After some time, Ning Tao slowly opened his eyes. He struggled to his feet and looked at his right wrist. The wound from the black dog had scarred over, but he still felt a dull ache in it.

“That damn mad dog!” Ning Tao got angry at the thought of the black dog.

Boom!

There was a sudden jolt in Ning Tao’s mind, like a door was opened and something was flooding into his head!

It was smell, all kinds of smell.

He smelled the blood, the disinfectant, the dust, the plastic, the iron, the synthetic fiber, even his own smell…

There was no telling how many smells came into his nose and his brain processed them into corresponding messages, some clear, some vague, some familiar, some strange which he had never sensed.

“I…” Ning Tao stood stupefied.

Momentarily, he remembered the black dog and the knowledge of dogs.

Dogs were capable of smelling two million different odors and finding and targeting the odors they were looking for in a complex array of scents. Besides, dogs could also detect odors at concentrations 100 million times lower than those that humans could detect.

“Is… is the dog that bit me… the deified dog?” A strange idea suddenly came upon Ning Tao.

“Oh…”

“That ungrateful dog!”

Ning Tao’s nose twitched a little, and he found the dog’s scent among thousands of complex smells. The smells were like footprints in the air, reaching down to the stairs.

Ning Tao followed the smell of the black dog to the door of his small room, and then was surprised to see a very strange blood on the ground, which looked like an arrow indicating the direction!

Ning Tao had no intention of looking for the black dog, but he changed his mind when he saw the arrow-like blood stains. He proceeded along the scent of the black dog.

Outside the laboratory building was quiet, and the campus was bathed in bright moonlight.

Ning Tao checked the time on his phone and realized he had been in a coma for about five hours.

The smell left by the black dog extended towards the school gate, and Ning Tao locked it on the ground and chased it all the way. Unwilling to admit it, he now acted like a trained search dog.

Along the scent, Ning Tao left the school gate, crossed several streets, and finally tracked down to the mountain behind a community.

In the moonlight, the trees and rocks on the mountain were hazy, and an old dirt path stretched upward. The foliage swayed and whimpered in the night wind.

Walking along the path, listening to the ghostly crying, Ning Tao was a little scared. “There are no ghosts in the world. Besides, I haven’t done anything evil, so I should not be afraid even if there are really ghosts… I must find that black dog, I must find out what it is…”

Halfway up the hill, an old house came into view on a flat ground. The house was made of clay tiles, earthen walls, a fenced courtyard wall covered with honeysuckle and mottled and decaying gates which seemed to have existed for hundreds of years.

The old house was dark without light.

The smell of black dog lingered in the yard.

Ning Tao came to the gate, got up his courage, knocked on the door. “Excuse me, is anyone there?” He asked.

There was no response.

Ning Tao knocked on the door again. “Excuse me, I’m coming in.”

Then a light came on in one of the rooms, and an old man’s voice said, “Who is it? It is already midnight.”

Ning Tao’s frayed nerve was reduced a little. He answered, “Mister, I am a student of the Shan City Medical University. Your dog bit me.”

“Are you here to ask me for money?” The old man’s voice asked.

Ning Tao hurriedly denied, “No, no, no, I just want to have a look at the dog. I’m not here for money.”

“Come in, the door is unlocked.”

So, Ning Tao pushed the door open, crossed the threshold and went to the lighted room.

The door of the room opened and an old man appeared in the doorway. He was white-haired and dressed in a Chinese Tang costume, looking like an artist living in seclusion in the mountains.

His room was also quite old, made of wooden beams and walls, hung with landscape calligraphy and paintings, with signs of age everywhere. It was a simple room, with a square table, four stools, and a shrine. Strangely, the shrine was not dedicated to gods and ancestors, but a rather ancient looking thread-bound book.

This was Ning Tao’s first impression of the room. After all, it would be embarrassed to observe carefully. He cut to the chase, “Mister, I’d like to see your dog…”

Splash!

The old man fell flat on his back before Ning Tao could finish speaking.

“Mister?” Ning Tao exclaimed and hurriedly went inside to help the old man, but the old man lay motionless on the ground no matter how Ning Tao pulled him.

Ning Tao immediately knelt beside the old man and put his hand under his nose. The old man had stopped breathing. Ning Tao instantly felt his carotid artery, and found that his pulse stopped.

“He’s dead?” Ning Tao’s heart nearly popped out of his throat.

But as a medical student, he had not only dissected the body but also slept in the room where the body was, so he soon regained his composure and performed CPR on the old man. He first pressed on the old man’s chest, then breathed into his mouth.

About a minute later, a strange sound came from the old man’s throat, and then his heartbeat and breathing returned, and his eyes opened.

Ning Tao took out his cell phone to call the ambulance.

The old man suddenly reached out and grabbed Ning Tao by the wrist and said in a weak voice, “Don’t call the ambulance, young man… I don’t want to go to the hospital…”

“No,” Ning Tao anxiously said. “You’re in a dangerous condition. You have to go to the hospital for a physical and hospitalization.”

The old man shook his head and spoke disjointedly, “Young man, ahem… I am 99, an age when I’m failing. I could die any minute, ahem… What’s the difference between going to the hospital or not? I don’t want to die in a hospital bed… Besides, I don’t have the money to go to the hospital…”

Ning Tao worriedly argued, “But…”

“Do me a favor, young man. Fetch me the, the medical book from… the shrine.”

Ning Tao could not refuse. He got up and took the medical book from the shrine and put it in the old man’s hand. He glanced at the medical book, but there was no title on the yellowing cover.

The old man’s voice grew weaker. “Ahem… You are a good man, young man. I, Chen Pingdao, have never owed one in my life. You saved me, I want to repay you… My family has practiced medicine for generations, and handed down this nameless medical book and a clinic. I have no children. I will give them to you tonight.”

“What?” Ning Tao immediately got flustered and quickly refused, “No, no, no, you misunderstood me, Mister. I’m a medical student. It’s my duty to save lives. I can’t accept your stuff.”

The old man, who called himself Chen Pingdao, blinked his eyes and burst into tears. He made a choking noise and said, “This is it. I, I am dying tonight. Do you want me to die with regret? Then how can I meet my ancestors… Woo…”

By this time, Ning Tao’s mind was in a turmoil. He was here looking for the dog. How did this come to be?

“Ooh… Ho…” Chen Pingdao made a sound of hard breathing, his eyes beginning to turn white, but he managed to speak, “You, you go and take the, the contract out of the drawer under the desk… If you don’t accept my medical book and clinic, I’ll die unsatisfied and haunt you as a ghost!”

“Well, I’ll get it. I’ll get it now. Don’t get excited. You’re going to be fine.” Ning Tao hurriedly went to the square table, opened the drawer and took out the contents.

It was a prepared real estate transfer contract, even with a pen for signing.

“Sign, sign it… I’m dying… Quickly!” Chen Pingdao quavered, looking ready to die.

Ning Tao opened the contract and took a look. It was indeed a real estate transfer contract. The contract was very simple, which basically said Chen Pingdao was willing to transfer the ownership of the Sky Clinic in Garden Street to the signatory. The contract had the seal of the notary office and the signature of Chen Pingdao on it, which looked very formal.

Worried that the old man’s excitement might cause other heart problems, Ning Tao sucked it up and signed the contract.

Chen Pingdao continued in a trembling voice, “It’s fate, young man, that lead us to meet each other. I have no wine here, but there is tea on the table. Make two cups of tea, and let’s drink a cup of tea instead of wine, to toast our fate. Then, I’ll have no regrets on the way to… Ahem…”

Ning Tao, who was also affected by his mood, felt a little bitter. He unscrewed the teapot on the table and made two cups of tea. Then he lifted Chen Pingdao up and leaned him in his arms. After clinking the two cups, he gulped down the tea in his cup.

The smell of the tea was sweet. A mentally cool and refreshing taste ran through Ning Tao’s mouth. He found it very fancy. After drinking this cup of tea, Ning Tao felt totally comfortable. “What kind of tea is this, Mister?” He tried to distract the old man.

“It’s the common bamboo leaf-green tea, but I put a little medicine in it.” Chen Pingdao answered, his voice no longer trembling.

Ning Tao was instantly taken aback. “Why… What kind of medicine is that?”

Chen Pingdao suddenly got up from Ning Tao’s arms. “Don’t worry. It’s just a small Nirvana Elixir. It has the effect of clearing your marrow and renewing your muscles, removing toxins from your body, awakening your innate spirituality and talent, enhancing your strength and speed, and sharpening your sense of smell and vision.” He told Ning Tao. “In short, it is the foundational medicine for your cultivation journey. When I bit you, I gave you a little bit of cultivation, as my compensation for you. Also, remember, go to the clinic as soon as you wake up. The longer you wait, the worse it will be.”

“You liar…” Ning Tao didn’t even finish what he was about to say when he fell to the ground with a thud.

“I’m free at last! There’s a divine justice after all! Hahaha!” Chen Pingdao shouted like a madman, completely different from what he acted before.

Ning Tao vaguely heard what Chen Pingdao said before his mind went completely dark…