Chapter One: The Small Town Doctor

  "Doctor, doctor, save my brother!" A tense cry suddenly echoed through the streets of a small town.

  Then I saw a young man with tattered clothes and blood all over his body, supporting another young man who looked even more miserable than him, rushing towards a small clinic in the center of the street from the end of the street.

  The young man being supported had a pale complexion, with his right arm severed at the shoulder. Although the wound was bandaged, fresh blood still seeped out slowly, staining his right side of clothing crimson red. The boy supporting him held a severed arm in his hand.

  Seeing the two of them, the people waiting in line outside the clinic automatically made way for a path and let the two young men go first to receive treatment.

  As soon as the two young men arrived at the door, they saw a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy walking out of the clinic. The ancient doctor in their mouths was wearing a white robe, with wheat-colored skin, ordinary appearance, but angular and resolute, with piercing eyes and a head of shoulder-length hair scattered naturally.

  Upon seeing the two of them, Dr. Gu quickly helped the armless youth into the clinic and had him sit down, then swiftly took out supplies to clean and dress his wound.

  He took the fallen right arm from the young man's hand beside him, and after treating the broken end cleanly, he matched the two broken ends together. A white mist emerged from his left palm, slowly stroking the broken end of the young man's right arm. The blood and flesh at the broken end began to move and merge slowly as they encountered the white mist, including the bones inside.

  About a minute later, the right arm that had just been broken into two pieces was restored to its original state, and there was no trace of injury at the break. Dr. Gu was also drenched in sweat, and it was clear that this treatment was not easy for him either.

  "Alright, it's fine now. You can go back and rest for a while, you'll be okay."

  After waving his right arm twice, he looked at his intact right hand and was about to kneel down in front of Dr. Gu, but was held back by him.

  "Alright, stop kneeling all the time, I don't like this."

  The young man who had just lost his arm scratched his head and said, "Sorry, sorry, I got excited and forgot the rules of the ancient doctor."

  The old doctor then asked after treating another young man's wounds on his body: "What happened to you all today, how did it become like this?"

  Upon hearing the old doctor's words, another young man immediately said, "Alas, don't mention it. As soon as we entered the forest today, we encountered a big fellow, a white bear. We were ambushed by that guy, and he was more formidable than us. If not for his slow speed, we might not have made it out."

  "Hmm, more powerful than you two." Upon hearing this, the old doctor's eyebrows furrowed. The two brothers were Chen Da and Chen Er, both of whom were at the Foundation Establishment stage.

  In the Huazhou Empire, a country that cultivates truth, the boundaries are divided into: Refining the Body, Building the Foundation, Refining Qi, Golden Elixir, Yuan Infant, Leaving the Cavity, Merging Bodies, Crossing the Calamity, and Mahayana. Each boundary also has differences in front, middle, and back.

  These two brothers are both in the foundation period, and they are also in the middle stage. Although this cultivation is not considered a high-ranking master, it is no problem to deal with the beasts in the forest around this small town. However, they were injured by a white bear, and this white bear was ambushing them, which means that this white bear is at least a demon beast in the Tongling period.

  The cultivation realm of beasts is different from that of humans, and they are divided into nine realms: body refinement, energy refinement, spiritual communication, demon core, fetal transformation, divine roaming, shape-shifting, calamity crossing, and demon king. Each realm also has its own differences in early, middle, and late stages.

  The spiritual beast of the Tongling period is the one that has opened up its spiritual wisdom. Gu Yun suspected that the white bear was a spiritual beast of the Tongling period because only spiritual beasts that have opened up their spiritual wisdom know to launch sneak attacks on humans, rather than engaging in fierce battles like other beasts. However, generally speaking, it's unlikely for beasts of the Tongling realm to appear around towns like theirs.

  Because the people in Anzhi Town are all cultivators who have no hope of breaking through to the Golden Dan period for their entire lives. The Golden Dan period is a watershed for human cultivators, and if they cannot break through before the age of 40, then their cultivation will stop at this level for the rest of their lives.

  So the empire will settle them in a place where there are no high-level demon beasts around, or where high-level demon beasts have been hunted clean. In short, this is a waste disposal area. After all, a country that values cultivation will not waste its resources on these people.

  The beast cultivators are different, their watershed is the Tongling period, they can only reach the Tongling period, and after a while, they can form a demon pill. By that time, this small town called Ping'an Town will be in trouble.

  Because in a place like this, it's rare for an imperial expert to come here even after many years. The empire only sends people over every five years during the qualification assessment to evaluate the qualifications of newborn children and see if they are suitable for cultivating their true nature. After all, cases where parents with poor qualifications have offspring with exceptional innate talents are not uncommon.

  The last appraisal was already completed last year, which means that for the next four years, no more masters will come here. Four years later, the demon beast of the Tongling period may have already formed a dan. At that time, this small town will not be able to deal with it anymore.

  The old doctor's eyebrows furrowed, but quickly relaxed. "Really, no one?" Afterwards, the old doctor said to the two brothers: "Alright, you can go back now, just rest for a few days and don't go into the woods for these few days."

  "Then... Dr. Gu, how can we help you collect herbs?" Chen Da immediately said after hearing this. This is the rule of Dr. Gu, he never asks for money when treating people's illnesses, as long as you help him collect herbs after recovering from your illness.

  "We'll talk about that later, I didn't say you can't enter the forest again," Dr. Gu replied somewhat gloomily to Chen Da's words.

  The two brothers walked out of the clinic under everyone's gaze, and the people around them didn't seem too surprised that Dr. Gu had reattached Chen Da's severed hand, apparently this kind of situation was nothing new to them.

  It's true, this old doctor is not very old, but his medical skills are very high. He has done things like reconnecting a completely severed hand before, and no matter what illness you have, he can cure it with just a few treatments. Moreover, he won't ask for money, as long as after you recover, you help him collect herbs.

  The people in this town are very respectful of the old doctor, and even if they don't come to see him for illness, they will collect any medicinal herbs they encounter in their daily lives and give them to the old doctor.

  Of course, the old doctor is not here every day. He only appears in this small clinic twice a month to treat people. Usually, even if you go to his home, you can't find him. According to his parents, he has gone into the mountains to collect medicine.

  The old doctor's home was at the westernmost part of the town, his father was named Gu Feng, who cultivated fire attribute techniques, and his mother was named Bing Wu, who cultivated water attribute techniques. Both had achieved the late stage of Qi refinement.

  The old doctor's name was Gu Yun. When he was born, the whole house was shrouded in a colorful auspicious cloud, so he was named Gu Yun.

  Looking at his posture when he was born, people thought that this child must be a genius in cultivation. However, the assessment of several years later shocked everyone greatly.

  Gǔ yún was indeed a genius, but he was an untrainable genius. When the examiner tested his spiritual veins back then, they discovered that all the meridians in this child's body were spiritual veins, and this discovery made the examiner at that time ecstatic.

  Ling Mai is a method used by the Empire to test whether these children have innate talent for cultivation. A person has at least one Ling Mai, and only those with three Ling Mai can cultivate the truth, but that's the minimum requirement, and their achievements won't be very high.

  People in this town are all three spiritual veins, and only those with more spiritual veins can achieve higher achievements in their cultivation.

  A person with a full-body spiritual vein has never appeared in the history of the empire. The highest spiritual vein previously discovered was only 80%, and that person's cultivation speed was also astonishingly fast, having reached the Mahayana period in just two hundred short years before disappearing from the eyes of the world.

  In people's minds, he should have already ascended to the realm of immortals.

  Now, in this place, there is actually a person with full spiritual pulse. It can be imagined that the future of this child named Gyun will be brilliant, and he will also get what kind of benefits for his discovery.

  It was just the property test afterwards that poured a basin of cold water over him, no, it was icy water.

  Properties are naturally used to test what kind of physique a person has and which system of cultivation methods they are suitable for.

  Yin and Yang devouring body, it turns out to be this kind of damn physique that is only recorded in the classics. The person in charge of testing was stunned on the spot, he didn't believe in evil and tested twice more, but the result was still the same, this result made his face a little pale.

  Because people with this physique have half of their properties as yang and half as yin, and this physique will also automatically absorb any attribute energy to strengthen itself, the older they get, the more fiercely they absorb.

  Of course, if it were just like this, then this would be the best way to cultivate one's physique.

  But the problem is that this swallowed energy cannot be controlled, it will only accumulate in the human meridians. When it accumulates to a certain amount, the two energies will collide with each other, resulting in the destruction of the meridians inside the body. The deep pain that pierces the soul every day will torture people to death.

  Or your meridians temporarily withstood their destruction, and also survived in that severe pain, but the uncontrollable energy they swallowed would still slowly burst you.

  This ancient cloud is actually this kind of physique, now it seems like nothing's wrong with him, only because he's still young, the energy absorbed by his physique isn't enough yet. If a few more years pass, when those two energies clash, this young ancient cloud will probably be tortured to death in the midst of unbearable pain as if his entire body's meridians are severed and his heart is ripped apart. Moreover, for someone like him with full-body spiritual meridians, it might make the time of their collision come even earlier.

  Heaven is jealous of the talented, heaven is jealous of the talented! Such a good cultivation talent, but such a fatal physique. At this time, the examiner in the Yuan Ying period also only thought of this sentence.

  Ancient Cloud's parents, however, did not panic as imagined. They only asked if there was any guarantee when the examiner suggested taking Little Ancient Cloud to the Medical God Temple for treatment. After getting an uncertain answer but being told that it could relatively reduce Ancient Cloud's suffering,

  His parents said they wanted to spend more time with their children in this last period and did not want to be separated.

  The kind examiner didn't persuade him anymore, after all, for a super-large sect like the Medical God's Gate, whether or not they would treat this child with no background was a problem. Even if they were willing, an extremely rare and incurable disease like Gu Yun's wouldn't be curable by them either.

  Speaking of which, it's necessary to mention the Medical God Sect. The Medical God Sect is one of the largest sects in the empire today, divided into outer and inner sects. All members of the inner sect are medical cultivators.

  The Medical Corps is the most coveted faction in the entire empire, with every high-ranking medical officer holding a very high position within the empire. This is because a high-ranking medical officer's role on the battlefield is immeasurable, and can even be the key to deciding the outcome of a war.

  With just one advanced healing spell, the wounded soldiers who were on the brink of death would immediately become lively and energetic, and there would be a large number of them. So, it's easy to imagine the status of medical practitioners in the empire.

  The boundaries of medical repair are divided into: medical child, medical apprentice, doctor, physician, return spring, holy hand, and indestructible seven realms.

  Doctors are basically treating some common internal and external injuries and diseases, although practitioners rarely get sick, but that's just ordinary illnesses.

  Actually, cultivators have more problems than ordinary people, such as injuries from fighting, practicing qigong to the point of meridian disorder, and going crazy with inner fire, which can happen every now and then. In the past, when these problems arose, these cultivators would be busy dealing with them.

  Looking for medicine to treat it, and also calming down to nurse it back to health, a lot of time is wasted, and the cultivation has fallen behind by a big margin.

  The emergence of medical cultivators can be said to have greatly reduced their workload. Although medical cultivators below the level of a doctor can only treat general illnesses such as internal and external injuries, once they reach the level of a doctor, even if your limbs are severed, as long as the broken parts are still there, they can reattach them for you. Disrupted meridians and misplaced joints are just minor problems in their eyes.

  When cultivators reach the realm of Return to Spring, once they make a move, their meridians will break and their dantian will be destroyed. These injuries that are fatal in the eyes of cultivators are no longer a big problem.

  The medical practitioners of the Sacred Hand Realm are basically considered to be against-the-heavens existences, because even if a cultivator's primordial infant is destroyed, as long as they arrive in time, they can help you recover.

  And the legendary immortal realm's doctor, if he is by your side, as long as you are not defeated in one move and your soul is destroyed, you don't need to go through reincarnation.

  It is rare for a cultivator to have their primordial infant and spiritual soul completely destroyed. Even if the physical body is destroyed, the primordial infant can usually escape and flee.

  It can be seen that the status of these high-level repairers in the eyes of the repairers is basically even if they offend a cultivator who is one level higher than them, no one will offend a repairer who has no martial power at all.

  The talent requirements for healing are too high and there is no way to attack.

  So, in the empire, the number of medical practitioners is not too many, and high-level medical practitioners are even fewer.

  The entire empire has several thousand medical practitioners below the level of imperial physician, only a few hundred at the imperial physician level, and only about a dozen in the Revival Realm. The Sacred Hand is only the current head of the Medical God's Gate, and the Unextinguished Realm's medical practitioners have only appeared in legends.

  The outer gate of the Medical God Sect consists of some cultivators who want to cultivate medicine but are not talented enough. Some cultivate the side branches of the Medical God Sect's alchemy, while others cultivate offensive Dao techniques. Although medical cultivators cannot cultivate offensive Dao techniques, it does not mean they do not have any offensive Dao techniques to cultivate. It is just that after cultivating medicine, these people can no longer cultivate other techniques.

  These cultivators who practice the attacking Taoist methods have become the protectors of those medical cultivators in the inner sect, and their cultivation is also faster than that of other major sects. Here, you don't have to worry about any accidents during cultivation, and there are all kinds of spiritual stones and elixirs to assist with your practice.

  The Medical God Sect is one of the wealthiest sects in the empire. Of course, not just anyone can enter the outer gate; those with better innate talents and more outstanding cultivation can get better spiritual stones and elixirs to assist them.

  Even so, the outer gate of the Medical God Sect is also a major sect of the empire's strong martial power. Coupled with the high-level medical cultivators in the inner gate, the Medical God Sect can be said to be the empire's super sect without any shame.

  After testing all the children in Ping'an Town, the tester left with a disappointed face. He found that such a good cultivation talent was actually of this physique, which made him very helpless. Originally, he still wanted to rely on this merit to exchange for a better future, but now it's hopeless.

  The parents of Gu Yun brought little Gu Yun back home after he left, and after returning, Gu Feng directly called Gu Yun to his side and asked:

  "Xiao Yun, the person just now said that you have contracted a terminal illness and will die soon. After death, you will go to a place of eternal darkness, where you will never see me or your mother again. I currently have a way to prevent you from going to that place, but your future days will be very difficult. Which one do you choose?"

  For a five-year-old child, death is not scary, but going to a place that is forever dark and where they will see their parents again is terrifying.

  At that time, little Gyun almost immediately rushed into her mother's arms and cried out: "I don't want to die, I'm not afraid of hardship, I don't want to leave you."

  After hearing his son's answer, Gu Feng burst out laughing and said "Good good good, you are indeed my son", then turned to Gu Yun and said "Son, remember what you said today, you are not afraid of hardship".

  With tears in her eyes, Xiaoyun nodded vigorously and then fell asleep in her mother's arms. At this time, Xiaoyun's mother turned to ask Gu Feng, "Gu Feng, what do you plan to do now?"

  "What to do, don't we have a cultivation method for external qi? Let Xiaoyun cultivate this, and when the time comes, the energy will be absorbed by the body, and the meridians won't be so easily damaged or burst by energy."

  Tonight I'll go to that Medical God's Gate again, borrow their medical classic and use it, let Xiaoyun cultivate these two techniques at the same time, after that there shouldn't be any big problems anymore.

  If others were to hear Gu Feng's words at this time, they would definitely think he was a madman. To go to the Medical Deity Sect and steal their Town Seal Classic... not to mention the powerful experts guarding it, even the arrays placed everywhere would make it impossible for even a Mahayana expert to escape from inside.

  But now Gu Feng in people's eyes is simply not that kind of great master.

  "Hmm, it seems that's all we can do now. But that external skill cultivation is quite unpredictable, can Xiaoyun hold on?"

  Gu Yun's mother wasn't worried about whether Gu Feng could get the medical classic out of the Medical Deity Sect, but rather whether Gu Yun could cultivate that external skill.

  "If he can hold on, he'll soar to great heights later on. If he can't hold on, then... his future will depend on himself." Gu Feng sighed and glanced at Gu Yun who was sleeping soundly.

  Gǔ yún's mother also lowered her head and took a glance at Gǔ yún in her arms, silently saying to herself, "Child, you must hold on."

  In the middle of the night, a faint black shadow floated out from the window of Gu Yun's house and disappeared into the distant sky in the blink of an eye, its speed was frightening.

  It can be seen that Gu Yun's parents were not the cultivators of the Refining Qi stage in people's eyes, could he get the medical classics from the Medical God Gate?