Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City.
Though it was a workday, quite a crowd had gathered in front of a clinic.
The clinic had an old-fashioned style, and the four characters "Ye Family Clinic" were carved into its signboard.
At a glance, it looked no different from the other shops—ordinary and shabby. But in truth, it held secrets beneath the surface.
A young man approached the little boy sitting outside the clinic and said, "Kid, give me a piece of fifty-year-old Whale Rubber."
The boy opened several wooden boxes containing Whale Rubber one after another, picked up each piece, and studied its age with an air of inscrutable expertise.
His name was Ye Qingzhou. Six years ago, he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent and become the grandson of Ye Shuyuan, the continent's only healing-type Titled Douluo, known as the Medical Saint Douluo. This clinic belonged to their Ye family.
As for his parents, his mother had died the moment he was born.
That's right—she was dead.
Ultimately, it was because the Nine Heart Begonia line had only one inheritor at a time. Whenever a holder of the Nine Heart Begonia gave birth to a son or daughter, she would die.
As for his father, he had disappeared after his mother's death. The only word from him came in letters sent once a year.
All Ye Qingzhou could say was that his father was still alive.
Besides that, every so often, he would feel someone watching him from behind. But whenever he turned around, there would be no one there.
For now, he lived with his grandfather, Ye Shuyuan, and his cousin, Ye Lingling.
Ye Qingzhou put away the pieces of Whale Rubber with higher age ratings, leaving only a hundred-year piece. He turned to the young man and said, "We're out of fifty-year-old, but I've got this hundred-year piece. Want it?"
The young man hesitated at that, but still asked, "How much?"
Ye Qingzhou held up one finger. The young man asked, "Ten Gold Soul Coins?"
The noisy crowd fell abruptly silent. The customers nearby, along with Ye Qingzhou, looked at the young man as if he were an idiot when they heard him offer ten Gold Soul Coins.
That was nothing but wishful thinking, a story fit for the clouds.
"Sure, our Ye Family Clinic charges less than other places, but that doesn't mean we're giving things away." Ye Qingzhou looked a little exasperated. "Something that boosts your virility and strengthens your kidneys can't possibly be that cheap. One hundred Gold Soul Coins."
The young man clearly hesitated. One hundred Gold Soul Coins was nothing to nobles like them, but for ordinary people, it was a lifetime's savings.
"Little friend, could you take off ten Gold Soul Coins...?"
As soon as the young man tried to haggle, Ye Qingzhou immediately put the piece of Whale Rubber back into its wooden box and said:
"No way. We have to make a living, too. We'd be losing money on that deal."
"If you don't want it, someone else will. If you don't have the money, don't ask the price. You're acting like this is your first time buying Whale Rubber."
It was obvious this young man was the sort who often pretended to be richer than he was.
What Ye Qingzhou hated most were people like him—putting on the airs of someone with money, then asking the price, refusing to buy, and haggling on top of it.
Anyway, the Ye Family Clinic was never short on customers. If he offended someone, so be it.
The onlookers immediately began murmuring and jeering. The young man's face darkened as he clenched his fists.
He felt that the little boy had humiliated him in front of everyone.
The young man glared at Ye Qingzhou through gritted teeth. "You brat, you're asking for it."
It was his first time visiting Heaven Dou City with his friends, and now a little kid was mocking him. Who could put up with that?
With that, he swung his fist, aiming to teach Ye Qingzhou, this ignorant brat, a lesson.
But just as his fist was about to land on Ye Qingzhou's tender little face, a vast Soul Power beyond the power of words suddenly surged forth.
The falling fist seemed to be frozen in place by some force, hanging in midair.
The young man's expression changed. Ye Qingzhou looked at him mockingly, his words full of provocation.
"Come on, hit me. Why'd you stop? You don't want to?"
The young man burned with rage, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his fist even an inch. His Soul Power, too, seemed to have been sealed.
An aged voice carried through the crowd and reached Ye Qingzhou and the young man.
"You can argue all you like, but don't make a joke of throwing punches."
"I was only gone for a few days. How did things get so disorderly?"
Hearing the voice, Ye Qingzhou was overjoyed.
His grandfather was back!
The crowd blocking the clinic parted to make way.
An old man with a head of white hair and a weathered face walked through the crowd. He wore a simple robe, plainer than plain.
This was Ye Qingzhou's grandfather, a level 91 healing-type Titled Douluo whose title was "Medical Saint." His name was Ye Shuyuan.
"Grandpa!" Seeing Ye Shuyuan arrive, Ye Qingzhou hurried over to him.
Looking at his precious grandson, Ye Shuyuan smiled and affectionately rubbed Ye Qingzhou's little head.
"Good grandson, tell me what that man was trying to do. Was he here to cause trouble, or...?"
Ye Qingzhou told Ye Shuyuan the whole story, from beginning to end.
He didn't embellish anything as he recounted it.
"I see..." Ye Shuyuan nodded, then looked coldly at the young man. "This clinic has no welcome for customers like you. Leave at once!"
Since the young man had been in the wrong from the start, Ye Shuyuan had no reason to treat him kindly.
If he hadn't returned in time, his precious grandson might have been disfigured.
At once, the Soul Power unique to a Titled Douluo erupted around Ye Shuyuan.
The young man felt as if an immovable mountain were pressing down on his head.
His legs trembled, and little by little, he sank to his knees.
No one there dared to come to his rescue—not even the friends who knew him.
As if!
The only healing-type Titled Douluo on the entire Douluo Continent was a powerful figure whom both empires, Spirit Hall, and all the major sects wanted to win over. How could ordinary people like them afford to offend him?
The young man hurriedly knelt and kowtowed. "I was wrong, I was wrong! I failed to recognize a great man. Please, sir, be magnanimous and forgive an insignificant person like me."
"Get lost!" Ye Shuyuan's two simple words struck the young man's mind like a thunderclap.
The young man scrambled away on his hands and knees.
After the young man left, the crowd didn't thin out. If anything, it grew larger.
An hour later, the number of customers at the Ye Family Clinic gradually dwindled.
After seeing off the last customer, the Ye Family Clinic closed for the day.
Ye Shuyuan and Ye Qingzhou, grandfather and grandson, busied themselves cleaning up the day's mess.
Not long afterward, a slender girl dressed in black, her face wrapped in a veil, walked up to the clinic.
"Grandpa, little brother Qingzhou, do you need any help?"
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