Chapter 20 Part2
A young man with a peach wood sword on his back and patched clothes stood in the hall. He had short hair, a straight back, and an air of righteousness.
Seeing them enter, Chen Zhao’s gaze immediately fell on Wu Heng. Without introducing himself, he asked directly, “Why are you practicing medicine without a license?”
Wu Heng raised an eyebrow. Officer Wang and the others were one thing, but this cultivator dared to question him? Of course, he had a license. His shaman doctor’s seal was bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Dao in ancient times. Perhaps his power wasn’t strong enough in this world to bring it forth.
Wu Heng suddenly felt grateful for this world’s technological development. They recognized electronic versions.
Chen Zhao, seeing Wu Heng’s silence, assumed he was guilty. He took out a printed black and white A4 paper from his backpack and handed it to him, saying officially, “We, the Xuanmen, saw your live streams online. After a departmental meeting, we decided to make an exception and grant you this certificate.”
The A4 paper had a string of characters printed in seal script, Wu Heng’s name, and in the center, the words “Intern Taoist Doctor Certificate,” issued by: Xuanmen – Taoist Medicine Department, stamped with a red seal that looked like a talisman.
Chen Zhao looked at Wu Heng’s expression and saw his eyes widen, a look of disdain appearing on his face.
The world hadn’t been peaceful these past few years, with more and more evil spirits emerging, greatly increasing the chances of ordinary people contracting strange illnesses. However, obtaining an official certificate from the Xuanmen was very difficult for those in metaphysics-related professions.
It was normal for Wu Heng to be excited upon receiving this certificate. He could understand.
Wu Heng said, “The character for ‘certificate’ is wrong. Are you illiterate?”
Chen Zhao was incredulous. “Huh?”
“Holy crap, it really is wrong,” Chen Zhao leaned closer for a look, cursing inwardly. He said awkwardly, “J-just use it, the seal is real anyway, everyone recognizes it.”
Wu Heng: “…”
It didn’t seem very official.
Chen Zhao then asked with a hint of expectation, “How about you give me fifty yuan, and I’ll apply for a new one for you?”
Having finally come out, Chen Zhao wanted to earn some extra cash.
Wang Jun and the other police officers: “…”
This was the expert sent from above that their chief had mentioned?
Why were they all charlatans?
Wu Heng stared at the thin piece of paper. The paper itself wasn’t special, the special part was the faintly potent red seal. Wu Heng remembered from the novel that the Xuanmen was indeed a relatively official metaphysics organization.
Although this was just an intern certificate with a typo, as long as he uploaded it to the Shark platform, no netizen could report him for practicing medicine without a license or for engaging in superstitious scams.
Although it was trash, it was still somewhat useful.
Wu Heng remembered from the novel that the Xuanmen had issued a high-level certificate to Shi Xuan, which the villain tore up without hesitation. He hadn’t expected to receive this low-level certificate in advance, especially since he hadn’t applied for it.
Wu Heng asked curiously, “With this certificate, I can practice medicine online without fear of being reported? Are there any restrictions?”
Chen Zhao said, “This is just an intern certificate, the authority is quite low. Large-scale Xuanmen operations, Nuo exorcism rituals, are not allowed without at least five cultivators present… Anyway, you can’t do any high-level stuff, you’ll be penalized.”
Wu Heng immediately said, “I plan to sell medicinal ointments in the future, mosquito repellent ointment, do you want some? There’s a 30% discount for the first batch.”
The Xuanmen wouldn’t care about selling ointments, and ordinary netizens couldn’t do anything to a licensed Wu Heng.
Chen Zhao looked Wu Heng up and down, a hint of disbelief and mockery flashing in his eyes.
Did he look like someone with money?!
Were his clothes not patched enough?
He was waiting to deliver this certificate and quickly find a ride back to Beijing to treat his patient at the tertiary hospital. His master was being incredibly generous this time, promising him 500 yuan if the treatment was successful!
Money-making opportunities were rare, he had to cherish them.
Chen Zhao refused without hesitation.
Actually, Taoist cultivators, more or less, knew some medicine. Taoist medicine stemmed from this, the two were inseparable.
Homemade ointments like mosquito repellent weren’t uncommon within the Xuanmen. Chen Zhao could easily snag a few to sell, why would he spend money on an intern’s mosquito repellent?
Trying to make money off him? Naive!
Seeing Chen Zhao about to leave in a hurry, Wu Heng said softly, looking at the back of his head, “You can’t solve that problem at the tertiary hospital.”
Hearing this, Chen Zhao realized his master’s information wasn’t accurate. Even a small-time Taoist doctor knew about this money-making opportunity?
Chen Zhao quickened his pace. If he wasn’t fast enough and other Taoists, spirit mediums, Gu Masters, or Yin-Yang Masters got there first, how could he earn that 500 yuan?!
Wu Heng suddenly felt his passion for money waning.
Wu Heng put away the misspelled intern certificate, looked at Wang Jun and his colleagues, who had been stunned for a while, and asked with a smile, “Officer Wang, are you still making me write a 1,000-word self-criticism and treating you to tea?”
Wang Jun: “…”
Damn it, he was now officially licensed, legal and compliant!
What was there to lecture him about, what guarantee letter was there to write?
Wang Jun and the other officers were confused. When did this Xuanmen organization even exist?
Their chief, walking past with a thermos, said mysteriously, “If there’s a special, mysterious incident you can’t solve, report it to them.”
Wu Heng understood. In just a few days, he had gained over two million followers on Shark Short Videos, each live stream undeniably high-profile. Yet, the Xuanmen had actually provided him with an intern Taoist doctor certificate (although not very useful). This subtly hinted that, with the proliferation of evil spirits and the increasing chances of ordinary people contracting strange, supernatural illnesses, his high-profile live streams were actually being supported.
An idea formed in Wu Heng’s mind. Since he had nothing else to do here, he decided to leave the police station.
Wang Jun touched the triangular folded money with the coin inside in his pocket, a ridiculous thought crossing his mind. He chased after Wu Heng.
Wu Heng hadn’t gone far, stopping at a corner not far from the police station.
Paper ash filled the air at the corner where a hunched old woman was burning paper money, the embers glowing brightly.
The paper money used in Nan Nuo village was gold and silver joss paper. Unlike the paper money in cities with holes punched in them, their traditional joss paper was plain, yellow spirit money paper.
Wang Jun was shocked. She dared to burn this near the police station? How brazen!
Upon closer inspection, he saw that the old woman was none other than Grandma Lai from Nan Nuo village. A few days ago, he had issued the death certificate for her grandson, Lai boy. Today seemed to be the seventh day after his death.
But why burn the offerings outside the police station instead of at his grave?
Wu Heng stood by the fire, watching the ashes being carried by the wind into the night sky, seemingly collected by spirits.
This Grandma Lai was a doting grandmother, knowing that this was near the police station, where ordinary evil spirits wouldn’t dare to snatch the offerings meant for a new ghost due to the strong righteous aura.
Wu Heng chuckled. “Few evil spirits would dare to snatch the offerings meant for the Yinchai (spirit messengers).”
Grandma Lai was startled. She looked up at Wu Heng. “Yin, Yinchai?”
Wu Heng nodded, looking at a shadowy figure not far from the fire. The Yinchai, who worked for the underworld, weren’t evil spirits, but they weren’t necessarily kind people in life either, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to subdue the lesser spirits.
Lai boy wasn’t particularly bad in life, but he definitely wasn’t a model student in the traditional sense.
Grandma Lai sat by the fire, sighing. Ordinary people only knew of the Black and White Impermanence as underworld emissaries, but they had countless spirit messengers under their command, perpetually working in the underworld without being able to reincarnate, not a good fate.
Grandma Lai looked at Wu Heng intently and murmured, “I know, after all, he was born with the destiny of a guide.”
Wu Heng said, “Lend me two (joss paper notes).”
Wang Jun, who had followed them, saw Wu Heng suddenly reach into the roaring fire, his slender index and middle fingers plucking two intact joss paper notes from the swirling ashes.
The fire had long been burning fiercely, the ashes flying everywhere, yet Wu Heng managed to retrieve two completely unburnt notes?!
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Wang Jun wouldn’t have believed it.
Only after watching Wu Heng put away the two notes and ride off on an electric scooter did Officer Wang slowly come to his senses.
Perhaps, this was a shaman doctor with real abilities!
Wang Jun thought, his daughter might not have a fever anymore.
