In Zhao Wushuang's home, Ning Tao saw the herbs that Fan Huaying bought for him, some of which were more and some were less due to the difficulty of finding. The herbs were all packed in a big cardboard box, and gave off a strong smell.

Now Ning Tao lacked only one herb—the white snake slough. Once obtaining it, he would have all the materials to make Primary Elixirs.

"These herbs you ask for, my dear fellow, are very precious and not cheap. They cost a total of 1,670,000, leaving 330,000," reported Fan Huaying. "Tell me your bank account number and I'll transfer the rest of the money to you."

"You don't have to do that," Ning Tao said.

Fan Huaying smiled and stated, "I was going to buy them for you, but you insisted on paying me. How can I take your hard-earned money?"

Ning Tao smiled and told him his bank card number.

Fan Huaying transferred the rest of the money to Ning Tao's bank account via his phone. A few seconds later Ning Tao received a message—330,000 yuan was already in his account.

For a person like Fan Huaying, this amount of money might be the price of buying a watch he liked, but for Ning Tao, it was a huge sum of money, which could play a great role.

At this moment, Zhao Wushuang came out of the kitchen and asked, "Are you finished talking? Dinner is ready. Do you want to continue talking or try my cooking?"

She didn't wear a mask today. She still had visible scars on her left cheek and chin, but her face was infinitely better than when Ning Tao first came to her. Now she could hide her scars with makeup and go out without attracting strange looks.

Ning Tao's treatment had given her a second chance at life, which was why she cooked herself.

Fan Huaying chuckled, "Then I'll gain some advantage from Tao."

Zhao Wushuang laughed and stated, "I hope Doctor Ning likes my cooking."

Ning Tao smiled and followed Zhao Wushuang and Fan Huaying to the dining room.

There were several dishes on the table, all made of high-end ingredients, including two seafood dishes, Australian lobsters and sas.h.i.+mi, as well as two dishes of Sichuan Food—fish flavored pork slices and mapo tofu, and a vegetable salad. There was also an expensive bottle of decaped red wine.

"Today's lunch is a combination of Chinese and western. I like it," Fan Huaying marveled. "But Wushuang, it's unfair. You know Tao came from Shan City, and you cooked Sichuan Food for him, but you didn't cook anything for me specially."

Zhao Wushuang rolled her eyes at him and said, "Make whatever you want. The kitchen is over there."

Fan Huaying gave a wry smile and complained to Ning Tao, "Tao, you see, she is obviously partial to you."

"Thank you then," Ning Tao said with a smile.

"Don't just talk. Let's dine," Zhao Wushuang urged. "The broiled lobster doesn't taste good when it gets cold."

The atmosphere at lunch was very pleasant.

Ning Tao thought Zhao Wushuang was a mediocre cook, but he was amazed by the taste of her cooking. He couldn't help raving, "I never thought Miss Wushuang was such a good cook. The dishes are delicious."

Zhao Wushuang said with a smile, "You are my savior. If you want to eat the food I cooking, you can come here. I'll cook for you."

Ning Tao grinned and replied, "Please don't say anything about savior. I'm a doctor. It's my duty to see and treat patients. We'll be friends from now on. I shall certainly interrupt you again when I'm free."

Zhao Wushuang raised her gla.s.s and cried, "To our friends.h.i.+p."

Then three goblets clinked.

Ning Tao knew that Zhao Wushuang and Fan Huaying were so kind to him because of his medical skills. If he were still the dest.i.tute intern, neither of them would really look at him. It was a realistic world. As the saying goes, the poor in the crowded city has no visitor, while the rich in the remote mountain area will be called on by distant relatives.

Ning Tao saw the fact and took it in stride. He didn't feel flattered by getting to know celebrities like Fan Huaying and Zhao Wushuang. On the other hand, he certainly would no turn down their offers.

After lunch, Ning Tao had tea with Zhao Wushuang and Fan Huaying before leaving with the cardboard box full of herbs.

After taking a taxi back to Jiang Hao's neighborhood, Ning Tao did not go directly to Jiang Hao's home, but went to the rooftop first. Then he opened the blood lock with the key and returned to the Sky Clinic.

Everything in the clinic was the same—the good-evil tripod was "sleeping" with its eyes closed, looking as if it didn't want to see Ning Tao.

Ning Tao took the herbs out of the cardboard box, treated it briefly, and stored it in different categories. When he got the white snake slough, he could start making Primary Elixirs.

After finis.h.i.+ng the herbs, Ning Tao took out his phone and looked at the time. It was only four pm. Considering that it was still early before the appointed time with Bai Jing, he took out the fragments bought from Panjiayuan Market.

There were 18 of them, each of different size and shape.

Ning Tao held a piece of fragments in his hand, started the skills of looking and smelling, and carefully "diagnosed" it.

The material of the fragments was still hard to pin down, not metal or porcelain. Based on its feel and weight, as well as the characteristics observed by the eyes, it resembled a kind of rock. There were strange lines and patterns on the surface of the fragments, but they were too faint to see.

"Is this a magic tool?" Ning Tao had this idea in his mind.

According to its spiritual energy and strange lines and patterns, it did look like the magic tool described in the fairy novel.

Ning Tao put all the pieces together and they formed a broken inkstone. The moustached vendor didn't sold him all the fragments of an antique, and the small part of it was missing.

Ning Tao was a little disappointed to learn that this was a treasure with a small part missing.

"I'll go and see the deep pool after I obtain the white snake slough. Maybe I can find the other fragments." Ning Tao made up his mind, then wrapped up the fragments and put them on the shelf where the Heavenly Hound tripod and the rotten broken tripod were placed.

When the golden Heavenly Hound tripod and the ancient rotten broken tripod came into sight, an inspiration suddenly flashed in Ning Tao's mind.

He had used the three tripods in the Sky Clinic to refine delicate perfumed creams and spices, but only the delicate perfumed tripod succeed, and neither the Heavenly Hound tripod nor the rotten broken tripod achieved the effect he wanted. However, the Heavenly Hound tripod and the rotten broken tripod must have something unique. Even the Heavenly Hound tripod left by Chen Pingdao was bound to be useful. As a pract.i.tioner who had lived for thousands of years and the former owner of Sky Clinic, how could the thing that Chen Pingdao left be ordinary?

"Rotten, broken... Is the rotten broken tripod for repairing things?" That was Ning Tao's sudden inspiration.

The delicate perfumed tripod could turn common herbs and ingredients into treasures.

In this way, the rotten broken tripod should be for repairing things.

With this idea, Ning Tao eagerly took the fragments and the rotten broken tripod to the open s.p.a.ce in the middle of the clinic, and then put all the fragments into the rotten broken tripod.

When everything was ready, Ning Tao converted his spiritual power into alchemy fire, and then attached his palms to the rotten broken tripod.

Buzz...

The rotten broken tripod buzzed, like the sound of thousands of monks chanting sutras and the approach of the ways of Heaven which was mighty.

The complicated lines and patterns on the rotten broken tripod were lit up by the alchemy fire. When all the lines and patterns were lit up, a black and white flame suddenly jumped up in the tripod! It looked like the scene that Ge Ming deliberately poured a spoonful of oil into a red-hot pan, which burst into flames when he showed off his cooking to the children in the kitchen of the Suns.h.i.+ne Orphanage.

This never happened to the delicate perfumed tripod and the Heavenly Hound tripod, or even when he used the rotten broken tripod to refine the delicate perfumed cream and spices. But the fact that this was happening now suggested that he was right. It was indeed a special tripod for repairing!

Buzz...

In the buzzing sound, the black and white alchemy fire burned, but Ning Tao could not see the changes in the tripod. He could only see the alchemy fire magnified by the rotten broken tripod, so all he could see was fire.

After a full quarter of an hour, Ning Tao got more and more tired, and the alchemy fire in the rotten broken tripod became weaker and weaker. It was far more spiritual power draining than refining the delicate perfumed cream and spices. It only lasted a quarter of an hour, and he couldn't go on.

Helplessly, Ning Tao had to withdraw alchemy fire and remove his hands from the rotten broken tripod.

The black and white flame disappeared, and more than a dozen fragments in the rotten broken tripod were joined together to form a black inkstone of only two-thirds. However, the cracks in the broken inkstone were obvious, which showed that the bond between the fragments was not well enough.

Ning Tao carefully took out the fragile inkstone. It felt heavy, much heavier than when it was fragments.

"It's no ordinary thing!" Ning Tao exclaimed in his heart. Then he aroused his eyes and nose to enter the state of looking and smelling.

The result of the "diagnosis" was quite different from the previous one before the fragments were bonded.

The lines and patterns on the incomplete inkstone were evidently clear that could be see clearly at a glance. The lines were still the same, criss-crossing like rivers on the earth, while the patterns changed, like mysterious runes.

Ning Tao looked at them carefully, but couldn't figure them out for a long time. After all, he was just a novice in cultivation. The ABC of elementary cultivation method only taught him to practice spiritual power, transform alchemy fire and other basic things, not involving the knowledge and skills of runes. So, it was no use for him to see the runes clearly.

In addition, the inkstone, which was made up of fragments that were barely glued together, released many times more spiritual energy than before the repair. Ning Tao could even feel a mysterious energy flowing in the incomplete inkstone. However, he did not know what it was.

According to his present ability, no matter how long he studied this inkstone, he could not get a result. So he finished the diagnosis through the skills of looking and smelling, and put the rotten broken tripod and the incomplete inkstone back on the shelf. In this process, he hatched a plan. "With the rotten broken tripod, why don't I expand the business of the clinic? Not only can I see and heal people, I can also mend broken instruments. Even if I don't earn the good-evil rent, I can also earn alchemy medicine and materials from pract.i.tioners and demons!"

Then Ning Tao's eyes fell on the golden Heavenly Hound tripod.

The delicate perfumed tripod was used to refine medicinal materials and spices, so, of course, it was the best tripod for refining the Primary Elixirs.

The rotten broken tripod was used to repair broken magic tools, so it could not be used for alchemy, or it was definitely a waste of materials of the wrong choice.

Then, what was the golden Heavenly Hound tripod with a bulging belly for?

Ning Tao stared at the Heavenly Hound tripod for several minutes and muttered unaccountably, "Chen Pingdao, Chen Pingdao, is this your bowl?"

He still didn't know where Chen Pingdao was, but even if Chen Pingdao was here, he might refuse to admit it.