Starting Cultivation During a Trip-Chapter 79 - 78: News from Dad, Ghost Doctor of Yin Mountain
The next day, before dawn, Zhang Fan was jolted awake by a commotion.
He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, barely getting any rest at all. The time he could stay asleep was shrinking, so thank god for the sleeping pills Zhang Lingzong left behind—they at least got him three or four hours.
"What the hell...so early in the morning...what’s going on?"
Zhang Fan stumbled downstairs, still groggy, and as soon as he reached the entrance to the community, he saw a crowd gathered at the alley nearby.
"What happened, Auntie?"
"Hey, kid, watch it—who you calling Auntie? I’m only fifty-eight. Who are you calling old?"
"..."
"There was thunder last night, blew up the alley... Looks like it buried two people..."
"My god, those two were people!?"
"Twisted up like pretzels..."
In just a moment, all the uncles and aunties in the area crowded around, gossip flying. In an instant, those two were utterly ruined in reputation.
Honestly, anyone who gets struck by lightning in the dead of night has got to be shady.
"How come these days thunder picks out people to strike?"
Zhang Fan murmured to himself. Just as he turned, he ran into Liu Fusheng.
"Morning, Uncle Liu."
"Morning..." Liu Fusheng yawned.
"Has my dad reached out to you?" Zhang Fan asked.
He hadn’t managed to get in touch with Zhang Lingzong for days. He’d called the construction site, but apparently it had been shut down for the last half a month. Houses weren’t selling, no money coming in, so it all just sat there.
"He had something come up, said he went to Shangjing City. Told you not to worry." Liu Fusheng replied casually.
"Shangjing? What’s he going there for? Why can’t I reach him by phone?" Zhang Fan looked suspicious.
"Lost his phone... He’ll get in touch once the replacement is sorted."
"He lost it!?" Zhang Fan frowned, silent for a while.
"Fanfan, you haven’t had breakfast, have you? Come eat with me—a hot fresh pork bun, just out of the steamer."
Liu Fusheng was holding a brown paper bag and two cups of soy milk, strolling leisurely toward the security office.
"Uncle, what did my dad used to do for a living?"
Zhang Fan followed, asking absentmindedly.
Liu Fusheng paused mid-motion before replying, "Why are you asking that?"
"Just curious...you know when I was twelve...some stuff I just don’t remember."
"Back then...he did all kinds of jobs...the most common one..."
"Collected bodies."
Liu Fusheng dropped a bombshell.
"What?" Zhang Fan froze. "My dad worked in a funeral home? That’s a government job, right..."
Nowadays, you needed to pass exams to land a gig at a funeral home. Not the most respectable position, maybe, but the pay was good.
"Funeral home... yeah... you could say that." Liu Fusheng nodded.
"Why’d he quit?" Zhang Fan kept asking.
It sounded bad luck, sure, but it was miles easier than sweating it out at a construction site. Zhang Lingzong wasn’t young, and Zhang Fan had always tried to convince him: once he graduated, dad should stop going to the site.
"After collecting that many bodies...you’d want to puke too..." Liu Fusheng shook his head.
"Sinful work."
"Sinful? Isn’t that doing good, though?"
"Uh...right, right, doing good deeds...accumulating merit."
Liu Fusheng grinned wide, stuffing a giant bun in his mouth, biting down so the juices oozed out.
...
a.m., Taoyuan Square.
Zhang Fan was waiting for the elevator, caught sight of something out the corner of his eye and lit up. Jiang Lai happened to be walking over, her hair still shoulder-length, fresh as ever.
"Jiang Lai, your health’s okay now?"
Zhang Fan greeted her, sounding concerned.
"Haven’t been sleeping, have you?" Jiang Lai looked at Zhang Fan and suddenly asked.
"Can you see the dark circles? Is it that obvious?" Zhang Fan instinctively rubbed his eyes.
"If you can’t sleep, try some medicine." Jiang Lai turned, watching the elevator. Just then, the doors opened.
The two walked in; at this hour, only Zhang Fan and Jiang Lai were inside.
"Jiang Lai, have we met somewhere before? I mean, before Zhenwu Mountain..." Zhang Fan stared at Jiang Lai, questioning her.
"We have."
Her answer made Zhang Fan’s eyelid twitch.
"Where!?" Zhang Fan immediately pressed.
"You said to wait for you to come back." Jiang Lai turned, her airy gaze showing no emotion as it landed on Zhang Fan.
"Uh? Well, here I am, aren’t I?" Zhang Fan’s expression was awkward.
Jiang Lai turned her head away, silent.
Just then, the elevator stopped at the seventeenth floor; the doors opened, and she walked straight out.
"Jiang Lai...Jiang Lai...hang on, can you just tell me—where did we meet?"
Zhang Fan rushed after her, but Jiang Lai said not another word.
Into the office, Zhang Fan kept staring strangely at Jiang Lai, but dropped the subject.
"What’s up? Not sleeping well?"
Jiang Hu spun in his chair, sliding over.
"..."
"Oh right, I got the info you wanted."
As he spoke, Jiang Hu placed a pile of files on Zhang Fan’s desk.
"This much?"
"Duh, you know how big Yujing City is? Out of Jiangnan Province’s thirteen cities, it’s the dragon’s head—countless reclusive experts and cultivation clans..." Jiang Hu muttered.
No exaggeration: most cultivators in Jiangnan Province are concentrated in Yujing City. Plenty of individuals; but families with more than three generations of inheritance are rare.
Take the He Family—they’re low-tier, starting out as martial artists, basically nobodies among Yujing City’s cultivation clans.
As for the Shen Family, comes out of the Talismanic Sect; back in the day, had ties with major sects like Maoshan, counted as second or third tier. Because of that, even after the Profound Mirror Treasure Talisman incident, the Shen Family wasn’t wiped out like the He Family.
"Yin Mountain Sect’s Xiong Family!?"
Zhang Fan noticed, among all the cultivation families in Yujing City, the Xiong Family of the Yin Mountain Sect was undisputed top tier. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"Yin Mountain Sect is one of the most mysterious branches in the Daoist Sect—there are basically three lines in Yujing City. The Xiong Family leads, strongest; then there’s the Gu Family and the Ming Family, both also part of Yin Mountain Sect, under the Xiongs," Jiang Hu explained.
"Hmm? This Ming Chengjun—is he Yin Mountain Sect too?"
Right then, Zhang Fan saw a name in the files—this guy belonged to no family, listed under ’hermit’.
"Heard he’s originally from the Ming Family, Yin Mountain Sect. Left his family years ago, set up a little clinic in Yujing, got by practicing medicine..."
"To outsiders, just a retired old Chinese doctor... but in the inner circle, they call him the Ghost Doctor of Yin Mountain," Jiang Hu said off-handedly.
This guy wasn’t famous in Yujing City, didn’t seem powerful either, totally average. If not for his origin in the Ming Family, Yin Mountain Sect, most wouldn’t even notice him.
"368 Guai Zi Alley, in the south of the city!!?" Zhang Fan stared at the address, looking surprised.
"When I was a kid...I think I went there once!?"
