Little Doctor

Qing Mountain Town was utterly different from Black Wind City. Black Wind City was a border fortress, its landscape barren and yellow, with wind and sand filling the skies. Qing Mountain Town, meanwhile, was surrounded by green trees and babbling streams, the air carrying the damp fragrance of grass and wood.

The town was not large, but all kinds of shops lined both sides of the streets. Without exception, they all had something to do with Magic Beasts: Magic Beast leather armor shops, Magic Beast bone purchasing stores, magic core trades, medicinal ingredients... the variety was endless, and the streets were bustling with activity.

Su Zhao had come here because it was close enough to the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

If he wanted to rapidly improve his strength, flames were indispensable.

He could not obtain a Heavenly Flame for the time being, but Beast Flames were far easier to acquire. There were quite a few fire-attributed Magic Beasts in the Magic Beast Mountain Range. If he killed one and took its Beast Flame for the Fire Spirit Body to devour and refine, his cultivation would improve significantly.

With Su You's peak nine-star Dou Emperor strength, venturing deep into the Magic Beast Mountain Range to hunt a few fire-attributed Magic Beasts was an exceedingly simple matter.

Besides that, he had another reason for coming to Qing Mountain Town...

Su Zhao strolled down the middle of the street, looking at the bustling crowd around him, and could not help sighing inwardly.

Nearly every business in Qing Mountain Town was related to Magic Beasts. After all, it neighbored the Magic Beast Mountain Range. Those who lived by the mountains lived off the mountains, and those who lived by the water lived off the water.

Over the past few days, Su Zhao had more or less figured out the timeline.

He had deliberately inquired about Xiao Yan and had indeed managed to learn a little. Xiao Yan's Dou Qi had already vanished, though it had only been gone for a year.

By that calculation, there were still two years before the three-year agreement began. There was plenty of time. Perhaps Yun Shan had not even gotten in touch with Wu Protector yet.

As Su Zhao walked, he looked around.

"Ten Thousand Medicine Hall... where is it?"

His impression of Ten Thousand Medicine Hall came from the original work. It was Qing Mountain Town's largest medicinal herb shop, and Little Doctor worked there as a physician.

Since he had come to Qing Mountain Town, he naturally had to meet the girl who possessed the same Woeful Poison Body as him.

Su Zhao was instinctively fond of Little Doctor. Whether it was sympathy for someone who shared his plight or the emotional attachment he had formed through the book in his previous life, he would help her if he could. Once they had both grown stronger in the future, two Woeful Poison Bodies joining forces would be enough to shake the continent.

Just then, Su Zhao suddenly heard a wave of commotion.

He looked in that direction and saw quite a few people gathered there, along with several shouted calls.

"Ten Thousand Medicine Hall is heading into the mountains to gather herbs! The guard team is recruiting! Anyone above two-star Dou Practitioner can come over!"

"Little Doctor will be coming too!"

"Little Doctor is going too? Then I have to go!"

"I'm in! Count me in!"

An even more enthusiastic response immediately erupted from the crowd.

Su Zhao could not help smiling. Little Doctor truly had an excellent reputation in Qing Mountain Town. She was beautiful, kind-hearted, and highly skilled in medicine. Whenever the townspeople mentioned her, they were full of praise.

He had been worrying about not knowing where Ten Thousand Medicine Hall was. Hadn't the answer fallen right into his lap?

Su Zhao immediately headed over with Su You.

The place where the crowd had gathered was a sizable storefront. The signboard bore the three large characters: "Ten Thousand Medicine Hall."

A long table stood before the entrance. Behind it sat a middle-aged man who looked like a steward, with a register in front of him as he recorded the mercenaries applying one by one.

A wooden sign stood beside him, listing the recruitment requirements and payment details. They would enter the mountains to gather herbs, with the guard team accompanying them. The trip would last seven days, payment would be settled daily, and additional rewards would be given if Magic Beasts attacked.

Su Zhao squeezed through the crowd and glanced at the conditions on the wooden sign, then at the mercenaries scrambling to sign up around him. Most were two- or three-star Dou Practitioners. The occasional four- or five-star Dou Practitioner drew envious looks from the others.

He smiled and walked straight to the table.

"I'm signing up."

The steward looked up at him, then at Su You standing silently behind him. He was slightly taken aback, instinctively feeling that these two were unlike ordinary mercenaries. However, he did not think much of it and merely asked as usual, "Name? Cultivation?"

"Su Zhao, four-star Dou Practitioner."

That was right. Over these past few days, Su Zhao had raised his cultivation from three stars to four.

The steward wrote it down in the register, then pointed at Su You. "And this one?"

"He is my attendant. He isn't signing up. He'll simply accompany me."

The steward frowned. The rules for gathering herbs in the mountains were strict; anyone not on the guard team was not allowed to accompany them. Yet for some reason, after glancing at the man in black, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

That man's gaze was calm, yet it inexplicably made him feel uneasy.

He gave a dry cough and did not ask further questions. Taking Su Zhao for the young master of some wealthy household out to gain experience, he waved a hand. "Fine, it's recorded. Gather at the town entrance at dawn tomorrow. We depart then."

Su Zhao nodded and casually swept his gaze over the surroundings.

Before long, he caught sight of a striking figure.

She was a girl of around fourteen or fifteen, slender in figure, with long light-purple hair that shone softly beneath the sunlight. Her face was delicate and refined, while her eyes and brows held the liveliness and gentleness unique to a young girl. She stood beneath the shade of a tree, with a simple wooden table before her. Several baskets of medicinal herbs sat atop it as she sorted them one by one with a smile, her movements practiced. Every now and then, she looked up to respond to the mercenaries chatting beside her.

So this was Little Doctor?

Su Zhao took only one look before withdrawing his gaze.

She truly was stunning. Even though she had not yet fully grown into her beauty, one could already see the grace that would someday captivate a city.

Her natural, unadorned temperament made her especially conspicuous in Qing Mountain Town, which was filled with rough mercenaries. Coupled with her medical skills, it was no wonder the townspeople held her in such high regard.

But now was not the time to go speak with her...

Su Zhao did not linger. He turned and left the crowd with Su You.

Yet at the very moment he turned away, Little Doctor, who had been lowering her head beneath the tree shade to sort medicinal herbs, suddenly paused.

For no apparent reason, she looked up toward where Su Zhao had just been standing. Yet all she saw were two or three passing mercenaries and merchants, with no unusual figure among them.

"Strange..."

She frowned slightly. In that instant just now, she had clearly felt an inexplicable flutter arise from deep within her body, as though something were calling to her and making her instinctively want to look in that direction.

But there was nothing there, only a few perfectly ordinary mercenaries.

Was it an illusion?

Little Doctor shook her head, suppressing that strange feeling deep inside, then lowered her head and continued sorting the herbs.

In the blink of an eye, it was midnight.

Moonlight flowed like water over Qing Mountain Town's rows of rooftops, coating the little town in a silvery-white radiance.

The town had long since fallen quiet. The streets that had been noisy during the day now stood empty, with only the occasional bark of a dog drifting over from afar.

On the roof of Ten Thousand Medicine Hall, two figures stood silently.

The moonlight stretched Su Zhao's shadow long as his gaze rested on a faintly lit window not far below.

That was Little Doctor's room.

Su Zhao could not be bothered to wait until tomorrow to find her.

One of his purposes in coming to Qing Mountain Town was to establish some contact with Little Doctor ahead of time. He would be able to meet her in the mountains tomorrow as well, but that would be under everyone's watchful eyes, making many things inconvenient to discuss.

Since he intended to make contact, it was better to meet first tonight, while no one was around.