Brother Yuan Fang?"

"good!"

Faced with Hua Tuo's invitation, Zuo Ci agreed without hesitation.

Zuo Ci was obsessed with developing various elixirs, so he was naturally eager to have such a research facility. As for whether he would be criticized, that was not a concern at all.

After leaving the secret manor, Zuo Ci lost interest in going to the engineering college and instead began writing letters to his friends and disciples, inviting them to come to Luoyang together.

Upon learning the news, Liu Hong arranged accommodation for Zuo Ci and bestowed upon him a large amount of wealth.

In the days that followed, Zuo Ci and Hua Tuo frequently visited that secret manor to conduct various experiments.

With Zuo Ci's assistance, Hua Tuo combined traditional medicine with alchemy, greatly accelerating the development of new drugs.

By late June, Hua Tuo and Zuo Ci had developed a brand-new external injury drug and an anesthetic drug in just one month.

Inside the laboratory, a Jie slave with broken ribs lay on the operating table with his eyes closed.

Hua Tuo and Zuo Ci, standing to the side, were methodically preparing various surgical instruments.

After everything was ready, Hua Tuo nodded to Zuo Ci, and then the two went to the operating table.

After confirming the location of the rib fracture, Hua Tuo took the lead in the surgery, while Zuo Ci watched Hua Tuo's every movement and detail with rapt attention.

The surgery was quick; in less than half an hour, the broken rib inside the slave's body was successfully removed.

After stitching up the wound and applying new medicine, Hua Tuo ordered his men to carry him to the sanatorium next to the operating room.

"Whew!"

Taking off his mask and exhaling a breath of stale air, Hua Tuo looked at Zuo Ci with a smile.

"Brother Yuanfang, it seems this new anesthetic drug is quite effective. The patient was under anesthesia throughout the entire surgery!"

Zuo Ci nodded: "Next, we'll see how the new external wound medicine goes!"

Hua Tuo looked expectant: "I hope it will succeed, so that the wounded soldiers can be spared from suffering!"

An hour later, the slave lying in the sanatorium woke up. Hua Tuo and Zuo Ci asked him a few questions and only felt relieved after confirming that the anesthetic had no side effects.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!