Evil Mage Cultivation: The Immortal Enslavement Path

"NO! Let just see what happen first."

Wu Han tried to calm her down. Even he had not planned for this situation, and he could not be certain whether it was an aftereffect of his own scheme or something entirely separate.

"But the Miracle Doctor is you."

Luo Lan might not go out often, but she was not lacking in political sense. In fact, she understood it far too well. Politics was all she had ever known. From the day she could walk, she had lived as a pawn on a board she never chose.

She knew his title as the Miracle Doctor's disciple was nothing more than a shield.

A mask meant to keep stronger forces from noticing him.

Because in truth, he could not defend himself if a powerful enemy decided to seize him and force him into becoming their healer.

That was the danger of being useful.

And now, right in front of them, someone was pretending to be him.

A fraud was selling medicine he had never made.

Luo Lan clenched her fists.

She could not stand still while a sick child was being sold false salvation.

"Just trust me." Wu Han's words made her pause. Against her instinct, Luo Lan forced herself to step back and observe.

The mother walked toward the potion merchant with hesitant steps. The man was old, dressed in plain clothes, but everything about him looked neat and proper, as if he had prepared carefully for this moment.

"Please, can you give me a discount. One hundred coins is out of my budget."

The merchant let out a slow hum. His eyes shifted around, noticing that more people had begun to stop and watch.

Curious faces gathered, drawn by the sight of a desperate mother and a sick child.

An idea formed in his mind.

The merchant's lips stretched into a wide smile. He nodded with exaggerated generosity.

"Of course, miss. For my first customer, I'll lower the price to just fifty coins!"

"Really? Thank you so much, thank you, truly. Oh my child, at last you will be cured of this terrible illness."

The mother bent down with tears streaming from her eyes and stroked the boy's head. The cold night air was especially cruel to him. Even standing still made his nose run, and his body trembled like a soaked puppy.

"But Mother, that much money will trouble you. Please save it for little sister instead."

He tugged at her sleeve, trying to stop her from taking out the pouch of coins. But his mother shook her head and handed fifty coins to the young merchant.

"If you're lying, you'll die for it!" someone in the crowd shouted, and many others voiced their support.

Yet the merchant showed no fear at all. He laughed and opened his chest, revealing only twenty glass bottles inside. The liquid within was as clear as plain water, making many villagers doubt him. They stepped closer, forming a circle so he could not escape.

Wu Han saw the potion inside the chest and immediately knew what it was. He let out a small chuckle and sent out his divine sense to inspect it.

"What are you doing?" Luo Lan had never seen anything like this before. The thing he sensed was so pure and fascinating that she could not help asking.

"When you reach Nascent Soul, I'll tell you," Wu Han brushed aside her question and continued watching the scene.

"…"

Luo Lan rolled her eyes but quickly focused on the potion.

Her eyes could not see through solid objects, but they could discern even the smallest detail. What she saw inside the potion confused her. It was mostly water, with only a faint trace of herbs and something she had seen only once before.

Condensed Qi.

In the entire world, she knew only one person who could do this.

Wu Han.

"It looks like mine, but I didn't make it. I may have taught someone how to do it, but I didn't know they would commercialize it," Wu Han said truthfully. His only order had been to spread the potion. How Hui Lian chose to do it was not his concern.

"What kind of medicine is this? Why does it look so worthless?" nearby villagers murmured.

"Everyone, please calm down and wait. I guarantee this is the real product from Hui Lian!" The merchant said confidently as he picked up a bottle and handed it to the boy.

The boy hesitated, then opened it and drank it down.

The moment he emptied the bottle, all eyes fixed on him.

"You, you scammer!" one hot-headed villager rushed toward the merchant, but the boy's mother stopped him.

"Look!"

She cried out in joy as the dark spots on the boy's body faded away.

His eyes widened, as if for the first time in his miserable life, he finally understood why life was such a precious gift.

"Oh, my boy, my baby boy!"

The mother hugged her son, and the boy hugged her back. For the first time since his birth, he did not hesitate. All his life, he had been afraid to touch her, afraid that he would spread his disease to his mother. That fear no longer existed.

"Simple antidote, can cure any and all disease and a lot of poison," Wu Han smirked.

Alchemists of this world could refine better elixirs and pills to aid cultivation, but something like an all-curing, all-healing potion simply did not exist. Until now. He was the only one who could make it. With Hui Lian added to the mix, that number became two.

Yet to his surprise and slight annoyance, Luo Lan did not listen to a single word he said.

Her eyes were fixed on the child in his mother's arms. A single tear slid down her cheek.

She had never met her own mother. Her father told her she had died in battle.

That was a lie.

The first lie of her life.

And the lie that awakened her eyes, allowing her to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Seeing her like this, Wu Han remembered what Hui Lian had told him when he first visited the Luo clan estate. Never ask about Luo Chen's wife.

Something was wrong in their family.

And perhaps, one day, he could use that.

He made a note of it in his mind. But now was not the time.

"Let move."

Seeing her frozen in sadness, Wu Han pulled Luo Lan away and continued forward.

After they left the scene behind, she wiped her tears and asked quietly.

Bong. Bong.

The sound echoed from a nearby open field, where three children were kicking a ball back and forth.

Luo Lan suddenly stopped when she saw them playing.

Wu Han searched through his stolen memories and recognized the game. It was a traditional children's game meant to train leg coordination.

"You never played?" Wu Han asked.

Luo Lan shook her head.

In her entire life, there had only been cultivation. Playing like ordinary children was something she had never known.

"Want to join them?" Wu Han asked with a sly smile.