Chapter 16: Healing Hands and an Unexpected Assessment

“Still calling me ‘Uncle’?” Lu Yuan feigned anger.

Merlin, the little loli, rolled her eyes at him. “What else? ‘Big Brother’? Or ‘Daddy’?” She then added, “So, Uncle, you’re into that kind of play, huh?”

‘Ugh…’ Lu Yuan mused, ‘Why are this little girl’s thoughts always so erratic?’ Still, the form of address wasn’t particularly important, so he let her have her way.

He then said, “Let me see your hands.”

The little girl extended her hands as instructed.

Lu Yuan cradled her small hands in his palms. They were incredibly soft and delicate, like exquisite works of art. Yet, across her slender, pale palms and fingers, numerous irregular red marks and abrasions were visible.

Though already treated, the abraded skin wouldn’t heal easily and might even leave unsightly scars.

These injuries had been sustained yesterday when Merlin, the little girl, struggled to move Lu Yuan back after he collapsed outside. Lu Yuan couldn’t fathom how a ten-year-old girl managed to carry an adult, but the extent of the abrasions on her hands clearly indicated it had been no easy feat.

“Does it hurt?” Lu Yuan asked.

“No, it doesn’t,” Merlin replied, her small face flushing faintly. Lu Yuan’s large hands completely enveloped her small ones, his palms, rough from years of handling medicinal herbs, felt both hot and comforting.

Lu Yuan cradled Merlin’s tiny hand as if it were an unparalleled piece of jade, gently rubbing her palm with his thumb.

Merlin’s face deepened in color.

Lu Yuan lowered his head and softly breathed onto the small hand held within his palm.

“Oh?” Merlin blinked, her eyes wide. “It doesn’t hurt anymore?”

She withdrew her hand, only to discover that the injuries on it had vanished at some unknown point, leaving her skin perfectly restored. It was as pristine and white as freshly polished jade.

“Th-th-this…” Merlin exclaimed, utterly astonished. “Uncle, when did you learn magic?”

“Magic?” Lu Yuan was taken aback. In this world, magic was a unique form of sorcery, similar to Daoist arts but fundamentally different.

Lu Yuan had merely used a trace of the immortal essence he had recently converted, smoothing away the injuries on Merlin’s hand. He hadn’t expected the little girl to mistake it for magic.

Lu Yuan offered no denial. He wasn’t from this world, and some secrets about himself were best kept to himself.

Seeing that Lu Yuan didn’t wish to elaborate, Merlin, the little loli, stuck out her tongue and refrained from asking further questions.

After healing Merlin’s arm, Lu Yuan was reminded of something else.

He casually pressed the coins he had grabbed earlier into the little loli’s hand. With a clatter, dozens of silver coins tumbled into her palm.

“Use this money to buy whatever you wish to eat. Keep the rest for next time.”

“Okay, Uncle!” Merlin smiled sweetly, accepting the silver coins and tucking them into her small purse. “Uncle, today is my Apothecary Apprentice assessment. Can you come with me?”

‘Apothecary Apprentice assessment?’ Lu Yuan felt a momentary blankness, but then swiftly retrieved relevant information from Lei Yin’s memories.

In this otherworld, the status of an apothecary was equivalent to that of an alchemist in Lu Yuan’s cultivation world. Every Grand Apothecary commanded immense respect and a highly esteemed position.

The Apothecary Apprentice assessment, as it was called, served as the tiered examination for apothecaries.

It progressed through ranks: Apothecary Apprentice, Official Apothecary, Grand Apothecary, Apothecary Grandmaster, and so forth.

An Apothecary Apprentice represented the lowest rank designated by the Apothecary Guild. They were essentially ‘provisional apothecaries’; only upon becoming an Official Apothecary were they permitted to publicly concoct and sell medicines.