Chapter 66: A Disciple’s Job

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Liu Jin looks at his master with great care and great worry. It does not take long for the feelings so clearly reflected on his face to be vocalized.

“Master, are you sure you are okay?”

For about the tenth time that morning.

“Disciple, what do your eyes tell you?”

“I…”

“You are a doctor, are you not? You have learned from your father, and you have learned from this Old Jiang. So tell me, what do your eyes tell you? Or are you perhaps implying your teachers have been substandard?”

“Never!” Liu Jin immediately replies. “Master, I’d never be so disrespectful!”

“If respectfulness is your intent, you’ll have no problem doing what I tell you.”

Liu Jin’s frown deepens, but he does as ordered.

“Master’s skin has a healthier color than usual.” Which isn’t to say his master looks well. His skin is still pale, just less so than during previous days. “Master is also moving with greater ease today. This disciple has yet to see a single faltering movement from Master even though we have been walking for an hour.”

Of course, that might just as easily be his master stubbornly hiding his weakness, but if he is good enough to do that, that too can be considered a sign of health.

“And my breathing and heartbeat?

“Within normal parameters.”

Which, considering how much they have walked, is yet another sign of his Master’s health. That isn’t to say he’s on his way to recovery or anything like that. Such a thought is too naive.

It merely means today is a good day.

All sick people have them until they don’t.

“And going by your findings, what would you say is your diagnosis, disciple?”

Liu Jin looks away and grumbles something.

“What was that?”

“I said that Master’s condition is good enough to go for a walk,” Liu Jin says, resigned.

“If you knew that from the start, then why bother being so difficult?” Old Jiang reprimands him. “You are a doctor. Do not doubt your diagnosis out of petty sentimentality. Emotions have their time and place. Your concern for my person, however touching, is simply a hindrance to the both of us right now.”

As expected, his master is harsh.

Not wrong, though.

“Even so,” Liu Jin says, crossing his arms, his face showing no small amount of petulance. “Master, I still don’t think it is necessary for us to go to Poison Fang Canyon.”

Old Jiang had surprised Liu Jin by waking him up early in the morning and announcing they were to go to Poison Fang Canyon. Liu Jin had, of course, raised several objections to this, all of them related to his master’s health, but Old Jiang easily brushed them aside.

Whether it is the art of words, medicine, or cultivation, Old Jiang is Liu Jin’s superior by far.

“You do not think, because there are still many things you do not know. All understanding begins from ignorance.”

Poison Fang Canyon and its poisonous mists are already in sight, yet Liu Jin and Old Jiang show no fear. For them, the canyon has no mysteries.

“You are the disciple, and I, your master. It is up to me to make you less ignorant so that you may gain understanding, daunting though the task may be.”

Without a doubt, Master’s tongue is as sharp as ever. That part of him is not sick in the slightest.

It is the rest of him that Liu Jin worries about.

It is true that his master is healthy enough to go to Poison Fang Canyon. Old Jiang is, after all, a cultivator in the Emperor Realm. Now that Nine-Headed Snake God is gone, nothing there represents a threat to him.

However, that is all there is.

Liu Jin doesn’t miss that it takes them twice as long as usual to reach the canyon.

He also doesn’t miss the slight quiver that runs through his master’s body once they enter the poisonous mists. Managing the poison, a task that should have been as easy as breathing for his master, almost interfered with his sense of balance.

“Are we collecting ingredients, Master?”

Liu Jin doesn’t think they are. Back home, he had been about to get the basket when Old Jiang told him to leave it behind. They wouldn’t need it this time.

“Nothing of the sort,” Old Jiang says as they walk deeper into the canyon. He does not use his Qi to scare away the creatures living in the area as he has done in the past. That tells Liu Jin that his master probably plans to make him fight something.

Either that or he’s too weakened to flare his Qi, but that possibility is not one Liu Jin wants to consider right now.

“For now, you are merely to defend me as we walk.”

It does not take long for Liu Jin to find himself doing just that. A Red-Scaled Centipede is the first of the canyon’s inhabitants to attack. It is not the first time Liu Jin has to fight one, and now, he is faster and stronger than the last time he did so.

The knife Meng Yue gave him flashes as he takes it out of his sheath. The Red-Scaled Centipede falls in pieces a breath later.

That is the first of the attacks, but it is not the last.

A Five-Legged Toad.

A group of Poisonous Flame Salamanders.

A Gold-Tipped Scorpion.

One after another, they come. One after another, Liu Jin kills them. Meng Yue’s knife slashes through flesh and organs time after time. Liu Jin attacks with viciousness that is uncharacteristic of him, but he simply cannot leave anything to chance while guarding his master.

All creatures that get close to them must die.

Still…

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“Master, are you doing something to attract them?” Liu Jin asks as he beheads some sort of giant praying mantis. The exact name of the Spirit Beast escapes him.

Liu Jin’s question is not without merit. While it is not unusual to be attacked by Spirit Beasts while inside the canyon, Liu Jin can scarcely recall a time when they have been quite this persistent. Additionally, instead of heading towards the center of the canyon, his master is making them walk in circles.

It is as if the constant attacks are the purpose of this outing rather than an inconvenience.

“I have no need to. Predators know vulnerable prey when they see it. Of course, they greatly overestimate their ability and vastly underestimate mine. I could say that it is only to be expected of mindless beasts, but you’d be surprised by how many so-called wise men have died for similar reasons. Nevertheless, this serves our purposes.”

As soon as Old Jiang says that, a new creature steps out of the darkness.

It stands on four legs and is covered by light, purplish fur with dark stripes running through its body. It bears its long fangs at them, growling and snarling.

A Five Poison Tiger.

“This one will do. Kill it, but leave the body as intact as possible.”

In other words, Liu Jin cannot use the blade.

Very well.

Liu Jin dashes in, not giving the Spirit Beast a chance to attack his master. The Spirit Beast takes a swipe at him, long claws whistling through the air with enough force to fell trees.

The first needle goes in, right beneath the beast’s shoulder.

It stumbles, suddenly unable to use one of its legs, but it quickly builds back its momentum, turning to attack. Its sharp, long canines seek to tear Liu Jin’s flesh asunder.