Chapter 15: Who Has Stolen My Sword Seed?

A cat's meow?

Chen Ji fell into deep thought; it turned out that others couldn't hear the words spoken by Wuyun.

It wasn't that the black cloud had learned to speak human language, but rather that he could now understand the language of cats!

He changed the subject: "Senior Brother Liu, why aren't you asleep in the middle of the night?"

Liu Quxing looked at the open *General Principles of Medicine* on the counter and said weakly, "You're studying so hard, it's difficult for me to sleep..."

Chen Ji silently closed the book. "..."

He wasn't reviewing his studies to become an imperial physician, but to hide his true identity, though Liu Quxing wouldn't think so.

At that moment, Liu Quxing leaned in and lowered his voice: "Today, my Liu family came to ask Master for a diagnosis, and they casually asked if Master currently has any personal disciples."

"What did Master say?"

"Master said he would decide who the personal disciple is in the near future," Liu Quxing said.

Chen Ji picked at the lamp wick with a bamboo stick to make the light brighter. "What do you mean by that, Senior Brother?"

Liu Quxing pulled his padded coat tighter around his shoulders and weighed his words: "Chen Ji, though imperial physicians enjoy leisure, they are still within the officialdom. It isn't easy to survive in the bureaucracy; one wrong move and your entire clan could be executed."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What exactly are you trying to say, Senior Brother Liu?"

Liu Quxing became uncharacteristically sincere: "Neither you nor She Dengke are actually suited for the officialdom. Your insight, your understanding of social graces, and your connections—everything dictates that even if you enter the bureaucracy, you won't have a future. It just so happens that your family is unwilling to pay any more of your tuition. I will provide a sum of money; you can leave the clinic to start a small business, and from then on, you'll never have to rely on your family for support again. How does that sound?"

Chen Ji remained noncommittal.

Finally, Liu Quxing said: "Chen Ji, since you came to the clinic, you've been slower at reading than She Dengke, and your pulse reading is inaccurate. You don't have the talent to inherit Master's mantle. Give it up."

Chen Ji responded with a smile: "Senior Brother, you have considered my situation very thoroughly, but may I have some time to think about it?"

"Fine," Liu Quxing nodded. "Then think it over carefully."

With that, he turned and headed back to the rear courtyard.

However, Chen Ji saw a dark shadow beneath the counter chase after Liu Quxing, darting out with a *whoosh*.

Fortunately, he was quick-handed, grabbing Wuyun by the neck and pulling him back: "What are you doing?"

Wuyun flailed his limbs indignantly in mid-air: "He looks down on you!"

Chen Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You aren't very polite to me either."

Wuyun: "That's different!"

"Alright, alright, I understand him," Chen Ji sighed. "In this era, it isn't easy for anyone to carve out a path for themselves. When they encounter an opportunity, they must seize it..."

Before he could finish, Chen Ji's expression changed abruptly. At the first quarter of the Hour of the Ox, the ice flow arrived as scheduled, feeling as if slush were flowing through his very blood.

This time, the ice flow was more violent than before. It seemed to hold a grudge of ten thousand years against the molten flow; they were born incompatible.

The ice flow seeped into his body bit by bit, as if an ice tree were growing inside him, incessantly spreading its branches and leaves. Even his exhaled breath turned into white frost.

In just a single breath, the ice flow didn't even give him the chance to perform the "Stone-Bearing Stance" before he was gradually frozen like a statue.

What should he do?

Chen Ji stiffly turned his head toward the medicine cabinet. He wanted to struggle to reach for the ginseng, but he found that his legs had lost sensation at some unknown point, frozen in place!

Watching the frost exhaled by Chen Ji, Wuyun froze in place: "You... what's wrong?"

Chen Ji wanted to speak to ask Wuyun to find the ginseng for him, but he found his lips had stuck together. He could only watch as his vitality slowly ebbed away...

No, there is still a chance!

Seeing Chen Ji's tragic state, Wuyun lost his composure and began circling him frantically.

He wanted to save Chen Ji, but he had no idea how: "Say something! What should I do?"

In the next moment, Wuyun noticed Chen Ji was staring intently in one direction... Following Chen Ji's gaze, he saw it was the clinic's medicine cabinet.

Wuyun leaped onto the cabinet and used his claws to pull open drawer after drawer. He didn't know what was inside, but since Chen Ji was staring so fixedly, there had to be a reason!

The cabinet was densely packed; he didn't know which one to pick, so he simply pulled all the drawers open in rapid succession, grabbing the medicinal herbs one by one to test them!

Angelica—no.

Dried tangerine peel—no.

Cistanche—no.

Wuyun failed again and again, driven to the brink of madness by anxiety.

When he turned back, he found that the light had already vanished from Chen Ji's eyes.

...

...

Chen Ji seemed to have returned to that long, dark night.

The sound of wind, the sound of rain, and the sound of oars cutting through the water. Someone was using a small boat to carry him through a sea of black clouds.

In this darkness, he heard sounds—the sounds of battle cries he often heard in his childhood dreams!

The sounds roared like thunder on an ancient battlefield; the sea was inverted, mountains collapsed, and even the sky cracked into dozens of fissures.

In the boundless void, a grand voice rang out like a massive bell, questioning

"Who steals my Divine Path?"

"Who steals my Sword Seed?"

"Who steals my Green Mountains!"

Chen Ji did not answer, nor did he know how to.

Who was the speaker? What did the Divine Path, the Sword Seed, and the Green Mountains refer to? He knew nothing of them.

After a long silence, that grand voice finally spoke again: "Very well, your body shall serve as the vessel to descend upon the world once more!"

Chen Ji had a premonition: when he was completely frozen, it would be the moment the entity used his body to resurrect!

Could it be that Li Qingniao sent him to this world just to help this unknown existence awaken?

Was he going to die? But he had only just gotten a cat.

As Chen Ji's thoughts wandered aimlessly, he was already at the brink of death.

However, at that very moment, Wuyun came flying back carrying a piece of ginseng that was missing its root, pressing it against Chen Ji's lips!

The moment that old ginseng touched Chen Ji, it instantly sucked away more than half of the ice flow like a whale inhaling water. It transformed into six crystal-clear beads that fell onto the counter, rolling toward the edge.

He was saved!

Before being completely frozen, Chen Ji used his last ounce of strength to move his eyes, hoping Wuyun could understand his intent.

And in his desperation, Wuyun had truly grasped this single thread of life for him.

In the next moment, Wuyun chased the rolling beads on the counter and swallowed them one by one.

A massive molten flow was fed back through Wuyun's body, drilling into Chen Ji's brow, suppressing the remaining ice flow back into his dantian and flushing through his body, pulling Chen Ji out of the darkness!

Once he regained consciousness and movement, he immediately closed his eyes, lowered his legs, and bent his knees, using the Stone-Bearing Stance to resist the ice flow.

As he assumed the stance, the molten flow suddenly surged and rose high!

It was as if an army that once had no commander now had a general. A general riding an armored warhorse, holding the royal banner!

Chen Ji was puzzled in his heart; why did the Stone-Bearing Stance that Old Man Yao had taught him so casually fit him so perfectly?

Wait!

After the molten flow suppressed the ice flow back into the dantian, it was drawn toward the Tianshu acupoint on the left side of the dantian, swallowing nearly all the molten flow like a whirlpool!

In an instant, a vigorous furnace fire was ignited within the Tianshu acupoint. The ice flow in the dantian shrank further into the depths, seemingly fearful of this furnace fire.

"With this furnace fire in the Tianshu acupoint guarding it, can I completely suppress this ice flow? No, one acupoint is not enough."

Among the twelve regular meridians, there were four "Gateways of the Dantian": the left and right Tianshu acupoints, and the left and right Daju acupoints. Lighting only one Tianshu acupoint would not be enough to seal the ice flow.

Unfortunately, after lighting the left Tianshu acupoint, there was very little molten flow left...

While he was pondering, Wuyun gently raised a paw and tapped the tip of Chen Ji's index finger with his furry paw.

*Boom!*

The remaining molten flow within Wuyun's body surged entirely into Chen Ji's body, rushing straight to the right Tianshu acupoint to ignite the second furnace fire!

The two furnace fires continuously permeated Chen Ji's body. A surging, abundant power drifted through him; his fatigue vanished instantly, and his strength increased!

He suddenly remembered what Old Man Yao had said: "Heaven has three treasures: the sun, the moon, and the stars; Man has three treasures: Essence, Qi, and Spirit!"

When Essence is sufficient, one does not crave lust; when Qi is sufficient, one does not crave food; when Spirit is sufficient, one does not crave sleep. So this was the feeling of complete Qi and Spirit!

Chen Ji opened his eyes, his gaze brilliant, with a fire burning in his pupils.

So, this was cultivation!

He looked at Wuyun with a smile, reached out to pat its head, and whispered, "Thank you."

"It wasn't actually that much effort," Wuyun said, holding its head high as if it had merely done something trivial.

"Yes, thank you nonetheless. Without you, I would be dead... Wuyun, you are the most amazing cat in the world!"

"It was alright, I guess. This is nothing!" Wuyun held its head even higher.

The oil-residue lamp on the counter had been burning for a long time, and the light was gradually dimming. Chen Ji stood in the main hall, his eyes scanning the new world before him like fire.

But that fire was quickly extinguished by a bucket of cold water: the ginseng was gone!

Chen Ji: "I'm doomed!"

Wuyun was confused: "What's doomed?"

"I am doomed."

Chen Ji scrambled up and began rummaging through the clinic's accounts: "Let me see how much that ginseng is worth... What?! Thirty taels of silver?!"

"A bun is two wen, fetching a vat of water is two wen. Currently, about nine hundred wen can be exchanged for one tael of silver, and this fifty-year-old ginseng costs thirty taels! Is this ginseng made of gold?!"

Even if he sold himself, it wouldn't be enough!

He was already burdened with debts of two hundred and forty wen for tuition and three hundred and twenty wen for the Zhou family's medicine; now, adding thirty taels of silver was making a difficult situation even worse for his family!

"So poor, why am I so poor? If I can't replenish this ginseng, will Old Man Yao kill me?"

Wuyun listened to Chen Ji's muttering for a long while, falling silent.

Finally, after a long struggle, it made a sorrowful decision: "How about you take me to the Heavenly Street to perform street arts? I can do backflips!"

Chen Ji felt a surge of respect: "...That is indeed a great sacrifice."

Just as he was speaking, a knocking sound came from outside the clinic.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

*Knock, knock, knock.*

The visitor knocked twice in a slow, steady manner. The dull sound was exceptionally abrupt in the middle of the night, as if it were knocking directly on his heart.

Chen Ji signaled with his eyes for Wuyun to flip back to the rear courtyard and return to the Prince Jing Mansion, while he slowly approached, warning: "Who is it?"

The visitor responded with a light chuckle: "Yun Yang."

This time, Chen Ji did not have his Master by his side.

(End of Chapter)