Chapter 29: Splitting Up

Beggars were the poorest people at the very bottom of society.

They lived by begging. They had no dignity, no place to call home, and most of them did not even have household registrations. When a beggar died, they simply died. Even if someone beat them to death, no one would seek justice on their behalf. Most were dumped in mass graves after death. The lucky few merely managed to receive a proper burial.

When Wen Xu was young, he had seen far too many beggars die for inexplicable reasons. It was precisely because he had seen so much that he understood clearly: because they occupied the lowest and humblest rung of society, beggars were the group most skilled at reading faces and sensing danger.

Human lives were as cheap as weeds, and a beggar’s life was worth even less.

The cultivation world might seem splendid and flourishing, but the world would never lack poor people, nor would it ever lack beggars who survived by asking for alms. Wen Xu had seen quite a few beggars in Langyuan City.

“You mean we should find some beggars near Mist Mountain Village and ask them for information?”

Wen Xu shook his head. “There is no need to go too close. If Mist Mountain Village truly has some calamity, the beggars will certainly stay far away.”

Bian Chunzhou had been poisoned by television dramas for far too long, and his way of thinking had not completely broken free of them yet. “But what if that evil cultivator is vicious and desperate enough to capture beggars and feed them to the evil seeds of the Jade-Bone Silk Tree?”

“He would not,” Wen Xu denied immediately.

“What wouldn’t he do?”

Wen Xu smiled. “Do you remember the man we rescued? If the brothel’s thugs took notice of him, his appearance must have been quite good, right?”

Bian Chunzhou understood. “Whoa. Evil cultivators are getting picky these days? Look at him acting all high and mighty!”

What Wen Xu did not say was that beggars slept outdoors, never knew where their next meal would come from, and were generally filthy and disheveled. Even the least selective evil cultivator would not choose a beggar as the host for an evil seed. But there was no need to tell Chunzhou that.

As for Chen Zui, he had no patience for thinking in the first place. The moment he heard that they only needed to make a few simple inquiries, he immediately lost interest. By now, he had already gone out to practice his saber.

The three returned to the city and rested for half a day before setting out toward the western side of Langyuan City.

Considering how conspicuous the uniforms of Yonglu Mountain disciples were, and how Chen Zui was utterly unsuited to gathering information, Bian Chunzhou and Wen Xu decided to split up. However, Bian Chunzhou was somewhat worried about Wen Xu’s eyes.

“Do you really not need Chen Zui to follow you? Maybe we should still act together.”

“That would be far too obvious. You can pretend to be a wealthy young master out on an excursion and bring Chen Zui along as your guard. No one would find that suspicious. But I am blind. If I pretend to be a fortune-teller while bringing such a powerful guard, would that not make it obvious that something is wrong?”

“All right. But if anything happens, remember to use the communication talisman immediately.”

Wen Xu had already removed the storage ring from his finger and strung it around his neck with a cord. Hearing that, he patted his chest.

“Do not worry. My master gave me a means to preserve my life.”

Wow. As expected of a divine dragon.

Bian Chunzhou was truly reassured now. Dressed in magnificent brocade robes, he swaggered through the streets with a silent, hulking, muscular guard at his side.

Wen Xu sensed the two of them leave. After waiting for a while at the street corner, he turned and entered an inn.

Not long afterward, he emerged wearing an old, shabby green robe. Carrying a battered darkwood medicine chest, he set up a small free clinic at the entrance to the most run-down slum in the western part of the city.

That was right. Instead of playing a blind fortune-teller and simply acting as himself, Wen Xu had disguised himself as a wandering physician.

As for the silk ribbon that usually covered his eyes, it had naturally been put away safely inside his storage ring.

The cultivation world possessed countless miraculous methods. As long as someone had money and ability, even an ordinary mortal could remain free of illness and enjoy a long, healthy life.

The prerequisite, however, was having money and power.

Whether in the Mortal Realm or the cultivation world, those at the bottom would always suffer hunger, cold, and hardship.

Wen Xu had altered his appearance slightly. He could not remember his own face and did not even possess any real concept of beauty or ugliness, so he used spiritual power to darken his complexion and deepen the shadows beneath his eyes. His messy bangs covered nearly half his face.

He now looked exactly like an ordinary, down-and-out physician wandering the jianghu.

With these changes, he blended perfectly into the surrounding slum.

Wen Xu had not actually come to provide free medical treatment. Whether anyone came to patronize his stall was not something he cared about.

He had chosen this method entirely because he had been inspired by that physician from the Mingling Medical Hall.

Furthermore, if someone in this area had truly fallen victim to an evil cultivator, most people in the slums would be unable to afford treatment. Now that he had appeared, even if he looked utterly unreliable, someone might still come and give him a try.

Wen Xu was not in a hurry. He had always been patient.

The weather was pleasant today. Unless they were too ill to walk, most of the beggars in the slum had probably gone out to beg. He had arrived early and sat there for a long time, yet he saw only a few children poking their heads out from the entrance of an alley.

Wen Xu pretended not to notice them and slowly organized the contents of his medicine chest.

He had bought the chest casually. Aside from a set of silver needles, it contained only a few empty bottles for appearance’s sake. Calling what he was doing “organizing” was generous. In reality, he was merely fiddling with things at random.

To be fair, Wen Xu had learned a tiny amount of rudimentary medicine.

His knowledge was limited to prescribing remedies for colds and treating simple injuries. He could also set broken bones, though his chance of success was probably fifty-fifty.

Of course, he was now a cultivator. Identifying acupoints and inserting needles presented no difficulty. As long as the patient did not have some rare and complicated illness, he could probably muddle through most cases.

And if all else failed, he had brought plenty of pills with him on this trip down the mountain.

By now, the sun had climbed high into the sky.

Wen Xu lazily yawned. Just as the warm sunlight was about to lull him to sleep, a patient finally arrived.

It was an elderly woman supported by two skinny children. Even with their help, she had great difficulty walking.

“Hold out your hand.”

Wen Xu’s voice was indifferent, but it actually made the two children lower their guard.

In the slums, the concern and kindness of important people were far more terrifying than coldness.

“Wind evil has entered your body. A minor illness was neglected until it became severe. Sit down. I will give you two needles.”

Wen Xu said he would insert two needles, but in reality, he used spiritual power to nourish the woman’s internal organs.

The old woman immediately felt refreshed. Even the dull pain that had been throbbing in her head faded considerably.

“Thank you, divine physician. Thank you, divine physician.”

Wen Xu waved a hand, his manner rather careless.

But after the first patient was successfully treated, a second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth soon arrived.

Wen Xu treated those he could and refused those he could not.

His attitude could hardly be called good, but for the people of the slums, his indifference actually made them feel more at ease.

Before long, the setting sun cast long, slanting rays across the streets. Wen Xu saw beggars returning from their day’s “work” in groups of twos and threes.

“Medical treatment? Is it really true?”

“Of course it is. Old Madam Liu at the end of the alley was practically on her deathbed, wasn’t she? Today, she was already able to get out of bed and carry water.”

“Something that miraculous happened? Could it be that an immortal from Yonglu Mountain descended into the mortal world?”

“No, not quite. That physician looks… nothing like an immortal.”

That answer only made them more curious.

Wen Xu saw another wave of patients approaching and had already lost interest in continuing. He began packing up his stall to leave.

When the others saw that he was about to go, they hurriedly pleaded with him.

“Divine physician, could you please stay for another half hour?”

“Boring, boring. Every case I have seen is ordinary. Colds, rheumatism, bruises, and sprains. I thought the slums might have some rare and complicated illnesses, but all of these symptoms are things I have seen before. There is no fun in it.”

Wen Xu deliberately provoked them.

His voice was cold and cutting, and he clearly did not regard the people before him as worth his attention. Yet perhaps they had been ignored for so long that none of them found his attitude strange. They merely continued begging him.

“Since you are pleading with such sincerity, I am not an entirely heartless man. Since I offered free treatment today, I should see it through to the end. But you have received benefits from me. Should you not give me something in return?”

“You are right, divine physician. What do you want?”

Wen Xu waved a hand.

“It is simple. I want to know whether there are any patients with rare and complicated illnesses nearby. The stranger, the better. If there are none, then I will have to leave this place tonight.”

Rare and complicated illnesses?

Were divine physicians these days so unable to appreciate a peaceful life? Why insist on treating illnesses that could not be cured?

“Let me make something clear first. I do not treat venereal diseases, people with consumption, or those who have committed monstrous crimes.”

This divine physician truly had a strange temperament.

But a doctor who treated people for free and whose methods were so effective was hard to find. No one wanted to miss this opportunity.

After all, a gullible divine physician like this might not appear again even once in the next ten years.

Yet how could there be anyone with a rare and complicated illness in the slums?

Anyone who suffered from such a thing would have died long ago. How could they have survived until now?

“No, there is someone. But… that person does not live here.”

Wen Xu immediately turned toward the voice.

“He does not live here? Then where does he live?”

The speaker was a skinny beggar with messy hair.

When Wen Xu’s eyes fixed on him, he involuntarily told the truth.

“In a small village outside the city. The place is pretty sinister. None of us have dared to pass by it lately.”

“Sinister? That sounds interesting. Tell me more.”

The beggar scratched his head.

“It is just really strange. In the past, whenever we could not beg enough food, we often went into the mountains to gather wild fruit. The road into the mountains passes through that village.

“One night, I was too lazy to go back down, so I slept in the mountains. In the middle of the night, I heard a female ghost screaming! The screams were horrifying. They were even worse than a woman giving birth.”

Wen Xu looked intrigued.

“So the patient you mentioned lives in that village? What illness does he have?”

“That man has an old-age illness. I only heard about it from someone else, though.”

“An old-age illness?”

“That is right. He should only be nineteen this year. He used to be a famously handsome young gentleman throughout all the nearby villages.

“But do you know what he looks like now? He looks even older than a man in his fifties. All his teeth have fallen out, and he barely has any hair left. I heard his appearance is terrifying now.”

“You speak as though you know everything. Have you seen him yourself?”

“A friend of mine saw him. Unfortunately, that friend fell to his death a few days ago.”

He called the man a friend, but in truth, he had merely been another beggar who begged alongside him.

Fell to his death?

Wen Xu finally asked the question.

“What is the name of that small village?”

“It is called… Mist Mountain Village. Yes, that is the name.”

What a coincidence.

Their investigation assignment also concerned Mist Mountain Village.

…

Meanwhile, Bian Chunzhou had taken Chen Zui through the streets in a loud and ostentatious fashion, teasing cats, chasing dogs, and throwing money around for half the day.

At last, they entered the Jade Pavilion.

That was right. It was the very brothel where the two men who had died violently used to work.

Bian Chunzhou thought to himself that, sure enough, no matter where a transmigrator ended up, visiting a brothel was always a mandatory stop.

“Why are you pulling me?”

Chen Zui frowned. He greatly disliked the atmosphere inside.

“Do we have to go in?”

“Relax. The young ladies inside do not eat people.”

Chen Zui, however, found the scents assaulting his nose unbearably unpleasant.

“The two of us dressed like this really do not look like people who came here for entertainment.”

Bian Chunzhou fell silent.

Thanks. He was already an adult and perfectly old enough to visit an adults-only establishment.

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