Chapter 195 — From Small Things, Great Things

Wang Muran lifted the old fisherman's corpse, laid it across the back of the mighty stag, and drove the beast at a swift pace to catch up with Shen Mu, Imperial Teacher Jingping, and the others. In a loud voice he cried, "Imperial Teacher Jingping, I will avenge my master!"

Imperial Teacher Jingping turned his head, his expression utterly serious. "Your master's skills were not bad. Once you have learned them, before you come seeking revenge on me, first pass your craft on to disciples of your own. Do not let his skills die out with him."

Wang Muran gave a shout. Clouds gathered beneath the stag's hooves, and it ran up into the sky, gradually vanishing from sight.

"Someone invited one of Little Jade Capital's good old men to test the waters. Truly, his death is not to be pitied."

Imperial Teacher Jingping withdrew his gaze and said to Shen Mu and the rest, "Little Jade Capital is a mysterious place, aloof from the world's conflicts, with an exceedingly ancient origin. I too have only heard rumors of Little Jade Capital; this was my first time seeing one of its experts. He did have some skill, but he has fallen behind the times. They do not often come out to walk the world, nor do they witness the development of other sects' arts. Shutting themselves away to build carts behind closed doors, they easily fall behind. Remember this well: seclusion will never make you an expert."

Shen Mu and the others nodded in agreement, yet felt a chill in their hearts.

This old fisherman had actually been invited out by someone to test the waters?

Could it be that someone wanted to use the old man's life to test just how deep the waters of Imperial Teacher Jingping still ran?

"This struggle has already begun," Shen Mu thought, his eyes flickering.

Licheng.

The great army of Jingping had already attacked this place. By the time they arrived, the battle was already over.

The fighting could not have been too fierce. Shen Mu looked around and saw that the city walls here were still relatively intact. Jingping's great army had simply pushed straight through, encountered the rebel army outside the city, and annihilated them outright.

"The Grand Academy has a dedicated Array Origin Hall and Military Strategy Tower, both places where formation arts and military strategy are taught. When jianghu sects confront Jingping's great army head-on, the outcome is obvious," he thought to himself.

Licheng had not been destroyed by the war. The common people here were still relatively safe and sound. Shen Mu went to apothecaries to gather medicines, taking several kinds from every apothecary in the city.

By the time he had visited more than a dozen apothecaries, half a day had passed. When night came, Shen Mu and the others lodged at the Licheng county office. The county magistrate of Licheng had been captured and was already being escorted to the imperial court.

Before long, the aroma of medicine drifted from the county office. After about half an hour, a maidservant came out carrying a basin and poured a basinful of spent herbs onto the flagstone path.

After another half hour, the maidservant carried out another basin of spent herbs and likewise poured them on the road, for people to trample underfoot.

This happened again and again. In one night, seven basins of spent herbs were dumped.

After daybreak, Shen Mu and the others rested for another half a day before continuing south.

At an apothecary in Licheng, a middle-aged scholar dressed in a blue robe with a white inner lining stood behind the counter, flipping through more than a dozen prescriptions. These prescriptions recorded precisely the medicinal ingredients Shen Mu had gathered from more than a dozen apothecaries.

"No, no. Some of these ingredients are completely useless. Some are not wound-healing medicines at all. This young man is shrewd indeed..."

The middle-aged scholar looked up and smiled. "Worthy of the little miracle doctor renowned throughout the capital. He does not wish me to discern from his medicines just how severe Imperial Teacher Jingping's injuries are. Truly cunning. But he has also underestimated me, Daoist Master Daoquan."

"Master, the spent herbs have arrived!"

Several young alchemists walked in from outside, each carrying a medicine basin filled with spent herbs.

Daoist Master Daoquan examined them one by one, sneering repeatedly. After a moment, he calculated, "This little miracle doctor is indeed shrewd. He deliberately mixed in spent herbs from other prescriptions so that I cannot tell how far he has treated Imperial Teacher Jingping. But playing such petty tricks before me—you are still too green. Disciples, gather the ingredients!"

He called out one medicinal name after another. The young alchemists promptly fetched various spirit medicines. Daoist Master Daoquan pondered for a moment, categorized the ingredients, switched them around several times, and only after he was satisfied there was no error did he order his disciples to light the furnace and refine the medicine.

Several hours later, Daoist Master Daoquan examined the medicines he had refined. The first was a decoction, extremely potent in nature. The second was a salve, to be applied externally to draw out poison. The third was a spirit pill the size of a little fingertip, silver-white and seemingly covered in thorns; the slightest touch of a finger would be wounded by the metal qi emanating from the pill.

The fourth medicine was a milky-white vapor that had settled in the furnace. The fifth was a small cup of dark red liquid that evaporated very quickly. The sixth and seventh were again spirit pills, but their medicinal properties differed from one another.

After examining all seven medicines, Daoist Master Daoquan's expression shifted slightly. He praised, "This little miracle doctor is remarkable. Truly remarkable. By his method of treatment, in as little as twenty days, or at most half a year, no matter what injuries Imperial Teacher Jingping has, he will fully recover!"

Carrying the seven medicines, he paused, then leaped into the air, treading the void and transforming into a streak of flowing light that sped away.

This streak of light flew south toward the Southern Wilderness for half a day, covering two or three thousand li, before descending upon Dali City in the Southern Wilderness.

Dali City was the largest city in the Southern Wilderness. In years past it had also been a nation, one that revered Buddhism. Within its borders were three thousand six hundred temples large and small, and it had long been known as the Little Western Heaven of the South. Later it was annexed by Jingping.

Daoist Master Daoquan landed before the most magnificent and resplendent temple in the city, Luoguang Temple, and strode quickly inside. More than a dozen existences at the level of sect masters rose to their feet.

"Daoist Master Daoquan has arrived!"

The foremost among them, a man wearing a bronze mask, came forward and said with a smile, "Daoist Master Daoquan's visit this time surely means he brings good news!"

"Indeed."

Daoist Master Daoquan took out the seven medicines and laid them out in a row. "This time, when Imperial Teacher Jingping dueled with Zhen the Wanderer of Little Jade Capital, he may have killed Zhen the Wanderer, but he must also have been injured. And on this journey he has the little miracle doctor at his side. Therefore, I reasoned that the medicines the little miracle doctor used to treat him would inevitably reveal the state of Imperial Teacher Jingping's injuries. These seven medicines are precisely what the little miracle doctor refined for him last night. Please look, everyone."

Ma Lianshan, Minister of the Grand Secretariat, said in astonishment, "Daoist Master Daoquan has always acknowledged no one under heaven, believing himself first in the world in medical arts, and that even the Little Poison King could not compare. Why today does he call a greenhorn a miracle doctor?"