Five Hundred Copies of Sincerity

Several days later.

Nuoding City, Fasinuo Province.

Two hunters entered the city gates with the stream of people.

The older one's white hair was hidden beneath a beast-hide cap. He carried an ordinary wooden bow on his back, and his presence was unremarkable.

The younger one wore old leather armor, with an ice case wrapped in beast hide secured to his back.

They were Guang Ling and Lin Yuan.

To avoid alerting the Life-Saving Hall, Guang Ling had completely concealed his Soul Power.

Now, he looked like nothing more than an ill-tempered old hunter.

The smiling mask circled him once.

"Convincing."

"Far too convincing."

"Especially that sour face. One look tells you he often comes home empty-handed."

Guang Ling glanced at it.

"I could test an arrow on you first."

The mask immediately hid behind Lin Yuan.

"Your teacher has such a bad temper."

"If you talked less, he'd be much better."

Just as Lin Yuan finished speaking, the profound ice case on his back suddenly shook.

Thump!

The muffled sound was like a heartbeat.

Within the ice, a faint golden glow emerged on the surface of the Ambrosial Arbor.

Lin Yuan raised a hand and pressed it against the ice case.

A thread of the Power of The Hunt seeped inside, suppressing the restless roots once more.

Guang Ling's expression darkened slightly.

"Something is drawing it here."

Lin Yuan looked up.

At the end of the street, a three-story medicine hall stood out.

Carriages and horses came and went outside its doors, while commoners formed a long line.

Three large characters were written on its signboard.

Life-Saving Hall.

The two blended into the crowd.

An awning had been erected outside the medicine hall, where more than a dozen apothecaries were treating the injured and sick for free.

An old man leaning on a wooden cane was helped forward.

An old injury in his right leg had plagued him for years, leaving him unable to walk long ago.

The apothecary took out a pale green pill and had him swallow it.

A short while later, the old man stood up, trembling.

Cheers immediately erupted all around.

"Miracle medicine!"

"The Life-Saving Hall has saved another person!"

The old man dropped to his knees on the spot and kowtowed repeatedly.

The apothecary hurriedly helped him up, his face full of compassion.

"Bringing relief to the world and saving lives is our hall's duty."

The crowd was full of praise.

Yet Lin Yuan sensed an extremely faint trace of Abundance in that pill.

The dose was small.

In the short term, it could indeed heal injuries.

But once someone took it over a prolonged period, the power of Abundance would continually accumulate within their body.

Until their flesh and blood went out of control.

And they became an abomination.

Guang Ling's voice was icy.

"So much for bringing relief to the world and saving lives."

"There are too many people outside."

Lin Yuan said quietly:

"Let's go inside first."

Just then, an old man and a young boy approached from the street corner.

The old man was simply dressed, with a smile on his face.

The boy beside him was only six, wearing clean but heavily patched clothes, his expression far more composed than that of other children his age.

Old Jack stopped outside the crowd with Tang San.

"The people at this Life-Saving Hall truly are great benefactors."

"They don't charge the poor for treatment, and even give out medicine for free."

Watching the old man stand again, Tang San's eyes also showed a measure of approval.

He did not know what these pills concealed.

In his eyes, the Life-Saving Hall treated the injured and sick and dispensed medicine for free. They were indeed doing good.

Seeing their shabby clothes, an apprentice took the initiative to bring them two packets of blood-staunching powder.

"Keep these to protect yourselves while you're away from home."

Old Jack hurriedly thanked him.

Tang San also said earnestly:

"Thank you."

As he accepted the medicine packets, his palm grew slightly warm.

Something seemed to have stirred his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

But the sensation vanished in an instant.

Tang San thought nothing of it.

"Let's go, Little San."

"You mustn't be late to register at the academy."

Old Jack left with Tang San.

Before leaving, Tang San seemed to sense something and glanced back.

His gaze briefly met Lin Yuan's.

Through Hunting Sense, that child's life presence was unusually steady.

Deeper within, there was also a trace of killing intent utterly at odds with his age.

Lin Yuan recognized him.

Tang San.

The son of Tang Hao and Ah Yin.

Tang San only felt that the young hunter was extremely dangerous.

Their gazes parted as soon as they met.

Neither spoke.

"Know him?"

Guang Ling asked.

"I know who he is."

Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze.

"Business comes first."

He walked into the Life-Saving Hall.

Behind the counter, a slightly plump, middle-aged shopkeeper raised his eyelids.

"Buying medicine or seeking treatment?"

"Neither."

Lin Yuan glanced at the commoners receiving treatment outside.

"I want to join the Life-Saving Hall."

Only then did the shopkeeper look him over seriously.

Young.

Carrying a bow.

With a trace of Soul Power about him.

"Why?"

"I've hunted with my elders for years and seen too many people die from injuries and illness."

Lin Yuan's expression was earnest.

"The Life-Saving Hall is willing to help commoners. I greatly admire that."

"I want to join you and save some people too."

The shopkeeper smiled.

There was a measure of smugness in that smile.

"Plenty of people want to join the Life-Saving Hall."

"Among them are noble lords and powerful soul masters."

"A few fine words alone won't prove your sincerity."

He took a thick booklet from beneath the counter and casually tossed it in front of Lin Yuan.

Bang!

The booklet hit the table, stirring up a layer of dust.

Several large characters were written on the cover.

"The Salvation Scripture of the Thousand-Handed Compassionate Medicine King"

The shopkeeper tapped the tabletop.

"Copy it five hundred times."

"Come back to me when you're done."

Lin Yuan opened the booklet.

It contained several thousand characters.

The entire text praised the Medicine King's compassion and the Sacred Tree's bestowal of life.

The smiling mask lay on his shoulder and skimmed a few lines.

"Five hundred times?"

"By the time you're done, you might have moved the Medicine King to tears."

The shopkeeper could not see the mask. Seeing only Lin Yuan's silence, he thought Lin Yuan was about to give up.

"Too much?"

"The Life-Saving Hall doesn't accept people without sincerity."

Lin Yuan closed the booklet.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow."

The shopkeeper froze.

Then he sneered.

"Young man, don't make such sweeping promises."

Lin Yuan picked up the booklet, turned, and left.

Inside the inn.

Looking at "The Salvation Scripture of the Thousand-Handed Compassionate Medicine King" on the table, Guang Ling's mouth twitched slightly.

"You really intend to copy it?"

"I don't have time."

Lin Yuan opened his money pouch.

It was filled with Gold Soul Coins.

Half an hour later, everyone in Nuoding City who could read and copy books had received a commission.

Fifty scholars.

Ten copies each.

Paper and ink fully provided.

One Silver Soul Coin per copy, with extra pay for neat handwriting.

That night, the entire courtyard held nothing but the scratching of brush tips across paper.

The smiling mask floated in midair, watching everyone below with their heads bent over their copying.

"This counts as your sincerity too?"

Lin Yuan sat to one side, cultivating with his eyes closed.

"I provide the money. They provide the labor."

"Five hundred copies. Not one short."

"Perfectly reasonable."

Guang Ling leaned against the doorway and could not help chuckling.

"You little brat. You certainly know how to exploit a loophole."

Early the next morning.

Five hundred copies of the "Scripture of the Thousand-Handed Compassionate Medicine King's Salvation" were packed into ten wooden crates, lined up neatly outside Life-Saving Hall.

The shopkeeper stared at the papers filling the hall, speechless for a long while.

"You..."

"You really finished copying them?"

Lin Yuan pushed the last crate in front of him.

"You only said to copy it five hundred times."

"You never said I had to do it with my own hands."

The shopkeeper pulled out a few copies at random.

The handwriting differed.

Yet not a single word was missing from the contents.

Five hundred copies, every one genuine.

He looked up at Lin Yuan, his expression somewhat complicated.

To mobilize so many literate people overnight, and be willing to spend so many Silver Soul Coins.

This young hunter clearly had more than strength.

He also had money.

Life-Saving Hall liked useful people.

"Release your Martial Soul."

The shopkeeper spoke.

Lin Yuan raised his hand.

With a simple disguise, the Imperial Bow took the form of an ordinary green longbow.

Four Soul Rings rose, two yellow and two purple.

The shopkeeper's expression changed abruptly.

"A Soul Ancestor?"

Such a young Four-Ring Soul Ancestor had actually come to join them of his own accord.

After a brief moment of shock, his smile immediately grew enthusiastic.

"Good."

"From today onward, you are an outer guard of Life-Saving Hall."

"You will protect the medicine caravans and escort medicinal supplies."

"If you perform well, you will naturally have a chance to encounter the true method of saving the world."

Lin Yuan withdrew his Martial Soul.

"Thank you, shopkeeper."

That evening.

Lin Yuan officially became an outer guard of Life-Saving Hall.

The shopkeeper only assigned him to escort medicinal supplies and did not permit him to enter the inner area.

Lin Yuan was in no hurry.

Nuoding City was only a small city.

The Life-Saving Hall here was more like an outlying base for gathering medicinal supplies and screening believers. It could not possibly hold the real Ambrosial Arbor.

To find the core of the Medicine King Holy Church, he had to follow the medicine transport routes and continue investigating up the chain.

As Lin Yuan entered the rear courtyard, his Hunting Sense quietly spread.

The medicine storehouse, the guards, the carriages.

And the presences of several Soul Masters concealed in the shadows.

An invisible net was already slowly unfolding before his eyes.

At the same time.

A thousand miles away.

Deep within the mountains, an enormous underground palace lay hidden in darkness.

Countless dark-green roots covered the walls, and pale-gold willow leaves stirred without wind.

A black-robed man knelt in the center of the great hall, his voice trembling slightly.

"Church Leader."

"We have lost contact with the Far North branch."

"Mu Xuansheng's soul tablet... has shattered."

Atop the dais, a gaunt old man slowly opened his eyes.

Behind him, a giant dark-green willow quietly materialized.

Pale-gold patterns covered its trunk, and myriad willow branches hung down like tentacles searching for flesh and blood.

The leader of the Medicine King Holy Church.

Level ninety-four Titled Douluo-Yao Changsheng.

His Martial Soul, the Myriad-Life Medicine Willow.

"What of the Sacred Tree?"

The black-robed man pressed his forehead firmly against the floor.

"Its whereabouts are unknown."

The willow branches within the great hall abruptly stopped swaying.

The next instant, a golden-green willow leaf landed on the black-robed man's shoulder.

The willow leaf instantly pierced his flesh.

The black-robed man trembled all over, yet dared not make the slightest sound.

Yao Changsheng spoke indifferently:

"Send the Medicine Envoys to investigate."

"The person who killed Mu Xuansheng must be found."

"As for the Sacred Tree..."

He raised his gaunt hand.

The roots on the walls simultaneously opened golden eyes.

"It is the foundation of immortality bestowed upon me by the Medicine King."

"Whoever took it must die."