## AST 1994 - The former genius of Zhang Clan

Qing Shui noticed the surprised faces which the others had when looking at these group of people. He then smiled and said, “If you guys cultivate hard, it won’t be long until you surpass them. This is as far as they could achieve in their lifetime, unless they run into some sort of heaven-defying pills.”

The others weren’t completely ignorant of what was going on. Hence, they nodded. Once again, their eyes were filled with unswerving determinations.

“Big brother, you must work hard to bring them up. This is going to be our first batch of military strength in the future.” Qing Shui said with confidence.

The Barbarian Emperor’s eyes shone. He noticed that Qing Shui had said ‘our’ instead of saying ‘mine’. Deep down, he felt a sense of comfort and relief. Though his life might be given by him, Qing Shui didn’t demand anything in return.

“Rest assured. This will not be a problem.” It seemed the Barbarian Emperor was feeling a bit excited at the moment. He couldn’t help but wonder how his future would turn out by following Qing Shui.

……

These past few days were unusually quiet. Neither of the Lang Clan nor the Shang Clan had shown up. This had caused Qing Shui to feel quite surprised. It was reasonable if only the Lang Clan hadn’t shown up. After all, their main problem was the civil war that was going on among themselves. They didn’t really have any spare time to look for more troubles. What was truly strange was the Shang Clan not turning up.

The Shang Clan of Great Shang City was undeniably an existence with formidable and concrete power. No one could surpass them in Great Shang City. Putting aside what was shown on the surface, everyone was well aware that a lot of powerful warriors were hiding within the Shang Clan. Hence, without a doubt, they were the ones ruling over Great Shang City.

For a powerful clan like this, usually, they wouldn’t just sit still after seeing a member of their own clan getting beaten up, no matter what position the group of people who got beaten up held within the Shang Clan. This was simply a matter of their reputation, even if the person who beat up the person from the Shang Clan was just a nobody. The current Imperial Cuisine Hall was still about a hundred thousand miles away from reaching the Shang Clan’s level.

Everything was already beginning to get on the right track for the Imperial Cuisine Hall. At the same time, the overall situation was also getting better and better and they were becoming more and more well-known throughout the city. It was mainly also because in between, there was another clan from Great Shang City which was considered as one of the top clans, Zhang Clan.

The Zhang Clan was handed down in a direct line from its founder to Zhang Miaoyun, a genius figure. However, his cultivations were crippled in a battle against the demonic beasts. He was the person leading all three generations of the Zhang Clan and was also a cautious and exceptional person. If the Zhang Clan were to lose an expert like him, their progress would immediately halt for at least 200 years. Worse, they might even lose the progress instead. On the contrary, if Zhang Miaoyun could take over the Zhang Clan in perfect condition, it would be able to ascent to another level yet again within those 200 years.

Ever since Zhang Miaoyun had lost his cultivation, he always felt very empty. Not only did his own sky turn dark, but a lot of people from the Zhang Clan were also deeply saddened by it. However, there were also some people who rejoiced. This way, the position as the clan’s head would be theirs. Or rather, with Zhang Miaoyun gone, they could finally fight for the position of the clan’s head. The Zhang Clan’s Clan Head held a very high authority in it.

In the past, he used to be the pride of Great Shang City. People called him the heaven’s son. Even the geniuses from other clans couldn’t hold a candle to him. And yet, he had turned into a crippled man. A kind of man whom he could have eliminated a dozen of by merely snapping his finger, the same kind of man might even stand a chance in a one-on-one fight against him.

“Yes, the Imperial Cuisine Hall!”

Wasn’t this the Imperial Cuisine Hall which had been popular for quite a while recently? Zhang Miaoyun was staring at the group of people lining up to see the physician. He then revealed a bitter smile on his face. He had already looked for many alchemists regarding his situation, so much so that he even went all the way to the deepest part of Haohan Continent. Despite all of his effort, he still ended up facing the same result. Without some sort of heaven-defying elixirs, it seemed that it would be impossible for him to recover.

This place was only just a clinic, but for some reason, Zhang Miaoyun had begun lining up along with the group of people.

“Hey, isn’t that the genius of the Zhang Clan?” Some people were surprised to see him.

“What do you mean the genius of the Zhang Clan? I can take on three of them myself!” The person talking was very strong and tall. He also had a bit of cultivation. Indeed, for the time being, he was able to defeat three Zhang Miaoyun by himself. In front of absolute strength, any skills would be futile. The current Zhang Miaoyun had lost his strength. With that being the case, he wouldn’t be able to draw out even 1% of the strength of his techniques.

“What did you say? Why didn’t you say that in the past and only decided to act all mighty after seeing the way he is now? Here, let me give you a chance to test it out with me!” At this moment, a huge man from behind said to the person from before.

The strong-looking person immediately trembled when he saw that man. Initially, he thought that he was supposed to be the strongest and largest in the area but the man standing right next to him at this very moment was one head taller than him! Not only so, but the man’s body was also like an iron tower. It was twice his size.

“Brother Da Zhuang! I know I am wrong!”

It seemed this person knew the man with a huge figure. He immediately became terrified as soon as he saw him.

“The genius from Zhang Clan is a good person. The god has indeed been blind. There are so many rich and spoiled brats across the world. The god could have crippled any of them nut instead, he was the one who had to suffer from all of these. It’s indeed as the saying goes “good things never happen to good people.”

“Yes, it has indeed been a waste. It seems there will not be any experts to take over the future of Great Shang City.”

“Yes. Look at him, he is also in the queue. Could it be because he still wants to recover his strength?”

When someone mentioned that, the others also started getting curious. After all, with Zhang Clan’s strength, it was safe to assume that they must have looked for quite a few formidable Alchemists. What was worth noting was that the Zhang Clan’s Clan Head wouldn’t knit his brows even if it meant sacrificing half of the clan’s assets in exchange for the genius’s cultivation. Money would forever only be a worldly possession to them.

Even if the money was wasted, there would at least still be another chance for them to attempt other physicians to try and cure him. But if he died, there would be no more second chance. The geniuses were the most precious thing in an aristocratic clan.

“Do you think the Imperial Cuisine Hall could cure him?” A man asked curiously.

“How many physicians and alchemists do you think Zhang Clan had look for? Yet, none of them had been able to cure him. Even if the Imperial Cuisine Hall has been quite popular lately, I still feel that the chances that they could succeed are very small. If they could truly fix him, I think their name would immediately surpass the Sacred Medicine Palace.

“Yes. The Sacred Medicine Palace was the most precious place in Great Shang City. Even though the alchemists there are the most powerful, Young Master Zhang couldn’t even have his illness cured over there.”

……

Actually, deep down, Zhang Miaoyun had already given up. It was as if it was the work of both demons and gods that he was here today. He never had hope that his illness would be treated. It was not that he didn’t want it cured but that based on how it seemed, treatment was basically impossible. The more hope he had, the more disappointments he would end up getting in the end. Hence, he had already stopped caring. This way, at least he could live his life more relaxed.

This was how humans were. They couldn’t accept losing something once they got their hands on it. If that was the case, they would be better off not having it in the first place.

There was a very long queue. Zhang Miaoyun didn’t really know anyone. He followed the queue and slowly advanced forward. Very quickly, there was only one more person left before him. The person attending to the patients was a woman. She was very beautiful and there was a very calm aura emitting from her body. She looked like a dignified woman.

Madam Lang. Zhang Miaoyun was also aware that this woman was once the wife of the Clan Head Lang. She was indeed very beautiful as rumored but upon seeing the real thing, she seemed even more gorgeous, particularly the aura across her body. It was very attractive and made people felt very comfortable.

She seemed very skillful when attending to the patient’s illnesses and helping them prescribe their medicines. All of these seemed very smooth when it was done by her hand.

Zhang Miaoyun found it very odd. Since when had this woman learned to help people cure diseases? He had never heard that this woman was a physician before.

Zhang Miaoyun was sitting opposite to Qing Ci. He slowly extended his arm and placed it on the table.

Qing Ci took a glance at him. She looked very calm. Following on, she pulled out three of her fingers and pressed it against his pulse. After a while, she looked up and said, “You are not really ill. Your Dantian has just been emptied and your meridians have snapped. Is this what you are here for?”

Zhang Miaoyun nodded, “Yes.”

The voice was a bit hoarse yet also sounded really calm.