The Reincarnation Of The Divine Physician

Chapter 007

Arkhan's footsteps, now clad in premium leather shoes, no longer made the scraping sounds they had before. Behind the heavy sandalwood door, the atmosphere of Griya Atsiri felt entirely different from the noise of the mall outside. Here, the air was filled with fragrant particles of rare medicinal plants—ranging from the soothing scent of agarwood to the sharp aroma of mountain spices.

The space was vast, lit by warm yellow lighting that highlighted bulletproof glass display cases. At the center of the room, a small crowd of formally dressed people gathered around the main display. Inside, a fresh fifty-year-old snow ginseng with long fibrous roots rested upon a red silk pillow.

"A fifty-year-old Snow Ginseng! Look at the sheen on its skin. This is a miracle of nature that could extend someone's life by ten years!" exclaimed a slick-haired blonde young man, Brandon. He was the son of a prominent pharmaceutical tycoon, and beside him stood an old man wearing thick glasses and a pristine lab coat, Professor Handoko.

"Quite right, Brandon," Professor Handoko chimed in, stroking his thin beard.

"The active ginsenosides in this plant are at their peak. Extracted with our modern chemical methods, this will become the number one heart-fortifying medicine in Metropolis."

Arkhan stood on the edge of the crowd, looking at the Snow Ginseng with bored eyes. In his sight, it was merely a plant forced to grow with artificial nutrients; despite its age, its energy was bland.

Instead, Arkhan's gaze shifted to a rattan basket beneath the cashier's desk, where leftover scraps or trimming waste were gathered before disposal.

There, tucked among piles of dry leaves, rested a hideously ugly root. It was black, shriveled, covered in dry moss, and at first glance looked like decaying dead wood. Yet Arkhan's sharpening senses picked up a faint scent of sulfur and lightning—an aroma belonging only to a plant struck by heavenly thunder that still managed to survive.

Dragon's Breath Root.

Arkhan's heart pounded fast. This was the core ingredient needed to fuse his cracked meridians back together. Without it, his cultivation process would only end in ruptured blood vessels.

"Clerk, I want to buy the root in that basket," Arkhan said calmly, his voice slicing through Brandon and Professor Handoko's discussion.

The entire crowd turned. Brandon narrowed his eyes, scanning Arkhan from top to bottom. Even though Arkhan now wore an expensive suit, Brandon still felt superior, recognizing him as the "beggar doctor" often gossiped about in underground medical circles.

"Oh, look who's here. The dreamer from Crescent Alley," Brandon sneered, laughing.

"Arkhan, your clothes might have changed, but your taste remains trash. You want to buy that rotting wood? In this place, that thing isn't even fit to be called medicine."

Professor Handoko adjusted his glasses.

"Young man, you should learn basic biology. That root is already dead. Its cells have undergone total necrosis. Consuming it is equivalent to swallowing soil poison. Don't try to play smart in front of experts."

Arkhan ignored them, keeping his eyes on the shop clerk. "How much?"

The clerk looked confused.

"Sir, we were actually planning to throw that out. If you want it, you can take it as a bonus if you buy this Snow Ginseng for five hundred million."

"I have no need for that wild weed," Arkhan pointed at the Snow Ginseng Brandon was idolizing. "I only want this root."

"Hahaha! You hear that? He called this Snow Ginseng a wild weed!" Brandon doubled over laughing.

"Your brain really has been ruined by poverty, Arkhan."

Just as the tension reached a boiling point, an accident occurred. A young waitress carrying a tray with two kettles of boiling water to brew herbal tea tripped over an electrical cord on the floor.

CRASH! SPLASH!

The kettles shattered, and the scalding, steaming water poured entirely over the waitress's forearm and the back of her hand.

"AAAAAAGH! IT BURNS! HELP!" the waitress shrieked hysterically. Her skin instantly turned beet red, blistering rapidly and weeping clear fluid. The pain was so intense she collapsed to the floor, nearly passing out.

Professor Handoko reacted with professional haste.

"Quick! Get an ice compress! Brandon, grab the emergency antibiotic ointment from my bag! Don't let the wound be exposed to the air!"

Chaos ensued. Yet Arkhan moved faster. He stepped forward, reached into the basket for the rotting root, and with one swift, forceful motion, snapped off its tip.

"Move," Arkhan said coldly.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? Don't get near her with that trash!" Brandon tried to block him, but Arkhan merely nudged his shoulder slightly, sending Brandon stumbling sideways as if hit by a concrete wall.

Arkhan knelt beside the whimpering waitress. He squeezed the piece of root in his palm. A miracle unfolded; as the root was pressed with Arkhan's internal energy, a thick, dark green liquid dripped from the dry wood. Arkhan applied the fluid directly onto the horrific burn.

"Are you insane?! You'll cause an infection!" Professor Handoko yelled.

However, the shouting ceased instantly.

The moment the green liquid touched the blistered skin, a soft hissing sound echoed, followed by a thin white steam carrying a fresh scent like a rainforest.

The angry red skin that had looked so painful suddenly calmed. Even more remarkable, the blisters flattened and dried within seconds.

The waitress stopped screaming, her rapid breathing gradually steadying. "It's cold... it feels so soothing..." she whispered.

Everyone in the room froze, witnessing rapid cell regeneration with their own eyes. As Arkhan wiped away the remaining liquid with his handkerchief, the skin beneath appeared smooth, without a single burn mark left behind. The skin tone looked even healthier than before.

Arkhan stood up slowly, looking at Professor Handoko, whose mouth now hung wide open.

"Your modern science takes weeks to heal a burn like this. My 'trash' science takes ten seconds. So, which of us is truly blind to biology?"

Professor Handoko's face flushed deep red with humiliation, left completely speechless. Brandon turned deathly pale, his pride utterly shattered in public.

Arkhan turned to the shop owner, who had just stepped out from the back room.

"I'll take this root. Here is one million rupiahs; keep the change as a tip for your staff member who was just injured."

Arkhan placed a bill and his Black Card on the cashier's desk, carefully wrapping the Dragon's Breath Root in silk.

As he prepared to leave, his steps halted at a news broadcast playing on a large television mounted in the corner of the shop. The screen displayed police tape surrounding a massive warehouse.

"...Our top report this afternoon, the Metropolis Police Intelligence Unit has just sealed Pier 7 following the discovery of illegal, rare plants suspected to be raw materials for the 'Black Blood' narcotic. Among the evidence is a mysterious dark-red-petaled plant set to be destroyed tonight at ten o'clock..."

Arkhan narrowed his eyes. The television image had flashed for only a second, but he recognized the blood-drop-shaped petals immediately.

Blood Dew Flower.

"If that plant is destroyed, I won't be able to neutralize the toxicity of this Dragon's Breath Root," Arkhan thought.

A sudden sense of urgency struck him. He knew the place would be heavily guarded, especially with a major drug syndicate involved. Yet Arkhan had no choice. The sky was darkening, and the destruction time was only a few hours away.

Arkhan glanced at his watch, then looked toward the window where dark clouds were gathering over the harbor.

"Pier 7... it seems tonight is going to be a very long night."

Arkhan walked out briskly, leaving Griya Atsiri in stunned silence, completely unaware that outside, he had just decided to charge straight into the city's most dangerous hornet's nest.