Chapter 14: Task

“No,” Cheng Shouping replied, craning his neck to peer inside. “Miss Ji is the daughter of Dr. Ji, the divine physician. Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but she’s also the gentlest and kindest person, often providing free medical care to the poor. She’s very popular in the city, and most of these people are here just to catch a glimpse of her.”

Zu An curled his lips. “Xue’er is ‘incredibly beautiful’ in your words, and this Miss Ji is also ‘incredibly beautiful’ in your words. As a mere bookboy, how many beautiful women have you actually seen? How can you tell beauty from ugliness?”

Cheng Shouping’s face flushed crimson. Before he could respond, a red-faced man in the crowd in front of them overheard their conversation and turned around. “What do you know, you brat? Miss Ji is a beauty on par with Miss Chu from the Duke’s Manor here in Brightmoon City. But I heard Miss Chu married a good-for-nothing a few days ago, so let’s not even talk about that. Now, Miss Ji is my only dream goddess.”

Zu An’s face darkened considerably. This son of a bitch was insulting a bald monk right in front of a monk, so to speak. If he tolerated this, he’d be unworthy of his "keyboard warrior" title.

So, he leaned in, pretending to listen intently, then suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, “What did you say? You said Miss Ji is your ‘wet dream goddess’?”

He was now a second-rank, third-stage practitioner, and his voice was much louder than an ordinary person’s. Everyone in the vicinity instantly turned their heads when they heard him.

The red-faced man immediately panicked. “What nonsense are you spouting? I said ‘dreaming of’…”

Before he could explain, Zu An interrupted, “Oh, so you’re saying you came here today hoping to steal some of Miss Ji’s personal clothes? Ugh, you’re disgusting, I’m ashamed to be associated with you.”

As he spoke, he gave the man a shove, seemingly to distance himself, but actually pushing him into the crowd.

“I didn’t, I didn’t…” Feeling the murderous glares from all around, the red-faced man panicked and quickly tried to explain. But then someone shouted, “Beat him!”

And he was instantly swamped by the crowd.

Rage points from Lu Renjia +666!

Zu An, meanwhile, calmly straightened his clothes and walked directly to the front entrance.

Cheng Shouping, standing nearby, blinked. “Such a move exists?” Despite his shock, he quickly followed.

Just then, a furious roar suddenly came from inside the house: “All of you get out! You’re making too much noise and disturbing my sleep.”

Immediately afterward, the previously tightly closed front door slowly opened.

“Dr. Ji is out! Dr. Ji is out!”

The group that had been ganging up on Lu Renjia suddenly buzzed like a swarm of bees and rushed back to surround the entrance, leaving only a pathetic man covered in footprints and bloodstains lying on the ground.

Zu An carefully scrutinized the man who emerged. His face was thin and gaunt, though one could faintly discern the handsome features of his youth. However, he was now unkempt, with a full beard, prominent dark circles under his eyes, and a strong smell of alcohol emanating from him even from a distance, making him appear every inch a slovenly middle-aged man.

Zu An, however, didn’t underestimate him in the slightest. The man’s roar had left his ears ringing even now, clearly indicating that his cultivation level was far above Zu An’s.

Now this was more like it. This man clearly had the demeanor of a master, much like the legendary Drunken Sword Immortal — though his face wasn’t quite as round.

“Divine Doctor, where is your esteemed daughter?” someone next to him asked, a fawning smile on his face.

Dr. Ji glanced sideways at him. “Who are you?”

“Divine Doctor, don’t you remember me? I’m Wang Fugui, I come here often.” The man quickly introduced himself.

“Don’t remember,” Dr. Ji said, picking his ear with his little finger and then flicking it carelessly. “This divine doctor only remembers pretty girls or wealthy patrons... *ahem*, clients. You, my friend, have certainly never paid me here.”

Wang Fugui chuckled. “While I haven’t seen you for treatment, Miss Ji has treated me a few times...”

Before he could finish, Dr. Ji cut him off, suddenly flaring into a rage. “No wonder my business has been dropping recently! It’s all because that worthless girl has been giving you free treatments! All of you get out!”

“‘Worthless girl’?” Zu An was stunned. Describing his daughter like that, was she really his own flesh and blood?

“We’re here for Miss Ji, not for you...” The speaker’s voice involuntarily weakened under Dr. Ji’s glare.

“She’s not here. I sent her outside the city to gather herbs, so she wouldn’t disturb my business,” Dr. Ji said, pulling out a chair and leisurely sprawling on it. “If you want to see a doctor, either pay a hundred taels of silver as a registration fee, or complete my task. Otherwise, all of you get lost, or don’t blame me for being impolite!”

Seeing that their “dream goddess” wasn’t there, most people dispersed, clearly having learned their lesson before. However, some genuinely ill individuals remained, pleading, “Divine Doctor Ji, we really can’t afford 100 taels of silver. Please be kind and make an exception.”

Dr. Ji took a swig from his wine gourd and, without even looking at the man, stated, “Though I, Ji Dengtu, can cure all diseases, I cannot cure yours.”

The man immediately grew anxious. “I haven’t even described my condition yet, how do you know you can’t cure it?”

Dr. Ji finally glanced at him. “Because you have the disease of poverty. How can I cure that?”

“You have no medical ethics whatsoever! What kind of divine doctor are you?!” The man’s face instantly turned crimson, his pride clearly wounded, and he left disgruntled.

Dr. Ji continued to recline in his armchair, humming an unknown tune, not even sparing the man a glance.

At this point, another man with a shifty appearance approached, discreetly handing over a colorful booklet. “Divine Doctor Ji, I just got this – the latest edition from ‘Heaven on Earth’.”

Dr. Ji immediately sat up, snatched the booklet, and flipped through it. Zu An, being close, keenly noticed faint images of scantily clad young women.

“This is good stuff,” Dr. Ji said, instantly tucking the booklet into his clothes. He patted the man’s shoulder with an approving look, saying, “You can go in. I’ll treat you shortly.”

“This is allowed?!”

Zu An was dumbfounded. He thought to himself, “I have ‘Young Mistress Bai X,’ ‘Chronicles of the XX Era,’ ‘Transforming into a Dragon upon Encountering Wind and Clouds’... I wonder if those would work. It’s a shame I can’t draw, otherwise I could just make one up and present it to him.”

“Why can he go in?” The others, unaware of what had transpired, immediately protested.

Dr. Ji snorted, his face stern. “Is it wrong if I find him agreeable? You can go in too, but if you can’t pay the consultation fee, then go complete the task.”

“But your task is too difficult! You’re deliberately making it hard for people!” someone cried out.

Only then did Zu An notice a sign hanging by the entrance. It read: “Today’s Task: This divine doctor recently needs to refine a Qi Transformation Pill, requiring ten canine gallstones from Ferocious Jackals as ingredients.”

He had heard of canine gallstones before – stone-like objects that form in a dog’s stomach. They are usually spherical or oval, gray-white or gray-black on the surface, and are said to have properties for calming adverse qi, dispersing stagnation, and detoxifying.

But what exactly was a Ferocious Jackal? Some kind of wolf or jackal?

Hearing the complaints, Dr. Ji swept a gaze over the crowd, looking at them as if they were mentally deficient. “If it wasn’t difficult, why would I even assign a task?”

The others immediately grew agitated, speaking over each other:

“But each Ferocious Jackal has at least second-rank strength, and their leader might even be third-rank.”

“What’s more troublesome is that they often hunt in packs, from dozens to over a hundred. An ordinary person going there would just be asking for death.”

“And canine gallstones are quite rare; you might not find even one from ten Ferocious Jackals.”

“Quiet down!” Dr. Ji glared at the crowd. “It’s not that the Ferocious Jackals are too strong; it’s that you are too weak. If you reached fourth-rank, wouldn’t completing this task be a piece of cake?”

The crowd cursed inwardly and grumbled. “Cultivators who reach fourth-rank can become city lords of small towns! How can we compare to them?”

Zu An observed coolly. From their conversation, he gathered that most of the cultivators who remained were second-rank, and there seemed to be no third-rank ones. It seemed he wasn’t weak after all.

“Take this task if you want, or get lost if you don’t. I’m not forcing you,” Dr. Ji said impatiently. “Don’t stand around blocking my entrance and disrupting my business. Go, go, go!”

Zu An couldn’t help but pull Cheng Shouping aside and ask, “Isn’t this guy afraid of getting beaten up, acting so arrogant?”

Cheng Shouping jumped, made a shushing gesture, and pulled him to a secluded spot before speaking. “Divine Doctor Ji’s power is unfathomable. A few years ago, some people got impatient and tried to use force against him. Guess what happened?”

“Were they beaten out?” Zu An asked, startled by the serious tone.

Cheng Shouping gave him a look that said, “You lack imagination.” “Their grave mounds are overgrown with grass now.”

“That’s brutal,” Zu An muttered, rubbing his chin. “Doesn’t the government get involved?”

Cheng Shouping explained, “As a divine physician, Dr. Ji has helped countless powerful individuals over the years. Even the City Lord treats him with the utmost respect. Besides, those people were the instigators, so the matter was naturally dropped.”

Zu An was a little unwilling to give up. “So, the task really can’t be completed?”

“Of course not,” Cheng Shouping said, as if it were common knowledge. “Those with low cultivation can’t complete it, and those with high cultivation don’t need to; they just pay the consultation fee directly. Years ago, people in the city complained too much about his expensive registration fees, so he deliberately designed impossible tasks to silence them.”

“No wonder!” Zu An realized. Dr. Ji designed the task to be so difficult precisely because he never intended for anyone to complete it.

Wait a minute, he suddenly thought of something. He glanced at Cheng Shouping beside him. This scoundrel knew he couldn’t complete the task, yet he brought him here. It was probably just to see that Miss Ji.

With a darkened face, he said, “You go back to the Chu Manor first. I’ll wander around by myself for a bit.” His lifelong happiness was at stake; no matter how difficult the task, he had to try. Anyway, he had the “dagger of certain death” and the “paralyzing poison bottle.” With caution, he might actually have a chance to complete it.

Of course, he had to keep all of this a secret from the Chu family. After all, they still considered him a good-for-nothing, and there were people within the Chu family who wanted him dead. If they knew he had made progress in his cultivation, their next assassination attempt would be even more ruthless.

Remember one word: ‘Lie low.’ Lying low is the ultimate way!

Cheng Shouping was startled. “Young Master, you’re not seriously considering doing that task, are you?”

Zu An wondered if he was being that obvious. Before he could explain, Cheng Shouping quickly added, “Young Master, do you know why those jackals are called Ferocious Black Jackals?”