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"It was too obvious. You could pose as a wealthy young master traveling abroad and take Chen Zui as your guard; no one would suspect a thing. But I'm a blind man pretending to be a fortune-teller, yet I bring along such a powerful bodyguard—wouldn't that plainly scream that something's wrong?"

"Fine. But if anything happens, remember to use the Communication Talisman immediately."

Wen Xu had already removed the storage ring from his hand and hung it around his neck on a cord. Hearing this, he patted his chest. "Don't worry. My master gave me means to save my life."

Wow, worthy of a Divine Dragon indeed. Bian Chunchou was truly reassured now. Dressed in splendid brocade, he swaggered through the streets with his silent, hulking, brawny guard.

Once Wen Xu sensed the two of them leaving, he lingered at the street corner for a while before turning into an inn. Not long after, clad in a worn and shabby blue robe, carrying a battered agarwood chest, he set up a small free clinic at the entrance to the most dilapidated slum in the west of the city.

That was right—rather than playing a blind fortune-teller in his true colors, Wen Xu had disguised himself as a wandering physician.

As for the strip of silk covering his eyes, it had naturally been carefully put away inside his storage ring.

The cultivation world possessed countless miraculous methods. So long as one had money and ability, even ordinary mortals could remain free of illness and live long, healthy lives. But the premise was having wealth and power. Whether in the Mortal Realm or the cultivation world, those at the bottom would forever struggle amid hunger, cold, and crushing hardship.

Wen Xu altered his appearance slightly. He could not remember his own face, nor did he possess any concept of beauty or ugliness, so he used spiritual power to change his complexion, deepened the shadows beneath his eyes, and let his messy bangs cover half his face. He looked exactly like an ordinary, down-and-out doctor roaming the martial world.

With that change, he blended perfectly into the entire slum district.

Wen Xu had not truly come to offer free medical treatment. Whether anyone came to patronize his stall was not within his considerations. He had chosen this method entirely because he had been inspired by that Bright Spirit Healer.

Besides, if someone here had truly fallen victim to an evil cultivator, most people in the slums would not be able to afford treatment. Now that he had appeared, even if he looked thoroughly unreliable, someone would probably come and give it a try.

Wen Xu was in no hurry. He had always been patient. The weather was good today; unless they were too weak to walk, the beggars in the slums had most likely gone out to beg. He had arrived early, and after sitting for a long while, he had only seen a few little brats peeking out from the alley entrance.

Wen Xu acted as though he had not seen them and unhurriedly arranged the things in his wooden chest.

He had bought the chest at random. Apart from a set of silver needles, it contained only several empty bottles meant to put up appearances. Calling it arranging was generous—he was really just idly fiddling with them.

To be fair, Wen Xu had learned some extremely basic medicine: prescribing remedies for colds and treating simple wounds. He could even set broken bones, though the chances of success were probably fifty-fifty. Of course, he was a cultivator now, so identifying acupoints and inserting needles were effortless for him. So long as it was not some difficult, complicated illness, he could muddle through most cases.

And if all else failed, he had brought plenty of pills with him when he came down the mountain this time.

By now, the sun had climbed high. Wen Xu gave a lazy yawn, and just as the warm sunlight was about to lull him to sleep, a patient finally came to his door.

It was an elderly granny, supported by two frail children. Even so, she had great difficulty walking.

"Hold out your hand."

Wen Xu's voice was indifferent, yet it made the two children before him lower their guard somewhat. One had to know that in the slums, the consideration and concern of important people were what truly made one's skin crawl.

"Wind evil has entered your body. A minor illness was dragged into a major one. Sit down. I'll give you two needles."

Wen Xu said he would insert two needles, but he was actually using spiritual power to warm and nourish her internal organs. At once, the old granny felt refreshed and clear-headed; even the faint pain that had been lingering in her head no longer hurt as much.

"Thank you, divine doctor! Thank you, divine doctor!"

Wen Xu waved a hand, his manner rather careless. But with the first patient successfully treated, the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth soon came knocking.

Wen Xu treated those he could treat and refused those he could not. His attitude was not exactly good, but to the people of the slums, it made them feel more at ease instead.

Before long, the setting sun slanted westward, and he saw beggars returning from "work" in twos and threes.

"A doctor? Is it real?"

"Of course it's real. Wasn't Granny Liu at the end of the alley so ill she was nearly dead? Today, she can already get out of bed and carry water."

"Such a thing really happened? Could it be an immortal from Yonglu Mountain descended to the mortal world?"

"Not quite. That doctor looks... not like an immortal."

That only made people more curious.

Seeing another wave of patients descend upon him, Wen Xu had already lost interest in continuing. He prepared to pack up and leave, but when the others saw that he was going, they hurriedly begged in panic, "Divine doctor, could you please accommodate us for another half hour?"

"Boring, boring. Case after case, and they're all ordinary ailments—colds, rheumatism, bruises and sprains. I thought a slum might have some difficult and complicated diseases. Who knew they'd all be ailments I've seen before? No fun."

Wen Xu deliberately spoke to provoke them. His voice was cold and cutting, utterly dismissive of the people before him. Yet perhaps they had been ignored for too long; the crowd did not find anything wrong with his attitude and merely continued to plead with him.

"Since you are sincerely and earnestly begging me, I am not an unkind person. Since today is a free clinic, I ought to see it through from beginning to end. But since you have gained something, I should gain some benefit as well, shouldn't I?"

"The divine doctor is right. What do you want?"

Wen Xu waved his hand. "Very simple. I want to know whether there are any patients nearby with difficult and complicated illnesses. The stranger, the better. If there are none, then I must leave this place tonight."

Difficult and complicated illnesses? Were divine doctors these days so bent on courting trouble? Did he insist on treating diseases that could not be cured?

"Let me state this in advance: I do not treat venereal diseases, I do not treat consumptives, and I do not care to treat those who are utterly vicious and evil."

This divine doctor truly had a strange temperament. But it was rare for a doctor who treated people for free and was so effective to appear. No one wanted to miss the chance. After all... they did not know whether they would encounter a gullible divine doctor like this a second time even in ten years.