The first New Year of Chen Yi's life in this realm arrived thus, accompanied by a pot of thick, premium Bone-Strengthening Broth.
Upon returning, Chen Yi did not rush to drink it. Instead, he asked Zhuiyue for a few jujubes, two pinches of brown sugar, and other items, added them to an iron pot, placed it over the hearth fire in his room, and set it to simmer once more.
Drawing on the effects of the Bone-Strengthening Broth he had consumed on previous occasions, as well as the medicinal ingredients Wu Li had mentioned during the brewing process, Chen Yi applied his acquired medical knowledge to make slight adjustments to the broth.
While its core medicinal efficacy remained unchanged, he made the medicinal potency gentler and added a little clean water to neutralize some of the medicinal toxins, thereby alleviating the strain on his internal organs.
The guard who shared a room with Chen Yi had taken leave to go home for the New Year. Chen Yi went by himself to the outer room beneath the large cauldron, used a fire poker to rake some of the burning charcoal outward, and then fetched a fan, gently fanning it a few times to make the tips of the coals glow red again.
He then set the iron pot containing the medicine upon the red charcoals.
In less than two minutes, white steam was venting from the spout, and a rich medicinal fragrance emanated from within.
This was the first time Chen Yi was re-boiling the broth after adding ingredients. It needed to be brought to a proper boil so the medicinal properties would fully fuse. Not until the charcoal fire had died down and the boiling of the medicinal broth in the pot had subsided did Chen Yi pour out a single bowl, seal the iron pot, and go out to bury it in the snowdrift in the corner of the courtyard.
Thus, every day Chen Yi consumed a bowl of the modified premium Bone-Strengthening Broth, alternating between practicing his Stance Skill, Longevity Skill, and reading medical books, as he welcomed his first New Year in the Gong Family.
***
On the third day of the first lunar month, during the Chen hour, Chen Yi finished the second round of his Stance Skill practice for the day, slowly withdrew his posture, and drank his final bowl of the concentrated broth to replenish his Qi and Blood Power.
Nowadays, Chen Yi only needed a single morning to complete his Stance Skill practice twice, with a session of the Longevity Skill sandwiched in between.
Outside, the heavy snow had sealed the mountain passes. The Master and the Eldest Miss were off God knows where, fighting tooth and nail for the young master's hope of entering the path of immortality—the Supreme Snow Lotus.
There was not much Chen Yi could do, so he practiced his martial arts at home, copied medical texts, and progressed step by step, bit by bit.
Presently, Chen Yi's physique had not grown much bulkier, but his muscles were far firmer than before.
The initial wisp of Qi and Blood within his body had grown into a bundle, and after it stopped expanding, Chen Yi had generated a second bundle of Qi and Blood Power. By the time he finished the last bowl of concentrated broth, a third bundle of Qi and Blood Power within him was gradually taking preliminary shape.
His strength was now considerably greater than it had been twenty-odd days ago when he had first grasped the concept of Qi and Blood. After the third wisp of Qi and Blood appeared, Chen Yi had tested his limits: lifting a three-hundred-jin stone lock with a single arm was not particularly difficult for him.
One had to assume that a three-hundred-jin stone lock was not Chen Yi's limit.
Such strength, among ordinary people in his past life, should be close to the absolute peak level. If converted into striking power, although Chen Yi had never specifically tested it, he figured he must have six or seven hundred jin of force.
When a blow with this kind of force landed on an ordinary person, it would easily inflict severe injuries.
Judging by Chen Yi's current total volume of Qi and Blood, he should not be too far from the threshold of Ming Jin.
Chen Yi had not yet learned offensive boxing forms—meaning methods of combat that concentrated Qi and Blood for lethal strikes. Once he learned how to apply them and harness that energy into a single point to burst forth, forming true force, he would have stepped into Ming Jin.
During these past few days, the young master Gong Qingyun had been somewhat lazy in his martial arts training. Aside from the routine morning exercises and boxing practice, he had never practiced stance training on his own or hardened his strength through grueling effort.
Just looking at raw physical strength alone, Chen Yi had already surpassed him.
Of course, all of this was the result of Chen Yi's daily bitter training, heavy eating, nourishment with medicinal broths, and finally, the compounding effects of his insignificant Heaven Rewards Diligence fate.
At the same time, ever since he had deduced from medical principles over ten days ago that Senior Brother Wu who brewed the broth had an urgent call of nature, Chen Yi had attached even greater importance to the utility of medicine. By applying his own medical understanding, he had slightly modified the prescription so that the medicinal effects manifested more gently, making his body's conversion of those effects far more efficient.
This was why this frail body had made such significant progress in a short span of time—advancing steadily with minimal side effects.
While laying his foundation, Chen Yi did not pursue overwhelmingly destructive physical combat capabilities; he had no intention of making enemies lightly.
As long as he possessed formidable Qi and Blood, medical skills, and internal longevity arts to increase his lifespan, and relied on Heaven Rewards Diligence, he would eventually reach great heights. By that time, should anyone provoke him, Chen Yi could completely crush the enemy like stepping on an ant, relying on a level of strength several tiers higher.
If he could use strength to bully the weak, why would he need to risk his life fighting others to the death?
A few more days passed. While Chen Yi went about his daily chores, stance training, Longevity Skill practice, and studying medical books, Gong Qingyun—who had long neglected his martial arts and studies—suddenly sought out Chen Yi for a crash course of remedial lessons.
Chen Yi knew in his heart that the Master was almost back.
Sure enough, two days later, while collecting firewood for the young master's courtyard outside the main gates of the Gong Family estate, Chen Yi saw a procession of people making their way toward the Gong Family through the distant white snow.
Chen Yi joined the other servants in welcoming the Master and the Eldest Miss back. The young master was dragged off to be tested on his learning and martial arts.
Chen Yi neatly stacked the firewood in the third courtyard and covered it with a thatch roof. It was not until later that evening, when Zhuiyue returned from the Eldest Miss's courtyard, that Chen Yi learned the specific details of their excursion:
At the very beginning of the twelfth lunar month around the New Year, the Eldest Miss had discovered a stalk of the Supreme Snow Lotus on the snowy mountains—the legendary spiritual medicine that could catch the eye of cultivators.
If one could obtain the entire stalk and present it to a cultivator, it might secure a spot to enter the cultivation world. Even if one obtained only a portion, through special pharmaceutical preparation, having ordinary people ingest it could drastically improve their bone structure and perhaps awaken the legendary Spiritual Root.
This had also been the Eldest Miss's mission on this outing: to enable Gong Qingyun to awaken a Spiritual Root.
However, several factions had set their sights on that Snow Lotus, every single one of them being martial arts masters.
Amidst the chaos when the Snow Lotus bloomed and was being contested, the Eldest Miss had been ambushed and suffered internal injuries. Fortunately, she had snatched a single petal of the Snow Lotus and, with no other choice, consumed it herself to heal her internal injuries.
In her subsequent pursuit of the enemy for revenge, she had faced a life-or-death crisis, broken through to the Hua Jin realm, wounded the enemy, and snatched back yet another petal of the Snow Lotus.
By the time the Master arrived, he was only able to provide backup for the Eldest Miss and bring back that single petal.
Zhuiyue did not know the finer details.
However, when Zhuiyue returned from the Eldest Miss's courtyard, she had heard that the Master had gone to scold the Eldest Miss all over again. He cursed Gong Qingshui for incompetence in failing to snatch the entire Snow Lotus for the young master, and cursed her even more for selfishly swallowing that petal of the Snow Lotus to heal herself—a sheer squandering of heavenly treasures.
If both of those petals had been saved for the young master, perhaps the young master could have awakened a Spiritual Root today!
Piecing together this information, Chen Yi guessed that the very moment the Master returned, he had given that petal of the Snow Lotus to the young master to consume, only for it likely not to produce the anticipated result—failing to directly awaken a Spiritual Root for the young master.
Yet the good news was that after the young master's stance training had made its entry and he had studied boxing for many days, relying on the potent medicines the Eldest Miss had previously supplemented him with, the Qi and Blood in his body had already taken initial form. Today, having drunk this bowl of Snow Lotus broth, he was not far from Ming Jin.
This could be considered one of the few consolations for Gong Quanhui.
As for the matter of Gong Qingshui fighting to the death despite her injuries and achieving a breakthrough to Hua Jin in the heat of battle, Gong Quanhui felt not a shred of joy. Instead, he cursed his daughter for stealing her younger brother's fortune; if she hadn't made her breakthrough, who knows, perhaps the son might have acquired the Spiritual Root.
As for the daughter, any children she bore in the future would not carry the Gong surname—what use was it even if she possessed great talent?
Gong Qingshui was deeply depressed. Everything she did was for her younger brother, and consuming that lotus petal had been an act of absolute necessity to preserve her life. Moreover, the moment her injuries healed, she had immediately rushed back to fight desperately, ultimately snatching that other lotus petal.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Having been reprimanded, Gong Qingshui got up and headed toward her younger brother's courtyard.