Volume One: Days in the Shantytown - Exquisite Gallbladder (Part One)

With Luo Qian slung over his shoulder, the old man strode like the wind. Even on foot, he moved faster than Luo Qian could fly with immortal arts. Before a meal's time had passed, he had emerged from the vast bank of mist. They were in the middle of a boundless mountain range, and beneath the mist lay a deep valley.

Beyond the mist lay the valley mouth, where eleven narrow gorges connected it to another valley. Jagged rocks loomed on either side, leaving only a thread of sky overhead. Cold wind whistled through the gorge, its chill biting. Flowers bloomed in clusters, strange trees cast interlocking shade, and startled birds called amid the chirring of insects. It was a scene fit for immortals. Immortal energy abounded here, far beyond anything Luo Qian's pitiful cave dwelling on Toad Mountain could boast. But Luo Qian was still unconscious and had no chance to enjoy the view.

The old man crossed the gorge into the valley beyond and casually pressed his palm against a boulder at its entrance. Spiritual light flashed across the stone. Its weathered outer layer fell away, revealing an enormous seal of beautiful jade. At the same moment, clear light swirled above the valley, a ward opened, and an immortal's cave dwelling appeared out of thin air.

A handsome young immortal rode a cloud out of the secluded dwelling and said respectfully, "Sir, you recognized our sect's Pathfinding Seal, so you must be an old friend of my master. There's no need to announce you. Please come in."

The old man smiled faintly. One step took him onto a cloud, the next carried him across the sky, and he entered the lofty dwelling. "Are you of the Mu generation too? What's your name?" "Mu Yue. Have you visited before, sir? Did you meet my senior fellow disciple Mu Yang?" The old man chuckled. "Every disciple the Old Ghost Doctor takes is cleverer than the last. You're making an old man jealous."

Mu Yue glanced at Luo Qian on the old man's back. "Then this gentleman isn't your beloved disciple? I thought you'd come to seek treatment for him."

As they spoke, they reached a covered walkway linking a series of pavilions. Green bamboo had been cut for pillars, and dried thatch packed with mud formed the roofs. Blue bricks paved the ground, and a carved stone served as a chessboard. In an octagonal pavilion at the center, an old man and a young man sat facing each other across a game. The old man's figure was ethereal, appearing and fading by turns. He sat as steady as a fisherman on his platform, stroking his long beard.

The young immortal across from him looked anything but relaxed. He stared at the board, brows tightly furrowed, a white jade chess piece in his hand and a swirl of five-colored light in his palm. The light flowed over the piece, reducing it to pale powder that scattered to the ground. The old man chuckled. "Yang, you've lost again. You can wash my medicine-washing robe while you're at it. Hahaha..."

The old man carrying Luo Qian stood in the walkway and laughed. "Mu Yue, does that shameless master of yours still like making wagers with you?" Mu Yue smiled. "If Master goes a day without a bet, he feels all clogged up inside."

The old man in the Chess Pavilion swept a hand, sending a black chess piece flying. Mu Yue saw a streak of black light shoot toward him. He wanted to dodge but could not move a muscle. As it closed in, he knew his master's temper well enough: the light would not hurt him, but it would certainly leave him unable to speak for half a day.

A hand suddenly reached out beside him. Two fingers closed around the black light with ease. The old man carrying Luo Qian smiled. "Old Ghost Doctor, disciplining your apprentice right in front of me? You're putting on quite the airs." The old man in the Chess Pavilion had noticed him long ago. After watching him in silence for a while, he suddenly sighed. "Brother Tie Zheng, have you made up your mind?"

Tie Zheng carried Luo Qian into the Chess Pavilion and said to Mu Yang with a grin, "I interrupted today's game, so it doesn't count. Your master can wash that filthy, stinking medicine-washing robe himself." Mu Yang knew him well and was delighted. "Thank you, Uncle Tie! Haha, Master, your disciple isn't wriggling out of a debt. The illustrious Ironhearted King of the Immortal Realm has ruled on it: I didn't lose, and you didn't win."

The Old Ghost Doctor did not mind. He waved a hand. "Both of you, leave us. I have something to discuss with your Elder Tie." Mu Yang and Mu Yue bowed and withdrew together.

Tie Zheng set Luo Qian down. The Old Ghost Doctor asked, "Who is he?" "Someone I picked up along the way. He's a Tribulation Immortal like me." "Oh?" The Old Ghost Doctor was rather surprised. "Tribulation Immortals are rare. One seldom appears in five thousand years. I never expected the Immortal Realm to produce two of you in the three thousand years since we last met."

Tie Zheng smiled but said nothing more. The Old Ghost Doctor studied him. The atmosphere in the Chess Pavilion grew delicate, and at last the doctor spoke first. "You really have decided?" Tie Zheng nodded. "That's why I came to you." He looked at Luo Qian, still unconscious beside them. "This young man is a Tribulation Immortal like me. Consider it my good deed to lend him the Exquisite Gallbladder for five hundred years."

The Old Ghost Doctor nodded. "Very well. Since your mind is made up, I won't try to dissuade you. Only..." Tie Zheng chuckled. "I know: a ghost among immortals, a doctor among ghosts; when your ghostly hands touch a patient, the price is worth ten thousand in gold. Your fee doesn't come cheap." He reached into his robe and produced a Beast-Sealing Talisman carved from white jade. The Old Ghost Doctor took it, examined it, and nodded. "Good. A Jadewater Qilin, a Ninth Rank Immortal Beast. My cave dwelling faces east according to the Five Elements, just right for water. It could not be more suitable as my gate guardian. The famed Ironhearted King of the Immortal Realm certainly doesn't hold back. You offer a Ninth Rank Immortal Beast at once."

"Can we begin?" Tie Zheng asked. The Old Ghost Doctor nodded and pointed at Luo Qian. "Since you intend to help him... pick him up and follow me."

The Old Ghost Doctor was a Soul Immortal. He turned and drifted away, covering more than ten meters with scarcely any effort. Tie Zheng grabbed Luo Qian from the ground and followed close behind.

A long corridor from the linked pavilions and bamboo lodges led straight to a medicine hut. Even from far away, they could smell the medicine's plain, earthy fragrance. The Old Ghost Doctor said, "Your Jadewater Qilin can guard us while we work." He took out the Beast-Sealing Talisman and touched it with a point of green light. The white jade suddenly blazed, dazzling to the eye. Light and shadow turned, condensing into a massive body. The Jadewater Qilin was pale green all over, with skin like armor and teeth like sharp blades. Immortal energy swirled around it. It was indeed worthy of being a Ninth Rank Immortal Beast.

The Old Ghost Doctor gave the Jadewater Qilin a few instructions. Able to understand human speech, it nodded its enormous head and obediently crouched outside the medicine hut, its bell-sized eyes sweeping the surroundings warily. The doctor led Tie Zheng inside and opened a small door. Beyond it, the fire beneath a six-sided, four-legged alchemy furnace with a round belly burned fiercely, and steam bubbled from within.

"Begin." The Old Ghost Doctor opened his Iron Sandalwood Medicine Case. Bottles and jars filled its upper tiers. On the lowest lay a set of instruments resembling surgical knives, all made of top-grade Immortal Jade, thin as cicada wings and glowing with a gentle luster. The doctor took a block of white jade from the case and cried, "Mustard Seed, Mount Sumeru; white jade, become a hall—go!" White light flashed, and the three of them found themselves in a hall of white jade, surrounded by immaculate stone of flawless beauty.

"This is where I perform surgery," the Old Ghost Doctor said. "No outsider will disturb us here." Two jade beds stood in White Jade Hall, each gently upturned at both ends to form a shallow curve. Tie Zheng laid Luo Qian on one bed, then lay down on the other. The Old Ghost Doctor produced three green jade needles. "Ready?" Tie Zheng nodded and glanced at Luo Qian. The Exquisite Gallbladder helped me make my way to where I am today. I hope it can help him survive the next five hundred years safely too.

Three green jade needles pierced the top of his head. Tie Zheng's vision gradually blurred, and his consciousness sank into darkness...

(Please vote, please vote...)

Click to view image link: