Chapter 1 Selling Skills, Not Soul
The Guhong Mountains lay deep within a range of peaks, rarely visited by human footprints.
Venomous insects and fierce beasts were by no means rare here, and even the most experienced hunters dared not venture inside.
Yet at this moment, atop Mount Guhong, a young man was talking with his three masters.
"First Master, I don't want to go down the mountain. I'm still too weak."
The First Master, Luo Wu, was a peerless slaughterer with a face of breathtaking, nation-toppling beauty.
"Weak my foot. You can even beat me in a fight."
Afterward, the young man turned toward his Second Master, who was always gentle and kind.
"Second Master, I still want to learn medical arts from you. I've only practiced the Heaven-Defying Nine Needles up to the eighth needle."
The Second Master, Su Qingcheng, was a living medical immortal who could snatch souls from the gates of hell and regrow flesh on bones, having saved countless lives.
"When did you master the eighth needle? I've only reached the seventh. I have nothing left to teach you. Go on down the mountain."
The young man pinned his final hope on the Third Master.
"Third Master, I..."
The Third Master, Qin Luyao, was peerless under heaven in the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, and the arcane strategies of Qi Men Dun Jia.
"I just researched a new formation, Xiaocheng. Would you like to help Third Master test its power?"
Ye Ning's expression changed drastically; he decided that going down the mountain was definitely the better choice.
Before leaving, his three masters had given him three letters of betrothal, telling him to choose one of them as his wife.
Leaving Mount Guhong, Ye Ning felt rather dismissive of his three masters' words.
Choose? Only children make choices; adults want them all.
The three peerless beauties stood atop the peak of Mount Guhong, gazing in the direction of Ye Ning's departure with undisguised reluctance in their eyes.
"Once Xiaocheng goes down the mountain and our relationship with him is exposed, it will surely draw countless storms of bloodshed," Luo Wu said, a trace of worry crossing her exceptionally pure and striking face.
"Whoever dares to touch Xiaocheng, I will exterminate their entire clan," said Su Qingcheng, compassionate as an immortal.
"Do you still lack confidence in Xiaocheng? If those people really manage to track him down, they'll simply be suffering eight lifetimes of bad luck," Qin Luyao said offhandedly as she fiddled with a formation.
After a long while, Luo Wu's faint voice drifted through the air.
"Letting him go down the mountain is for the best anyway. Lately, the brat's gaze looked as if he wanted to devour us alive."
"He's grown up. The next time we meet, we might not be able to keep him in check."
"Then we'll just let him be. After all, we didn't let some outsider take advantage," Qin Luyao concluded.
In front of an ATM at the Xiaocheng railway station, Ye Ning stared at the balance on the screen, doubting life for the very first time.
He clearly had five digits of savings, yet now he was left with a mere ten cents.
At that moment, Ye Ning's cell phone vibrated.
He picked up his black-and-white screen Nokia phone and saw a message sent by his Second Master.
"Xiaocheng, I forgot to tell you—all your money was spent on clothes for me. Don't thank me, you can call me Lei Feng."
Ye Ning dialed his Second Master's number, only to be told that the subscriber's phone was turned off.
At that exact moment, he had a fierce urge to rush back, grab his Second Master, lay her across his lap, and thoroughly spank her fleshy parts.
*Gurgle.*
A sound of hunger came from his belly. Ye Ning never expected that the moment he came down the mountain, he would face an existential crisis.
He needed money. He had to make money right now.
On the street, Ye Ning stopped a couple.
"Big brother, you're sick—you're infertile. Give me ten thousand yuan, and I can cure you."
"Fraud! My son is already three years old."
"Honey, let's ignore this swindler. Brother Wang is still waiting for us to eat."
"Yeah, Brother Wang is the best to our son, treating him practically like his own flesh and blood."
The couple walked away.
Ye Ning then intercepted a young couple.
"Miss, your fetus is malpositioned, making you prone to a difficult labor. Give me five thousand yuan, and I can help you recuperate."
"You're pregnant?!" The man looked terrified.
The girl quickly grabbed the man's arm and said, "He's obviously a scammer! I've never even had a boyfriend, how could I be pregnant? Here, take this card, it has half a million in it. Come to my house tomorrow to propose marriage."
A look of deep emotion instantly washed over the man's face.
"It's only our first time meeting—why are you treating me so well?"
"I heard you like children. You'll make a great father." The girl looked shy.
Ye Ning wore a depressed expression. Relying on his Second Master's medical skills to make money was a lost cause; he would just have to try his First Master's methods.
"Big brother, do you kill people? One million per head."
"Moron."
"Big sister, want someone killed? I'll give you a fifty percent discount—half a million to take someone out."
"Psycho, stay away from me, or I'll break your legs."
Ye Ning sighed up at the sky. Survival in the city is hard; I want to go back to the countryside.
A sweet-looking girl suddenly came running over, grabbing Ye Ning's arm and saying nervously, "Big brother, save me."
"Punk, don't meddle in other people's business. Get lost."
Five men in black suits surrounded the two of them.
Ye Ning's eyes lit up. Looking at the girl's pitiful appearance, he felt that business had arrived.
"Five big brothers, do you kill people? Give me one million, and I'll help you take her out."
Lin Xue's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Had she just escaped the tiger's den only to enter a wolf's lair?
The man in the black suit was clearly losing patience. One of them barked, "Idiot, get lost, or we'll finish you off along with her."
So they weren't planning to pay?
Ye Ning turned to Lin Xue and said, "Miss, give me a hundred yuan, and I'll help you wipe them out."
Lin Xue asked with a stunned expression, "Wasn't it a million just now?"
"They aren't worth that price. Cash on delivery, murder on payment," Ye Ning said deadpan.
Lin Xue reached into her pocket, pulled out a hundred-yuan bill, and handed it over.
She planned to use the moment this brain-shorted fellow made his move to break through the encirclement and escape.
A look of delight crossed Ye Ning's face. He quickly took the hundred-yuan bill and tucked it into his pocket.
At least he wouldn't starve to death today.
"Transaction successful. Prepare to receive the goods."
Ye Ning smiled, and the next instant, he bolted forward.
The five men in suits flew backward almost simultaneously, crashing down a dozen meters away, their lives or deaths unknown.
Lin Xue had intended to take advantage of the chaos to escape, but she hadn't expected it to end so quickly.
Looking at the five burly men lying motionless on the ground, Lin Xue stared at Ye Ning with eyes shining brightly.
Instead of taking the opportunity to leave, she drew closer to Ye Ning and asked in a seductive tone, "Do you want to make more money?"
Ye Ning crossed his arms, stepping back while staring at Lin Xue with guarded suspicion.
"I sell my skills, not my body."
Lin Xue almost blew a fuse. Who asked him to sell his body?!
The surrounding men watched with envy so intense their eyes turned red. They wouldn't mind selling their bodies *without* skills.
Such a gorgeous young beauty—they wouldn't mind being wronged just a little bit.
"It's not what you're thinking. I just want you to be my bodyguard. I'll pay you one hundred thousand a month. What do you say?" Lin Xue asked expectantly.
With this guy's formidable martial prowess by her side, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone daring to trouble her ever again.
"Are you coveting my beauty?" Ye Ning inquired cautiously.
"Forget it if you don't want to." Lin Xue finally lost her temper.
Ye Ning thought about it for a moment before saying, "I agree."
Between chastity and starving to death, which one was more important? Ye Ning made his choice decisively.
***
Chapter 2 Resurrection from the Dead
Lin Xue felt a secret surge of joy. Hiring a high-level expert as a bodyguard for one hundred thousand yuan meant she had scored a huge bargain.
"Let's go."
"Where to?" Ye Ning asked.
"My home."
"Hungry."
"I'll cook noodles for you."
Ye Ning blushed and said, "Isn't that a bit too fast?"
"Get lost."
A blush spread across Lin Xue's face.
She hailed a taxi, and the two of them got in.
Eventually, they got out in front of a villa.
Entering the villa, the living room was packed with people.
A middle-aged man wore a smiling expression, speaking smugly about something.
When he saw Lin Xue walk in, the man's smile instantly vanished.
"Second Uncle, you must be surprised that I managed to come back?" Lin Xue said coldly.
Lin Muxiang recovered his smile and said, "What kind of talk is that from my dear niece? I heard you went out looking for a divine doctor. Did you find one?"
Lin Xue's expression darkened, and she remained silent.
"Someone in your family is about to die," Ye Ning suddenly chimed in.
Everyone's expression changed. Lin Muxiang's gaze turned frosty as he barked angrily, "Where did this country bumpkin come from, spouting nonsense? Get the hell out of here!"
The other members of the Lin Family glared angrily at Ye Ning.
Ignoring them entirely, Lin Xue looked at Ye Ning and asked, "How did you know?"
Without answering her, Ye Ning walked straight toward Lin Muxiang.
*Slap.*
He struck Lin Muxiang hard across the face, instantly stunning everyone present.
"Calling me a country bumpkin—you deserved that slap," Ye Ning said coldly.
"Country bumpkin, how dare you hit me?!" Lin Muxiang flew into a rage.
*Bang.*
With a kick, he was sent flying several meters, slamming into a wall. The violent pain nearly caused Lin Muxiang to pass out.
"Ye Ning, how could you do that?" Lin Xue said.
Ye Ning turned to look at her.
"I'm saying you hit him too lightly. Next time, I'll charge you a million, and you can have me take him out."
"It's worth considering. Why don't I just help you take care of him right now?"
With that, Ye Ning made a move to walk toward Lin Muxiang.
Wracked with intense pain across his entire body, Lin Muxiang didn't even dare to breathe heavily at this moment.
Where did this monster come from? He talks about killing people at the drop of a hat.
Lin Xue quickly intervened, "Forget it, spare him this time. You still haven't answered my question—how did you know my grandfather was critically ill?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Ye Ning looked at her suspiciously.
"Tell me what?" Lin Xue was full of question marks.
"I'm a divine doctor. There's sickness qi in your house, the kind carrying the aura of death. I could tell the moment I walked in," Ye Ning stated matter-of-factly.
"Can you cure it?"
"One million isn't enough. You have to pay extra."
"No problem. If you can save my father, I'll even marry you," Lin Xue agreed readily.
Afterward, Lin Xue led Ye Ning into the bedroom.
No one dared to stop Ye Ning; this fellow genuinely dared to beat people up.
Enduring the severe pain, Lin Muxiang forced himself to stand up and followed them inside.
He felt a twinge of worry: could what this guy said actually be true? Could he really cure his older brother's illness?
Entering the room, a man of about fifty lay on the bed with a grayish complexion. Seeing Lin Xue return, a flicker of vitality returned to the man's eyes.
His lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but not a single word came out.
"Not much time left," Ye Ning remarked.
"How much longer can my big brother live?" Lin Muxiang asked happily.
"Five..."
"Five days?" Lin Muxiang frowned.
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
The man closed his eyes.
Lin Muxiang was overjoyed; his older brother was finally dead.
Tears instantly welled up in Lin Xue's eyes, and her legs went weak, causing her to collapse onto the floor.
"What are you crying for?" Ye Ning asked.
"My dad is dead. He was my only relative left in this world," Lin Xue wept.
Lin Muxiang smiled and said, "Xiaocheng, I'm your second uncle. I'm your relative too."
"You're not," Lin Xue said.
"Why not?"
"You're not human."
Lin Muxiang flew into a rage. His big brother was dead, yet this girl still dared to be so insolent toward him.
Just as he was about to bark a reprimand, he noticed Ye Ning's gaze land on him.
Lin Muxiang shuddered and decisively shut his mouth.
"Do you still stand by what you said just now?" Ye Ning suddenly asked.
"What words?" Lin Xue asked, her eyes full of tears.
"That if I save your dad, you'll marry me." Ye Ning rolled his eyes. Such a young girl, how could her memory be so bad?
Lin Xue's expression dimmed, and she said bitterly, "He's already dead."
"What if I can bring him back to life?" Ye Ning asked.
"I will definitely marry you," Lin Xue said with firm resolve.
Lin Muxiang couldn't help but sneer sarcastically, "The dead cannot return to life. You actually believe this kid's bullshit?"
*Slap.*
Ye Ning struck out with another backhand slap.
"Don't question my medical skills. Healing people is my profession."
Clutching his other cheek, Lin Muxiang felt as though his eyes were shooting fire.
Without even looking at Lin Muxiang, Ye Ning walked up to Lin Xue's father and pulled back his blanket.
Nine golden needles appeared in his hand, then plunged into Lin Xue's father's body like flashes of lightning.
"Heaven-Defying Nine Needles, resurrecting the dead!"
Ye Ning gave a soft shout, then continuously patted various acupuncture points across Lin Xue's father's body, reigniting the life force throughout his entire frame.
"I was almost suffocated to death!"
In less than two minutes, Lin Xue's father suddenly let out a shout and bolted upright. At that exact same instant, Ye Ning retrieved all the golden needles.
"A corpse is moving!" Lin Muxiang was nearly scared out of his wits.
"Dad, you're all right! This is wonderful!" Lin Xue said with excitement.
With a solemn expression, Ye Ning said, "Don't celebrate too early. I've only temporarily saved my father-in-law; he won't live long like this."
"Father-in-law?" Lin Muhua looked confused.
Lin Xue asked anxiously, "How long can he live?"
"Nine..."
"Nine seconds?!" Lin Xue's face instantly turned pale.
Ye Ning gave her a sidelong glance and said, "Nine years. My Heaven-Defying Nine Needles aren't proficient enough yet, so I can only manage this much for now. Originally, stacking all nine needles together could have extended a life by eighty-one years."
Father and daughter stood dumbfounded. Nine years was already considered a terribly long time, wasn't it?
Eighty-one years? Even without any illness, Lin Muhua wouldn't live to be that old anyway.
"In the future, I'll take action again to condition my father-in-law's body and strive to let him live to a hundred. It's so humiliating—if my Second Master knew I was this rusty, she'd definitely laugh at me."
Ye Ning wore a depressed expression.
Resurrecting the dead and trying to get a deceased person to live to a hundred—and he called that humiliating?
The world of grand masters was truly beyond their comprehension.
"Son-in-law, this old man's life is in your hands now. Do whatever you want with it." Lin Muhua was in high spirits.
As for what this son-in-law's name was or where he came from, none of that mattered.
What mattered was that this son-in-law had formidable skills.
A faint blush crept across Lin Xue's cheeks. As she looked at Ye Ning and remembered her promise, her heart couldn't help racing.
Ye Ning broke into a wide smile. Healing the sick, saving lives, and getting a beautiful wife for free—the mountain really was better down below.
Originally, he had just wanted to lie low on the mountain, teasing his three beautiful masters when he had nothing to do, and hadn't even told them he had mastered the ninth needle.
Now, he could only describe life down the mountain with two words: utterly fantastic.
***
Chapter 3 That Woman is Fierce
At that moment, Lin Muxiang rushed over, hovering by the bedside and saying excitedly, "Big brother, you're finally awake! This is simply wonderful, I can finally rest easy."
His attitude was night and day compared to just moments before.
Lin Muhua's gaze was somewhat cold as he said, "No, I just rose from the dead as a corpse."
Lin Muxiang choked on those words.
"Brother, since you've recovered, I'll go get you some food. You haven't eaten in so long."
"No need."
Lin Muhua said coldly.
Staring at Lin Muxiang, he said, "I'm afraid you'd poison me."
"How could that be? I'm your own flesh and blood brother!"
"Back then when mother gave birth to you, if I had known what kind of virtue you'd turn out to have, I would have shoved you right back inside."
Lin Muxiang: "..."
"Starting today, you don't need to do anything anymore. Take whatever money you currently have and spend your remaining days in peace."
Lin Muxiang's expression instantly changed; this meant stripping him of his power.
"Big brother, do you think I'm scared? Worst case, I'll set up on my own! For thirty years the river flows east, thirty years it flows west—don't bully the young for being poor! Who knows, maybe I'll end up far stronger than you in the future."
A fifty-year-old youth?
"Get lost," Lin Muhua scolded.
Lin Muxiang left crestfallen, secretly vowing that once he made it big, he would definitely step hard on his older brother's face.
"You knew you were poisoned?" Ye Ning suddenly asked.
Lin Muhua nodded, then glanced at Lin Xue and smiled bitterly. "I knew, but by then it was already too late. I was afraid that second beast would target Xiaocheng, so I didn't say anything. Fortunately, son-in-law, you cured me."
Shocked, Lin Xue realized for the first time that her father hadn't fallen ill at all—he had been poisoned by her second uncle!
Ye Ning looked thoughtful and said, "That kind of poison isn't something that piece of trash could possess. It seems father-in-law has quite a bit of trouble on his hands."
Lin Muhua cast a surprised look at Ye Ning. Could he tell what was going on?
*Gurgle.*
A strange growl came from Ye Ning's stomach.
Holding his stomach, Ye Ning looked at Lin Xue with a grievance-filled expression: "You promised to go home and cook noodles for me."
A flush crept over Lin Xue's cheeks. How could this guy be so uninhibited with his words, especially with her father right here?
Lin Muhua looked at the two of them with surprise and a somewhat odd expression. Their relationship was already this close?
"I'll rest for a bit. Xiaocheng, have Housekeeper Zhang come up, and you take Ye Ning out to eat."
"Okay."
Seeing that her father was fine, Lin Xue grabbed Ye Ning and made her escape.
Who knew what earth-shattering remarks he might blurt out if he stayed here any longer.
Lin Xue took Ye Ning straight out of the villa and headed to a nearby restaurant.
"Order whatever you want to eat."
Ye Ning took the menu and stood on no ceremony, quickly choosing a dozen or so dishes.
"Isn't that too much?" Lin Xue asked in surprise. It wasn't that she begrudged the money, but rather that it was simply an excessive amount of food.
"I haven't eaten all day," Ye Ning said glumly.
No wonder.
Lin Xue felt a bit curious.
"With your kind of skill, how could you end up with no money to eat?"
At this mention, a look of indignation washed over Ye Ning's face.