281: Chapter 281 The Valley of Compassionate Sounds, on the Verge of Collapse

The next morning.

Pedestrians were scattered along the street, and small vendors had just set up their stalls, sending aromas drifting half a street away.

Chen Ran changed into casual clothes. Today was his turn to rest, so he did not need to go keep watch at the Heavenly Prison.

Shopkeeper Zhou said yesterday that the people from the Bodhi Zen Monastery were still in the capital. That group of monks wore kasayas, and could be recognized from afar while walking on the street.

The matter of Master Xuandu still weighed on his mind. A prisoner at the Peak of the Innate Realm was still very attractive to him.

Chen Ran looked forward, and a monk-like status panel appeared in the center of his vision.

[Prisoner: Master Xuandu]

[Realm: Peak of the Innate Realm]

[Life Background: Formerly a direct Disciple of the Bodhi Zen Monastery, later expelled from the sect, now a deep-level criminal monk. Master Xuandu took the initiative to enter prison for unknown reasons (investigating can increase participation).]

The Bodhi Zen Monastery was the place of Master Xuandu's past origins. If he wanted to figure out Master Xuandu's past, inquiring from those monastery Disciples still in the capital might yield results.

Chen Ran did not walk hurriedly, his eyes sweeping over the signs on both sides of the street and alleys.

This time, he was only probing where the Bodhi Zen Monastery was staying in the capital, not rushing to make a move. The more background he could figure out, the better.

He turned into a wide street, intending to make a detour from here to the inn area in the southern part of the city.

Since there were quite a few Disciples from the Bodhi Zen Monastery, the place they stayed could not be too remote. Walking around that area more might lead to an encounter.

After walking for a little less than half an hour, rounding a bend at the end of the wide street, the scene before his eyes suddenly became lively.

Chen Ran's pace paused slightly.

Not far ahead, a long queue stretched out along the roadside, dense and endless at a glance.

Chen Ran stopped at the end of the line and casually asked an old man beside him: "Old man, what is this queue for?"

The old man looked up at him, in quite good spirits and looking rather honored, and said:

"You are from out of town, right? This is a free clinic opened here by Ciyin Medical Valley. They don't take money and treat all illnesses. It was open for half a day a few days ago, and early this morning everyone came to line up before dawn."

Chen Ran's eyes flickered slightly.

Ciyin Medical Valley.

...

This queue for the free clinic had probably been forming since the Mao hour.

The eastern section of Yonghe Lane had always been a place where pharmacies and medical clinics clustered in the capital. The street was wide and the flow of people was bustling, but today was exceptionally different.

A plain white cloth banner hung at the entrance of a courtyard by the street,

and beneath the cloth banner, a winding queue of people.

There were old men standing against the base of the wall, pounding their truncated crutches onto the ground;

there were women holding tightly wrapped children in their arms, the children's faces burning red as they slept heavily;

there were men with a circle of old cotton cloth tied around their shoulders, where old bloodstains had spread out.

There were many people queuing and many people talking, mixing together in a cacophony, giving this half of the street quite a lively market atmosphere.

A passing Martial Artist walked here and paused his steps.

He was a local of the capital, and had walked this Yonghe Lane for over twenty years, having only escorted a shipment of goods in the past half year. When had he ever seen such a spectacle?

He leaned closer to a tall, thin man beside him and asked: "What is this queuing for?"

The man turned his face sideways, a hint of disdain in the depths of his eyes, and scoffed: "You've lived in this Yonghe Lane in vain if you don't even know this?"

"Just tell me, stop talking nonsense."

"Ciyin Medical Valley!"

The man lowered his voice, but with a bit of a show-off momentum,

"It opened a few days ago, saying it's a free clinic without charging any consultation fees. Do you know why I came to queue up so early in the morning? This waist ailment of mine has been torturing me for seven or eight years. Ordinary doctors said it was strain, and I've had countless needles jabbed and cupping done, but it was completely useless."

He patted his waist, his tone resolute: "The people who come out of Ciyin Medical Valley have real capability. Whatever illness it is, once it reaches them, the medicine cures it right away."

Hearing the four words "Ciyin Medical Valley", the Martial Artist's eyebrows twitched slightly.

He naturally had heard of this title.

The medical Schools in the Jianghu varied in quality, with most just hanging a name to bluff and deceive, and very few truly having substantial goods.

Ciyin Medical Valley was a different category among them; it was a truly major School, with its medical arts Legacy passed down for hundreds of years across generations. Its Disciples had saved countless people, and its reputation was resounding throughout the Jianghu of Great Wei.

"The people of Ciyin Medical Valley are setting up a free clinic here?"

"Indeed," the man said, becoming more vigorous the more he spoke, "I heard they are taking advantage of not having left the capital before the martial arts grand competition, casually opening a clinic during their stay in the capital to let the Disciples accumulate experience."

The Martial Artist clicked his tongue and looked towards the front of the queue.

The courtyard's grand gate was half-open. Faintly inside, young women could occasionally be seen shuttling back and forth, their movements light and gentle, yet exuding a steady momentum.

He leaned forward two steps, wanting to take a closer look, when suddenly, a burst of footsteps sounded from the other end of the street.

The Martial Artist sharply turned his head.

At the street corner, a group of horses and men surged out from the corner.

Leading them was a man around forty years old, wearing a brocaded robe with dark borders, with stern eyebrows and eyes. The True Qi around his body flowed like an undercurrent, and his cultivation was extremely profound, making it clear at a glance that he was no ordinary person.

Behind him followed eight or nine attendants, each stalwart in build and neat in step, like a moving wall of people. Their Aura pressed forward, causing pedestrians across the entire street to unconsciously step back half a step to both sides.

The Martial Artist's eyelids twitched, and his heart instinctively cried out that it was bad.

The Aura surrounding this group of people was definitely that of a high-grade Martial Artist of the fifth rank or above.

He sensibly retreated to the side, yielding the path, but his gaze did not move away.

That group of horses and men walked very quickly with a clear target, stopping abruptly at the entrance of Ciyin Hall.

The attendants dispersed, making way for a clear path in the middle.

Two attendants jointly supported a person, gently laying him down on the ground.

That person was covered in blood.

A shocking wound on his abdomen went obliquely down from the left rib, deep enough to see bone. It had been randomly wrapped with a thick roll of cotton cloth, but the cotton cloth was already soaked through.

Dark red blood was still oozing out drop by drop, spreading out into a large patch on the bluestone ground.

The person's face was as pale as paper, lips chapped and dry, eyes tightly closed, and his chest heaved very shallowly, like a dying candle that could be blown out by the wind at any time.

The crowd was in an uproar, spontaneously retreating to both sides to clear the open space in front of the main gate.

The man in the brocaded robe stood in the open space, took a deep breath, and knelt on one knee.

The eight or nine attendants around him also half-knelt in unison with respectful postures, surrounding the courtyard gate in a semi-circle.

"We are under the command of the Guard Camp's Thousand-Householder," the man in the brocaded robe raised his head:

"My brother was ambushed by a Yao Beast and is in imminent danger. We ask the physicians of Ciyin Medical Valley to make a move and save his life!"