Chapter 449: The Immortal Doctor's Command: Kneel!
'An'yu, at the stall ahead, I sense an abnormal spiritual energy fluctuation, though it's very faint…'
Listening to Huangfu Xian's mental transmission, Shen Anyu's handsome face showed a flicker of surprise as he stepped forward.
The Magic City Antique Street was a chaotic display of the past and present. The air hung thick with the scent of aged mahogany, dusty scrolls, and the faint, sweet perfume of incense burning in some hidden corner. Sunlight cut through the haze in golden shafts, illuminating dancing dust motes and the glint of polished bronze and faded porcelain. The clamor of haggling merchants, the curious chatter of tourists, and the low hum of the bustling city formed a constant, vibrant backdrop.
Following the subtle guidance of Huangfu Xian's divine sense, Shen Anyu navigated the crowded lane, his bespoke Italian suit a stark contrast to the casual attire of the treasure hunters and vendors around him. He finally paused, his gaze landing on a stall nestled between a booth selling calligraphy brushes and another piled high with revolutionary-era memorabilia. This stall belonged to Lu Ran's neighbor, the old man hawking antique coins and jade trinkets.
"Young man, looking to buy something? I guarantee, everything on this table is a genuine piece of history!"
The moment Shen Anyu's shadow fell over his wares, the old stall owner's rheumy, clouded eyes lit up with a predatory gleam. A practiced, simple-minded smile stretched across his wrinkled face, the picture of an honest, hardworking grandfather. But beneath that facade, his mind was racing. He took a subtle, sweeping glance at Shen Anyu's attire—the fabric of his suit was of a quality that screamed low-key wealth, and the Patek Philippe on his wrist was worth more than the entire street's inventory combined.
'A big one! A genuine fat sheep has wandered into my pen!' the old man rejoiced internally, his heart thumping with greed. He had spent decades perfecting this act, luring in wealthy, ignorant youths who thought a trip to the antique market made them cultured.
"Let me take a look first," Shen Anyu replied with an air of casual indifference, his voice smooth and unhurried. His eyes, dark and deep as the abyss, scanned the collection of grimy coins and jade pendants before intentionally, yet seemingly unintentionally, landing on a particular white jade thumb ring.
It was utterly unremarkable. The jade was a common, milky white, marred by a web of mottled scratches and what looked like age-worn cracks. Placed among the other, more brightly colored trinkets, it was easily overlooked. To the untrained eye, it was a piece of junk worth a few dozen yuan at most, something a child might win at a carnival.
Yet, this was the source.
'An'yu, it's that white jade thumb ring,' Huangfu Xian's voice echoed in his mind, firm and certain. 'The faint, abnormal spiritual energy fluctuation originates from it.'
Listening to her confirmation, Shen Anyu's lips curved into a subtle, almost imperceptible smile. His eyes gradually narrowed, a calculating light dancing within their depths.
He remembered this ring. In the original timeline, before he had intervened, the Dragon King protagonist Long Hao had come to this very street looking for Lu Ran. During his brief interaction with this same old vendor, he had picked up this exact thumb ring. The old man, seeing his interest, had quoted an outrageous price of thirty thousand yuan. Long Hao, ever the cautious and frugal protagonist before his rise, had scoffed at the blatant scam and refused to be swindled. He'd settled for a thousand-yuan 'Yuan Datou' silver coin instead, a far more common and less valuable antique.
At the time, Shen Anyu hadn't given the unremarkable ring a second thought. But now… now it was revealing its true nature.
He did not doubt Huangfu Xian's perception for a second. A thoughtful expression settled on his face as the gears in his mind began to turn, connecting disparate pieces of a familiar puzzle.
'Interesting…' he mused. 'A classic trope is unfolding right before my eyes.'
He replayed the events of a few minutes prior. If he hadn't stepped in, if Long Hao hadn't been present to defuse the situation, what would have happened? Given Lu Ran's stubborn and prideful personality, a clash with Qian Bao and his thugs was inevitable. A physical fight would have certainly broken out.
And what happens in a fight? People bleed.
Shen Anyu's gaze rested on the ring, a chillingly clear scenario playing out in his mind's eye. A desperate struggle, a fist connecting with Lu Ran's face, a spray of blood arcing through the air… and a single drop landing, by perfect, fated coincidence, upon this unassuming piece of white jade. The quintessential "drip of blood to activate the ancient artifact" plot device.
Could this be Lu Ran's destined encounter? The key to unlocking his potential?
It all made sense now. Shen Anyu had found it strange that Lu Ran wasn't flagged as a Child of Destiny by the system. He had briefly entertained the possibility that his younger sister, Lu Qiong, was the true Daughter of Destiny, but the system had later confirmed she was merely a destined heroine. This led him to a new hypothesis: Lu Ran was a protagonist, but an unawakened one. A nascent Child of Destiny whose fate had yet to be ignited.
And this cheap, damaged-looking jade ring was the matchstick.
'How predictable. How utterly cliché,' Shen Anyu thought, a flicker of contemptuous amusement in his eyes. The world's so-called 'fate' was nothing more than a series of tired, overused plot points.
His eyes narrowed further, the glint within them becoming sharp as a razor. He turned his attention back to the eager old stall owner.
"Let me see this white jade thumb ring."
"Of course, of course! No problem," the old man chirped, gesturing magnanimously for Shen Anyu to pick it up. He couldn't hide the avaricious sparkle in his eyes. 'Go on, take it. Your hands look soft. Maybe you'll drop it. That would be even better. A little 'accident,' and I can claim a hefty compensation. This damaged scrap I bought in a wholesale lot for pennies will suddenly be worth a fortune!'
As Shen Anyu's fingers reached for the ring, the Mo Yu Qilin jade pendant nestled against his chest began to vibrate with a sudden, urgent intensity. Huangfu Xian's divine sense flooded his mind, laced with genuine alarm.
'An'yu, wait! I feel something is wrong with this ring. It feels… dangerous. Don't test it rashly!'
A warm, teasing smile played on Shen Anyu's handsome face as he sent his thoughts back to her.
'Xian'er, are you worried about me? Could it be that you're finally remembering our past lives as husband and wife?'
A beat of stunned silence, followed by a surge of indignant energy from the pendant. Deep within its spiritual space, Huangfu Xian's ethereal, jade-like face flushed a brilliant crimson. She stomped her foot in pure, flustered annoyance, her perfect features a mask of frustration.
'Of course not! D-Don't be ridiculous! It's just… if you die, who will provide me with power to recover?!' she retorted, her mental voice a little too high-pitched to be convincing.
'Don't worry, your husband knows what he's doing,' Shen Anyu reassured her, his inner laughter echoing with affection. His God-Level Perception was, in fact, warning him of a threat. A coil of dormant, hostile energy lay within the jade, like a viper waiting to strike. But the danger felt… manageable. It was still well within the range he could comfortably handle.
Without further hesitation, he picked up the white jade thumb ring. The moment his skin made contact with the cool, smooth surface, he infused it with a deliberate, probing thread of his own spiritual power.
Whoosh—!
The next instant, the world dissolved. The vibrant sounds and colors of the antique street vanished, replaced by a dizzying, nauseating spin. Shen Anyu felt his Soul being violently wrenched from his body, pulled through a turbulent vortex into a strange, ethereal space.
He found himself standing in what appeared to be an ancient town square. All around him, men and women, young and old, all dressed in coarse, antiquated robes, were kneeling on the ground. Their faces were a mixture of agitated desperation, fanatical worship, and fervent hope, all directed towards a single figure.
"This old man thanks the Immortal Doctor for his great kindness and virtue! For saving us from the plague's suffering, you are truly a living immortal!" a withered old man cried, tears streaming down his face as he kowtowed.
"This humble woman wishes to be your slave, your maidservant! I beg the Immortal Doctor to act and save my dying father!" a young woman pleaded, her voice trembling with emotion.
"Immortal Doctor, please have mercy! Our Luoxia City is drowning in pestilence! We beg you, old sir, to save our lives!" another man shouted, his voice hoarse with despair.
The chorus of pleas and worship was overwhelming. And standing before them all, with his hands clasped calmly behind his back, was a handsome young man in a pristine white robe. His bearing was aloof and transcendent, but his face was an almost perfect mirror of the mortal Lu Ran. His eyes, however, shone with an ancient light, a profound power that the boy outside could never possess.
Suddenly, those luminous eyes snapped towards Shen Anyu, fixing him with a gaze of imperious authority. A voice, booming with spiritual might, reprimanded him:
"Since you have seen the Immortal Doctor, why do you not bow?"
As if on cue, every single man, woman, and child turned their heads in perfect, eerie unison. Hundreds of pairs of eyes, filled with a strange, zealous light, locked onto Shen Anyu. Then, their voices merged into one terrifying, layered chorus:
"Since you have seen the Immortal Doctor, why do you not bow?"
"Since you have seen the Immortal Doctor, why do you not bow?"
"Since you have seen the Immortal Doctor, why do you not bow?"
The sound converged into a psychic tidal wave, a crushing spiritual pressure designed to shatter the will and force any soul to its knees in submission. The very fabric of the illusory space trembled with the force of the command.
"Hehe… what kind of Immortal Doctor deserves a bow from me?"
Shen Anyu's eyes narrowed into slits, a cold, mocking sneer twisting his lips. At that moment, a translucent, golden shield of light materialized around his soul, shimmering faintly but holding absolutely firm against the psychic onslaught. It was the God-Tier Soul Shield, an impenetrable fortress for his consciousness.
His gaze remained fixed on the white-robed young man, the doppelgänger of Lu Ran. The pieces were all in place.
'Son of Destiny Identifier, activate.'
[Ding! Congratulations to the host! You have successfully used the Son of Destiny Identifier on Lu Ran, costing fifty thousand Destiny Points!]
A familiar translucent panel materialized in Shen Anyu's vision.
[Name: Lu Ran]
[Age: 178]
[Background: The Child of Destiny from "Mastering Two-Aspects Life-Death, I Am the Immortal Doctor." Originally a True Disciple of the Purple Spirit Sect, a cultivation Sect in the Xuanhuang World. He secretly admired his Master, Song Hongyan, the Sect Leader of the Purple Spirit Sect. Nearing the end of his lifespan and unable to break through to the Golden Core realm, he ventured into a perilous Secret Realm. He ultimately obtained the Nascent Soul True Scripture 'Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture' inheritance Jade Slip, but was grievously injured and on the verge of collapse. His overwhelming resentment and unwillingness to die merged with his personal white jade thumb ring. The ring accidentally fell into a spatial crack and fused with a dying young man in the secular world who shared the same name, thus beginning a cultivation legend as the Two-Aspects Life-Death Immortal Doctor...]
[Cultivation: Peak Foundation Establishment (Only a remnant Soul remains, in extremely poor condition, with less than one percent of his original strength)]
[Abilities: Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture, Purple Spirit Profound Arts, Spiritual Rain Life-Giving Technique...]
[Personality: Capable of both righteousness and evil, decisive in killing. After the remnant Soul possessed the young Lu Ran, his personality was influenced, becoming more gentle and kind.]
[Items: Nascent Soul True Scripture 'Two-Aspects Life-Death Medical Scripture' inheritance Jade Slip, white jade thumb ring...]
[Associated Heroines: Song Hongyan, Lu Qiong]
[Destiny Value: 12,000,000]
'So that's how it is. This is the true Immortal Doctor Lu Ran, the Child of Destiny,' Shen Anyu thought, his eyes gleaming as he stared down the white-robed figure. It all clicked. No wonder the identifier had failed on the mortal Lu Ran before; he was merely the vessel. The real protagonist was this remnant soul.
A Peak Foundation Establishment Cultivator from another world, a True Disciple of a proper sect who had lived for nearly two centuries. He had even managed to secure a Nascent Soul-level inheritance. Even now, as a crippled remnant soul with less than one percent of his power, his spiritual energy was immense. An ordinary Heavenly Human realm expert would likely have their soul obliterated instantly by that psychic command.
However, as Shen Anyu scanned the background information, a particular detail caught his eye, bringing a predatory smile to his lips.
'Song Hongyan, Sect Leader of the Purple Spirit Sect, Lu Ran's Master. Goodness, she's actually an associated heroine… A Rebellious Disciple who bullies his Master…'
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