Open a Clinic to Cultivate Myself

Chapter 79 The Soil-seeking Inkstone
When he returned to the clinic, Ning Tao brought back a bottle of ink.

Different from the situation when Liu Shufen came to the clinic, when Ning Tao entered the clinic, the black and white energy of good and evil rose from the good-evil tripod, and the face on the tripod was “closing its eyes to rest”, as if it didn’t want to talk to Ning Tao. But Ning Tao got used to it. He put down the ink, and then opened the ledger of bamboo slips to see the balance of rent.

The balance shown on the ledger was 124 points of good-evil rent, which was 76 points of last month’s balance plus 48 points just earned from Liu Shufen. The 49 points he earned from Lin Qinghua were not included in the rent because he could not make Lin Qinghua “destroy the demon root himself”, but he had known in advance that it would be a losing proposition, so he did not take it seriously.

This month, the good-evil rent was 300 points, and the balance was 124 points. Ning Tao’s pressure had been relieved a lot. After putting away the ledger, he came to the good-evil tripod, sat down cross-legged beside it, and began to practice spiritual power. With the increase of the good-evil rent, his spiritual power training gained increased.

Two hours later, Ning Tao finished his spiritual power training and started another job.

What kind of magic tool was that inkstone?

Only when it was repaired would he find the answer.

Buzz…

The rotten broken tripod issued a sound, and black and white flame rose from the tripod, more vigorous than a few times before. From its slight change, it could be seen that Ning Tao’s spiritual power had become a little “thick”.

Half an hour later, the rotten broken tripod quivered, and the alchemy fire disappeared. The repair work was over.

Ning Tao couldn’t wait to get the inkstone out of the rotten broken tripod. All the cracks on it were gone, no one left. The complete inkstone was a little smaller than Ning Tao’s palm. It was round shape, in a simple but unique antique style. After the rotten broken tripod’s repairing, the blurry lines and runes on the inkstone became clear. The inkstone was “netted” by cobweb-like lines, with dozens of runes scattered like flies caught in the web. Some runes were large, some small, some complex, some simple, and Ning Tao didn’t know any of them.

The rim of the inkstone was marked with 12 lines of the same length and depth. These 12 engraved marks were matched with the round inkstone, and Ning Tao felt the whole inkstone was like a watch, with the 12 engraved marks representing 12 hours, or 24 hours.

But Ning Tao couldn’t help laughing when the idea came up. “If it’s a watch, it’s too ugly to wear it on wrist. Now that it’s an inkstone, I’ll try to put some ink in it.”

Ning Tao took the ink and poured about 30ml of ink into the inkstone.

When the ink was poured into the inkstone, a strange thing occurred to the ink— it rippled without any external force. Several white characters “Soil-seeking Inkstone” composed of spiritual energy emerged from the bottom of the inkstone.

Ning Tao was filled with curiosity. “Soil-seeking Inkstone… What does that mean?”

Suddenly, the ripples in the Soil-seeking Inkstone moved in one direction, like an arrow, which pointed to a mark.

Ning Tao suddenly realized something and immediately turned his eyes to the direction where the mark was. There was a shelf. He confirmed the direction of the mark, then went to the shelf, took down a porcelain vase, and placed it in the other direction of the desk.

All the ripples in the Soil-seeking Inkstone pointed to the direction of the porcelain vase again.

By this time, Ning Tao had fully understood what kind of magic tool this Soil-seeking Inkstone was— it was a magic tool specially designed to find spiritual soil! That porcelain vase contained nothing but a little spiritual soil secretly kept by him!

Ning Tao couldn’t help laughing and was thrilled.

“With this Soil-seeking Inkstone, I don’t have to worry about finding spiritual soil. As long as I find spiritual soil, I can grow herbs in spiritual soil. I will grow the best herbs so that not only can I reduce the cost of alchemy, but I don’t have to worry about finding herbs!”

It seemed that he just fixed a magic tool which was not very useful, but it was a valuable treasure for Ning Tao.

As night fell, a cool air came over the hot city.

Jiang Hao walked side by side with Ning Tao on a shopping street in Liberating Square. Jiang Hao wore a white T-shirt, tight denim shorts, which set off her slim waist and pretty hips. It was hard to hide her hot and youthful beauty.

Ning Tao still casually wore his cheap clothes. From what he wore, no one would believe that he was a “rich man” with millions. He was willing to give 200,000 yuan to the unfortunate couple he met, but reluctant to buy himself decent clothes.

However, when you had a crush on a person, you would think he was good even if he was in a piece of linen.

“What are you laughing at?” Jiang Hao nudged Ning Tao’s arm. “I noticed you smiling a couple of times all the way from the parking lot.”

Ning Tao grinned and replied, “It’s nothing. What would you like to eat?”

Jiang Hao’s mouth twitched a little. “You changed the subject again. You said Zhao Wushuang gave you 5,000,000 yuan for the treatment, so I’ll let you buy me a big dinner. I won’t save you any money.”

Ning Tao smiled again and replied, “Okay, I’ll treat you whatever you want.”

He smiled because the repaired inkstone was a very practical treasure. On the way, he could not help thinking of the plan to go to the famous mountains and rivers to look for spiritual soil to develop the clinic “planting industry”, but it was obviously impossible to tell Jiang Hao.

Jiang Hao suddenly stopped, raised her hand and pointed to a small hot pot restaurant on the street, which sold hot and spicy kabobs. “I want to eat hot and spicy kabobs,” she said.

Ning Tao was surprised. “Didn’t you say you wanted to have a big dinner?”

Jiang Hao took Ning Tao’s arm and headed for the restraurant.

She said she would ask Ning Tao to buy her a big dinner and would not save money for Ning Tao, but she chose the hot and spicy kabobs, the favorite food of ordinary people. It seemed that she was a bit “duplicitous”.

There were strange eyes looking at them. Judging from his looks and figure, Ning Tao was a perfect match for Jiang Hao. But when it came to dressing, they didn’t match. So, it was hard not to wonder why Jiang Hao, such a beautiful woman, was holding his arm.

Ning Tao felt somewhat embarrassed, but he couldn’t push her hand away. At last he understood the meaning of a saying of the ancients— it was sometimes difficult to accept the kindness of a fair lady.

They casually ordered some kabobs and two bottles of beer. Then they chatted over drinks.

When a bottle of beer was running out, Jiang Hao said, “What are you going to do after dinner?”

Ning Tao paused slightly, wondering what she meant.

Jiang Hao suddenly got close and leaned over to Ning Tao, and her mouth almost touched Ning Tao’s ear. “Why don’t we go see a movie? I haven’t been to the cinema for so long that I’ve forgotten what it feels like to see a movie.”

The hot breath with girl’s fragrance rushed into Ning Tao’s ear wave after wave, and his eyes wandered uncontrollably. Originally, his eyes were fixed on the seasoning bowl, but finally landed on Jiang Hao’s collar. Due to Jiang Hao’s slanted posture, her loose neckline of the T-shirt revealed a faint white skin and a natural deep cleavage without external pressure. That was really alluring.

Ning Tao didn’t know whether to say yes or no.

“I’ll take it as you agree. I’m buying tickets on the app right now.” Jiang Hao sat upright and pulled out her phone to buy tickets.

“Well… I don’t want to watch horror movies. Pick a comedy.” Ning Tao’s voice was unnatural.

“No, I’ll choose a horror movie,” Jiang Hao said mischievously.

Ning Tao mouthed wordlessly at her.

Then Jiang Hao’s phone rang. She took a look at the number and answered, “Hello, this is Jiang Hao, what’s up?”

Ning Tao picked up his glass and finished it, thinking to himself, “We’ll just watch a movie. I’ll make an excuse to go back after the movie…”

However, before he could come up with an excuse, Jiang Hao suddenly stood up with a grim look on her face. “Hello?”

Ning Tao realized something was wrong. “What happened?” He asked.

Jiang Hao looked worried. “A security guard called. He said something was wrong with Lin Qinghua’s lab. I was about to ask him what happened but he hung up.”

“Try to call him back,” Ning Tao suggested.

Jiang Hao called back immediately, but she put it down two seconds later. “He’s turned the phone off. I have to go over to have a look.”

A strange sense of foreboding rose up in Ning Tao’s heart. He got up and said, “I’ll go with you.”

Half an hour later, a military off-road vehicle appeared on a winding mountain road, moving fast and sometimes even drifting.

“Slow down.” Ning Tao was somewhat nervous, clutching the armrest on the ceiling with his right hand.

“You even dared to kick Huai Kebing to his knees. How could you be scared because I was driving too fast?”

Ning Tao got embarrassed. “That’s not the same thing.”

“I’ll get you a driver license later,” Jiang Hao stated airily.

“I don’t even know how to drive. What are you giving me driver license for?”

“I can teach you how to drive,” Jiang Hao replied. “When you learn to drive, you won’t be so nervous.”

Ning Tao couldn’t resist her offer, and then he couldn’t help imagining Jiang Hao teaching him to drive.

A few bends later, the botanical garden of Blueprint Biotechnology Company appeared at the end of a mountain road, but it was dark, without a single light.

Jiang Hao suddenly braked, pulled up the car and turned out the lights.

The ominous feeling in Ning Tao’s heart rose again, and became stronger.

Jiang Hao took out her phone, cast a look, and gravely stated, “My phone is out of signal. It’s unusual for such a large botanical garden not to have a single light on.”

Ning Tao also took out his phone and had a look, only to find that his phone had no signal either.

“You wait for me here, and I’ll go in,” Jiang Hao said. “If you hear gunshots, drive away immediately.”

“Didn’t I just tell you? I can’t drive,” said Ning Tao. “And how can I let you in alone in a situation like this? I’ll go in with you.”

Jiang Hao suddenly leaned over, her big breasts pressing on Ning Tao’s lap. It was only a gentle pressure, but the touch made him too nervous to move.

Jiang Hao reached into the passenger compartment, pulled out a pistol, and said, “Stay with me. Don’t go anywhere.”

Ning Tao grew relaxed, nodded, and followed Jiang Hao out of the car.