The next morning, Shen Qiang snapped back to his senses and felt infinitely satisfied as Su Xiaonuan snuggled in his arms cooingly, "Don't move, let me sleep for five more minutes."

Enduring the numb sensation coming from his arm that had been pinned down, a slight smile appeared on Shen Qiang's lips.

Yet his thoughts inexplicably shifted to the news he had received last night at Grandma Ding Yuhuan's house.

Zhong Family Medical Hall.

One of the renowned traditional Chinese medicine clinics in Provincial City.

Famous for its Plum Blossom Acupuncture Technique.

Expensive and well-known, appointments are needed, and the location is by the second ring.

If he wasn't mistaken, this Zhong Family Medical Hall must be the foundation of Zhong Yongxi.

"Is he really an impressive scion from a prestigious Family ?"

At seven fifty in the morning.

When Shen Qiang was getting ready for work, he saw Zhong Yongxi and that fat man appear outside the trauma emergency room again, and they left upon seeing Shen Qiang.

Clearly, they were there to check if Shen Qiang dared not to come to work.

At eleven in the morning, Shen Qiang got off work.

Zhong Yongxi and the fat man appeared outside the trauma emergency room again.

This made Shen Qiang's frown deepen and his displeasure grew increasingly.

Since they neither spoke nor provoked, Shen Qiang had no chance to explode in anger.

At noon, Shen Qiang and Ding Yuhuan had lunch together. Ding Yuhuan wanted to pay, but Shen Qiang insisted on paying.

Because Shen Qiang understood that Ding Yuhuan merely wanted to show her gratitude for him curing her grandma.

But they had already had a meal at Grandma Ding's house.

Letting her treat him again just didn't feel right.

After returning to work in the afternoon, Zhong Yongxi and the fat man were persistently looming outside the trauma emergency room.

Feeling as though he was under surveillance made Shen Qiang's gaze particularly cold.

At three-thirty in the afternoon.

Xu Nan called. After the auction ended, all the money Shen Qiang owed Xu Nan was paid off, and there was also a surplus of more than ten million transferred to Shen Qiang. In addition, Xu Nan said that many medical Families in the province had accepted the Zhong Family's invitation and would appear as witnesses in the medical rivalry between Shen Qiang and the Zhong Family.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qiang instantly understood that Zhong Yongxi not only wanted to win but also wanted Shen Qiang to lose face in front of many medical Families.

At five-thirty in the afternoon, Shen Qiang left work on time, and saw Zhong Yongxi and the fat man waiting outside the trauma emergency room.

Shen Qiang took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said indifferently, "Stop following me like a lingering spirit, otherwise I won't be polite to you."

"Ha, do you own the hospital?"

"Exactly, we go wherever we want to."

After saying this, the two swaggered off.

Suppressing his rage, Shen Qiang reminded himself in his mind, "Don't get physical, he wants a medical rivalry, right? After the rivalry, if they still don't know their place, then I'll teach them a lesson. But if I act now, it will look like I'm scared."

When he returned home.

Shen Qiang briefly attempted Artifact Refining.

He used ordinary 304 stainless steel.

Shen Qiang soon discovered that although he had just entered the Foundation Establishment Stage and was capable of refining artifacts, because it hadn't been long since he entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, he had no issues using True Qi within his body during the refining process.

However, when mobilizing nature's spiritual energy, his lack of skill hindered him, and he couldn't successfully engrave inscriptions on the refined artifact.

Hence, the 304 stainless steel surgical knife he refined couldn't even be considered the lowest-grade Daoist Artifact; it was frankly not as good as the mass-produced surgical knives available in pharmacies.

"It seems that if I can't control nature's spiritual energy skillfully, I can't refine artifacts freely, let alone perform alchemy. I must intensify my cultivation," he said.

After forming a basic idea in his mind, Shen Qiang did not dwell on this matter anymore.

With a shift of his thoughts, he entered the Sea of Consciousness.

Qingxuan, elegant and with a poised figure, knelt before him respectfully. Shen Qiang smiled slightly and said, "Stand up. There's no need to kneel every time; you may not tire of it, but I find it bothersome."

To his surprise, Qingxuan did not take this gesture of leniency, insisting respectfully, "As the ancients said, 'Without rules, there is no circle.' Thus, the rites must not be abandoned."

Helpless, Shen Qiang was about to respond when the Plague Source, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly exclaimed with joy, "Daddy, daddy!"

Shen Qiang, somewhat astonished, turned his head only to be stunned by what he saw.

During this period, because he had been busy at his Foundation Establishment job, Shen Qiang hadn't paid much attention to the Plague Source.

But now, just a few short days later,

the Plague Source had not only grown significantly but what shocked Shen Qiang even more was that from the nine leaves which previously harbored bacteria, pathogens, and fungus, three branches had now sprouted.

Each branch grew about twenty centimeters upwards before branching off again, each bearing three new leaves.

It looked like three miniature trees, each with six leaves.

"So hungry, so hungry, want to eat, want to eat!"

Feeling the message conveyed by the Plague Source, Shen Qiang was ecstatic.

"Don't worry, daddy will definitely find you the right food," he said.

"How about tuberculosis bacteria?"

The Plague Source: "???...so hungry"

Trying to communicate seemed to encounter some obstacles, and an excited Shen Qiang didn't know how to explain what tuberculosis bacteria was.

Yet Shen Qiang's mind was extraordinarily clear.

It must be noted that Shen Qiang was already equipped with flu viruses and pneumococcus, which was enough to ensure he could overpower opponents below the Nascent Soul Stage.

Now, the Plague Source had unexpectedly upgraded, the addition of nine new leaves undoubtedly gave Shen Qiang potential access to three more pathogens.

Regarding the selection of pathogens, Shen Qiang's first thought was tuberculosis.

As for fungi and bacteria, there was no rush.

Exiting the Sea of Consciousness, Shen Qiang checked the time: it was exactly 8:30 PM.

This time was relatively late but was not yet when everyone was resting, so after a brief moment of hesitation, Shen Qiang immediately called the supervisor of the monitoring room from whom he had previously requested pathogens.

To Shen Qiang's astonishment, the man had gone to his rural hometown for urgent matters and wouldn't return for two days.

This disappointed Shen Qiang.

But it was not a significant problem.

After all, Shen Qiang was a doctor and worked at a hospital. Rare and dangerous pathogens might be difficult to obtain, but acquiring tuberculosis bacteria should be possible at the Medical University Affiliated.

Putting down the phone,

Shen Qiang felt both joy and concern.

The joy came from the Plague Source's growth, which undoubtedly would make Shen Qiang stronger.

The concern was that, even though he had entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, relying solely on brute force from this stage to perform alchemy and artifact refining would certainly not succeed without honed skills.

Fortunately, everything was ready now, and only familiarity with the coordination of True Qi and Spiritual Energy was needed, which obviously wouldn't be a challenge for Shen Qiang. He could meet the standards for alchemy and artifact refining within a week, or a fortnight at most.

Before then, the only thing Shen Qiang needed to do was to severely teach a lesson to the persistently bothersome Yongxi.

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