It was close to closing hours and the elder that was responsible for the clinic was still down in the basement concocting pills, or so the workers that were working thought. The people that were gathered here were mostly hired help or regular cultivators, they didn't develop a more lenient mindset just yet.
Zhang Dong had ordered to help the people of this city and offer them service, but these two looked like beggars. The Patriarch didn't realize that he worded his order in the wrong way. The workers thought that 'People of this city' was about the actual citizens that paid taxes, if they saw a beggar they would shoo them away.
"Please, this is a clinic, right? Is there a doctor around?"
The woman wasn't someone that the news about the Zhang Clan had reached, she just noticed the extravagant health clinic sign outside. All the apothecary shops and other establishments for healing that were owned by the Situ Clan had already turned her down. They would never aid someone that wouldn't be able to pay those exorbitant prices that they charged.
"I beg you, save my little Zhu'er."
The people looked at each other and then to the mother, she was holding a 10 or 11-year-old child in her hands, the youth looked like he was trashed by someone. This wasn't rare around these parts, if you bumped into some people without begging for their forgiveness it wasn't strange to be beaten up to the brink of your life.
"We are sorry the doctor is busy now, come back tomorrow..."
One of the male workers replied while looking to the side, his gaze to the stairs going down to the basement where Wei Hung headed too. He was afraid that the old man might beat them up if they bothered him with two beggars like this. He really didn't want to earn a caning by some old grandpa, he had gotten enough beatings by his own elders so he was adamant about reporting this to the man in charge. Those pill makers were a strange bunch, their furnaces would explode and they would blame it on the workers being too loud which broke their concentration.
'No way I'm dragging that old grandpa up here, he looked ferocious.'
In Matt's mind he was playing the role of a sympathetic old grandpa, but in reality, whenever he smiled his face would contort in strange ways making the people feel uncomfortable around him. They wouldn't say a thing though, everyone knew at least one grumpy old elder in their life and knew well how to evade their wrath.
"Yes, yes the old master is busy making pills, please leave if you can't pay for healing pills or elixirs..."
The woman only had a couple of copper coins on her, the rest were the torn up clothes. The child that she was holding was the only family that she had, her husband having been sold off as a slave after he gambled their money away in the casinos of Moonlight City. She was too old to be a working lady and had trouble finding a job only doing odd jobs.
Times were tough though and the people were cruel, even when she cleaned and cooked for them they would only leave scraps and underpay her tremendously. Sometimes they would even throw her out without anything after her slaving away for a whole day, cooking and cleaning. Her boy was a little troublemaker too, always getting in trouble and making his poor mom worry.
Due to the mother working all day the youth went unsupervised. One thing led to another and he joined the local street urchins that moved around the city stealing food and small change. Most of the time they managed to get away, the young kids far too agile and used to the backstreets to get apprehended. This time they weren't so lucky, one of the older kids tried his pickpocketing skills on the wrong person that noticed it. Little Zhu was there keeping the pickpocketing target busy, but when the urchins tried running they got caught and were taught a tough lesson.
The youth managed to drag his beaten body in front of the shack he and his mother were living, the woman shocked when she returned after a hard day of work. She had nowhere to go, her head down on the ground in front of the workers. There was no one in this blasted city that would do anything for free, it was always money. Her eyes were tearing up, she didn't want to lose her only son that was the only thing that she had left in this world.
"Please I implore you..."
"Shoo, This clinic belongs to the great Zhang Clan, they don't do business with moochers like you, now shoo!"
In the worker's minds, they were doing the right thing. They couldn't let other people see some beggars and vagabonds in this new clinic, they were far too afraid of the Zhang Clan elders coming and reprimanding them for it. While the man in front was thinking that the woman started getting frantic, grabbing his leg and pulling on his pants.
"Hey, get off me!"
He was about to kick the woman away, his foot moving backward for the windup but as his foot was flying forward someone grabbed it. He started seeing things upside down as the person that was grasping him by the ankle lifted him up into the air. He soon could see the lower areas of the robe that Wei Hung was wearing, the grandpa having caught his kick mid-strike.
"What are you fools doing?"
The man looked at the worker that he was holding with a raised brow, he had come out of his basement-dwelling, disgruntled after having to clean up the mess that he made. He then heard some screaming and noticed the crying woman on the floor grasping one of the hired helpers. What were these people doing, weren't they supposed to help the injured people instead of injuring them themselves?
"Ahh... s-sir... these beggars just showed up, but don't worry we will remove them from this esteemed clinic in a moment."
Wei Hung's face started deforming the moment he heard them call the people beggars and that they were going to kick them out. He even noticed the beaten-up child, bruises and cuts all over his body the weeping woman just there not knowing what to do.
"You damn buffon, who told you to remove them, huh? You are supposed to help everyone and I mean EVERYONE!"
The worker was flung against the wall after the enraged elderly man chucked him to the side, not caring if he was okay or not. He then looked at the nursing staff that had conflicting expressions on their faces, not really sure what was going on.
"You and you, bring the boy up to the second level and wash his body with the cleansed spirit water, I will be there in the moment!... Well, DON'T JUST STAND THERE WITH YOUR MOUTHS WIDE OPEN, MOVE!"
The elder's scream made everyone flinch and scatter to work, the boy was snatched and carried off to the second level the mother quickly following after the workers while bowing at the older man that just showed up.
'Damn savages...'
Matt cursed inwardly, not knowing that even the people from his clan and the workers they hired would be this cruel. It was even a woman with a beaten-up child, how could people show so little compassion. He just couldn't understand it, his brows were furrowed and his teeth clenching up he would have to investigate this later, for now, the boy was more important.
Matt slapped his cheeks and went upstairs, blaming himself for the transgression that transpired here. The mother was to the side as the Nurses carried him to one of the empty beds in the larger rooms and started cleaning his body from the blood, grime, and sweat. The special water that they were using was something the Zhang Clan was known for, it had some weak healing and regenerative abilities and was good at disinfecting wounds to boot.
The mother looked at the old looking man, he looked to be the doctor. He was a bit scary but was apparently willing to help her child, she wasn't sure if there was an ulterior motive behind this, but she would give her life for her son if she had too.
"Please sir, help my little boy."
She pleaded, the man just looked at her while going over. He placed his palm on the woman's shoulder, the woman experiencing a peculiar feeling when he did that. She could feel warm energy flowing into her body making her worries fly away as she felt really calm. She wobbled to the side where she was guided to the bench by one of the nurses, the man moved over to the boy that was on the table with only his groin area covered by a white cloth.
Wei Hung took out a bunch of needles that were used for acupuncture, they were pure gold and looked quite costly. The nursing staff's eyes went wide after seeing them, quickly being able to distinguish the item's price. The man opened up his palm the needles started hovering up in the air which made everyone's eyes bulge out even more as they had never seen a physician work in such a fashion before.
'This Wei Hung isn't simple... he must be a master!'
They thought to themselves while gasping, the metallic items hovered around the boy's body as they homed in on the desired acupuncture points. They were slowly lowered into his body, the man just waving his finger around while his other hand was held behind his back as he performed the strange procedure.
The people then saw the golden needles radiating golden light, the spiritual energy filling out the room and making everyone gasp some more. This was the holy element type spiritual Qi that Matt was now proficient in, the energy was slowly infused into the boy's body his complexion quickly getting better and better as you could see his many wounds closing at a rapid pace.
The people couldn't believe it, what was this strange technique that this elder was showing them. The young boy was getting healed at a rapid pace as if he drunk some kind of high-quality healing elixir. They looked at this elder that was concentrating, not knowing how he ended up in this small clinic his skills were better off getting used by some kind of great sect.
The needles soon hovered away from the boy's body, the procedure ending rather quickly after the divine healing energies were distributed throughout the youth's body. Matt could use a couple of healing techniques by now, but this one was the best one as he could directly insert the healing energies into the patient's body through the acupuncture needles. This increased the speed of the process and was a lot better for people with internal injuries, this technique could even heal up some plugged up meridians.
"He will be fine now."
The old man stroked his beard while turning to the bewildered people that were staring at him as if he was some rare creature.
"Also, all of you lot report to my office, I must have a word with you..."
The nurses snapped out of their trance and looked at the man, his face was contorted and he was clearly mad. They knew that they were in for a beating or at least an earful.
"Don't forget to drag that one fool over too, slap him awake if he is still passed out, hmph!"
He was going to give those idiots a good lecture, maybe even cut their pay for the week for this transgression. He wanted to show the goodwill of his Zhang Clan, show them how different they were from the other clans, but this was the result. Crying mothers and beaten children getting refused treatment.
"Well...get moving, you buffoons, or I'll dock your pay for the entire month!"
"Oh no sir, show mercy!"
The poor workers shuffled down and dragged the passed out man, dumping water over his face and smacking his cheeks till he woke up. Then they quickly rushed to Wei Hung's office, they could take a beating, they could take getting called idiots and clowns, but they certainly couldn't take not being paid.
It's mysterious. When I scrolled down to check this new chapter, it looked kind of big. But after reading it, it just ended in a blink of an eye. What sorcery is this?
The sorcery of an entertaining read.
Greater Dao of entertainment and fun
Ultimate Dao of Relativity
Isn't he going to have to be careful giving free treatment to people without citizenship? What if he starts a mass immigration? he could have millions of people turning up. Even in modern England for example they were having problems with people coming here to have babies, cure there health problems etc. Just think how much other countries could cut their healthcare costs if they only had to do the minimum amount to keep them alive and could then just ship them off to England. :P
I would think he would need some sort of merchants guild overseen by the clan to implement a minimum wage and minimum workers rights.
Also he would need to set up business and factories to employ people. This should also help the standard of living and make money for him/ the clan.
And also he should not be using some fancy machines to automagically make pills, weapons and crafting items etc. He should be getting his apprentices(he should get some more that are good at crafts.) to do the technical parts and employing people to do the easier parts. He could for example employ the woman for sewing the uniforms.
They are not really people without citizenship, just plain poor. Also mass immigration is not issue in that world - travels are not that easy and safe, if somebody may afford to travel they may afford to visit a healer as well.
Also worlds of xianxia are huge and this one is not exception. For example Spring City is considered backwater and it was mentioned having ten millions of population.
@Luis Traveling in this world would be quite difficult, the world is vast and the distances between the major cities are huge. Imagine walking from one end of earth to another just to get to another city. Without a flying sword or a ship it would take months. Also you have to watch out for wild demonic or magical beasts on the way.
I kind of thought there were teleportation arrays at the start in the cities or am I confused? xianxia usually have teleportation arrays and at least I can remember back to the tower having them :P
@Luis If there are millions of people in the cities under the clans control isn't it impossible with the size of his clan to provide healthcare for everyone without organizing everything else to? If you organize the Jobs, police and guilds then the clan should be able to provide clinics at reasonable prices and make money at it. And they wouldn't have to do all of it as others would lower the price to match.
I think you are underestimating peoples determination for a better place to live. A lot of people are willing to go to the west or USA in leaky boasts or walking across deserts or hiding in containers on ships etc. where there is a high chance of death.
Also plenty of people settled the USA When it was sailing ships. They took from 6 weeks to months with bad conditions to cross the sea and then they would still have to go months in wagon trains after the got there.
Also the healing he was doing didn't sound that simple, presumably it would cost a lot or even be imposable even for clans at about the same level as his. And they can travel around. That army that attacked his main city can't have been all high level and weren't there supposed to be a lot of them? They got them there somehow so travel can't be that expensive.
Also other people who don't like him or just want to get rid of the slums in there cities would probably organise the travel.
In lower classes areas in neighbouring cities local business men would be happy to take there property off there hands and in return ship them off to a better life. And this is all the sort of thing that is happening in the real world.
@jmnc You are mistaken. You confuse the situation in xianxia world and in real. In real-world we have many ways to spread information but in xianxia world that is not so. Here you could upload it on the internet but there at most will be some rumors in the local area after several months. And I doubt traveling is that easy for commoners when even cultivators might find that troublesome. By the time the massive amount of people migrate, he will have the infrastructure to accommodate many more of them.
@jmnc Don't forget people would need to pay for teleportation fees which the poor most likely would not be able to afford.
@Shadeos You forget that it wouldn't be the poor that were organizing it.
It would be all the people that can make a lot of gold transporting them. They would even be happy to send some of the family on credit and keep the rest hostage until they are paid at high interest rates.
They would even spread and exaggerate the wonderfulness of moving to make more gold so you would not have to worry about people not knowing.
If your kid/wife etc. was going to die if they didn't go, the rest of the family would be happy to do practically anything to send them. Probably including selling the girls into slavery if we are talking about a china type people.
This sort of thing is what happens irl anyway.
@jmnc You must compare the situation to the earlier times of human history not current. Also if you have read many xianxia you must know teleportation portals are not something commoners can afford...even if the whole bunch of them their money, especially since mass teleportations should be even more expensive.
@sabazurc
I think it is wrong to go by "earlier times" as in xianxia and in this story they have a lot of stuff that is more advanced than right now irl. The MCs matter fabricator is better than most Startreck etc sci-fi stories. Then you have faster than light travel etc. Even their stage coaches are probably pulled be magic beast and travel at 100 miles an hour. Then most of the poor people are at least foundation(?the lowest) level so would be able to travel quite fast as well. Mostly when you have xianxia modern tec is obsolete.
Also they do not need gold to travel, just go to loan sharks and people making money from transport. Normally in xianxia slave traders, armies and merchants travel around without it costing that much.
Am I remembering wrong that he used teleportation arrays to travel quite cheaply at the start, I could be mixed up with a different novel? In some books teleporting is free(or you just use you own power) once you spend a fortune building the gates. Even if they can't use teleporting they have the equivalent of planes and cars with magic beasts, in most xianxia they are a lot better than the modern equivalent. If not the previous people from Earth would of invented cars etc. With people living for thousands of years with better minds and memory from cultivation someone would of invented it locally if it was any use to.
P.S. From the later chapters it don't look like he is going to do everything for free anyway.
@jmnc No, there were teleportation devices in the secret ground/dungeon they were in.
@jmnc The First mistake is that poor people are not foundation establishment. Even in Zang clan core formation was the peak. Most people barely have any cultivation, they should be between 2-6 qi condensation at most on average. Some rich might be a bit better but foundation establishment is enough to be elder in Zang clan so no, you are wrong. As for car and carriages, I bet rich cultivators might have them but usually in xianxia it's not something commoners can obtain. The reason is simple, they work on qi or magic and they need some enchantments to work which can be expensive. As for technology, since powerful people depend so much on qi they rarely develop in that direction. Also, they hide their achievements. One of the reasons why the west developed science and technology so fast is that a lot of discoveries and inventions were available for the public to see. Yet, even earthlings made substantial achievements in that direction only during the last several centuries. While in the cultivation world, I bet even a steam engine is not invented there.
@sabazurc From the later chapters it looks like this whole discussion is off topic anyway as he is probably not going to be giving out a load of stuff for free anyway. And also since when does a fantasy story need to make sense. Actually this is way better than most that way.
Stories like "Crossing to the Future, it’s Not Easy to Be a Man" make absolutely no sense but are still quite popular.
But that aside :P
I just had the name wrong but people should still be a lot stronger than than people from Earth.
And they have blacksmiths etc. for thousands of years and magic should help with developing stuff like cars to.
The only reason for not having higher level teck when magic is limited is because someone is suppressing it. Another reason xianxia has little tec is because the story says so, not for any realistic reason. Especially when you are going to limit the use of magic. A lot of the time you can use formations etc to have practically free transport once it is set up, so it is well within the price commoners can use. If you do everything easier with magic then you would have no tec.
I know if I was in that world I would send him a load of people. As well as the fun of making him work hard you would get the good karma from saving all the people from poverty :P
And if you were his enemy you would have even more reason to do so.
@jmnc Well, the lack of progress from my perspective can be also attributed to the people's mindsets. Cultivation is the only thing on their mind, so they focus everything on that not thinking about making the world easier for other people. Why would they want to figure things like cars or the internet if they could spend time contemplating the Dao instead?
@Kuropon But that depends on how much they will gain from Cultivation. Don't the cities under Mat have millions if not billions of people? How many are high enough level to lead a good life?
And it is not like there is no tec, they should be at the level of the start of the industrial revolution. So for middle class people the people in their family that either do not like cultivation or have no talent could do things like build blimps that run on pedal power :P
There are already things like airships but they run on spirit stones? All they would need to do is research how to make them run cheaper and you should eventually end up with blimps that run on things like alcohol or arrays that can gather there own power etc.
When you have magic, super materials and magic skills to improve the mind, technology should be much better than earth not worse. Not everyone is a muscle head. There should be people that like research there to.
P.S. Also scientific methods should work on cultivation to. If you research how the world works you would end up better at cultivation as well as things like cheap planes/air ships and public transport. The internet would probably be slow to develop though. Why would you even need computers when you can improve your brain so much. Who needs the internet if you have photographic memory, instant mail by teleportation, telepathic communication, memory crystals to learn directly to the mind etc.
Beside that don't Mat already have a lot of high tec stuff like his replicator? Presumably that must come from somewhere that combines science and magic?
@jmnc Again, you are wrong. We spent thousands of years stuck in the stone age. Cultivation might seem easy but it requires knowledge just like technology and science. Add to that culture that does not like sharing knowledge, it's no wonder they are stuck on that level for so long. People develop slowly, it's only recently in humanity's history we develop so fast. Some cultures were stuck in the stone age waving clubs when people had already invented guns in others. Commoners do not have the necessary knowledge. Without public school, you can't even imagine how difficult it would be for them to improve.
If you were in that world you would not even know how he gets powers. Why would you send anyone there? Just to mess with him for fun? That does not make sense. He would be just another leader of the clan under just another sect in probably just another empire. You spoke that only because you have the perspective of a reader, who's from the modern world and knows more.
@sabazurc No if you were from any 1/2 decent clan from a local cities you would have spies keeping an eye on everyone. Even merchants would keep track of information. And he is so careless about using his powers you would have a good idea if you are smart. I reckon it would be a better question to ask who doesn't know a lot about him at this point. As for why? You would save a lot of lives so you should get the holy dow and a lot of karma. Also you would get information with how he handles it, if he manages it well you could learn from the good parts to use yourself. A lot of local powers would probably also like to slow down his rise in power without attacking and getting killed. Also a lot of people should realize by now that if things keep going they are soon going to be living in the empire of Mat and no longer have much freedom to do what they want just because they have power. Me personally? Yea why not, it can be fun messing with people, and you wouldn't be hurting anyone but helping them. Mat and the people should even thank you for saving all the lives. :P What is the point of living if not for fun, that is the most important reason to do anything :D
But you are wrong they are not in the stone age. A lot of their tek is even better than on earth. Brains better than supper computers, ships that travel supersonic if not super light, practically eternal youth etc. Just think if Albert Einstein, Galileo, Isaac Newton, Archimedes, Alexander Graham Bel etc. could live thousands of years had photographic memory, could improve there thinking speed and and logic by multiple times with Cultivation to name just a few advantages they would have in this world. And don't try to tell me that everyone would be a muscle head, some people seek knowledge just because they want to know how everything works. And you do know what happens when the people with tek meet the people with stones right?
@jmnc You won't deduce anything because you don't even know system exists. And while Einstein Newton and Archimedes existed and maybe even others with even more talent it still took us tens of thousands of years. And in a culture that did not hide their findings. And even if they lived for thousands of years their attention was on cultivation, not tech in the cultivation world. And even if they made some discoveries if they don't tell anyone it will bring no benefit to the world. Also, you and I are talking about mostly western civilization. There were even other cultures still stuck in the stone age because they just did not develop as fast as you describe it. As for attacking him for fun? If you are a leader of so many and waste time on that you suck as a leader lol. Clan leaders are not some 5-year-old kids who just want to have fun and do not care if they hinder clan's development.
And you do know what happens when the people with tek meet the people with stones right?
And? I don't even know why you mentioned that.
I probably won't reply back, no offense but it seems like you just want pointless talk or you are some stubborn kid at this point.
@sabazurc
Edit2: I think you are right about not posting more but I think it you who is being stubborn :P So last post for me to.
1: He isn't the only person from earth and from the interlude between books there are a lot of systems out there. Even the clan of women was started by someone from earth. They probably even have Books from earth with systems like Mats in them.
2: After we had the the technology of even less that in the story it took very little time. The book has a lot of stuff we can't even make now never mind in the stone age.
3: Most importantly there are a lot of people that are way smarter than all the people I listed like Einstein because Cultivation allows you to improve your mind.
4: On top of being way smarter than anyone that has ever been on earth they are also practically immortal.
5: The main reasons for no tec on earth for thousands of years is 1: Small groups of people barely making enough to live. 2: Short life. 3: When you did have a bigger country or whatever the people at the top would suppress tec because they wanted to keep the commoners down as they were afraid or losing their power. And they were right they did. This wouldn't apply the same to this world as the people with high cultivation would still own everyone else.
6: None of 5 are relevant in Mat's world.
7: Why would a smart person hide basic tec from their clan that can give him a lot of power? And even if most do you only need one that don't. Some would start a business and start selling there inventions.
But you insist that all how ever many billion of them can't even understand the basic workings of the world. And you say I am being stubborn?
And as for not knowing about Mat there are a lot of very smart people that have hundreds if not thousands of years experience. Some of them should even know about people from earth. There should also be children of the people from Earth around. Even if they do not know his powers they will know something is different. And at least some of his powers should more or less be some of the things they think is possible. At higher levels there are probably even people from earth around. There could also be people with memory from earth got from things like memory storage crystals. BTW why are we even talking about this, it has nothing to do with it being unpractical to just look after people for free and the MC is not even doing that. Hasn't the whole argument about giving stuff away already passed by and more or less been answered in the later chapters?
I think that logically technology would advance a lot faster in the world of the book unless there is a god or similar power stopping it. But really so what? It is a common fantasy setting why should it follow logic? As Long as the story in interesting who cares? And I think this is one or the better WNs. To many of the other books the MCs are basically the definition of Evil. Nearly all the ones about cultivation are. This is a nice change. :)
And? I don't even know why you mentioned that.
Because you only need one person to develop tec integrated with magic and as long as he is smart about it or even has good advisors and hides it until he has built power and is not stopped by a god type everyone else is dead or working for him?
@jmnc Did not want to answer but Corona and have too much time.
1: Does not matter, nobody knows outside of users about the system for now. And it will be a long time before they find out about Mat, it will be along time.
2: They have things we don't have because of qi or magic not, teq. And since they focus on supernatural they will obviously focus less on other things.
3: And they focus on cultivation, not technology. Also, while these people might have better memory and faster calculative abilities does not make them the same as Einstein. There might be many who are better than Einstein in those areas but could not or did not make any breakthroughs in science. Nor did they invent anything worthy.
4: Not immortal and again, they focus on cultivation not Teq and that takes a lot of time.
5: You are making too many assumptions and those are just your views based on no evidence. IMO the reason humanity did not develop was that most people were uneducated since they did not have a proper public education system until recently, printing was invented recently so copying information on mass scales was a problem. Since education was mostly only available to some nobles, rich and royals, even if geniuses were born they were not thinking in the right direction because of a lack of information and education.
7: People cultivate all day and their mind barely goes to teq development direction.
I wrote that in our world many cultures were stuck in the stone age and yes, they did not understand some of the basic ways the world worked. Even the west started making huge progress only in recent centuries. I have no idea why are so surprised. It's like you only know about the last several centuries of humanity and nothing existed before that. The fact that we have this technology is incredible, for tens of thousands of years we did not have that.
You are making too many assumptions about the higherups of the cultivation world. Though I do think Mat should have at least changed names like "police" and it would not get the attention of other earthlings.
Remember, tens of thousands of years, maybe hundreds, we were developing incredibly slow, stop thinking about the past like it's freaking 21st century. "You just need a smart person" and "it's only because powerful people stopped smart people" is just...not very smart and realistic argument when talking about how slow development was even after so many years, people, civilizations passed on earth.
@sabazurc Well on a different note Mat should not even need to start schools, All he needs is some dojos to teach cultivation to a level high enough to improve the brain & memory and teach a few skills like the clear mind skill he teaches a lot of people.
Then he can set up a few arrays and or memory crystals and everyone has reading writing and all of earths knowledge directly inserted into there brain! :D
He may need to spread it out into a few sessions over a few months to give then time to acclimatize but the teaching should be more or less instant each time.
Even if he is to lazy to set up all the arrays etc. after one read through the book they should be able to remember it all. In the worst case you might need to directly impart the memorisation skill.
Edit:
P.S. Couldn't he even take some of the higher level criminals that would be executed, delete most of their memory then use direct memory skills to teach them all the methods to directly teach everyone else.
@jmnc I can agree that memory imparting could be used for some basics we learn at school(or for many other things like in Matrix :D ). Depending on how long will memory crystals/jades last and how rare they are it could work. As for criminals, depends on how good the skills are and if they exist, to begin with. If you turn them into puppets and let them teach or at least spar that could be a good idea.