Rumors of an Immortal

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Chapter 29: Rumors of an Immortal

"No need for that." Chen Beiwu reached out to steady Mo Li. "You've already paid me."

Mo Li froze.

When had I paid him? Hadn't I only been sinking deeper into his debt?

"Treating the cold fever requires a certain medicine. I'll gather some and come back tomorrow to treat him." Chen Beiwu turned and left, leaving Mo Li wanting to speak but unable to find the words.

Back in the cultivation room, Chen Beiwu opened his eyes to find a listless Iron Egg.

"What's wrong? Still can't learn it?" he asked with a smile.

Iron Egg barked three times in succession.

Chen Beiwu's expression shifted. "You mean there's too little spiritual energy in the cultivation room, so you can't get into the groove at all?"

Iron Egg nodded.

Once you experienced certain things, there was no going back!

Before, he had never thought the spiritual energy at home was thin. But after going mountain climbing with his master, Iron Egg now felt as though he were living in a spiritual-energy wasteland.

Forget cultivating the Heavenly Dog Swallowing the Sun Scripture at home-he did not even feel like moving anymore.

Chen Beiwu glanced at him. "All right, I'll take you over later. Be good and guard the house for now."

At that, Iron Egg immediately perked up.

After leaving home, Chen Beiwu used Wind Manipulation to run toward the integrated industrial park near the rear mountain of Pingchen Township.

Four small mechanized factories stood within the industrial park: a talisman-paper factory, a formation-disc factory, an iron-forging factory, and a pharmaceutical factory.

Every day, these factories produced large quantities of talisman paper, formation discs, refined iron, and medicinal ingredients, supporting the GDP of the entire township.

The industrial park's owner was a Pingchen Township local, also surnamed Chen. Township cultivators who wanted spiritual materials to study the four cultivation arts generally bought them at the industrial park, where they could enjoy discounted prices.

If Chen Beiwu remembered correctly, cold fever-a disease only mortals contracted-could be cured with a single dose of [Wind-Expelling Powder].

Finding the factories' general market with practiced ease, Chen Beiwu headed toward the last medicine shop.

The shop was small, with plain white medicine sacks packed along both sides, giving off a rich medicinal fragrance.

Clearly, the medicinal ingredients stuffed into those white sacks were cheap goods sold wholesale, not even graded exotic herbs.

Above the shop's central counter stood a glass display case containing first-tier exotic herbs of various shapes.

A gold-trimmed electronic screen outside the case flashed continuously, displaying each ingredient's name and price in turn.

The moment Chen Beiwu entered, a bell beneath the shop's eaves swayed gently and chimed.

"Hello, fellow Daoist. What can I help you with?" A slightly plump, middle-aged cultivator walked up to the counter.

"Do you sell Wind-Expelling Powder here?" Chen Beiwu asked.

"Wind-Expelling Powder?" The middle-aged cultivator looked somewhat surprised.

In the past, mortals had needed medicine to cure cold fever. But as the Immortal Alliance's compulsory cultivation education gradually spread, more and more cultivators emerged on the Heavenly Abyss Star, and the children they conceived with mortals developed much stronger constitutions as well.

Even mortals without spiritual roots, who could not cultivate, could enjoy lifespans approaching a hundred years.

Times had changed. Cold fever was no longer a serious illness for mortals. Even if they happened to catch it, they only needed to endure a week or two before recovering through their own constitutions.

As a result, Wind-Expelling Powder, an ungraded medicine whose sole purpose was treating cold fever, had become increasingly obscure.

In all his years running the shop, this was the first time the owner had encountered someone asking to buy Wind-Expelling Powder.

"Yes, yes, we sell it. One dose costs two spirit hair. Buy a hundred doses at once and you get twenty percent off-twenty low-grade spirit stones," the middle-aged cultivator said.

"Two doses will do."

Since cold fever was contagious, Chen Beiwu bought an extra dose in case Mo Li caught it, sparing himself another trip.

"All right." The cultivator nodded and deftly gathered ingredients from the various white medicine sacks to prepare the doses.

After paying and picking up his medicine packets, Chen Beiwu suddenly caught sight of a message appearing on the electronic screen.

;psme&;psme&

[Buying all varieties of second-tier spirit medicines at high prices. Prices negotiable-generous offers guaranteed!]

"You buy spirit medicines here too?" Chen Beiwu asked curiously.

"Of course." The owner's manner grew enthusiastic. "What spirit medicine would you like to sell, fellow Daoist?"

"Do you buy any kind of second-tier spirit medicine?" he inquired.

"All kinds, all kinds. But the purchase prices for some fluctuate quite a bit."

Understanding what he meant, the owner held up three fingers. "For second-tier spirit medicines with legitimate origins, our Hundred Medicines House can offer a high price. But for those whose origins aren't so clear, we have to shoulder some risk, so we reduce the price by twenty to thirty percent."

What a rip-off! Chen Beiwu thought.

The secondhand market already bought spirit medicines at eighty percent of their value. With another twenty to thirty percent knocked off, the purchase price would fall to almost half the selling price on the Immortal Alliance Official Website.

Rather than dump second-tier spirit medicines at such a loss, he might as well take them himself.

"I see." Chen Beiwu left the medicine shop without looking back, stopping at the neighboring talisman shop to buy a sheet of Spirit-Testing Paper for five spirit hair.

Early the next morning.

The moment Chen Beiwu pushed the door open, he saw Mo Li and her father kneeling on the ground together, kowtowing.

"Thank you for saving his life, my lord!"

This time, Chen Beiwu did not stop them.

If kneeling in gratitude made the father and daughter feel better, then they could kneel as they pleased.

"My lord, this is for you." Mo Li rose and took some silver from inside her clothes, still slightly warm.

"That's the money I paid for the Blue-Crystal Exotic Herb. What, do you want the herb back?" Chen Beiwu deliberately countered.

"No, my lord, I don't want the herb." Mo Li grew flustered.

The only reason she had swallowed her shame and accepted silver from their lifesaver was to scrape together her father's treatment fee.

Now that her father was well, she could hardly keep so much silver without feeling ashamed.

But Mo Li was clumsy with words. Faced with Chen Beiwu's firm refusal, she could not think how to explain herself.

"All right, I know what you're thinking." Chen Beiwu waved a hand and looked into the distance. "This little bit of silver means nothing to me. Just keep it without worrying."

Mo Li stared at Chen Beiwu, then nodded, her pretty face faintly flushed.

Something strange had recently happened in Twin Rivers Village.

Two days earlier, the Mo girl had brought an unfamiliar man back to the village, and the village chief had knelt before him in public, calling him an immortal.

The villagers of Twin Rivers Village were dubious, but none dared voice any objections.

There were three reasons.

First, the man was far too handsome. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would bring a black dog along and stretch out on the slab of bluestone beneath the pagoda tree, falling asleep to the clear chorus of reading from the village school. Like an immortal, he needed neither food nor drink, nor even to relieve himself, and occasionally disappeared for a while without anyone noticing.

According to the village chief, the immortal had gone back to the heavenly realm!

Second, Old Mo in the west of the village had been gravely ill and seemed only days from death, yet he recovered the day after the immortal appeared.

Third, the village chief had strictly forbidden anyone from disturbing the immortal. Offenders would be severely punished, their farmland confiscated and themselves driven out of Twin Rivers Village.

"Teacher, teacher! Are there really immortals in this world?" Inside the private school, a little boy stood up to ask, his gaze constantly straying out the window.

The old schoolmaster frowned and tapped the lectern with his ruler. "There are no immortals in this world. You're at the age when you should be studying. Stop asking about fanciful tales."

(End of chapter)