Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wang Yao was not talking about one type of herb. He was talking about one particular herb.

Before he went back to Beijing, he needed to brew the Muscle Growing powder to treat the ulcers on Su Xiaoxue’s body so that her muscles and skin could grow again.

It was a long way to Beijing, so he wanted Su Xiaoxue’s condition to improve significantly after the trip.

“I can get it through…” Chen Boyuan wanted to say something but stopped as Wang Yao shook his hand with a smile.

“Can I ask what herb do you need?” asked Chen Boyuan.

“The flat peach in heaven,” said Wang Yao.

“What?!” said Chen Boyuan in surprise.

“I was joking. I was talking about an herbal formula that consists of many herbs. Some of the herbs cannot be purchased on the market,” said Wang Yao with a smile.

Chen Boyuan didn’t ask any more questions.

“So, when will you be able to get all the herbs required,” asked Chen Boyuan again.

“Within a month,” said Wang Yao. He didn’t have enough bonus points to buy everlasting grass and lingshanji—both were licorice roots. But he has thought of an alternative way to obtain the two licorice roots, and he wanted to give it a try.

“One month?!” Chen Boyuan was surprised to hear that it was going to take that long.

How should I get back to Su Xiaoxue’s family in Beijing? It is going to take such a long time. What am I supposed to do if anything happens to Miss Su while she is waiting? Chen Boyuan didn’t know what to say.

Wang Yao didn’t respond or make any promises. Actually, he also wanted to visit Beijing soon to treat that admirably, strong girl. He wanted to cure her soon, even if just to reduce her pain, but he needed to get ready before leaving.

“What if anything unexpected happens to Miss Su?” asked Chen Boyuan.

“You can call me, and I will go to see her as soon as I can,” said Wang Yao.

“Okay, thanks,” said Chen Boyuan as he stood up.

Since Wang Yao didn’t promise to visit Beijing immediately, there was no point in him continuing to stay. The only thing he could do was to report his meeting with Wang Yao to Su Xiaoxue’s mother as soon as possible. Maybe she had other thoughts or plans.

“No problem,” said Wang Yao.

He walked Chen Boyuan out of the cottage.

…

In Beijing, which was thousands of miles away from Lianshan, Su Xiaoxue was lying in bed.

The sun in the sky was still the same. It looked bright and shiny, but unrealistic. The sun seemed to be covered by a thin film, making people uncomfortable.

The sun seems to be blurry.

A girl, whose body was covered with bandages, was lying in bed and looking through the window. A few rays of sunlight came into the room through the gaps of blinds.

Her disease was very serious and unique. Her room was required to have good airflow but not too much sunshine. Therefore, a lot of gauze was hanging in her room, which was made of the best silk from south-east China.

When will he come back?

Clop! Clop! She heard sounds of footsteps outside her room.

Footsteps! Is it Mom?

An elegant woman came into Su Xiaoxue’s room.

“Xiaoxue, how do you feel?” asked the woman, although she was not sure if her daughter could hear her.

Mom, I feel much better. Don’t worry about me. Su Xiaoxue was talking silently. She wished her mother could hear her.

“Your uncle Chen has gone to Lianshan to bring Dr. Wang back soon. He will cure you after he arrives here,” said Song Ruiping softly.

Really?

“Well, how come your uncle Chen hasn’t brought any news to me,” mumbled Song Ruiping to herself.

Song Ruiping’s phone started to ring. She rushed out of the room to pick up the phone as she didn’t want to disrupt her daughter.

“What? A month? Why will he take so long?!” Song Ruiping was a bit upset after Chen Boyuan had told her what had happened. “Is he looking for excuses not to come? Is it because he can’t cure Xiaoxue?” As a concerning mother, Song Ruiping suddenly became aggressive.

“What are you talking about?!” asked someone.

It was from an old but thick voice.

“Dad!”

Song Ruiping immediately hung up the phone and bowed to the old man.

“Boyuan went to Lianshan?” asked the old man calmly.

“Yes,” said Song Ruiping politely.

“He went to bring Dr. Wang?” asked the old man.

“Not really, he just went to ask Dr. Wang when he could visit Beijing again,” said Song Ruiping.

Aye! sighed the old man.

“Let’s take a look at Xiaoxue first,” said the old man. He went into Su Xiaoxue’s bedroom with a man in his 40’s, who had a faint smile on his face.

“Ma’am,” the man in his 40’s greeted Song Ruiping.

“Hello,” responded Song Ruiping softly.

The old man went into the room and sat in front of the bed of his favorite granddaughter. He didn’t say anything, only looking at the girl silently.

“Xiaoxue, Grandpa is here.” The old man’s voice was shaking.

Grandpa! Hi! I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me, said Su Xiaoxue in her heart. But her dear grandpa couldn’t hear her.

“Head Elder, please don’t worry too much. Xiaoxue is blessed. She will be fine,” said the man in his 40’s standing next to the old man.

“Right, she will be fine.”

The old man sat on the edge of the bed for a while; then he stood up and walked out of the room slowly, followed by Song Ruiping.

“Dad,” said Song Ruiping.

“What did Dr. Wang say?” asked the old man.

“He said he will be back within a month,” said Song Ruiping honestly.

“Why is he going to take that long?” asked the old man.

“He is waiting for a particular herb to be ready,” said Song Ruiping.

“One particular herb? What herb is it? Can we do anything to help?” The old man raised his grey eyebrows.

“I don’t think so,” said Song Ruiping.

The old man kept silent for a moment.

“Then we just have to wait,” said him.

“But Xiaoxue’s condition…” said Song Ruiping.

“Xiaoxue is fine now, and she will become better,” said the old man confidently. Then, he stood up and was about to leave.

The old man suddenly stopped and turned around to speak to Song Ruiping. “And don’t bother that Dr. Wang anymore. He will come back when he is ready.”

“Sure,” said Song Ruiping. She was no longer aggressive.

…

In the morning, the hills were quite foggy maybe due to the recent rain. The entire hill was covered by the fog, especially Nanshan hill, which was fully covered by the fog halfway above the hill. One could vaguely see the trees and Wang Yao’s cottage as if Nanshan hill was in the heavens.

What is going on?

Wang Yao opened the door of the cottage and found it was foggy outside. But the fog in the battle array was different from the fog outside. It was not as foggy in the battle array as it was outside.

San Xian didn’t want to come out of his dog house.

Wang Yao went up to the top of Nanshan hill. The top of Nanshan hill was also covered in fog. Wang Yao started his breathing exercises on a square rock.

Since he started to practice Kung Fu described in Quanjing, he had been practicing Chinese boxing movements a majority of the time. He continued with the breathing exercises, but he hadn’t spent a lot of time on it.

While Wang Yao was moving about, the foggy air surrounding him started to move with him. Eventually, the foggy air around Wang Yao was gathered by his palms.

Wang Yao hit out, and the foggy air disappeared then appeared and gathered again.

The foggy air surrounding him started to move towards him as if something inside his body was attracting it.

The sky far away started to light up like fish maw. Suddenly, the sun came out, and millions of rays of sunshine shone upon the earth.

After the sun had come out, the foggy air disappeared shortly.

Om! A sound of tremors originated from Wang Yao’s body.

Wang Yao finished his exercises and stood up.

The sun was shining brightly in the sky.

After Wang Yao came down from the top of Nanshan hill, he started to collect those common herbs he had grown in the herbal field to sell them in the medicine shop for bonus points.

He collected the herbs which were ready, then planted some more seeds in the field. Those ones he planted a few days ago had started to sprout. The common herbs had been growing really well in the battle array.

Wang Yao continued to nurture such a big herbal field with diluted ancient spring water. He continued to focus on the licorice roots.

I still don’t have enough herbs for bonus points. Wang Yao decided to cheat the system when looking at his bonus points that had only increased slightly.

He called Li Maoshuang, as he decided to purchase some wild herbs from him. He wanted to see if those herbs from Li Maoshuang could be recognized by the system. If so, he would buy a large number of wild herbs to exchange for bonus points.

“Wild herbs?” asked Li Maoshuang on the phone.

“Yes, I want those herbs on the list I gave you,” said Wang Yao. The herbs he listed were quite precious. Even those artificially propagated were quite expensive.

“Sure, I’ll ask around. When do you need them?” asked Li Maoshuang.

“As soon as possible,” said Wang Yao.

After hanging up, he continued to work in the herbal field.

He didn’t go home for lunch at noon. Instead, he had a simple lunch on Nanshan hill; then he continued to work.

In the village, Chen Boyuan visited Wang Yao’s parents with expensive presents—well-known cigarettes, wines, and health products.

“Yao is not at home,” said Zhang Xiuying.

“I’m not here for Dr. Wang. I came to visit you,” said Chen Boyuan with a smile.

“Us?” said Zhang Xiuying in surprise.

“Yes,” said Chen Boyuan.

Chen Boyuan left his presents on the table and had a brief chat with Wang Yao’s parents. He received a call this morning from Beijing. Su Xiaoxue’s family asked him to return to Beijing and stop disrupting Wang Yao’s life.

Chen Boyuan was going to visit Wang Yao again to convince him to visit Beijing sooner but eventually gave up. He didn’t want to bother Wang Yao, but he still wanted to maintain a good relationship with Wang Yao and his family. So, he visited Wang Yao’s parents with presents and decided not to go to Nanshan hill.

“We welcome your visit, but we can’t accept those expensive presents,” said Zhang Xiuying.

Eventually, after Chen Boyuan’s strong insistence, Wang Yao’s parents accepted the presents. Before Chen Boyuan left the village, he had a final look at the hills from a distance.

Nanshan hill was blocked by other hills, so he couldn’t see it from where he was.

Such a stubborn doctor! He sighed and then drove off.

…

In Cangzhou, there was a village. In the village, there was a big house.

“How is he?” asked someone in the house.

“Aye, can you invite the doctor to visit him? His meridians will continue to shrink if he is not treated properly. Even if he could survive, he would lose all function,” said an old man in his 70’s as he was looking at the patient lying in bed.

“He still has a bit of internal Qi, but soon, there won’t be anything left,” said someone in the room.

“Xiong is still in Lianshan; I can ask him to speak to the doctor over there,” said another person in the room.

“Okay,” said someone in the room.

“Thank you,” said the old man in his 70’s.

…

Wang Yao spent the whole afternoon collecting all the herbs which were ready to use and sold them to the medicine shop for bonus points. He only obtained over one hundred bonus points, which couldn’t even buy one everlasting grass.