Using Virtue Fruits, he could make a wish for anything in the world!
Zhao An opened his palm and focused his thoughts. The Virtue Fruit immediately appeared in his hand.
This tiny fruit contained an astonishing, unimaginable power.
"Can it really grant wishes?" Zhao An asked, still unsure.
"I don't want to be an ordinary person anymore. I want to cultivate immortality! I want immortal arts!" Zhao An prayed with all his heart and made his first wish.
"Great Grade Celestial Immortal Art."
"Seventy-Two Transformations."
"What about the Great Grade Celestial Immortal Art?"
As though it were only natural, the fruit remained perfectly still, giving him no response.
So Zhao An kept trying.
"I want divine weapons, the kind that can split heaven and earth."
"Pangu Axe."
"Immortal Execution Sword."
"Peerless Good Sword."
"Barrett."
"Revolver..."
There was no response.
"I want peerless martial arts, the kind that make me invincible beneath heaven!"
Zhao An wasn't surprised that his random attempts had failed to get him what he wanted.
The Virtue Fruit ought to be useful; he just needed to carefully figure out how to activate it.
"I wish for a Heaven Origin Pill."
After more than a dozen attempts, this time there was finally a response.
A white orb of light appeared in Zhao An's mind, with the outline of a pill taking shape inside it. But it lasted only an instant before fading like a bubble.
Is this because the conditions aren't met...? Zhao An wondered.
The Heaven Origin Pill was a precious martial-arts medicine that even Zhou Hu, the Tiger Head Gang's leader, coveted. It was incredibly rare, and Zhao An had once been lucky enough to see one.
It seemed he could wish for one, but perhaps he needed a higher-grade Virtue Fruit.
The white light surrounding the Heaven Origin Pill in his mind was clearly a deeper shade than the pale fruit in his hand.
Now Zhao An had a better idea, and he quickly made another wish.
"I wish for the Tiger Head Gang leader Zhou Hu's Fierce Tiger Blade Art."
This time, a white orb of light appeared in his mind again. Inside it was a martial arts manual.
On its cover were the unmistakable words Fierce Tiger Blade Art.
"Still no good..."
Zhao An didn't lose heart. He tried a few more times.
At last, the Virtue Fruit in his hand transformed in a flash of strange light. It went from an intangible mass of energy to a tangible object!
Zhao An looked closely. A golden pill had appeared in his hand, with pale lettering floating above it.
[Mid-Grade Earth Origin Pill]
"It worked!"
Zhao An instinctively squeezed the pill, marveling at his ability to create something from thin air.
"Wishing really does work..."
The Earth Origin Pill was a precious martial-arts medicine, just like the Heaven Origin Pill he'd failed to wish for earlier.
The Heaven Origin Pill was more valuable than the Earth Origin Pill.
But even an ordinary Earth Origin Pill would cost at least ten taels of silver on the market!
And ten taels of silver was enough to cover a family's expenses for an entire year!
Even for a gang leader like Zhao An, ten taels of silver was still a handsome sum.
He had no use for this Earth Origin Pill, but he was still happy to have gained ten taels of silver out of thin air.
After all those attempts, he'd also more or less figured out how wishing worked.
First, wishes weren't creation, and he couldn't simply imagine whatever he wanted.
The thing he wished for had to be something that could exist in this world, and he needed to have a clear, specific understanding of it before he could obtain it with a Virtue Fruit.
The Virtue Fruits likely came in different grades, too.
The higher the grade, the more astounding the effects of a wish!
"So my ability lets me kill all the wicked people under heaven, and, if I have the strength to spare, lend a hand to the good as well..."
Zhao An held the Earth Origin Pill up and studied it closely. He now had a much fuller understanding of his unique ability.
"B-Brother Zhao, we brought the physician back!" Li Gou'er's voice rang out urgently.
Zhao An glanced over, then instinctively looked at the names above their heads.
Though his two underlings had committed plenty of vile deeds alongside his predecessor, their names were merely gray. They hadn't turned into Red Names.
Gray names meant a person had poor character and might have some sins to answer for, but they weren't steeped in sin or deserving of death.
Killing gray names was useless to him.
By the same token, saving people who had no Virtue Fruits on them was meaningless to him as well.
Zhao An's moral standards weren't high. Put simply, he'd only bother getting involved when there was something in it for him.
Following Li Gou'er and Zhao Chunzi were two scholars dressed in plain cross-collared robes, with cloth caps on their heads.
Medicine pouches and needle cases hung from the sashes at their waists, and they carried medicine chests on their backs. It was obvious at a glance that they were physicians.
What caught Zhao An's attention more, though, was the color of the names above their heads.
They shone white!
It was impossible not to notice.
White light rose like smoke, three feet into the air!
He had never seen names that glowed like this in all his time looking around.
There was no doubt that these two physicians had accumulated great virtue. If it were turned into Virtue Fruits, the fruits would surely be high-grade—good enough, at the very least, to exchange for a decent martial arts manual.
A physician's benevolence, saving the sick and helping the injured. It makes sense they'd be judged to have a lifetime's worth of merit, Zhao An mused.
"You've got some nerve, Zhao An, barging into my clinic! Do you think I won't report you to the authorities?" The physician in front pointed at Zhao An, who was sitting in a chair, and snapped as soon as she entered.
The physician had delicately painted features, soft, fair skin, and a sculpted face. There was no doubt she was a woman.
Her clothes concealed her figure, though; without looking at her face, it would have been hard to tell.
"Physician, you know me?" Zhao An asked evenly, making no move to rise from his chair.
The threat to report him didn't intimidate him in the slightest.
"You still haven't paid me for your last visit—or the one before that. And now you're pretending not to know me? Are you trying to stiff me?" Meng Wanyi said with a cold snort as she set down her medicine chest.
Hearing that, Zhao An felt as if a key phrase had been triggered. Several related memories from the past surfaced.
There weren't many clinics in the Outer City, and most of them had powerful backers. Not just anyone could go there for treatment.
This was the only clinic that treated anyone who walked through its doors, and its physicians were quite skilled, though their fees were a little steep.
Many gang members, including Zhao An's predecessor, came here whenever they were injured.
Of course, given how his predecessor had spent money on wine and women, it was only natural he couldn't afford the fees.
"You woman, quit dawdling and wasting time! If you don't treat Brother Zhao's injury, you'll—" With his ruffian temper flaring, Li Gou'er was about to throw his weight around.
Zhao An promptly kicked him to the ground.
"Pay her," Zhao An said calmly.
"Brother Zhao, you're really paying?" Li Gou'er rubbed his backside, staring in disbelief.
The Zhao An of the past would never have paid up like an honest man.
"But all we have is the tribute money we just collected. It's supposed to go to the gang leader..." Zhao Chunzi said quietly.
"Pay her first," Zhao An said.
He figured this counted as an injury on the job, so it was only reasonable for the gang to reimburse his medical expenses.
Besides, unless he satisfied the physician, he wouldn't feel comfortable letting her treat his wound.
"Oh..." Zhao Chunzi obediently handed over the money.
"That's more like it." Meng Wanyi took the money, her expression finally easing a little as she began treating the wound on Zhao An's head.
"You're lucky. Your skull's hard enough that this blow to the head didn't kill you."
"Can you heal it?" Zhao An asked.
"With some other quack, you'd end up with a lifelong chill in your head and lingering problems after treatment. Since you've paid in full, let me handle it, and you'll have nothing to worry about," Meng Wanyi said with a soft snort.
There was confidence and pride in her voice.
"Then I'll leave it to you." Zhao An raised his brows and thanked her.
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