Chapter 71: A New Home

“Look down there!”
Someone couldn’t help but shout, and everyone immediately turned their gazes downward.
With just one glance, all present couldn’t suppress a collective gasp.
“My heavens!”
“Is this… the creation of a Green Dragon and White Tiger ley line?”
“Who did this? This is absolutely defying the natural order!”
“When did Jiangzhou produce someone of this caliber?”
After a brief exchange, the group finally reached a decision.
“We have to find out who this person is. If there’s any way to bring him into Dragon Division, we must do so. If not, whatever happens, we cannot make an enemy of him!”
“If we do bring him into Dragon Division, what position should we offer?”
“To accomplish something like this—even naming him Grand General might not suffice!”
“Grand General? That’s a joke! This man can create a Green Dragon and White Tiger ley line. With just this feat alone, his combat strength is already beyond reckoning. Appointing him as Supreme Commander of the Forces wouldn’t be excessive!”
Another round of sharp intakes of breath rippled through the crowd.
A Supreme Commander—such a figure appears once in a century!
Even today, there are only eight Supreme Commanders in all of China, each guarding a corner of the nation and leading the armies in its defense.
Yet this man was already worthy of such a title!
…
Ling Xiao and his companions, having left the scene, naturally knew nothing of the discussions that followed.
The next day, Ling Xiao, together with Mu Yiren, his grandfather, and others, interred the remains of his parents and Yiren’s parents at this place.
He set up a formation to conceal the radiance of the ley lines, ensuring that no one would be drawn here.
Only after completing everything did Ling Xiao and Mu Yiren bid farewell to his grandfather and return to Jiangzhou.
The Mu family villa had long since been sold by Mu Yiren out of financial need. She had been living in her company office ever since.
Ling Xiao, too, couldn’t stay at the Jiangzhou Grand Hotel forever.
He needed to give Mu Yiren a true home.
…
A few days later, accompanied by Ming Cheng, Ling Xiao arrived at a dilapidated two-story courtyard with three rooms in Jiangzhou.
This was in the LC district, where the streets were crowded and somewhat run-down.
The Rolls-Royce parked outside seemed glaringly out of place, drawing plenty of attention.
Ling Xiao ran his hand over the red-lacquered wooden door, a trace of sorrow in his eyes.
“This door was made by my father.”
He paused, then continued,
“It’s willow wood—sturdy and cheap.”
Ming Cheng scratched his head.
“Master shouldn’t have sold this house back then! When he sold it, it was worth nothing—just a hundred and twenty thousand. I paid three point six million to buy it back, thirty times the price! Damn!”
“My father sold this house to open a larger medical clinic, so he could save more patients. Sadly, he couldn’t save himself.”
Ming Cheng let out a deep sigh.
“Alas! These days, good people don’t live long, but villains live a thousand years.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Ling Xiao pushed open the door.
“The weak don’t live long—but the strong can defy the heavens!”
“Let’s clean up. The clinic will reopen.”
Ming Cheng smacked his lips.
“With your skills, Master, opening a small clinic here is such a waste!”
…
A few days later, the Ling Family Clinic reopened.
They lit two strings of firecrackers, and inscribed two lines on the pillars at the entrance.
On the left: ‘With skill, I discern Yin and Yang; life and death are mine to command.’
On the right: ‘For those with no fate, the fee is a million; for those with fate, not a cent is charged!’
This became the talk of the neighbors, who joked about it for days.
A perfectly ordinary clinic, and yet it looked like a charlatan’s den.
But Ling Xiao reopened the clinic only to recapture memories of his childhood, not to pursue medicine as a career, so he paid no mind to others’ opinions.
The first floor was the clinic; Ling Xiao and Mu Yiren lived upstairs.
Two more rooms were built in the courtyard for Ming Cheng and Xiu’er.
And so, in a short time, they managed to build themselves a home of sorts.
However, business at the clinic was nothing to boast about.
The wealthy looked down on Ling Xiao’s humble clinic, while the poor were so terrified by the million-dollar fee that they dared not enter.
In truth, the Ling Family Clinic was a clinic in name only—worse off than the mom-and-pop hotpot shop at the end of the street.
By day, Mu Yiren worked regular hours, Ming Cheng cultivated, and Xiu’er idled away her time with embroidery.
As for Ling Xiao, with time on his hands, every afternoon after lunch he would stroll to the street corner for a game of chess.
…
“Check.”
“Damn it, Ling Xiao, how many matches have you won now? On this street alone, you’ve beaten at least eight hundred out of a thousand of us!”
Ling Xiao lit a cigarette and smiled calmly.
“I’m not sure myself. I just know that at a hundred yuan a game, I’ve just about earned enough for a new sofa.”
“Good grief! Are you trying to make us hate you?”
“Right, Ling Xiao, with chess skills like yours, you should turn your clinic into a chess club—you’d make a fortune!”
“I can’t. My father’s last wish was for me to be a doctor. It’s hard to go against my father’s wishes.”
“But you’re not much of a doctor, are you? Not a single patient has come in all these days.”
“Yeah, and with a consultation fee of a million! If you lowered it to a hundred, we’d help support your business. A million—even Bill Gates wouldn’t bother coming!”
“That’s right, Ling Xiao. If you really have some talent, why not give us a demonstration? See if any of us have some ailment? Maybe we could scrape together a few hundred for the consultation.”
Ling Xiao smiled indifferently, gathered the bills from the chessboard, clasped his hands behind his back, and left.
“Sacred arts must not be demeaned.”
The crowd snickered behind his back.
“Sacred arts? He’s the one who’s sick in the head!”
“Absolutely—delusional, imagining he’s some miraculous healer! Hahahaha…”
“With a clinic like his, if anyone actually goes in, I’ll streak naked down the street!”
…
Naturally, Ling Xiao paid these philistines no mind.
How could a frog in a well fathom the sky’s vastness?
To stoop to their level would be beneath him.
Returning to the clinic at dusk, he found Mu Yiren had also come home. Seeing him, she smiled and asked,
“How was your day?”
“Not bad.”
Ling Xiao waved a wad of red bills.
“At this rate, you’ll end up winning enough at chess for a new house.”
“It’s just for fun, nothing more. Where are Xiu’er and Ming Cheng?”
“They just went out. Something about handling intelligence on the Iron Fist Sect.”
“So, just the two of us tonight?”
“You could say that.”
“In that case, let me take you to dinner! I won enough today for a good meal.”
“Wonderful! I’ll make sure to eat you out of house and home. There’s a new high-end specialty restaurant in the suburbs—let’s try it!”
Ling Xiao nodded.
“All right!”