The old man and child duo explored as much of the ancient palace as they could. Runt being the one to take care of the ghosts while Lei Zhi focused on helping any injured disciples. He wasn’t sure if Jing was okay with him healing the ghosts who successfully took over the bodies of disciples and then exorcised them. But he felt it was helpful in raising his medical skills to do this and kept his heart free of worry. All of the ghosts he’s met so far have been nothing but villains, so Lei Zhi didn’t feel much remorse in seeing them wiped out.
“This place is huge.” Runt commented offhandedly as he took another healed patient’s goods.
“We have come across quite a number of disciples...” Lei Zhi didn’t comment on the boy’s thievery.
The two of them didn’t take it as stealing but as payment for the treatment. Depending on the severity of their injuries, Runt would take a certain percentage of their belongings. It worked by having those with the most difficult injuries requiring to pay more while those with smaller injuries pay less. Lei Zhi felt that this method of paying was rather fair considering many of them would have died if he didn’t step in. What use are rare martial arts, powerful spirit tools, and weapons, and valuable herbs if you’re dead? None at all.
“I’m starting to worry if my storage ring can hold all this stuff...” Runt chuckled nervously.
It was a new feeling for him to actually be worried about having too much on him instead of not having enough. He wasn’t sure how to feel about this but he knew it felt good to be on this side rather than the other. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a lowly beggar with nothing to his name just surviving day to day without a single goal in mind. Ever since his Boss took him in, his life has really changed for the better. Lei Gang was eternally grateful to him and hoped to one day pay him back to show his appreciation.
“I don’t believe that’s an issue you should worry about, Runt.” Lei Zhi lightly laughed. “We have been paid in quite a few storage rings.” A stone-like arm came out from the back of Lei Zhi’s coat and gave Runt a thumbs up.
“Didn’t you want some?” Runt didn’t think know what Lei Zhi was planning.
“Of course, I'll take a good portion of the payments we’ve received but I'm not taking all of it. You’ve been helping me quite a bit, Runt. You deserve to be rewarded and paid for your efforts as well.” Lei Zhi reached behind his back to grab his fishing rod as he used the hook to slice open a young woman’s abdomen.
Blood flew out from her stomach as the hook effortlessly tore through her skin. As Lei Zhi calmly reached into her sternum from her stomach, he grasped at her heart and began to flow qi into his hand before softly squeezing at a controlled rate. During this time, several arms couldn’t help themselves as they also wanted to explore this body on the verge of death. They also seemed to want to enter the opening that Lei Zhi’s arm was currently in but predicting that a situation like this might happened, he had only cut a hole big enough for his arm.
Runt could barely control the bile from rising to his throat from spewing out. He’s seen a lot of gross crap as Zhi’s little apprentice. And by a lot of gross crap, he means a lot of gross crap... When thinking of a doctor or healer, he didn’t know they had to deal with so much disgusting stuff. They had to deal with piss, shit, blood, vomit, saliva, dicks, vaginas, tits, assholes, and all sorts of other stuff.
While the money he would receive as a little doctor seemed good, he didn’t know if he had the stomach to actually go through with it. Even now, just watching Zhi save this girl he knows nothing about from dying by physically pumping her heart to keep her alive and strengthen the heart, it seemed like such a thankless job for everything he has to go through. Not even mentioning if someone stronger than him asking for healing and he didn’t satisfy them, he could lose his own head! Just trying to help and do his best could lead to his own death.
So, while Runt has learned a lot of medical techniques and knowledge from Lei Zhi. He didn’t see himself going down the same path at all. But as a man, he did feel that he should do something to pay Zhi back for his teachings. Maybe he could only heal those righteous and kind. Runt felt like Zhi would appreciate something like that.
“There we go.” Lei Zhi smiled as he felt the girl’s heartbeat with a proper and strong beat now.
He took his arm out of her insides, sutured up her cut, took half of her belongings, and placed a talisman on her now-covered chest. A small blue barrier appeared around her and the old man and child duo took their leave to the next patient. They came across many corpses, patients too far gone to be saved no matter how desperately Lei tried to help them, malicious ghosts intent on taking their bodies but mostly Runt’s, and ordinary patients.
None of them planned to do good deeds after being saved by Lei Zhi. He wondered if there really was no youth worth saving inside the Golden Serpent Sect but then shook his head from such negative thoughts. Lei Zhi had a pretty decent idea of how to change the mindset of the current youth of today. All he needed were a few things before he could put his thoughts into practice. He would need to have a one-on-one conversation with Jing to request something from her.
“This palace is pretty big...” Runt had explored a good chunk of the building through the soundwaves of his ocarina.
“It must have been quite the extravagant kingdom. I wonder what happened to this land that turned it into a land made for ghosts.” Lei idly chatted as Xiang gurgled and demanded attention from him.
“I definitely wouldn’t know anything.” Runt barely knew anything at all! He was just a beggar not too long ago.
“No one places too much interest in the past and the history of old nowadays. It’s quite a shame that most people aren’t able to see the value in learning lessons from the past and the history of the world. There is much to gain in knowing one’s history.” Lei shared with the boy. It wasn’t until Jing conversed with him about such subjects that he felt that he agreed with her immensely.
“Like what?” Runt questioned.
“Through history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures, and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed. The rich history of the world helps us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today. History is full of stories. Some are inspiring and uplifting; others are chaotic and immoral. Each of those stories can teach a lesson or inspire someone to do great things. Learning about the past could also help us prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes that those from before had made. If we knew how such a glorious palace like this felled, we could prevent ourselves from following down their same path by not repeating what they have done.” Lei Zhi happily shared his knowledge with the younger generation.
He didn’t know how much of it would stick with the boy or if it’ll stick at all but it's better to tell him this now while he’s still very young. Runt has a lot of time to grow and make mistakes. Lei just hopes that the things he’s teaching the boy won’t be used for the wrong reasons. By properly instilling in him a set of morals and knowledge, hopefully he’ll be one of the few good ones in this world that can lead others into helping nurture a better world.
“...” Runt didn’t respond and only took in the knowledge as he could.
He didn’t understand much of what Lei was trying to say but he could somewhat get the gist of it. History was useful. Learning about the past was useful. These things could help him survive and live a better life. Runt didn’t know if Lei Zhi knew what he was talking about but he certainly did sound like he knew. Only time could tell if the things he taught him would be useful or not. Runt certainly didn’t think his Boss would say any of this stuff or try and teach him things besides fighting and killing.
“Ah, the others are here as well.” Lei Zhi spotted a group of four coming from a bottom part of the palace.
He only knew the three of them, while the fourth was a body shape he recognized. Zhai Shang, a popular talented youth known for being a skilled spellmaster. Remembering the message that Ying sent earlier about a good replacement option for the missing Hu Tao, he wondered if he was the person she was talking about. Lei didn’t think it was a bad choice. The boy didn’t have any negative rumors about him as far as he could remember.
“If you want, you can split with me here and I can continue on my own.” Lei suggested. He didn’t want to drag the boy around if he didn’t want to be with him.
“I’ll stick with you.” Runt decided without any hesitation. He understood the value in Zhi’s knowledge and skills. Compared to going with Bing, Ying, and Jie, he would gain more by sticking next to Zhi.
“Alright.” He smiled. “Let’s go say our greetings though and introduce ourselves to Hu Tao’s replacement.”
“Boss’s replacement!?” Runt looked at him in shock.
“Oh, I apologize. I forgot to tell you that Hu Tao is missing and no one knows where he is at the moment.” Lei was genuinely sorry. In this boy’s eyes, Hu Tao probably saved and changed his entire life. “I’ll explain as much as I can on the way, follow me.”
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