Chương 411: The Quiet Physician Returns

A week later in Goldflow City, a wealthy and bustling merchant hub in the central plains, a strange stall opened in the main market. It was just a simple wooden table and a chair, with a hand-painted sign: "Free Beast Consultations. All Ailments. All Creatures." and signed by "The Quiet Physician". The man behind it was young with a calm and quiet demeanor but he was wearing the robes of someone from the Golden Shell Guild. This was a major merchant city and naturally people knew who the Golden Shell Guild was.

At first people were still skeptical about the skill of such a young man and the free sign didn't help. Many thought he was here simply to learn and wouldn't risk the well being of their beast to him. However, because it was free the line of desperate people quickly grew.

"Please... sir," a young and tearful woman approached, holding a large glass tank.

"My Golden Water-Dancer. It was fine just a few days ago and now it seems listless and unhealthy... it won't dance anymore either." Li Yu looked at the creature. It was an aquatic beast, a large ornate fish. This made it very easy. He closed his eyes and his Koi senses reached out. He felt its sluggish and confused thoughts.

'Stuck. Heavy. Can't... move. Heavy.' Li Yu then probed it with his spiritual sense and found the issue.

"It has a blockage," Li Yu said simply.

"It ate a river-pearl that was too large for it to digest."

"Is it… savable? Can you save it?" Li Yu sent a pulse of his own pure Koi qi into it. The fish's body convulsed once and it spat out a small, gray and undigested pearl. Instantly, the Golden Water-Dancer was feeling light and free. As if to thank him, it began to dance. Its fins were a blur of gold and blue. The woman cried, this time with joy.

"Thank you! Thank you! This is our family's favorite pet, the kids will love that it is doing well now. Thank you!" Seeing the happiness his simple efforts brought to the woman and soon her children brought a smile to Li Yu's face. Next was a burly and scarred mercenary. He was quite the opposite of the woman just now and he was furious. From his beast bag he took out a large iron cage and placed it onto the ground in front of Li Yu's table. Inside was a "Three-Eyed Wind-Wolf."

It was a magnificent gray-furred beast but it was a rabid, snarling mess. Its third, "truth" eye on its forehead was clouded, milky and was leaking fluids that made it look like it was crying.

"It won't obey," the man growled.

"It's my best tracker and now it's worthless. It tries to bite me. Help me fix it." This was not an aquatic beast. Li Yu couldn't feel its thoughts. He had to rely on his own mastery when it came to treating beasts.

"Hold it still," Li Yu commanded. The mercenary pinned the wolf with a gauntlet. Li Yu looked at the eye. He smelled the beast's breath. He felt the qi coming off it. It was chaotic, hot, and... sour. Li Yu then asked the man a series of questions to help him diagnose the beast by getting a better picture of everything that happened but no clues were given. Eventually he asked him, "What did you feed it?"

"Just... just a spiritual pill. To make it faster!" the mercenary grumbled. Li Yu sent out his spiritual sense into the beast and he finally found the issue.

"It was a poor-quality pill," Li Yu diagnosed.

"It didn't dissolve. The energy has formed a 'knot' in the meridians leading to its third eye. It is in constant and agonizing pain. That is why it snarls."

"Can you fix it?" Li Yu held his hand over the wolf's head. He channeled a tiny imperceptible thread of his Koi qi. He guided the thread of qi into the wolf's head. He didn't blast the knot. He untangled it slowly to not hurt the beast. He soothed the inflamed meridians to not leave any lasting damage. After a long moment of the slow procedure the job was done. The wolf, which had been snarling and vicious, suddenly went limp. It whined a soft but clearly grateful sound. It pushed its head into Li Yu's hand.

Its third eye was no longer milky. It was now a sharp amber orb. The mercenary was happy to see his companion healed but was still terrible with words. He simply gave Li Yu a slight bow and said thank you before leaving..

"Remember to be careful with what you feed it. Do not feed it cheap pills." Li Yu reminded him as he was leaving. He treated a dozen more. A "Fire-backed Salamander" whose flames were too cold. A "Crying Bat" that had stopped crying, a sign of a deep internal sickness. He worked for hours, utilizing his expertise and his feel for the creatures. He couldn't solve every single case that came to him but he was solving the majority of them. Stolen story; please report.

An old man arrived with a tiny little bird in a cage. It was listless and barely moving at all with no sound coming out of it. It was hard to tell if it was alive or already dead.

"Please take a look at my bird young master and see if you can help it. It fell ill just yesterday and now it is like this. I don't know what happened to it, everything was the same as it always was." The old man quickly spoke respectfully. Li Yu took the small cage and opened it up to check on the bird. It was still breathing but it was labored and looked like it could die at any time. He sent his spiritual sense into the bird and found no issues that seem to be causing the illness.

He asked the old man a series of questions as before to try to understand the situation and conditions a bit more but none of them provided an answer. Just as Li Yu was about to give up and give the old man the bad news that he didn't know, he detected a faint aura on the bird. It was something he missed when he was checking with his spiritual sense inside the body because it was external. He didn't think the bird would have an aura of qi since it was just a normal bird and overlooked it.

Sensing it now, he probed deeper and he could sense a faint aura of fire coming from it.

'That's odd, how could it have fire qi from a normal bird?' Li Yu thought.

"Sir, do you know the parents of this little bird?" he asked the old man.

"I don't know the parents, I found this little bird when it was a baby in the forest and brought it home to raise as a pet. Is something wrong?" The old man quickly replied.

"It seems that this bird isn't ill but is undergoing an evolution of sorts. However, since the feed you gave it is only ordinary it doesn't have the spiritual power to continue its evolution. Here are a few spirit stones. Grind them up in a powder and slowly feed it to the bird. Perhaps it will give you a surprise and change to a rank 1 beast. However, sir, please also understand that many beasts can't make this change and it could pass away in its attempt. It is up to fate… fate…"

Li Yu began but stuttered at the end.

'Fate… even I understand some things are just left to fate. But does that make things any easier? Of course not, but fate… what a weird and strange concept. Something that someone says to another when things can't be explained well or when facing the unknown. Yet, fate seems tangible, like though it really exists…' Li Yu pondered to himself as he returned the cage with the spirit stones to the old man.

What Li Yu didn't realize was that deep within his Ocean of Qi there was a tiny thread of "Fate law" that just formed. It was extremely tiny, no longer than 1cm but it was there. Next to it were other laws that Li Yu had touched upon but never realized. All of this was hidden away and undiscovered by the owner but all growing as his understanding of them grew.

What was most surprising of all was that next to all the different laws of various sizes was an ethereal fishing hook, giving off a warm glow that seemed to be empowering these laws and it was patiently waiting.

"I understand, thank you! I don't know how to thank you young master, this old man cannot afford to pay you for the spirit stones but please take this homemade jerky I made from my hunt." The old man said as he handed over a bag of jerky. Li Yu received it with a smile and took a bite. It was incredibly delicious that he couldn't help but take another right away. A large smile on his face.

"This is incredible sir! sir you produced this in larger quantities, the Golden Shell Guild will happily pay you for it, it's absolutely amazing." Li Yu couldn't help but say.

"I am sorry young master, I only make enough for my family and some friends from the wild game I hunt." The old man said with pride after seeing how much this young doctor loved his jerky. Li Yu didn't give up.

"Sir, if you ever decide to open a shop to make this jerky to sell, please let us know. Here is a communication token to contact the guild. We will invest in you." Li Yu gave him the communication token and the old man went back home, hopeful that his bird friend would make it. Whether or not he would seriously consider the idea of opening a jerky shop was unknown. Li Yu was still biting on some of the jerky and couldn't help but really enjoy it.

'This was what I was forgetting, this was what I was missing out on in my anger.' He thought to himself as he continued to see more patients. At the end of the day a small child no older than ten approached him. She was carrying a small wicker basket. Inside, on a bed of soft leaves was an "Earth-Shell Badger." It was ancient. Its fur was patchy. Its breathing was a shallow, rattling sound. It was not sick. It was not injured. It was just... old.

"Please, sir," the little girl whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"Pebbles... he won't wake up to eat. He's been my friend since I was born. Can... can you fix him?" Li Yu looked at the badger. He placed a hand on its small frail body. He could feel its life force. It was a tiny guttering candle, the wax almost completely gone. There was no knot to untangle. There was no blockage to remove. His Koi qi, his gifts, his vast power... they were all useless here. He could not fix this. He could not create new wax for the candle. Even his life aspected qi was no use here.

It could heal but it couldn't extend life in that way. He couldn't save this little girl's badger from the simple, gentle and terrible hand of time. As he looked at the child, his heart ached.

"I am... so sorry," he said, his voice soft.

"He is not in pain. He has just... lived a very, very long and happy life. His journey is coming to an end."

"No!" she cried.

"You fixed the wolf! You made the fish dance! Fix him!"

"I cannot fix this," Li Yu said, his voice full of a sadness she was too young to understand.

"No one can. But... I can make his journey... peaceful." He closed his eyes. He sent his warm gentle life-aspected qi into the badger. Not to heal but to comfort. He soothed the small aching joints. He warmed the little body. He eased the labored breathing. The badger let out a long soft and contended sigh. It snuggled into the leaves. And its breathing... stopped. The little girl wailed but she did not blame him. Even though she was young, she understood what had happened and didn't lash out at him.

Li Yu sat there with his heart heavy as the girl cried. He was a god to some, a demon to others and a master of a continent-spanning guild. But here he was just a man who couldn't stop a little girl's heart from breaking. He was mentally tired and wearily with affairs of the world. But he felt more human and more alive than he had in months.