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"It's too obvious. If you travel disguised as a wealthy young master and take Chen Zui along as your guard, no one will surely suspect a thing. But for a blind man like me to bring such a formidable bodyguard while playing the fortune-teller—isn't that screaming out that something's wrong?"

"Fine. Well, if anything happens, remember to use your Communication Talisman right away."

Wen Xu had already taken off the storage ring he usually wore on his hand, hung it around his neck by a cord, and patted his chest at the words. "Don't worry, my master gave me the means to preserve my life."

Ah, truly worthy of a Divine Dragon, Bian Chunchou was genuinely reassured now. He put on a flamboyant set of brocade robes and swaggered through the streets with his silent, hulking, muscular guard.

Sensing the two of them leaving, Wen Xu paused at the street corner for a moment, then turned into an inn. Before long, he emerged wearing an old, bedraggled cyan robe and carrying a worn-out, heavy wooden box, setting up a small free-clinic stall at the entrance of the most dilapidated slum in the western part of the city.

That was right; Wen Xu had not put on a blindfold to play the part of a genuine Divine Calculation, but had instead disguised himself as a wandering quack doctor.

As for the silk ribbon that usually covered his eyes, it was naturally safely tucked away inside his storage ring.

There were countless wondrous methods in the Cultivation Realm. As long as one had wealth and capability, even mere mortals could live free from a hundred illnesses, enjoying longevity and peace. But the prerequisite was having money and power. Whether in the Mortal Realm or the Cultivation Realm, those at the bottom were forever plagued by cold and hunger, trapped in utter destitution.

Wen Xu had applied a slight disguise to his face. He could not remember his own features and harbored no concept of beauty or ugliness, so he used spiritual energy to alter his skin tone, deepened his dark circles, and let a messy fringe of bangs obscure the upper half of his face, making him look precisely like an ordinary, down-and-out doctor wandering the jianghu.

With this modification, he blended in seamlessly with this entire slum district.

Wen Xu had not come here out of any genuine desire to run a free clinic. Whether anyone came to patronize his business was entirely outside his considerations. The reason he chose the method of a free clinic was entirely inspired by that Bright Spirit Healer.

Moreover, if anyone here had truly fallen victim to an Evil Cultivator's vicious hand, most people in the slums could not afford medical care anyway. With him appearing now—even if he looked thoroughly unreliable—someone would likely come and give it a try.

Wen Xu was not in a hurry; his patience was always exceptional. The weather today was pleasant, and unless they were completely bedridden, most beggars in the slums should have gone out to beg. He had arrived quite early, and after sitting for a long while, the only people he saw were a few peeking brats at the head of the alley.

Wen Xu pretended not to notice, leisurely tidying up the contents of his wooden box.

He had actually bought the box at random. Inside, apart from a set of silver needles, there were only a few empty bottles used to put up a front. Calling it tidying was really just poking at things idly.

Truth be told, Wen Xu had indeed studied some very superficial medicine, limited strictly to fetching cold remedies and treating simple wounds; he could even reset fractures, though the success rate was about fifty-fifty. Naturally, he was a cultivator now, so identifying acupuncture points and driving in needles was a breeze for him. As long as it was not some intractable disease, he could muddle through most things.

Worst case scenario, he had brought plenty of elixir pills with him when he descended the mountain this time.

By now the sun was climbing high. Wen Xu lazily let out a yawn, and just as he was about to doze off under the warm sunshine, a patient finally came knocking.

It was an aged old granny, supported by two scrawny children, yet even so, every step of her journey was extremely arduous.

"Extend your hand."

Wen Xu's voice was detached, yet it paradoxically made the two children before him drop their guard a little. One had to know that in the slums, the thoughtful concern of bigshots was the most spine-chilling thing of all.

"Wind-evil has invaded your body, a minor illness dragged out into a major affliction. Sit properly, and I'll give you a couple of needles."

Though Wen Xu called it a couple of needles, he was actually using spiritual energy to warm and nourish her internal organs. Instantly, the granny felt refreshed and clear-headed, and even her head, which had been throbbing persistently, stopped hurting quite so much.

"Many thanks, divine doctor. Many thanks, divine doctor."

Wen Xu waved a hand, his attitude rather nonchalant, but with the first successful patient secured, next... came the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth patients knocking on his door.

Wen Xu treated the ones he could, and passed on the ones he couldn't. His demeanor could hardly be called pleasant, but for the people of the slums, such an attitude actually made them feel more at ease.

Soon the slanting sun sank westward, and he saw beggars returning in twos and threes from "finishing work."

"Seeing a doctor? For real?"

"Of course it's real. Wasn't Granny Liu at the end of the alley so sick she was practically on the verge of death? Today she was already able to get out of bed and fetch water."

"There's such a thing? Could it be that an immortal from Yonglu Mountain has descended to the mortal world?"

"That's not it. That doctor looks... not much like an immortal."

Hearing it put that way only made people more curious.

Seeing another wave of patients swarming in and having lost all interest in watching further, Wen Xu prepared to pack up his stall and leave. Seeing him about to depart, the others anxiously pleaded, "Divine doctor, can you spare another half-hour?"

"How tedious, how dreadfully tedious. No matter how much I look, they're all ordinary ailments—colds, rheumatism, bruises and sprains. I thought the slums might harbor some strange and difficult afflictions, but who would have known they're just run-of-the-mill symptoms I've seen a hundred times. Boring."

Wen Xu deliberately spoke to provoke them. His voice was cold, sharp, and utterly dismissive of the people before him, yet perhaps having been ignored for so long, this crowd did not find his attitude amiss at all, simply continuing to plead with him.

"Since you're begging me with such sincere hearts, I'm not a heartless person either. Since today's free clinic was meant to be gratis, it ought to have a proper beginning and end. But since you've benefited, you should at least let me get something out of it too, shouldn't you?"

"The divine doctor speaks truly. What is it that you want?"

Wen Xu waved a hand. "Simple. I want to know if there are any patients with intractable, strange diseases around here. The stranger, the better. If there aren't any, I'll have to leave this place tonight."

Intractable, strange diseases? Are divine doctors today so bent on their own destruction? Why must they insist on curing those kinds of uncurable ailments?

"A prior declaration: I don't treat venereal diseases, I don't treat consumption ghosts, and heinous villains are unpleasant to look at anyway."

This divine doctor had a truly eccentric temper, but since it was rare for a free doctor whose treatments were so miraculous to show up, nobody wanted to miss out. After all... who knew if they'd ever bump into a second divine doctor who was such a rich fool for another ten years.