That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

That person was indeed the legendary Ghost Doctor.

"Maybe that's just how the old man is with age; he's eccentric and irritable. Visitors always seem to accidentally offend him and get chased away like dogs."

Fang Zhiyi sighed, her expression conveying a sense of helplessness, as if to say, "You've never taken care of someone in their old age, so you simply don't understand."

"Miss Fang, are you very familiar with the Ghost Doctor? How do you know so much about him?"

Lu Zhao asked tentatively.

The image of the Ghost Doctor in legends is very varied. Some storytellers, in order to collect more tea money, would vividly describe the Ghost Doctor as a charming, alluring, and seductive woman, making many heroes yearn for her.

But Fang Zhiyi very decisively described him as a strange old man.

"Hmm...we're fairly familiar with each other."

Fang Zhiyi drawled out the last syllable, with a faint smile on her face.

"The Ghost Doctor is my father."

"What???"

Her words were like a thunderclap, and everyone's eyes widened in shock.

Even though he had long suspected that the two had a close relationship, Jiang Jingming was still somewhat shocked by it.

I originally thought they were just master and apprentice, but I never expected they would be father and daughter.

Upon closer reflection, Fang Zhiyi's tone when mentioning the Ghost Doctor was indeed one of extreme familiarity and understanding, tinged with a hint of helplessness.

The daughter, who is growing up and developing her own little thoughts, feels helpless in the face of her old-fashioned and serious father.

"Sister Fang, you're the Ghost Doctor's daughter! No wonder your medical skills are so amazing!! Why didn't you tell us sooner!"

The carefree Xie Yunqi's eyes lit up, feeling that he had made another great friend.

When she returns to the capital and tells everyone about it, won't those classmates who are hiding at home be green with envy?

Compared to a great and righteous figure like her father Xie Jichuan, the mysterious legend of the Ghost Doctor, who appears and disappears like a dragon, and is both righteous and evil, is of course more interesting to the young people.

Otherwise, so many people wouldn't love listening to stories about the Ghost Doctor.

"..."

Lu Zhao remained silent for a while. He felt sorry for the ignorant young people in the capital who longed for the Ghost Doctor.

You wouldn't believe it, but your Ghost Doctor isn't a beautiful but wicked older sister at all!

He's a stubborn old man with a bad temper!

They even have a daughter now!

But then again...

Lu Zhao gazed at Fang Zhiyi's stunningly beautiful face, which appeared both dark and bright in the firelight.

The daughter of the Ghost Doctor... does fit everyone's beautiful fantasy.

Chapter 110 Falling Snow

Xie Yunqi imitated a storyteller, waving a non-existent folding fan in his hand with exaggerated intonation.

"Legend has it that the Ghost Doctor passed through a village infected with a plague. He saw the tragic scene of corpses strewn everywhere, but instead of helping anyone, he simply planted a flower. Three days later, the flower bloomed all over the mountain, and wherever its fragrance reached, the villagers' plague miraculously disappeared!"

Fang Zhiyi rested her chin on her hand, listened with a slight smile, and then shook her head.

"fake."

"What?! Why?! This legend is famous in the capital!"

Xie Yunqi pouted, looking very disappointed.

"There is only one possibility that this story could come true."

Fang Zhiyi's smile deepened:

"That means he also spread the epidemic, and then a few years later, he took the opportunity to test the effectiveness of his detoxification."

"...Then let's just say this story is fake."

Xie Yunqi shrank back, realizing that you really shouldn't mess with someone who knows medicine.

"And another thing, legend has it that Master Juewu of Yideng City was unfortunately seriously ill and on his deathbed when he happened to encounter the Ghost Doctor passing by. The Ghost Doctor glanced at the Master and said that although his martial arts were dead, his life was not yet over, so he intervened and saved him. The Master, who was on his deathbed, was indeed brought back to life, but he could never use martial arts again for the rest of his life!"

Lu Zhao was also very excited, speaking vividly and clearly having listened to many storytelling performances in his daily life.

"This one is fake too."

Fang Zhiyi listened patiently, but still shook her head, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"That enlightened master actually practiced martial arts too recklessly, which led to a qi deviation and forced him to lose all his martial arts skills. Of course, this truth cannot be known to outsiders, as it would damage the reputation of Longyin Temple, so he made up this story."

"what???"

Lu Zhao felt that the last time he was this disappointed was when he was a child and learned that there was no Guanyin Bodhisattva in the world.

"Actually, my father wasn't as mysterious or omnipotent as the rumors suggested. He was just an old man with decent medical skills, who became more stubborn with age and didn't really have a heart for saving lives. He did save many people, but he also harmed many others."

As Fang Zhiyi spoke, she looked at Jiang Jingming with a smile.

Jiang Jingming lowered his head to avoid her gaze and looked at the flickering flames in the brazier.

What she said was absolutely right. If a healer were truly dedicated to saving lives, they would not have developed the secret technique of stitching together merfolk, nor would they have conspired with Tingpu Manor to raise Gu poison, let alone personally cultivate Crimson Bone for this purpose.

"Was the secret technique of resurrecting a corpse also from the hands of the Ghost Doctor?"

"Yes."

Fang Zhiyi readily admitted it.

Perhaps lying at this point would be pointless; Jiang Jingming had already asked this question with an answer in mind.

"The older he got, the more obsessed he became with the boundary between life and death. He tried many methods to break through this boundary, but unfortunately he still failed in the end."

"..."

Jiang Jingming nodded slightly after listening to her words.

Just as emperors are obsessed with immortality, those with unparalleled medical skills would naturally seek true resurrection.

What is the relationship between the Ghost Doctor and the sorcerer who resurrected Sanxi as a man-eating demon?

This is the only thing Jiang Jingming still cares about.

"If you ask me, it's okay."

Fang Zhiyi looked into his eyes, smiling, yet very seriously.

"But he was the one who researched the secret technique."

"He didn't care whether others would learn the secret techniques he developed, or where they would be used. Perhaps one day he was just in a good mood and passed the technique on, and by chance, the sorcerer learned it."

The gradually dimming flames flickered as their eyes met.

"Besides, it turns out that the sorcerer only learned the basics. If he really had his skills, Sanxi probably wouldn't have lost his mind—although he would still have been tempted to eat people."

Is that so?

Jiang Jingming lowered his eyes, the ashes of the burning files swirling in his vision.

"If he hadn't lost his mind, he would probably have cried out of fright if he saw himself transformed into that state, especially since he was such a young child."

After he said that, the air became somewhat silent again.

Despite having traveled such a long way, no one has forgotten the child named Sanxi, the tea stall owner who hid a dagger to kill his own son, or the old rattle drum.

Such a secret technique with dire consequences might just be a failed research project for someone like the Ghost Doctor.

However, the secret technique, when passed into the hands of others, led to an irreversible tragedy.

A fake mermaid, crimson bones and Gu worms...

He truly lives up to his name, the Ghost Doctor; sometimes he is a healer who saves lives, and sometimes he is a cruel demon.

"That's why so many people in the world want to kill him."

After a long while, Fang Zhiyi sighed softly and looked at Jiang Jingming.

"Jingming, you want to kill him now too, don't you?"

"Do not."

Jiang Jingming looked directly into her eyes and slowly shook his head.

"If the Ghost Doctor is gone, there will be Demon Doctors and Evil Doctors. People who want to do evil can do evil in any way. They can even kill someone by picking up a butcher knife in the market. But I cannot kill all the blacksmiths in the world."

As if she hadn't expected him to say that, Fang Zhiyi paused for a moment, then lowered her head and gave a gentle, crescent-shaped smile.

“Some time ago, I traveled to many places and only then did I realize how famous my father was in the martial arts world. But I grew up in seclusion with him and my mother in a secluded valley, and I didn’t know what he was studying every day, nor did I know that what he taught me would be something that people would die for.”

Fang Zhiyi spoke in a gentle tone, but her expression was somewhat dazed and lost in thought.

"Many of his secret techniques circulate in the black market of Cangzhou, and the transformation of a mermaid into a human-bodied, fish-tailed being is just one of them. The ordinary people there hate him, saying that he has offended the gods of the sea and will be burned to death by heavenly lightning."

"What?! The merman we saw in Shulan City was fake?!"

Xie Yunqi jumped eight feet high, his anger and frustration at being tricked into believing him.

Jiang Jingming pressed her back down and gestured for Fang Zhiyi to continue.

“Yongzhou is remote and desolate. I thought I wouldn’t find anything, but surprisingly someone has learned his secret technique, and not very well at that.”

“Cenzhou is probably the place my father disliked the most. The people there stubbornly believe that Gu poison can also save people. They have their own Gu doctors and don’t need any so-called ghost doctors to interfere in the affairs of the tribe.”

"However, it seems that the Gu worms obtained by Tingpu Manor are probably also related to him. No wonder the people in the tribe cursed him as soon as they heard his name, saying that he would be punished and die from being devoured by ten thousand Gu worms."

“Look, there are so many people in the world who want to kill him, but they all have no chance.”

At this point, Fang Zhiyi looked at Jiang Jingming again, her eyes filled with a sense of loneliness, as if snowflakes were falling.

"Because my father is dead."

Chapter 111 Valley of Forgetfulness

"died?"

Jiang Jingming was startled, and he didn't even know if he had said those words out loud.

The Ghost Doctor is dead?

Is the legendary, all-powerful ghost doctor who lived in the world of martial arts dead?

"Yes, he died shortly after sending the letter."

Fang Zhiyi's expression and tone were equally quiet.

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone around her held their breath and remained silent for a long time.

Jiang Jingming tried his best to calm down his chaotic thoughts.

He originally thought that the Ghost Doctor must be connected to the mysterious organization behind the leader and the musician.

But if what Fang Zhiyi said is true, then he would have died last year.

The massacre at Tingpu Villa had nothing to do with him; they were merely short-term collaborators.

Therefore, your inference was wrong from the beginning.

Fang Zhiyi's suspicious behavior and her seemingly knowing-it-all attitude were simply because she was the daughter of the Ghost Doctor.

"..."

Jiang Jingming remained silent for a moment, then looked up at Fang Zhiyi.

She usually has a calm and smiling demeanor, and rarely appears so quiet as she is now. She seems less gentle and more aloof.

So that's why she traveled such a long way alone—her father had passed away.

No wonder she said earlier that the Ghost Doctor became more and more obsessed with the boundary between life and death as he got older.

However, he ultimately failed to do so.

"I'm sorry, I reminded you of something sad."

Jiang Jingming paused for a moment, but still offered this obviously useless word of comfort.