Chapter Twenty: Hidden Crisis

  For training in knife work, Xiao Hong mainly used the previously scrapped loadstone. Although they can no longer be made into magic patterns, they are still quite good for practice. Just repeatedly flatten the patterns on top with a tool to cut the loadstone.

  Like this, the whole night passed, Xiao Hong spent all his time practicing body training methods and knife work. When his hands were tired, he practiced body training methods; when his body was tired, he practiced knife work. If both his body and hands were tired, he would flip through that old book, studying the subtle things inside.

  Through continuous research, Xiao Hong can obviously excavate that although the knowledge in "Broken Book" is outdated and even the author has some stubbornness, it cannot be denied that the author's skill in making magic seals is absolutely profound.

  Through reading the texts, Xiao Hong seemed to see a stubborn and arrogant old man standing in front of him, muttering away.

  Before he knew it, a day had passed and morning had arrived. When Xiao Hong woke up, his body didn't feel the slightest bit heavy, but instead felt extremely light. His brain was no longer groggy from just waking up, but was clear and refreshed. The energy inside him also seemed to be quite active.

  Obviously, the effect of Posture Training Method is immediate and noticeable.

  Xiao Hong jumped up from the bed and began to gather the scattered stone fragments on the ground into a sack, preparing to find an opportunity to destroy them all at once.

  In his mind, apart from thinking about the magic pattern, was the most troublesome problem at hand, which was money. Yesterday, in his spare time, Xiao Hong had already roughly calculated that to make a realistic battle pattern, apart from the technical skills required to create the magic pattern, he would need at least five gold coins. The blood of the spiritual beast was an indispensable thing for making the battle magic pattern. If he wanted to make something even more powerful, he would need the brain marrow of the spiritual beast, which was the source of its power and also the reason why it differed from ordinary wild beasts.

  But that thing, just a little bit the size of a fingernail, costs over 40-50 thousand.

  "Money." Xiao Hong sighed to himself at this thought.

  However, just as Xiao Hong was about to tie the mouth of the sack tightly, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he always felt that something was wrong outside the window. He gently lifted the curtain, and Xiao Hong's expression changed drastically, and he was instantly petrified on the spot!

  Only at the doorstep of their own home, it has become extraordinarily lively, with dozens of people, including miners and villagers from Dongcheng Town, lining up in a long queue.

  "This..." Xiao Hong was stunned for a moment, of course, he had thought that there would be people coming to seek medical treatment in the future, but he never expected that it would reach such an extent, without a doubt, Xiao Hong underestimated the word-of-mouth effect between people.

  It's no wonder that in this area, there are only two pharmacists, one is Xu Qing's brother, the owner of Miaodan Pharmacy Xu Nan, and the other is probably Xiao Hong.

  Xu Nan was only a second-level mage, and he rarely used magic to heal illnesses because he couldn't create magic patterns himself, so he had to buy them at a high price. Compared to Xiao Hong, who could make medicinal magic patterns, it was simply no comparison. Moreover, Xiao Hong's prices were cheaper, making the Miao Dan Medicine Hall a complete rip-off!

  "Really? So many people?" Xiao Hong pinched his chin slightly and exclaimed in surprise.

  At this point, Xiao Hong seemed to have no other choice but to open the door and receive guests. However, when it came to pricing, Xiao Hong was no longer willing to be soft-hearted. The price would be calculated at half of what Miao Dan Medicine Hall charged, which was still very cheap.

  After a busy morning, Xiao Hong finally finished treating dozens of patients. The consumption of his spiritual power was also enormous, but fortunately, Xiao Hong's current spiritual power had reached the third level of Spiritual Apprentice, and his internal spiritual power was much more abundant than that of ordinary people. The consumption of spiritual power for minor illnesses and injuries could still be completely withstood, and there was also the strong support of the Cyan Black Magic Pearl.

  What's more important is that as Xiao Hong continually comes into contact with all sorts of patients, it will be absolutely helpful for his own medical practice and growth.

  Doing so can undoubtedly accumulate a lot of experience, and thoroughly find the root cause of one's strange illness and cure it.

  With a cool wet towel, he wiped his face several times and cast his eyes into the bulging wallet, Xiao Hong's face still showed a hint of joy.

  Just now, Xiao Hong roughly calculated that after deducting the cost, he earned nearly one gold coin in just one morning. This is something Xiao Hong wouldn't dare to imagine on a normal day. Such income also made Xiao Hong feel that producing a powerful Battle Demon Mark was no longer far away.

  As long as he possesses a powerful war beast totem, Xiao Hong will have the basic combat power, at least can protect himself, only in this way, can be considered a true totem master.

  As a result, Xiao Hong's daily routine was basically set. In the morning, he would see patients, and in the afternoon and evening, he would train himself. Every day, he would take out an hour to dig for ore, mainly to collect loadstone.

  Such a life lasted for a whole week, and almost every day, Xiao Hong's business was extremely hot, after all, he often used magic tattoos to treat patients, even in Taiwu City, he was very welcome.

  During this week, through unremitting efforts, Xiao Hong finally completed the fourth movement of the body training method, and Dāo Gōng also made rapid progress with his own efforts.

  It can be said that with Xiao Hong's current strength, he is almost able to preliminarily use the technique of patterns within patterns to create and even drive concave magic patterns.

  At the same time, in Miaodan Pharmacy, it was almost deserted. In the first few days, people came to grab medicine continuously, but in the following days, Xiao Hong began to send Li Le and others to pick herbs and paid them wages, so there were almost no people grabbing medicine.

  For a whole morning, not a single patient came in, which was really abnormal for the Miaodan Pharmacy. Because of Xu Qing's position as the person in charge and his relatively strong power, the small pharmacies nearby had already been driven out by the Dongcheng Quarry and even the entire Dongcheng Town.

  There is only one pharmacy, Miao Dan, and miners as well as villagers from the eastern town have no choice but to come here for medical treatment. In other words, it's a bare-faced monopoly, which is also the direct reason why Miao Dan Pharmacy dares to be so reckless in its pricing.

  At this moment, Xu Nan was pale-faced, sitting in the pharmacy, staring at the cold door.

  Xu Qing sat beside the tea table in the pharmacy, with a calm expression, quietly enjoying his lunch. The dishes on the tea table were all carefully selected and were worlds apart from the food of the miners.

  In Xu Qing's view, the situation of Miaodan Pharmacy is likely due to a new pharmacy emerging nearby, giving patients a new choice. Otherwise, even if Miaodan Pharmacy charges exorbitant prices, people will still come because in this world, those who value money over their lives are extremely rare.

  For such things, Xu Qing didn't have a single bit of severity. In the East City Quarry, and even nearby, he was like heaven. If there was a new medicine shop that appeared, it would be cleared away immediately.

  A moment later, a young man who was not very tall and slightly chubby rushed in quickly.

  "Wang Liang, how's the information you were asked to gather?" Xu Qing glanced at this slightly chubby man, put down his chopsticks and took a sip of tea before asking.

  "Xu Ge, I've already found out everything. The reason why there are so few patients here is because of Xiao Hong. He opened a small pharmacy at his home and receives at least 40 to 50 patients every day. His prices are very cheap, only half of ours, but the effect is excellent. So far, his cure rate is 100%. And I also heard that Xiao Hong can even control the medicine devil, diagnose patients." The guy named Wang Liang spoke with a tone full of flattery, and he was also Xu Qing's younger brother, considered to be half of Xu Qing's confidant.

  "Who?" Xu Qing couldn't help but utter such a sound. The only thread of concern in his expression had also vanished into thin air.

  Previously, Xu Qing had some worries that he might encounter someone with a bit of background who would come to compete with him for the spotlight. However, upon hearing Xiao Hong's name, Xu Qing's heart immediately put down its guard. As for Xiao Hong, Xu Qing was still very familiar with him - an orphan, without any backing or connections, just a dying man.

  "Who would have thought that it was just a small ant causing trouble." Xu Qing said in a low voice, and slightly narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of ruthlessness.

  For Xiao Hong, a small miner, Xu Qing didn't take him seriously at all. Although Xiao Hong could control the Medicine Demon Thread, his level was only that of a second-rate beast tamer, with almost no effective attack power.

  "A small miner like him also wants to compete with us, in my opinion, it's simply that he thinks his life is too long. Xu Nan said disdainfully, then turned her gaze to Xu Qing: "Big brother, what do you plan to do?"

  "There are many ways to do it, he's just a small miner on the verge of death. With my strength, it would be easy to take him down. What can't I do?" Xu Qing responded softly, and began thinking of ways to capture Xiao Hong.

  Xiao Hong, at home, watched as the last cured patient left with a thousand thanks, then turned around and hastily packed up his backpack.

  After so many days of medical treatment, Xiao Hong's materials and the medicine magic patterns he had made were completely consumed. He only had one super-strong anti-inflammatory medicine magic pattern left that he had previously made, which could barely be used once more, with cracks on the edges.

  Xiao Hong now needs to go back to Tai Wu City and bring some materials for making magic patterns, of course the most important material is the one for making battle patterns.