"Does that mean…"
Old Tai Si once again placed a hand behind her ear.
"Hah? I can't hear you. Speak louder."
Jian Long let out a small sigh before raising his voice.
"Does that mean you can't restore my right hand?"
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Old Tai Si burst into loud laughter.
She held her large stomach as her body leaned backward, her spine producing a series of cracking sounds.
"Ah… my back."
She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes before looking at him mockingly.
"Boy, I don't know who you think I am to be capable of something like that."
"Or do you think becoming a medical-path Gu Master is some easy matter?"
The old woman spoke as she dragged an old chair over and sat beside Jian Long's bed, then continued in a more serious tone.
"I know that for someone to restore your hand…"
"they would need a terrifying number of Gu worms."
"You would need one Gu to produce human bones, another to create the different muscle tissues, another for nerves, another for tendons and ligaments, another for blood vessels… and many more besides."
"And whoever performs such treatment must possess immense knowledge of human anatomy."
"They would not simply be regrowing a piece of flesh."
"They would need to reconstruct the bones, muscles, complex nervous system, blood vessels, and tendons… with extraordinary precision even the slightest mistake could cause the entire reconstruction process to fail."
Jian Long felt both shock and disappointment at the same time.
Among ordinary mortals, it was common knowledge that medical-path Gu Masters could heal any injury with ease.
He had never imagined the process would be this complicated.
Originally, he had hoped that once he earned enough money, restoring his hand would be simple.
Old Tai Si noticed the change in his expression and tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry. Just because I can't restore your hand doesn't mean others can't."
"The Yanmen City we're heading toward is home to several talented doctors."
"I'd recommend visiting Doctor Bian Que, Hua Tuo, or Li Shi Zhang."
"All of them are excellent choices—if you can manage to get an appointment with them."
"And fortunately, you only lost your palm rather than your entire arm."
"That alone will greatly reduce the cost."
She stroked her chin for a moment before estimating:
"I think it shouldn't cost you more than around ten thousand primeval stones."
"What?! Ten thousand primeval stones?!"
Jian Long shouted in disbelief.
Old Tai Si smiled cheerfully, clearly enjoying his shocked expression.
"Of course it costs that much. The procedure itself is incredibly complicated."
"Oh, and by the way…"
"The cost of treating your burns is one thousand primeval stones."
"WHAT?!"
This time, Jian Long jumped straight out of bed.Old Tai Si burst into laughter again and waved her hand for him to sit down.
"Sit, sit. I was only joking with you."
"I treated you under Lord Yang San Mu's orders, so I won't charge you anything."
Then she added with a meaningful smile:
"Besides…"
"I don't take money from handsome young men."
Jian Long: "..."
....
"Such a creepy old woman… I hope she didn't do anything to me while I was dozing off on that bed earlier."
Jian Long muttered to himself as he walked between the tents.
"What do you think of old Tai Si? I bet you're exactly her type,What do you say? If you entertain her a little, I'm sure she'd even pay you. Hahaha!"
Zhou Quan walked up beside him, openly mocking him.
"Well, your mother paid me for that in the past too, so I guess I've always been popular with older women."
Jian Long mocked him back before turning to leave in another direction.
But Zhou Quan grabbed his shoulder from behind and spoke with a meaningful look in his eyes.
"Where do you think you're going? Come with me. Yang San Mu want you."
The moment Jian Long saw that expression, he immediately stepped away and assumed a guarded stance.
"Stay away from me. You and your perverted leader."
Zhou Quan smiled.
"I'm not joking."
"Yang San Mu wants you to attend the caravan elders' meeting as one of the elders."
"Are you serious? I'm only a Rank Two Gu Master in the initial stage. Is something like this really possible?!"
Jian Long asked excitedly, unable to believe it.
"Of course You displayed the strength of Rank Three, and your achievements in today's battle were outstanding."
Jian Long placed his left hand on his forehead, trying to process what had just happened.
An elder him?
Then he quickly spoke:
"Alright then, let's go. Which way?"
"Where are you rushing off to like that?You need to change your clothes first."
"My clothes?"
Jian Long asked before lowering his gaze toward himself.
The months he had spent wandering through the wilderness had clearly left their mark on his appearance.
The clothes that had once been dark blue had become faded and filthy, while the edges were completely torn apart from constant travel and battle.
"Come with me Lord Yang San Mu prepared suitable clothes for you to wear at the meeting."
....
Yang San Mu sat at the center of the enormous tent, one large enough to hold more than a hundred people.
Fang Gong sat on his right.
Meanwhile, Wu Shuai sat on his left.
Then Jian Long sat beside Fang Gong, as the third most important elder within the caravan, while the remaining elders sat in order along both sides.
In total, there were twelve elders present.
Inside the tent, discussions continued regarding the caravan's condition, the scale of the losses they had suffered during the Heavenly Bird attack, and the enormous profits they had gained from the birds' corpses and Gu worms.
As for Jian Long—
he remained silent the entire time.
He wore a red robe embroidered with a blue dragon, making him look completely different from the ragged youth who had arrived at the caravan only days ago.
Throughout the meeting, he simply stared into the empty air ahead of him without uttering a single word.
Back when he had merely been an ordinary mortal…
the title of "elder" had seemed like something unreachable.
Those people controlled the policies of clans and the fates of countless lives.
To someone like him back then, they had been as distant as the stars in the sky.
But now—
he had become one of them.
His status had truly changed.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
He had finally reached the peak of the mortal world…
and he was no longer subordinate to anyone.