Chương 59: Medical exam

I opened my eyes, as a new man. Well, the same Pef Tian but more. With a horrifying suspicion I looked inside my soul, to find the tiny Nascent Soul flower play drums with the two flowers of Pef and Tian.

'Damn milk farmer. Don't get us killed!' I grunted inward, only for my soul to look innocently around. So that's how it feels... I felt sorry for Fenghue for a second. Weaponized Innocence. The ice fairy tried to be a good friend and repay her karma, only to sink deeper and deeper into my gravity. That was the word. Gravitas! The facade of competence and power a cultivator projected automatically. Some even confused it with face, but those concepts were opposite. Face was a political ideal, where gravitas was...

the presence of Dao. And now, I held a bit of Dao at my fingertips. Speed in particular. A soul sense next. Enough qi to bring down a mountain, and more than a regular Venerable. I clenched my fist. The Tier 3 Naga pills did translate into the next realm, just like Nana said. With 5 Supreme-grade Naga pills taken before ascension... I was already able to fight a mid-level Nascent Soul. A drop of rain formed in my palm, the sign of a minor Water affinity.

Pulsing my qi, I even managed to turn water into snow, and a fractal snowflake formed instead. On a hunch, I took out the Blue Lotus and examined it for a minute. A few petals were missing, but plants grew back in time. Anyway, this rare plant was my ticket to Soul Transformation and the way out from this qi-desert of a continent. Save one lotus petal for Fenghue? I hesitated for a minute. Damn it. Don't make decisions with your dick! Fuck. Too late then. I changed into a new set of white robes.

Now I was a Venerable, and had to look like one too. Of course, on the Central Continent, the white robes meant fresh meat, packed in white paper to be used as bait. Here it was an honor. With a sigh, I opened the door. My wives waited with big smiles, and Lina Peng stood aside in her new azure robes, like a new Frozen Elder. I guess I had a hand in that too.

"My lovely wives! Sakura first! Your Nascent Soul looks so pretty..." I exclaimed and went to hug the newest Venerable in the family. She accepted the hug, then punched me in the ribs hard enough to kill me, a few days back.

"I come out from my ascension with joy, and then go cry my eyes out at Sister Ling's funeral tablet!" Sakura yelled a bit angry. I knew what she meant, but a strong deterrence required sacrifice.

"I know. Things got weird since we last saw each other. Ling wanted to rob me, and grabbed the wrong storage bag. Some kind of venom was hidden inside the bag from the Purple Sands." I explained patiently, and patted her back gently.

"Milk brains! I can sense lies now. You knew it was the wrong bag." Sakura grumbled and drew me into a warm hug accompanied by drops of sadness on my neck. Hmmm. That explains so much. Tian never bothered with information skills.

"Lina Peng, congratulations on your Golden Core. Learning talismans will be much easier now." I said in a polite voice, and the girl nodded from her corner.

"You too, Venerable." Lina offered curtly with a bow.

"What! Nobody else noticed my white robes?" I asked my wives with a wide grin.

"Sect Master is waiting for you, Pef Tian. Try to act normal, just this once." Quinhue said in a sad voice, feeling distant and cold for some reason. Might be the recent funeral. I nodded and sped up, reaching the Frozen Palace in one second.

"Frozen Master, my condolences." I said curtly and sat down, as the old woman poured me tea.

"Pef Tian... What do you plan to do next? Form your own sect? You already have a solid backing with your Venerable wives." the woman asked in a tired voice.

"No. What I aim for is the Soul Transformation Realm. And I promised Quinhue the same. I still need to talk with Fenghue, but I can help her too. Tier 4 pills are much stronger than people believe." I answered after tasting the tea. It was bitter, possibly by design.

"Then you will stay in the Frozen Pavilion?" she asked to make sure.

"Sure! Unless you kick me out. If so, I can buy a villa and make pills elsewhere. Might have to kill a dozen of our neighbors when they try to rob me, but I wouldn't mind either. Venerable eyes are useful... for more pills." I said with a carefree voice. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"If I do allow you to stay... you need to raise the next generation of women. A few more Nascent Souls, more Core Elders... implement those changes you wanted. I want to see my sect thrive, before I die and join Ling in the afterlife. Take care of Minghue... if she chooses you for some stupid reason." the Sect Master spoke as if she would be dying next week. I sighed and nodded. Karma had to be repaid.

"Call your Elders here, and the youngest Peak Foundation disciples. And don't yell at me, if I touch some skin. It's for medical reasons..." I demanded with an innocent voice. Her soul sense expanded visibly, much wider than my own. Probably 7th level of Nascent Soul, just like Zhen Chen. Without better methods, cultivation was so hard in this place. In a minute, Quinhue and Fenghue arrived with a dozen girls each, while the Elders flew in by themselves, including a few I never met before.

"One by one, come here and give me your wrist, Elders. This is a medical exam." I said with faint amusement, and Quinhue glared at me for no reason. As Tian's knowledge came to use, I made a list with herbs and other ingredients. Some problems could be fixed by Alchemy, others by extra training, a few more required a change of the cultivation method. As for the five crippled Elders missing limbs, I had a Lizard-tail pill in mind. Maybe Salamander too if those lived on this continent.

"The crippled Elders can rejoice. I can make a pill for you all, once you bring me a thousand lizards for practice. If you didn't know, lizards can grow their tails back, and sometimes even legs. And if you have money, bring that too. Tier 3 Spirit herbs are not cheap." I began on a cheerful note.

"That's amazing, Venerable Tian! We will go right now..." one azure-robed Elder lacking both legs said after getting a nod from their Sect Master, and the rest followed her as they flew out to hunt lizards. At least they could fly, so mobility wasn't a big deal.

"You three, stop cultivating and wait on those chairs. The Frozen Yin isn't working for you." I pointed at three easy cases.

"I suspect you found another method in Teshan's treasury?" The Sect Master asked a bit curious.

"I don't want to answer that. You can check their new method later, Sect Master." I declined politely, and felt a glare on my head.

"Hmph. Still so cautious, Venerable. But Quinhue doesn't know how to lie well. I can guess the missing parts from her report." the old hag said with a bored voice. Well, Teshan's stuff was a bit interesting for this place, and it also gave me the cover to produce strange methods she never heard of before.

"You four Elders! All of you have a mineral deficiency. Buy these metals in a moderate quantity, no more than a cup. A few pills will fix your bodies in a month or less." I pointed at another round of Frozen Elders, and sent list of mineral supplements for them to buy. On Pef's world, multi-vitamins and minerals were a common staple, here they were not. Qi might do wonders, but not always. We had Alchemy for a reason.

"Why rusted iron, Venerable? Eating rust is good?" the Sect Master asked after skimming my list.

"Generally, people get enough iron from their diet. Red meat, most often. When they don't get it, the blood functions poorly, and they become weak. The same happens if you lose too much blood. Basic medicine, nothing special. But eating rust is not good." I said in a bored voice, then pointed at three Elders in Peak Core Realm.

"You three Elders, special training with me for a week, then you can ascend. Some pain can be expected..." I added with a wry voice. The Elders nodded rapidly.

"Some pain is no problem, Hero Pef Tian!" one woman offered eagerly, and bowed low... Enough to see her boobs from my seat, as her robes formed a deep valley. She might even drink milk from the source, that one. Oh well. Once a scumbag, always a scumbag.

"Foundation girls next, one by one!" I demanded like a real doctor. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, most of their Foundations were cracked, and would simply kill them if forming a Core. Make a note, and invent a pill to repair Foundations. Cement, or maybe powdered bones? Something with calcium... geomilk... milk... plus some Tier 2 fruits.

"You six girls, sit in those chairs. The rest of you... medically speaking... you're internally penetrated. Your Foundations are bad, or cracked or otherwise unconductive to further cultivation. I expect you could sense that already, as your qi wanders around and leaks out. There is a potential cure, but it's expensive. About 5000 spirit stones each, or half if you have a Tier 2 fruit at home." I said in a callous voice, and a dozen poor girls sobbed and fell to the floor, as if their lives were ruined.

"For those of you who are poor, an alternate revenue method can be asked from your fellow White Stars, who are making good money now. Individual action is not recommended though. Go together and learn from your fellow disciples." I urged the next group of criminal hunters. Robbing criminals did make some money. The Sect Master coughed, then approved.

"It's not a good way, but you can make extra money just like the peasant girls from the White Stars. You will need chainmail suits first." As the 9 women remained in the hall, I pointed a finger at the Foundation disciples.

"These 6 girls need to get naked, from their waist up. And then I have to touch them, to help with their Cores. It worked great with Hua Chen and Lina Peng, so no reason it won't with other women." I said with my scumbag voice. The Frozen Master spat her bitter tea.

"Pef Tian... I'm starting to doubt..."

"I will do it, Sect Master! I waited 3 decades already, and my Core doesn't form. Even if he touches... it's only waist up. I can endure that." A brave girl rose from her seat, feeling her chance was fading away if the Sect Master denied it.

"Me too!"

"Me three!" more girls asked for their Core, leaving a single prude girl, blushing to her ears.

"Wait here, you five. I'll take you to my room a bit later, and you'll come out as Elders." I promised with a faint smile.

"... Me too..." the last girl offered with a tiny voice, stepping on her prude education for more power. What can I do? Women just want to show me their boobs!