CHAPTER 489: CHAPTER 440: ETERNAL LIFE

The four of them exited the main gate and boarded the carriage. As the wheel hubs turned, the vehicle slowly moved forward.

Chai Chai gazed out of the window at the luxurious mansion receding into the distance and sighed sincerely, "Life is so unpredictable."

"Mhm."

Li Leqing nodded. "Manager Jin came from a poor background. When he was a teenager, he carried rice at the docks and set up small stalls in the streets, building his fortune from scratch. Even before winning the favor of my father and Mom, he had already accumulated considerable wealth. People often said that if he possessed even a tiny amount of Spiritual Vein Talent, with his willpower, perseverance, and good fortune, he could have become a Great Practitioner. Yet, who would have thought he would suddenly contract a terminal illness?"

After speaking, she paused in thought for a moment, then hesitantly added, "Right, cancer... is it really a matter of probability?"

"Mhm."

Li Ang nodded. "Cancer is fundamentally normal cells mutating into harmful ones. These harmful cells then divide and proliferate uncontrollably, affecting organ function and eventually leading to a person’s demise. The cells in the human body are as numerous as grains of sand in the Ganges. They are constantly replicating and dividing, so mutations are bound to happen. Even if ninety-nine percent of these harmful cells are detected and destroyed at the outset, should even a tiny fraction escape, they could potentially develop into cancer. It’s akin to the saying, ’You can’t walk by the river without getting your shoes wet.’ For instance, even if a person avoids working in dust-filled places like mines, never excessively stays up late, refrains from alcohol, doesn’t eat too much salted food, and avoids severe sun exposure, they could still develop cancer during their lifetime.

Recently, I visited patients of all ages in Chang’an City. At forty years old, the cumulative cancer rate is about two to three percent. At fifty-five, it’s around six percent. By seventy-four, it reaches twenty-one percent. And by eighty-five, the cumulative cancer rate climbs to thirty-six percent.

In other words, if they don’t die from other causes, ordinary people have a one-third probability of contracting cancer over their lifetime."

A one-third probability was by no means optimistic.

Li Leqing asked, "Then... is there a way to cure it completely?"

"’What does ’completely cure’ mean?’ Li Ang countered. ’The human body produces cancer cells every day; it’s just that the body itself usually destroys them. Moreover, even if the most regularly-shaped tumor is removed using Mind Thread surgery, it’s difficult to guarantee that no cancer cells will escape and lie dormant, potentially resurfacing after three, five, or even ten years. There is no such thing as a ’complete cure.’ A more precise way to put it is reducing the likelihood of recurrence. The earlier it’s found, the sooner it’s removed, the sooner it’s treated.’"

When he said "treated," Li Ang paused for a moment.

The methods of treating cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, which are often used in combination. But at this stage, the only reliable medication he could think of was Paclitaxel.

Paclitaxel is a natural anti-cancer drug isolated and purified from the bark of the red pine tree and causes rather severe allergic reactions in the human body. It can be formulated into paclitaxel albumin nanoparticles, which induce relatively milder allergic reactions and offer better efficacy. First, the raw paclitaxel material is dissolved in an organic solvent to obtain an oil phase. Next, bovine serum albumin is weighed, dissolved in water, then stirred and heated to create an albumin aqueous solution. After adjusting the pH, the organic solution is added to obtain an aqueous phase. Under high-shear conditions, the oil phase is gradually added to the aqueous phase to create an oil-in-water emulsion. This emulsion is then transferred to a high-pressure microfluidizer for high-pressure homogenization. Finally, rotary evaporation removes the organic solvent, yielding an aqueous solution of paclitaxel albumin nanoparticles.

The entire process was intricate and complex. The precision required of the equipment far surpassed that for any drug Li Ang had prepared before, and he wasn’t very confident about its success. Even if it were successful, curing cancer would still be a matter of probability...

Li Ang couldn’t help but recall the words from Jun Qianzi, relayed to him by Ya Jiu long ago. "If the use of Mutated Objects were to be unrestricted, many problems in the world would cease to be problems."

The Dongjun Tower housed Mutated Objects collected by the Academic Palace over hundreds of years. If Li Ang had sufficient authority to access information on each Alien and research their applications, he could undoubtedly use the knowledge from the Otherworld in his mind to accomplish many things. For instance, an information network spanning the Yu Country, modern agriculture capable of feeding the entire population, cargo ships with a carrying capacity of one hundred thousand tons... Even within his lifetime, he might achieve his wish to ensure every citizen of Yu Country had enough to eat and warm clothing, lived in a fair and just society, and enjoyed peace and contentment...

"Manager Jin is so wealthy, yet he cannot escape birth, aging, sickness, and death. Even Great Practitioners rarely live past a hundred and twenty years. Life is short; one should enjoy it while one can. Eat well, drink well, and don’t dwell on your worries." Chai Chai spoke earnestly, "Since we’re out anyway, why not go to the Red House for dinner?"

"’Is that your profound insight for the day?’ Li Ang rolled his eyes. Whenever food was mentioned, Chai Chai’s mind instantly sharpened—Li Leqing was also in the carriage, so if they went to the Red House, they could bypass the queue and go straight to a private room. It would be great if she applied such shrewdness to her studies or cultivation."

Despite this, Li Ang leaned out of the carriage window, called out to the coachman, and directed the carriage toward the Red House in East City.

"Yay!" Chai Chai clapped her hands excitedly. She pulled out a roll of hawthorn candy wrapped in oil paper from her bosom, picked two pieces, and tossed them into her mouth—hawthorn aids digestion and would prevent her from overeating later.

She hummed a tune while eating the candy, her mood visibly brightening. Her feet swung back and forth, dispelling the somber and oppressive atmosphere in the carriage.

Li Ang, Li Leqing, and Ouyang Shi looked at Chai Chai, smiles unconsciously appearing on their faces.

Life is short; one should enjoy it while one can. The saying wasn’t wrong.

Li Ang leaned against the windowsill, his palm supporting his chin. He gazed out at the street scene through the occasionally fluttering curtain, a self-deprecating smile forming in his heart.

Sometimes, he truly wished his mind weren’t filled with such vast and endless memories. It was because of this knowledge that he felt that with great ability came great responsibility, an inescapable sense of mission tied to his ’transmigration’ and ’awakening.’ Though only in his teens, mentally, he felt more like a man decades older, weary with age.

Wait.

Suddenly, Li Ang thought of something. His eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly as Chai Chai’s words echoed in his mind: "Even Great Practitioners rarely live past a hundred and twenty..."

Great Practitioners... lifespan...

Li Ang withdrew his arm from the windowsill, his thoughts racing.

On reflection, it was indeed very strange. A cultivator like Senior Sister Sui Yi, a High-level Cloud Patrol Realm expert, could cover a thousand li in a day and cleave a pavilion in two with a single sword strike. Meanwhile, Candle Cloud Cultivators like Jianquan, Lu Qingya, the Academic Palace Director, and the Taihao Mountain Cardinal could directly alter weather patterns and reshape terrain. Given enough time, they could even destroy a medium-sized city.

Such Great Practitioners were, in essence, already a different order of being compared to ordinary people. Above them, there were even beings like the Academic Palace Master and the Taihao Mountain Cardinal.

Great Practitioners concentrated immense power within themselves, but throughout the long river of history, no one had ever broken the limits of lifespan, the Heavenly Person Five Decays. So-called Longevity Pills, Elixirs of Immortality, Turtle Breath Techniques, and even Demon Cultivators absorbing vitality and blood—none could grant eternal life. There wasn’t even anyone who had lived past a hundred and forty years.

It had to be said, it was truly strange.