Chapter 13: Chapter 13: Bad news.
"Someone is coming in our direction, a human."
I halted at Jasmine's words and asked, "Does it look like they're coming for us?"
"Most probably," she replied, her voice certain of her own senses, and I knew better than to question her about it. "I'm going back in the Sky Poison Pearl; I don't sense malicious intent, so it's most probably not an enemy."
Then she disappeared while I remained there, immobile. A minute later, the person I was waiting for finally showed himself, as he halted right in front of me and said, "We finally meet, esteemed Doctor Paracelsus. I am an elder of the Yun Clan. I was sent on a mission to find your whereabouts by our clan's heir, in case you had gotten into an accident."
The man's voice was steady, but I could feel his gaze opening a hole through me, as if he wanted to see directly into my soul. Is this what Jasmine said?
That powerful cultivators could crush weaker ones like ants?
Because I was more than sure that this man could do just that to me, my instincts were screaming as much.
"Hello, how may I call you?" I asked courteously, as I would any other patient. It was lucky that it didn't seem like this person had any ill intentions toward me; maybe that conversation with Jasmine made me too paranoid.
"Oh, pardon my rudeness; you may call me Sera Yun, esteemed doctor." The man replied, "I was told that you left the city in a weird state; two days have already passed, so the young master asked me to search for his savior. I hope you don't mind my intrusion."
"Oh, I don't mind at all; I just took the wrong medicine in my tests, and it affected my head a little, but unfortunately I'm lost. Could you lead the way back to the city?" I asked him, feeling fortunate that he was friendly.
Few people I interacted with normally spoke as politely as this Sera Yun, mostly because the people I helped were usually poor and uneducated. I didn't mind, but the change of pace is always nice.
"That's why I'm here, doctor; I'll lead the way." He replied courteously before turning around and starting to run at a normal pace.
I was kind of weird seeing an old-looking man like him running as fast as I could, but from the ease I could see on his face, I could tell that this was far from his maximum speed.
This cultivation thing was wild; I wondered what kind of realm the man was in.
I couldn't wait to reach that same level. Traveling would become much easier if I could run many times faster than I do now.
A plan slowly formed in my mind: I could teach someone in this city the trick that Jasmine had taught me, then I could leave for a different city and do the same. This way, I could spread my knowledge far and wide, helping more people as a result.
Yes, I liked this plan.
"Mister Yun?" I asked, drawing the man's attention to me, "How is my patient's hand recovering? It's been a while since he last came for his last checkup."
"It is getting better, esteemed doctor," the man replied with ease, still keeping up the pace even as he turned to look at me, easily evading the trees on the way without looking at them. "He still has some problems moving the profound energy through it, but it is getting better."
I had no idea how to deal with the profound veins flowing through the hand since I didn't have the slightest idea how to treat them in the past. I still didn't, but I had a few more ideas.
"Could you tell him to pass by the clinic someday? I could have some idea on how to treat that, but it's still a conjecture that needs more study." I asked.
"You wish to experiment on the young master?" He asked, his gaze sharpening a bit as he looked at me.
A shiver went through my back because of that gaze, but I remained steadfast: "Nothing like that; for now I only have my own veins to study, and they are healthy. I would need to see how damaged veins heal to learn how to promote that process. This is a new area of research for me, and the more I learn, the more I can treat similar injuries."
I wasn't a specialized surgeon after all; without the energy flowing through my own veins, there was no way that I could have the precision needed to reconnect an arm.
And from what I had seen while I did that surgery, these profound veins weren't physical but still existed.
It was weird and hard to explain, but apparently souls existed, so discovering that a metaphysical circulatory system existed too didn't surprise me too much.
"I see," the elder replied. "I will inform the young master of your request then. I hope that you can help him recover faster; he is the hope of our clan."
"Can I ask what you mean by that?" I asked with curiosity written on my face. I was interested in learning more about the city that I now live in.
"The young master is a cultivation genius the likes of which we have rarely seen in our clan; he has been accepted in the New Moon Profound Palace, and as long as he grows and makes his potential bloom, our clan could grow farther than ever before.
Unfortunately, he got into a fight with another member of the Profound Palace, but fortunately, the esteemed doctor managed to help the young master. We still have hope of seeing him grow now." The old man explained. I could feel the emotion in his voice, and the smile on his face revealed the deep gratitude he had toward me for doing what I considered my job.
"Don't worry, it's my job; the fact that you came to fetch me is already some repayment. If you could also answer a few other questions of mine, I would be grateful. I'm still new to New Moon City, and there are many things I'm unaware of." I asked, taking the chance to get a new source of knowledge.
"Absolutely, esteemed doctor, please ask as many questions as you desire; our clan still has to repay you for the favor you did to us." The man replied.
"Thank you, but can it wait until we get back to the city? I'd rather talk in a friendly environment if you don't mind." I asked because it was difficult to run and talk at the same time. I was afraid that I might put a foot in the wrong place, fall, and bite my own tongue off.
There was no way to reattach my own tongue, unfortunately.
"Surely, I will do my best to answer in the best way I can." He replied, returning his gaze to the front.
I went back into my wondering, but before the voices in my head could take the wheel, I dove headfirst into the movement technique that Jasmine had given me.
It was hard to adapt the idea behind this technique to my own veins, but it was doable. The major pathways were roughly similar, even if they had different twists and turns. Now I had to calibrate perfectly how to move the energy through them.
The differences might also be because my own veins come from that evil god thing, now that I think about it.
Reaching even the first stage, the level of creating a singular afterimage when I ran, would take a bit of further study, but for now it was enough to apply the principle behind it to speed my own movement speed.
As I started circulating the energy, I felt a sudden change, a resonance that wasn't there before, and all of a sudden I sped up to a level that could easily leave a sports car in the dust.
The elder seemed surprised at my sudden speeding up, but he still caught up instantly, looking at me with a different gaze but still going forward.
I, obviously, didn't notice this shift in the man because I was too busy evading the trees in the way of my newly obtained speed.
Thanks to the new pace, it didn't take long for the both of us to reach back to the city; from there, we arrived at the clinic, in front of which a small group of people was waiting.
"Is something the matter?" I asked the group.
The old lady that passed by was usually the first to speak up: "Doctor, it's a relief that you're back; it's been two days since you disappeared; we were getting worried for your safety!"
How sweet of her, I thought to myself. After months of seeing each other almost every day, I had grown attached to the lady; she always had some good advice or recipe to share with me.
"Thank you for your concern," I said, looking to the other people that had been there, discussing among themselves before my arrival. I saw a few other of my regular customers. It was nice to know you were needed. "I had gotten lost in the forest; fortunately, Mister Yun came to my rescue."
I chuckled, pointing to the elder man that had been walking behind me, his face still impassive. "Mister Yun, would you mind passing by after closing time? A different day would be fine too, but I have some backlog work to take care of."
"As you wish, esteemed doctor, I will pass later today. I'll go to report to the young master now." The man said this with a friendly smile on his face.
I looked back at the group of people. This was going to be a long day.
And a long day it was; even if most of the group wasn't in need of medicines, those who were were a bit more than usual.
Apparently, I had been gone for over two days. That hallucinogen was really strong; I would have to take way less of it if I wanted to go on a trip.
I saw the last patient leave, a kid who had broken an arm. The profound energy worked in place of X-rays, and then I just applied a cast to keep the arm in place as the bone healed on its own.
Maybe the doctor I had met when I woke up the first time, whatever his name was, had done the same to see if I had any internal damage.
If that were the case, I would have to apologize for doubting the man's skills and branding him a fraud.
Then again, touching my head would have been better than touching my wrist to feel for any brain damage, so I couldn't really know what he was doing, but I hoped he was a fraud.
Being wrong wasn't something that I enjoyed.
I finally sat down and focused on my next project, mapping out the entirety of my profound veins and analyzing every single piece, juncture, pressure resistance, and anything else that could come to mind.
I began with a rough sketch on a large piece of paper, drawing out what I could feel without any extra technique or machine.
But about halfway through, my guest had arrived, and the bell on my front door rang as I saw the same old man from earlier today coming inside. Right next to him was the man whose arm I had operated on.
"Esteemed Doctor, it has been sometime since my last visit; I hope to find you well!" Said the young Yun, whose first name I had most probably forgotten.
I really should have worked more on my name-remembering skills.
"But of course, I do have to thank you for sending Mister Yun here to find me; I might have been gone for longer if you hadn't," I replied. "Please, come sit at my table; I'll have a look at your arm; I've learned a few new tricks since the last time."
The man did as instructed; the visit was fast and easy, and thanks to a new sensing trick that I had learned, it was healing well, kind of.
"I have one good news and one bad news; which do you want to hear first?" I asked.
Jing Yun's face paled visibly, but he steeled his expression and said, "The good one first, please."
"Good," I replied, sitting up straight and looking at my patient straight in the eyes, "the good news is that the arm is healing up perfectly. Keep doing the exercises that I taught you, and in probably a year it should be as good as new."
"Oh, that is great news; thank you, doctor," he replied, his face blooming in a smile, but it disappeared soon enough. "What about the bad one?"
"The bad news is that while your profound veins are also healing, they are healing in the wrong direction. I need to operate to stop you from being unable to use them at all." I concluded.
I wasn't one hundred percent sure, but the signs were there, and most of all, I would learn so much from studying this case.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone