Chapter 65: Growing Proficient in Soul-Searching

“There’s no need for that medicine. Bear with the pain; the wound will heal faster.”

Physician Wu pushed the steward’s hand back.

“But this young girl is in pain…”

“Can you handle it?” someone asked.

Ren Miao, pale-faced, nodded.

Her bloody leg wound was now bandaged but she was still in too much pain to stand. The three disciples, who had caused the trouble, stood in a row like guilty dogs, awaiting Ning Mingmei’s scolding.

But he didn’t reprimand them. Instead, he asked the steward for a few of the pills. “Where did this medicine come from?”

“The city’s major clinics all sell it,” the steward replied.

When Ning Mingmei turned back, he noticed that Physician Wu had already left as indifferently as he had arrived.

He had treated Ren Miao’s wound and then walked away without saying another word.

Ning Mingmei asked, “Does Physician Wu’s clinic sell this?”

The steward shook his head. “Physician Wu rarely runs his clinic… He doesn’t sell this medicine.”

Ning Mingmei smirked. “Now this is getting interesting.”

After a brief pause, he instructed the three disciples to carry the unfortunate Ren Miao back to her room. “Don’t even think about sneaking out together. From now on, one of you must stay in the courtyard every day to take care of her. When I asked you to stack corpses in front of the Royal General’s mansion, you didn’t do it. But now, you’ve gone and stacked Ren Miao there instead.”

The three disciples: “…Oh… Oh!”

What was with that sudden uptick in their tone? Did they think that staying in would spare them from academic work?

Ning Mingmei continued, “You still have to meet your assignment quotas. If there aren’t any corpses in front of the Royal General’s mansion tomorrow, you’ll be in trouble. And the extra meals and medicine for Ren Miao will be deducted from your next month’s wages.”

What kind of quotas required corpses in front of the Royal General’s mansion? The system was about to explode from frustration.

Those Foundation Establishment disciples didn’t earn as much as Wen Siheng, only 1,900 spirit stones. To make it a round number, each would have 900 deducted.

The three of them looked utterly dejected.

Ning Mingmei couldn’t care less about their misery. Under the tree, he crushed one of the pills between his fingers. The broken pill turned into a paste-like substance with a faintly sweet scent.

“I do have some shortcomings in pharmacology,” he admitted.

Unable to determine whether the pill was good or bad, he called over Gui Ruoxue from nearby and led him into the hall.

The observing disciples exchanged glances.

Master and that wandering female physician sure are close…

“Take a look at this medicine.” Ning Mingmei handed two pills to Gui Ruoxue. “What are the ingredients? What’s its effect? Does it have any harmful side effects?”

Gui Ruoxue didn’t move. “Do I look like the ancestor of medicine to you?”

Ning Mingmei replied, “Aren’t you supposed to be an expert? If even you can’t figure it out, then I don’t know who can.”

Only then did Gui Ruoxue take the pills from his hand. A barely perceptible smirk appeared on his lips. He crushed the pills with his fingers, sniffed them, and examined them under the light.

As he continued smelling them, he frowned. “I can’t give you a definite answer right now. I need two days.”

Ning Mingmei raised an eyebrow. “That’s odd. Just now, you instantly figured out what medicine that kid had in his system.”

Gui Ruoxue explained, “That was inside his body, so I could analyze it with true Qi. But now, you’re handing me an intact pill. How do you expect me to check it?”

Got it. So he needed a human solvent to see the full effects of the medicine.

Ning Mingmei: “Then give the medicine to Lian Cheng—”

—Yue to eat.

Halfway through his sentence, Ning Mingmei stopped himself. He said, “You go ahead and study it. I’ll see if I can find someone who has just taken the medicine for you.”

Gui Ruoxue: ?

“Will that person come willingly?” he asked.

Ning Mingmei: “Hmm… not just one. It would be best to have several for comparison.”

Gui Ruoxue: ?

That sounded oddly familiar. It was like what he himself would say whenever he conducted drug tests in mortal villages… For a moment, Gui Ruoxue felt a cosmic sense of emptiness.

The bespectacled beauty left the room.

The system muttered, [Did you finally grow a conscience?]

Not using Liancheng Yue as a test subject?

Ning Mingmei: [No, I just remembered that I still need to drink Lian Chengyue’s blood.]

…

……

The system: [So that’s what stopped you?!]

To minimize the effects of the drug concentration diminishing in the blood, Ning Mingmei stepped outside.

Just then, the eleventh disciple and two disciples from Jade Pavilion Peak were returning.

Why was the eleventh disciple mixed up with the Jade Pavilion Peak disciples?

Seeing the eleventh disciple walking ahead, chatting with Jiang Yu, while He Zheng trailed behind with a resentful expression, Ning Mingmei immediately understood.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yu herself did not. Her eyes lit up when she saw Ning Mingmei. “Master, we found a snake monster at the border of Ye Province. We already killed it.”

She was there to claim credit.

Ning Mingmei: “Good. Where’s the corpse?”

…

Ning Mingmei: “I told you this morning to stack the corpses in front of the Royal General’s mansion. Did you forget? Never mind. He Zheng, come with me to retrieve the snake monster’s corpse. You two, notify the remaining three from Misty Peak. If the four from Assembled Virtue Peak have returned, inform them too. Tell them to head out and find eight people who have recently taken Ye Province specialty’s small red pills. We need a mix of men, women, young, and old. I want them here by tonight.”

??

The eleventh disciple was stunned. “Master, why do we need these people? How should we explain this?”

Ning Mingmei: “You’re already at the Foundation Establishment realm. You should have some ability to think for yourselves. Figure it out.”

The eleventh disciple: “Oh…”

With that, he left with He Zheng, leaving the eleventh disciple and Jiang Yu standing there like two fools.

Wait a minute.

What does reaching the Foundation Establishment realm have to do with knowing how to trick people into coming?

The Royal General’s mansion was in the east, while the place where He Zheng and the others killed the snake monster was in the west. To retrieve the corpse, they had to cross nearly half of Ye Province.

As He Zheng trudged beside Ning Mingmei, looking utterly dejected, Ning Mingmei, on the other hand, made several new discoveries along the way.

He noticed several medical clinics throughout Ye Province.

The clinics weren’t bustling with business but they weren’t deserted either. Ning Mingmei sent He Zheng in multiple times to inquire about what the patients were buying.

He Zheng reported back, “They said they’re there to buy medicine. A lot of people in this area suffer from dizziness, headaches, nausea, and bone pain. It’s been this way for generations.”

Ning Mingmei: “Generations?”

He Zheng: “Yes. Maybe it’s just something in Ye Province’s environment.”

Ning Mingmei then observed the people leaving the clinics.

They looked just like the people he had seen on his first day in the city; dazed, sluggish, and drained of energy.

As if, along with their pain, their emotions had also faded away.

And gradually, they became like walking corpses.

Ning Mingmei had He Zheng go inside and buy a few pills. He crushed them in his palm.

They were identical to the pills the steward had.

Ning Mingmei asked He Zheng, “Did you find out about the two things I asked?”

The first was when those pills first appeared.

He Zheng said, “They told me those pills have been around for a few years. Thanks to them, the residents can now live peacefully. Without these pills, many people used to have such severe headaches that they couldn’t sleep at night.”

The second was where the pills came from.

He Zheng said, “They refused to say.”

And they were extremely wary. The looks some shopkeepers gave him made He Zheng’s heart tighten.

One even said, “The price of these pills is the same across the entire city, so why ask?”

The trail ended there.

Ning Mingmei thought for a moment and said, “No matter. I’ll find out.”

He lifted his robe and entered a new medical clinic. The owner was an old man who asked upon seeing him, “What would you like, sir?”

Ning Mingmei got straight to the point. “Old man, I want to know where you source those pills from.”

Unlike the shopkeepers that He Zheng questioned earlier, the old man immediately recognized that Ning Mingmei wasn’t someone to mess with. He smirked. “You must be an outsider who recently arrived in Ye Province. One of those cultivators hired by the City Lord? These pills are indeed good stuff. Even immortals from outside the city buy them from us to relieve pain. But they are exclusively sold in Ye Province. If an outsider like you wants the source…”

Ning Mingmei: “I have to pay extra?”

Old man: “Yes.”

This cultivator was certainly smarter and more straightforward than that naive brat from before.

Ning Mingmei: “Name your price. How much extra?”

Old man: “Two hundred thousand…”

Ning Mingmei: “Alright.”

Then, he flicked his fingers, casting a spell that knocked the old man unconscious.

The system: [Aaaahhhhhhhh!!]

Ning Mingmei: [What’s with the screaming? He wanted two hundred thousand as a referral fee. I’ll just knock him out and search his soul instead.]

Instant savings of two hundred thousand. Nice.

Ignoring the system’s complaints about his ‘evil cultivator behavior,’ Ning Mingmei began searching the old man’s memories. He wasn’t very practiced at it, so it took him a little longer, but he eventually found something useful.

The old man got his pills from a larger clinic, about a mile away.

After all that secrecy, it turned out he was just a franchisee pretending to be an owner.

But Ning Mingmei didn’t stop there. He also found an unexpected memory.

While the old man was still unconscious, Ning Mingmei entered the backyard and opened the cellar cabinet. As expected, he found the old man’s family heirloom; a special chisel passed down from his great-grandfather.

The chisel was extraordinarily hard and glowed faintly in the dim light.

The old man’s ancestors weren’t locals. His great-grandfather had been a mining foreman who came to Ye Province with the imperial troops. In the old man’s memories, his father had told him many times about his great-grandfather’s adventures, how they extracted various ores from the mines, processed them in Ye Province, and then transported them out to be used as weapons in the imperial wars. But later, the war ended and the mine’s resources were depleted.

For some reason, the imperial court shut down the mine and ceased all operations. After that, his great-grandfather settled in Ye Province and their family line continued from there.

The chisel had been his great-grandfather’s tool.

The mine was quite a distance from Ye Province, but conveniently, it was located by a river.

Ning Mingmei stared at the chisel for a moment before setting it back down.

When he first entered the clinic, he had closed the door behind him.

Outside, He Zheng was waiting anxiously until finally, he saw Ning Mingmei emerge.

He Zheng asked, “Peak Lord Ning, where are we going?”

Ning Mingmei replied, “To the clinic on northern street.”

He Zheng: ?

Weren’t they supposed to be retrieving the snake monster’s corpse?

Just like before, Ning Mingmei entered the clinic alone. After some negotiation, he knocked out the shopkeeper and searched his soul. The scene was downright brutal.

The system: [You’re really becoming more and more like an evil cultivator.]

Ning Mingmei: [Why waste money and drag things out when I can solve the problem quickly?]

That… actually made a lot of sense.

The shopkeeper also had a supplier and that supplier had a supplier… As he searched through each one’s memories, Ning Mingmei became more proficient at soul-searching, though he was starting to feel sick.

Ning Mingmei: [Why does the soul-searching’s side effect feel like motion sickness?]

The painkiller supply chain in Ye Province was as convoluted as a family tree.

After searching five clinics in a row, Ning Mingmei finally felt like he was getting closer to the true source.

The final clinic was in the west, near the outskirts of the city, and it was not the one run by Physician Wu.

That shop looked like a pawnshop but it was actually selling medicine. Unfortunately, from the soul search, Ning Mingmei learned that the shop only opened once a month, distributing medicine before closing again.

As luck would have it, they arrived just after the latest batch had been sold. The shop was now completely empty.

Although He Zheng didn’t know exactly what Ning Mingmei was investigating, he had enough sense to say, “What now? The trail’s gone cold.”

Ning Mingmei replied, “Now it gets easier.”

He Zheng: “What?”

“This batch of pills is gone, which means the next batch must be in the process of being made,” Ning Mingmei explained. “Check for water sources near the western side and any locations with large waste discharge. The manufacturing site must be in Ye Province. Plus, there are many mountains in the west. The factory may be well-hidden but it must also be accessible by road.”

He Zheng: ?

He was completely stunned.

Ning Mingmei was exceptionally skilled at investigating the cultivation realm from an economic perspective. Since the source store was located there, the factory producing the medicine had to be nearby.

The mastermind behind the operation had set up an extensive sales network throughout Ye Province. Such an effort required deep-rooted power and a strong profit motive. Given the manpower cost already spent on the distribution network, the mastermind wouldn’t want to add more to the transportation costs.

But why go through the trouble of setting up such a vast network just to sell medicine?

What exactly was in those pills?

Just then, He Zheng suddenly said, “Peak Lord Ning, look over there. That looks like another medical clinic.”

Ning Mingmei turned his head. A seemingly ordinary clinic stood quietly in the distance.

Unlike the other clinics, that one had a newly renovated door and a fresh kind of ‘new,’ indicating that the owner had acquired the relatively old building no more than a few years ago. However, the renovation wasn’t thorough. For example, the bricks and stones hadn’t been replaced.

It revealed another fact; the owner didn’t plan to stay there for long.

A theory formed in Ning Mingmei’s mind. He entered the clinic and found the counter empty.

Just then, someone passed by and asked, “Are you looking for Physician Wu?”

Ning Mingmei turned around. The speaker was a middle-aged woman.

She wore a black veil on her head and carried a wicker basket on her arm. The basket contained nothing but an empty wine cup.

She must have recently lost a loved one and was returning from tending to their grave.

It was evening and the woman couldn’t see Ning Mingmei’s face clearly from a distance. She only heard him say, “Yes. I’m here to buy medicine from Physician Wu.”

“Medicine? Physician Wu doesn’t sell that kind of medicine,” the woman replied.

Once again, Ning Mingmei’s test received the same answer. He then said, “I have a hidden illness. I heard that Physician Wu is highly skilled and virtuous, so I came to seek his treatment.”

The woman eyed him suspiciously. “What kind of hidden illness?”

She was wary of Ning Mingmei, suspecting him of having ulterior motives.

Ning Mingmei responded naturally, “A man’s hidden illness.”

The woman: …

“Physician Wu is at the mass grave. You can find him there.”

Her tone softened immediately, even carrying a hint of sympathy.

Ning Mingmei remained composed. “Thank you, ma’am. Why is Physician Wu at the mass grave? Is he paying respects? I don’t want to disturb him if he’s attending to personal matters.”

“He’s probably… treating that thing,” the woman said, her expression flashing with disgust when she mentioned ‘that thing.’ “Only someone as kind as Physician Wu would bother to treat something like that.”

That thing? What did she mean by that?

Having gotten the information he needed, Ning Mingmei thanked the woman. After she left, he turned to He Zheng and said, “Wait outside.”

The system: ?

Ning Mingmei shut the door and began searching through Physician Wu’s clinic.

The system shrieked, [Didn’t you already confirm it?!]

Ning Mingmei: [Just confirming with words isn’t enough. Since we’re already here, how could I not search the place?]

He casually searched through Physician Wu’s clinic again. Unfortunately, there were indeed no suspicious red pills inside.

There weren’t even any hidden doors or secret rooms. The cabinets only contained ordinary herbs.

Ning Mingmei exited the room, restoring everything to its original state.

The system said, [I’m really worried you’ll get caught.]

[And if I do? If Physician Wu tries to run, that just gives me an excuse to charge him with fleeing out of guilt and take him back to the Supreme Clarity Sect,] Ning Mingmei said.

The system: …Is that something a person would say?

Also, why does it sound like you’ve already decided to bring him back to the Supreme Clarity Sect?

As they continued west, the sun dipped lower behind the mountains. Seeing the approaching darkness, He Zheng felt uneasy. “Peak Lord Ning, the snake monster we killed was around here. Maybe we should…”

Ning Mingmei said, “Look ahead, there’s something good.”