Chapter 478 - 241: The Youth Heads East, Lu Town’s Anomaly

Chapter 478: Chapter 241: The Youth Heads East, Lu Town’s Anomaly

This setup was both practical and a convenient way to grind for experience.

The five Traits Zheng Xiu equipped his Incarnation with were: [Scouting (Masterful)], [Medical Principles (Masterful)], [Intuition (Masterful)], [Inspiration (Masterful)], and [Stealth (Masterful)].

Incidentally, [Foreign Language (Expert Skill)] had become a Talent, making it an innate Trait.

This loadout... no, this combination of Traits was especially suited for traveling and investigating cases. It could handle both ordinary and bizarre ones, balancing survival and Tracking. It was extremely practical.

The group of five people and one cat divided the horses. Ye and Snake rode together, with Ye "driving." Zheng Xiu sat in front of Yin Qingqing, and with Mao’er in his lap, their horse was a bit crowded. Situ Yong, meanwhile, rode alone with his six sabers, setting off on the journey.

The group was undoubtedly conspicuous: two golden-haired young women and a sturdy, saber-wielding Elder Divine Doctor. As their three horses traveled down the road, passing merchants and wanderers threw them looks of astonishment and curiosity.

Along the way, the group chatted as they traveled, getting to know each other much better.

Zheng Xiu worked up the courage to ask Situ Yong if he carried so many sabers to save people or to kill them. Situ Yong sighed and said, "Before I glimpsed the Path, I used to study the art of scraping bone and making incisions. I even concocted a Sedative called Dream Return Smoke that could put people into a painless, dream-like state. However, ever since I perceived the mysteries of the [Physician] Path, many things I couldn’t understand in the past suddenly became clear. But at the same time, I gradually started to find it all dull."

Situ Yong patted the six Treasure Sabers of varying lengths at his waist. "Now, encountering such a strange medical case, I feel as if I’ve returned to my younger days. The desire to get to the bottom of it has resurfaced in my heart."

At that moment, everyone who heard this had a strange expression. Zheng Xiu, in particular, understood. He nodded to himself. ’This Situ Yong is a real piece of work. A born Executioner held back by the Physician Path, huh?’

Unfortunately, the [Executioner] Path was already taken by Feng Bei.

As for Snake, she ignored Zheng Er on the first day of their journey. But on the second day, bored from the travel, she started talking to the boy, asking many questions about the Red King.

For example, she asked if the Red King was married, if he had a mistress, or if he was having an affair. These bold questions made the Red King break out in a cold sweat. Zheng Xiu answered them one by one, truthfully describing the Red King’s tall, mighty, honest, and friendly image. Although Snake was skeptical, she figured a child wouldn’t lie and reluctantly believed him.

Among the Ten Greats of Incompleteness Tower, Snake was the youngest. She rarely had playmates and had a deprived childhood. Now that she had finally met Zheng Er, who was "of a similar age," their perceived age difference brought them much closer.

After a few days together, Snake even started putting her arm around the boy’s shoulders without any hesitation. She called herself "Sister She" and said she wanted to adopt Zheng Xiu as her little brother—she’d be the big sister, and he the little brother. She also told him not to worry when they were out and about, as she and her sister were both top-tier Miracle Masters, and Sister She would have his back if they ran into trouble.

The Red King thought, ’Well, thank you so fucking much.’ Aloud, he said, "Thank you, Sister She."

Ye watched with a smile as the boy and her younger sister bantered, not interfering. She would occasionally chime in, her eyes filled with a loving gaze.

’It seems having another little brother wouldn’t be so bad.’

She mused silently.

From time to time, Situ Yong would boast about stories from his past.

He rambled on, telling many stories from his time as a doctor.

The most interesting one was about a married couple who had a fight. The wife was so savage that she took a pair of scissors in the middle of the night and SNIP. The man cried and begged Doctor Situ to reattach it, saying he’d pay any amount of money.

Beneath the moon and among the flowers, the other four people and one cat listened to Situ Yong’s story, their eyes shining. The two sisters, Ye and Snake, were exceptionally quiet.

Zheng Xiu asked, "Did you really reattach it?"

"Reattach my ass!" Situ Yong cursed with a laugh. "How could I possibly reattach it?"

"What happened then?"

"I stopped the bleeding for him. The man was crying so miserably that I couldn’t bear it, so I told him to ’treat shape with shape,’ and that maybe it would grow back."

The three women looked at each other in dismay. ’Could it really grow back?’

As the group listened, enthralled, the Orange Cat, not wanting to be left out, started clawing desperately at the boy’s hair. Zheng Xiu opened a small oil-paper packet and stuffed two fried fish cakes into the cat’s mouth. The little female cat’s mouth was filled to the brim, and she made a "MMPH MMPH" sound. After silencing the little cat, Zheng Xiu asked curiously, "And then?"

"Later," Situ Yong said mysteriously, "one day, he came back to me, overjoyed, calling me a Divine Doctor! I asked him what was up, and he said it had really grown back a little. I asked him, ’What did you eat?’ He said he stir-fried it with some ginger, green onions, and garlic."

The fried fish cake fell from the Orange Cat’s mouth. The cat was dumbfounded.

The group reacted differently. Ye smiled faintly, while Snake cursed Situ Yong for being a disrespectful old man.

Yin Qingqing silently stoked the fire nearby. In truth, she had been puzzled the entire trip. ’Can you people really not tell, or are you just pretending not to? This boy is the Red King himself!’

’Best to see it and not say it.’

The journey was peaceful.

A hundred-some li was not a great distance, but along the way, they had to traverse a winding cliffside path and endure a heavy downpour. It wasn’t until the evening of the fourth day that the group of five people and one cat, looking down from the mountain path, finally saw a small town nestled in a basin.

In the distance, mist coiled around the mountain ravines. The setting sun pierced through the haze, bathing the small textile town, known for its high-quality raw cloth, in a splendid reddish glow.

They could see that following the winding mountain road down would lead them to Lu Town. Yet the dust-covered travelers felt a bit reluctant for the journey to end, because they had enjoyed the conversations along the way so much.

As he looked at the distant town, the boy was hiding in Yin Qingqing’s arms from Sister She, who was playfully trying to hit him. Suddenly, Zheng Xiu’s heart skipped a beat. He pushed up his sleeve and saw that the fine hairs on his arm were all standing on end.

[Intuition].

"Stop fooling around. Something’s wrong."

Snake immediately sat up straight on her horse, her tongue flicking out with a HISS. Ye plucked a reed leaf from her bodice. Situ Yong’s hand went to his waist. Yin Qingqing wrapped her arms around the boy protectively. The Orange Cat, oblivious, kept gnawing on its fried fish cake.

’Time to use [Inspiration].’

Zheng Xiu touched the spot between his eyebrows, and a set of Dice only he could see was cast.

A minor success on the Inspiration roll.

In his black-and-white field of vision, a distorted gray fog seemed to permeate the air above Lu Town, faintly severing it from the outside world and turning it into a completely different space.