36: The first patient

A moment later, Jiang Hanwen emerged from the house.

Only Father Jiang was there, sitting blankly in front of the house.

He sat down next to his father, taking his father's loose hand, which was a little cold.

Looking into the distance, the setting sun had completely disappeared below the horizon.

In the dim sky, a line of wild geese flew past in formation.

On a late summer night, the buzzing of insects spread to the ends of the earth.

Years would pass.

Perhaps, they would meet again.

Or perhaps, this was goodbye forever.

"Father, tomorrow, Elder Du's side will arrange for someone to come and rebuild a house, to make it convenient for me to treat their illnesses in the future.

Tell Xiao Bu Dian not to come over during the day, so as not to be discovered."

"Mm, alright, you should rest first," Jiang Yong nodded, his spirits low.

Jiang Hanwen nodded and returned to his room.

Father Jiang rested his chin on his palm. Because of his leg, his son went to study medicine, and he had met Shang Zian a few times.

He didn't expect that their next meeting would be a farewell.

Shang Zian had advised him to put some pressure on his child, not to waste his precious time.

Some things, once you get old, you won't have the chance to do.

But he knew how hard his son worked.

Planting medicine, Cultivating, studying medicine, researching Spiritual Plants, he did it for years, day in and day out, regardless of scorching summer or bitter winter, never slacking off.

What outsiders saw was merely his son's outward appearance.

Only he understood that his son had never relaxed.

Perhaps, a hundred years later, when he was buried in the ground.

The rope that bound his son would finally be untied.

"Physician Shang, you said I picked up a good son, and that statement was not wrong—"

At night, the moon disappeared, with only a few stars twinkling.

Jiang Hanwen sat cross-legged on the bed, facing the window, adjusting his breathing in a peculiar rhythm.

Time passed silently until dawn, when the sky turned a fish-belly white.

Jiang Hanwen adjusted his direction, opening another small window. From his position, he could just see the sunrise.

He faced the sunrise, attempting to absorb the first ray of purple Qi at dawn.

But until the sun had completely climbed above the horizon, he still gained nothing.

The first stage of breath regulation in the Divine Breath True Scripture requires condensing the Nether Qi of the night and the purple Qi of the morning sun. With these two as secondary and one's own Qi as primary, condensing the first wisp of true breath in the heart is considered having entered the inner sanctum, and one can begin to Cultivate the Divine Breath True Scripture.

His first attempt last night failed.

Qi exhaustion?

It didn't exist.

Jiang Hanwen had a clear understanding of himself; he never thought his Comprehension Ability was particularly good.

Wu Anguo had mentioned that an average person might need ten years to condense the first Divine Breath and begin Cultivating, so only a Genius could practice it.

But let alone ten years, even a hundred years, Jiang Hanwen wouldn't care.

Just grind away, no rush.

Getting up and stretching his body, he began to read the medical books Old Shang had left him... In the blink of an eye, a month had passed quickly.

Next to the fence, a forty-square-meter small courtyard had been built, with the large character for 'Medicine' written on it.

In the past few days, not a single person had come to visit, and Jiang Hanwen was happy for the peace.

"Father, where's the water I boiled with kudzu root yesterday?"

"I gave it to Xiao Lingtong."

"Alright, got it," Jiang Hanwen smiled wryly, turning to re-boil the soup used for disguise.

The day before yesterday afternoon, Xiao Bu Dian brought the child over for Father Jiang to see.

Father Jiang cherished him immensely, almost selling Jiang Hanwen to buy formula for the baby.

As for Xiao Lingtong, it was the name Father Jiang gave Xiao Bu Dian's child, meaning nimble and auspicious, understanding people's hearts.

A tiny, dark creature, with a pinkish belly covered in fine down, soft and smooth to the touch.

Jiang Hanwen muttered to himself, this Xiao Lingtong probably had no signal.

Among the books Old Shang left him, besides medical knowledge, there was a simple method of disguise attached at the end.

This delighted Jiang Hanwen. His current "normal" age was twenty-seven, but in reality, his body was still eighteen, completely unchanged.

Over the years, he had used some crude methods to disguise himself, making himself appear to match his age.

But there were always times when his cover might be blown, and this disguise technique was a godsend.

Now with this disguise technique as a blueprint, he could imitate it and expand his subsequent disguises to better continue living covertly.

While he was concocting things, someone knocked on the door of the adjacent room.

"Is Physician Jiang in?"

A patient had arrived!

Jiang Hanwen quickly put down what he was holding, grabbed his acupuncture kit, wiped his face, entered through the back door of the small house, and rushed to the main entrance.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Hanwen pushed open the door.

"That's me."

Looking up, the person who came to see him was none other than the new recruit he had brought into the Medicine Field a month ago.

And it was the same Wu Shen he had noticed, who paid attention to his breathing rhythm while running.

"Lord Jiang!" Wu Shen, with his sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, quickly cupped his hands, his posture strained due to his injured left foot.

Jiang Hanwen helped him into the house.

"Lie down so I can take a look," Jiang Hanwen pointed to the bed.

"Yes, Lord Jiang."

Wu Shen hobbled to the bed and lay down.

After a while.

Wu Shen's foot was bound with two steel plates, wrapped in cloth strips.

Wu Shen explained, "Lord Jiang, I accidentally injured my left leg—"

Jiang Hanwen interrupted him directly:

"I don't care how you injured your leg, but if you're in a hurry to go back, it might hinder your Cultivation in the future.

Stay here for two days before you go back, any problem?"

"No.

I only fear... that I might trouble Lord Jiang—"

"No problem then," Jiang Hanwen turned and left the room.

There were bruises all over his leg, one after another, clearly indicating he had been bullied and beaten by a group.

Jiang Hanwen did not have the compassion to ask Wu Shen for details.

Everyone sweeps the snow from their own doorstep, and minds their own business.

In his eyes, there were only patients, no justice.

Two days later, Wu Shen left, leaning on a crutch.

Jiang Hanwen stood in the field, a dark brown, circular piece in his hand.

This was the pit of a bitter apricot fruit, which Wu Shen had accidentally dropped yesterday.

He held it to his nose; the scent was very faint, a cool, mint-like sensation that went down his throat, very comfortable.

If the 'Wu' in the person in front of him was the same character as the 'Wu' in Wu Anguo.

Could this thing help with the Cultivation of the Divine Breath True Scripture?

Over the past month, Jiang Hanwen had made progress in the first step of condensing Divine Breath; he could now feel the cool Qi at midnight and the fiery thread in the morning.

But as for condensing Divine Breath, he couldn't tell if success was imminent or still a long way off.

Whoosh!

The apricot piece spun and flew away, and Jiang Hanwen turned.

Never mind that, the current focus was the disguise technique; he needed to fully absorb this knowledge first.

With the first Wu Shen, there would be a second.

From tentative inquiries to full acceptance, Physician Jiang's reputation gradually overshadowed the fact that he was also a Medicine Farmer.

In a flash, three months passed, and it was early winter again.

Jiang Hanwen sat in the courtyard, a dark mass of scales lying in his arms.

Suddenly, the curled-up mass of scales stretched open, and a pair of small eyes keenly opened.

"Someone's here, go find your mother," Jiang Hanwen rubbed Xiao Lingtong's head.

"Sliiiip~"

The little fellow extended his pink tongue, intimately licking Jiang Hanwen's cheek, then darted into the house and slipped into a burrow.

Jiang Hanwen closed the door and had just sat down.

Footsteps slowly approached.

"Knock knock~"

"Senior, are you home?"

Jiang Hanwen was a little confused. Senior?

Who would call him that, and the voice sounded a bit familiar.

"Come in, the door's not locked."

The door opened, and two young men came into view.

The younger one was Wu Linsheng, Wu Qinghe's adopted son, the messenger who had initially asked him to recruit people.

Standing beside him was his first patient—Wu Shen.