Just as Ye Lingtian and the Ouyang family were about to leave, General Manager Li hurried over, supported by his wife. "Divine Doctor Ye, please wait! Have you bought a place to live yet?"
"We have!"
"I started out in the furniture business. If you don't mind, I would love to take care of furnishing your new home with a complete set!"
"This..."
"It's just a small token of my appreciation. I hope Divine Doctor Ye won't refuse!"
Ye Lingtian turned to Ouyang Yanan and asked, "Yanan, what do you think?"
Ouyang Yanan thought for a moment and said, "Since this General Manager Li gave us a hard time earlier, but now he's showing such sincerity, we might as well accept it. It saves us the trouble of going out to shop for furniture!"
"General Manager Li, you're very thoughtful," Ye Lingtian said.
"It is my absolute honor!"
"We have things to attend to, so we'll be leaving now," said Ye Lingtian.
"Safe travels, Divine Doctor Ye!"
After Ye Lingtian and his group left, the hospital director turned to General Manager Li and said, "Mr. Li, although the Divine Doctor has cured you, the extent of your injuries is still unclear. Would you like to go back inside for a re-examination? Just to get an X-ray for peace of mind!"
"There's no need, is there? I feel fantastic!" General Manager Li replied indifferently.
"Don't worry, we won't charge you a single cent. As for the one hundred thousand yuan Dr. Huang took from you, we will return it to you in full!" In truth, the director simply wanted to see just how powerful the Divine Doctor truly was and how well such severe injuries had healed.
"Honey, let's go get checked out just in case. We can see how well the wound has healed and feel more at ease," General Manager Li's wife agreed.
"Alright, then."
The director stared at the X-ray in his hands, his eyes wide with astonishment. "Heavens! He has completely recovered as if nothing ever happened, with not a trace of injury left! What kind of miraculous, godlike medicine could produce such an effect?"
General Manager Li and his wife exchanged glances, both seeing absolute shock in each other's expressions.
"Calling him the Divine Doctor is truly no exaggeration," the director exclaimed with emotion.
General Manager Li's wife sighed softly, "Honey, we've crossed paths with a truly noble person. We must properly show our gratitude to the Divine Doctor!"
"Yes, of course. We must cultivate a good relationship with him. Who can guarantee they'll never fall ill? Having a friend like the Divine Doctor is like having a life-saving talisman!"
"Director, if there's nothing else, we'll be heading home now!"
"Mr. Li, here is a bank card with one hundred thousand yuan. Please accept it," the director said, producing a silver card.
After the couple left, the director pulled out his phone. "Hello! Is this Elder Zhang? It's me, Hua Youwei."
"Ah, Youwei. What is it?"
"Well, today I came across a young man who produced a set of the Taiyi Divine Needles and saved someone injured in a car crash who was down to their last breath right on the spot!"
On the other end of the line, a vigorous-looking middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, immediately straightened up upon hearing old man Hua's words and asked eagerly, "Is his surname Ye?"
"Huh? Elder Zhang, you know him?"
"It really is him! Not only do I know the brat, but he even swindled my precious Taiyi Divine Needles away from me!"
"What do you mean by that?" Judging by Elder Zhang's tone, there was no sign of blame.
"That kid's medical skills are superb! We previously made a wager over treating a patient, using the Taiyi Divine Needles as the stake, and I lost! The brat had his eyes on my Taiyi Divine Needles from the very beginning and set a trap for me! Who told me my skills were inferior? Sigh! A gambler must accept defeat!" Elder Zhang said, beating his chest in a pitiable manner.
"Heh, so that's how it was!"
"Still, that kid's medical skills cannot be underestimated; he is truly a man of genuine ability. But he has been missing for half a month now. What on earth is he doing over in Y County?"
"His medical skills truly deserve to be called miraculous. If I hadn't witnessed it with my own eyes, I never would have believed such medicine existed!"
"Oh, by the way, someone at the very top in Kyoto is looking for him! You need to get on his good terms, and by the way, tell him that the head of the Ouyang family is ill! Ask him to make a trip back to Kyoto, and keep it strictly confidential!"
"The head of the Ouyang family? Which Ouyang family?"
"What do you think? How many Ouyang families are there in Kyoto?!"
Director Hua gasped in shock, "Could it be..."
"Yes!"
"Alright, alright, Elder Zhang! I will be sure to pass the message along!"
After hanging up the phone, Hua Youwei's heart was shaken to the core. The Ouyang family was a great clan that had stood for generations, deeply rooted with unfathomable influence in Kyoto, and one of the Four Great Families. A stomp of their foot could make Kyoto tremble. Hearing Elder Zhang's tone, even the head of the Ouyang family was sick; if he fell, the Four Great Families would likely be thrown into chaos, yet even someone of the Ouyang family had to beg for the Divine Doctor's help! Such a sought-after, blazing-hot figure...
Meanwhile, halfway home, Ouyang Yanan softly asked Ye Lingtian, "How is your body holding up?"
Ye Lingtian smiled. "Are you worried about me?"
"I'm being serious!"
"Heh, I'm fine. My true qi is completely exhausted, so I won't be able to use martial arts for the next three days!"
"That serious?!" Ouyang Yanan furrowed her brow, a trace of unintentional care slipping onto her face without her even realizing it!
It left Ye Lingtian immensely pleased. This girl did care about him after all! Ye Lingtian felt warm and happy inside.
Glancing at his watch and seeing it was almost six o'clock, Ouyang Yanan said, "Dad, Mom, let's just find a restaurant outside and grab dinner!"
"Alright, sounds good!"
"There's a restaurant called Penglaifu just up ahead. Let's eat there."
"Okay!"
After a simple meal, Ye Lingtian and the Ouyang family headed straight home.
Since Ye Lingtian needed quiet recuperation, he took a room to himself. Madam Wan Feng, Ouyang Can, and Ouyang Yanan shared another room, Ouyang Fan slept on the living room sofa, and Ouyang Rui stayed at his school dormitory.
At 12:00 midnight, Ouyang Yanan quietly slipped into Ye Lingtian's room. Before going to sleep, Ye Lingtian had whispered to her that they had something to discuss at precisely midnight.
Entering the room, Ouyang Yanan demanded directly, "What is it? Spill it!"
"It's just that without you here, I couldn't fall asleep."
"Get lost, I'm leaving!"
"Hey, don't be like that! I was just joking. I really do have something to discuss—hurry up and close the door!"
"Speak!"
"You've probably guessed by now that I practice Cultivation, right?"
Ouyang Yanan raised an eyebrow slightly. "Indeed!"
"Do you want to practice Cultivation?"
Ouyang Yanan felt a momentary flutter in her heart, but she still replied, "Doesn't that require talent and a Spirit Root? With a constitution like mine... I was practically on the brink of death—can I really do it?"
"Did you know you possess the Yin Body? Your cultivation speed will be more than twenty times that of an average person. Take me, for example: once you start cultivating, your speed will be ten times faster than mine."
Ouyang Yanan's eyes widened, filled with urgency and excitement. "Really?"
"I wouldn't lie to you."
"Then didn't you say my constitution is special and I only have two years left to live?"
"That's only because you haven't cultivated all these years. Because you have the Yin Body, your yin energy is overly tyrannical; it has invaded your bones, doing so far more fiercely than ordinary yin energy invasion. Once we find the Spirit Valley Grass, your cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds in the future!"
"So I'm actually that amazing!"
"Swallow this first. It might hurt quite a bit, so bear with it." Ye Lingtian produced a green-bean-sized medicinal pill that was pure white all over and handed it to Ouyang Yanan.
"What is this?"
"A Marrow-Cleansing Pill. It will clear the meridians throughout your body, cleanse your bones, wash your marrow, and purge the impurities from within!"
"Okay!" Ouyang Yanan popped it into her mouth without hesitation. It melted on her tongue, leaving a faint, sweet, herbal fragrance!
Ye Lingtian quickly cast a barrier to isolate the room from the outside world.
"Ah! Ye Lingtian, this... why does it hurt... so much? It feels like... my bones... are breaking!" Ouyang Yanan's brows furrowed deeply in excruciating agony! "It hurts! It feels like every bone in my body is being smashed to pieces and reassembled!" Beads of sweat rolled off Ouyang Yanan as her entire body was soaked through with perspiration.
"Hang in there. Once you endure this, you will undergo a complete rebirth, and your path of cultivation will be unimpeded from now on!"
"Ah..." Her only response to Ye Lingtian was a piercing scream. For an ordinary person to endure such agony without passing out from the pain took a remarkable amount of willpower.
It ached Ye Lingtian's heart to watch, but there was nothing he could do. This was an essential trial of Cultivation; only by enduring the pain firsthand could one achieve twice the result with half the effort on the path of cultivation later on! Easing the pain for her would yield no benefits whatsoever for Ouyang Yanan, so no matter how much it pained him, Ye Lingtian could not interfere.
Because Ouyang Yanan already suffered from yin energy invading her body, the pain she endured was ten times that of an ordinary person. It took immense perseverance and endurance to hold on. This torment lasted for a full hour, by the end of which Ouyang Yanan was covered in a layer of black grime—the impurities and toxins purged from deep within her body.
After the agony subsided, Ouyang Yanan felt an extraordinary lightness throughout her body, wonderfully refreshed, with meridians that felt tough, broad, and brimming with strength. Wrinkling her nose and sniffing, she frowned in disgust. "What on earth smells so foul?"
"Open your eyes and look down at yourself."
"Ah!" The source of this foul-smelling, filthy mess was none other than herself! Ouyang Yanan bolted into the bathroom to take a hot shower, washing away the filth from her skin.
"This feels incredible! Although the process was less than pleasant, your medicine is truly miraculous! By the way, why do I feel like I've grown taller?"
"Mm, by my visual estimate, you're about 158 centimeters now."
"That's wonderful! I thought I was never going to grow any taller. Thank you!"
Height had always been a sore spot for Ouyang Yanan; as long as she could grow taller, she was willing to pay any price.
"Once your cold yin energy is completely purged, you'll grow a bit more. As your realm improves, if you're lucky enough to find items that can reshape bones, you can decide how tall you want to be."
Ouyang Yanan was filled with yearning.
"Alright!"
"Let me teach you the basics first." With that, Ye Lingtian pressed a strand of cultivation memories into the center of Ouyang Yanan's brow.
Ouyang Yanan closed her eyes to absorb the sensation for about three minutes. When she opened them again, she said, "It turns out to be this simple. Spirit Cultivation doesn't seem that hard after all?"
"Sink your breath into your dantian and absorb the surrounding spiritual qi!"
"Got it!" Ouyang Yanan closed her eyes, sensing the particles of spiritual qi in the surrounding air.
"The spiritual qi is far too thin!"
"The mortal world is like this. I have a piece of spirit stone here; you can absorb the spiritual qi inside it first." Ye Lingtian produced a palm-sized, pure white stone and handed it to Ouyang Yanan.
"Thank you!" Barely five minutes after taking it, Ouyang Yanan had absorbed all the spiritual qi within. She instantly felt her dantian swell with spiritual energy and an endless surge of strength coursing through her limbs.
"So, am I considered a Spirit Cultivator now?"
"Of course. Cultivation has four stages: Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit to Return to Void, and Returning to Void and Merging with the Dao. You are currently at the second level of Refining Essence into Qi! Try striking that stool from a distance."
"Okay."
"Smack!" A stool four centimeters thick instantly bore a palm print one centimeter deep.
"Goodness! I'm only at the second level of Refining Essence into Qi and I'm already this powerful? Just how terrifying must one be by the time they reach Returning to Void and Merging with the Dao?"
"At the stage of Returning to Void and Merging with the Dao, one can blast a crater straight through a mountain."
"Whoa, that's amazing!" Ouyang Yanan's eyes sparkled with bright, eager anticipation!