Everything seemed to have frozen.

“What is he watching?” Ning Tao felt curiosity in his heart. He was not concerned over whether this hallucination from the past would vanish. He strode to that youth.

In the past, the moment he moved, these hallucinations would disintegrate and vanish.

But this time, he had moved his legs and taken a step. Yet that youth with the queue had not disappeared.

Ning Tao was astounded. This was something which had never happened before. His stride gave him a bizarre feeling, as if he was not walking in a Beidu alley in the 2000s, but on a street before 1800!

Ning Tao took a deep breath and took a second step.

The hallucination had remained and had not disintegrated.

Ning Tao quickened his pace. After taking a few steps, he finally reached that youth with a queue.

At this moment, this scene from a former time zone started to tremble. It seemed to be disintegrating.

Ning Tao felt somewhat anxious. He soared up and landed on the top of the wall.

In the courtyard, a young woman was taking a bath in a wooden tub. In the setting sun, her skin was as fair as snow…

Boom!

This scene from a former time period disintegrated.

Ning Tao found to his astonishment that he was indeed standing on the top of a wall. But beyond that wall, there was no woman taking a bath in a wooden tub. There were instead a few cages of startled pigeons. A dozen pigeons were watching him on the wall, cooing incessantly.

Suddenly, there was a light in a room. The sound of him leaping up the wall and the cooing of the pigeons had obviously alarmed the owner.

Ning Tao frantically leaped down and walked rapidly back to Sky Clinic.

Suddenly, he once more felt a scorching pain in his eyes and relapsed into darkness. He had been holding on to that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir all this time. His nose had been smelling its scent. The refined Ancestor-seeking Elixir this time was more powerful, so much so that he suffered from another allergic reaction before he had recovered from the last one.

Ning Tao was standing motionless in the alley. A dozen seconds later, light again appeared before his eyes.

There was a drastic change in the scene.

It was no longer the same alley he was familiar with, but a street. The houses at both sides were burning. Someone had dashed out from a house and was opening his mouth screaming, but no sound emerged. People had collapsed on the ground, drenched in blood, but their blood was not flowing. A Manchu on horseback was brandis.h.i.+ng a saber and hacking at a middle-aged man running away. That middle-aged man had a Ming Dynasty hairstyle and was clad in clothes of that era.

Suddenly, a crimson figure appeared in that still scene.

She had appeared.

Without any warning.

Ning Tao watched her. For some reason, he felt that he had gone back in time to meet a bosom friend.

The lips of the woman in red quivered.

Almost instantaneously, Ning Tao heard a voice in his ears.

Come.

Look for me.

They were the same words.

This scene from the past suddenly disintegrated again. The woman in red gave Ning Tao a smile as radiant as sunlight, dispelling all the darkness enveloping his heart.

The alley returned to its former state. Darkness loomed. All was silent and deserted.

Ning Tao held his breath. He brought that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir back to Sky Clinic in a rubber glove. Then he stored it in a porcelain vial.

All was quiet in Sky Clinic. Plumes of good and evil energy were spiraling up the tripod.

The scene of that woman in red kept surfacing in Ning Tao's mind. He could remember her every detail—her peerless beauty, her deep-set and mysterious eyes, her smile as radiant as golden suns.h.i.+ne…

Ning Tao suddenly remembered something. He poured out that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir from the porcelain vial and held his breath. Going to his desk, he took out the ledger of bamboo slips from his small medicine chest and unfurled it.

The ledger of bamboo slips had the ability to identify pills. But he had never used it before to collect information on the Ancestor-seeking Elixir. The reason he had not done so was complex. He was the owner of Sky Clinic, and the Ancestor-seeking Elixir could create new demons. Outside this clinic, new demons were not well received. No matter who became one, he or she would immediately incur 49 sin of evil intention demerit points. He had wanted to put a refined Ancestor-seeking Elixir on the ledger of bamboo slips for identification, but wouldn't that be like a narcotic officer asking his police comrade to identify a drug?

That was the first reason. The other was that his Ancestor-seeking Elixir was not complete. So he felt it pointless to identify it. If he had to “commit this crime,” he might as well wait until he had collected the prescription and refined the complete elixir.

But now, the third version of the Ancestor-seeking Elixir was out. He could no longer suppress this impulse. All his former worries and rational thoughts had turned blurry after that woman in red's smile.

Come.

Look for me.

These were her words to him. For him, these words had an irresistible allure.

The third version of the Ancestor-seeking Elixir was drawing nearer to the ledger of bamboo slips. Just when he was about to put it down, Ning Tao's hand stopped. He s.h.i.+fted his eyes to look at the good-evil tripod.

Black and white fumes were spiraling up the good-evil tripod. Its human face had its eyes shut, as if it were dozing.

“Buddha said that he must enter h.e.l.l before all other beings. If even Buddha would visit h.e.l.l, what else do I need to worry about?” Ning Tao made up his mind and put that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir on the ledger.

Ten seconds went by.

Contents appeared on the ledger of bamboo slips: “An incomplete elixir, probably like an elixir of immortality of the Gulin era. Its evil properties can derange a person and make him or her lapse into the demon's path into a new demon. This elixir has medicinal properties and can cure insanity or paralysis, restoring one to a former state. But one must be wary of the dosage. Too much of it will make one lapse into the demon's path. Then he or she will incur sins as a new demon.”

This was the result of the elixir identification.

The ledger of bamboo slips did not debit points from Ning Tao's account as a result of this act. The reason was because this third version could create new demons as well as cure patients. It could treat insanity and paralysis. If it had no medicinal efficacy, the ledger would have debited points from Ning Tao's account.

But Ning Tao was not satisfied with this result. He wanted to unravel the Ancestor-seeking Elixir's secret, as well as the secret of that mysterious woman in red. But the ledger of bamboo slips merely identified it as an “incomplete elixir.”

The discovery that the Ancestor-seeking Elixir had medicinal uses was the most valuable discovery. Besides that, the ledger claimed that it resembled “an elixir of immortality of the Gulin era.”

Ning Tao muttered, “So you really are an elixir of immortality from the Gulin era. Was she from that era? Tell me, what is her name? Hee hee hee… ”

He had suffered from the allergic reactions of the Ancestor-seeking Elixir twice. Now, he was feeling its side effects.

Ning Tao covered his mouth and silently chanted the first line of Your Text. Then he kept that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir into a porcelain vial. Following that, he sat cross-legged before the good-evil tripod, cultivating his spiritual power with grade three elementary cultivation method, coursing it around his body in order to remove the residual effects of that third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir.

The morning sun had risen above the horizon, sprinkling golden suns.h.i.+ne all across the land.

The door of Sky Clinic opened. Ning Tao went out of the clinic, shouldering his small medicine chest. He saw the golden sunlight in the sky, and found a woman standing in the alley.

It was neither Qing Zhui, Bai Jing, nor Jiang Hao.

The woman standing there was Tang Zixian.

When he saw Tang Zixian, Ning Tao gave a slight startle. But very soon, he was no longer surprised. She had even known about his adventures in Florence searching for the elixir prescription, so it was not surprising she had managed to locate him here.

Tang Zixian walked towards Ning Tao with brisk steps.

Ning Tao knew what she was trying to do. He was quick too, leaping down the steps leading up the entrance in one bound.

The door of Sky Clinic had shut by itself.

Tang Zixian instantly furrowed her brows. “Is this how you receive your guests? Won't you invite me in?”

Ning Tao was very direct and shook his head. “I won't.”

Tang Zixian hastily walked past Ning Tao and went up the terrace steps leading to Sky Clinic. She stretched out her hand to push the door open.

Ning Tao did not try and stop her.

Boom!

The moment Tang Zixian's hands pushed the door, there was a loud hum. Her entire person flew backwards like a fired sh.e.l.l.

Ning Tao reached out to catch her waist, intercepting her forcibly.

Tang Zixian's face was ashen white, without a tinge of ruddiness. She could not come out of her terror, as she watched Sky Clinic with stupefied eyes. She had unwittingly snuggled herself into Ning Tao's arms.

In the golden light of dawn, Ning Tao and Tang Zixian were like ballet dancers taking up postures on ice. They looked so graceful.

“Good grief!” Bai Jing's voice suddenly rang out from the alley entrance. It carried a heavy note of mockery. “Isn't this my suave and amorous brother-in-law? So early in the morning, and you have someone in your arms?”

Ning Tao frantically released his arm around Tang Zixian's waist.

Tang Zixian's body was tilted at a 45-degree angle. Now that she had lost his support, she might have reeled. But after Ning Tao released her, she seemed to have been held up by wire. Her body was tilting at an angle, and yet she had not collapsed.

Bai Jing walked towards them. Her sarcasm was unsparing. “I say, brother-in-law, why won't you eat the dishes at home? Do you really prefer wild game so much?”

Ning Tao gave a wry smile. He was too lazy to explain, since it would make no difference. Sister White Snake had such a sharp tongue. Since when had she ever spared her brother-in-law?

Tang Zixian stretched her back erect and stood upright. She glanced at Bai Jing and said nothing.

Bai Jing's tone was strange. “Oh, so it's Miss Tang. No wonder my brother-in-law's heart is fluttering. That's why he's cheating. You're such a pretty girl, I couldn't help it myself if I were him.”

Ning Tao opened his small medicine chest and took out a porcelain vial containing the third-version Ancestor-seeking Elixir. He handed it to Tang Zixian. “This is what you want. You can leave now.”

Tang Zixian grabbed the porcelain vial and stalked away. She did not even exchange a word with Bai Jing.

Bai Jing pointed a finger at Ning Tao. “My sister can't manage you. I will let the other one know and get her to deal with you.”

“The other one” was of course Jiang Hao. Qing Zhui would give in to Ning Tao's every whim, but not Jiang Hao. The latter was domineering and easily roused to jealousy.

Ning Tao pulled out another porcelain vial from the medicine chest and handed it to Bai Jing. “The latest version of the Ancestor-seeking Elixir. Even more powerful than before. Can I bribe you?”

Bai Jing grabbed the porcelain vial and grinned. “That's more like it. I shall spare you this time. If I see a second time, I will report you.”

Ning Tao smiled wryly and changed the topic. “When did you come back?”

Bai Jing answered, “Last night. I wanted to have a chat with you, but my sister said you were refining pills. So I didn't come over.”

“What did you want to chat about?”

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“There is a flood in Shu Province. I managed to sell a batch of delicate perfumed cream thanks to your relations.h.i.+p with Joanna. I made a profit. I wanted to go with my sister to the province and repair the bridges and roads there. We can also do some philanthropic works, but she won't go unless you agree.”

Ning Tao said, “That's great. Of course I agree. Repairing bridges and roads are acts of great merit. You can acc.u.mulate a lot of merit points.”

“What about you?”

“The two of you bring along a blood lock. When I have finished my business at hand, I will go over and take a look,” Ning Tao answered.

“That's good. Otherwise my sister would suffer from lovesickness.”

Ning Tao did not know what to say.