The task of gathering herbs has been abandoned. There will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, Liu Jin and Xiao Nan have an old man to help.


    Since they still do not understand the old man''s condition, the two are taking him to Liu Jin’s house. After all, there is no better doctor in the city than Liu Jin’s father. Even the Xiao Sect''s medical experts cannot compare to Liu Jianguo. That is an indisputable fact.


    Xiao Nan carries the old man as the two make their way back to the city. It is a slow trip, but they cannot afford to move too fast out of fear of harming the old man. Once they enter the city, the two draw some stares due to the unconscious man they are carrying, but the people soon lose interest. They know Liu Jin''s father is a doctor. It is not rare for him to lead people to his father''s clinic.


    "The doctor is not here," Xiao Nan notes when they arrive at the clinic.


    "Father is probably visiting a patient," Liu Jin says. Many of his father''s patients are quite old. As such, they are not always capable of making the trip to the clinic. In those cases, his father is the one who goes to them. "He should be back soon."


    "I see," Xiao Nan says. "Where shall I put the old man?"


    "Over here, please." Liu Jin motions to one of the beds. The entire first floor of the house serves as his father’s clinic. As such, there are beds for the patients to lie down while his father examines them. Of course, father and son make sure to clean those beds every single day. When it comes to cleanliness at least, their home will not lose even to the Xiao Sect''s luxurious compound.


    "Thank you for your help, Elder Brother," Liu Jin says after Xiao Nan places the old man on one of the beds. Liu Jin puts a wet cloth over the old man''s forehead. His body temperature has cooled considerably since receiving the medicine, but it is still abnormally high. "Will you be returning to the Xiao Sect''s compound now?"


    After all, Xiao Nan no longer has any need to stay. Liu Jin will not be gathering herbs anytime soon, and the old man is not his problem now that he is in the clinic. There is no reason for Xiao Nan to keep inconveniencing himself.


    "I think not, Little Brother," Xiao Nan says, shaking his head. "I better stay until the old man wakes up. Who knows what his mental state will be when that happens? People can do dangerous things when disoriented. To themselves and others."


    Liu Jin tilts his head to the side and looks at the old man. "You think he might be dangerous?''


    He certainly does not seem so.


    "Everyone can be dangerous, Little Brother," Xiao Nan says, raising a finger to underscore his point. "Never forget that. It is only a matter of finding the right circumstances. Why, I have made plenty of people dangerous on numerous occasions, usually with the danger aimed at my person. They were learning experiences, I assure you."


    A mischievous grin appears on Xiao Nan’s face as he says this.


    "Besides," he adds. "It is no good to judge people based on their appearance. Someone who has lived as long as this man has, without a doubt, reached a higher level of cultivation than you. It does not pay to take an old man lightly, no matter how sick he might be."


    Xiao Nan is not wrong. Someone who does not break past the Inner Realm over the course of his life is extremely rare. That lack of talent is simply not something that can be called natural. Even someone who is not serious about cultivation will usually manage it before seeing twenty springs.


    "Well, in this old man''s case, he is so sick even sensing his Qi is hard," Xiao Nan admits. "I tried to check it while I was carrying him here but couldn’t. I figure most of it is trying to fight his ailment."


    Liu Jin blinks. "Is that possible?"


    "Of course, it is," Xiao Nan replies. "A strong enough cultivator can expunge all impurities from his body. Of course, the ability to do so depends on the strength of the cultivator and the strength of the ailment. Uncle is the strongest cultivator in the city. Even so, he would have died many years ago without your father''s aid. His ailment was that strong. In the old man''s case, I figure-"


    Xiao Nan does not finish the sentence. Instead, he trails off, his eyes widening. Liu Jin is about to ask him why when he feels it too. No, he does not just feel it. He sees it.


    The old man is awake.


    His eyes are open, and their color is strikingly blue. Somehow, without them realizing it, he had woken up and moved to a sitting position. Liu Jin wants to tell him it is not good for him to force himself. He wants to tell the old man that he should stay in bed and rest. Yes, he definitely wants to say those words.


    He cannot.


    He is not sure why but his mouth is not working properly.


    Xiao Nan suddenly falls to his knees next to him, and Liu Jin does not understand why that happens. He does not understand why he cannot go over to where Xiao Nan is and help him.


    He does not understand why he is already on the floor.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "Ho, it seems I am still alive," the old man speaks for the first time. He has a clever voice. That’s the first thing Liu Jin can think of. It is a voice that makes Liu Jin become aware of his own foolishness and shortcomings just by listening to it. The feeling it evokes is not unlike listening to his father talk about medicine but nowhere near as warm or comforting.


    "Someone figured out how to make the antidote? Curious. How very curious," the old man says, speaking to himself. He does not bother to acknowledge either of the two youths kneeling on the floor, paralyzed by his very presence. The old man takes a single whiff of the air and strokes his beard in thought. "Medical herbs. So there was a doctor of this caliber in a place like this."


    Finally, his gaze turns to the two immobile youths. "You two, answer me. Where is the doctor who healed this Old Jiang?"


    The two are unable to reply. The old man frowns. "Is this the state of the youth nowadays? No legs to stand on? No mouth to speak? How pitiful. Very well, let it never be said this Old Jiang is not merciful. I will allow you to speak in my presence."


    Just like that, Liu Jin feels his tongue once more. However, it is Xiao Nan who speaks first.


    "Em-Emp-" His eyes are wide. His face is pale. His body trembles. Anyone who knows him would be shocked beyond belief to see him like this. Indeed, Liu Jin can scarcely believe this is the Xiao Nan he knows so well. However, the reason for that fear soon comes out of Xiao Nan''s mouth. The reason is a word, just a single word heavy with meaning,


    "Emperor!"


    Liu Jin''s eyes go as wide as they have ever been. The moment Xiao Nan says it he understands. He understands why he cannot even stand or talk without this man''s permission. It is the old man''s sheer presence that kept him from doing those things, and that phenomenon is only possible because this old man''s Qi is realms apart from his. Even if it sounds ridiculous, he has no choice but to accept it.


    This old man is cultivator who has reached the Emperor Realm.


    Breaking past the Foundational Realm and into the Inner Realm is expected. Indeed, someone who is unable to break through the Inner Realm and the realm beyond that over the course of his lifetime is worthy of ridicule. However, the distance between those realms and the Emperor Realm is incomparably large. Calling it the distance between Heaven and Earth is simply not enough.


    In Eastern Port City, there is only one person who has reached the Emperor Realm, and that is the Xiao Sect''s Patriarch. It can be said his immense strength is half the reason why the Xiao Sect is the strongest in the city. Even in the entire country, the number of people who have reached the Emperor Realm does not exceed one hundred.


    Yet the old man in front of them, this Old Jiang, is without a doubt someone in the Emperor Realm.


    "Ho," Old Jiang says, stroking his beard. His eyes carefully regard Xiao Nan. "So you can tell that much despite being so far below me. Not bad, boy. Not bad at all. Still, it is rude to keep an old man waiting. I asked a question. Where is the doctor who treated me?"


    Both feel the pressure in the room spike. Not answering this man is simply not an option. Even slightly irritating him is courting death.


    "It was me," Liu Jin says. "I prepared the medicine."


    Something heavy settles over his head, like a sword waiting to fall, and Liu Jin knows he said the wrong thing.


    "You?" The old man says. The way he looks at him makes Liu Jin feel like a speck of dust in the wind. "I have no time for jokes, child. Now tell me, who healed me?"


    "It was me," Liu Jin repeats again. "I swear it."


    "It is true, great elder," Xiao Nan adds. "I saw him refine the ingredients myself."


    "Ho?" Old Jiang says. "Very well then. If you are so insistent on this story, let''s test it. How did you prepare the medicine?"


    "We were out gathering herbs when we found you, great elder," Liu Jin says, copying Xiao Nan’s mode of address. "Your condition was like nothing I had seen before. We did not think you would survive the trip back to the city. Forgive this one, but there was no choice but to check your belongings for something we could use to heal you. That was how we found the Violet Frozen Foxglove."


    "That name," Old Jiang says, regarding him with a pensive look. "How can you know the name of that plant?"


    "My father is a doctor, great elder," Liu Jin says, keeping his head low. "From him, I have learned the name of various herbs and plants. I had never seen a Violet Frozen Foxglove before today, but I recognized it from an illustration in one of my father''s medical books."


    "And you thought to use a poisonous plant to heal this Old Jiang?"


    "It was the Red Spirit Grass that gave me the courage to even try it, great elder," Liu Jin admits. "You were holding it tightly in your hands when we found you, even though it had already turned to ashes. Red Spirit Grass is thought to be a common herb, but it has powerful reactive properties. I thought that perhaps you had been trying to heal yourself before succumbing to your ailment. If that was the case, then it was possible you already had the other ingredients necessary on your person."


    "So you gambled with this Old Jiang''s life? You assumed I was a man with medical knowledge instead of a dying man trying to have a last meal, however tasteless it may be."


    "I did, great elder," Liu Jin replies without hesitation. "I gambled with your life, and for that, I cannot apologize enough. However, there was one thing that gave me the courage to take that gamble."


    "Ho? And what was it, boy?" Old Jiang asks with a challenging look on his face. Even though he is old and still sitting, Liu Jin feels as if he towers over him. Nevertheless, he steels himself and continues.


    "Your smell reminded me of my father," Liu Jin says. "He works with medical herbs all day so their scent sticks to him. Although your body was burning up, you still had that scent, the scent of a man who works with medicine. Seeing the items you carried with you only reaffirmed that notion."


    "Impressive," Old Jiang says. Liu Jin feels the pressure in the room decreasing just from that. "And the medicine. How did you prepare it?"


    "I did not have the necessary items to prepare it," Liu Jin admits. "The only option I had was to refine the materials with my Qi."


    Old Jiang laughs. "You expect me to believe you refined Violet Frozen Foxglove without a cauldron or furnace? With nothing but your own Qi? You? A child who has not even reached the Inner Realm?"


    "It is true, great elder!" Xiao Nan says, bowing his head. "I saw it myself."


    "A ridiculous tale from children," Old Jiang says. Something that could be a smile plays on his face. "And yet, it does ring true. You do not have the faces of liars. Tell me, child, who is your father that he can raise someone like you?"


    "That would be me."


    It is not Xiao Nan who speaks. Neither is it Liu Jin or Old Jiang. Liu Jin was so focused on Old Jiang''s sheer presence that he failed to notice someone entering the clinic while they were talking.


    His father has arrived.


    Liu Jin pales. If even speaking in the presence of Old Jiang is hard for him and Xiao Nan, then his father whose meridians are crippled must absolutely not get close to him.


    "Father, don''t-"


    "It is fine, son," His father says, smoothly walking up to them without any inconvenience. He stops in front of Old Jiang and bows.


    "Master, it has been a long time."


    ~~~