Am I That Scary?

Little Coal Ball had a few too many questions today...

Normally, Su Qing wouldn't have minded answering them. However, she had other things to attend to at the moment, so she couldn't give the little fellow much more attention.

Fortunately, Coal Ball wasn't a petty cat. Although she was noisy, she actually had a very good temperament. When Su Qing told her to just watch, Coal Ball quieted down and stood to the side, watching obediently.

Of course, this was also because she was genuinely curious about how Su Qing planned to treat this person, and what other powerful and interesting spells Su Qing possessed. Previously, she had no interest in spells, but now, she felt her interest had been piqued again. Spells seemed truly formidable.

Su Qing ignored Coal Ball and began treating the unconscious old woman on her own. First, she performed a diagnosis to understand the nature of the illness, and then she chose the method of treatment.

The process wasn't complicated. Su Qing simply took the woman's pulse and allowed her spiritual power to circulate through the woman's body once, immediately grasping the situation. The old woman's condition was quite poor; in the outside world, it would indeed be considered an incurable disease. It was no wonder the family was here praying for her help, begging for the Medical Immortal to manifest.

As for why they hadn't gone to her clinic for treatment... one only had to look at the family's clothes, the house, and the furniture to understand. It wasn't that they didn't want to go, but that they truly had no money.

Su Qing's clinic was indeed cheap and could treat all sorts of ailments, but it was by no means free. After all, Su Qing didn't intend to become an absolute anomaly within Linzhou City. She occasionally held charity medical sessions, but those were only for diagnosis; the medicinal herbs still cost money. So, it wasn't strange that this family couldn't afford treatment.

"Mhm, but for me... it's not exactly an incurable disease. It's just that ordinary medical skills won't work."

When Su Qing traveled to practice medicine, if she wasn't acting as the worshipped Medical Immortal, she would use traditional methods to let the patient recover slowly. But today, she had come out as the Medical Immortal, so she naturally had to use a faster method. And the fastest way was, of course, using spirit pills.

This wasn't breaking her own rules; it was simply using different rules for different identities. Su Qing prepared a simple medicinal liquid, used her spiritual power to pour it into the old woman, and then used a spell to help her digest it. With that, the task was essentially complete.

Su Qing breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the curiously peering Coal Ball. "Do you understand now?"

Coal Ball shook her head and said, "I don't... what did you feed her?"

"A medicinal liquid made from a dissolved spirit pill."

"What's that?"

"Something very powerful."

"Is it also a spell?" Coal Ball asked curiously.

Su Qing shook her head and said, "Spirit pills are spirit pills; they aren't spells."

"Then can I learn that?" Coal Ball asked.

"No."

"Why?"

"You need to undergo transformation first," Su Qing said. "And even after transformation, you might not be able to learn it. This isn't an easy thing to master."

"It's fine, this General is very smart!" Coal Ball stood up, her tail curling proudly. "How about you teach me once I've transformed in the future?"

"Sure!"

"Then it's a deal," Coal Ball said. "But why do all these things require transformation before they can be learned?"

"Because you don't have hands."

"Are hands that important? I feel like paws are quite useful! They're very convenient for catching rats!"

"Then can you use your paws to pick up this bowl?"

"No."

"If there are things you can't do, it means they aren't good enough."

"Can hands do many things?"

"Of course." Su Qing nodded and formed a hand seal. "Many spells require hand gestures to coordinate, so powerful spells can only be learned after transformation."

"Then what can I learn now?"

"I'll tell you when we get back."

Because Coal Ball had rejected Su Qing last time, Su Qing hadn't properly prepared any spells the little fellow could learn. So, she naturally couldn't teach her right this second.

However, this did save Su Qing some trouble. She had been worrying about how to trick this little fellow into learning spells! Now, the cat had developed the desire to learn on her own—and a rather strong desire at that. It saved Su Qing the effort of persuasion.

"Alright." Coal Ball nodded, then asked, "I saw some rats in this room just now... can I catch them? I haven't caught rats in a long time."

"As you wish," Su Qing said indifferently. "Just don't break their things."

Hearing this, Coal Ball naturally agreed readily. Then, under Su Qing's gaze, she began to hunt the rats that were hiding. Coal Ball truly was the Rat-Exterminating Divine General; her hunting process was extremely efficient. Before long, she returned with two or three large rats in her mouth. If her mouth weren't so small, she probably would have caught even more.

"There are so many rats here..." Su Qing remarked.

"They're just too stupid." The silly Coal Ball began to look down on the rats for being dim-witted.

Su Qing chuckled and asked, "Are you done?"

"There are two more." After dropping the rats, Coal Ball dove back into the hunt. In a short while, all the rats in the house were wiped out. It was clear just how formidable this little black cat was when it came to catching rats.

"You caught so many? Aren't you going to eat them?"

"No."

"Why?"

"They don't taste good... I'm tired of them. They're not as good as the dried fish you make..."

Well, it seemed she had grown accustomed to good food and now looked down on rat meat. This was for the best, though; eating fewer dirty rats meant she was less likely to get sick.

"Then do you plan to leave all these rats piled up here?"

"Mhm! These are my results. I want this family to know this General's strength." Coal Ball raised her head proudly, her brown eyes flashing with confident light.

Su Qing smiled and said, "Suit yourself! Let's go, there's another house to visit."

"Another one?"

"The work has piled up, so naturally, I have to finish them one by one," Su Qing said with a nod.

Coal Ball didn't ask any more questions. She followed Su Qing out of the house to find the next believer who needed help.

Faith needed to be maintained; only then would the Incense Power it brought flow continuously. The simplest way to maintain faith was through manifestation. However, one couldn't just manifest for any random thing. Granting every wish would only harm oneself, turning the god into a tool for mortals. Thus, Su Qing only selected a portion of people who truly needed her help to treat.

Today, Su Qing had three more places to visit, so she was still going to be busy. Of course, once the work was done... Su Qing would truly go and relax. There were many things to do; she wouldn't actually be bored. This wasn't the mountains... there was plenty to play with here!

Time passed quickly. Su Qing spent a long time playing outside with Coal Ball, only returning to the medical clinic once the sky had darkened. As Coal Ball followed Su Qing around, she never stopped asking all sorts of questions. At times, Su Qing felt like she wasn't raising a cat, but a daughter—how could a kitten have so many questions!

Yet Su Qing didn't find the little idiot annoying; she simply answered her various strange questions casually. After all, she was quite relaxed herself.

Back at the clinic, Coal Ball, who had been walking all afternoon, flopped down on the counter as soon as she returned. The entire cat looked like a puddle of black water melted onto the counter. She looked quite cute, especially those eyes.

Su Qingyu had already finished the homework Su Qing had left for her. Seeing Coal Ball, she immediately ran over to be affectionate. "General, why are you so tired? Did Master bully you too?" Su Qingyu looked at Coal Ball's exhausted state and couldn't help but say, "General, don't be afraid! Once we grow up, we can get our revenge. I recently discovered that Master is very ticklish. When we grow up, we'll use that move to subdue her!"

Hearing Su Qingyu's words, Coal Ball looked up at her and then put her head back down. She couldn't speak to Su Qingyu, so she naturally didn't give much of a response. However, she also found Su Qingyu very interesting. Even though she never responded, the girl loved talking to her, as if she truly knew the cat could talk and understood what they were saying.

Not far away, Su Qing watched Su Qingyu pulling on Coal Ball's ears to whisper secrets and couldn't help but smile. "It seems Coal Ball won't be able to rest even after coming back."

She naturally knew Coal Ball was tired from playing. After all, since returning, the little fellow hadn't pestered her about which spells she could learn.

"But it is time to organize the spells she can learn..." Su Qing rubbed her chin, thinking to herself. "It's just that the little fellow doesn't even have a pair of hands right now, so I can probably only teach her some simple spells. But that should be enough to keep her busy for a while..."

Thinking of this, Su Qing called out to Su Qingyu, "Qingyu, hurry and bring your homework for me to check! Also, don't talk into the cat's ears, be careful not to eat cat hair! Coal Ball has been shedding a bit lately."

"???" Hearing this, Coal Ball immediately began to meow. "You're the one shedding! This General is not shedding!"

Su Qing ignored her and just looked at Su Qingyu. Su Qingyu hurriedly nodded and said, "I'm going... but Master, Coal Ball isn't shedding! Look, she's unhappy because you said that about her."

Su Qing gave a faint smile and said, "How do you know she isn't just annoyed by your touching?"

"Coal Ball would never be annoyed with me! Coal Ball is my best friend."

"Oh? You've already become best friends!" Su Qing said with feigned surprise. "Then hurry up and show me your homework!"

"I know!" Su Qingyu pouted and obediently went to get her homework.

Su Qing tapped Coal Ball on the head and said, "I'll organize a list of spells you can learn in a while, and you can pick some for yourself! It's a pity you haven't transformed yet; once you do, you can learn even more."

Coal Ball immediately stood up and said, "I'll transform, I'll transform! This General will definitely be able to transform!"

Su Qing chuckled and said no more. She simply checked Su Qingyu's homework once the girl brought it out.

Time trickled by. In the blink of an eye, another half a month had passed. After these two weeks, the shop next door was finally finished with its renovations. In a few more days, Jin Xin would finally be able to start working. Similarly, during this half-month, Su Qing had begun teaching Coal Ball how to use spells.

However, Coal Ball's talent for learning spells was truly mediocre—one could even say it was very poor. Even simple spells were exceptionally difficult for her to learn. The only saving grace was that because Coal Ball had no one to compare herself to, and she was the exceptionally confident type, she remained full of self-assurance even though she learned very slowly. She was even a bit overconfident.

But overconfidence aside, the little fellow was quite diligent in her studies. She didn't have the habit common to many demons of working in fits and starts. Of course, it was also possible her interest was just high because she had just started. Regardless, hard work was a good thing. Su Qing didn't go out of her way to discourage her. She only answered questions when Coal Ball came to ask about things she didn't understand.

"Coal Ball has been running outside a lot lately. What exactly is she doing?" Su Qingyu asked.

Because Coal Ball was learning spells, she often had to leave the clinic to practice in other places. Because of this, Su Qingyu felt a bit lonely since she couldn't play with Coal Ball properly.

Su Qing replied, "She's probably bored of staying in the clinic and ran out to catch rats."

"Does Coal Ball like catching rats that much?"

"More than you can imagine! She loves the feeling of the hunt." Su Qing nodded.

"I see! I wonder when Coal Ball will get tired of catching rats and stay in the clinic obediently! I haven't been able to pet her lately." Su Qingyu swung her little feet and grumbled.

Su Qing smiled but didn't explain further. She just ruffled the little girl's hair.

"Master, don't ruffle it! Auntie Yichou did my hair and now it's all messy. Master can't fix it!"

Su Qing looked down at the little girl. The girl immediately chickened out and said with a beaming smile, "If Master likes to ruffle it, then of course Master should ruffle it~ Master, don't be angry~"

Su Qing chuckled, feeling a bit helpless toward the little fellow.

"You girl... do I look like such a scary existence?"

The little girl nodded, then shook her head.

"No, not at all!"