Wei Shi Lan, when he saw what happened, couldn’t help but smile. He had not even gone that far, only using a small portion of his hand skills and placing the long needles between his hand and Chang’e’s body because he had a faint suspicion that no mortal would be able to endure this technique.

If he had decided to use his hands directly, the result would have been devastating. Of course, this was a technique he had developed after tweaking the true Heavenly Nine Needles Meridian Art, using it to achieve a deeper level of relaxation than the original technique was designed for.

He stared at her motionless body.

’Her body is far more worn out than I expected it to be... Is this how mortals exhaust themselves? For what?’

Wei Shi Lan almost could not understand. Becoming a Cultivator was an easy way out of poverty, out of the pitiful, endless struggles of mortals. Every mortal should aspire to become a Cultivator, no matter how arduous the journey might be.

Indeed, being a Cultivator is very expensive, but that is also the reason Sects have been established. With enough diligence, even if one is talentless, one could become an outer disciple, which, no matter how lowly it sounded, had its own benefits.

Shi Lan had been there, after all.

He sighed and covered Chang’e, who had fallen asleep. Then he stretched and went out of the house.

Xia Xia and Xiao Fa were outside arguing by the time he stepped out, with Xia Xia blocking the door, her arms spread wide.

"Senior brother said no one enters!" she defiantly told her sister.

"You runt, what if he’s doing bad things to our mother!"

"Senior Brother Lan would never. He’s a good person!"

Xiao Fa facepalmed.

"You are just a stupid and arrogant girl. You don’t have eyes for people and are easily taken advantage of. When will you grow up?"

Xia Xia frowned at her words, but before she could say anything, another voice spoke. It was only then they noticed Shi Lan standing at the inner entrance. He slowly walked out as he spoke.

"Xia Xia here appears to be more grown up than you, Xiao Fa. What have you ever done? You are absent from your family, complain at every little inconvenience, squander your family’s resources, and cannot repay even the bare minimum. I have little patience for people like you. Arrogance, entitlement, pride, selfishness — how unlucky must one’s fate be to embody all these useless traits in a single body?"

He placed his hands gently on Xia Xia and said,

"Your mother is sleeping after I healed her muscle aches."

Xia Xia’s eyes widened. She glanced up at the sky and saw it was still late morning, yet her mother was sleeping.

Her face radiated bright happiness.

"Really? You really did?! Mother always holds her waist when she tries to bend down, and she never sleeps in the morning, always working. Thank you, Senior Brother. Thank you for healing my mother."

Shi Lan turned to Xiao Fa, who stood there with a conflicted look on her face. She tried to hide the shame she felt, then mumbled softly,

"...I’m sorry."

But Shi Lan did not act as if he heard it. Such an apology was beneath him. Unless she found a way to break her useless pride and arrogance, she would continue to be useless.

"Come, Xia Xia. Let us discuss the proceedings of our Heavenly Hall of Benevolent Healing."

Xia Xia excitedly followed him, and they turned and entered the house, leaving Xiao Fa standing in the yard.

For a moment she was enraged because she had mustered the courage to apologize, but he had outright ignored her.

She snarled curses at him and stomped away.

’I don’t care! What do I care anyway? It’s not like the words of some homeless stranger matter to me.’

***

Shi Lan discussed the proceedings of the business with Xia Xia. What they were going to open was a shop. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

And the location would be their house during the day. The goal was to find customers and charge them fifteen copper coins per session. Xia Xia had immediately expressed that this price would be difficult, but Shi Lan insisted that this was how they had to conduct business.

When one was offering value, it was naïve not to express that value through the cost required to obtain it.

Xia Xia did not seem to understand his words and merely shrugged, trusting the fact that Shi Lan spoke with profound confidence. He knew what he was doing.

Shi Lan took a plank and carefully wrote a signboard for the shop, hanging it above the entrance of the house.

The Heavenly Hall of Benevolent Healing.

That afternoon, Wei Shi Lan, Xia Xia, and Chang’e stepped out to the central market of the city. This market was only a few miles from the lake where most of the townswomen worked. South of it was the gambling den. If one continued south into the forest, they would ascend the mountain and reach the Peach Blossom Sect.

Chang’e and Xia Xia approached people to tell them about the Heavenly Hall of Benevolent Healing, but it was useless. No one listened and simply dismissed their words as nonsense.

"It is very silly for me to spend fifteen copper coins treating a wound I don’t even have."

"Xia Xia’s mother, are you and your daughter trying to scam us?"

"This is nonsense. Don’t ever talk to me about it again. If I have an ache problem, I’ll just get ointment from the Medicine Hall," a tall, sharp-looking woman said.

Meanwhile, Shi Lan stood at the center of the market, holding another portable signboard he had created. Women, young and old, who walked past him cast lingering glances at him and blushed, gossiping quietly about the young man’s heavenly sculpted face.

Shi Lan paid them no attention, simply observing the women of Lake Valley.

’There are a lot of virgins in this place, and because of this, the town is thick with overflowing pure Yin Qi.’

It sounded like a good thing. Well, it was a good thing for Shi Lan, but it was a serious problem for the townspeople, especially any cultivator living around here.

To cultivate one’s soul and body is to temper and prepare it in pursuit of understanding the Dao. In that tumultuous preparation, the balance of yin and yang is paramount. This balance does not have to be strictly yin and yang; it is said that every Qi possesses its own yin-yang balance necessary to carve its path toward the Dao.

However, the imbalance of the strongest and purest Yin and Yang Qi can affect every other Qi being cultivated.

Because of this, around Lake Valley, cultivation would be very slow.

’This is a true dilemma...’

While Shi Lan was thinking about this, a stunning yet haughty woman approached Xia Xia and her mother. She looked wealthy, wearing expensive pearl necklaces and a fur coat draped over her shoulders. Despite her age, her figure was striking, with a massive chest like twin boulders before her.

"What is this nonsense, Xia Xia’s mother? Preaching healing. Are you trying to take over the Healing Hall now? After trying to steal my husband from me, you’re trying to take away my business too?"

Chang’e bowed respectfully to the woman.

"No, Madam Sui Rong. I have no such intentions. This is just a meridian treatment that the Medicine Hall does not provide."

The woman’s gaze hardened.

"But we provide ointment. Don’t you know that doing this will damage our reputation? You worked for us before, and after trying to steal my husband with your fox-like face, now you’re trying to tarnish my image and steal my business by offering better services than mine?"

Chang’e smiled politely.

"I don’t see how that is exactly my fault, Madam Sui Rong."

Sui Rong’s eyes flared with fury and she raised her hand to strike Chang’e, but someone caught her wrist calmly before it could move.

She turned, only to see a brilliant young man with sharp brows and slanted dark eyes standing over her.

"It’s wrong to hit my staff, Sui Rong. What do you think you’re doing?"

Sui Rong’s gaze darkened. No matter how handsome she found this young man, this was their first meeting and he was speaking to her as if they were equals.

"How dare you? Do you know who I am?"

Shi Lan stared down at her indifferently.

"I don’t know, nor do I care. If you hit my staff, I’m going to hit you, and you will lose a tooth."

Sui Rong’s brows twitched as anger and hatred surged within her.

Then she raised her voice, causing the entire market to pause and turn toward them.

"Today! I will expose this fraudulent act that this stranger and this Yuen Chang’e are committing. Charging useless services for ten copper coins. This is nothing but a scheme to steal people’s money!"

Shi Lan smiled calmly.

"Since you want to expose us, why don’t you come and check our services? If it is merely a trick, someone as esteemed as the Medicine Hall’s elder surely cannot be deceived. You will expose the lie."

The people around them murmured, seeming to agree with what Shi Lan said. If they were being tricked by another healer, who was in a better position to expose the lie than the Medicine Hall itself?

The lady cast him a condescending look.

"You think I will waste my precious fifteen copper coins on a useless service?"

Shi Lan laughed softly.

"You’re the one eager to expose us, Sui Rong. But yes, I can give you the first service for free as a first-customer discount. However, I’m certain that when I’m done, you will be willing to pay a hundred copper coins for another session."

Sui Rong heard this and burst into loud laughter. The market crowd also laughed.

"Surely this man has gone insane."

"Handsome face and no brain, the heavens really are fair."

"Junior brother, if not for your handsome face, I would have kicked you already."

As people spewed all kinds of comments, Xia Xia worried for Shi Lan, but there was only a calm, confident smile on his face.

Sui Rong couldn’t believe her ears.

’This man is stupid. Even if he has a good service, I am not a fool who would waste a hundred copper coins on him! He has dug his own grave.’

She raised her head and grinned.

"Fine. Try it. I will follow you to your Heavenly Hall of Benevolent Healing and expose your lies to the entire Lake Valley."

She glared at Chang’e and then at Shi Lan before they began to move away from the market.

With so many people curious about the outcome, the usually crowded market became strangely sparse that afternoon.