Wu Li was Old Master Gong's third disciple in medicine and currently the most senior disciple still residing with the Gong Family. His two senior martial brothers had already finished their apprenticeships and were now managing medical clinics in the major cities of Shengcheng and Yancheng.
At the Gong Family estate, besides brewing the Bone-Strengthening Broth three or four times a month, Wu Li was also responsible for seeing patients and prescribing medicine for clan members.
Practitioners of martial arts inevitably suffered bumps and bruises, and with nearly a thousand odd-job workers, servants, and guards in the Gong Family, there was always someone coming down with aches or fevers. Moreover, families living within a radius of twenty or thirty li had grown accustomed to sending their sick to the Gong Family for treatment.
Consequently, the clinic where Wu Li practiced was quite busy.
After observing that Chen Yi had grown proficient, Wu Li handed over the task of brewing the Bone-Strengthening Broth every ten days entirely to Chen Yi, only occasionally dropping by to cast a watchful eye.
A few days later, Wu Li noticed that Chen Yi measured and sliced various medicinal herbs with precision and had the properties and pharmacology of medicines completely by heart. This sparked an idea: he wanted to bring Chen Yi along during his clinic hours.
That way, Wu Li would only need to take pulses and write prescriptions, dumping the task of dispensing medicine onto Chen Yi, which would save him a considerable amount of trouble.
However, doing so would take up at least two hours of Chen Yi's time every morning—time that Chen Yi was originally supposed to spend accompanying the young master in practicing martial arts and studying medical texts.
For this reason, Wu Li made a special trip to see Eldest Miss Gong Qingshui to explain the situation and request Chen Yi's time each morning.
"Ah? So soon? He can already brew medicine on his own?" Gong Qingshui asked, extremely surprised.
"Yes. Chen Yi's talent for medicine is like the young master's talent for martial arts—one in a hundred thousand. It would be such a pity to let Chen Yi practice martial arts. How about letting him follow me to learn medicine instead?" Wu Li argued.
Gong Qingshui pondered for a moment, then shook her head:
"Having him learn medicine full-time won't do. Chen Yi has a nimble mind, and accompanying the young master in his studies has yielded exceptionally good results over the past half year. In the future, when I travel about on estate business, I'll need a sharp-witted helper like him. However, it's fine for him to go help you out every morning for a short while, but you must instruct him not to let his martial arts practice lapse. By the way, how is he doing with his Stance Skill?"
"I don't really know how his Stance Skill is progressing, but this kid is extremely disciplined. Even when he is brewing the Bone-Strengthening Broth all by himself, at most he follows the rules and tastes a single small sip in advance to test the medicine, never giving in to greed. I suppose there shouldn't be too much of an increase in his Qi and Blood, or is there?" Wu Li replied, pondering Chen Yi's behavior.
"He can exercise such self-restraint? Could it be that he avoids drinking it because he knows the side effects of this Bone-Strengthening Broth are too severe?" Gong Qingshui frowned slightly, puzzled for the moment.
Chen Yi never drank the Bone-Strengthening Broth brewed for everyone else. Instead, every time after finishing a batch, while cleaning out the dregs, he would pick through the remnants to take some away, combining them with the "trimmings" left over from handling herbs during the day. Back in his room, using a small iron kettle, he would specially concoct a mild version of the Bone-Strengthening Broth for himself.
Although the medicinal potency was halved because it was brewed from dregs, its advantage lay in how well it suited his physical condition, with very minor toxic side effects. Moreover, a single kettle he brewed lasted him four or five days.
This gentle and long-lasting enhancement of Qi and Blood fit precisely with the artistic conception of the Stance Skill Chen Yi practiced every day.
Therefore, despite having brewed it only three times in private, Chen Yi's Qi and Blood had already increased to five strands, and with a single arm he could easily lift a five-hundred-pound stone lock.
Martial artists with that sort of strength had basically all broken through to Ming Jin.
The reason Chen Yi had not broken through to Ming Jin was that he had not deliberately practiced offensive boxing techniques.
However, this did not mean he was unable to control the powerful Qi and Blood within his body.
As Chen Yi's proficiency with the Stance Skill improved, he discovered that the thirty-six movements formed a self-contained system. Especially when practicing the Stance Skill, within half an hour, once the thirty-six movements were completed, the five strands of Qi and Blood in his body would circulate through all his bones in an orderly manner.
Yet as soon as he stopped the Stance Skill, this regular movement of Qi and Blood would naturally dissipate.
Chen Yi wondered: if he could make this Qi and Blood circulate according to this pattern on its own at any time, it would save him a lot of trouble.
By then, he would only need to control the speed of the Qi and Blood's flow—letting the Qi and Blood circulate through just a few major cycles within his body over the course of a day's activities, which was roughly equivalent to practicing the Stance Skill a few times. That would perfectly solve the problem of manipulating Qi and Blood.
At that time, he wouldn't need to learn any Nine Palaces Fist, nor would he have to worry about his Qi and Blood getting out of control.
What Chen Yi did not know was that many people had thought of this idea, but even martial artists with a mastery of the Stance Skill could not achieve it—unless they reached the realm of Stance Skill perfection and comprehended this supreme state of Qi following the mind at will.
By then, he would surely have entered the Xiantian Realm and would no longer need to worry about the problem of Qi and Blood.
Fortunately, for the short term, Chen Yi did not need to fret over his Qi and Blood growing too rapidly.
Because of the Longevity Exercise.
A few days prior, when Chen Yi practiced the Longevity Exercise for the one-hundredth time, he suddenly experienced an epiphany. He felt his understanding of the Five-Animal Longevity Exercise naturally rise to a new tier. When practicing it again, the movements of the tiger, deer, bear, ape, and crane became even more natural and vivid.
The resulting consequence was that Chen Yi's physique and innate constitution were undergoing a silent, nourishing transformation. His internal organs and meridians were growing increasingly resilient and tolerant.
Thus, the Longevity Exercise and the Stance Skill complemented each other. While progressing rapidly, Chen Yi was able to effectively resolve the various negative effects brought about by powerful Qi and Blood.
"Brother Yi, starting today, after you accompany the young master in his morning exercise, you are to go to the family clinic for the morning. Doctor Wu specifically named you to serve there."
When Zhuiyue passed the message to Chen Yi, her eyes were bright and sparkling.
When Chen Yi first arrived at the young master's courtyard, he was as thin and frail as a shriveled monkey. In the span of just a few months, he first accompanied the young master in copying medical texts, then accompanied him in practicing martial arts, before entering the martial apprentice dining hall and catching the eye of the Eldest Miss.
Now his body had filled out, and he had unexpectedly grown strikingly handsome, a sight one never grew tired of looking at.
And now word had broken out that he possessed formidable talent for medicine and had been handpicked by Doctor Wu.
In Zhuiyue's eyes, it felt like a dream. This was a path countless family bondsmen could not finish walking in a lifetime!
Well-read, grounded, hardworking, diligent, and strikingly handsome to boot—whoever married him would surely lead a good life in the future.
"Understood, thank you, Zhuiyue."
"Brother Yi, um... The young master is about to enter the Force-Entering realm. If Caiyun wants to come back, I can put in a good word for her with the Miss. After all, unlike Sister Caiyun, I don't want to be a concubine; I just want to find a down-to-earth man and live a good life together..."
As she spoke to the end, Zhuiyue's voice grew as soft as a mosquito's, her ears and neck flushed with a rosy hue.
"Ah? What did you say? Oh, that matter with Caiyun! Then I am deeply grateful to you, Sister Zhuiyue. Let me thank you on her behalf!" Chen Yi feigned ignorance, cupping his fists in a salute.
It wasn't that he looked down on Zhuiyue, but rather that Chen Yi's ambitions lay elsewhere. Naturally, it was impossible for him to hastily take a maid as his wife while still in the status of a servant, only to remain a Gong Family underling for the rest of his life.
Chen Yi's daily routine of heading to the family clinic after morning exercises to help dispense and brew medicine also began to spread among the guards and martial disciples.
Previously, Chen Yi was merely a sycophantic bondsman who followed the young master to learn martial arts; he couldn't even learn the Nine Palaces Fist, so naturally they didn't deign to look at him properly.
But now he was half a foot into becoming a Gong Family medical apprentice. Although his status still fell a bit short compared to theirs as formal martial disciples, because he was an apprentice who dispensed medicine, those who practiced martial arts inevitably had to see him for ailments, and naturally they didn't dare to offend him.
Consequently, whenever Chen Yi walked through the courtyards inside and out of the Gong Family estate from then on, fellow servants and bondsmen would take the initiative to yield the path to him. Even guards and martial disciples he encountered would surprisingly initiate smiles and nods toward him.
Whenever he passed any courtyard, the doorkeepers would also politely ask if he needed assistance.
Those harsh, unpleasant gossip remarks could no longer be heard.
Furthermore, the middle-aged guard who shared a room with Chen Yi found an excuse to squeeze into the next room with someone else, leaving the small heated-brick bed room entirely for Chen Yi to live in alone.
February had just passed, and the ice and snow were beginning to melt.
As Chen Yi walked about the Gong Family estate, he could finally hold his head high.
Yet toward these quiet changes, Chen Yi still offered only a slight smile in the depths of his heart. They were merely sceneries along the road of life; seeing them was enough, there was no need to linger too fondly.