Practicing Medicine

When you arrived at Xie Huide's place,

you discovered that he had taken in two new disciples.

One was named Jiao Mingxu, and the other Bai Chen.

Jiao Mingxu was fifteen years old, with an honest, simple-looking face and a loyal, sincere nature.

Jiao Mingxu had decent talent for the Martial Path and was already in the Mid Skin Tempering Realm.

But his talent for alchemy was rather poor, so he would mainly follow the Martial Path in the future.

Bai Chen was somewhat unusual.

He was already forty-two this year.

For a beginner, that was quite an advanced age.

He had entered under Xie Huide solely on the strength of his exceptional talent for alchemy.

Bai Chen was also in the Mid Skin Tempering Realm.

Bai Chen had a pair of triangular eyes. At a glance, he looked like a very cunning man.

To sum the two of them up—

Jiao Mingxu was honest and did not speak much.

Bai Chen was old and did not speak much truth.

Neither of them was a Personal Disciple; they were merely ordinary disciples.

Xie Huide had the two of them follow you first.

He had you teach them the fundamentals of alchemy.

You spent more than ten days teaching them alchemy.

That day, after the lesson ended,

Bai Chen asked, "Senior Brother, can we enter and leave the sect freely?"

Although Bai Chen was much older than you,

both your alchemy and Martial Path cultivation surpassed his.

Thus, he called you Senior Brother very naturally.

"Of course. Do you want to go down the mountain?"

Bai Chen narrowed his triangular eyes and smiled. "I want to go down the mountain and buy some personal necessities."

The honest-looking Jiao Mingxu beside him nodded as well.

Considering that you had not gone down the mountain in several years either,

you took the two of them down the mountain with you.

You arrived at Youtong County, the nearest county town at the foot of the mountain.

You ate, drank, and enjoyed yourselves in the market district.

You discovered that although Bai Chen did not look like a good person,

aside from being a little slick, he was not actually a bad man.

Moreover, having struggled and scraped through the secular world for many years,

he handled people and social matters with great finesse.

Being around him was quite comfortable.

Jiao Mingxu, on the other hand, was exactly what he appeared to be: an honest man through and through.

His favorite phrase was, "My mother said..."

Basically, whatever you, his Senior Brother, told him to do, he did.

He never uttered a single complaint.

The three of you came to the entrance of a restaurant that looked extremely expensive.

Bai Chen tactfully said, "Senior Brother, thank you for teaching and enlightening us these past days. May I treat you to a meal?"

Naturally, you did not refuse over such a small matter as sharing a meal.

The three of you entered and took your seats.

A waiter immediately came over to introduce the dishes.

But the more he introduced, the stranger it became.

The dishes at this restaurant were outrageously expensive.

One dish could consume an ordinary family's food money for an entire month.

Although such prices meant nothing to you,

you noticed a faint sheen of sweat on Bai Chen's forehead.

Clearly, the price put tremendous pressure on him.

But he could not simply leave, or it would seem as though he did not respect you enough.

The waiter finally finished his endless introduction of the dishes.

The waiter politely asked, "What would the three of you like?"

You looked at Bai Chen, then stood up. "We would like to leave."

The waiter froze. He had never heard of that dish.

Seeing you rescue him from the predicament, Bai Chen felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted.

After you came outside, Bai Chen hurriedly apologized. "Thank you for understanding, Senior Brother. My purse is truly a little thin."

You waved your hand, not caring about such things.

The three of you casually found a roadside stall and ate a meal.

After eating and drinking your fill, you were preparing to return to the Danxia Sect

when you passed by a brothel.

Warblers and swallows on the second floor waved handkerchiefs as they beckoned for customers.

Customers constantly came and went.

Bai Chen's eyes immediately lit up.

"Senior Brother, would you honor me with your company?" Excited, thievish glimmers shone in Bai Chen's squinting eyes.

"Junior Brother Bai, spending money in there costs even more than that restaurant just now," you said with a smile.

Bai Chen's gaze drifted about before he smiled. "I can afford it, I can afford it."

You immediately understood. This old fellow Bai Chen was not without money.

He simply rode a bicycle to a bar—saving where he should save and spending where he should spend.

"Junior Brother Bai, you truly spend every coin on the blade's edge," you praised.

Bai Chen scratched his head embarrassedly. "Senior Brother summed it up perfectly!"

However, you were a man devoted heart and soul to cultivating the Martial Path.

You had already cast off such lowly pleasures.

So you had no plans to enter.

The honest Jiao Mingxu also spoke up. "My mother said going to brothels is bad."

Seeing that neither of you was interested, Bai Chen could only give up.

He began calculating when he could come alone to test the waters.

Bai Chen did not forget to flatter you either:

"Senior Brother truly possesses lofty character and bright integrity. Disciples of the Danxia Sect absolutely cannot visit such filthy places, or else their third legs should be broken and they should be expelled from the sect!"

The moment Bai Chen finished speaking, Xie Huide walked out of the brothel.

When he saw the three of you, Xie Huide immediately froze.

His expression became extremely awkward.

He had never expected to run into the three of you.

Xie Huide walked over with a very unnatural expression.

He smacked his lips and said, "Um... disciples, if I said I came to investigate the mysteries deep within the human body in order to improve my alchemy, would you believe me?"

You said, "The weather really is quite nice today."

Jiao Mingxu said, "My mother said the air is very fresh today too."

Bai Chen said, "The clouds in the sky are truly so cloud-like!"

Xie Huide slowly said, "Name your price."

You held up one finger.

In an instant, each of the three of you had a bottle of Qi and Blood Pills in hand, one hundred pills in all.

You said, "Oh, how amazing. We have completely forgotten everything that happened today!"

"You can all get the hell back."

The three of you returned to the Danxia Sect with beaming smiles.

Year Seven

The past year had been another year of self-discipline.

You refined pills in the morning.

You practiced in the afternoon.

You made love at night.

After a year of unremitting effort,

your proficiency with third-grade pills had finally reached the beginner level.

You refined your first third-grade medicinal pill.

You held that pill in your hand and examined it again and again.

It was an important sign that your alchemy had risen to another level.

Although you were still far from refining at least seven third-grade pills in a single batch,

you had already taken a solid step along the road to becoming a third-grade alchemist.

This was only a small step for you, but it truly was a small step for you.

Besides your progress in alchemy,

your main cultivation profession also brought good news.

You completed your sixth True Qi condensation.

Your combat strength could now steadily defeat late-stage Essence Refinement Realm martial artists.

You made another attempt at creating your own medicinal pills.

Several more cages of experimental rabbits died.

But their deaths were not quite so gruesome.

Previously, when the rabbits exploded, their remains would scatter three meters away.

Now, they only scattered two meters away.

The toxicity of your pills was very stable.

You felt that you had improved greatly.

That day, Xie Huide summoned you over.

He said he needed you to practice medicine at a clinic in Youtong County for three years.

This clinic was an asset of the Danxia Sect.

It specifically sent sect members and disciples to practice medicine and improve their medical skills,

thereby improving their alchemy.

This was one of the mandatory training procedures for Personal Disciples.

Bai Chen and Jiao Mingxu were also assigned to go with you.

They were responsible for assisting you.

You, Bai Chen, and Jiao Mingxu went to the clinic.

Year Eight

You had spent one year at the clinic, saving lives and practicing medicine.

Because the purpose of this clinic was to train the medical skills of sect members and disciples,

its fees were much cheaper than those of ordinary clinics.

Many commoners came seeking treatment and medicine.

You treated many patients.

Your medical skills improved by leaps and bounds.

Gradually, you became famous throughout Youtong County.

Your alchemy improved greatly as well.

Ever since settling down in Youtong County, that old fellow Bai Chen had stopped pretending. Whenever he had free time, he ran to the brothel.

He hooked up with a courtesan named Han Xiang and reveled in pleasure every day, forgetting all else.

Jiao Mingxu honestly stayed in the clinic with you, helping as your assistant.

Even when no patients came through the door, he never left.

That day, you were seeing patients

when three people from the clinic across the street swaggered in.

Because you were famous and charged little,

they felt you were affecting their business.

So they had to come pick a fight.

All three were martial artists: one in the Mid Skin Tempering Realm and two in the Early Skin Tempering Realm.

There was no need for you to make a move at all.

You jerked your chin at Jiao Mingxu. "Mingxu, bite him!"

Jiao Mingxu had already reached the Skin Refinement Late Stage.

Dealing with these little toys was effortless.

Barking loudly, Jiao Mingxu leaped out from behind the counter.

In just a few moves, he knocked the three of them down.

He had never killed anyone and did not dare strike too ruthlessly.

He merely knocked them all unconscious and tossed them onto the street.