by Tony Tran
Of course, this was all a pretense, Zhang not want anyone to accidentally release the madman they had buried underneath the city and secondly, he had thought about using the fort that Ran Kaitou had erected to keep an eye on how Ran Kaitou runs the province, but in the end placing a few of his generals and some soldiers to keep an eye on Ran Kaitou was not an answer.
If Ran Kaitou went rogue, then he could easily use earth magic and take out the soldiers that Zhang stationed to keep an eye on him. So, the best option Zhang could think of was to move the province’s capital closer to Aurora. Currently New Moon City was situated in the center of the province, but if it was moved toward the south west then, the other forces of Aurora can keep a better eye on it.
It would also be safer since the New Moon Province, once added into the Aurora Kingdom, would be the only piece of land that stretched out into the northern lands. The provinces that made up the Aurora Kingdom were all situated in the central region of the warring states region, where Aurora had the highest influence. This made it the first place the northern provinces would attack if they were to attack the Aurora Kingdom, so leaving a large open area in the northern region of the province would make it safer for the civilians and would also make it so that less manpower and wealth would have to be spent to secure the province if enemies were to attack.
Being the first to awaken as the morning sun’s rays seeped through the white fabric that made up his tent, Zhang crawled his way out of bed while trying not to disturb anyone else. But that is easier said than done, because currently he was surrounded on all sides and without a place to go. He had to use every ounce of his concentration and every bit of his agility to prevent himself from waking up the beauties.
“They deserve some more rest.” He thought as he stood by the bed and his vision swept past each and everyone one of them. With a refreshed smile on his face, Zhang departed the tent and took in a breath of morning fresh air.
“In a few days, we should be able to resume our trip. Since the New Moon Army practically disappeared, there shouldn’t be too many people in the province with enough power to suppress Ran and once our forces from Aurora arrive our rule here will be officially established.” Zhang thought as he began his stroll, first he headed toward the large camp where all of the civilians were staying.
His first priority right now was to ensure that no strife was to appear amongst the common folk. These people had lived most if not their entire lives in or around New Moon City and to tell them they were abandoned by their ruler and could have possibly be died in a string of unbelievable events would surely cause stress and unrest.
“A kingdom is only as powerful as its people, without support of the common folk then a nation could not exist.” Zhang thought as he walked through rows of tents. He figured if there was anything he could do to help the civilians of New Moon City cope with the events that unfolded he would try to.
As Zhang continued his stroll through the rows of tents a pleasant mixture aromas drifted into his nostrils. Following his nose, Zhang spotted a few people up and about, steaming pots placed over open fires could be seen as some were preparing breakfast. While a middle-aged woman with a smile on her face was stirring a pot of bubbling stew, two small boys who looked no older than six years old were running about and playing.
Creeping onto Zhang’s face was a brimming smile, as he watched the two boys play, he could only image what it would be like to have kids of his own one day.
However, the heartwarming sight of a loving mother cooking for her two children soon ended. The women who had been watching over the stew collapsed onto the ground and laid motionless. The two boys catching sight of what had happened to their mother, had ceased playing and ran to her side.
Tears and yells soon flowed out of their mouths as they plead for help. An instant later a middle-aged man who most likely was the woman’s husband and the children’s father appeared with a frantic expression spread out on his face. All of this happened in but an instant, which goes to show that happiness could drift away in bit a fleeting moment, so it is best cherished when one has it in their grasp.
The man held his wife within his arms and yelled frantically, not knowing what to do or what was even wrong with her.
“Let me see if I can help.” Zhang said as he walked forward and stopped in front of the frantic man, the two crying kids and the woman who fainted.
Although the man seemed a bit reluctant since he did not really know who Zhang was, due to the nature of the situation he couldn’t do anything but nod and move aside. Trying to find a doctor now would most likely not help at all, not to say that this family of four could even afford to hire a doctor.
This was because doctors usually catered to the rich and charged lots of money for their services, which in turn made it so the lower and middle class could not employ them. Of course, there were often times charity doctors which offered their services for free or at extremely low rates, but they are most of the time inexperienced doctors looking to gain experience or very hard to come across.
Pressing his fingers onto the woman’s wrist, Zhang began checking on her condition. Thanks to the medical knowledge he remembered after tearing out his page from the book of fate, he could be considered a highly skilled doctor. Despite not having any practical expertise in his past life, he had vast knowledge on many times of different medical practices and extensive knowledge on the human body.
“Young master is it possible to save my wife?” The woman’s husband asks after calming himself.
“Of course, as long as she is alive, I can save her.” Zhang replied as a purplish glow began emitting from his hand. Using the Underworld Heart’s power, he enveloped the woman’s body in a layer of purple essence. If the Underworld Heart can create bodies out of pure essence, then if one had enough essence, saving someone’s life wasn’t something hard to do.
Before Zhang had been too work and his control over the heart had been too little, but now as he grew stronger and since the Underworld Heart had become a part of him, his control over it had grown exponentially. Of course, he still couldn’t save people who had been poisoned, even if he used the heart’s power.
Around Zhang a large crowd had gathered, people who had caught sight of what happened, people who had just woken up and left their tents, were all gathered and watching anxiously. But to their relief, the woman who was laying on the ground slowly opened her eyes and was helped into a seated position.
Soon the woman and Zhang were crowded by her children, husband, and dozens of other people. Some wished to know the woman’s condition while others still in shock at how Zhang had just revived someone whom they thought was good as dead.
“Thank you, young master, I don’t know what we can do to ever repay your kindness.” The husband of the woman who Zhang had just saved said while kow towing.
“No need to thank me, I only did what anyone with a good conscience would have done.” Zhang said as he helped the man up. After receiving thanks from the man and his family, Zhang began to walk away however he was stopped before he could even walk a few steps and his path was blocked.
“Young master can you please have a look at my daughter? She has fallen ill and we couldn’t afford to take her to a doctor.” A young man with a small child wrapped in his arms said as he dropped to his knees and plead Zhang to help.
“Let me have a look.” Zhang said as he withdrew an expensive looking blanket from his interspatial ring and spread it on the ground. After which the child was placed atop the blanket so Zhang could have a look at her. Feeling the child’s pulse and placing his hand on the child’s forehead, he was able to almost instantly figure out if something was wrong or not.
“Your child only has a minor fever, if you take her home and wash her in cold water that should help lower her body temperature. Also, I’ll give you a few of these, they should help her recover quicker.” He said as he produced a few medical pills from his interspatial ring and handed them to the young man. Alth
ough he could use the probably instantly cure the child’s illness, Zhang decided not to because the more minor illnesses a child encounters the better their immunity develops.
“Thank you, benefactor, thank you.” The young man said after quickly putting away the pills that Zhang had given him and as he picked up his daughter and embraced her. Common folk considered medical pills a luxury since all they could afford were herbs, which they had to cook. So, the moment that Zhang handed the man pills, many people looked with surprised expressions.
Unknown to Zhang while he was looking examining the little girl, a large crowd of people had gathered around him. These people had run back to their tents as quickly as they could and brought back with them, their sick family members. A massive crowd had gathered with Zhang as its epicenter, with a smile and a wave of his hand, a table and a few benches appeared.
“If everyone would form a line and wait their turn I’ll be happy to help.” Zhang said, seeing an opportunity to help others while also reducing the possibility of revolt. If he helped all of these people, the chance of unwanted things happening would drastically decrease or so he believed. Well regardless of the outcome, he would have helped these people anyway, that was just how who he is.
As the day went on, a line of dozens of people turned into a line of hundreds of people, perhaps it would even grow to a line of thousands of people. The young, elderly and even those in their prime could be seen waiting in line. Some people were on their deathbeds, some had minor illnesses, some were injured, and some simply wanted to see Zhang in action.
“Look at what we have here, turns out my husband is also a doctor.” Lingqi said with a grin as she made her way through the crowd and arrived beside Zhang who was examining a man who appeared to be in his seventies.
“There are many things you don’t know about me.” Zhang replied in a joking tone.
“Would my lovely wife who happens to be an expert doctor like to lend a hand? Also, where’d the other three go?” He asked as he waved his hand and made another table and some benched appear.
“They wanted to train the new arrivals, I helped for a bit but decided to go hang out with you instead.” Lingqi said with a smile as she sat down at the desk next to Zhang’s.
Thus, Lingqi joined Zhang and the pair of husband and wife began giving many people free medical treatment. Lingqi’s medical knowledge outstripped Zhang’s by a huge margin, allowing her to heal most if not all of the patients that came her way. Of course, there were a few patients who could only be saved by the Underworld Heart’s power.
At first only the poor people in the camp had showed up but over time even though in the upper class began appearing. News about Zhang and Lingqi being able to cure any illness that they came across had quickly spread throughout the camp. Wealthy people who were previously told they had incurable diseases by the doctors they had paid fortunes to, were now being cured one after the other and for free at that.
Of course, there were many people who insisted and gave Zhang and Lingqi things in return for helping them. Things from potatoes, rice, meat, fish, and of course, money was given. At first the duo had declined but after a while they saw that by declining the goodwill of these people, it seemed like they were in a way looking down on them. Since that was definitely not the case, they decided to redistribute whatever they got to the poor later.
“Thanks to this I got to see another side of my lovely wife.” Zhang said jokingly as he turned toward Lingqi. The usual Lingqi was crafty and always out to get ahead of everyone else, but the current Lingqi was a caring one who was helping children and the elderly without care for benefits. It goes to show that there are many sides to a single person, sometimes they could save thousands of lives and sometimes they could take away thousands of live, this goes for both Zhang and Lingqi.
While this pair of husband and wife was busy helping people, and spreading goodwill, a short distance away trouble was brewing.
“Get out of the way! Our master wishes to see these miracle doctors! All of you scram!” A man bald man with a large scar running across his scalp to his forehead roared. Behind this man was a dozen or so other bulky men and a sickly-looking man who looked to be in his late fifties. Sitting on a comfortable sedan chair, this man looked around in disdain.
Chapter 22: Ants
“Why haven’t these peasants moved out of our way yet?” The sickly-looking man said in an impatient tone while gazing down from atop his sedan chair.
“I’ll have them move right away, master Tao Qian.” The bald man with the scar running across his scalp replied respectfully.
“All of you scram? Didn’t you hear what our boss say? Move or else.” The bald man with the scar yelled at the people waiting in line in front of him.
As if the man wasn’t intimidating enough, the men behind him moved forward and stood behind him, shooting intimidating glares at everyone around. From the looks of it, these men had grown accustomed to having their way and if other did not comply to them then violence would be employed.
It was evident that their methods worked too because once the bald man and his fellow hooligans shot glares at everyone, the people and the path in front of them slowly opened up. Most of the people present were seeking medical treatment, meaning that most of them were ill and didn’t wish to be assaulted. Well most people would prefer to not get assaulted but in the current case, no one had the will to stand up for themselves in part due to their illnesses and such.
Back in the front of the line, Zhang was examining an elderly man who could only be described as skin and bones. The man’s son had carried him all the way to where Zhang was and pled all of the people to let them cut in line. Due to the sincerity that the man’s son showed and from how serious the elderly man’s condition seemed, they were allowed to cut. The elderly man kept complaining about experiencing painful headaches throughout the night and having trouble hearing recently as he was laid out onto the ground for examination. Apparently, the elderly man had been experiencing such painful headaches that he hadn’t been able to eat any meals or get any sleep, resulting in his frail looking body.
“Hmmm, I checked his pulse and vital signs but nothing seems to be wrong with him. That being said by simply from looking at him anyone can tell that there is something seriously wrong with him.” Zhang said with a perplexed look on his face as he placed his hand atop the elderly man’s forehead and blue layer of essence enveloped the man’s body. At first Zhang, had thought that the elderly man was suffering from a clogged blood vessel or something but he did not pick up any signs of that when checking the man’s vitals.
Zhang’s essence traveled through the elderly man’s body, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. Soon a hint of amazement creeped onto Zhang’s face as he figured out what was wrong with the elderly man lying in front of him.
“Hold him down.” Zhang said as he looked at the elderly man’s son who was anxiously by his father’s side, his wife and kids had also arrived and were beside him with equally anxious expressions.
“Doctor is my father alright?” The man’s son asked.
“Just do as I say and he will be fine.” Zhang replied with a smile as to reassure the man’s son. Listening to Zhang’s instructions, the elderly man’s son held down his father.
While the elderly man was being held down, Zhang walked to where Lingqi was and whispered into her ear. Upon hearing Zhang’s words, an intrigued expression appeared on Lingqi’s face as she stopped what she was doing and arrived in front of the elderly man with her husband.
Crouching down as Zhang gently held the elderly man’s head, Lingqi produced a small vial from her interspatial ring. Unsealing the veil Lingqi began pouring a few drops of clear slick looking substance into the elderly man’s ear. It was then that a painful scream was emitted from the elderly man’s lips as he wriggled about trying to break free.
“What’s wrong! What’s wrong with my father!?” The man’s son yelled frantically as his fathers pained scr
eamed reached his ears.
“Just hold him still or else he might die.” Zhang said in a stern voice.
“Almost done…” Lingqi said as she produced another vial from her interspatial ring and poured a few drops of bluish liquid into the man’s ear. Moments after the blue colored liquid entered the man’s ear a yellow trail flowed out. Upon closer inspection one would see that this yellow trail consisted entirely of yellow ants.
At first no one but Zhang and Lingqi knew what the yellow trail was and had thought it was just pus or something, until an ant that was equipped with a pair of wings and was three times larger than the rest, crawled out from the inside of the man’s ear.
Mere seconds after leaving the man’s ear the ants all liquefied and ceased to exist. This of course, was due to drops of liquid that Lingqi dripped into the elderly man’s ear.
“All done.” Lingqi said with a smile as she saw that the elderly man was no longer in pain and a face full of relief was visible on his face.