Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

The fat man jogged out of the black market gate, crawled through the iron gate, and turned into a quiet street on the east side of the post office city along the alley.

He walked in a hurry, afraid of getting home late. In his haste, he didn't even notice that someone was following him.

As he turned a corner, the fat man felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

The fat man turned around and was so frightened that he trembled all over. When he saw that it was the same person who had been bidding against him, his face turned deathly pale.

"What are you doing?"

The young man chuckled, and five other young men at the Body Tempering Realm surrounded the fat man from all sides, completely blocking his way.

"Hey buddy, sorry about that piece of medicinal herb you bought. That stuff is what we brothers make our living from. You accidentally bought it. Could you do us a favor and give it back to us?" the young man in the lead said slowly.

The fat man clutched the jade box tightly to his chest: "You...you're forcing me to buy this! I paid real money for it!"

"As for the silver, we can give it to you, exactly as it is, ten taels, and then we'll be even. How about that?"

The fat man's lips trembled for a long time: Good heavens, they could have just robbed him, but they pretended to give him ten taels.

He saw the fists of those burly men, as big as earthenware pots, clenched tightly.

"What? You fatso, you want to lay a hand on us? Let me tell you, our fists don't have eyes. Don't blame me if you get killed." The young man warned fiercely when he saw that the fat man was not convinced.

The fat man clenched his fists tightly, then, with overwhelming force, lifted his legs!

He literally knelt down!

"Please, I beg you! I need this medicine to save my life. Please give it to me. I'd be willing to do anything for you for the rest of my life!"

Everyone was a little bewildered by the fat man's actions.

One of the young men ignored the fat man's cries and kicked him to the ground.

"Give it to me."

The fat man clung tightly to the box, refusing to take out the medicinal herbs.

"Oh, you're pretty stubborn. Give you the beating!"

The fat man was surrounded and attacked by several people, but he didn't utter a sound.

"Ahem, isn't it a bit much for several of you to bully one person?"

A voice came from the alley entrance, and the five of them turned their heads to look.

At the entrance of the alley stood a hunched old man, leaning on a cane, who appeared harmless.

"Damn it, you old geezer, who do you think you are? How dare you meddle in my business?" One of them stepped forward, glaring fiercely at Xiao Nian.

"If you know what's good for you, get the hell out of here, or I'll beat you up too."

Xiao Nian blinked her cloudy eyes and asked, "You're going to attack this old man like me too?"

"Get out!"

"You old bastard, you're asking for death!" The young man in the lead waved his hand, and the four of them pounced on him at the same time.

The fist flew with the wind; the streets and alleys were narrow, and there was no way to avoid it.

Xiao Nian's cane moved.

A blow to the knee of the young leader sent him sprawling to his knees with a scream.

The second sweep of the staff knocked down two opponents.

Before the third blow even landed, the remaining two had already turned and run.

As he left, he kept yelling, "You old bastard, you wait! We're going back to get reinforcements."

"Did I tell you to leave?" Xiao Nian's eyes narrowed, revealing a sharp glint, and he swung his cane out.

The two who were trying to escape were instantly knocked to the ground by the cane, convulsing and falling silent.

The young leader, clutching his knees and hissing in pain, shouted, "Do you know who we are? We're under Master Cui! If you dare touch us, Master Cui won't let you get away with it!"

The surname Cui? Xiao Nian vaguely remembered him; he seemed to have connections with an antique resale organization, which was also the organization he was looking for.

Xiao Nian glanced down at him, her eyes looking at him like she was looking at a dog on the side of the road.

"Have Third Master Cui come find me. Meng Chenhai, Instructor at the Mizhou Military Academy."

"Okay, okay, I'll remember that."

The three young men carried the unconscious man and scrambled away, disappearing into the alleyway.

The fat man was still sitting on the ground, holding the jade box in his arms, looking up at Xiao Nian with a shocked expression.

"My name is Lin Mumu. Thank you for saving me, sir. Are you also a martial artist?"

He clearly didn't believe that an eighty-year-old man could be so vigorous, taking down the young man in just a few breaths.

"No, that doesn't count." Xiao Nian put her cane away. "It just means I'm a bit more agile."

Lin Mumu quickly got up, stuffing the jade box even deeper into his clothes, fearing another robbery. He thanked them repeatedly.

"Thank you so much, sir, for saving my life! This medicinal herb was life-saving; by helping me preserve it, you are a great benefactor to my Lin family!"

Xiao Nian glanced at him.

"What do you need that piece of medicinal herb for?"

Lin Mumu's eyes reddened: "My sister is sick. We've been seeing doctors for a year and they all said there's no cure. Then I heard that there's a master alchemist in Xinyou City, named something like Master Qian."

"I had to pull a lot of strings to get a meeting with him. He gave me some pill formulas and told me to find a way to collect them all. The hardest one to find was the Crimson Sun Fungus, which was over 500 years old. I finally found it on the black market, and I'm willing to sell everything I own to buy it."

What symptoms does your sister have?

"First, he felt cold all over, and vomited everything he ate. Later, he couldn't even drink water. He became so thin that he was just skin and bones. He was always inexplicably cold, and being next to him in the middle of winter felt like being in the dead of winter, even in the heat of summer."

This symptom resembled a constitution prone to extreme cold, a fact Xiao Nian only realized after examining the patient.

"That Master Qian asked you to find a Crimson Sun Fungus that's over 500 years old?"

"Yes, he said it's due to cold toxins entering the body, and that the yang energy of the Red Yang Ganoderma lucidum should be used to neutralize it."

"Oh? Is that so?" Xiao Nian said with a cold laugh.

"She suffered from yin deficiency with excessive fire, her qi and blood were depleted, and she needed medicine to nourish yin and moisten the lungs. However, the Red Yang Ganoderma is extremely hot in nature; if she had taken it, she would have died within three days."

Lin Mumu stood there, stunned.

"What did you say?"

Xiao Nian looked at the jade box in his arms:

"You've been scammed. That Master Qian either doesn't know anything about medicine, or he deliberately wanted to kill your sister."

"Impossible! Master Qian is certified by the Pill Refining Guild! His consultation fee cost me a full three hundred taels!"

Xiao Nian waved his hand and asked:

"Where is your sister now? Take me to see her."

"In the inn in the east of the city..."

"Okay, let's go take a look at your sister's illness together."

……

A small inn in the east of the city, with the woodshed in the backyard converted into temporary accommodations, its doors and windows tightly shut.

The woman on the bed was so thin that she was just skin and bones, and her lips were pale.

Xiao Nian only glanced at it.

"Nine Nether Frozen God Body? I never expected this tiny blue planet to have so many things that would surprise me."

"I'll give you a prescription; taking it for three days will temporarily suppress the symptoms."

Lin Mumu was still hesitating.

"You're a doctor too? And then what?"

"I'll come over and check on things later."

He withdrew his hand and took out a small piece of silver from his pocket, placing it on the table.

"Go buy medicine. If we delay any longer, even a miracle won't save him."

Fatty Lin Mumu knelt down, crying:

"I will never forget your life-saving grace, Master; even if I were to serve you like a beast of burden, I could never repay it!"