That day, the young master was in the eldest young lady’s courtyard, copying books to study medical theory. Chen Yi stood by his side, helping him grind ink and occasionally offering interesting explanations of the medical annotations to help the young master commit the information to memory. Meanwhile, Chen Yi held the posture of the 36-Form Stance Skill, his mind lingering on the bowl of body-strengthening soup the eldest young lady had promised him—a luxury reserved only for formal martial artists, something Chen Yi had heard of for a long time but never tasted.
Gong Qingyun’s intelligence was, in truth, quite average, and his learning progress was slow. It was nearly sunset by the time he finally managed to finish copying the medical text once. Just as he was so exhausted he could barely straighten his back, Gong Qingshui brought over a bowl of incredibly fragrant, thick medicinal soup.
"Drink it."
"Oh." Gong Qingyun didn’t even dare to ask a question; he gulped down the soup, meat fragments and all. His expression suddenly brightened, his complexion turning ruddy in an instant, and a powerful, intense surge of warmth rose within him.
"Sister, what kind of soup is this? It’s so potent!"
"Hold your stance for an hour. Don't you dare move!" Gong Qingshui ordered coldly.
Gong Qingyun took his position. As it turned out, his Stance Skill, which usually could only be sustained for half an hour, lasted a full fifteen minutes longer that day! Such was the miraculous nature of the medicinal broth.
Nearby, Chen Yi, who had stood for the entire day without a single drop of water, watched silently as the young master drank the potent tonic. Before his eyes, a line of text slowly drifted past:
【Gong Family Fist Stance (15/2000): Practice consistently every day. Two thousand repetitions to achieve mastery.】
...
That evening, as Zhuiyue was making the young master’s bed, Chen Yi heard her explaining the origin of the soup to him:
"Young Master, that soup you had this afternoon was made from an eighty-year-old wild ginseng root that the eldest young lady spent three months searching for in Cold Mountain. She paired it with an extremely rare king brocade bird, along with thirty-year-old angelica, fleeceflower root, and other secret ingredients. It took an entire day to decoct. She wants you to drink it for ten consecutive days and practice your stance for two hours every day. If you cannot learn to control your Qi and Blood Power, she may well become truly angry. After all, the eldest young lady didn't even keep a single sip for herself."
Chen Yi had been here for half a year and understood the cost of goods in this world. An eighty-year-old wild ginseng was worth at least several dozen taels of gold, and it was the kind of thing you couldn't even buy if you had the money. Gong Qingshui’s martial arts realm seemed to have long since entered the realm of Dark Force; as a second-rate expert in the outside world and the eldest lady of the Gong family, she was served by many servants. For such a person to personally spend months in the deep mountains just to retrieve a single root—Chen Yi was speechless. If it were his own daughter, he certainly wouldn't have the heart to use it that way. But this was the Gong family’s business; he had no say in it.
However, with this powerful medicine, as long as Gong Qingyun practiced enough every day, entering the threshold of the Stance Skill within a month should not be a problem.
Chen Yi did not have such potent medicine; he hadn't even tasted the body-strengthening soup yet. He was making slow and steady progress every day. Although he remained calm and patient, seeing Gong Qingyun take a bowl of that soup and make such a massive leap in his Stance Skill and Qi and Blood Power, he could not help but feel a longing for that nourishing brew.
That night, after Chen Yi returned from the dining hall, Zhuiyue had finished attending to the young master’s washing and was waiting for him at the door.
"Brother Yi, this is a bowl of Bone-Strengthening Broth the eldest young lady asked me to bring you."
Looking at the steam still rising from the medicinal soup, Chen Yi’s eyes grew warm.
"Thank you for your trouble, Zhuiyue." Chen Yi took the bowl with both hands and expressed his gratitude.
"No need to thank me. You must remember the eldest young lady’s kindness. In the Gong family, you are just a servant who cannot catch the master’s eye. Only by being favored by the eldest young lady will you truly have a future."
"My thanks to the eldest young lady," Chen Yi replied, following Zhuiyue’s lead, and then carried the bowl back to his room.
It was almost the twelfth lunar month, and the temperature outside was already below freezing. The hot soup would be cold within a tea-sipping’s time, so Chen Yi did not waste a moment and drank it in one go.
A pungent, bitter taste filled his mouth. As the medicinal liquid hit his stomach, Chen Yi immediately felt a surge of stomach acid and a wave of nausea. Resisting the discomfort, he waited for the effects to take hold while analyzing the ingredients based on the taste. Having made progress through over a hundred pages of the *Gong Family Treatise on Typhoid*, although he was still a long way from the "great achievement" of a thousand pages, he had already grasped the basics of pharmacology and efficacy. This Bone-Strengthening Broth was the most fundamental tonic for enhancing Qi and Blood; its composition was quite simple.
"Rehmannia, eucommia, achyranthes..." Chen Yi was about eighty percent sure of these three main ingredients. The soup likely also contained some form of animal bone and blood, though that was beyond his knowledge.
"I’ll find an opportunity to learn the ratios of the bones, blood, and the main herbs. Then I can buy some better-aged medicinal ingredients and high-grade animal bones and blood to brew it myself. The effects should be better, and the medicinal potency will be milder."
As the medicine dissolved in his stomach, a reckless, restless heat began to emerge. Chen Yi pondered this and made a judgment: this was a low-grade, mass-produced soup, concocted without proper balance of cheap herbs, considering only medicinal efficacy without regard for an individual's physical state or absorption capacity. Such soup was effective, but the side effects were just as significant.
Truly superior medicine was like food—purely nourishing and non-toxic, much like the special tonic Gong Qingyun had been drinking for the past ten days. Of course, Chen Yi had no access to such medicine for now, but if he could improve his medical skills and find a way to learn the formula for the Bone-Strengthening Broth, it would not be difficult to upgrade the recipe himself. That, however, would have to wait for some time.
As the medicinal effect rose, Chen Yi slowly settled into his stance. The unruly power in his belly began to surge wildly. His face quickly flushed red. As he moved through the postures of the Stance Skill, Chen Yi could feel a surge of Qi and Blood moving through his body in rhythm with the stances.
"Is this the embryonic form of Qi and Blood Power? If I can control this energy and make it appear anywhere in my body that I need it, that must be mastering Qi and Blood Power, right?"
Chen Yi had a moment of realization. As he shifted his stance, this energy was guided through his limbs and bones. At the same time, the medicine in his stomach continued to produce a steady stream of Qi and Blood Power. This allowed Chen Yi, who could usually only hold the position for about fifteen minutes, to persist for over thirty minutes before his strength gave out. He rested for only half an hour before his energy recovered, and he stood for another thirty minutes before the medicinal effect in his stomach finally dissipated.
"This medicinal soup is indeed excellent. One bowl has significantly increased my Qi and Blood Power."
Stance training while taking medicine was the most efficient way to utilize medicinal power. With just one bowl, Chen Yi could clearly feel his progress. If he could drink a bowl every day, he estimated he could enter the threshold of the Stance Skill within ten days. Unfortunately, Chen Yi had only received this one bowl of crude soup, while Gong Qingyun was fed the potent tonic every day.
Ten days later, Chen Yi’s Stance Skill had seen only small improvements, while Gong Qingyun had managed to sustain the stance for half an hour and successfully completed the thirty-six movements.
"Eh? What is this? Is this Qi and Blood Power? Hahaha, Sister! I’ve entered the threshold! I’ve managed to grasp my Qi and Blood!"
Seeing this, Chen Yi only smiled calmly, not feeling the slightest bit discouraged by his progress trailing behind the young master’s. Over the past ten days, his own progress had also been quite significant:
【Gong Family Fist Stance (27/2000): Practice consistently every day. Two thousand repetitions to achieve mastery.】
Now, he could complete six repetitions every five days. At this rate, he would reach mastery of the Fist Stance in six years at most!