“Sixteen is the best age. You still have a bright future ahead of you,” Sister Xin comforted gently. “Rest well after you go back. Don’t think too much. It’s not worth giving up your life for him.”
Gu Shen remembered this girl. Her name was Qu Shui (T/N: Melody of water). It was a pleasant name to the ears, just like her—a quiet and gentle girl.
But her wrist was covered with hideous scars of varying depths.
“Umm…” Qu Shuo shrank her body and covered her forearm with her sleeve. She stammered softly, “Dr. Zhou… I… If my condition doesn’t improve… can I come again?”
“Of course,” Zhou Yexin replied with a smile.
Receiving this response, Qu Shui smiled softly.
Gu Shen noticed that the girl was still curled up, looking pale. She held the cup of hot water with both hands and didn’t get up. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
“No… It’s a little late…” Qu Shui’s voice grew quieter as she spoke, and she didn’t dare to look up. “I’m afraid… of walking alone at night…”
“Do you want me to walk you home?” Gu Shen asked.
Qu Shui didn’t respond and lowered her head even more.
“I’ll do it.” Zhou Yexin put on her coat. “Little Gu, there shouldn’t be any more patients today. Let’s call it a day. Please close the door after tidying up.”
Gu Shen nodded and smiled. “Okay. Sister Xin, be careful on the way.”
After watching the two of them leave, Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.
He leaned against the wall and reached out to touch his forehead. When he pushed the door open… a hint of scorching heat had seemed to ignite between his eyebrows.
It was like this every time he circulated Jingzhe breathing, so he was already used to it.
But this time, the heat was different.
Is it because I sensed a transcendental aura?
This time, the space between his eyebrows was scorching hot, seeming like a warning.
Following his intuition, Gu Shen checked around the room but didn’t find anything unusual. Finally, he stood in front of the mirror and was shocked by the face in it.
With no one else around, a slender flame appeared between his eyeborws.
It was slowly burning and pulsating.
It was as though it had life!
It’s no different from the Blazing Fire I summoned during the Transcendent Trial in the Deep Waters. Gu Shen carefully touched the Blazing Fire between his eyebrows and felt the heat on his fingertips and in his heart. A smile crept onto his lips.
Unfortunately, Chu Ling can’t see this scene.
This should mean… I’ve successfully condensed my transcendental power.
Phew… This strand of Blazing Fire seems to have its own consciousness. Did it just want to come out on its own?
Gu Shen’s heart stirred. He was curious. After successfully summoning the Blazing Fire, he didn’t feel anything different.
It didn’t seem like a transcendental power of the augmentation type.
Moreover, he had yet to reach the level of activating a domain. This flame only appeared between his eyebrows and looked more like a thin layer of armor, and a pitifully tiny one at that.
Extinguish, he willed with mind.
The Blazing Fire immediately dissipated.
Appear.
With another thought, the Blazing Fire reappeared and condensed into a gentle, clear flame.
After repeating it a few times, Gu Shen had mastered the trick and could use the Blazing Fire according to his will. From the looks of it, this Blazing Fire is still very weak. I seem to be able to use only the most basic mental-type abilities.
For example… hypnosis.
Moreover, it was the most basic kind. It was very difficult to hypnotize transcendents, but hypnotizing ordinary people… shouldn’t be a problem.
According to his sensation, the current transcendental strength of this Blazing Fire was about the same as Sister Xin’s pocket watch.
Very good. This means I’m on the right track. My bitter cultivation these days has finally yielded results. Gu Shen looked at his handsome face in the mirror, illuminated by the flame, and smiled. And mastering the Blazing Fire has been much faster than I thought.
The original plan was to summon the Blazing Fire within a month, and it would be considered a success.
It was only the ninth day.
In a much better mood, Gu Shen extinguished the flame between his eyebrows. He tidied up the clinic and prepared to leave.
Suddenly!
Knock, knock, knock!
A gentle knock came from the door.
The hands of the clock pointed to eight forty-five.
Usually, there wouldn’t be any more patients at this time unless there was a special appointment.
Through the peephole, Gu Shen saw a luxuriously dressed woman exuding an air of elegance and wealth. Despite the severe drop in temperature after autumn, she was wearing an extremely thin aqua blue cheongsam under her clothes. To keep warm, she had a mink fur coat draped over her shoulders. She held an exquisite handbag in the crook of her arm.
It was clear that she was a lady of high social standing.
Before she knocked a second time, Gu Shen opened the door. “Hello. You are?”
The lady frowned slightly and said softly, “I heard that the doctor of Dream Whisperer is very skilled… But she’s a woman…”
“I’m new here,” Gu Shen replied after a moment and smiled. “I’m an assistant. My surname is Gu. You can call me Dr. Gu.”
Assistant? He looks too young, still like a teenager.
“Dr. Gu…” The lady sized up Gu Shen. After seeing his clear eyes, for some reason, she felt a trace of trust in her heart and asked softly, “Assistant doctor… is still a doctor, right?”
Gu Shen nodded earnestly. “An assistant doctor is, of course, a doctor.”
After opening the door, he observed this lady again.
It was clear she was well-off. She was dressed elegantly and had exquisite makeup. But even with her makeup, he could still see that her face was haggard, and the rims of her eyes were faintly black.
“It’s like this… I guess you should be in charge of emotional counseling for young people in his clinic…” The lady sighed wearily. Her voice was slow, like bits and pieces. “But I really have no choice. I’ve found many people these past few days, but none of them could do anything.
“Sorry… Sorry… You probably don’t understand…”
She held her forehead, her voice on the verge of breaking down. “I don’t even know… why I’m telling you this…”
Her words were disjointed and fragmented.
It was hard to make sense of it all.
But Gu Shen remained calm and listened patiently until she had nothing else to say. “It’s a sleep problem, right?”
As soon as he finished speaking, surprise flashed in the lady’s tired eyes.
Gu Shen took a look briefly and retracted his gaze. “You haven’t rested for a few days, right? Three, maybe four days.”
He stepped aside to make way and said calmly, “Dr. Zhou has already left. It’s just me now. If you think you can hold on for another night, the clinic will open at nine tomorrow morning. But if you can’t wait and don’t mind that I’m only an assistant doctor, perhaps you might get a good night’s sleep tonight.”
He waited for her reply.
When Gu Shen pinpointed the sleep problem, the lady had already become agitated.
“Thank you… Thank you…” Her voice was trembling uncontrollably, like a drowning person grasping the last straw.
In fact, many things in this world were precious but often went uncherished.
Only those who had lost them understood how much of a blessing it was to have them.
For example, sleep.