Sensing that he had teased her enough, Lin Tianchen stopped, said goodnight, and went downstairs.
A night of cultivation passed in a flash, but the growth rate of his cultivation was far from ideal.
Compared to the deep mountains, the spiritual energy in the city was much thinner. It seemed that if he cultivated step-by-step, his progress would be much slower; he needed to find other ways to make himself stronger as quickly as possible.
Spiritual energy... spiritual energy—ah, he had it! As long as he found something containing spiritual energy to assist his cultivation, it might yield twice the result with half the effort.
He remembered that yesterday Su Shanshan was wearing a fairly decent jade bracelet on her wrist. He would ask Shanshan for it to test whether it contained spiritual energy; if it did, he would have to make a trip to the jade market and get a few pieces of jade for cultivation.
Arriving outside Su Shanshan's door, he knocked and asked her for the jade bracelet. He held it tightly in his hand and sensed it carefully, confirming that a small amount of spiritual energy indeed existed inside.
Seeing the happy expression on Lin Tianchen's face, Su Shanshan asked, "First thing in the morning, what's there to be so happy about, smiling like that?"
"Shanshan, do you know where they sell jade?" Lin Tianchen asked hastily.
"There are places, but the jade there isn't cheap. Are you sure you can afford it?" Su Shanshan said.
"However, there is another place where you might unearth a lot of things. If you manage to pick up a bargain successfully, you can make a huge profit. That depends entirely on an individual's luck and eye for things," Su Shanshan added. "What do you want jade for anyway? If you want some, I have some jade jewelry here. You can take those first."
"Jade contains a certain amount of spiritual energy, which will help my cultivation." Lin Tianchen did not hide anything from Su Shanshan.
Su Shanshan said, "The place is at Antique Street. I don't have class this morning anyway, so I'll go with you. I have acquaintances there, which will save you from getting ripped off."
"Then I shall trouble the great campus belle Su," Lin Tianchen said.
~~~
In the morning, Gu Yanzi and Sun Mengmeng went to school, while Lin Tianchen and Su Shanshan drove to the antique market.
Looking out, various antique shops were distributed on both sides of the street, and many individual stalls were spread out widely in all directions.
The two of them strolled around, looking at various stalls from left to right. Lin Tianchen came to a stall operated by a bearded man in his forties, where he spotted an object resembling a pill furnace with a pitch-black surface, along with a few pieces of jade that looked to be of decent quality.
Pretending to be casual, Lin Tianchen fondled the various items one by one and asked, "Boss, how much for these raw stones?"
Seeing a customer patronizing his stall, the boss immediately said enthusiastically, "Young man, you have a good eye! The jade pieces I have here are the real deal. Look at this luster, this color. If you're sincere about buying these five, it's one hundred thousand flat. You're the first customer of the day, so I'm giving you the lowest price."
"Boss, don't try to con me just because I'm young. These pieces of jade look completely ordinary at a glance. If you want to sell them, I'll take all five for a thousand yuan," Lin Tianchen said.
"Young man, is that any way to bargain? If you're not buying, don't mess around here," the boss said.
Lin Tianchen stood up, pretending to leave.
The boss hastily called out to stop Lin Tianchen and Su Shanshan, "Young man, add a bit more, and I'll sell them to you."
"Alright, then I'll give you twelve hundred yuan, but throw in this black furnace as well. No problem, right?" Lin Tianchen said.
"Fine, fine. Cash on delivery, but one thing needs to be made clear beforehand—in the antiques business, once money and goods change hands, no regrets are allowed afterward," the boss said as he packed up the five pieces of jade and the pill furnace and handed them to Lin Tianchen.
Lin Tianchen turned to look at Su Shanshan. Su Shanshan rolled her eyes at Lin Tianchen and immediately paid the boss twelve hundred yuan.
The two of them had just turned to leave when they suddenly heard a woman's cry for "help" from a distance.
Looking back, they saw a beautiful woman lying unconscious on the ground in the distance, while another woman was calling for help anxiously.
Lin Tianchen turned and walked toward the patient. Su Shanshan said, "Tianchen, what are you going over there for? You're not even a doctor."
"I'm going to take a look. I've self-studied traditional Chinese medicine for a few years, maybe I can help."
~~~
At that moment, an elderly man in a Tang suit walked up to the patient. Someone nearby shouted, "Make way, make way! This is Divine Doctor Tang."
"Divine Doctor Tang, come quickly and see what's wrong with our young miss."
Tang Zhengguo arrived at the patient's side, felt her pulse and examined her for a moment, finding her pulse and breathing completely normal. Yet, despite trying various methods, he failed to revive her. He stood up and shook his head.
The female assistant asked anxiously, "Divine Doctor Tang, what is wrong with our young miss? Please save her!"
Divine Doctor Tang replied, "It's not that this old man won't save her, but all of the patient's vital signs are normal. In decades of practicing medicine, I have never seen such a symptom. However, there is no immediate danger to her life; take her to the hospital for a detailed examination."
~~~
Someone nearby had already helped dial the emergency services. The ambulance arrived promptly, and the medics immediately transferred the patient inside. Just as the ambulance doors were about to close, Lin Tianchen suddenly shouted, "Wait! Taking her to the hospital won't save her either. She only has ten minutes left to live."
A medic demanded, "Who are you? Are you a doctor too? Looking at how young you are, do you even have a medical license?"
A passerby said, "Young man, if you can't help, don't cause trouble."
"Exactly, exactly! Who do you think you are? Have you even graduated from college?"
"Don't go around spreading alarmist nonsense."
~~~
"I indeed don't have a medical license, but I can save her," Lin Tianchen said.
Divine Doctor Tang said angrily, "Young man, you say you can cure her—fine, fine, fine! Then you tell me what illness this is. If you can't give a sensible explanation, get lost as far as you can!"
"This young lady is not physically ill. However, looking at the space between her eyebrows, her *yin* palace is blackened. This should be the result of being possessed by an evil spirit," Lin Tianchen said unhurriedly.
Su Shanshan hurriedly tugged at Lin Tianchen's clothes and whispered, "Tianchen, you can't just talk nonsense. If you don't understand, let it be. Isn't this just superstition?"
At the same time, someone in the crowd shouted, "Turns out he's just a fraudulent charlatan! Get lost right now and stop delaying the rescue!"
...
Some busybodies even turned on livestreaming with their mobile phones, and the screen was flooded with abuses.
Divine Doctor Tang declared, "Absurd! Complete nonsense! Hurry up and send her to the hospital, and pay no attention to this charlatan. Humph!"
"I only need two minutes to make the patient wake up. She can't hold on much longer, and the nearest hospital is at least twenty minutes away. Besides, the hospital will be helpless anyway," Lin Tianchen said.
Divine Doctor Tang said, "Good! Since you insist on courting death, let's make a bet. If you can't cure her, I want you to apologize to everyone and have you thrown in prison. Do you dare?"
"Alright. But if I win, I don't need your apology. I only want the jade pendant on your neck. How about it?" Lin Tianchen said.
"Fine, it's a deal!" Divine Doctor Tang said.