"What are you talking about?"
Wu Jia had just traveled from Village Beneath the Clouds and arrived at this seaside vacation home. He asked in confusion—he had simply felt it was the appropriate time to begin treating Liu Yianfei.
It had been about one month as agreed, and he'd prepared all his tools and equipment thoroughly this time.
But even at the village, news about cultivator matters reached there faster than the outside world. The clash between Bai Fanxian and the Night Shadow thieves reached Divine Doctor Wu Jia's ears within less than a day.
He feared danger might occur or injuries sustained, especially with Liu Yianfei whose old wounds still hadn't healed. If new wounds affected his body, treatment would become even harder.
He was confident nothing serious would happen because Bai Fanxian was there. Her pills should at least be able to preserve anyone injured's life.
But why, when he arrived, did everything look so strange? Liu Yianfei had become half-mummified from bandages, while Bai Fanxian came to invite him to invest in some business instead.
What was this woman thinking? And why did all these people agree with her?
"It's like this, Grandmaster Wu..."
In the end, this matter fell to the old butler Huang Zihuan to explain. The two of them were invited to sit and hear the entire background of this story in the living room.
Wu Jia and Lin Xiaoting, who had thought this would be something major, sighed in relief.
"So in summary, you want to raise four billion yuan?"
Wu Jia crossed his arms, able to roughly grasp all of Bai Fanxian's thinking now.
"Yes. Are you interested?"
Bai Fanxian nodded. Wu Jia felt faint pressure from her gaze. He wanted to refuse, but seeing her seriousness, he didn't dare speak out.
"That's good, isn't it, Doctor?"
Lin Xiaoting, Wu Jia's disciple, interrupted first. She closed her eyes and rested her chin thoughtfully.
"...Xiaoting?"
He hadn't expected his good disciple to agree like this. He turned to look in shock—just as she glared at him.
"Hmph! You think what you do is actually a profession?"
Xiaoting wore a weary expression and recounted Wu Jia's past actions at length.
"Running around helping everyone everywhere, barely caring for yourself. You work yourself to exhaustion without any concern for your health. And when you meet people without money, you treat them for free. How many years has your account been in the red?"
She complained like a nagging wife, releasing her long pent-up frustrations all at once.
"But... I also made a lot of money, didn't I?"
Wu Jia tried to argue. But when hit by Xiaoting's lethal gaze, he shrank back.
"Where do you think the budget for your massive research comes from?"
It was true that Wu Jia normally received large compensation from treating high-level cultivators or wealthy people. But the Divine Doctor's reputation came from helping people without discrimination. Many were small-time cultivators without much money. With his nature, collecting money from them was impossible. But medicine costs, herb costs, and equipment costs all became expenses.
And importantly, Wu Jia had a very strong researcher's instinct. He liked experimenting with strange things to find possibilities in treating people. Village Beneath the Clouds had paid for his research funding, grateful for the Divine Doctor's kindness. Wu Jia's presence could attract many people to the village.
He barely cared about anything except treating people.
"...And don't think I don't know about the other world. Grandpa told me everything."
Lin Xiaoting ended with the statement that left Wu Jia unable to argue. He'd emphasized secrecy to the elderly village chief many times. In the end, he could only nod and agree with Bai Fanxian.
"...Fine. I'll join in too."
Bai Fanxian smiled at the man's answer.
"Then shall we start planning?"
Huang Zihuan, seeing the Divine Doctor's completely defeated demeanor, smiled. The old butler went to grab the whiteboard he'd once thought he'd use for teaching the three children and brought it into the room.
"So let's start with... how much should we charge for treatment?"
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Two days later, in the online world—especially the cultivator-related community—astonishing news appeared.
"Alchemy Empress and Divine Doctor join hands to open a small clinic in the east."
The sentence above was the summarized essence of this news. It looked like ordinary news if one didn't notice the names of two important figures in the cultivator world appearing in the same line.
"What!? Is this real?"
"This news came from the Tang clan itself. They wouldn't dare lie."
"Alchemy Empress and Divine Doctor—what kind of combination is this?"
"Even people near death could probably spring up completely healthy..."
"What about Village Beneath the Clouds then..."
These opinions were the first to emerge after reading just the headline. They represented the doubts in many people's hearts. Before long, this news was widely discussed.
"I want to go! Even if I'm not sick, I have to see it once!"
Many responded this way. But they were stopped cold by certain facts written inside the news.
"...Treatment fees start at ten million yuan."
*Whoosh!*
"This is crazy!"
"That's not all. That's just the starting price. If the condition is more severe, there's more added on top."
The moment they learned about treatment fees, many people who had prepared to visit this clinic had to stop in their tracks.
"Are they trying to rake in insane profits!?"
"Will anyone really go for treatment..."
"Only fools would be willing to pay that much money."
"But for people with truly difficult-to-treat diseases, if I had money, I'd be willing to pay."
Opinions immediately split into many factions, debating treatment prices so expensive that ordinary people couldn't reach them. But despite all the debate, the instigator Bai Fanxian remained calm and sat sipping tea at home as usual.
"My lady, temporary construction should be finished in a few days."
Huang Zihuan poured tea into Bai Fanxian's cup and spoke.
"Be honest. Isn't the price you set too expensive?"
Wu Jia had just walked back from viewing the construction. He had to ask.
Their clinic was being built on land beside Bai Fanxian's house. Because it had been cleared by some stray attacks from the Dragon Queen, the land was affordable and suitable for building new structures.
"Do you want to sit receiving patients day and night?"
Both Wu Jia and Bai Fanxian had experience with these matters. Before becoming a great figure in the past era, Bai Fanxian had gone through many similar things. The conclusion she'd reached was that she should limit the number of patients with high prices to filter for her target group.
Then she'd have time to do other things. Perhaps she could even find additional ways to make money.
Bai Fanxian wasn't doing charity. She had four billion yuan as a goal. If she received all patients—some of whom weren't even truly sick—and charged cheap fees, how many hundreds of years would it take to raise enough money?
"Right! Besides, Doctor needs rest too."
Lin Xiaoting nodded in support. Since returning from the other dimension, the Divine Doctor's patient reception had all been controlled by her. The young girl would set definite numbers each day so Wu Jia had time to rest and conduct research.
Being too good and troubling oneself—she'd seen that plenty. She definitely wouldn't let the doctor she respected and loved have the same ending as the examples she'd witnessed.
"Speaking of which, will the village be alright?"
Bai Fanxian showed concern. Village Beneath the Clouds had developed to this point partly because of the Divine Doctor's reputation. If she pulled him to work here without returning, it would surely affect the villagers there.
"No need to worry at all. How many years has Doctor been gone in recent times?"
Lin Xiaoting puffed out her chest proudly. The village had changed—it had developed into a tourism center for cultivators wanting to rest with nature. Now ordinary people were starting to know this place too, promoting the village's economy very well.
"Besides, we have those birds. Traveling back and forth between here and the village isn't difficult."
She pointed at the black birds that had happened to follow them through dimension piercing that time. They'd grown larger because the world's power where they lived had increased. More importantly, their speed was much greater.
Now they were being ridden playfully in the sky by three little children who didn't often get chances to ride them, with the Dragon Queen flying nearby with a weary expression.
"But I still think it's too expensive..."
Wu Jia couldn't help but sigh again. He'd never charged treatment fees this high before. Most of what he received came from patients who felt they must repay him and brought it themselves.
"...Some of the medicines Doctor makes are more expensive than that, you know?"
Lin Xiaoting sent a lethal gaze again. Wu Jia startled. He tried dodging her eyes but lost. Finally, he surrendered resignedly.
"If no one comes on opening day, don't say I didn't warn you..."
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Three days later, construction using prefabricated building methods combined with help from two great clans was remarkably fast. It was a two-story white building with some floor space extending into the sea like Bai Fanxian's house, except it looked more spacious. On the first floor, there were waiting chairs in many spots.
Inside was divided into many rooms—from examination rooms to rooms with multiple patient beds. They were built according to Xie Suyao's plans.
Wu Jia had stayed overnight at Bai Fanxian's house and woke up early from Xiaoting's wake-up call. Last night he'd been extremely interested in Bai Fanxian's workshop, which almost kept him from sleeping.
"Either way, Doctor must be there on opening day."
His female disciple said that. But in his heart, he wanted to go straight to Bai Fanxian's workshop instead. It was filled with strange tools and equipment, including rare raw materials he never thought he'd encounter in this lifetime.
"...Will anyone really come?"
Wu Jia murmured. He still doubted that enormous treatment fee. But when he walked down from the house, his eyes nearly bulged out in shock.
The area outside Bai Fanxian's house was completely crowded—both cultivators and ordinary people. He saw reporters from many stations preparing in another corner. Moreover, several more cars were still driving in looking for parking!
Bai Fanxian walked behind, a slight smile on her face. She lightly patted Wu Jia's shoulder. The herb in his mouth fell to the ground.
"...Should I raise the price a bit more?"