Divine Level Witch Doctor

Li Bing was stunned. For a moment, he wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.

’Refused?’

’Zhao Yuan actually refused to join the school team?’

Li Bing quickly asked again to confirm. Once he was sure he hadn’t misheard, he was completely dumbfounded.

’Are you kidding me?! This is the school team! Ask anyone who played today—every single one of them is dying to get in. Now I’m personally inviting you, and you’re refusing? Do you have to be that arrogant?!’

Zhao Yuan had his reasons for refusing to join the school team.

For one, the team’s training intensity was a joke to him at his current level. For another, joining the team meant both practice and games would eat up a huge amount of his time. He was genuinely busy and wasn’t willing to sacrifice time for studying medicine and practicing his Cultivation Technique for basketball.

If it hadn’t been for Liu Zhu, Zhao Yuan wouldn’t have even participated in this freshman basketball tournament. So, faced with Li Bing’s enthusiastic invitation, he could only refuse.

Li Bing wasn’t ready to give up. He tried to persuade him a few more times, but it was useless; there was no way Zhao Yuan was going to change his mind. Resigned, he could only ask for Zhao Yuan’s phone number. He planned to take a more indirect approach, hoping that over time, he could appeal to Zhao Yuan’s reason and emotions and convince him to reconsider...

After getting rid of Li Bing, Zhao Yuan left the basketball court with his classmates, Lin Xue, and the others, ready to find a place to celebrate their resounding victory.

Meanwhile, the results of the match spread like wildfire across campus. The students were shocked, and many declared that the biggest dark horse of the freshman basketball tournament had just been born.

In an instant, the reputation and threat level of the Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Class 3 skyrocketed in the eyes of the other teams. The teams they were likely to face next, in particular, now saw them as a formidable opponent and sent people to gather intelligence on them.

In a thread on the school forums assessing each team’s strength, the Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Class 3 went from being a ”nobody” to a top-seeded team overnight.

After a night of celebration, Zhao Yuan woke up bright and early the next day.

He planned to head to Jiantai Village on Nine Peaks Mountain today to find the Golden Gourd. An early start would give him more time. Before setting out, however, he didn’t forget to use his Tracking Technique again to confirm the gourd’s location.

Looking at the map and description on the paper, Zhao Yuan nodded. ’The Golden Gourd’s location hasn’t changed. It’s still in Jiantai Village on Nine Peaks Mountain.’

He packed his things and quietly slipped out of the dorm.

The sky was just beginning to lighten. Liu Zhu, Wang Rongfeng, and Wu Yan were all still fast asleep, and Zhao Yuan had no desire to wake them.

As he was about to close the door, the White Cat darted out from the room and scrambled onto his shoulder, settling down comfortably.

Zhao Yuan glanced at the White Cat, asking with some surprise, ”What’s this? You want to come with me?”

The White Cat meowed twice, as if in reply.

Zhao Yuan considered it. ’This White Cat is pretty incredible. It was its hints that led me to discover Yu Ke’s illness and the feng shui problem at He Chengwei’s house. If I bring it along on this trip to find the Golden Gourd in Jiantai Village, maybe I’ll get some unexpected rewards.’

So Zhao Yuan nodded. ”Alright, you can come. But let’s get one thing straight: don’t go running off once we’re there. We’ll be in the mountains. If you wander off and disappear, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to find you.”

The White Cat meowed twice more, as if to say, ’Don’t you worry. I’d be fine even if *you* got lost.’

Zhao Yuan gently closed the dorm room door and headed downstairs.

On his way off campus, he opened a ride-sharing app on his phone and hailed a car.

He had just stepped out of the school gates when the driver called to say he had arrived. Zhao Yuan glanced around and, sure enough, spotted a black sedan parked by the road. The license plate matched the one from the app.

He got in the car. The ride was silent, and two and a half hours later, they arrived at Jiantai Village in Nine Peaks Mountain.

”Thanks,” Zhao Yuan said to the driver as he and the White Cat got out of the car.

The scenery on Nine Peaks Mountain was actually quite beautiful. It was even famous for a rafting attraction that drew crowds every summer, all looking to play in the water and cool off. The environment in Jiantai Village itself, however, was not as pleasant.

The moment he stepped out of the car, Zhao Yuan noticed a black dust that filled the air and coated the ground. It obscured his vision and made it uncomfortable to breathe. Even the crops in the fields were more black than green, covered in a fine layer of dark ash.

’Strange,’ Zhao Yuan muttered with a frown. ’The air quality deep in the mountains should be excellent. Why is the smog here so thick?’

He took out the map created by his Tracking Technique and scanned his surroundings, trying to pinpoint his location on it and find the Golden Gourd.

Just then, the White Cat leaped from his shoulder and darted toward a nearby slope.

”Don’t run off! Get back here!” Zhao Yuan called out anxiously.

The White Cat didn’t stop, though. It just glanced back and meowed a few times, as if urging him to follow.

’Did it find something?’ A thought struck Zhao Yuan. Recalling the cat’s past mysterious behaviors, he hurried after it.

He scrambled up slopes, crossed through woods and over gullies. After more than ten minutes, the White Cat led him to a clearing on a hillside.

A stretch of ruins stood there.

Zhao Yuan moved closer for a better look. He realized these must be the ruins of the Earth God Temple that Wang Qing had mentioned was being demolished for reconstruction. From the looks of it, though, they weren’t planning to rebuild it on the original site. All the old bricks and timber from the temple had been hauled away, leaving only piles of broken bricks and rotten wood that hadn’t been cleared out yet.

Once it reached the ruins, the White Cat stopped and sat, meowing continuously.

Zhao Yuan stroked the White Cat’s small head. ”Why did you bring me here?” he asked, puzzled. ”Is there some undiscovered treasure still left?”

The White Cat meowed twice, but Zhao Yuan had no idea what it was trying to say.

After a moment’s thought, Zhao Yuan figured he wouldn’t be able to spot anything wrong with his naked eye. He would have to use his Qi Observation Technique.

”Huh?”

The moment he activated the Qi Observation Technique, Zhao Yuan immediately saw something.

He saw a ball of Qi in the middle of the ruins.

’There really is a treasure here that no one found!’ Zhao Yuan was ecstatic.

He never expected that bringing the White Cat would lead to such a pleasant surprise!

Zhao Yuan didn’t rush in to claim his prize. Instead, he first surveyed the area.

The Earth God Temple was located some distance from Jiantai Village, with no other homes or settlements nearby. It was being demolished and relocated precisely because it was too remote and hard to get to. The new temple was planned for construction within the village itself.

Certain that no one was coming, Zhao Yuan finally walked into the ruins and approached the ball of Qi.