Six hundred years old?
That little?
Lin Shu scoffed at this. After all, in , he had already tied the knot with a female cultivator who was three hundred thousand years old. Judging by the timeline, at this point, Master should have written them to their eighth child.
Still, he couldn’t help but sympathize with Ye Qing.
“Right! Senior Brother Lin! You’re not married yet, are you? How about a sparring match with me?” Ye Qing proposed.
“Junior Brother Ye, why are you trying to ruin me?” Lin Shu kicked Ye Qing back onto the stage.
After Ye Qing finished his inspection, Lin Shu rushed off to the next location without delay.
According to what little junior sister had said, Wang Zhiyai was planning to set up a stall to treat the villagers. He wondered if this would help build rapport with the common folk.
He passed through seven or eight alleys in Qingshan Town, then went by three main streets. In the distance, Lin Shu saw Wang Zhiyai surrounded by a group of people—but they all seemed to be women.
Lin Shu squeezed through the crowd and finally spotted Wang Zhiyai, who was drenched in sweat, furiously writing prescriptions.
“This is yours, once you’re done, you can get yours, then yours, then yours…”
“Junior Brother Wang, can’t you have them line up?” Lin Shu suggested.
“Senior Brother Lin, I tried! It’s useless!” Wang Zhiyai didn’t even lift his head.
Still too inexperienced with the world, Lin Shu shook his head and shouted, “Line up over here! Anyone who lines up gets a free egg!”
As soon as the words left his mouth, in less than half a stick of incense, the chattering crowd had lined up in order.
“Thank you, Senior Brother Lin!” Wang Zhiyai cupped his hands in gratitude.
He hadn’t expected this trick to work so well! It turned out the rumors were true—Senior Brother Lin really did understand older women! didn’t lie to me!
“I get the feeling you’re thinking something rather disrespectful!” Lin Shu regretted not learning the technique.
“Of course not!” Wang Zhiyai waved his hands frantically. “Right! Senior Brother Lin, you’re here to inspect my work, right?”
“Mm, just happened to be passing by after checking on Junior Brother Ye.” Lin Shu replied coolly, exuding an air of leadership.
“I see. Was everything going smoothly over there with Brother Ye?”
“Pretty smoothly! He’s on a thirty-two win streak! When I saw him, he was so happy he cried!” Lin Shu recalled Ye Qing’s expression—it should have been happiness, right?
“I see! Then I can’t fall behind!” With that, Wang Zhiyai began diagnosing patients again.
The Myriad Arts Immortal Sect put a lot of effort into nurturing Dan Masters and Medical Masters. The two fields were nearly interchangeable, so Wang Zhiyai had studied quite a bit and was already qualified to practice medicine—just without the official license.
The first up was a woman of about thirty, her complexion as gentle as water, her figure curvy and ripe, like a perfectly matured peach.
“Madam, what brings you here?” Wang Zhiyai asked.
“M-madam???” The young woman was clearly stunned.
Wang Zhiyai smiled, “A woman is already old once she’s past twelve. You look well over thirty…”
The woman wanted to argue, but after hearing Wang Zhiyai’s logic, she didn’t even know where to start, so she returned to the topic of her illness.
“It’s like this. My husband has been cold towards me lately, showing less and less interest…”
“If I were him, I’d have no interest either!” Wang Zhiyai said flatly, “You’re so old already! Men like younger women!”
“Ah? Is that how it is?” The woman suddenly understood.
“Ahem! Junior Brother, wait!” Lin Shu dragged Wang Zhiyai aside. “Her problem clearly isn’t about age!”
“Huh? Then what do you think it is, Senior Brother Lin?”
Wang Zhiyai genuinely thought he was right—wasn’t this just an age issue?
“Why don’t you ask her more?”
“Fine!”
With that, Wang Zhiyai returned to his stall and asked, “Are things in the bedroom not going well lately?”
“Yes! My husband… he seems to…” The woman blushed, trailing off.
“Oh! Yang deficiency!” Wang Zhiyai declared bluntly.
Lin Shu nearly spat out his tea—was this something you could just say directly?
“This, this, and this—take them three times a day. You’ll see results as soon as tonight!” Wang Zhiyai wrote the prescription with ease.
“Junior Brother Wang, you seem pretty good at this?” Lin Shu asked, curious.
“Our Myriad Arts Immortal Sect is known for mastering both medicine and pills! Every disciple on this path has a quota of patients to treat each year!” Wang Zhiyai explained.
“At first, I’d just foolishly set up a stall in any old village, until I met my Senior Brother.”
“He told me to set up outside the brothel and sell only one kind of medicine. My results shot up overnight!”
“I tried it, and it worked. So now I specialize in this field.”
As he finished, Wang Zhiyai pulled out a silk banner from his storage pouch, embroidered with “Long Spear Unyielding”!
“See! A patient gave this to me!”
Who would want to see that!
Lin Shu knew he’d never need this, so he just patted Wang Zhiyai on the shoulder, ready to go check on little junior sister and Tong Yao.
“Take care, Senior Brother! Next!”
“You’re saying you’ve taken a liking to a Foundation Establishment disciple, but he rejected you because you’re six hundred years old?”
“That’s easy! Give him this! It’ll make him see even a cow as beautiful as a flower!”
After checking on Wang Zhiyai, only little junior sister was left.
According to the time, she and Tong Yao should be at the altar for the Flower Festival.
Last night, Tong Yao had suddenly come to Lin Shu, asking him not to seek her out for the next few days, no matter what.
Though he didn’t understand why, Lin Shu didn’t agree—after all, as their protector, the safety of his four juniors was paramount!
The altar for the Flower Festival in Qingshan Town was tiny, barely an acre. The altars Lin Shu had seen before were all grand and majestic, like palaces of ancient emperors. For a small village to have an acre set aside for an altar was already a sign of wealth.
There were only three pillars at the altar. The ground was long worn and crumbling, showing the marks of time.
The three pillars weren’t even tall. They were twined with flowers, the blossoms still fresh, suggesting someone cleaned them often.
Elder Shi said that if anyone wanted to rebuild the altar, the three pillars must not be touched—a rule unchanged for ten thousand years!
So the only part that could be changed was the foundation.
When he arrived at the altar, Lin Shu immediately noticed a striking figure—a “bull demon” with spotted markings.
“Junior Sister Tong?” Lin Shu stepped forward.
The “bull demon” trembled as she carried a slab, the bull-ear decorations on her head quivering as well.
“S-senior Brother Lin!” Tong Yao replied nervously.
“Um, Junior Sister Tong… I didn’t expect…”
He didn’t expect Tong Yao’s Milk Cow Soul to be… from a dairy cow.
“I… I’m not Tong Yao!” Tong Yao’s eyes went blank as she turned her head away, working even harder to move the stones.
“I’m not Tong Yao… I’m not Tong Yao… I’m not…”
Just as Lin Shu was about to comfort the somewhat deranged Tong Yao, Lu Zhiyun patted his shoulder.
Turning around, he saw little junior sister moving stones as well. Compared to Tong Yao, Lu Zhiyun was clearly much more graceful.
“Little junior sister, what’s up with Junior Sister Tong?”
“Senior Brother! Their Duan Yao Mountain is famous for merging with Ling Beasts, so they have many body cultivators. Having her handle these things is a perfect fit!”
Lu Zhiyun smiled, “Besides, don’t you think it’s funny?”
A few days ago, Tong Yao was always calling her “Junior Sister Lu,” putting on the airs of a senior. Now, she had to call Lu Zhiyun “Senior Sister.”
All thanks to the shadow stone the evil cultivator left behind!
Blackmailing others is so fun?
No, no! Lu Zhiyun, wake up! Don’t fall for the evil cultivator’s trap!
But… what if that’s exactly what the evil cultivator wanted?
“Mm! Doing great!” Lin Shu praised.
Lu Zhiyun was able to coordinate and plan, making sure every disciple could play to their strengths. That was a good thing—it would help develop her analytical abilities.
“Thank you for the praise, Senior Brother!” Lu Zhiyun cupped her hands.
Just as I guessed! That’s what the evil cultivator wanted! He wanted her to do this!
Use the shadow stone to control Tong Yao, then thoroughly humiliate her!
“By the way, why did Junior Sister Tong choose ‘dairy cow’?” Lin Shu asked, puzzled.
Even if it’s Milk Cow Soul, the Ling Beasts around here aren’t limited to dairy cows—water buffalo would be stronger, right? And Tong Yao even has Tiger Soul on hand.
“I don’t know, she just said she wanted to pick something cute! But I think she’s just trying to spite me!”
Lu Zhiyun had been drinking milk every day recently and was starting to get a psychological aversion to it.
“Junior Sister Tong actually reminded me!” Lin Shu suddenly thought of something. He took a bowl filled with white liquid from his storage pouch.
“Drink up!”
“Senior Brother… I…!” Lu Zhiyun gritted her teeth, shooting Tong Yao a fierce glare.
Then, under Lin Shu’s gaze, she gulped down the milk.
“Not bad!” Lin Shu nodded. [Nurturing +1].
Even without a system, Lin Shu was still giving himself points.
“Right, Senior Brother! Look, there seem to be words on those three pillars!” Lu Zhiyun pointed to the pillars.
Words?
Lin Shu leaned in for a closer look and sure enough, there was a line of writing on one pillar.
“This… it looks like the script of the Great Qian… Wait! Great Qian?!”