Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme - Chapter 44
Chapter 44: Chapter 27: Xu Xian_1
Translator: 549690339
That night, within a dilapidated temple.
“Hey, go easy, go easy!”
“Damn it, it kills me!”
“It’s all that little bastard’s fault, I must kill him when I get the chance.”
“It’s going to be difficult now, who knows what kind of dumb luck that brat stumbled upon to encounter such a noble person.”
“Hmph, how could such a noble person take a fancy to him? It was just a whim, being a busybody. Just give it a few days, when that person leaves, we’ll take care of him, let him know who’s the boss!”
In the broken temple, a few beggars huddled by the campfire, massaging the bruises on their bodies, grimacing in pain, cursing nonstop.
Just then…
“Gah!”
The shabby door was suddenly pushed open, and a thin figure appeared, astonishingly…
The beggars looked towards the sound and saw a youth in tattered clothes, skinny and frail, walking in.
It was Xu Yang!
“You little bastard!”
“You dare to come back?”
Seeing this, the beggars instantly flew into a rage, then, recalling something, they looked outside with panic-stricken faces.
“You brat!”
“You dare come back alone?
“Seeking death! ”
Seeing no one outside the temple and not spotting the lady from earlier, the beggars swallowed a heart-calming pill. The leader of the beggars, his eyes shining, strode towards Xu Yang.
But unexpectedly…
“Bang!!!”
Flying Stone hurtled through the air, striking head-on, hitting the beggar leader squarely in the face. Fresh blood splattered, skull bones cracked, and he was knocked to the ground, convulsing before turning into a limp mess.
“Boss!”
“Bang!!!”
Another man, upon witnessing this, cried out in shock, only to meet the second Flying Stone, hitting him just as hard in the face, toppling him to the ground.
This scene left the remaining few silent as cicadas in winter, standing there trembling, hands tightly covering their mouths, not daring to make a sound.
Xu Yang, toying with two pebbles, approached the corpse of the beggar leader and said to the trembling few, “I have some questions for you.”
Hearing this, the beggars finally snapped back to reality, plopping down on their knees, pleading incessantly, “Dog, no, Brother Dog, no, no, Lord Dog, this has nothing to do with us; it’s all Wang Liu’s doing—it has nothing to do with us at all, we beg you, spare our lives, please…”
“Old Baitou?”
Xu Yang frowned, then remembered, it was indeed Old Baitou who had taken in the original “Dog.”
He hadn’t expected such hidden secrets; it turned out to be an unwitting action that settled his fate.
Xu Yang didn’t say much, merely looked at them and asked, “Recently, in this Xuzhou City, have any influential families suffered from strange and severe illnesses, or long-lasting diseases that could not be cured, looking for skilled doctors?”
“This…”
The beggars exchanged looks, unsure why Xu Yang was inquiring about this, but with their lives on the line, they couldn’t afford to think too much and racked their brains to recall.
“I heard that Officer Wang from the south of the city fell ill with a cold some time ago, almost reaching the point of no recovery.”
“Also, it’s said that the Governor’s youngest son caught a strange disease, consulted many doctors but none could cure him; they even posted a reward recently, offering a hundred taels of gold to whoever can cure his son’s illness.”
“Rumors say that the leader of the Black Tiger Gang suffered a demonic disruption while practicing his martial arts…”
Unlike the small-time beggar “Dog,” these folks were the seasoned ones among the beggars, even holding the status of local snakes, and they managed to catch wind of many things happening in Xuzhou City.
“The Governor?”
Xu Yang muttered to himself, then flicked his wrist, launching several pebbles.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
A series of muffled sounds followed, and the men collapsed in response, silent.
Xu Yang stepped forward to search the bodies, surprisingly finding a few small denominations of silver on the beggar leader.
He wasn’t surprised by this.
Begging was an extremely profitable occupation, particularly for structured beggar gangs.
Indeed, the Beggar’s Guild was where those bag-carrying elders belonged; killing them wouldn’t incriminate too many innocents.
Though the beggar leader wasn’t an elder nor carrying a sack, by oppressing truly helpless beggars like Dog, he lived comfortably, occasionally venturing into darker pursuits.
Therefore, Xu Yang dealt with them decisively.
After cleaning up, leaving behind nothing but corpses, Xu Yang paid no mind and grabbed a mat that was relatively clean to lie down by the campfire.
The next day, in front of the Governor Mansion, Xu Yang arrived at a steady pace.
He had used the small silver coins he had scavenged the night before to procure a new outfit and had bathed and changed at an inn.
Now, except for looking slightly frail, he was indistinguishable from an ordinary young man.
As for the silver ingot given by the little girl, he had not used it, avoiding the trouble of a child with gold wandering through the bustling market.
Thus, upon arriving in front of the Governor Mansion, he addressed the two gatekeepers, “My surname is Xu, given name Xian, styled Qingyang. I heard that your master’s son suffers from a rare illness and has issued a call for doctors. Therefore, I have come to answer the call, and I humbly request the two gentlemen to pass on the message.”
The two gatekeepers focused their gaze and saw a young man of slim stature and fragile appearance. They immediately furrowed their brows, “You are a doctor, too?”
Xu Yang nodded, “Indeed!”
“A doctor as young as you?
“No beard on the face, no strength in work. Go away, stop the nonsense. If you anger the master, not even ten heads would save you! ”
The gatekeepers clearly did not believe him and were about to send him away.
Xu Yang was unfazed and directly addressed one of them, “Sir, your complexion is pale, and the area under your eyes is dark. Do you feel listless in your daily activities, experience back soreness, lack of energy, and especially during intimate relations, suffer from lack of vigor, always feeling a deficit in your body…”
That gatekeeper immediately widened his eyes in shock, looking at Xu Yang.
Xu Yang ignored him and turned to the other, “And you, sir, your Qi Blood is doubly deficient, even more so. Do you often linger in the pleasure districts, or perhaps at night all alone… ‘ ‘Enough, enough!”
“This way, please, sir!”
A moment later, inside an ancient and elegant bedroom in the Governor
Mansion.
“Xu… Doctor, do you have a method to cure the illness?”
A man in official attire, still exuding authority, slightly furrowed his brows, his mind filled with suspicion yet showing nothing as he patiently asked Xu Yang. “It is indeed a rare illness, but nothing troubling!”
Xu Yang picked up the brush, wrote down a prescription, handed it to the housekeeper beside him, then said to the Governor, “Take this medicine, boil it in water, one dose per day. After three months, I assure you the illness will be cured with medication!
“Really?”
Although he had already let numerous servants come to receive treatment from the young man, proving his exceptional medical skills, the Governor still found it hard to believe that his son’s long-term stubborn illness could be cured in just three months.
Xu Yang smiled confidently and declared, “If the illness is not cured with medication within three months, Xu Xian is willing to pay with his life to the master!”
“You speak too gravely, sir.”
The Governor, upon hearing this, quickly comforted him, “My child’s stubborn illness has persisted for years, and many skilled doctors have come, all at their wit’s end. It is truly admirable that you, so young, possess such medical skill.”
As expected of a head of state, a Seal-Frontier Senior Official, he handled this human interaction delicately. Facing the doctor responsible for his child’s life and death, he did not present himself with arrogance, but responded with a light laugh, “Sir, The magic hand rejuvenates and saves my son’s life, for which I am immeasurably grateful. Someone, bring the consultation fee.”
“Yes!”
Soon, the housekeeper brought a tray of gold ingots.
“Please accept this with a smile, sir!”
“The master is too courteous!”
Upon seeing this, Xu Yang shook his head and, with a hand gesture, addressed the Governor, “I have no need for this consultation fee. I have but one impolite request. ”
The Governor frowned upon hearing this but did not immediately reject the idea, merely stating, “Please speak, sir.”
Xu Yang answered with a smile, “My late master had but one wish—to hang the pot to help the world and to bring glory to our medical skill. I, his successor, dare not defy my master’s wishes. Therefore, I earnestly request the master to permit me to open a clinic in Xuzhou City, to hang the pot in service to the world!”
“So it is.”
Hearing that this was the request, the Governor instantly eased, immediately smiled and said, “Sir, your wonderful skill and benevolent heart benefit the nation and its people. I have no reason to refuse. Please accept the consultation fee as capital for opening your clinic!” “Thank you, master!”
“May I ask, sir, what will the clinic be named?”
“Hmm… How about naming it Security Hall?”
“Security Hall, maintaining health and wellbeing, very clever, very clever indeed!”
Even with the accumulation of a lifetime during the Great Zhou era, times have changed, and there are many ways to start an enterprise. Still, as the saying goes, where there are people, there is the Martial World, along with the strife and bloody conflicts over interests.
Even the highly respected doctors, who save lives and help the wounded, cannot avoid these affairs.
Do you think that with good medical skill, you can simply open a clinic, a pharmacy, treat the sick, heal the people, and become famous? It’s not that simple.
Even a fish market has its market tyrants, with gangs in control, exploiting and squeezing, and an even more lucrative, life-and-death essential industry like medical treatment cannot be free from disputes and live in harmony with the world.
Each and every clinic, every pharmacy, has a supporting force behind it, competing against each other, squeezing out rivals, using various means to fight for market share, seize profits, and suppress competitors. The corruption involved is endless.
Xu Yang had no time for such trivial matters, so he directly chose to find a patron to shelter him from the storm, allowing him to comfortably open a clinic, teach students, establish a foundation in Xuzhou, and gradually expand.
For him, this was a simple matter. The disorder of the Governor’s son was strange indeed, but what had he not seen in the three hundred years he protected the Great Zhou?
He had integrated all worldly knowledge into the Martial Arts Scripture, of which the most profound, most impactful, and most developed were the “Power,” “Fighting,” “Weapon,” and “Life” Scrolls.
The Power Scroll was fundamental to cultivation, the Fighting Scroll contained supreme combat skills, the Weapon Scroll covered martial strategies, and the Life Scroll integrated medical knowledge and pharmacology. It was the Wonderful Skill of reviving the dead and healing the injured and thus was named the “Life” Scroll.
In combination with the cultivation methods of the Power Scroll, the power of the Martial Arts Scripture, and the skill traits of transforming decay into magic, it wasn’t just about The magic hand rejuvenates or curing diseases with medication—even reviving the dead and regrowing flesh on bones weren’t impossible tasks.
Of course, this was at the pinnacle of Xu Yang’s time in the Great Zhou, when the Martial Path Communicates with God, his cultivation mingled with the universe, supported by three centuries of accumulated time and skill traits. Only then did he possess the ability to revive corpses and regrow bones.
Now… at the start of a new journey, with nothing to his name, relying only on the medical knowledge stored in his memory, he no longer possessed such earth-shattering capabilities.
Fortunately, curing this minor chronic issue was still a piece of cake.
And so, three months later, a clinic grandly opened within Xuzhou City, named —Security Hall!