"Master Diviner, I'm begging you, please don't confiscate my Alchemist Practitioner's Certificate," Chen Li wailed, clinging to Fu Xuan's white-stockinged leg.
"You charlatan! What use do you have for this practitioner's certificate?!" Fu Xuan snapped, thoroughly annoyed.
I have kidney deficiency? Are you serious?
"For prescribing tonics! I still need this certificate to walk my path as a physician," Chen Li lamented tearfully.
"You still want to continue being a charlatan? Take out your business license, I'll confiscate that as well!"
"Huh, a business license?" Chen Li paused for a moment, then turned his head to look at Bailu.
"Do I have one of those?"
"What? You're operating without a license?" Fu Xuan's voice instantly shot up an octave.
Beside them, Bailu simply shrank back, focusing intently on eating her lollipop.
Bailu felt that if something were to happen to Chen Li, he might take back all her snacks. Therefore, she decided to finish all her snacks before Chen Li was completely done for.
"Uh, Master Diviner, you are a person of great magnanimity, please let me go. Otherwise, I won't even be able to afford my meals. To be honest, Master Diviner, I really do know medicine. It's just that the medicine I learned is surgery, and as you know, the people of the Xianzhou have the strongest rejection of surgical procedures," Chen Li said, refusing to let go of Fu Xuan's leg.
Chen Li did, in fact, know medicine. His Xianzhou Medicine skill level was already at level three, and he could use his [Allocation] skill to raise it to level 10 at any time.
The reason he hadn't done so was mainly because he wanted to extract an Entry.
He was lost in thought, contemplating whether, if he accumulated enough Abundance Value by treating "kidney deficiency," he could possibly extract a [Kidney Deficiency] Entry from the whole affair.
If he could forge a Curio that could make anyone he pointed at suffer from kidney deficiency, wouldn't he be invincible?
"That is true... No, wait. You're misusing medications. What if you cause some kind of latent harm to the bodies of those Outworlders? What then? Wouldn't that tarnish the Xianzhou's reputation?" Fu Xuan was swayed for a moment before this thought quickly occurred to her.
"I tell everyone I meet that they have kidney deficiency, and my medicine is indeed for treating kidney deficiency. Even people who don't have it won't suffer any harm from taking it. Besides, I don't charge any money," Chen Li explained.
"Really?" Fu Xuan glanced at Chen Li, who was still hugging her leg, then looked over at Bailu.
"That part is true," Bailu nodded.
Although Bailu loved her snacks, she still possessed the self-discipline of a doctor. She would never stand by and watch Chen Li scam people—unless, of course, Chen Li was genuinely giving things away for free.
"Then why are you running this business? What are you after?" Fu Xuan was puzzled.
"Speaking of which, Master Diviner, you wouldn't believe that I just enjoy hearing people call me a miracle doctor."
"...That's it?"
"Not just that, but it's an important reason," Chen Li nodded.
"What else is there? Tell me everything. Then I'll consider whether or not to return your certificate," Fu Xuan said, looking down at Chen Li.
"I want to do something big, something earth-shattering. I want to please the Arbiter-General of the Bow and bring a great victory against Abundance for him!"
"And what does that have to do with you handing out free medicine here?"
"Uh, I figured, isn't the definition of the Path of Abundance selfless healing and altruism? There are so many Outworlders, there are bound to be some with kidney deficiency. I'll just keep treating them until the Aeon of Abundance thinks I'm a promising talent and comes to bless me. Then, wouldn't the Arbiter-General of the Bow be perfectly positioned to take it down?" Chen Li explained.
"..."
Chen Li's words left Fu Xuan utterly speechless for a good thirty seconds.
Is he serious?
He was serious.
"How did you receive the blessing of Nous?" Fu Xuan was completely baffled by this.
With a thought process like yours... could it be that the Aeon of Erudition glanced at you simply because it found you too bizarre?
"What do you think?" Chen Li retorted with a question.
Fu Xuan suddenly felt the power of the Path of Erudition ripple from Chen Li's body again.
"..."
She suddenly remembered that Nous never gave answers, only questions.
And she herself had received the Third Eye because it had not answered her question, but had merely granted her the vision to see the questions.
"The blessing you received from the Aeon of Erudition... don't tell me it's a blessing that blesses you for not answering others' questions, or for posing questions to them?" Fu Xuan asked, her voice laced with disbelief.
"Eh, how did you know?"
"...Then what does this blessing grant you?" Although Fu Xuan was struggling to keep her composure, she continued to ask.
"It allows me to read and learn any knowledge at an accelerated pace. In other words, it makes me more of a genius," Chen Li answered quite honestly.
In fact, Chen Li didn't think this blessing was very hard to guess.
"...You should give up on being a doctor," Fu Xuan said suddenly.
"Ah? Why? I've been hugging your leg for so long, can't you just cut me some slack?"
"Come be an intern at the Divination Commission. We're in dire need of talent like you."
"Huh?" Chen Li truly had not expected this turn of events.
Actually, before Fu Xuan, Chen Li had encountered Cloud Knights asking for his business license, but he had managed to send them away with Merit Coins.
The business license? Dan Shu was in the process of getting it for him, but it hadn't come through yet.
When it came to Fu Xuan, Chen Li had originally planned to further flesh out his persona, but he never thought the situation would develop like this.
"It's decided. You come with me. I won't report your unlicensed operation to the Central Starskiff Commission, nor will I hold the Alchemist-in-Chief Dan Shu accountable. How about it?" Fu Xuan said.
To Chen Li's ears, Fu Xuan's words automatically translated to: Chen Li, you wouldn't want the Alchemist-in-Chief of your Alchemy Commission to be held responsible because of you, would you?
"This... but I don't know how to do divination," Chen Li said honestly.
"It's fine, I'll teach you," Fu Xuan replied.
Fu Xuan refused to believe that someone would attract the attention of the Aeon of Erudition just by being a contrarian. She felt there must be something extraordinary about Chen Li, such as his natural genius and his penchant for getting to the bottom of things and seeking answers about the essence of the universe.
This was also one of the excellent qualities of a diviner in the Divination Commission.
"By the way, if I intern at the Divination Commission, how long until I can become a full-time employee?"
"Other diviners might need three to ten years, but you would need a year at most. But if you follow me and learn even a tenth of my skills, you can become a full-time employee immediately," Fu Xuan said confidently.
"..."
What kind of legitimate job has a three-to-ten-year internship?
Even the Interastral Peace Corporation wouldn't dare be that exploitative.
One could only say, as expected of a long-life species.
"So? Do you agree? If you agree, I'll return this certificate to you." Fu Xuan tossed Chen Li's certificate in her hand.
"Alright, but I have a condition."
"What condition?" Fu Xuan asked.
"I can learn from you, but you can't control how long I study. You can't control when I get off work, and you can't control what I do after work."
"Hmm?" Fu Xuan's eyes widened.
"But I guarantee that within a year, I will become a qualified diviner. And within ten years, I will surpass you," Chen Li declared.
"Interesting. Fine, I agree. But if you haven't become a qualified diviner after one year, then you'll have to accept my remedial lessons." Fu Xuan didn't mind the one year of time; for a long-life species, it wasn't much longer than ten days.
"Deal. So, Master Diviner, can you return my practitioner's certificate to me now?"
"First, let go of my leg. You've been hugging it so long it's gone numb." Moreover, the commotion had attracted a growing crowd, and Fu Xuan was finding it a bit hard to bear.
"Oh."
"Wait here a moment. I will have someone deliver some instructional books suitable for a novice reader." Seeing Chen Li return to his seat behind the stall, Fu Xuan handed his certificate back to him.
"Alright. In that case, Master Diviner, could you move a little to the side? Or sit in the seat next to me. Don't disturb me while I'm seeing patients."
"..."
You call that seeing patients?
Fu Xuan was about to say as much, but considering the agreement she had just made with Chen Li, she held her tongue.
She then sat to the side and watched as Chen Li diagnosed every curious Outworlder who approached with "kidney deficiency," and then listened as those Outworlders called him "miracle doctor" one after another. She began to worry about the current state of employment for alchemists in the Alchemy Commission.
What Fu Xuan didn't notice, however, was that Chen Li's pronouncements would occasionally infuriate the Outworlders.
But before they could even roll up their sleeves, Chen Li had already chosen to spend a little money to avoid disaster.
The Approbation of Sublime Morality... was certainly sublime!
"Master Diviner, I'm here!" a breathless voice called out.
Fu Xuan, Chen Li, and the others turned to see Qingque, holding a book in one hand and hauling a burlap sack with the other, struggling to make her way over.
"You're finally here. You're too slow," Fu Xuan complained.
Chen Li has already treated more than twenty patients, and you're just arriving? Why don't you try being even slower?
Although part of this was due to how quickly Chen Li diagnosed people with kidney deficiency, Qingque was indeed slow.
"Here, Chen Li. This is what you need to study." Fu Xuan took the thick book from Qingque's hand and gave it to Chen Li.
"Chen Li?" Qingque, who had been utterly exhausted, shot her head up upon hearing that name.
The name Chen Li had left behind on the Xianzhou had always been "Dad," but only with Qingque had he used the name Chen Li.
Chen Li pushed up his glasses and gave Qingque a friendly smile.
"That's right, it's me."
"Huh?" After Chen Li personally admitted his identity, the effect of the [Disguise Glasses] on Qingque instantly weakened.
Realizing Chen Li's true identity, Qingque looked at Chen Li, then back at Fu Xuan.
What is going on here?
"You two know each other? Perfect. No, wait, not perfect. Chen Li, if you encounter anything you don't understand, you can ask me, or you can ask Qingque when I'm busy. But you must not pick up Qingque's bad habit of slacking off. Do not waste the blessing that the Aeon of Erudition has bestowed upon you," Fu Xuan said to Chen Li with utmost seriousness.
"Qingque, Chen Li is the new intern I just recruited for the Divination Commission. You are not to teach him any bad habits," Fu Xuan continued, addressing Qingque.
"Who? Me?" Qingque pointed at herself in disbelief.
Your point is that I, a perfectly ordinary diviner of the Divination Commission, am going to corrupt a blasphemer who caused a ruckus at the meeting of the Six Charioteers, colluded with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, and even planned to usurp the current Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou?
"What? Do you have an objection?"
"None." Qingque shook her head frantically.
"Master Diviner, are these all the books I need to study? It looks quite thick," Chen Li asked, holding the book that was thicker than a brick.
"No, that's the catalog. Those are the books you need to study," Fu Xuan shook her head, then pointed to the burlap sack Qingque had dragged over.
"???"
"Still confident you can surpass me in ten years?" Fu Xuan crossed her arms, looking quite pleased at the shocked expression on Chen Li's face.
I've read more books than you've eaten grains of rice.
"Tch, I'll surpass you in three days!" Chen Li muttered under his breath.
Here it comes, here it comes! Time for the classic move!
Allocation, add points!