Luo's Father

"What... this is actually a low-grade rank one spirit herb! I never imagined I would encounter a legendary spirit herb in a place like this!"

Inside a cave, a middle-aged man carrying a wicker basket and holding a worn-out sickle spoke in a dazed tone as he stared at a small herb emitting a faint, fluorescent glow. Though his tone was mesmerized, it betrayed a sense of certainty.

First came disbelief, followed instantly by an expression of excitement that flooded his face. One could tell from the way his entire body trembled that the middle-aged man was truly overwhelmed with emotion.

With a heart full of agitation, the middle-aged man walked toward the spirit herb. His emotions in such a volatile state, he couldn't help but tighten his grip on the sickle!

Just as he drew near, before the middle-aged man could react, a gray shadow darted out from a crevice in the rocks and shot toward him with lightning speed!

"Ah!" The gray shadow bit into the middle-aged man's arm, and he cried out in pain! Looking closely, he saw that the gray shadow was actually a mouse the size of a fist.

The mouse seemed quite timid; after biting the man, it retreated back into the rock crevice and refused to show itself again. However, its two small eyes stared coldly at the man through the crack. If he dared to approach the spirit herb again, it would undoubtedly bite his arm once more without hesitation!

After all, it had guarded this spirit herb for several years; how could it simply let someone pluck it away?

"A... a low-grade rank one demonic beast... a Fire Poison Rat!" Upon identifying the gray shadow, the middle-aged man was struck with terror. Then, as realization dawned on him, his face instantly turned as pale as a sheet of paper!

The pain radiating from his arm reminded the man that he had just been bitten squarely by the Fire Poison Rat, which was the very reason his face had drained of color.

Although the man was merely a mortal, he was a physician in a nearby small town who was well-versed in medicine. His medical skills were superb, and there was no one in the town who didn't know him; whenever anyone suffered from any ailment, large or small, they would come to him for help. The man had never tarnished his reputation, as his medicine always cured the illness; there were very few diseases he could not treat.

Over time, even the residents of neighboring towns knew that Dragon Gate Town was home to such a brilliant miracle doctor.

But now, this physician of exquisite skill wore a look of panic, frantically stuffing pill after pill into his mouth.

"What do I do! I don't have the ability to neutralize the poison of a demonic beast!" Desperate words escaped the lips of the middle-aged doctor.

The Fire Poison Rat, as the name implies, is a mouse that carries fire poison. Its physique is no different from an ordinary mouse, but it is a genuine demonic beast. While timid and possessing little offensive power, its fire poison is incredibly troublesome. Anyone bitten by this beast will be infected with fire poison; if it cannot be purged, the victim will eventually suffer the disgusting fate of their entire body festering and rotting away. Cultivators would be fine, as purging fire poison is a simple task for them, but the middle-aged man was clearly just an ordinary person, incapable of such a feat.

Although the middle-aged man was a skilled physician, as a mortal, he appeared somewhat inadequate when facing a demonic beast. Fortunately, he possessed a bit of talent; while he could not purge the fire poison from his body in a short time, he managed to control it with pills he had refined himself, temporarily saving his own life.

However, one look at his flushed, red skin was enough to tell that the man was in absolute agony!

Enduring the waves of burning pain throughout his body, the middle-aged man shifted his gaze from his bitten arm back to the low-grade rank one spirit herb. A look of struggle crossed his face, but after a short while, his expression turned resolute. He held his sickle across his chest and, with his guard fully up, carefully walked toward the spirit herb once more.

His eyes scanned the surroundings incessantly, wary of another sneak attack by the Fire Poison Rat. His heart was currently under assault by the fire poison, and had he not taken the pills to suppress it, he would have already rotted to death. If he were careless and let the Fire Poison Rat strike again, he might truly end up buried here.

Even after being poisoned, the middle-aged man was determined to approach the spirit herb, casting his own life aside. He did this solely to secure the herb.

Although this Qi Gathering Grass doesn't look very old, if I let Luo Mu take it, perhaps it will have some effect on his body! the middle-aged man thought to himself.

It turned out that the middle-aged man was risking his life to reach the spirit herb not for himself, but for his son, Luo Mu. For the sake of his son, the middle-aged man had completely disregarded his own life, determined to claim this low-grade rank one spirit herb, even if it meant death!

Luo Mu was the middle-aged man's beloved son, who would turn eighteen in a few months. According to local custom, a youth was only considered a formal adult at eighteen, at which point they should marry, have children, support their own family, and stand on their own two feet. An eighteen-year-old girl, meanwhile, was expected to marry and take up the duties of a wife.

Luo Mu was clever and bright. Like his father, he had loved medicine since childhood and possessed great talent in the field. Even before turning eighteen, he had learned seven or eight parts of his father's medical skills, making him a prodigy in the medical world.

However, this could not satisfy Luo Mu. What he truly desired was to become a cultivator—someone who could summon wind and rain, ride the clouds, and stand far above the status of a mortal!

What made Luo Mu the most envious was that a cultivator's lifespan was several times longer than that of an ordinary person, with the length of life varying according to their cultivation realm. Mortals, however, could only live a mere few decades; those in poor health would die before reaching fifty.

Who wouldn't want to live a few more years? Luo Mu was just a mortal, yet he harbored the same thoughts.

In this world where mortals and cultivators coexist, mortals are like ants, while cultivators are high and unreachable. Although there were clear regulations stating that no cultivator could attack a mortal at will, and that any such discovery would result in them being hunted down by other cultivators, what if no one found out?

In the face of a cultivator, a mortal appeared so weak!

Therefore, Luo Mu was unwilling to be a mortal bullied by cultivators. He, too, wanted to cultivate to change his life. Alas, fate was cruel; Luo Mu's body simply could not gather spiritual energy. Although this result was expected, both Luo Mu and his father could not help but feel a sense of loss.

Luo Mu's mother had passed away when he was young, and his father—the middle-aged man before us—had raised him single-handedly. Because the middle-aged man's medical skills were astonishing, an endless stream of mortals came seeking treatment, which allowed the Luo family to accumulate a considerable fortune.

There was a school in the small town that provided education for all the children, primarily teaching the basic knowledge of cultivation. Luo Mu had entered this school at the age of eight and had been there for ten years now!

Ten years might not mean much to a cultivator, but for a mortal like Luo Mu, it could not be ignored. How many ten-year periods does an ordinary person have in a lifetime?

Time is precious, but if one were fortunate enough to step from a mortal into the lowest realm of cultivation, "Qi Refining," within those ten years, it would be considered decent. Yet, fate played a cruel trick. Over these ten years, Luo Mu and his father reached a conclusion: Luo Mu had no "affinity for immortality" because his dantian simply could not gather spiritual energy!

This result left both Luo Mu and his father feeling dejected.

Luo Father knew his beloved son's thoughts well and secretly resolved to do everything in his power to help him! To this end, Luo Father had taken all the family's savings over the years to purchase spirit herbs for Luo Mu to consume, hoping these herbs might change his son's constitution.

Spirit herbs are treasures of heaven and earth. Depending on their quality and age, the spiritual energy they contain varies greatly. However, regardless of the type, even the lowest-grade rank one spirit herb carried a terrifying price, usually ranging from several to over a dozen low-grade spirit stones.

A single spirit stone is only the size of a palm. For an ordinary family, one spirit stone could support a family of three for a month. Trading in whole spirit stones was something only cultivators could afford; ordinary people could not. Instead, ordinary people would cut one spirit stone into a hundred pieces, using these fragments for daily transactions.

Luo Father, through years of practicing medicine, had saved up hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, making him one of the few wealthy individuals in town.

For the sake of his beloved son Luo Mu, in less than a year, Luo Father had spent all his savings buying spirit herbs for him. But what left both father and son feeling cold and hopeless was that these herbs did not change Luo Mu's constitution in the slightest; his dantian remained a dead void, unable to gather spiritual energy.

However, Luo Father did not give up. Even though the family coffers were empty, he still had his hands and feet. To satisfy his son's wish, he would go up the mountain to try his luck whenever he wasn't treating patients, hoping to harvest a spirit herb himself.

Luo Mu saw every bit of what his father did. While moved, he secretly swore not to let his father down and not to let his father's hard work go to waste.

Thus, Luo Mu continued to attend school as usual. Since his dantian couldn't gather spiritual energy, he spent his days reading books on the basics of cultivation. Although the town school was small and its collection of books only the most basic, Luo Mu still read them with great interest.

After ten years, Luo Mu could recite these books backward!

Luo Mu always believed that the world of cultivation was so vast that there must be a way to solve the problem with his body. The sad part was, he didn't know if he would find that method in his lifetime!

Inside the cave, the middle-aged man, Luo Mu's father, was cautiously approaching the spirit herb when a small, exquisite cloth bag next to the herb suddenly caught his eye.

First came a moment of confusion, then a look of undisguised joy immediately welled up in the depths of his eyes!