Traveling Physician

"Would the character like to enter the instance: Phantom Town?"

"Yes."

With a thought, Ling Qing made his choice.

"Transferring character to instance scene..."

As the information before his eyes refreshed, Ling Qing's vision suddenly went dark, and he could see nothing.

Then, amid a flash of light, a small town steeped in the atmosphere of a bygone era appeared before him.

"Beneath the tranquility and peace of Tianshui Town lurks an undercurrent. The mountain spirits dwelling deep in the mountains have been corrupted by an unknown power, and that same power has awakened the sleeping dead..."

As this inexplicable message appeared, while the townsfolk remained immersed in their peaceful lives, a bluish-black hand stretched out of the earth in the overgrown cemetery beyond the town.

At the same time, a plume of smoke filled with an evil aura rose into the sky from deep within the mountains.

The scene ended abruptly there, and three choices inexplicably surfaced in Ling Qing's mind.

A chivalrous hero, a traveling physician who treated illnesses, and a hunter who made a living by hunting.

After waiting for a while and realizing there was no time limit, Ling Qing began to study them.

Yet aside from the information on the three identities, he discovered nothing else.

The only strange thing was that this instance actually required him to choose an identity. He had no idea what the point was.

When he noticed that the scene before him had shifted into the town, and that the cemetery outside and the smoke in the mountains were no longer visible, while the townspeople still walked about as usual—

He casually selected the traveling physician and entered the instance.

Though he did not know what choosing an identity represented, with a Druid's spells, treating ordinary colds, coughs, bruises, and cuts should be more than manageable. Being a physician would not be difficult.

The moment Ling Qing made his choice, the scene before him instantly came alive, and the noisy chatter around him became clear.

It felt as though he had plunged headfirst into a television screen and somehow entered the image itself.

Before he could inspect his surroundings, a message appeared before his eyes:

"Character has acquired knowledge related to 'Medicine' and meets the conditions to unlock a skill."

"Character has acquired the 'Medicine' skill."

"Character has acquired common prescriptions: Ephedra Decoction, Lonicera and Forsythia Powder, White Tiger Decoction, and others; premium prescriptions: Ghost-Repelling Pill, Detoxification Powder."

At the same time, streams of information surfaced in his mind.

When he came back to himself, he had already obtained all the medical knowledge of a traveling physician.

Although much of it was still a matter of knowing the facts without understanding the principles, it was far better than his previously meager understanding of traditional Chinese medicine.

At the very least, when faced with a patient now, he would know which medicine to take from the Medicine Case on his back based on their symptoms.

Most importantly, there were the two special prescriptions.

Ghost-Repelling Pill used cinnabar and realgar as its main ingredients, formed into pellets the size of longans. Carrying them could ward off ghosts and evil.

When confronted with vicious ghosts or sinister spirits, one could also throw them out and destroy ghosts while repelling evil.

Traveling physicians often traveled through villages and remote mountain regions, where venomous insects and miasma were common. Carrying some Detoxification Powder could guard against unexpected mishaps.

As for their exact effects, since they had been acknowledged by the Heart of the Druid, they were probably not too different from what he understood.

The Book of Nature in his hands was only of ordinary quality, after all.

Ling Qing looked over his attire. His clothes had changed into a set of coarse hemp garments.

There was an additional Medicine Case on his back, containing gathered herbs as well as prepared powders, pills, and decoctions. A Water Gourd hung from his waist.

In his left hand, he held a Medical Banner bearing the words "Skilled in Healing," while in his right was a palm-sized, simply shaped Copper Bell that rang with a clear jingle when shaken.

With no other information available, Ling Qing could only stroll forward along the road before him.

Tianshui Town was not large, with perhaps three hundred households.

Since he had not eaten breakfast, the scent from the breakfast stalls along the street nearly stopped him in his tracks.

Compared with modern food, the fare at the stalls before him smelled far richer and more fragrant.

He fished out some copper coins from the Medicine Case on his back, picked a little of every kind of food, and began eating with rice porridge.

After eating and drinking his fill, Ling Qing began considering how to clear this instance, and more importantly, how to earn more experience.

Based on the scene he had seen earlier, not only had the cemetery outside the town been tainted by evil energy, with many zombie-like creatures crawling out of the ground—

There was also a powerful monster deep in the mountains.

He checked the instance information on the panel again. Aside from the instance name and challenge level, the only change was that the countdown had become ten days.

There was still no other information.

No quest, no clearance reward, and no requirement to kill monsters.

Other than being unable to leave the instance, there were no restrictions at all.

It looks like the requirement for leaving the instance is either to hold out until the ten-day countdown ends, or to eliminate the monster.

As for which option to choose, Ling Qing could not make up his mind for the moment.

He planned to first head outside town and see what those zombies crawling out of the ground were really capable of.

If he could beat them, he would turn them directly into experience. If not, he would retreat into town, warn the townspeople, and either fight back with their help or hide out for ten days.

Having made up his mind, Ling Qing was just about to stand when he saw five people walking toward him from within the town.

Leading them were three young people carrying blades and swords, two men and one woman. They looked like wandering martial heroes who upheld justice, and they were about the same age as Ling Qing.

Behind them were an older and a younger man. The older one was around forty, while the younger was seventeen or eighteen.

The two had bows on their backs and arrows at their waists, dressed like hunters.

This group seemed somewhat out of place amid the peaceful little town. More importantly, Ling Qing saw a reflection of himself in them.

As Ling Qing noticed them, they also spotted him as he had just slung his Medicine Case onto his back.

After a brief pause, they walked straight toward him.

The man at the front was tall and powerfully built, around six foot three, over half a head taller than Ling Qing. He also looked several years older, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

He had a square face, neat short hair, and bronze skin that gave him a sunny yet steady appearance.

He carried a simple, imposing longsword in his hand. Its thick, long hilt could be gripped with both hands, while its broad blade resembled a battle saber more than a sword.

"Hello, friend. Are you from Peng City too?"

The handsome young man walking beside him, with a longsaber hanging at his waist, raised a hand in greeting and smiled at Ling Qing as he asked.

"That's how it is when you enter a Time Fragment. There's no telling where you'll appear.

By the way, I didn't notice you when we came in, did I?"

Time Fragment?

Hearing the young man's description, Ling Qing's heart skipped a beat.

This instance was called a Time Fragment by him, and judging from how familiar they seemed with it, this did not appear to be their first time here.

As his thoughts raced, Ling Qing's muscles tensed. His right hand gripped the bamboo banner tightly, while his left rested on the Spellbook at his waist.

At the same time, he feigned confusion and asked, "Time Fragment? What does that mean? I thought this was just my own special ability."

"Oh? You're a newcomer."

The young man looked Ling Qing over with some surprise. Upon hearing that, the others also began sizing him up.

"Then you're really lucky, brother. My name is Zhang Zhe. This is my brother Tian Yong, and beside him is his younger sister."

Zhang Zhe first said something of unclear meaning, then began introducing the people beside him.